The Marriage of Kate and Joel

Read the fine print.

Part of the hardest thing in planning a wedding is trying to find good vendors in your area. This is especially difficult if you're from another area, like I was! So, here are some vendors from the Chicagoland/DuPage County area, as well as some national wedding service offerings, to make comparison shopping a little easier. If you are looking for recommendations for other areas, check out the usenet newsgroups alt.wedding or soc.couples.wedding and ask for local listings.

Our ceremony was held at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, located on Church Road in Bensenville, Illinois. It was Joel's home church, and Pastor Jay Frazell was very helpful with everything. Joel's dad is the organist, so that was another thing we didn't really need to shop around for!

Our reception was held at Alta Villa, which is located on Addison Road in Addison, Illinois. We held our 125-person reception in the Venice Room, which can hold from 100 to 180 persons. Their rooms can be merged into one big room or separated into five smaller rooms. Not too much noise carryover on our wedding day, as the room next door wasn't being used, and the other wall was to the outside. Their boneless chicken breast in wine sauce and double-baked potatoes are *excellent*! Easily the most honest and helpful staff, and the best monetary bargain in the area. We ordered our cake through them, as they work with the nearby Italian Bakery on Lake Street. They took our change / suggestion to make one standard cake design better, and it came out absolutely stunning!

Our DJ was Dave from Great Lakes Entertainment / Weissmueller Entertainment, located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. We had seen Chuck Weissmueller DJ some friends' wedding, and talked to him about doing ours. Though Dave ended up doing our shindig, he and Chuck worked together to form the playlist and answer all of our questions. The DJ work by Dave was excellent, and these guys are highly recommended!

Our photographer was Phil from Grabari Studios on Lake Street in Roselle, Illinois. We had to assemble the albums ourselves, but it was nice because that way we had absolute control over the layouts, and could play around with the photos to get the best balance. We did go ahead and buy the proofs, and I'm really glad we did! We ended up switching some of our original photo selections with some proof pics. Good price, nice staff. They have a website at http://www.angelfire.com/il/photographers/. They only shoot four weddings on any given day, so that they can focus on what they're doing. Very accomodating!

Our florist was Gus from Addison Floral on Lake Street in Addison, Illinois. Gus was the friendliest lady! She brought out a handful of cut blossoms and held them together to approximate how a bouquet might look. Always willing to put together a visual approximation, Gus took the time to give us friendly and personal service for our bouquets.

My dress was an Alfred Angelo, purchased at Marrilee Bridal on Golf Road in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I also purchased a BelAire veil from the shop. I ordered a year in advance, so I didn't really worry about when the items would ship. I just needed to maintain my weight! The staff members were friendly, on-time, knowledgeable, and honest. No snipped tags or off-brands here! Their prices were very reasonable, and their selection rocked-- cheap bargains through expensive treats. One caveat-- when I bought there the alterations were a flat rate. It's steep if you're a perfect size six and need only the tiniest bit of waist-nipping, but it's a godsend if you're a short chick like myself and need four or five fittings to get the whole package to look right!

My shoes were a pair of royal blue Doc Martens, in a Mary-Jane style. I purchased them from Nordstrom at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. Nordstrom is rightly famous for its great selection of shoes.

The bridesmaid dresses were hand-sewn by Joel's sisters and a friend of the family, but the McCall's pattern and fabric were purchased from a Hancock Fabrics in Lombard, Illinois. No problems there!

Hair and makeup for the ladies came from Lynda and other stylists at Eddie Caruso Day Spa on Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, Illinois. The prices were high, but the quality of the work was worth it-- every maid had a different updo, and they even got my junior Bridesmaid's hair just as she'd wanted it-- a braid made up of smaller braids. We all looked wonderful, and I looked like a Greek goddess.

The tuxedoes were ordered from Gingiss Tuxedo at Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Their staff were friendly, and the chain has a good selection nationwide. No problems with getting measurements sent in from groomsmen. They also had a discount for the dads. The only snag was that our large best man received a vest that didn't fit, but the next day they were able to find a similar-color, different-style vest that did fit him. I didn't notice until much later.

Our guest accomodations, including for my parents, were from the Courtyard by Marriott on Wood Dale Road in Wood Dale, Illinois. The hotel was very clean, the price was reasonable for their level of quality in Chicago, and they offered a van to take people to and from the reception for just $100 extra. One of the best investments we made for the wedding was getting that van. The hotel pool and jacuzzi were a nice relief at the end of the rehearsal evening! Great breakfasts. You can find a Courtyard near you through the website http://www.courtyard.com/.

We ordered our invitations from Jamie Lee. You can order their catalog from any bridal magazine, or from some web catalog link lists. They were friendly and prompt over the phone, and were more than willing to send out samples. Their #K3712, a white single-card invitation, was of good quality and strong construction. They shipped very quickly, even though they called to warn us that the cardstock was temporarily backordered. Definitely the best of price and selection for what we wanted.

Our limousine was from Naperville Chauffeuring in Naperville, Illinois. Nice car, arrived on time. We just used it to get from the hotel to the church, and then to the reception. Friendly and on-time, and the best price I could find for a small 6-person limo.

Our first wedding registry was JCPenny for china, silverware, table linens, towels, and the like. People loved getting us their Royal Velvet towels! Very friendly service, and the registry is accessible from the web at http://www.jcpenny.com/. Too bad nobody but Mom's high school best friend decided to get us china from there! The staff at the Woodfield Mall JCPenny store, in Schaumburg, Illinois, were very helpful in assisting me with the whole process. Very neat to check the registry each week and watch those big fluffy towels disappear! Even though people bought us tons of crystal from there, we decided to keep it all, and had no returns.

Our second wedding registry was Target for bed linens, kitchenware, storage stuff, and the like. This one was a success! I just grabbed the barcode scanner gun and went wild. They didn't have the registry on the web in 1998. They do now have some Club Wedd info online in their "clubs" area, including preregistry online, though you can't check your actual registry online. We had only one duplicate gift, and they were very quick to give us a cash exchange for it as long as we had our Club Wedd gift registry card. Check them out at http://www.target.com/.

Please leave your comments before you go, so I can improve this site in the future!

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Last updated: 2003-05-28