My husband went here on a reccomendation and we have been so plese with them. The gentleman who helped my husbad was Scott, he has since become he only person we see inregard to jewelry. Scott was extremely patient and helpful, not pressuring my husband to get one thing over another and just helping him to decide what would be right for me. Not only did I get an amazing ring that screams my name the quality is top notch and we now have a jewer from whom we can purchase all of my future jewelry :)!!! I hope.

If your looking for a high quality dress made of high quality fabric start here. Amsale makes beutiful dress and the fabric is so lovely. The one thing to consider when choosing bridesmaids gowns is how the fabric will photograph. Alsthough they were pricey they looked amazing on person and just as amazing in photographs. Many shops will offer a 15% discount if you order 4+ dresses, make sure you ask. Also, tell them that your wedding is earlier than it really is to ensure that you have enough time to ship/alter the dresses.

After a poor experience at Bittersweet we met with Mary at Take the Cake for a tasting. What a wonderful experience she made our tasting. She worked with us privately and helped us come to a decision on a cake that was absolutely amazing. Furthermore, I provided a picture of a cake I liked and told her about some changes that I would like to make. She made the cake more wonderful than I could have asked for. She also worked with the florest to make sure that the cake topper (florest provided) would be the perfect dimensions.

As delicious and beautiful as their cakes are, their service is equally as bad. We had an appointment with the designer who evidently overbooked. My husband and I sat there for close to two hours while she assisted a woman with a birthday cake for a 5 year old. We finally had our tasting and were quite impressed with the quality of the cake, however the whole experience left a bad taste in our mouths. When I read a review and found out that another bride had a similar experience we decided not to use Bittersweet.

St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church in Lakeview was an amazing setting for a church ceremony. St. Al's boasts the longest aisle in the Chicagoland area, drawing many brides to it. However, you must be a parishoner before you can schedule your wedding ceremony there. It is well worth it though. They provide a coordinator who will help you in advance of the day and on the day. Additionaly, there is a wonderful music director at St. Al's who is very helpful in helping decide the music for the ceremony.

Godmother's flowers in Oak Park is amazing. It's 2 women who operate out of the home and they won't schedule more than one even a day. This is fantastic because they are hands on for you the whole time. People thought she was the wedding coordinator! Bride,bridesmaids and reception flowers were delieverd to the hotel (where everything took place) ceremony flowers were delivered to the church and then transported to the reception site. Additionally, the flowers were so amazing I could not have asked for more. Their beauty and freshness were top of the line. Every wedding I have ever been in the bouquet was dead within a day - not these they were fresh for days! Two big thumbs up for Fairy Godmother's

This place is horrible. I ordered my bridesmaids dresses from this shop, thank heavens I didn't order my wedding dress from here too. All of my bridesmaids were non-local so upon recepit at the shop the dresses needed to be sent to various states. I was told the dresses would arrive the 3rd week in July - 8 weeks before my wedding. When the dresses didn't come in I followed up with the shop - they didn't return calls when they said they would and supplied with me no information. It was up to me to contact them to get some type of info on when these dresses would arrive. All they told me was not to worry. The dresses finally arrived 2 weeks before the wedding and the Exclusives wouldn't even pay the shipping for me - the needed to be shipped overnight so there would be enought time to have alterations done. Exclusives tried to blame this on the vendor so I contaced to vendor only to find out that Exclusives had entered my wedding date as 12/17 NOT 9/17. Terrible terrible service!

If you are looking for a non-traditional photographer in the Chicagoland area Ocken is fantastic. We were very please with the level of professionalism and that he did everything just as we had discussed. We really wanted to made sure that there were plenty of "candid" shots and not so many posed/forced shots. Chris Ocken did a great job of captuing this while making sure that all of the needed pics were taken, family, first kiss, first dance, etc. We were so please with our wedding pictures that we have hired Chris Ocken to take pictures of our son!