I was so excited to share my Korean culture with my husband and our wedding guests through a…read morebeautiful Paebak Ceremony created by Oh Happy Day at our reception. Everyone on the team was incredibly helpful, the hanboks were stunning, and the MCs that day were simply amazing. The ceremony backdrop and table decor were thoughtfully and beautifully arranged, making for incredible photos that we'll cherish forever. Throughout the ceremony, they took the time to explain the traditions, which helped our guests fully appreciate and connect with this special tribute to my heritage. Guests have been talking about it for weeks! We're already looking forward to working with Oh Happy Day again for other important Korean celebrations, like our future children's 100 Day Celebration. We can't recommend them enough!

Amazing experience! Kris and Helene did an amazing job. Stress free for us and our family. They…read morebrought everything that was needed, you just need to bring yourself. The whole experience felt authentic.

Carla and Tina provided dance lessons and a bit of Polynesian culture education. They were great…read more Our guests loved them. Suggest you bring brochures with for folks who want more info.

I first fell in love with Hawaiian culture the first time I saw the Barefoot Hawaiian dancers…read moreperform at the Tiki Terrace restaurant. I was so impressed with the dancing and the colorful costumes that I looked at their website and found they offered dancing classes, plus the classes were very affordable. The school is located in Des Plaines and have two Dance Studios. They also have a Hawaiian store that sell an extensive collection of Hawaiian shirts and dresses; as well as all things Polynesian. The classes are separated by Women's, Men's, and Children's dance classes, and they also offer Ukalele and Polynesian drum classes; as well as Fire knife Dancing for men. Shortly after seeing the Barefoot Hawaiian dancers perform at Tiki Terrace, I enrolled in their Kane (men's class) Dance class every Monday night. The owner and instructor Gwen Keneddy was very nice and patient and really knew her Polynesian culture. The classes were taught in a fun and safe environment, and I learned allot of the dances in a short amount of time. After a few weeks of taking classes, I was invited to perform with the Barefoot Hawaiian dancers at local outdoor events and parades, while pretending to be a Hawaiian native. Lol. The school provided the materials to make the Polynesian costumes, and we paid and assembled the costumes ourselves with help from the more experienced older girls (or the Hula Nazis, as they were nicknamed). I have been with this Dance troop a little under two years before I decided to retire from dancing, but overall, I enjoyed this part of my life. I will never forget the people I met and befriended during my time with Barefoot Hawaiian; it was like joining a member of a large Hawaiian family and Gwen was our mother. If you have an appreciation of Polynesian culture; I suggest you enroll in their dance, Ukalele or drum classes. You will come out with a more appreciation of Polynesian culture, and walk away with a new family. The classes are held one day a week, during the evening, and a normal semester is 8 weeks and only $10 per class.

We recently attended a wedding reception at a nearby forest preserve that used the services of A…read moreTouch of Elegance. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable experience! The meals came from someone else, but the orderly fashion it was presented and served was duly noted. That goes double for the drink line as well; I ordered non-alcoholic drinks and still felt appreciated. Kudos to the two sisters and Diane D. who worked the event! A Touch of Elegance definitely showed a touch of class!.

A Touch of Elegance was nothing but a disappointment by Denise (Owner) our event executer…read more When reading this review, please realize this was written to help other brides and people who deserve an amazing event planner/executor for their special day. We hired a Touch of Elegance to ONLY execute our designs for our wedding in September 2019. I (The Bride) worked with the owner herself, Denise, who agreed to take on this project. I gave her specific details and instructions on how I wanted key aspects of my wedding to come together which included: putting up a photo backdrop which I designed, placing all tent cards in order on the backdrop, assisting with gathering family members for pictures during cocktail hour, making sure the banquet hall was ready (table numbers, reserved seating, guest gifts) for photography before guests arrive, setting up the memory table, the autograph table, and placing signage. We also had a surprise swing dance number for our guests and I had a dress change, so that is the only thing that she helped us with correctly. Please see the images attached regarding how each part was executed INCORRECTLY as there was not enough room to write it all here sadly. We gave Denise a Call regarding feedback Being the "Hospitality Power Couple" (name given by our family and friends) and myself for receiving a degree in graphic design and hospitality, we were EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED. Learning of some of the issues during our wedding, after our wedding, learning much more from family friends, and the staff of our hotel venue about Denise was hard to take in. Unfortunately, we had to call Denise to ask how she felt our wedding day went as we wanted to hear her side of the story. The best way to sum up the call would be that it showed us who Denise really is. She kept telling us "She DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME". Our first thought was, if you did not leave yourself enough time, why not bring in more of your staff to help you. We placed our trust and faith in her as she reassured us many times everything will be wonderful on our wedding day since we were over organized and too detailed, but it shows that no matter how OCD you may be, it can still be executed WRONG. With Denise knowing all this taking place during our wedding, we feel we wasted our money as we never planned to have an event planner execute our designs but my now husband convinced me that she was worth it. Sadly, we were wrong, and we paid for it as we DID NOT RECEIVE A REFUND from Denise. From one business owner to another (founder of my graphic design company and a nonprofit), I was also DISAPPOINTED that she DID NOT CARE TO CALL us for our feedback. I had to reach out to her to set up a call. As an owner, I would want my clients to be honest with me about my work, my work ethic, and how I am as person when working with clients. I am always trying to be better for my clients, and I hope she does the same going forward because I will never recommend her to family or friends after this experience. I hope Denise learns from our wedding on how not to treat people and their guests when hosting an event. My biggest hope is that she does not cause any of these problems for anyone else's event going forward as no one needs more stress on a big day like their wedding or any special event for that matter.

Best. Decor. Company. Ever. I had seen Elegance's work at prior weddings and knew I wanted them for…read moremy own wedding. When the time came around, I reached out to them immediately and was thrilled they were available for my wedding weekend! I was in contact with Swetal. We exchanged a few emails and then set up a call to go over details. I had a few ideas, but wasn't quite sure what else I wanted and Swetal was gracious to walk through and explain things that I hadn't even thought about. Leading up the wedding, we had one more call to go over last minute details and that was it!! She knew exactly what I wanted and was kind enough to point out certain elements I had forgotten about. On my wedding day, the decor honestly could not have been anymore perfect. They were punctual, the decor looked INCREDIBLE and everything was exactly like we had discussed. We were so happy with them and are so grateful for all their hard work and effort they put into these weddings, especially after a rough pandemic year. Swetal and her team are so easy to work with, very transparent with pricing/looks, and honestly just so easy to chat with! I think we talked about just normal life stuff more than the decor aspect of things because I trusted them completely to execute what we had discussed and they did! Cannot recommend them enough and hope to have them back for any of my future events!

Swetal and team helped make our fairytale wedding a success! They were incredibly easy to work with…read morethroughout the entire process, inclusive of providing budget friendly recommendations of how to dress up our space for the sangeet, ceremony, and reception. Swetal was also accessible in convenient ways -- I knew if I texted or e-mailed her, I wouldn't have to worry about constantly having to follow up to get an answer. We received numerous compliments on our wedding decor, and I would definitely recommend working with this team!

Smarty Pants was fantastic at our recent event AND each and every time I've seen him perform over…read morethe years - which is many times (because many people see how amazing he is)!! It's not just his talent with super fun and surprising balloon characters but his adaptive nature and outstanding personality, engaging everyone at the parties/events. I would absolutely recommend him for all types of occasions : private or big birthday parties, festivals, block parties, - anywhere there will be children!! He is one less thing at your party you need to worry about because he is a sure thing! Truly, he is a whole family favorite!!

What a fun performer. I came across him at the Park Ridge Kiwanis annual pancake breakfast, where…read morehe was doing some entertaining mostly for the kids but definitely for the adults as well. It's through him that I heard of the Central Street Busker Festival that took place the next day and his line was loooong! Most recently, we went to his show last week that the Mt. Prospect Public Library held for spring break. That was very very well attended, with a long line of folks waiting to get in (and that's with all of us registered to attend!), but the show was a lot of fun. He did a little magic, a little comedy, and some fun balloon tricks. This guy has been doing this all his adult life--unless that's also a joke and part of his act--but regardless, he's great at his job. I'm looking forward to seeing him again and my little one having the chance to pick her balloon creation on her own.

Had a great time at Funtopia with my kids. So many climbing walls, it was a good time (especially…read morethe Christmas theme for the winter). I had the chance to check out their party rooms as they were running kind of a family open house for their Christmas time. Lots of fun challenges for the kids as they put snowflakes and cookies on the climbing walls for kids to collect for a prize. They had a food buffet showcasing some of their food options pizza, pizza puffs, meatballs, chicken tenders. Salad and hot chocolate. The staff was super friendly and good with the kids. We had a great time. The party space accommodates several groups at the same time.

Great variety of activities for all ages. Plus, there are tables for parents to hang out or work…read more Free wifi!