Tina was a lifesaver for my family Thanksgiving party I was hosting this year. I must have…read morecontacted 30 different companies, servers, and even cleaners to try to find someone to help us out for a few hours on Thanksgiving. Many companies were downright rude, stating they do not make their employees work on holidays. Others gave us absurd quotes, and after weeks of searching, I had almost given up hope of finding anyone. Being 6 months pregnant, and hosting a Thanksgiving party for 30-40 guests in my home, I really wanted an extra set of hands to help set up, maintain the buffet, and clean up. Tina agreed to come work herself when she wasn't able to find any of her waitstaff to come in. She showed up 15 mins early while I was still in my pajamas running around getting food in the oven, and got right to work. She finished setting up my buffet, wrote the names of the dishes on my mini chalkboard plaques, and greeted guests while I quickly got ready. She was very personable and professional and willing to do whatever was necessary to make the evening go smooth. When the punch ran out, she offered to make more. She helped carve the turkey, ensured the buffet was refilled as necessary, and plated the desserts at my request to make it easy for guests to grab and sit down. She packed leftovers in To Go containers, cleaned up, washed dishes, and took out trash. Many of my guests came up to me throughout the night to compliment her service. I am so happy I found her, and can't imagine using anyone else for my party needs in the future. Thank you Tina for saving my party, and letting me actually be able to sit and enjoy my company for a change. I can't wait to work with you again!

This was our second party in one year using travelling tavern. Tina and her team did an amazing job…read moretaking care the guests and their attention to detail. I would highly recommend them!

Here is the update. This past Saturday CBR catered our wedding and it was fantastic. You kind of…read moreexpect a few things to go wrong at a wedding and the food is usually where that happens. So we were prepared for a few hiccups, but they never came. Honestly, my wife (that's still weird to say) and I love Katie. She and the rest of her team were amazing. We had a difficult venue and were were on the second floor with no elevator. Which meant that everything that had to be served had to be run up a large flight of stairs. But I will go through this better point by point. The Food - Probably the most important. Was great it was exactly like what we tasted at the tasting and not just ours everyone's was perfect. All the steak perfectly cooked and the salmon was the same. The apps were a huge hit and they even made my grandmothers meatballs (perfectly I might add). Oh and everything came out hot! Which is tough when 150 people get served at once. The service - the entire team was great they worked quickly and were excellent with all of my guests. The Katie - Honestly made this great. Every time I saw her she was running around like crazy. If something went wrong we never saw it. Also in the planning she was so easy to work with and made sure that we were getting exactly what we wanted. She even followed up the day after our wedding making sure everything was ok and apologizing for some minor thing no one noticed. I cannot recommend these guys enough. They worked with in our budget and created the dinner for our wedding that was exactly what we wanted. All of the issues were on our side including a literal 11 hour guest who Katie handled with ease. In short all of our guests were happy we were happy and it all went well.

We hired Chef by Request Catering for my daughter's graduation/going away party. Staff was helpful…read moreand courteous, food was delivered and set up on time, but most important- the food was delicious.......and there was A LOT!

Beth and Tiffany were expert bartenders who made our casual all-ages Thanksgiving open house super…read morefun. They were flexible and knew how to work the bar and the room. You will not be disappointed in their service!

*** it seems this review requires an update due to the reply posted below. I did agree to a…read morecontract and ran into an issue within 24 hours, totally true. What becomes a problem is that the owner committed in writing to provide a refund, did not issue one and then did not respond to follow ups regarding the situation. When a vendor agrees to issue a refund and then does not do so, that is an issue with business practice and deserves a negative review. I followed up for two weeks after the refund was promised and never received a refund or a response. *** The customer service is upsetting at best. I agreed to the estimate and then verbally and in writing was told they were taking a credit card just to hold the event. I ran into an issue with the event less than 24 hours after agreeing to the estimate and called them right away. The owner did not respond even though he had been quick to immediately respond before. The rep told me she would follow up quickly and didn't. They charged me 2 grand, never told me that they were and never sent a receipt. They then told me they would issue a refund and did not. They are now refusing to answer calls or emails. I need a resolution and they seem uninterested in providing customer service. Do not use them.

We stumbled across Bartend Chicago through a Dabble mixology class and had a BLAST! Nina is an all…read moreout pro at event management, especially given that it was a pop up space. We learned how to make 3 different cocktails and had great apps and dessert from Haute & Ready. 10/10 would recommend.

These guys can do it all! From fancy weddings, golf tournaments, to providing snacks, hot dogs and…read moredrinks at a high school sporting event. Whether at a fancy country club, high end hotel or just a converted room at a school or college, Belgios can serve you with high quality. Teri, Tom, and Tim help provide excellent leadership and guidance. Hire them for your catering needs.

The world needs to recognize Teri and Tom of Belgio's Catering in Naperville, Illinois for their…read morefine and exquisite food that they catered for my mom's birthday party. They took such great care of me and my family, it was totally unbelievable how their accommodations were simply phenomenal. I live in California and they worked with me every step of the way to make this event the best of the midwest. Teri and Tom Belgio went through all kinds of changes and adjustments to make this happen and i am forever indebted to them for doing such a wonderful job for our Smith family, and we'll never forget the greatest hospitality and kindness extended to our family to honor my still sharp 90 year old mom who still keeps me in line. Thank you Belgio's for being a life saver, that i'll always count on.

I had the pleasure of working with Cindy Shanholtz of Effortless Events for our company's 100th…read moreanniversary dinner and celebration, and I cannot recommend her highly enough! From the moment we began planning, Cindy's attention to detail, professionalism, and creativity shone through at every step. Cindy took the time to truly understand our vision for the event and worked tirelessly to bring it to life in a way that exceeded all expectations. She seamlessly coordinated every aspect, from the venue selection and decor to the catering and entertainment. Her recommendations were spot-on, and her organizational skills ensured everything ran smoothly on the day of the event. The 100th anniversary dinner itself was nothing short of spectacular! The atmosphere Cindy created was elegant and celebratory, perfectly reflecting our company's history while looking forward to its future. Our guests were wowed by the thoughtful touches, from the custom table settings to the beautifully designed timeline of our company's milestones. What really set Cindy apart was her ability to handle every challenge with grace and poise. Despite the complexities of planning such a significant event, she kept everything stress-free for our team, managing all logistics and vendors without missing a beat. It was clear that Cindy and her team truly cared about making this milestone event unforgettable. If you're looking for an event planner who can turn your vision into a flawless reality, Cindy Shanholtz and Effortless Events are the way to go. She made our 100th anniversary celebration an extraordinary experience, and I can't wait to work with her again in the future! Holly Both VP Sales & Marketing, Plymouth Tube Co.

This is my 2nd posting for Cindy and her team at Effortless events. I recently hired them for…read moreanother wedding celebration in Chicago for my daughter who got married in DC. Again, they did not disappoint. Cindy's attention to detail is remarkable. She recommended the venue and took the reigns. From the flowers, decor and layout it was perfect. She suggested so many fun things...like a s'mores bar for dessert where guests assembled and "cooked" their own! We had mini individual cast iron skillets with fresh chocolate chip cookies and guests could top them with ice cream. Everyone raved about it and EE did it all...I just showed up and enjoyed it. Thanks Cindy + team!

Our Bartender David was great at our wedding reception!! There were a few hiccups during the event…read morebut he handled everything with grace and kindness! Thank you guys!! You were amazing!

Our event took place and we are not the happiest with the service. The bartender that was provided…read moredid show up early to setup for the event which was awesome, however A few things would've made our event perfect but, had a lot of complaints throughout the night and when you are hosting the bar should be the last thing to worry about when you hire a company. The bartender that was provided was NOT knowledgeable about the 4 speciality cocktails that we picked from your list. Every time a guest wanted one of the drinks he had to Google the recipe on how to make it, which made the line long at some point throughout the night. He also was asking the host for other ingredients that were not on the inventory list provided in the booking process. At another point of the night he asked the host what was "Brandy". A consistent sanitary method of getting ice would have been very considerate seeing as through you are serving guest and should not be using your hand to grab ice. At a point in the night we were very tempted to ask him to leave and we would've figured out the rest of the night but, do to the fact we had guest there and we honored our contract, we just left it alone to make it through the party. There was also a moment to where we had to ask him to get back to the bar to make drinks as he was up making a plate of food a couple of times throughout the night. The invoice that was sent to us is incorrect. Our balance should only be $187.50. Once we get the corrected version, we will make that payment. Lastly, we were impressed in the beginning of our booking with the level of communication we received which is why we chose to book you all. As we got closer to the day of the event, we reached out via email and thumbtack for an update and check in and never received a response from our reaching out. It would've been nice to speak to the bartender before the day of.

An update to my prior review they apparently remove negative reviews on The Knot by abusing the…read moredispute function Completely unprofessional Prior Review: A major disappointment. We contracted them for two months of design work ahead of the date and received nothing for the first month. We prodded them through their frustrating website (the only means of communication since we never got any sort of direct email address) and when we did finally receive a mood board it was 6-8 images of items that were all clearly pulled from a single search on their preferred vendor website. We ended up doing all the decor planning and transportation ourselves so this was a complete waste. We only met our day-of coordinator a week or so ahead of the day and while Emily was professional and courteous Gina basically missed the whole meeting on the phone with someone else as we could hear through the video call. In the end bc we had done all the planning and transport ourselves and our venue coordinator had done all the logistics work with our vendors there wasn't much to do on the day. We found out later through social media they're contracting 3 or more weddings per weekend so if you want any sort of personal attention, look elsewhere. They're clearly optimizing for quantity over quality.

There aren't enough words to express just how thankful we are for Gina and OFDE…read more Well beyond managing the details of the day, keeping the timeline, and facilitating vendor communication and organization leading up to our wedding-as a bride, I felt a sense of security knowing that Gina had our backs throughout the day. We planned and payed for our whole wedding ourselves and with Gina's help as our day of coordinator, our day was better than we ever could have imagined. Everything that Gina and her associate did to set up was absolutely stunning and she thought of everything. She was so calm and collected and that was priceless, as it helped keep me grounded. She was detailed oriented and made sure everything was set up to our liking. My husband and I both haven't stopped telling each other that hiring Gina was the best decision we made in planning since the day we first spoke to her. We felt an immense weight lifted off our shoulders since the day we hired her and the impact she had on our big day was massive. Would highly highly recommend!