We booked Flower Mart for our flowers and Music Machine for our d.j. The woman at flower mart was really nice and concerned with how to keep the floral decorations cost effective for me. Music machine we have been warned about because you don't know what dj you are getting until you meet with him about a month before the wedding, but they have a website where you can set up everything including a playlist, a do not playlist, and schedule when events are supposed to be happening, which I really liked.

I used Mary's Special Touch for flowers and she was also very great at staying in my budget and wedding's are her specialty (she's not a traditional florist and just does special events). I brought in a DJ from the Chicagoland area, who was a friend of my dad's. I can't remember his name, but know he has worked at Starved Rock since because he got a couple of bookings through my wedding. Good luck planning! The planning is not the funnest thing, but it is so worth it and the memories are so wonderful! Congratulations on the wedding!

Thanks so much for all the great advice! We are both originally from the area and are planning everything from out of town, which tends to be a bit more difficult! It's great to be able to get some advice from someone who gets what I'm dealing with!