r/Chicagoweddings

We’re having our wedding in early September 2027, looking for a classic Chicago Rooftop to have our welcome party for 50-70 guests (estimate) we want something that has nice indoor/outdoor space, light apps and drinks. Something that with WOW our out of town guests! (Budget - not a concern)

Thanks!

Does anyone have wedding photographer recommendations in the St. Charles/Chicago suburbs area? We’re getting married at Hotel Baker in St. Charles in the summer and are starting to look for photographers!

We’re hoping to stay around $3,500–$4,000 for photography coverage from getting ready through the reception. We’re open to photographers in the city or suburbs — I’m just not really sure where to start looking, and a lot of what I’ve found on The Knot seems outdated.

Ideally, we’d love to find a younger, female photographer whose style is warm, natural, and fun. We’re looking for photos that feel vibrant and candid and capture the energy of the day, rather than anything too dark, cool-toned, or overly posed.

If you’ve worked with someone you loved (especially someone whose work has that warm, fun feel!), I’d love to hear your recommendations and see their work! 😊

https://preview.redd.it/iq90azqjldkh1.png?width=1822&format=png&auto=webp&s=4900dd849a569f594c45bf1b61b81d49abb0ec6f

Did anyone use Frank at PD Wedding Films for your videography? How was your experience like?

Also willing to take any suggestions for a budget wedding videographer. I really want a videographer for my wedding but I’m already stretched thin with my budget. Not looking for anything fancy - mostly interested in raw footage and maybe a short highlight reel.

Thanks!

Two planners have said it in this sub in the last week, separately, that October has overtaken September as the most popular month to get married in Chicagoland and it's the second year running. One of them said they've watched it happen across two booking cycles.

I'm April 2027 myself, on a Sunday, so this isn't me trying to talk anyone out of a date I wanted. But I've been pricing venues since January and the seasonal thing is real and it moved my own plans.

What most popular means in practice is that October now has the least room to move of any month. Saturdays go first and go at the rate. Nobody's discounting a package because if you don't take it the next couple will. That isn't venues being greedy, it's just what demand does.

The bit that gets me is that October got popular for reasons that mostly apply to the second week of November too. Trees still doing something, not hot, not January, everyone finished travelling for summer and not yet travelling for the holidays. All true in early November and the pricing hasn't caught up.

So if October is your instinct and you're booking 2027, ask for the same room on the same package two or three weeks later and just put the two quotes next to each other. Not is there a discount, just get both numbers. Sometimes the gap is small and you take October happily. On one place I priced the gap between a peak Saturday and a shoulder month Sunday was thousands, which is what pushed me to April in the first place.

If your date is locked for an actual reason, family or an anniversary or whatever, ignore all this. But if October is a default because it's what people do now, it's worth pricing before you commit to it.

We really want a videographer to capture some of the most special parts of our day (ceremony, speeches, etc), but now that we’re a few months into planning and all of the costs are adding up, this one feels overwhelming. Does anyone have recommendations for videographers in the city that felt more affordable? TIA!

In serious need of help with venues! Our budget is about 100k, and we are thinking 140-150 people. We were heavily leaning towards Deerpath Inn but the contract and costumer service is psyching us out. Now we are considering River Room. We care a lot about food quality and are planning on putting ~10k towards flowers. Any suggestions for a summer wedding?

Hi! I am just getting the wedding planning started. We are very very interested in Ignite Glass Studio for inviting ~175 people and plan on touring. Has anyone else had their wedding there or attended there?

did anyone get married at Gibsons steakhouse ? how was it - what did you do for deco etc ? would love to hear experiences

Every time someone asks what a Chicago wedding costs, the answers are ranges so wide they're useless. I've contributed to that myself. I put $80 to $150 a head in a post here last week and got correctly told that's suburban banquet hall pricing and not city pricing. Someone else said they paid $180 and that was the cheapest they found anywhere.

So I'd like to just collect the actual numbers, if people are willing.

If you're married or booked, what would help most is guest count, city or suburb, day of the week, month, and your total for venue plus food plus bar with service charge and tax included, divided by guests.

That last part is the whole point. Not the quoted per person number, the real one, after the fees land.

I'll add whatever people post to the spreadsheet I keep and report back on what the distribution actually looks like. I have about 30 venues in there from my own search, but that's all quotes, not what anyone paid, and quotes and reality are two different documents.

Even a rough number helps. Nobody has to name the venue if they'd rather not.

Hey all!

Can you please share some good stores in the area (or online brands) to find engagement photoshoot dresses? I want a fancy white dress, just not as fancy as a wedding dress haha!

Bonus if they're mid-size friendly since sizing can definitely be a hit or miss.

Thanks!

I’ve tried Zola but the selection is so limited or people have super dated pictures and aren’t what I’m looking for.

Any suggestions?

Hi, we are planning on getting married March 27, 2027. We want to do a courthouse ceremony but the court won’t tell me if they’re open this far in advance. We were thinking of a secular ceremony at a local Unitarian church but we aren’t sure if they’re open on Saturdays for ceremonies (waiting for a response). We only want like 15 people there. Any ideas/alternatives that we aren’t aware of? Trying to not get too stressed about it right now. Thanks!

Hiii, October 2027 Bride here. I need recommendations for bridal dress stores/boutiques in the Chicagoland area.
There are so many and I don’t know where to go and what to look for.
I’m a petite bride so I know I’m going to need a lot of alterations.
Are there places that do alterations in house? (Would getting alterations in house be wise for a gal on a budget?)

Budget is 1-1.5k.
Appreciate any advice!

I got engaged and did what everyone does, which is email a pile of venues and then get confused about why none of the numbers line up. I have now been through roughly 30 packets and contracts across the city and the suburbs, and the pricing follows patterns that nobody explains up front. Sharing the patterns because I would have killed for this list in January.

Every venue uses one of three pricing structures, and knowing which one you're looking at changes everything.

1. Flat rental and you bring everything. Usually somewhere in the $4,500 to $15,000 range depending on the day, and then catering, bar, rentals and staff are all separate and on you. Looks cheapest, usually isn't.
2. No rental at all, just a food and beverage minimum. They don't charge for the room, they require you spend a set amount on food and drink. Often the best deal, because the minimum is money you were spending anyway.
3. All inclusive per person. One number covering room, food, bar, linens and staff. In the suburbs this tends to land somewhere around $80 to $150 a head. In the city it runs meaningfully higher. See the edit at the bottom, I originally only put the lower range here and that was wrong.

So the first email should always ask three things: is there a rental fee, is there a food and beverage minimum, and what does the per person rate include.

The quoted number is never the number. Budget about a third more.

Service charges tend to run somewhere around 18 to 24 percent, then sales tax lands on top, roughly 8 to 12 percent depending on the municipality. One downtown venue also adds a production fee of about 5 percent that I haven't seen anywhere else. So a $110 per person dinner is closer to $150, and a $130 quote is closer to $175.

Ask for the all in number with service charge and tax included, in writing, every single time. Also ask whether tax is calculated on top of the service charge, because at some venues it stacks and at some it doesn't, and at 150 guests that's a real difference.

Saturday is the most expensive decision you will make and it is not close.

Rough spreads from my spreadsheet, same room and same food, different day:

• around $20k Saturday minimum against roughly $14k Sunday
• around $15k against roughly $9.5k
• around $14k Saturday against roughly $8.5k Sunday through Thursday
• around $9k against roughly $6.5k
• around $7.5k against roughly $5k

Several also stack a per person discount on Friday and Sunday on top of that, one is a flat 10 percent off the entire package. If your date is flexible at all this is the single biggest lever you have, and it costs you nothing aesthetically.

Afternoon is cheaper than Sunday and almost nobody mentions it.

One venue I priced has evening minimums running from the mid four figures into the mid five figures depending on the room. That same venue rents those same rooms for afternoon events in the low four figures. Same space, same day of the week, different hours. If you're budget constrained and flexible on time, a lunch or early afternoon reception opens doors that look completely shut.

A smaller guest list saves less than you think.

I have a catering quote at 150 guests where the food was under $30 a head but staffing was around $4,600 and rentals around $3,300. Those two barely move if you drop to 80. So your per person cost goes up as your count comes down. Cutting people is one of the least efficient ways to save money and it's the one that hurts most.

Things buried in contracts that cost real money:

• Whether the bar counts toward the food and beverage minimum. I found one with a $20,000 minimum where it explicitly did not, so the real required spend was far higher.
• Payment method. Several venues are cash or cashier's check only for the final payment, or add 3 to 4 percent for cards.
• The final count clause. Common language is a guaranteed count 14 days out that cannot be reduced, so late cancellations are still on your bill.
• Overtime. One packet charges 5 percent of the total event fee per 30 minutes past the end time.
• Outside caterer fees. One venue charges a flat fee of about $1,000 if your caterer isn't on their approved list.
• Mandatory valet, security guards, coat check minimums, and required event liability insurance.

I keep all of this in a spreadsheet, venue by venue, with rental by day of week, per person rates, what the fees actually add, minimums, and what's included. I run a small free Discord for people planning weddings and I share it there, thebridallounge.org. It's my server so take that as you will, and the spreadsheet is free with nothing attached. But honestly even if you never click it, everything above is the stuff I wish I'd known in January.

Happy to answer questions about any specific venue I priced.

Edits, because people in here were right to push back.

I originally had a line telling people to ask what a space costs for a private event before saying the word wedding. A planner in the comments called that out and she's right, so it's gone. It's coaching people to be cagey with vendors they're about to hand thousands of dollars to, and that is a bad way to start a working relationship. I shouldn't have written it and I've pulled it from the other places I said it too.

I also said all inclusive per person runs $80 to $150. That is my suburban data, not the city, and the two people who flagged it were right. In the city proper the honest number is a lot higher. Sorry, that one was sloppy of me.

And on the AI comments, fair hit. I wrote this straight out of a spreadsheet and it came out sounding like one.

If you got married in Chicago within the last 6 years, which vendors made your day so much easier/smoother? Like a wedding planner who was so on top of things, or a caterer who caught issues before they became big problems, or just the teams you hired that you were perfectly satisfied, to extremely impressed with? Who were they and what did they do that made you love working with them?

I want a venue with a open vendor lists withing the suburbs or Chicago. I have friends and family that are florist, caters, photographers, etc so I would prefer to use them instead of a preferred vendor list. I also feel like open vendor list is a way to keep the cost down since I can negotiate vendor pricing.

Does anyone have a timeline they can share for a 4:30 or 5:00 ceremony with a first look and photos before the ceremony? We are trying to get most of our pictures done ahead of the ceremony so we can enjoy cocktail hour and mingle with our guests.