Arianna

Today was Arianna's Bat Mitzvah (the coming of age for a Jewish person). She did a wonderful job leading the religous service and reading from the torah. Later she was able to have a party at the Seville.


The Torah Arianna read


Arianna loves to dance and the party theme reflected that.


Can you guess what her favorite color is?

NICE Awards Dinner

A while back I mentioned that out of all of the photographers in the city of Chicago, I was the one asked to photograph the 2008 NICE Awards. (NICE stands for NACE, ISES Catering Executives). NACE and ISES are two national catering professional societies which have local chapters. Each year they give awards for the best events. Anyway, I had the honor of being the officical photographer.

A place setting


An appetizer (it was good!)


This year's theme was the Nature of NICE and here are Water and Fire!


A look at the room


Behind the head table


Desert! YUM!

Emily and Nate

Not much going on lately, I've been working hard and finally caught up on my album designs. Earlier today, I had Emily and Nate's engagement shoot. I thought with the late winter season wet snow that we might not have any fun or get any decent photos. Boy was I wrong!

My How Kids Grow

Last year:


This year:

Muvico

Earlier this evening I attended the NACE Chicago meeting at the new Muvico theater in Rosemont. Like everybody else in attendence, I was wowed. The theater is amazing. Beyond the 18 screens, there is so much more. When you walk in the building is impressive. It is stylish and nicely decorated.

What is different about this theater? A lot. Let's start with upstairs. There is a full service table restaurant and bar. You have to be 21 in order to go upstairs. But is does not end there. Some of the theaters allow you to bring your food and beverage right into the show. Have children you can't bring upstairs -- no problem. There is on-site babysitting for children 3-10 years old. Older kids can enjoy the teen room or see their own movie while their parents are upstairs.

Another feature of the Muvico, are the two party rooms which are available to host birthday parties. Depending on the what you want, it can cost $15-$23 per child which does include admission to a movie! The teen room, bar and restaurant can also be used for private events. It is quite a setup.



The Teen Center


Concession Stand

FleetMatics

Tuesday afternoon, I received a call from FleetMatics in Boston to book me for their annual sales award banquet which was held last night at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Schaumburg. Once again, it was not my typical event but a nice change of pace. The evening got off to a strange start becuase some of the people flying in from Boston had to be rerouted due to cancelled flights. So after delaying the start of the evening by an hour, the party began. It was cocktails followed by dinner and then the awards.

The biggest award went to the salesman of the year. After the award he was asked to speak and said "The bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a good price is long gone." I've never heard it put this way. But it is so true in many things we purchase. For manytimes, quality and price are mutually exclusive.


Appetizers!


Deserts!



One of the awards

Meadows Club Follow Up

Earlier today, I thought I might be able to patch things up with Linda at the Meadow's club. Unfortunately, nothing was accomplished. Hat in hand, I arrived at the Meadow's Club and asked to speak with Linda. Once again, I apologized. Once again, rather than accepting my apology for unwittingly bringing my equipement accross the marble floor and driving on her "sidewalk", I was yelled at. I had thought that after a couple of days, she might have calmed down.

Meadows Club Bridal Show

As a wedding vendor, I work really hard to maintain good relations with the other vendors out there. I also work to keep the blog really positive. However, there does come a time when I do need to speak out about a bad experience I had at today's Meadow Club in Rolling Meadows. After today, I am simply unable to recommend this venue. Here's what happened:

This is the second bridal show at the Meadow's Club in a little over a month that I attended. When I arrived, there was a car blocking one end of the circular driveway. As people park a little crazy when unloading for a bridal show, I didn't think much of it. I just drove around to the other side of the driveway and parked by the front door. I unloaded a couple of boxes and then the trouble began.

As I started to roll my TV into the show, Linda, the general manager at the Meadow's club came over and started yelling at me that I was supposed to use the loading dock. I mentioned that I had not seen any notifications. I was supposed to know the car blocking the driveway was there to prevent my coming in the front door. I apologized and then loaded the van back up.

Next, I couldn't located the owner of the car, so I decided to turn the van around. Well how was I supposed to know the concrete next to the black top was her sidewalk and I was not supposed to drive on it. No matter what I said to Linda, I was wrong. For the rest of the day, everytime she saw me she shot daggers at me with her eyes.

Linda's attitude towards the vendors was demeaning and condesending. Several times, she used the term, "if you had half a brain you'd have known...." While she is familiar with her venue she forgets that others may not be. If it was so important to her that people use the loading docks, then she should have put signs up on the front door.

So after all is said and done, I can no longer recommend the Meadow's club and will remove it from my recommended list. For if this is the unreasonable treatment I received at a bridal show, what treatment can my clients or fellow vendors expect at this venue. For the last thing a bride needs at her wedding is a vendor war.