Greatest Expectations Special Events & Weddings, Inc.

Please stop by our  boutique bridal show at Pleasant Home in Oak Park this afternoon!  Last night was a smashing success and we expect today to be just as fantastic!!  Walk in’s welcome just remember to bring your $10 or better yet a piece of formal ware to donate to The Glass Slipper Foundation!

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Pleasant Home ~ 217 South Home ~ Oak Park

We love to see our name in print!!

A special thanks to CS Brides Magazine for including us in their December 2009 issue with a two-page spread featuring our fabulous clients Rachel and David. This wedding was extra special to us and we’re pleased CS felt the same way!

Thanks to GetMarried Magazine (a sister to getmarried.com and the GetMarried TV show on WeTv) for featuring us in their “Real Weddings” section with Christina and Cary’s beautiful wedding. (Just a little note here, my name was spelled wrong and they left out the company name … And there was a little misquote, I assure you my grammar is much, much better than the last quote in the article … But we still think it’s a great magazine, love free press and look forward to being featured in future issues).

It was also a thrill to be featured in three articles in the Spring/Summer issue of The Knot Chicago Magazine!  We loved working with Ashley and Michael on their Spring 2009 wedding and thank the people at The Knot for including us in their “expert tips” section! Lastly, it is a honor to have received be a 2010 pick for The Knot Best of Weddings which is also featured in the magazine.

We even got a little old fashion newspaper love in the Chicago Tribune!! They published a fun article on creative ways to propose and mentioned us as a go-to planner to help put together the perfect proposal!

GREATEST EXPECTATIONS SPECIAL EVENTS & WEDDINGS, INC.  NAMED WINNER IN THE KNOT BEST OF WEDDINGS  2010!

Chicago, Illinois January 21, 2010 — Greatest Expectations Special Events & Weddings, Inc. is pleased to announce they have been selected as a 2010 winner in The Knot Best of Weddings, a special section in The Knot Chicago magazine and on The Knot Chicago Website, the number-one wedding resource that’s most trusted by brides.

The Knot Best of Weddings 2010 provides a “by brides, for brides” guide to the top wedding professionals across the country, and is a must-have when it comes to selecting the best-of-the-best wedding resources. From New York florists and Seattle bridal salons to DC makeup artists, engaged couples will find detailed feedback on local wedding businesses reviewed by thousands of newlyweds who had great things to say.

“We are beyond thrilled to have received this enormous honor!  A very special thank you goes out to all of our brides for helping make this possible.”

# # #

About The Knot Inc.
The Knot Inc. (NASDAQ: KNOT; www.theknot.com) is a leading lifestage media company. The Company’s flagship brand, The Knot, is the nation’s leading wedding resource, reaching well over a million engaged couples each year through the #1 wedding website, TheKnot.com. Other products from The Knot include The Knot national and local magazines, The Knot books (published by Random House and Chronicle) and television programming bearing The Knot name (aired on the Style and Comcast Networks). The Company also owns WeddingChannel.com, the most visited wedding gift registry website.

This has been a great week “online” for Greatest Expectations.  Heather Lynne Vickery, our Owner and Event Director was featured in two prominent wedding blogs in the past week and we wanted to share them with you.

The first is OneWed, an excellent wedding planning resource and a really fun online destination for brides looking for new, exciting tips and also a little celebrity wedding planning gossip.  Heather was featured in the “savvy scoop” section of the OneWed Bridal Blog where her “Rule of Three” is discussed.   

The second is Northern Nuptials, a fantastic site for those of you looking to plan a destination wedding in Northern Michigan. The website is the most extensive listing of wedding sites, vendors and honeymoon locations in Northern Michigan.  It was really an honor for Heather to be asked to do their first guest editorial “how to make your guests feel at home during your destination wedding.”  The article and website have tons of details and information valid for lots of couples planning destination weddings, not just those in Michigan.

Be sure to check them out and don’t forget to let us know what you think!!

Greatest Expectations is so excited to have partnered with The Enterprising Kitchen for our CS Brides “An Evening of Bridal Luxury” swag bag insert.  If you are not familiar with The Enterprising Kitchen you are in for a real treat!  They are a unique nonprofit social enterprise providing exceptional natural soap and spa products for customers throughout the world, but located in the heart of Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood.  

The coolest thing about The Enterprising Kitchen is that they provide workforce development and support services to women who are working toward self-sufficiency and economic independence. Within the context of a business where they manufacture natural soaps and spa products, women receive intensive workforce preparation and skills development including: paid employment, work and life skills training, individualized career planning, high school equivalency preparation, technology training, financial planning and a variety of other support services. Located in Chicago, the enterprise enables lower-income women who have been unemployed and underemployed to maximize their individual potential and move into sustainable employment after 6-12 months.

Only the finest ingredients and purest essential oils are used to ensure the best experience and value for customers. All products are manufactured in small batches onsite at the Chicago facility and each piece is signed by the woman who packages it. The Enterprising Kitchen represent the renewed ability for women participants to make better choices on the road to self-sufficiency as well as the opportunity for customers to choose to purchase these exceptional natural products, which directly support women. The Enterprising Kitchen is a member of the Fair Trade Federation. TEK products are sold in over 300 stores across the U.S., online and at TEK’s Chicago facility.

A few months back we were lucky enough to get a tour of the facility and meet some of the truly exceptional women who work on these amazing spa products.  It really is wonderful to walk through and see everything being made from scratch, smell the oils and sample to goods.  We had the hardest time choosing which item to put in the CS swag bag.  The body butter is as soft as silk and I swear you would love the bath salts but in the end we decided on the cold pressed soaps.  They smell amazing, last forever and really reflected the concept and image we wanted to present … “Wash away your worries with Greatest Expectations”.

Here are some pictures of The Enterprising Kitchen’s products.  If you are lucky enough to be attending the CS event please let us know how our give away measures up!