For the fifth consecutive year, the Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club was recognized by industry leading wedding planning website, The Knot and WeddingWire — now a combined company called The Knot Worldwide — for their best of 2022 weddings awards.
To determine the winners, The Knot analyzed its millions of user reviews across various vendor categories including venues, musicians, florists, photographers and caterers to find the highest rated vendors of the year.
“These winners represent the best of the best wedding professionals that engaged couples should consider booking for their own unique weddings,” The Knot said in a news release.
The Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club, situated off 31st Street down a long, winding road, was awarded in the venues category out of hundreds of wedding spaces across the country.
Marianne Long, marketing and event manager for Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club said one of the features clients rave about is the privacy of the venue. The floor to ceiling windows overlook 20 acres of woodlands and a pond, which is beautiful no matter the season, Long said.
Because the awards are based solely on reviews, Long said it’s that much sweeter to carry the badge.
“It’s very exciting to win something like this. The biggest excitement is that the clients have taken the time after their event to review us on The Knot and WeddingWire,” she said. “It was very exciting to see them finally get to have their special day because there were so many restrictions and rules placed with COVID-19.”
For two years, Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club dealt with the twists and turns surrounding Covid-weddings, from cancellations to revised guest lists and spaced out layouts.
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“It was very stressful for them. Several weddings were rescheduled, and maybe one or two that had to reschedule four times in one year,” Long said.
With regularly shifting COVID-19 guidelines, Long said every time there was an update to the governor’s orders, they’d reach out to each client explaining what it would mean for their scheduled events.
“At one point, they couldn’t have any events, and then they could have up to 50 guests, and then they couldn’t. Or they couldn’t have dancing, so on and so forth. Weddings are stressful already and then you add that extra element to it that makes it harder,” she said. “It’s a lot of extra work for them too because once they get other dates available then they have to go back to their families, friends and other vendors that are booked — I think we got to know them a little more just because of all the communication back and forth.”
According to The Knot, this year, only 5% of the thousands of local wedding professionals listed on the website received the distinguished “best of” award.
The personal interactions are key for Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club, Long added.
“We try to go a little bit above and beyond by doing some extra things for clients like if they have décor they want to drop off in advance, we put it put for them, our catering company coordinates taste testings, and they try to have the same staff that worked the taste testing working the actual event as well,” she said.
Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club works closely with Elk Grove Village-based Tasty Catering to provide seamless wedding coordination from idea to inception.
The two companies share the award, said Long. “They are the other half of our equation. Between the two of us it makes things a lot easier for clients.”
The wedding sales team at Tasty Catering, Amanda Ellis, Carolyn Stewart and Hannah Malovan, said they try to make meals just as praiseworthy as the décor.
“We find that some guests do not come with very high expectations for wedding meals as they can be seen as bland or boring. We are happy to report that we receive rave reviews from our couples and hear that their guests are still talking about the menu long after the event,” they said via email. “We take pride in offering menus that are completely customizable, beautifully presented and best of all, Tasty.”
Long said while the pandemic changed what’s “normal” about planning a wedding, some things like venue walk-throughs and picking out linens and floral arrangements keep the charm intact.
Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club has a 4.9 rating on The Knot, with six badges under their name, including a “Best of Weddings Hall of Fame” honor.
“What a spectacular venue! Our wedding reception was a dream … their team transformed this already gorgeous venue into a fairy tale in the matter of hours. Marianne and Jordan were present every step of the way during our planning process and helped to make our dream day come to fruition,” commented one reviewer, who got married in December at the Oak Brook club.
The indoor-outdoor patio also makes for easy transitions in design and layout, said Long, whose sentiment was echoed by another recent client on The Knot.
“The venue is absolutely stunning! We loved the indoor-outdoor flow. The grounds and the pond are beautiful. It is a hidden gem in Oak Brook and we got so many compliments from our guests,” the reviewer said.
For more information on Oak Brook Bath & Tennis Club, including pricing and availability, visit oakbrookbathandtennis.com.