Poor service & wrong car
So we are told by elite that if we want the 300M limo we can't have it in white, and it's a wedding and I want white, so we opt for the towncar instead. On my wedding day, the guy that shows up is in a black town car. Not a great way to start off...also, we were told it was a 10-person, and we had 6 adult women and 4 small children (ages 8, 7, 5 and 2) and we barely fit. The driver was not rude, but not nice in any way. Barely spoke, and the only upside was that he put on some cartoons in the back for us when some of the flower girls were restless. Not a big deal on all this since it was just for the ride to the church and then to the hall, but still alot to spend for subpar service and not getting the right vehicle. Lastly, due to some traffic, we went over our time, and the guy lowered the window as my new husband and I were in the back about 20 min after being married and said we would have to pay more and asked us how we were going to pay for it. Just seemed very classless to do that right then (and since they already had our credit card on file!!!).
Cigars for everyong!
My soon to be husband had gotten into cigars in the last few years, and I had decided as a wedding day suprise to hire a place to come and hand-roll cigars during the reception. This was a HUGE hit with the crowd! We ran out of cigars! I had planned for about 1/2 my guests but tons wanted to try them and many people took an extra ;o) I had called a few places but Habana Cigar House in rolling meadows seemed like a nicer Francis was wonderful and very friendly to the guests. If you have a cigar lover in your life this is a GREAT gift for him and your guests!!! The people smoking them said they were VERY tasty (and they were huge!)
Just get more than you think you need!!!
Not your average DJ
We didn't want a stereotypical cheesy DJ for our wedding, and were very happy w/ Toast & Jam. Simple, professional and not trying to be the center of the party, they were defintiely what they advertised. Nice that they brought some remote speakers so we could have good music in our cocktail area during cocktail hour. Good job on doing the intros and such without making a spectacle. Handled suprises w/ both the bride and groom with ease. Only drawback - could have handled requests from guests better. We didn't want a bunch of cheesy songs, but when repeated requests were given, could have checked w/ us. Also didn't have a standard library of songs which was suprising ("we are family" was not available) but overall VERY happy with the night.
Disclaimer: I used to work as an editor at Furla Video. However, this only makes me MORE aware of their great quality! I was lucky enough to have Chris Chibucos (head of Furla Video) as my videographer. Chris is an amazing shooter with years and years of experience in Wedding videography. He has won numerous awards from WEVA and speaks at conferences for them and Adobe. Furla's quality is top-notch. They have the best equipment and that shows through in amazing looking video. This is NOT a $500 video, but there are reasons for that. Video is not a priority for some at their wedding, and I understand that...but if you want it, pay for a good one, or else have your "uncle jack" videotape the wedding. The only reason they are not 5 stars is their price, but I was willing to pay it! I am so happy that Furla was able to do my wedding!!!
I was referred to Robb by a professional photographer I used to work with, and I could NOT be happier with him! Young, energetic and a great eye make him a perfect photographer to get every special shot. Everyone that has seen my highlight photos has raved about how amazing he is! NOTE: Robb does what YOU want, so if you want to have alot of posed photos (wasn't a priority for me) bring a shot list or send to him ahead of time so you get those, otherwise he will go with the flow of the day and not try to over direct everything! Also, having a second photographer at Robb's prices was amazing.
My experience while picking out my flowers at Village Flower Shop was fabulous. They have a great way of going through this process to really figure out what you want (since I defintiely didn't know already!). I was introduced to amazing flowers that I never even saw before, and they looked amazing. I thought the arrangements seemed a bit on the small side overall, but they were beautiful. The vendor showed up on time with everything (except my toss dasies which we didn't notice until much later) at each location. I opted for simple loose flowers around a vase w/ lighted rocks for the reception, and they looked great ;o) Good pricing as well, I was happily suprised with my quote!
Great Service & Value
I was VERY worried I wouldn't find a quality salon close to my mother's home in Plainfield where I was getting ready for my wedding day. Instead, I was lucky enough to find not just a good salon for Plainfield, but an AMAZING salon! Salon Giovanni is a gem in the "sticks". Marisa did my hair and was able to completely capture what I wanted for this most special of days. She worked with me and made suggestions that ended up being EXACTLY what I wanted! She was also fun, calming and very personable! Allina did my makeup and everyone remarked how nice, natural and beautiful I looked (and I defintiely felt that as well!). I have gotten makeup done several times by other salons and you always feel like you're wearing a ton of gunk and it's smearing all over your eyes w/in a few hours. This didn't happen at ALL with Allina! It stayed throughout the night and was never a problem. LOVE these ladies!!! Oh, and their prices wee about 1/2 of what you would pay in the city ;o)
Rolf's was the baker that my hall offered, so I didn't look around. There were some odd issues that when I showed up with some ideas for a unique cake they gave a verbal upcharge that was in my range, but then came back w/ an actual quote that was more than double that amount. I chose not to do the special cake then and just pick from my availble cakes within my package (which were very nice). However, after talking w/ the hall, they called rolf's then all the sudden my upcharge was back in the okay range. Very odd. I was a tiny bit disappointed with the execution of my cake (designed to look like a ski hill) I thought it could have had a bit more style/creativity for the $550 extra I paid (above my package allowance). However, the guests said the cake was VERY good ( I never go to taste it!!!). I got the marble chiffon cake w/ 2 layers of white chocolate filling and 2 layers of orange dreamsicle filling. They were wonderful at the tasting!