5 Questions to Ask Your Caterer Before Booking

Catering for a wedding is the biggest investment, so you want to make sure it meets your standards! Booking your caterer is an important part after you solidified your guest count, and booked your venue. Before booking, you want to make sure you are clear about everything included from the beginning. As beloved wedding planners in Chicago, we help guide our clients through every process, and we always recommend our favorite vendors. That being said, here are a few questions you should ask your caterer before booking.

Creative Ideas to Enhance Your Cocktail Hour

As Non-traditional Chicago Wedding Planners, we have designed many unique weddings. Many of our clients have desired out-of-the-box ways to make their wedding different, and memorable. A simple way to elevate your event, is by having some sort of “fierce” moment during your cocktail hour. Cocktail hours are the perfect time to get a bit creative, as guests wait between ceremony and reception. You truly can be as tame or wild as you please, but below are a few ways you can enhance your cocktail hour.

How Do I Build a Wedding Timeline?

As expert Wedding Planners in Chicago, we know how to structure out a wedding day. Truthfully, there are a lot of nitty-gritty details you need to think about when constructing your timeline. Sometimes, it can feel a little bit like piecing a puzzle together. When you book our event planning services, we make sure to create an ideal wedding timeline together; we make sure it’s something you approve of, so we can handle all the logistics. That being said, you might be wondering why we time things out a specific way, or you’re attempting to structure your own. Which ever option, here are a few important things to think about when forming a solid Wedding Timeline:

3 Questions to Ask Before Creating a Wedding Guest List

As Chicago based wedding planners, we love when we get to support our couples from the very beginning of the wedding planning process. Believe it or not, one of the first things you must do is create a guest list. You might be a bit surprised, but you need to know how many people you want to invite before you select your venue—otherwise you might find yourself in a bit of a sticky situation with the venue not being able to host all your planned guests. We understand the stress that can come from selecting who to invite! You’re probably thinking “Should I invite my childhood friends? Do I really have to invite great-uncle George? What about my newest friend from work?”

If you are struggling to decide who to invite, here are 3 questions to ask yourself:

5 Chicago Venues with City Skyline Views

We get it, the Chicago Skyline is gorgeous! As Chicago Wedding Planners, we always love those sunny clear blue sky days. It’s truly the most iconic way to say “Chicago Wedding.” We have designed, and coordinated tons of weddings in the city, and we never get tired of it. From our experience, here are personal 5 favorite venues with views of the skyline.

Emily and Alex's Chic City Garden Wedding

Emily and Alex had a gorgeous wedding at Cafe Brauer in Lincoln Park. The vibes were chill, bougie, garden celebration, and family. When they inquired, they discussed their vision to be “Backyard wedding vibes, casual and easy going; a boozy and bougie backyard celebration.”

How to Elevate Your Wedding Food and Bar Menu

At Fierce Productions, we believe that your wedding menu should be as unique and memorable as your love story. As seasoned wedding planners based in Chicago, we’ve seen firsthand how the right culinary choices can transform an event. Here are some innovative ideas to elevate your food and bar menu that will leave your guests raving for years to come:

How to Throw a Successful Fundraising Event

Throwing a successful fundraising event is an incredibly important part for your non-profit. This is the time to show your donors where their money is going to, and how they are helping your company. As event planners, we have planned many amazing fundraisers that have raised a-lot of money for their non-profits. Here are a few steps we’d love to share to make your fundraiser successful.

Olivia and Austin's Colorful Carnival Wedding

Olivia and Austin met in college, where Olivia’s roommate set them up on a date. We were thrilled when they reached out to us to help design their wedding. They knew they wanted a non-traditional wedding. In their inquiry, they shared how they wanted to have an elevated, and interactive experience during their wedding. To achieve their vision, we elevated the design to create a "tasteful way” of being “over the top". Through our various meetings, we came up with the idea of basing the reception on a romantic, and playful carnival.

6 Unique and Unforgettable Wedding Venues in Chicago

At Fierce Productions, we thrive on crafting distinctive experiences. We celebrate the unconventional and unique, passionately curating events that transcend traditional boundaries. Your chosen venue isn't just a backdrop; it's a canvas to enhance and elevate the essence of your special day. Explore our curated selection of unique Chicago wedding venues that epitomize our commitment to extraordinary celebrations.

Jamie and Jared's Luscious, “Fecund”, Disco Wedding

Jamie and Jared had a lovely destination wedding in Chicago, filled with subtle, yet romantic nods to their relationship. Living in LA, they chose to host their wedding in Chicago because not only was it where Jamie was born, but it was also a perfect middle ground for families coming from both the east and west coast. They knew they needed to hire an event planner to assist from afar.

Rachel and Daniel's Rock and Roll Barn Wedding

This unexpected Rock n’roll wedding took place in a barn in the middle of farm land Illinois. As Chicago and Miami wedding planners, we love taking a traditional venue and flipping it on its head. Instead of the expected designs you associate with a barn (rustic tables, mason jars and baby’s breath) we produced a glitzy, glamorous, tattoo and sparkle inspired Rock n’ Roll Wedding.

A Colorful Retro Funky Space Wedding

When it comes to designing your wedding or event, there truly are no rules. At Fierce Productions, we love taking your ideas and bringing them all together into one cohesive design.

Through our meetings and discussions we came up with a solid concept: something with a Retro Futuristic vibe. To keep things “retro and funky” we incorporated some daring color combinations - reds with oranges, and even some yellows and purples. The colors were gorgeous together. There were bright red flowers upon orange linens and hanging floral decoration to add texture and dimension into the space.

Top Micro-Wedding Venues in Chicago: Perfect Settings for Intimate Celebrations

As Chicago wedding planners, we know a lot about the wedding industry in Chicago. We even were able to adapt from the pandemic, and design a ton of micro-weddings. We know which venues are perfect for those more intimate wedding celebrations. If you are looking to host a wedding celebration with under 100 people, here are some of our top micro-wedding venues in Chicago.

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