I am back with probably the most longest message I’ll ever post on GS.
There is a lot of do’s & dont’s about almost all the people I dealt with during my wedding.
People I wouldn’t change a thing about are Chateau Ritz in Niles.
I booked the hall 6 months before the wedding. Finalized everything a week before the big day with Nick Theodus. That man besides Rami was the best in terms of dealing with everything. They really worked with me for my wedding as if it mattered to them as much as it mattered to me.
On shadi day when I got to the hall. I got ready in the hall so was their at 4:00 pm. The chair covers were not the ones I had chosen. (Earlier that week I had talked to another Nick while choosing the chair covers & call it miscommunication but I thought I had chosen something else & he wrote something else on the contract) Anyways These people are so nice that although they had already set up and everything the guy I had talked to before went himself to pick up the right chair covers & they replaced everything again. Might sound like nothing right now but at that time I really did panic & these guys just took that stress away from me in 10 minutes.
If you ladies haven’t checked out Chateau Ritz. Do check it out. Everyone loved their service. Their servers & waitstaff were nice & courteous to our guests. All smiles. Which meant a lot to me. Also the interior is beautiful.
I had booked the hall at min. 300 people . My final count turned out to be 285 & Nick gladly changed the total price without any problem. Where as Astoria’s (the worst thing that happened to me). We booked the hall for min 300 people. Ended up having only 150 people. Yet we still had to pay for 300 people. Which included the chair covers which I am sure Lora did not even have to order.
Chateau Ritz let me set up my own center pieces & actually provided the tools to help make them. Astoria is really strict about that. I ended up paying them extra 200 dollars for just setting up the centerpices. Wish I would have paid that to Rami & gotten better centerpieces.
I strictly reccomend you ladies not to go for Astoria no matter how reasonable the price sounds. They are gonna put on so many ridiculous charges later on & their staff was really rude too. A lot of people complained about how the waitstaff treated them if asked for anything.
In short
Astoria:
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Gave me problems with setting up the stage. (Rami had to especially go there 2 days before the event & convince them that he was a professional & there won’t be any damage to there building)
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Wouldn’t change the final count from maybe 300 to at least 250 stating it was a legal contract. Bull crap. My husband ended up giving them more than $3000 extra.
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Got the wrong chair covers. Didn’t to a thing about it & the hall manager had the guts to call me a story teller on my face. At that point my husband had to intervene.
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In our contract they were supposed to provide us 3 votive candles on each table. They ended up putting tealight candles which were all crumpled by the time the event was in full bloom.
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After the initial deposit & booking the place they gave me a lot of crap at different places. I can just keep on writing & writing & the list will go on. All in all avoid Astoria at any cost.
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Had the most weird policy that no matter how late you start the event anything after 12:00 am You have to pay almost double the charge you are paying per head & that also increases with every hour.
Desi wedings start after 8:00 & go up to 1:30ish. So figure out yourself.
Lone Tree Manor in Niles (had my mehndi there)
Pretty reasonable place to hold your event there. It does have an attatched restaurant which closes at 8:00. So we were fine & had our privacy all night. The owner does not speak fluent english but for what I paid I think I got a good deal & everyone loved it.
Rami’s Mandap (decorator)
- Almost works with your budget.
2.Has a wide variety of decor styles.
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Is punctual. He was in the halls all three days before anyone. Did his job. Made sure I checked out the stages & was satisfied & THEN left.
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I trusted him with his ideas & told him a little bit of what I wanted & I had no worries all three days in the decor department.
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Although we had decided that I’ll sent him pictures of the haars & gajras I wanted. I was not able to do so & I think he did a pretty decent job on his own. All I had to do was call him & let him know that I wanted x numbers of haar for the bride & groom or x numbers of gajras for the main ladies attending the event.
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He also volunteered to rent the glass vessels for Walema centerpieces for $5 each which I was buying at Michaels for $12. Also told me about a florist where I could get cheaper flowers.
Parveen Aunty (mehndi artist)
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Does a bloody brilliant job (mind my language) BUT charges a lot of money (the charges mentioned earlier in the thread are 2 years old)
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Makes her own mehndi at home which comes out really dark.
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Also travels to your place depending on time & day but the client has to provide pick & drop services.
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Only bad thing is she stood me up on my mehndi day at 8:00 in the morning & told me that she won’t be able to do the job. My sister who also does henna profesionally had to really talk to her & convince her that it was too late to say no & I the bride really needed her.
Maliha Khan (Makeup Artist)
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Very friendly & patiently listens to what you want & discusses the look with you.
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I do suggest to get a paid trial with her & if possible ask her to do the exact makeup she will be doing on the event. It might make a huge difference in your decision. (my sisters didn’t like my trial makeup at all but I just knew I had to go with Maliha & I am glad I did)
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I was late on all three days in the hall but Maliha & Lubna Khan waited patiently. Didn’t rush the job & did make me look pretty. (reason I mentioned this is its your wedding. Their is going to be a lot of things that might not go right & the most important thing at that time is an understanding vendor of any sort)
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They also did party make up for my sisters & mother & it was just right.
Syed Studios (Photographer/Videographer)
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Professional yet really know how to deal with a desi wedding crowd. I have to give this to Javed that he managed to get good family shots without offending the desi crowd & still getting their pictures right.
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They do a real good job at potraits. Have their own posses which very kind of unique considering how annoying some bride & groom posses can be.
Do’s
Do let them know what you want them to capture. Whether you want a traditional approach or a journalistic kind. I wish I would have done that. They did a good job at capturing the event but I do wish they had captured 2,3 more things.
Do assign a person who can guide them throughout the event. They asked us to do that & we were not able to. My pictures came out very good but I think if I would have done what they had asked for they might have come out excellent.
Do make sure that you do everything on time & stick to your schedule. At the last moment we decided not to do our downtown shoot on the same day of our wedding. Did it later on a weekday. Ended up being almost an hour late for the shoot & paid $500 extra for the downtown shots. Not to mention the extra I had to pay my makeup artist for getting ready again (she did cut me a slack though)
I don’t really have any dont’s for them. As far as someone mentioned they charge you a lot depending on what hall you book. Bargaining is a word all American desis should know even though they live in a place where fixed prices are common.
We bargained & comparing to other providers in Chicago got a pretty good deal.
Note: They have done a good job in editing the wedding video too. Its not too desified but still has a desi touch. Wouldn’t change a thing about my wedding video except some silly errors of my own.
One thing though is that the dvd cover they gave us is not we had asked for & we do plan to send the dvds back & get it changed. If they give any trouble I’ll be posting it here. All in all good experience.
Food was from Usmania on Mehndi & Shadi. Everyone loved it. There was more than enough food to give to the groom’s side as well as send some to the masjid. Ras Malai did finish on Shadi day but then I heard people went crazy over it & didn’t even touch the other dessert.
They gave us a real good price & tension free food serving. Also the tasting was free of charge at their place.
On Walema the food was from** Gulshan-e-Devon**. It was typical Hydrebadi food & although I myself am not a big fan of Hydrebadi food people loved it more than Usmania so yeah. They were on time & profesionnal about setting up everything.
Below are some pictures to give you guys a better idea of things.
Mehndi Stage
Mehndi Stage close up
Parveen Aunty’s job
Back of my hands
Haar Rami made for Mehndi.
Shadi stage from far
Shadi stage & Aisle
Shadi Flowers in The Aisle
Shadi Stage Closeup
Final color of my Mehndi
Bridal Gajra’s from Rami. Gajras for other ladies were the typical ones with red & white carnations in a thread.
Walema Stage Close up
Walema Stage from far.
Anything I missed feel free to ask.
Always remember if you can whatever you are booking that is the day you are putting down your money. May it be your halls, decorator. Any vendor. If you can finalize as much as you can at that moment. Do that. Don’t go for any person’s “word”. When you are making the first payment people in front of you just wanna cut the deal. They’ll write anything on the contract just to make sure you book them. Once you have booked them making changes or adding anything is not that easy. That includes anything.
A second album from your photographer.
Extra candles or colored napkins in the hall.
Extra appetizer.
More mehndi on your hands.
Even adding extra hours to the events.
Oh & apart everything. If things go wrong. Chill its your wedding. What matters most is you are getting married to the love of your life.
