Victoria in the Park — Attraction in Elk Grove Township

Yesterday, my boy, Evan,  and his fiancée, Lexi, went to Victoria in the Park to look at venues for an upcoming wedding in 2027.  Now, friends reading this review, my name is David Gaffke, Creator of Bridal Expo Chicago and owner of a popular Bridal Salon named Complete Bridal-Bridal Boys.  With 41 years in the Wedding Industry, I know bull-shit when I see it.  Having our own TV Show for 5 years, rescuing over 100 dresses to girls that had their dress burned in fires at Eva's Bridal and VIP Occasions, with FREE dresses, and being covered by the Associated Press, Worldwide, to being featured on Good Morning America, just last month, I know the Bridal Industry inside and out.  On Thursday, June 19th, we went to four properties to check out Venues to host a 2027 wedding.

Victoria in the Park was the first location.  Anna greeted us and showed off the property.  When we had finished seeing the property, we sat down to go over the cost.  Anna couldn't have been more accommodating.  She was kind, informative, inspiring, compassionate, thoughtful, and accommodating.  Though there was a discrepancy on price now versus in 2027.  Some things on the old contract were more than the new contract, and some things are lower on the current contract and higher on the new contract.  Anna did EVERYTHING right, though the owners have got to think about the fact that Victoria in the Park is beautiful, but you're charging the same as the Hyatt Schaumburg, The Marriott Schaumburg, and some of the O'Hare Properties.  I applaud them for trying to compete with those properties, but those properties feature lodging, and Victoria in the Park doesn't.  All and all, Anna was the best representative we met all day!

The second Property was Concord in Lake Zurich, I believe.  The property was $40.00 per plate, less than Victoria in the Park, though the man showing us around was all about "here's the room," let's talk price.  After 10 minutes, I was ready to leave.  The sad thing was, I did at least 10 fashion shows there myself, and always loved working with the management.  They always kept the property clean and fresh.  Though the gentleman kept having us wait to book for 2027.  I've never had someone in the industry talk someone out of signing a contract on the day of the viewing.  On three separate occasions, he told us to wait 6 to 10 months before booking.  I thought that was weird.

The third property was Avante Banquets in Fox River Grove...  The Property was amazing.  The price was $85.00 per person, which was in our budget, though, to make sure you weren't competing with other weddings that day, you needed to book the entire property.  Most Banquet facilities have three rooms for three weddings, on the same day.  Most future brides, including Lexi, don't want other weddings going on at the same time as theirs.  I've been to weddings where you can hear music from the wedding in the next room, and that's not what Lexi wants.  No future bride truly wants that.  The tent was amazing, but that's for cocktail hour or ceremonies.  It would be better if the tent were attached to the building and not going through a hallway to get to it, but it could work. The Fourth property was a Country Club in South Barrington, named Makray Memorial Golf Club.  The grounds were AMAZING!!!!   Stacy was out-of-this-world, accommodating when showing the property.  They had EVERYTHING Lexi wanted, except the decor.  Makray has the rustic look that future brides are looking for, except for Lexi.  Lexi wants bougie and not rustic.  Sorry, Stacy, I tried.  Though we're going to do the Bridal Shower there. So in a nutshell... Victoria in the Park had Anna, and the Concord and Avante did not.  We're super happy that we're going to be working with Stacy as well, from Makray Golf Club.  Today, the kids have two properties to look at, and Saturday, two more.  I'll keep you...

My fiancé and I booked a tour with this place thinking “we could never afford this but...let’s just take a look anyway.” So glad we did! We worked with Maria Peercy who was upfront with us from day 1 on costs and fees. We never once felt mislead and because we opted to have a Friday wedding everything was significantly reduced.

The year leading up to the wedding (General wedding advice: ALWAYS book as early as possible!) We met with Maria multiple times and kept in touch via phone and email. She was always warm, friendly and had great insights for planning our special day. We were able to pay in small installments ahead of time which made a huge difference leading up to the final payment. She also had us stop by when other wedding were being set up, which was great to get a sense of our options and the feel of the space.

Flash forward to the wedding week: Maria helped make this truly a dream wedding. She helped us work with the restaurant to get a Kielbasa table (a polish tradition we had dreamed of) and Everything was well planned. She helped us with our final centerpiece design, we had all the parts but she came up with a great look for the head table (LOVED what she did with the twinkle lights!). The day of, My bridesmaids and I got ready in the bridal suite and it was so relaxing and fun. We got married at St James Church so we were able to leave our belongings there and return. (There is a keypad lock on the door). Cocktails, dinner and the rest of the evening the service was impeccable. Responsive and fast! Also great showmen and women! There was a wine parade, flaming cherries jubilee dessert spectacle and they even participated in the bridal games! A large number of guests complimented the quality of the food, the staff and many said it was the best wedding they had attended! Us, too!

Shoutout to Maria’s sister who took care of us in the bridal suite and to the head bartender who made my (now) husband and I a special kir-royal-esque cocktails.

Overall, we could not be happier with how our day went. The day was so smooth and the event space was perfect. Thank you Maria,...

Our wedding was July 12, 2025. Could not recommend enough!! We worked directly with Lucy from the venue tour to the day of and she was so sweet, understanding, and very responsive. She was always made available to us and even gave us her cell phone and insisted we text her if absolutely anything came up. From start to finish the process was great. We loved the food tasting and that we could bring two guests and were able to talk to vendors. Having in house food and a linen vendor that works so closely with VIP made things SO much easier. I could not imagine working with even more vendors! That being said the food was AMAZING! Everyone is still talking about the food and saying its the best wedding food they have ever had! Plus the late night snack is genius!! Everyone was so excited that there were Gene and Jude's hot dogs and thought it was even cooler that the venue arranged it. The venue was beautiful. The chandeliers, the lighting, the set up, it all tied in perfectly with our decor. Lucy was a great day of coordinator and handled most communication so I didn't have to. She made sure we were 100% about all of our decisions like the position of our ceremony. When it looked like it might rain, she reassured us that we can make the decision day of which made me feel a lot better because I really wanted the ceremony outdoors! The staff was wonderful! So sweet and joyful. My bridesmaids and I even heard them do a little pep talk and cheer before the night started which was adorable. I felt a little nauseous before the ceremony and one of the staff members brought me some cocktail hour appetizers and water. We brought a lot of our own decor and items like disposable cameras and a polaroid station and they set it up wonderfully. I was worried we brought too much or it would be set up wrong, but it was not a problem at all! The stairs were gorgeous for photos and for the reception entrances. Cannot explain enough how beautiful this venue is.

I would highly recommend VIP! We felt like everything was perfect and...