Wedding reception at Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook | St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Itasca | Courtney & James

Courtney and James had the kind of wedding that makes me forward to editing the photos! The whole day was just so fun, filled with joy, lots of laughter (especially during the speeches 😉 ) The reception was at the The Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus, which is a wedding venue located in Oak Brook, Illinois surrounded by 88 acres of natural preserve…which obviously makes for wonderful photos 🙂

Dress: The Crystal Bride | Hair by Gia Tovar

The Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus

From the Bride…

‘ Venue: Hyatt Lodge, in Oak brook, IL. We were in the Grand Oaks Pavillon. They were so helpful along the way. Sigita was our main point of contact. We loved that our venue had everything included. As planning can get super crazy & busy. Having a venue that offered everything was important to us. 

Dress: The Crystal Bride, Geneva, IL. The Crystal Bride has a great selection of dresses and many different price points. Many of my close friends have also purchased their dress from here, so I knew it was a must stop. 
Flowers: Little Shop on the Prairie, Lombard, IL. We worked with Natalia, the owner of the shop. Our initial meeting with her was one of my personal favorites. Her show room is filled with lots of items to help visualize what the arrangements would look like. Her and her team did a wonderful job executing what we discussed.

Cake: Lezza Spumoni Bakery, Elmhurst, IL. This vendor was set up directly through our venue. We chose a chocolate cake with cannoli filling and vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filing. Very happy we had the cake tasting where we got to sample all the cakes. Since I don’t recall eating more than one bit of cake on the actual wedding day 🙁

Flowers: Little Shop on the Prairie, Lombard, IL. We worked with Natalia, the owner of the shop. Our initial meeting with her was one of my personal favorites. Her show room is filled with lots of items to help visualize what the arrangements would look like. Her and her team did a wonderful job executing what we discussed.

O’Grady Cinema- Michael was a pleasure to work with. Very timely and professional from initial quoting to the big day itself. We hardly knew he was there, and he captured all the special moments. The final video montage is excellent.

Church: St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Itasca, IL. This church was just rebuilt. We loved how everything was brand new and updated. The staff was very helpful in ensuring we submitted all the required paperwork before leading up to the big day. 

Hair: Gia Tovar-The sweetest! Gia did an excellent job of executing everyone’s vision for the day. She worked quickly and did a fabulous job on everyone’s hair. 
Makeup: Shannon O’Brien– My favorite make-up artist of all time!!! Shannon is so talented. We discussed what look I wanted during my make-up trial in detail. On my wedding day, she exceeded my expectations. 

DJ: Spinnin Discs-Jacob, Schaumburg, IL. Ron is the owner and was a delight to work with. He respond to emails extremely quickly. He learned about what we wanted and matched us with Jacob. Jacob kept the dance floor rocking all night! It was a perfect mix of older and newer songs, which was important to us. 

Angel Eyes Photography: Hilda was AMAZING!! Her and Carol worked tirelessly throughout the entire day. Hilda does such a great job of directing the photo’s and keeping all the shots organized. We have loved all the pictures she’s taken and the creativity behind each shot. We wanted a photographer that captured many pictures throughout our most important day. Hilda certainly did not disappoint!!!

We had a great time during the planning process. It helped asking our friends certain vendors they used. We found it helpful to have recommendations. Through the planning process we both had input and worked together to complete all the tasks so we could enjoy the day. ‘