From the very beginning the Hotel Allegro and Kerry were more than accommodating. We gave her a budget and she made it happen! They let us do all the personal touches we wanted, including bringing in lambic beer for our toasts. Everything was where it was supposed to be, when it was supposed to be there. Kerry is so on top of it--I can't believe how she seemingly can be in so many places at one time!

We rented the party suite for the day of the wedding. It was huge and beautiful, with a pool table and plasma TV, stereo system, high boy tables and lots of comfy couches and chairs. We ordered food for the after party delivered there, and it worked out perfectly. We were allowed to use it all weekend for one (discounted) price of one night, so that was a fabulous bonus!

The staff working at the hotel treated us like royalty. They were quick with our requests for things like more towels, glasses, etc. The rooms were clean and comfortable, and we got a complimentary bottle of champagne delivered to our suite the night of the wedding. I couldn't have asked for a more well-oiled machine!

Highly Recommended--A+++

This place is ridiculous! They give you SO much food! Everything was served family style and it was way more food than even 30 people could eat. It was very, very good and the server was awesome and funny. He treated my vegetarian bridesmaids like queens--making sure they had enough food they could eat--and was just overall very enthusiastic and fun. Minor snag was that another party was in our space before we got there and we were a little delayed being seated. Otherwise, they get our vote!

Recommended--A- (only for the seating issue)

I met Kristen back in March and she is just a darling lady and so good at what she does! I only had her make my bouquet and some pin-on corsages for the moms/grandmas, but she did a lovely job! The bouquet was HUGE! It had to weigh a good 8 pounds! It was gorgeous, though, and she incorporated some ostrich feathers into it along with gorgeous orchids and tulips in our colors. We gave the bouquet away to the longest married couple and they were just thrilled with it!

Kristen told me she ordered her flowers from Kennicott brothers wholesale, so I had my bridesmaid Terry go there to get flowers to make the centerpieces. They turned out beautifully as well, so kudos to them, Kristen, AND Terry for making it all look so amazing!
oh, and Kristen blogged about it! =)
Highly Recommended--A+

Jeff is a friend of ours who does fab work for my dance troupe. He's not a traditional wedding photographer, and only does them as favors for friends. Either way, he was terrific to work with and we're certain he took great pictures! More to post when we get them back...

It was serendipitous that we found Stolie, who we happen to know from college! She did a great job with our music--she played everything we requested and played well to the audience. She and her assistant were even dancing along with the music, so I guess that's a testament to our tastes as well! =)  Highly recommended--they were great and tons of fun. A+

Agnes from lovelulumae.com is a fantastic artist! She custom made my reception hairpiece as well as the hairpieces for the bridesmaids. She did a fabulous job and I highly recommend her for custom work! A

Marguerite was such a pleasure to work with! She was very professional and made our ceremony really personalized. Everyone raved about how beautiful and unique the ceremony was, and we give her mad props for it.

Highly Recommended--A+++

The hotel is contracted with Rolf's. We did our tasting in February, and I had totally forgotten what the cake even tasted like. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was! They designed it exactly like I had asked and it was great! My only 'issue' was that people didn't get to choose their flavors and I wish I'd made more of the cake red velvet, but that wasn't their fault. They had a sort of bad rap for not doing custom orders well, but they were spot-on for us.
Recommended A

Holy crap did they make a fabulous (and delicious) cake! It's a weird design (Eddie, the mascot for the band Iron Maiden) and they pulled it off super-well!

I had gone through a few bakeries and independent bakers to do this cake. When the one I picked flaked on me (no pun intended), I looked at two more, including Vanille. Most places wanted around 500-1000 for a custom 3D cake. Vanille did it for 300, and they made it twice the size we asked for! The baker, Kelly, was amazing and said she had so much fun making it! Joel LOVED it and everyone was amazed by it! It was super heavy, but it tasted great and we couldn't have been more thrilled.

SUPER Highly-Recommended! A+++++

Our request was very basic/simple, but Czarina made it happen and was very nice about everything. The tables looked great (we just used purple and wine overlays) and matched our colors exactly. Nothing but good things to say about them!
Recommended--A

Cortne was great! She did my hair/makeup as well as the hair for one of my bridesmaids and mother-in-law. Everyone loved her work--zero complaints! I only wish I could've kept my hair like that forever!
Highly Recommended--A+

I know nothing about tuxes except that usually they're black. These guys were good--got all our tuxes on time even for the out of towners. Only problem was that they gave one OOT groomsman kids pants. They said they thought the order was off because of how tiny his waist size was. Yes, he's a little skinny, but really? Kids pants? They fixed it ASAP so it was fine, but still--kids pants?
Still recommended--B

Dress shopping was a real hassle for me. I actually thought they made it pretty easy! I had heard not so good things about Demetrios in Schaumburg, but we had a lovely experience. They were nice and attentive and everything came in on time. No harassment calls about getting alterations either (which is great cuz I didn't use them anyway). Can't really complain--they were great.
Recommended--A

Happy to say that all the rave is true. Mary is fabulous at what she does, and super sweet to boot! I didn't need much other than taking the top in, hemming and bustling, and it cost $100. Very reasonable, considering the bridal shop alterations would have been about 200 to start. And the bustle was nice and super easy. I'd go back to her for dress work in a heartbeat!
Highly recommended--A++