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Real Bride: Kelly Morgan


Real Bride: Kelly Morgan

Kelly and Jason had an incredibly unique and beautiful summer wedding in Tinley Park, Illinois. If budget hadn't been an issue, they would have loved to have a tropical destination wedding; if I hadn't known that, I might have thought this WAS a destination wedding! Kelly did a wonderful job bringing a tropical, fun feel to her Illinois wedding! Don't believe me? Check out these pictures!

Your name: Kelly (Arends) Morgan

Grooms name: Jason Morgan

Wedding date: June 24, 2017

City, State: Tinley Park, IL

Tell us more about you!

How long have you been together?

We have been together for two years now. We were engaged after six months, and married within a year.

How did he propose? (Or how did you propose!)

After six months of being together, he planned a vacation to Fort Lauderdale and Tulum, Mexico. The night before we left Florida to travel to Mexico, we had a nice dinner out and we finished with a walk on the beach. It was a full moon, he had his Bluetooth playing, and it was drizzling out. The song Marry Me, by Jason Derulo started and when I turned around to complain that I was cold and wanted to go back inside, he was down on one knee with a ring that was all lit up. It was the most perfect engagement I could have ever dreamed of. I said yes, of course ;-). Then a year later, we were married!

What was your favorite part of the wedding?

My favorite part of the wedding was... everything! Every detail was to our liking, and we were really able to bring the tropical feel to our wedding. A destination wedding wasn’t an option for us, so we tried to do the closest thing to it. Between all of the tropical flowers and the color scheme (fuchsia, yellow, and lime green) I believe we were able to accomplish that. Having all of our family and friends there to enjoy the day with us was absolutely amazing, and we will never forget how special it was!

What went wrong with your wedding?

The only thing that went wrong in my opinion is that my flowers seemed to be purple, not pink. If that is the worst thing I have to complain about, I’ll take it.

Did you find any tricks to save you money?

No not really, unfortunately.

If you could go back and redo it, would you change anything and what?

I would have hired a videographer.

Do you have any advice for new brides?

Get your dress early! I ordered mine a year in advance, and they still had me in the fitting room making adjustments the day before my wedding. It was extremely stressful. Everything else, surprisingly, wasn’t as stressful as that. As long as you give yourself time to plan, start early, and don’t procrastinate, because something could go wrong and you need time to change/fix it, you'll survive the stress.

Did you over-plan or under-plan, or was it just right?

We probably over-planned, which we always do, but what is the harm in that? We enjoyed every minute of it, and it turned out great!

Did any of your vendors knock your socks off?

Not one any more than the other. They all did a great job! Our DJs were amazing, Bob at Rosemary’s Garden was very helpful, Orland Park Bakery was able to do exactly what we wanted, and our LED photo booth was a big hit! Of course Odyssey Country Club also did an amazing job. They worked well with our needs and wants, and we were able to put together our fairy tale wedding.

Did any of your vendors disappoint?

Our photographer wasn’t the greatest, but the company itself did not disappoint. When we let them know our experience with our photographer, they were very apologetic and tried correcting the pictures as much as possible. They also gave us a complimentary photo shoot with our families afterward, which turned out better than I could have imagined.

What was one (or more!) special element in your wedding that isn’t in most?

It seems as time goes on weddings have been becoming more and more extravagant and unique. With that said, I don’t believe we did anything out of the ordinary. We had a photo booth, hors d’oeuvres, late night snacks, tropical frozen signature drinks, flowers for guests' hair, and a glow stick station.

What do you wish you’d spent more on (whether you were able to or not)?

The only thing I wish we did was to hire a videographer. I am so disappointed we didn’t do that!

Where do you feel like you could have saved money or overspent?

Honestly, even though it was all pretty expensive, everything was used. All the party favors were taken, all the glow sticks were used, all the food was eaten, the signature drinks were a hit (Pina Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiris), and everything just flowed so well together. I wouldn’t have changed a thing besides wishing we could have gotten it all on video.

How many guests did you invite vs how many RSVPed vs how many actually came?

We invited 286 guests, and 222 RSVP’d. We had a few stragglers, so about 210 showed up.

Wedding venue: Odyssey Country Club. We were married out by the pond under the gazebo, and our reception was down in the Terrace Ballroom.

Caterer: Odyssey Country Club supplied all the food, besides our cake. We had six hors d’oeuvres, soup, salad, Chicken and Short Rib dinner, and three late night snack options.

Videographer: We didn’t have one. Some of our friends and family took videos.

Planner: Jason and I planned the whole wedding ourselves.

Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero

Bridesmaid’s designer: Morilee Madeline Gardner

Bridesmaids Salon: Eva’s Bridal International

Officiant: Our friend, Canos officiated.

Hair stylist: Shane Adam Webb at Zea Salon

Makeup Artist: Diva Me Bella by Danielle Leighton

Cake: Orland Park Bakery for our desserts. We had an individual cake for us to share and two types of cupcakes for guests to choose from -- pina colada and chocolate strawberry.

Invitations: The Paper Spot

Transportation: Southside Limousine

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