Having our wedding ceremony and reception at Wilder Mansion was the best decision we made for our big day!!! We had our wedding on September 17, 2016. From the very start, everyone at Wilder was responsive, helpful, and so overwhelmingly friend...ly and supportive! From our initial tour of the venue, through booking, through planning, and for the big day, the staff at Wilder were with us the whole way. We worked most closely and most often with Meagan and Heather, but several other staff members helped us on our big day. Here's what you need to know planning your wedding.
The Venue: It’s absolutely beautiful! The mansion itself, the surrounding gardens, the formal garden, the conservatory… there’s not a bad place to take a picture if you tried! We wanted an old-school, romantic feel for our wedding and this was the perfect place for that. We also wanted things to still be simple, so the fact that we could have the wedding ceremony and the reception in one place made it really easy for us and for our guests. Our ceremony was in the formal garden, which is so beautiful and also secluded, so it felt very intimate. In the garden area all paths are paved, and the event area is turf, so there’s no grass to need to negotiate in heels. The garden area is covered by a nice looking tent, so no sunburn to fear. In the mansion itself there’s lots of room for guests to wander around, and the bridal suite for getting ready was perfect and was separated to help keep my groom and I apart before the ceremony. They have their own sound system that you can plug a phone/iPod into to play music, so we didn’t need a tacky DJ (another saved expense); they even recommended a music app for us! Wilder has a list of preferred vendors for catering too, so that also made the planning even simpler for us. (Catering reviews separate.)
The Staff: I can’t say enough fantastic things about the staff. From start to finish, they handled so much for us I think they really helped to make our day that much more special – truly. Before the wedding Meagan was just so awesome helping me with questions so I knew exactly what I needed to do before our wedding. The team handled so much for us on our day, from setting up and tearing down our decorations, directing guests around, to helping us navigate the sound system, loading our car with the gifts, and even following up with my florist when my flowers didn’t show up on time! When the Wilder team found out my florist’s delivery vehicle broke down, they drove out to pick up the flowers to get them to my ceremony! But their efforts didn’t stop there. I wanted to start the ceremony on time without the flowers, and when the Wilder staff realized I wouldn’t have a bouquet they chopped up one of the Mansion’s floral displays and MADE a bouquet for me to carry! Believe me when I say that the staff at Wilder Mansion are a special group, and I can’t thank them enough for being just amazing people. Your wedding will be special regardless, but honestly I can say that the team at Wilder made our day even more amazing. I’m tearing up writing this because they really went above and beyond the whole time working with us.
A HUGE THANK YOU to the Elmhurst Park District, Wilder Mansion, and most importantly, the amazing Wilder staff (particularly Meagan and Heather)!!! <3