Ceremony-First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple
A
Rev. Philip Blackwell officiated
The ceremony was pulled off without a hitch. Carol Emmons is the contact there, she is very nice and helpful but can be a bit scatterbrained. She called me a few different times to confirm date and time of our ceremony which made it seem like she never wrote it down. Overall Rev. Blackwell was very nice and helpful. We met with him 4 times before the ceremony for "pre-marital counseling" but it was always more planning our ceremony then actual counseling. I was actually a little bummed about that. Many of our guests commented about how beautiful the church is and it's very historic (said to be the first church built in city limits). We used the main sanctuary but there is also a two smaller chapels available.
Rev. Philip Blackwell officiated
The ceremony was pulled off without a hitch. Carol Emmons is the contact there, she is very nice and helpful but can be a bit scatterbrained. She called me a few different times to confirm date and time of our ceremony which made it seem like she never wrote it down. Overall Rev. Blackwell was very nice and helpful. We met with him 4 times before the ceremony for "pre-marital counseling" but it was always more planning our ceremony then actual counseling. I was actually a little bummed about that. Many of our guests commented about how beautiful the church is and it's very historic (said to be the first church built in city limits). We used the main sanctuary but there is also a two smaller chapels available.
Reception-Pazzo's at 311
A+
About the staff: Fay Sweeney is the main contact and wedding coordinator at Pazzo's. Like most of the reviews that you'll see on Yelp say she is a God-send! She answers all questions in a very timely manner and she's there the whole day and evening of your event. They have a wedding almost every Friday, Saturday and Sunday so she has tons of experience and can offer advice and guidelines if you have questions.
The wait staff was very attentive including bartenders and servers. They were all nice to interact with. I'm not sure if this was just some of my lush friends but I wish I had told them to keep a better eye on overserving because there were definetly some that were! However, like I said I'm not sure if this was really their fault.
About the facility: Pazzo's is an amazing setting for a wedding reception! The atrium is beautiful and it really is a true city atmosphere. If you are a budget bride you MUST check out Pazzo's. From everything I've heard on theknot, Pazzo's can be more affordable then a lot of suburban reception sites. I told some of my co-workers who were guests that it is an Italian resturant when I was discussing wedding planning and they were not expecting the set up to look as grand as it did. The food is very good and we just went with the basic options and passed appetizers during cocktail hour. Their standard bar is also top shelf.
About the staff: Fay Sweeney is the main contact and wedding coordinator at Pazzo's. Like most of the reviews that you'll see on Yelp say she is a God-send! She answers all questions in a very timely manner and she's there the whole day and evening of your event. They have a wedding almost every Friday, Saturday and Sunday so she has tons of experience and can offer advice and guidelines if you have questions.
The wait staff was very attentive including bartenders and servers. They were all nice to interact with. I'm not sure if this was just some of my lush friends but I wish I had told them to keep a better eye on overserving because there were definetly some that were! However, like I said I'm not sure if this was really their fault.
About the facility: Pazzo's is an amazing setting for a wedding reception! The atrium is beautiful and it really is a true city atmosphere. If you are a budget bride you MUST check out Pazzo's. From everything I've heard on theknot, Pazzo's can be more affordable then a lot of suburban reception sites. I told some of my co-workers who were guests that it is an Italian resturant when I was discussing wedding planning and they were not expecting the set up to look as grand as it did. The food is very good and we just went with the basic options and passed appetizers during cocktail hour. Their standard bar is also top shelf.
Florist-GnG Designs (Gina Alcantara)
A+
I met Gina out in Grayslake after a referral from theknot saying she was very good at working with budgets. I was on a tight budget with flowers and didn't think I cared anything about how the flowers looked. Think again! I found out after our consultation that I was actually very picky about flowers. I had previously met with another florist that was very nice but wasn't very good at getting back to me. I never had this problem with Gina. She was very attentive to my emails and if I sent her a picture of something I found or liked she had it printed at our next appointment. I had a pretty set design of what I wanted, including flowers emerged in water. I wanted to use specifically brightly dyed orchids which the first florist thought was a great idea. Gina (gently) explained that we could do what I wanted of course but that those flowers' dye would float into the water and turn it blue. The previous florist had not even mentioned this or indicated that he knew about this. I knew then that I would book Gina.
I had no interaction with Gina on the day of the wedding so I can't vouch for that. The bouquets were waiting at the church and she pinned the boutineers on the guys. The reception centerpieces were amazing and exactly what we discussed. She really pulled the color palate off perfectly, even with the amount of blue that I wanted and the lack of real true blue flowers that exist. The bouquets were also amazing and the perfect size. I had a charm put on each bridesmaids bouquet and Gina incorporated this very well.
I met Gina out in Grayslake after a referral from theknot saying she was very good at working with budgets. I was on a tight budget with flowers and didn't think I cared anything about how the flowers looked. Think again! I found out after our consultation that I was actually very picky about flowers. I had previously met with another florist that was very nice but wasn't very good at getting back to me. I never had this problem with Gina. She was very attentive to my emails and if I sent her a picture of something I found or liked she had it printed at our next appointment. I had a pretty set design of what I wanted, including flowers emerged in water. I wanted to use specifically brightly dyed orchids which the first florist thought was a great idea. Gina (gently) explained that we could do what I wanted of course but that those flowers' dye would float into the water and turn it blue. The previous florist had not even mentioned this or indicated that he knew about this. I knew then that I would book Gina.
I had no interaction with Gina on the day of the wedding so I can't vouch for that. The bouquets were waiting at the church and she pinned the boutineers on the guys. The reception centerpieces were amazing and exactly what we discussed. She really pulled the color palate off perfectly, even with the amount of blue that I wanted and the lack of real true blue flowers that exist. The bouquets were also amazing and the perfect size. I had a charm put on each bridesmaids bouquet and Gina incorporated this very well.
Photographer-Victoria Sprung
A+
Photography was probably one of the most important things to me. After all, it lasts forever! Victoria did both our engagement shoot and our wedding. She was amazing at both. For the engagement pictures I wanted to go ice skating at Millenium Park for something different. It didn't cause Victoria to skip a beat and she got a lot of great shots!
Everytime I called or emailed her she returned my call within 24 hours. She also was able to help me with my day of timeline because I wasn't sure how long things would take.
She is very unobtrusive and takes natural photographs. I wanted very few staged shots so we just got what was required by the parents and were done. We had a delay waiting for the limo at the church and so she took my husband and I across the street to the Daley plaza and took some pictures there. She also posted some sneak peek pictures for us around 2 AM after the wedding reception which were an amazing surprise the next morning! Victoria is highly talented. She is very professional and clearly knows what she is doing. I hope we're still in the Chicago area in 3+ years when we have kids so Victoria can photograph them as well!
Photography was probably one of the most important things to me. After all, it lasts forever! Victoria did both our engagement shoot and our wedding. She was amazing at both. For the engagement pictures I wanted to go ice skating at Millenium Park for something different. It didn't cause Victoria to skip a beat and she got a lot of great shots!
Everytime I called or emailed her she returned my call within 24 hours. She also was able to help me with my day of timeline because I wasn't sure how long things would take.
She is very unobtrusive and takes natural photographs. I wanted very few staged shots so we just got what was required by the parents and were done. We had a delay waiting for the limo at the church and so she took my husband and I across the street to the Daley plaza and took some pictures there. She also posted some sneak peek pictures for us around 2 AM after the wedding reception which were an amazing surprise the next morning! Victoria is highly talented. She is very professional and clearly knows what she is doing. I hope we're still in the Chicago area in 3+ years when we have kids so Victoria can photograph them as well!
Videographer-Shoot The Bride films (Jeff Manimbo)
I'm not going to give Shoot The Bride a grade because the review would be so mixed.
Here's the good first:
Jeff is an amazing videographer. We met with him in January after I found him on craigslist. He was looking to open his own business instead of working for studios like he currently was. Since he didn't have much work to use as an example and he was trying to create referrals, we got him for a very low cost. We would have not been able to afford a videographer otherwise. The first 2 months he was great. He shot a "Save The Date" video for us that we sent out in an email to all our guests. He completed the editing and completing very quickly and was responsive.
Here's the downside:
After Jeff completed the Save The Date film, we didn't hear from him for 6 months. He was supposed to send us a hard copy of the DVD with the video on it and we never received it. I sent him an email asking about it and didn't hear back. Throughout the next 6 months I sent emails, called, facebook messaged, and even wrote on his facebook wall. Eventually I decided not to worry about it, if he showed up on the wedding day he showed up and if he didn't, well, he didn't.
We finally heard from him on Sunday before the wedding. He sent an apology email, explaining that his business grew very fast and he was having trouble keeping up with it and he would be there on the day of.
The Wedding Day:
Jeff showed up on time to the hotel. He was unobrusive and friendly with everyone. I didn't notice him at all during the ceremony. He also brought a second shooter who accompanied us on the limo. While we were taking pictures between the ceremony and reception, Jeff did a same day edit to play at our reception which was a HUGE hit.
Like I said before, Jeff is very talented and good at what he does. He's also a very friendly person! I think once he gets some of the kinks worked out with the business side of things, he will be highly in demand. I wouldn't write him off but just proceed with caution :)
Here's the good first:
Jeff is an amazing videographer. We met with him in January after I found him on craigslist. He was looking to open his own business instead of working for studios like he currently was. Since he didn't have much work to use as an example and he was trying to create referrals, we got him for a very low cost. We would have not been able to afford a videographer otherwise. The first 2 months he was great. He shot a "Save The Date" video for us that we sent out in an email to all our guests. He completed the editing and completing very quickly and was responsive.
Here's the downside:
After Jeff completed the Save The Date film, we didn't hear from him for 6 months. He was supposed to send us a hard copy of the DVD with the video on it and we never received it. I sent him an email asking about it and didn't hear back. Throughout the next 6 months I sent emails, called, facebook messaged, and even wrote on his facebook wall. Eventually I decided not to worry about it, if he showed up on the wedding day he showed up and if he didn't, well, he didn't.
We finally heard from him on Sunday before the wedding. He sent an apology email, explaining that his business grew very fast and he was having trouble keeping up with it and he would be there on the day of.
The Wedding Day:
Jeff showed up on time to the hotel. He was unobrusive and friendly with everyone. I didn't notice him at all during the ceremony. He also brought a second shooter who accompanied us on the limo. While we were taking pictures between the ceremony and reception, Jeff did a same day edit to play at our reception which was a HUGE hit.
Like I said before, Jeff is very talented and good at what he does. He's also a very friendly person! I think once he gets some of the kinks worked out with the business side of things, he will be highly in demand. I wouldn't write him off but just proceed with caution :)
D.J.-Windy City Mix (Rodrigo Alvear and Carlos)
A+
Rodrigo is an awesome D.J.! Our guests were dancing from the moment that dinner was cleared off the tables until the last dance. Carlos more or less MC'd the night but not in an overbearing way. Rodrigo is great with timelines and makes things very efficient with online access to song lists and scheduling. Your guests can add to song requests and you can submit all of your music for first dances, entrances, cake cutting, etc on his website. I would highly recommend letting any D.J. that you have take control of the playlist. If you don't trust them with the playlist you shouldn't hire them (IMO). They should be able to read the dance floor and guests and play what's appropriate at that time. Rodrigo was definitley that D.J. for us. He is always looking for ways to expand his business by offering uplighting and eventually a photobooth. We didn't take advantage of this but it would have been nice had we needed to. He's also very affordable and only offers a package to stay all night so you don't have to worry about paying for varying hours.
Rodrigo is an awesome D.J.! Our guests were dancing from the moment that dinner was cleared off the tables until the last dance. Carlos more or less MC'd the night but not in an overbearing way. Rodrigo is great with timelines and makes things very efficient with online access to song lists and scheduling. Your guests can add to song requests and you can submit all of your music for first dances, entrances, cake cutting, etc on his website. I would highly recommend letting any D.J. that you have take control of the playlist. If you don't trust them with the playlist you shouldn't hire them (IMO). They should be able to read the dance floor and guests and play what's appropriate at that time. Rodrigo was definitley that D.J. for us. He is always looking for ways to expand his business by offering uplighting and eventually a photobooth. We didn't take advantage of this but it would have been nice had we needed to. He's also very affordable and only offers a package to stay all night so you don't have to worry about paying for varying hours.
Limo-M&M Limo
C (pending contact with manager)
We booked with M&M because they didn't require us to have a time minimum on the amount of hours we had for that day. We only needed the limo for 2 hours and it was hard to find a company who would book for less then 3. My husband really wanted a limo bus so that's what we booked. He booked the 22 passenger bus but I'm almost postive that we had the 16 passenger as we had 14 people in the bus and it was pretty squished.
The bus was also 30-40 minutes late. We were on a VERY tight schedule for pictures so I was feeling a little nervous that I wouldn't get all the shots that I wanted. I know that the contract that they have you sign states that no refunds will be given because of traffic but it's 5:30 on a Friday in the city, so I'm not sure what other type of traffic they were expecting other then BAD traffic?
I would give them a lower grade but they agreed today to refund us half of what we paid them.
We booked with M&M because they didn't require us to have a time minimum on the amount of hours we had for that day. We only needed the limo for 2 hours and it was hard to find a company who would book for less then 3. My husband really wanted a limo bus so that's what we booked. He booked the 22 passenger bus but I'm almost postive that we had the 16 passenger as we had 14 people in the bus and it was pretty squished.
The bus was also 30-40 minutes late. We were on a VERY tight schedule for pictures so I was feeling a little nervous that I wouldn't get all the shots that I wanted. I know that the contract that they have you sign states that no refunds will be given because of traffic but it's 5:30 on a Friday in the city, so I'm not sure what other type of traffic they were expecting other then BAD traffic?
I would give them a lower grade but they agreed today to refund us half of what we paid them.
Cake and Pies--Sweet Cakes Bakery (small wedding cake) and Baker's Square (pies)
I had little interaction with these vendors but both were affordable, quick and easy to deal with. We only had a small wedding cake that we cut and then served pies to all the guests. Pies were a huge hit, I highly recommend it if you are not a fan of cake (like me). There were no leftovers!
On Site Hair and Makeup--C'zar Salon and Spa (Melissa-hair for bride, BM and MOB Gina-airbrush makeup for bride and MOB)
A
Disclaimer: Melissa is a friend :)
My friend Melissa's salon recently started an on-site program so I asked her for quotes along with most of the typical vendors that people call on the knot. C'zar's prices were similiar to other vendors for BMs but a lot less expensive for my own hair and makeup. I ended up paying for part of the BMs hair because I thought it was a little on the pricey side and I had budgeted to pay more then what mine was going to cost anyway. Both my hair and makeup turned out amazing! I had trials with both Melissa and Gina that needed some tweaking on the day of but they both listened to what I wanted and adjusted everything perfectly. Gina was great with my mom's makeup because she almost never wears any and was really nervous about it. Gina did very natural colors and made sure my mom felt comfortable with everything.
Disclaimer: Melissa is a friend :)
My friend Melissa's salon recently started an on-site program so I asked her for quotes along with most of the typical vendors that people call on the knot. C'zar's prices were similiar to other vendors for BMs but a lot less expensive for my own hair and makeup. I ended up paying for part of the BMs hair because I thought it was a little on the pricey side and I had budgeted to pay more then what mine was going to cost anyway. Both my hair and makeup turned out amazing! I had trials with both Melissa and Gina that needed some tweaking on the day of but they both listened to what I wanted and adjusted everything perfectly. Gina was great with my mom's makeup because she almost never wears any and was really nervous about it. Gina did very natural colors and made sure my mom felt comfortable with everything.
Airbrush Tanning--Le Sole Tanning
A
I went here because I got a Groupon for their services. The lady that does the airbrush tanning is very professional. I did the airbrush twice before the wedding to make sure that I was getting the shade tht I wanted. The tan turned out very well and she was good at letting me know what she was doing at the time. She did tell me that she did my face a little lighter since I was getting airbrush makeup, the shade could be adjusted and that way there was no fear of streaks or it being too dark. My husband also did the airbrush tan (from the waist up) here and his turned out fine as well.
I went here because I got a Groupon for their services. The lady that does the airbrush tanning is very professional. I did the airbrush twice before the wedding to make sure that I was getting the shade tht I wanted. The tan turned out very well and she was good at letting me know what she was doing at the time. She did tell me that she did my face a little lighter since I was getting airbrush makeup, the shade could be adjusted and that way there was no fear of streaks or it being too dark. My husband also did the airbrush tan (from the waist up) here and his turned out fine as well.
