Dgirl25's reviews

My husband purchased my engagement ring and we purchase our wedding bands from Whitehall Jewelers. They offered a great variety of styles, options, and price ranges to suit various needs. Their packages include cleanings, which was an added bonus. My husband went with an offer that included 12 months no interest financing on my engagement ring, so we went back and received the same offer on our wedding bands. The staff was friendly and the service was straightforward.

Okyne Medialab created a photo montage of my husband and I from the time we were babies to our wedding date, for our reception. He also created our wedding favors, which were CD’s of our “greatest hits.” He synced up the slide show to our first dance- the first dance song and the photos of our life together started when we were having our first dance. It was very professional and very well put together! Although I could have attempted to do these things on my own, it was so nice to know that he was taking care of everything. (He's also a professional and did, I'm sure, 120% better of a job than I could have ever done)! The best part was that he didn't charge me and arm and a leg!

I don't really have very much to say about Cardinal Limousine, as the facts speak for themselves:

They forgot to pick up the groom when they were scheduled to. There must have been a communication error between the driver and the management company.

When I ordered the limo, I requested any white SUV limo that was NOT a hummer. The day of my wedding, they sent me a Hummer.

The best man called and complained about these glitches- so we ended up getting a free limo to and from the airport for our honeymoon- they were 20 minutes late.

Enough said?

I purchased my bridesmaids gowns from House of Brides. I purchased from them only because they carried the color of gown that I had my heart set on. My experience with the salon, however, was very impersonal. The Bill Levkoff gown that I selected came in my color and flattered the various body types of my bridesmaids- so that part was wonderful. At the store, however, I received minimal assistance, and had to flag down a consultant when I had questions. I had to do all of the work myself, as the sales staff was too busy to assist me in narrowing down my selection and figure out the color swatches for each dress. It wasn’t the staff’s fault, however, as there were 12 groups of women there, and only 2 sales people. Had I gone in there to buy my gown, I would’ve walked right out. Overall, my gowns came in on time. They did, however, recommend sizes for my bridesmaids that were too large, then pushed us to have alteration done on-site. Luckily my grandmother is an expert seamstress and was able to do them, so my bridesmaids didn't incur the extra costs of alterations.

I got my gown from Bridal Mansion in Lisle. I’m not kidding I think I hit up every salon in the Chicago area,it took me 6 months to find my gown. Bridal Mansion is a very intimate salon- they have a small staff which provided a very personal experience. The consultant, Sharon, was selecting gowns for me and picked out a couple of lace gowns. I really didn’t think I was going to like it- but when I tried it on, I loved it—and I loved Sharon. A lot of the places I went to didn’t really listen to what I was saying, but I felt that Sharon really listened to what I said. She was knowledgeable about flattering my figure and had an eye for selecting gowns that fit my taste. My gown was simple, but classic. She was so helpful. We tried to do our bridesmaid’s gowns with Bridal Mansion, but I needed a specific color that they didn’t offer. Sharon was so nice to refer me to another salon that could help me!

Our wedding cake was from Orland Bakery, but we ordered it through Palos Country club. We actually had such a great experience, I went back to get my mom’s birthday cake from there! I’m not a big cake person, and neither is my husband. We were more doing it for show, and for the photos. Miranda, from Palos Country Club, recommended the yellow cake, chocolate mousse, hands down. We were more concerned with what it looked like on the outside- so that was an easy decision. Orland Bakery customized the cake design to fit the theme of my wedding. All of the wedding fabrics and linens were in ivory, so they tinted the icing so it wouldn’t be bright white- and would blend with my colors. The taste of the cake was amazing— people are still talking about how delicious it was. My husband and I can’t wait for October to roll around to eat the top layer!

My husband and I attend a black tie charity event each year. So when we were considering tuxedos for our wedding, the sales staff at Black Tie Formalwear recommended that he just purchase a tuxedo for $300, instead of renting one each year, plus one for the wedding. The staff was very helpful, and made the process very easy for us concerning our out of town groomsmen. They offered helpful ideas when it came to matching wardrobe with my gown. They also gave us a nice price break on the children’s tuxedos- they were only $50, other places were charging the full amount for children’s tuxedos. Because my husband purchased his tux, all the groomsmen received 20% off their rentals, so the rentals ended up costing about $100 per person. We also ordered our invitations through Black Tie, but unfortunately and fortunately the invitations came in the wrong font. It wasn't necessarily Black Tie's fault, but more so the printer's error. It ended up working out fine, however, because the wrong font was much smaller than the one we had originally ordered. This left an excess amount of space on the invitation. My sister embossed each invitation where there was space, and it ended up looking more beautiful than what we had ordered.

My father suggested this location, because he had attended some events there in the past. The theme of our wedding was fall colors, and I selected the site because of the beautiful view of the outdoors. We worked with Miranda, who was excellent, and she always made sure that all the details were in order. She sent me email reminders throughout the planning process, letting me know when she needed a head count and other information, and she kept me informed about the timeline and the decisions I needed to make. My mom's main concern for the reception, was that she didn't want anyone to have to wait for drinks during the night. So, Palos was so nice as to put an extra bartender on midway through the night, even though people were barely waiting. A couple (12-14) of our guests got flu-like/food-poisoning like symptoms the night of the wedding. So that was of concern. Had that had not happened, our experience would have been perfect.

I was referred to Phillip's Flowers in Westmont by my best friend’s sister. George was our consultant. I was very picky about coloring, but I allowed each of my bridesmaids to select the type of main flower they wanted her bouquet, then my bouquet contained all of the flowers that each of my bridesmaid's held. After explaining this to George, he immediately began putting samples together and switching things to fit my taste. Everything was on time the day of the wedding. We had a perfect experience with Phillip's, down to every little detail. The woman that delivered the flowers rolled my grandmother’s rosary into the stem portion of my bouquet, right in my living room. Phillip's provided excellent customer service and attention to detail. I also received so many compliments about our flowers when people saw the photos!

For our wedding, we used Modern Image Studios for both the photography and the videography. The videography was great. Brian, a full-time employee of the studio, was our videographer (as opposed to a contractor). I honestly forgot he was there for most of the day! But when I saw the video, he captured everything! We went with a package that was more "photojournalistic" in style. For the finished, edited copy, we selected music and the end product was very classy and contemporary. They were savvy to the latest trends in wedding videos, and ours will be a keepsake that we will treasure forever!

My photographer’s name was Erica- she was very personable and interacted beautifully with all the children at the wedding. She was also excellent at keeping the timeline of the day in check. Erica has an artistic and photojournalistic style that we were drawn to from the day we decided to work with Modern Image Studio. We were able to select our photographer based on viewing a variety portfolios, and Erica's work was both memorable and beautiful.
While our experience with our photographer was excellent, working with the studio after our wedding was less desirable. I was told my photos would be posted online by a certain date, and they weren’t actually posted until over 2 weeks later. It appeared that there were some communication problems with the office staff, as we were told different things by different people when we called to inquire. Overall we were very happy with the photography and the quality of the images. However, it was frustrating to see weddings that had happened after our wedding being uploaded before ours were. We were told photos would take 6-8 weeks to be posted online, and in acuality it took 11 weeks.