bella4's reviews

After meeting with other photography companies, we knew we wanted to go with George Street because not only did they offer the best package, but the work of their photographers is beautiful & artistic. We chose our photographer, Brian Cowen based on dvd's we were shown on photographers whose style we had wanted which was candid & photojournalistic. Brian's photographs all seemed to tell a story that you felt drawn to, he captured such beautiful images and has a talented eye for detail. Our wedding coordinator (which was part of our package), Emily Spain was such a pleasure to work with & provided exceptional customer service. She responded to my numerous questions & had great suggestions when we were undecided on a location for our post ceremony pics. Brian showed up early to the church, was such an easy going guy & very professional. When we looked at our pictures, we'd often ask each other "when did he take that one?!" which goes to show that he was not intrusive at all. We are pleased with how our pictures turned out, although after sitting down to look at each and every one with patience, I was a little disappointed that there was not one full length shot of my new hubby & I at the church which I was hoping to frame. Another one of our pictures where we are sitting on a bench, looked really good at first, until I took a better look to see trucks in the background :( Brian did capture a lot of special moments that we wish we could relive over again, I just wish that we had that one full length picture as well as not having the trucks in the background. I recommend George Street & Brian, although when I was a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding recently, I noticed that her photographer would take the time to fix her dress in between taking pictures & gave more direction for the photos she had requested to be taken at the church.

I am so grateful that Divine did my hair & makeup for my wedding day! I had numerous trials & not one of them understood the look I was going for, not to mention were ridiculously overpriced! I wanted to look like a natural & better version of myself & these other artists were cakeing on the makeup & giving me hairstyles that aged me 10 years!! Divine was a breath of fresh air! She is very personable, sweet, patient & very talented. For my trial, she tried various looks on me & all of them were so great I had trouble deciding. On the morning of the wedding, she arrived promptly at 7am & got to work on me & my MOH, she asked me what kind of music I liked & played it on her phone to help me relax, she is so thoughtful :) When she was finished, my eyes started to tear up because when I looked in the mirror, it was exactly the look I had envisioned! A woman's wedding day is one of the most important moments in her life & you want to feel beautiful and happy. She made my hair look amazing & my makeup look flawless and once I put on my dress & veil, it all went together beautifully. Divine is very passionate about her work & she truly listens to what you ask for, she is genuinely sweet, professional & she will not disappoint! Check out my bio & see what a great job she did. I got so many compliments on my hair & makeup and the morning after my wedding, my hair had the kind of beautiful loose waves that I've always seen in magazines. I most definitely plan on having her do my hair & makeup for all of my special occassions. LOVE her!!!!!!!!

The reason we went with Sounds Abound was because DH's sister had them at her wedding & they were magnificent! We met with Jeff & talked about how we wanted to make sure our guests were having a great time & how important the music would be because we were inviting people who love to dance. Jeff was a pleasure to talk to & after we put down a deposit for the signature gold package, we came home to view a video clip of their DJs to see which one we'd want to hire. Well, the one that stood out to me was Danny Diebold, although his request fee was $200 (only three of their 23 DJ's had a request fee). I really wanted to book Danny & DH agreed that he was exacltly what we were looking for in a DJ so we booked him. Upon meeting Danny, he has such a genuine kindness about him, knows his music very well & takes great pride & has a passion for his work. He helped us when we were stumped with songs for intros. & was quick to respond to our questions. We had a big bridal party (14 people total) and he was wonderful at getting them all together & ready to be introduced. Danny was very organized, attentive & a great DJ overall! When needed he would let us know what was coming up & we did not have one worry whatsoever. We all had such a wonderful time dancing, we were so bummed when it came to an end. The Sounds Abound website is very easy to navigate, they also have a wedding shop located in the store, where we bought quite a few things for our wedding as well as our invitations which turned out beautiful & elegant!! When you book Sounds Abound, you get a discount on anything you buy in their wedding shop & it applies to their invitations! We were so happy with the Sounds Abound staff, they treat you wonderfully & offer so many great options in their packages.

We booked the Hilton Lisle/Naperville as our venue and their wedding package included floral centerpieces & from the two florists they had to choose from, I decided to go with Walden Floral after seeing their work in a picture filled binder at the Hilton & in the gallery of the Walden Floral website. I met with the owner, Denise Walden who was so genuinely nice & since I don't know much about flowers, let alone the names of some of them, she offered great suggestions for my centerpieces while remaining within the Hilton package. I am so indecisive & Denise & her staff were an absolute joy to work with! About 3 months before our wedding, I made another appointment with Walden Floral & I was torn between having white hydrangeas & white orchids for our centerpieces & Jennifer said they were able to do both! She showed me what they'd look like, added a dark brown satin ribbon (dark brown was our orimary color)& it just looked beautiful! I received tons of compliments on the centerpieces, my friends know that I like simple, understated things & knew that I wasn't going for a crazy arrangement. The centerpieces added such elegance to our tables & I was beyond happy. I could not believe that this was part of our package at the Hilton! Check out their gallery, the ones marked Hilton are part of the package but they were extremely flexible to meet customer needs. Highly recommended!!

I cannot write enough wonderful things about the Hilton & their outstanding staff. DH & I took a day off from work & we visited about 7 venues without appointments. The Hilton Lisle/Naperville was our 2nd visit & we left there with a great impression but wanted to make sure we visited a few more places just to make sure before we put down a deposit. The Hilton offered the best package & price for our budget. They have a great selection of entree choices & included with the package was a 6 hour reception, 4 hours of open bar, floral centerpieces (you choose between 2 floral shops, I went with Walden Floral who were awesome!!), wedding cake (many delicious flavors to choose from), overnight stay for DH & I, free breakfast or brunch for DH & I the next morning AND a complimentary overnight stay on our 1 year anniversary! The cost will vary on the ballroom you choose. Since our guest list was 120 we were in the Woods ballroom & the food & bev. minimum was $6500 (not incl. fees, etc.) Due to our guest list we spent about $9000 because we offered our guests the option between 2 entree choices. The sales manager, Jamie Bunting was outstanding to work with, she was so personable, professional, quick to respond to my many questions, genuinely nice & went out of her way to make sure everything was as we envisioned our day to be :) We were saying how sad we'd be that we wouldn't be dealing with her after the wedding, it's like saying goodbye to a friend. The catering staff was remarkable, we got tons of compliments on them, the food, the ballroom, the centerpieces, we really could not have been more pleased. The entire staff at the Hilton really made our night more memorable & we did not worry about one thing the entire night. We decided to have our complimentary breakfast at their restaurant Allgauer's the next morning & it was delicious!! If we could do it all again, we would in a heartbeat, we'd only wish that the reception didn't fly by so quickly, we were having so much fun!

Due to the size of our bridal party (14 people, 16 incl. DH & I) this was the most reasonable transportation vendor I found after tirelessly searching for someone affordable. I dealt with Leah who was a true pleasure to work with. She was quick to respond to emails/voicemails & was very professional. My DH & I went to take a look at their limobus which was a nice size & for four hours, 6% fuel charge, ground fee ($27)& the 15% gratuity for the driver totaled out to $753. Other places were over $900 to start! The Aries Charter package included 1 case of beer, 2 bottles of champagne, 1 case of soda & bottled water too! Our driver, Roger was very prompt, extremely professional (arrived in uniform) & courteous. He knew the routes well & was truly wonderful. He drove us around a little longer since we were done early with pictures so that we could enjoy the full 4 hours we paid for. He definitely put our needs first & made sure we were comfortable & happy . I highly recommend Aries Charter for their professionalism, affordability, package, customer service, you name it, they were great!