Category Archives: Planning Process

Jim and I decided we needed a break from the heavy tasks of planning and spent last weekend at Serenity Springs for a much-needed getaway.  With Jim’s brother coming in to town from Taiwan for the next month and a half, we’ll be spending a lot of time with him and who knows how much time we’ll be able to devote to wedding planning.

Click the image on the left to see the album. Be sure to check out the cabin walkthrough video! It’s at the very end of the album.

After formally seeing a dozen places, I can pretty confidently say that we have an idea of what we want.  Our key attributes include: hotel on site, no other weddings in earshot, Ketel One, mashed potato bar capabilities, location (within 30 minutes of church), flexible coordinators, and accommodating space.  Additionally, things that are nice are martini bars, good default centerpieces, liquor serving duration, nearby/on site bars that are open late, charging actual prices for entree selections (instead of just charging the highest price for everyone), brunch capabilities for the following day, a good bride’s room with private bathroom, an outdoor patio, and being able to BYOB in addition to the package offering without a corking fee.

Given these priorities, we’ve narrowed it down, Continue reading →

Had enough venues? NO. Our third stop on Saturday will be at the Hilton Lisle/Naperville, which is also home to Allgauer’s restaurant. The food comes highly praised from Nicole, and the prices seem reasonable. Since it’s not a resort, I’m not sure what sorts of offerings the hotel has, but it does at least have rooms on site. I’m also unclear on how many concurrent weddings they will hold, since that could be a big drawback. We shall see.

After the Drury Lane appointment, we’ll head to the Eaglewood Resort in Itasca.  This certainly gets brownie points for being the closest resort to the church, as well as having hotel and other amenities on site, but I’d been putting off the visit since the packages can get expensive quickly.  Also, I heard of a bad experience for the people staying there for another wedding.  We’ll see how it looks.

Our next appointment is with Drury Lane in Oakbrook. I like that this venue has a theater on location, much like Pheasant Run does.  There is a hotel in the same area (I’m not sure if it’s connected to the building or just shares a parking lot), so that is a big selling point.  It also appears surprisingly inexpensive.

After the Pheasant Run showed so well, we showed up the following Friday (last Friday) to have dinner at Harvest and wander around. The food was good but nothing special. Jim’s chicken entree was flavorful and creative, which lead me to believe that they are capable of serving a non-rubbery chicken dish. My petit filets were both a little over done (I requested medium rare and got mediums), but not insultingly so. The accompaniments were tasty enough.

The resort itself is quite large and entertaining. Continue reading →

Our next appointment is with Pheasant Run. Like Indian Lakes, it’s another resort, which will have rooms on site. It also has shows and other entertainment, which could make for an interesting wedding weekend. It is a bit further away than the other two we’re seeing this weekend, but we’ll have to see if it’s worth it.

Our eighth appointment is now set up as well. This time, we’ll be visiting the Bloomingdale Golf Club. I like the location and the photos, though it is not at a hotel, like many of the sites we have visited so far.  This one includes a 5 hour open bar in its base package, which is one of the longest durations for open bar that I’ve seen in any package.  It’ll be interesting to see what they have to offer and get some more questions answered.

Our next appointment is booked! We feel like we’re getting the hang of this now, since we know what questions to ask and have a better idea of what is important to us. This time, we’ll be headed to Indian Lakes Resort. I have high hopes for this place, even though I’ve never seen it (despite likely having driven past it hundreds of times). It seems to have most of what we want and not cost three arms and a leg. We’ll see on Saturday if it lives up to what it looks like on paper.

Jim and I attended the Pinstripes (Hoffman Estates) Special Events Showcase a couple of weeks ago, and it was really a great time. There were a lot of raffles, a small number of vendors (photographers, DJs, treats, coordinators), free food (sampler trays, flatbreads, desserts) as well as a free drink ticket. We did visit each vendor’s booth, and the food was pretty enjoyable. We got a lot out of the coordinator we spoke with from Simply Elegant, and I am a little more open to the idea of employing one now.  Another nice aspect of this showcase was the ability to see a few different table settings. There were three demo tables, each of which had their own centerpieces and layouts.

There were two surprisingly nice takeaways from this showcase. Continue reading →