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June 2024 by Donovan & Samantha Cedano Griggs
My husband and I got married here in may 2024. This venue is absolutely stunning the pictures don’t do justice of how beautiful our day was ! That being said the only “issue” if you can call it that is the venue owner. She is very helpful but also very opinionated and way to particular of the vendors being used. If you book this venue you only have the option of 2 very pricey caterers. Although it was worth it, it was frustrating. We had a great planner and a great team of vendors but everyone was aware of how the owner functions. If you can take her opinions of what she wants for your day with a grain of salt you will be fine. Also we were told the bathrooms would be renovated by the time of our wedding and they weren’t. Not sure why they would need renovation they are already very nice and updated so not sure why she kept telling us that. This venue is too gorgeous to let that get in the way. We also were lucky enough to do our rehearsal there too and that was great . The venue was great for us and looked perfect on our day!
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June 2024 by Tania Garcia
We enjoyed attending a wedding here. The food was excellent. The cocktails were excellent. The bathroom was clean. Service was very attentive.
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August 2023 by William Noel
great venue.
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August 2023 by Syra Daniels
Don’t even bother. If you submit an inquiry request, it takes forever to get a response. When asked what my budget was, she responded back “nope, not going to happen. That’s impossible.”First of all, this is my first time planning a wedding. I had no idea what to expect in terms of budgeting. But the owner was extremely rude and showed absolutely no willingness to work with me, and I’m still waiting on more information.At this point, I’m no longer interested. I’ve reached out to more venues since and they have all been very helpful and kind.
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August 2023 by Mary Grace McCauley
I'm writing this review from the perspective of a wedding vendor. I am florist, and I worked there for the first time this year and had a wonderful experience. Marta was incredibly organized and helpful. She took several extra steps to make sure we had all of the info and accommodations we needed to make the flowers look amazing! The venue is lovely and easy to access. I look forward to working there again and highly recommend it to couples looking for a place to get married.
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February 2023 by Tim Hara (Thara Photo)
I recently had the chance to photograph a wedding at this awesome space. The venue is plenty spacious with its indoor/outdoor layout. I appreciated all the natural light that spilled into the tent well into the evening. The staff was friendly and helpful. Hope to be back here soon for another event.
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January 2023 by Ed Bohrer
Attended a wedding there about 3 weeks ago. Aesthetically it is pretty venue. Additionally the food and attention by staff was very good. My issues were with the logistics. 1) The ceremony is held in the courtyard portion, which is also where the tables for dinner would be set up after the ceremony. We were herded into the bar area for cocktails while the conversation was being made - this took just about 2 hours!. Secondly, there was at least one sewer grate between our tables and others and the smell it had was not pleasant to say the least. Lastly, the parking situation in this area is terrible, no valet service offered and only street (metered) parking. This is a very busy area on Saturday nights so it took quite awhile of driving around to find one a few blocks away. (not the venues issue, but the wedding invite made no mention of parking, lack thereof, so if you plan, let your guests know in advance.)
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January 2023 by Serod Abdennabi
What an amazing venue! We got married here and throughout the entire process Marta was helping us and our biggest advocate. She made sure this wedding happened exactly the way it needed to and it was a great and smooth time. Our original venue (the stockhouse) cancelled on us 6 weeks before the wedding and having Marta help us through it all was such a blessing. The patio was spectacular and the inside set the perfect scene for our big day.
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January 2023 by Emma Vodick
The Chicago Illuminating Company is AMAZING. Our venue cancelled on us 6 weeks before our wedding, and Marta (the owner) took us in and helped us out in immense ways. Not only is the venue beautiful, but she is so knowledgeable and really made us feel at ease during such a stressful time. Our wedding guests were blown away by the indoor/outdoor venue and I could not recommend it more.
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October 2022 by Andrea H.
My husband and I knew we wanted to get married at Chicago Illuminating Company several years before we were even engaged after seeing a picture of the venue on Instagram. It truly is one of the most beautiful venues in the entire Chicago area (and beyond) and is such a lush hidden gem in the middle of busy South Loop. Marta, the owner, is amazing. It was so helpful to be able to lean on her expertise and recommendations because she knows what works well in the space better than anyone. Both the indoor and (covered!) outdoor spaces are stunning in their own right so it was super easy and fun to add our personal touches. We really couldn't be happier with the experience and space. Highly recommend!!!
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January 2022 by Mo Meri
Chicago Illuminating Company is a beautiful venue. My problem is with Marta. My partner and I signed contracts to get married at CIC right before the pandemic. The wedding was supposed to originally happen this fall. Obviously with the pandemic going on and everything left in uncertainty, we pushed it back to fall 2022 before completely canceling due to not being sure when it would be safe to have such a big wedding, especially with my partner being a doctor. Marta, who was originally super nice, then basically ghosted us. I understand we signed a contract but she was super heartless and basically unresponsive when trying to see if there was anything we could do to salvage even a portion of the down payment we made. I even reached out months later to see if we can work something out about rescheduling again so we don’t lose that full amount and she completely ignored me. I really wish things were different because again the venue is beautiful, but the lack of communication is really concerning, so just keep that in mind.
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January 2022 by Courtney N
Had my cousins wedding here. The Venue is gorgeous and just the right size. They have an indoor and outdoor option so you have multiple ways of setting your event. The staff is amazing and super friendly and the bartenders kept the party going while we danced the night away. I would highly recommend choosing them for your event!
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January 2022 by The Couponing Millennial
If you submit an inquiry form, don’t expect a response. We inquired more than two weeks ago. I saw the reviews saying communication severely lacked with the owner, and the reviews are true.
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January 2022 by Maia McCabe
Magical wedding venue with covered outdoor space
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January 2022 by A.J. DelPrince
Pros:The venue is perfect. It’s indoor/outdoor with plenty to work with in terms of creativity. It’s super convenient to the Marriott Marquee which is also fabulous.Marta does a great job of recommending and coordinating vendors. She has a lot of experience and has connections that are helpful.Collette at Flower Firm was a fantastic vendor. Her suggestions were spot-on, her follow-up was timely and she was able to adapt when changes needed to be made on the day of the wedding. I cannot recommend her enough. Her company is top notch.Boka catering group was a really fun experience. We got to suggest what type of food we wanted and they brought it to life. We ended up going with a family recipe! It was really cool.Cons:The exclusive lighting vendor for the venue is Frost. We did not have a good experience with this company unfortunately:- Costs seemed a bit outrageous overall. For example, hanging drapes cost $6,000 and they say they can’t re-use drapes so they have to be purchased new for each event, even though they work with CIC every weekend.- We asked Frost to include a quote for drapes in the contract. They did, sent it back to us for review and asked us to confirm receipt. We replied “confirming receipt” and then after some discussion, my wife and I determined it was too much for our budget. We asked them to remove it, to which they replied they had already ordered the fabric and we had to pay for it. It was frustrating trying to get them to remove that cost.- Daniella was condescending in emails and did not provide good customer service.- The “beautiful mood lights for the dance floor” were spotlights that were too bright and looked ridiculous. We ended up having them turned off.- All other vendors met with us at some point. Frost never did.Marta got upset with our wedding party because we were being too loud during our rehearsal, which was going on while she was giving a tour to another couple. She also didn’t like that our speeches at the wedding went too long because that affected the timeline of the night.These are just some notes from my experience so keep in mind that some of these things could’ve been one-off. All in all it was such a beautiful wedding and a day to remember. I would recommend this venue to others looking for a convenient and beautiful venue.
