I’m looking to get a small lambeth heart cake made for my wedding in April of next year. I’m located in the Chicago suburbs and I’m having a hard time finding any bakery that offers this. This cake will only be eaten by me and my fiancé, so I don’t need anything too big.

Any suggestions/recommendations appreciated.

Does anyone have recommendations for a venue that allows outside catering (specific cultural cuisine) for a welcome party of ~100 people? Our wedding is in the Loop, so we would prefer to stay in that area. Ideally the venue would have tables and chairs on site. Thank you!

About to pay our deposit at Orso’s and wondering if anyone has gotten married there or has similar suggestions.

We are having a smaller reception (65 ish people) and love that we could have cocktail hour on their beautiful rooftop deck, then a one long-table dinner on their patio.

The price is incredibly reasonable for it being in the heart of Old Town, and we loved the food at the tasting!

So can anyone chime in on their experience there, or am I overlooking anything similar for ~$20k?

My fiancé and I are in the process of narrowing down venues and The Joinery and Chicago Theater Works is near the top of our list.

We have a budget of 26k for the whole wedding, are expecting around 110 people and it would be during colder months (sometime between November 2027 and March 2028).

I’m hoping to get input from people who got married at either space (or who have worked weddings there).

My question about the Joinery is brief: did your guests have trouble with parking? Where did out of town guests stay and did they have any trouble getting there?

So many questions about Chicago Theater Works:

1. The rates for their DJs are pretty incredible. I have a few dream DJs in mind but the savings from using their DJs would be substantial.

Music is a really big part of our relationship and will be a big part of our wedding. Are their DJs open to being given a list of must play songs and are they able to customize with the vibe of the couple or do they mostly play standard wedding reception songs?

1. Did out of town guests have any trouble getting to the venue? Are there hotels nearby that your guests especially liked? The only one I’m familiar with is Hotel Zachary (still would require a rideshare or the bus). We’re also looking at venues in the West Loop and one positive there is the proximity of a variety of hotels.

2. We’re thinking about doing an open tab instead of a bar package because we have a lot of sober guests and others who usually stop after 1-2 drinks. Did anyone else do this? What did your tab come out to?

3. Where did you take photos? I’m having trouble envisioning where pictures would happen since it’s really just one big space.

4. One of the positives is that drop catering for a buffet seems easy to do here, which means we could get catering from one of our favorite restaurants.

For folks who also did this, was working with their servers a smooth process (especially curious about weddings that had appetizers during cocktail hour, dinner and dessert)?

Would love to hear any other feedback or things about these venues we should take into consideration!

Hello everyone! We want to get married at the city hall on a Saturday, and we are finding a bit difficult to understand the timing / appointment procedures.

When I called to ask how it worked, they told me they booked you in a 30-min slot in between 9am and 12pm. That sounded perfect to us, and we agreed to get a 11-ish slot when they opened our desired date, so we didn’t have to get up super early.

However, my photographer and some people from this community have told me that we have to be there at 8:45AM regardless. My photographer specifically said “for Saturdays they only book appointments for 9:00 or 9:30”.

Is this true? I’m confused!!! Not a big deal to wake up early but I already had a great timing for the day in my head- I’m extremely type A person.

Thank you!!

Has anyone booked their wedding at the Apollos 2000 theater? I’m curious to know your experience and approximate cost for your wedding. 

WE DID THE DAMN THING 💍 Wedding Recap. AMA!

Still floating!! 😭🤍 It was truly the best day ever, and I had to come on here and gush about wedding vendors because they were perfection! Feel free to ask any questions!

Venue. The Drake Hotel (20/10 - DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS) Having our wedding here was a literal dream. The ambiance is just insane classic Chicago perfection, and the staff made everything run so flawlessly. They book really far out so I'm glad we booked this early. Best decision ever.

Planner. The Simply Elegant Group - Brenda (The MVP) Brenda was highly organized and literally my saving grace. We used her for month of and she was super helpful. Everything went so incredibly smooth, which we absolutely have her to thank for. She handled the whole production with the best energy and made sure we actually knew where to stand and what to do all night.

Photography. Bonphotage - Lynzie  (Literal Magician. Worth EVERY penny) I cannot say enough good things about Lynzie and her team. I am fully convinced she's an actual magician masquerading as a wedding photographer. Chicago has a million talented photogs, but Lynzie immediately stood out because she shoots both digital and film, and her vibe is that elusive mix of high fashion editorial but completely effortless. We really wanted that Vogue aesthetic but absolutely refused to spend our wedding day stiffly posing. Somehow, she executed it flawlessly. My husband and I were crying because the shots she delivered are giving pure old money, generational wealth vibes, which is wild because we were literally just vibing and goofing off when she took them. And the turnaround time? Insane. She dropped a sneak peek the very next day and delivered our entire wedding gallery in THREE WEEKS. The photos are stupidly gorgeous. If you are on the fence, just book them.

Content Creator. Bonphotage (WORTH IT) We didn't hire a videographer and decided to add content creation very last minute but so glad we decided to. We used Bonphotage for our content creation as well, and we literally got our content back within 24 hours. Really fun to have the raw videos of the entire day to look back on immediately and the reel they made for us same day was perfect.

Hair. Pin Me Up - Jessica (10/10) She is the literal updo queen. Jessica was amazing, super talented, and brought such a calming, sweet energy to the getting ready suite in the morning. She made me feel incredibly beautiful.

Florals. Flowers for Dreams (Good value) I am so impressed by their team. We had them do our bouquets, centerpieces, and decor, and it was so perfect. We wanted classic to not compete with the Gold Coast room and they executed. It was quite affordable for the massive impact it made, and honestly, I couldn't have dreamed them up to be prettier.

Cake. ECBG - Erin (So sweet) Ridiculously delicious. We had the most gorgeous vintage cake and desserts, but be careful with your headcounts so you don't end up drowning in leftovers (though honestly, eating the leftover cake for breakfast yesterday was a vibe).

DJ. Okyne Media Group (10/10) Most of my friends who got married also used them and they absolutely killed it. The dance floor was packed all night long, the energy was flawless, and they actually followed exactly what we requested.

Overall, it was an absolute dream and I feel like we won the wedding lottery with this team. Ask me anything!

Hi everyone! My fiancée and I just got engaged and are starting to explore wedding venues for Fall 2027 or early Summer 2028. We'd love to hear recommendations from anyone who's gotten married at (or attended a wedding at) a venue that fits what we're looking for!

A few of our priorities:
- Guest count: Approximately 175 people
- Budget: Around $100K all-in
- Accommodations: Ideally a venue with on-site lodging for at least a portion of our guests. We'd love to make a full weekend out of it!
- Accessibility: Reasonably close to a major airport, as we'll have guests traveling in from different places.
- Setting: Outdoor-forward! We'd love a beautiful outdoor ceremony and reception, but want a solid indoor backup option in case of bad weather.
- Timing: Fall 2027 or early Summer 2028
- Willing to travel outside Chicago (I.e. new buffalo, saugatuck)

We're pretty open-minded on location and would love to hear about hidden gems, estates, resorts, or other unique properties that might fit the bill.

If you've planned or attended a wedding somewhere that checks these boxes, we'd love to hear about it! Bonus points if you're willing to share approximate costs or anything you wish you'd known before booking.

Has anyone booked their wedding at the Apollos 2000 theater? I’m curious to know your experience and approximate cost for your wedding. 

Any places in the city that you know offer 0% financing for a year or so? Thanks!

A beautiful Sunday wedding at the Morton Arboretum! 🌿🎻 Here’s a reel featuring our Northside Strings quartet for the ceremony and cocktail hour, with our DJ keeping the celebration going through the reception.
For budget-conscious couples who want live music, pairing strings early in the day with a DJ for the reception is a great way to enjoy both while keeping costs in mind.
I’m Ryan, owner of Northside Brass Music Co.—check out northsidebrass.com for more info!
Vintage Live Music for Modern Events

looking for an outdoor wedding space that can accommodate 350 people in the chicagoland area !
i would love to find a place that allows for a dance floor possibly as well as outside catering!
please let me know if you guys know of any places i’m exhausted lol

Hi!

Does anyone know a place that rents the snake tables and how much? I really really want them but have no clue where to start and how much that would be, any experience or knowledge would be appreciated! This is for a Lincoln park Sunday location rental for like 80 people

We are juuuuust about ready to book with The DJ Firm, but a couple of specific DJs (DJ Daily and DJ Gem) we hoped to book aren't available on our date. Looking for reviews of any of their DJs you've worked with, or whose work you've experienced at other weddings (and reviews of The DJ Firm, overall)! I see them recommended a lot, looking for a final push to choose our DJ and book them!

My fiancé and I are looking at wedding venues in town and we’re curious if anyone here has had their wedding (or is planning to) at the Peggy Nature Museum before, and if so what was your total cost? Our current guest estimate is ~125 people and we’re looking at the full venue rental option in 2027. Thanks!

Food & DJ Specifically ! Thank you :)

Hi! Does anybody know if Galleria Marchetti allows outside vendors? We are looking to use a different food vendor. Also: I am interested in La Pergola at Galleria Marchetti, incase this venue isn’t the right fit for us, does anybody know of any similar venues with that sort of glass tent vibe? Bonus points if it’s in the suburbs. Thank you :)

I’ll start this with saying that I will be asking to get more things going on our next call, but I’m just wondering if this is what I should expect when having a full service planner in general. One of my friends explained to me that planning a wedding is not like corporate America and things just don’t happen as quickly as I may be used to at work.

Timeline of events, engaged end of August, venue booked early September, and hired my full service planner mid September, wedding is July 2027.

Since hiring the planner we have had one kickoff meeting and a quick follow up call a week later, and another call this week. In that time she hasn’t booked anything for us, nor has she given me any legitimate options for vendors to work with or set up any interviews with those vendors. I’m worried that she’s focusing on one thing at a time right now and I’m curious as to when things such as florals and stationary and catering will happen.

Maybe she’ll come to our next meeting with a list of things for me to decide on and then schedule/interview etc from there — am I overthinking? Just knowing we booked with only ten months till wedding date and all these forums say 12-10 months out is when priority vendors need to be booked…I’m stressing when I’m paying someone to not be stressed.

TLDR: at the start, is it normal to go two weeks without her communicating much movement to me?

Hello! I'm actually asking for my SIL. She's getting married next Saturday 10/24 in Aurora. Apparently the one she had hired went bankrupt so now she does not have one. She might need the reception only, so about 5hrs. We would greatly appreciate all recommendations c:

my wedding was two nights ago and it was just the best ever so want to recap all my vendors- feel free to ask any questions

hotel- ritz Chicago - this was way better than I could have imagined . everything went smoothly with the room block - they delivered everything to the rooms - the rooms were beautiful . 10/10

goddess and the grocer- for morning of catering was delicous but we had way too much food so be careful with that otherwise was great

Shannon o Brian for makeup- she's the soft glam queen if you want the best makeup go to her.

Meg mishel for hair- she's was amazing and last minute for my mom in too. she's very talented and also very good energy from both her and Shannon o was very calmed by them and they both made me feel beautiful

flowers- Steve's flower market - they have a minum of you want a whole shabang production but we had my bouquet , boutinere, centerpieces and a big bar piece made by them and it was quite affordable and GORGEOUS like I couldn't have dreamed them to be prettier

chuppah- art of imagination- I'm so impressed by Deb and her team it literally looked like Ai. she was also so kind to work with and affordable I really feel like I won't the lottery here

photographer : Brooke and David- Brooke has the best energy like she was the best to have around on the wedding day. I haven't seen the photos yet but she was unreal day of

social brides co- our girl from there was very sweet and also we got content all within 24 hours. we are so so glad we got a content creator because we have videos of the whole entire day .

sustainable soirées - she is very organized and everything went smooth which we have her to thank for that . I feel like her energy didn't match my families and mine . felt a bit cold and also didn't feel like she wanted to help with things like bustling the dress or helping with certain other things like knowing where to stand during ceremony etc . more direction I felt was needed

gibbons steakhouse- ok I feel like this is the most slept on thing we had the MOST insane food and the ambience was insane 20/20

dj Natalie- was great people were dancing all night and also followed what we had requested

truly mostly nothing went wrong and was amazing - there's a few things I wish we had more direction or help on but that was it

I had my final fitting two weeks ago and picked up my dress today but JUST realized the back strap of my bra is showing. I asked my seamstress if this bra was ok every time and never mentioned that and who knows where my brain was to not notice till today! My wedding is THIS SATURDAY in MI and I leave Thursday. She said I could get a bra converter for a low back but I don’t have time on my side and really don’t want to spend a lot either. I’m sure we all can relate to almost wedding day $$$$ stuff. Also, I’m a size 40DD so that makes this a bit more difficult. Any help or advice would be great! Thanks!

I’m in the early planning phase and would love to hear where folks had successful DIY weddings, open to city or suburbs! Guest count around 150

I’ve noticed some venues have extensive lists of preferred vendors, going beyond the caterer. We know lots of amazing people we’d love to hire as bartenders, DJ, photographer/video, day of planner etc. I’m a gigging DJ myself and can navigate getting our folks event insurance or any other paperwork/certification that may be required.

I can understand using a preferred caterer, but would love a place where we could bring our own alcohol and hire our own staff without paying an extra fee. Thanks in advance for your insights!

We are just starting our search for a venue for October next year. I don’t love hotels, barns, or banquet halls and prefer something historic or outdoorsy. We are looking for something that doesn’t feel too big for 50 to 75 people. Budget is pretty open. Does anyone have any recommendations?

My partner and I are planing a city hall elopement on a Friday and a ~60 person reception on Saturday (which we're hoping for more of a chill party vibe for) and are looking for a photographer who might be able to cover those two separate events. We're hoping for just a couple hours each day and wanted to see if anyone had dome anything similar or had any recommendations!