Villa Olivia Reviews

My husband and I took one look at this black and we knew it was it. We had an outdoor ceremony right by there pond on the golf course. They already had an arch there that we were able to add our little touch to. Courtney was amazing every step of the way. Any question I had she always was able to give an answer. The set up was perfect. Food was amazing and our guests had a great night. We had a large bridal party but they were able to accommodate seating everyone comfortably. I couldn’t have asked for a better place for our special day.

My husband and I recently got married here and we absolutely loved it! Courtney was our main contact and she so helpful, flexible and very responsive. Our hostess and staff the night of the wedding were amazing and so friendly. The hostess worked with us to make more room for out photo booth and slightly move tables around when we had to move the ceremony inside. The venue was absolutely beautiful! I was a little upset that we wouldn't be getting married under the arch outside by the fountain because of the weather, but was pleasantly surprised when I walked in to find they had set up an arch inside. It made me so happy! We had the Crystal room and it was the perfect size for the 175 guests we had and looked gorgeous with the up lighting we had from our DJ. The food was incredible! We had the steak, chicken cordon bleu, and eggplant parmesan and all of it was cooked to perfection. All of our guests raved about the food ( and shot skis) for days after the wedding. Absolute best venue for events!

We loved everything about Villa Olivia. It is a spectacular venue and the food was out of this world. Someone was always available to help us out when ever we had a questions. I would absolutely recommend anyone looking to have an easy going wedding that will look fantastic to contact this venue.

Our wedding day was perfect. Our wedding planner Courtney guided us through every aspect of our wedding.
Our guests loved the crystal room, food, bar service and the entire Villa Olivia staff. This made our special
day perfect, we had no worries and were able to enjoy our wedding stress free. Everyone had an awesome
time thanks so much for hosting our event. Gina & Jason Szendel:):)

I am so happy I picked Villa Olivia to get married and have my reception. This location was my first choice and I fell in love with the venue. It was absolutely the best day of my life. Jessica was wonderful to work with! She was super friendly and professional and made every step of the way easy. She knew exactly what I wanted the entire time and assured me not to worry about anything. The whole staff was professional and friendly. Everything from booking the venue, to the tasting, to my actual wedding was exactly what I dreamed about. People raved about the venue and especially the food! The prices were very reasonable compared to all of the other venues I looked at.

Please, do yourself a favor and book this venue! You won't regret it :)

The staff at Villa Oliva was phenomenal, from the very start everything was explained and assistance was given upon each request. I loved having my venue here!

Our Coordinator at Villa Olivia was the best! So accomodating & more helpful than i would have ever dreamed! These people will bend over backwards to be sure your day goes smoothly. They really go above and beyond their job description. The Venue was just beautiful.. sunset in the back windows....food Superb! Just Superb! Who would have thought Filet Mignon can be cooked perfectly...

wonderful wedding venue from start to finish. Jessica, our wedding sales coordinator, is so pleasant to work with. I couldn't ask for a better venue. Our guests complimented us on how good the food was. Servers wore white gloves! This is a classy professional wedding venue. I highly recommend Villa Olivia to future brides!

We were SO pleased with Villa Olivia for our daughter's wedding venue! Jessica was extremely helpful from beginning to end. Always answered my questions promptly and completely. She went out of her way to make our experience a great one! The food and service was excellent as well! All of our guests commented how great everything was. And the price was very reasonable compared to other venues we looked at. They did an excellent job - highly recommend!

Jessica is the absolute BEST to work with! My fiancé and I had wanted to check out a few different venues before deciding but Villa Olivia was the second we visited and after talking with Jessica, we really didn't want to look anywhere else! We loved the space available and even more so, we loved how straight forward and honest Jessica was! She told us exactly what we would get, all the different options and choices we had to make, what was provided and what wasn't, what was allowed and what wasn't, all on the first meeting so there were no surprises when going over the contract! We have no concerns about our tight budget because we know within a couple hundred dollars (based on some choices we make) what our final bill is going to be! Also, the venue is completely affordable because it is owned by the park district but they haven't scrimped on a thing! We wanted a venue that wasn't the typical stuffy ballroom and that's exactly what we found! Windows all over the place looking out onto the beautiful property, which we will have complete access to for pictures! We can't wait to do our food and cake tasting because we've heard rave reviews too! If you want a venue that is extremely budget friendly with great staff, free parking, and a straight-forward contract with phenomenal service, I highly suggest talking with Jessica at Villa Olivia! She's quick to respond by phone or email and is extremely friendly!

My daughter had her wedding reception at Villa Olivia and it was beautiful! Jessica and Courtney were a pleasure to work with, courteous, professional and attentive to every detail. A big thanks to Rosello, head chef, for an absolutely delicious meal!

We shared the most memorable day of our lives at Villa Olivia.
Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to Jessica, our wedding coordinator. Her organization, and willingness to assist in all areas of our wedding was extremely helpful to lessen the stress of the event and planning.

Secondly, the venue itself was perfect from the way they set our tables, to the choices we picked for colors, everything was exactly as we had envisioned it.

Finally I would like to talk about the food, my word the food, it was amazing! We had so many compliments from our guests regarding the food and how exquisite it was.

I would also like to mention, to anyone who is thinking about this venue for their wedding. We were working on a budget with regard to the wedding and I have to say this place was worth every penny! So if there is any doubt in your mind, let it go, because this venue made our day extremely special.

The staff of Villa Olivia gave me the wedding of my dreams! Couldn't be happier!

Absolutely love Villa Olivia!! Jessica and her staff were very kind, friendly, on time, answered all our questions and helped with all concerns, in other words AMAZING!! The food was DELICIOUS!! The scenery (grounds) made for perfect backdrop!! All our guests were very happy!! Would definitely refer them to others and will look into returning down the road for vow renewal / next party :)

Very flexible and helpful. Pricing was great and food was yummy.

Jessica was extremely nice and was great at working with us to get everything in order

Everything went so well and was so beautiful. Courtney and Jessica were both so awesome at helping with all the little details and plans. Everyone loved the venue - I couldn't recommend it enough. The cake was great, the food was excellent, and the room was beautiful. I didn't give too much direction on how to set things up and just let them do it as they thought best (it is what they do for a living afterall) and it was awesome! Very happy with everything, 10/10 would marry there again.

Villa Olivia was a great place to get married! I worked with Jessica and she was amazing! I had ALOT of questions and she totally was patient and answered all of them with a smile on her face. Guests from my wedding raved about the food as well. They said it was really good! Everyone also said they had a great time!

Villa Olivia was great! Jessica, the event planner, was amazing. She always responded quickly to our emails and even helped us execute some big last minute changes. All of our guests said the food was great and really liked the venue. The wedding packages are a great value as well. I will be recommending Villa Olivia to all the future brides I know.

Jessica and the whole team at villa Olivia were amazing beyond words. I had the wedding of my dreams and I owe it all to them. They were friendly, accommodating and listened to every word I said about the specifics of my big day!! I felt like I could call or email them at any time and I wasn't being a bother! The scenery was breathtaking and the inside was just beautiful!! I would and have recommended them to numerous amounts of people who are engaged!! Thank you !!!

Villa Olivia was a beautiful place to have our wedding. The wedding coordinators were great to work with. All my guests couldn't get over how delicious the food was and how wonderful the room looked!

Villa Olivia was a beautiful venue - so clean and an amazing setting. We had an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, and everything went very smoothly. The staff helped with our set up including our centerpieces, and kept asking us what else we needed help with. Jessica, our coordinator, did a wonderful job throughout the entire process of keeping everything under control, answering all of our questions, and responded immediately to all emails and phone calls. Everyone at the wedding told us how wonderful the food was - we enjoyed every minute! Thank you so much!

Everything for our wedding was wonderful. The people are great to work with, and very helpful. Everything was set up beautifully, and in a very timely manner. The food was really good. Everyone loved it. No matter who I talked to, everyone on the staff was very nice, helpful, and quick to respond.

It was all great & well done! If i ever get married again id def have it there again!! :)

We searched for months for the right venue to fit our wedding desires. After meeting with Jessica the first time, we knew this was the venue for us. We were working on a tight budget. Villa Olivia had many different options that would fit our budget. Jessica and the staff at Villa Olivia made planning the reception the easiest thing that we had to do. We ended up booking our event in the Emerald Room, we had 150 guest that fit comfortably. The staff was very attentive to all of our needs. I couldn't have asked for a better place to have our reception at.

Jessica was amazing!! She made everything so easy and was always quick to respond to phone calls and emails. The venue was beautiful and everyone had a great time!! The food was delicious. I would defiantly recommend Villa Oliva to a friend!!

My wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Villa Olivia has done a great job with remodeling their banquet halls! My ceremony was held outside and my husband and I couldn't of asked for it to be more perfect. Not only is it beautiful but their staff is very easy to work with...friendly, helpful and really care about making your day special! To top it off...the food is SO good!!!!

I have nothing but great things to say about Jessica and all of the other staff at Villa Olivia! My husband and I came across some issues with the venue we had booked and needed to change our venue 3 months before our wedding. As a bride, that was the last thing I wanted/needed to be stressed out about! We contacted Villa Olivia and surprisingly our date was available since they were just finishing renovating the building. I couldn't believe we actually found something on such short notice, but someone was definitely watching out for us when they led us to Villa Olivia.

Jessica and all of the other staff were more than accommodating to us, really putting our mind's at ease. Jessica was great with answering any questions I had and responding quickly to any voice mails I left her. The day of the wedding I got to Villa Olivia and Jessica had already set up all of the things we had left the night before. Everything looked spectacular, the venue was beautiful, the tables were set up perfectly, and the brand new pergola that was built next to the pond for ceremonies was fantastic. Our guests had nothing but great things to say about how nice the venue was and how beautiful the view from the reception room was.

Another thing our guests raved about (and still are a month after the wedding), was the food. The food was absolutely delicious! The meal was huge and all of the guests said they were stuffed, but couldn't stop eating because it was so good. I wouldn't worry about anything that you pick there for food as everything at our food tasting was delicious, it was definitely hard to make a decision!

Villa Olivia was an amazing venue, Jessica and all of the staff that work there are the best, and I highly recommend choosing this as your wedding venue. Our day was absolutely perfect and we have all of them to thank for it!

Jessica At Villa Olivia Was Wonderful. I Live Out Of State And She Was Always Quick To Responds Via Email OR Phone With Things I Needed. The STaff Was Great With Working Around When We Would Be In Town For Tours And Tastings. They Work Wit A Bakery In Chicago So Cake Price Is Included Along With Champagne Toast For All Guests In The Package, Where Most Venues We Looked At That Was Seperate Things To Add On.

Villa Olivia was the perfect venue for a wedding. The room was beautiful and the food and service were excellent. We received several compliments about the venue from guests and would highly recommend having your wedding at Villa Olivia.

Everything was perfect. Guest were impressed with the food on how great it tasted and it was hot

Jessica and the rest of the staff at Villa Olivia are wonderful!! Theres not much else that couldve been done to make our special day more perfect. Everyone was very attentative and flexible with our needs. Jessica made it a personal experice rather than just a transaction, she was there even on her time off just to see me on the day of the event, and for any other reason we had to come in. The food was fantastic, and more than enough! I really felt like we got more than our moneys worth for all that we received!! Great job V.O, I have already reccomended your services and will continue to do so!

My day was perfect!!! I loved it!!!!

A Sunday lunchon. We had a destination wedding and we had an after celebration for extented family and friends:)
Sarah in events was wonderful!!!!

We couldn't have chosen any better for our ceremony and reception. We had to juggle a budget fit for 230 guests and Jessica and Courtney were absolutely fabulous!! So professional yet friendly, informative and helpful. VO was priced affordably for us from the get-so we didn't have to 'car salesman bargain' on anything which was very nice. If I got married again...knock on wood :) , I would go right back to VO and book with them again. Perfect.

We got married at Villa Olivia and had a wonderful experience! We worked primarily with Jessica during the wedding planning process and she was very helpful with giving us information and filling our requests. We were planning on having our wedding outside, but the weather was bad and we had to have it indoors last minute. Villa Olivia did a great job moving the ceremony inside. It turned out great and so pretty! Since I am a bit of a control freak, we put up most of the wedding decorations. Jessica said that they would do most the set up for us, but we choose to do most of it ourselves. It is nice that they offer that service though. The food was good, but it was better in our tasting. I'm sure that is always the case when you have to make food for 200 guests! We got a lot of compliments on the food still! We chose to do a cheesecake instead of a traditional wedding cake, and the guests LOVED it.The pricing of this venue is very fair compared to others that I researched. When we were first looking for places, we were almost set on one place until I visited Villa Olivia and fell in lover with it! It is VERY nice inside and our room had huge glass windows that showed the sun setting in the background! The outside would have been nice for the ceremony too with the pond and fountain in the background. Also last minute, we found out the Blackhawks were playing in the finals on our wedding day. Being big Blackhawks fans, we decided that we wanted to play the game in the reception. We brought in a projector and they provided us an area and a screen to show the game on. It was nice that they worked with us to make this happen! I emailed back and forth to Jessica quite a few times during the planning process, and she was very responsive. If she wasn't in the office, Courtney was usually there who was helpful as well. If I did it all over again, I would have it at the exact same place. We loved every minute of our wedding day and really enjoyed our experience at VillaOlivia!

They took care of all my questions & reassured me regarding my worries. They made sure we get all that we want & more if possible. Staff was nice, respectful & caring. The only flaw i saw was from the server on the head table (it took time to check back on us & to get our drinks) & the cake we got didnt look exactly the same as we ordered from the picture (its from an outside vendor though that was contracted by Villa Olivia).
Overall review : almost perfect!

The overall experience with Villa Olivia was lovely! Our outdoor ceremony was beautiful and we had wonderful compliments from our guests on the outdoor location. The Reception Hall was the perfect size for our smaller guest list. The food was delicious and we received several compliments on the champagne chicken! Jessica and Courtney are absolutely awesome! They were easy to work with, responsive, flexible and know what their doing. My only recommendations would be.... (1) for the Catering Managers to inform the bride & groom if they will not be at the actual wedding and/or reception to delegate and keep things moving. (2) for the banquet staff to NOT BE SO QUICK to pick up drink glasses! Lots of guests (including us) had full-nearly full alcoholic drinks and the banquet staff kept clearing them! I understand picking up plates, silverware, napkins, etc...but leave the drinks! Guests want to get up and dance and be able to come back to their seats and have their drinks waiting. We pay for the open bar in our package and it seemed a lot of alcohol was wasted. Some banquet staff has to stay until the end anyway, so not sure why they were so quick to clear.

This is such a great place for a wedding. Best bang for your buck! Just as nice as any other venue but the prices are better. Everything including the cake is built into the price per person. Jessica is very helpful and flexible. I highly recommend Villa Olivia for any wedding.

I was married in June and decided to have the reception here. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect reception. The room was beautifully decorated by the time guests arrived and the food was delicious! The servers were wonderful also! In short, the night went incredibly smoothly! Additionally, all the paperwork/preparation for the evening was very simple. Anytime I needed to change the order of events, change seating, etc, I just emailed the catering department and they took care of it.

I only have two minor complaints:
1. When we first signed the contract, the catering department listed h'orderves on our contract. We did not specify that we wanted these so we had to go back the next day and sort out the mix up. The catering department gladly fixed this though.
2. The cake toppers weren't set up correctly. Both the bride and groom were supposed to be holding signs but only the groom had his sign. Also, I believe the groom cake topper fell when they were setting it up (it had white frosting all over it). Although a minor detail, this was not cleaned up before guests arrived.

Despite these two minor complaints, the night went perfectly and I would definitely recommend Villa Olivia to friends.

Villa Olivia is the best value for your money in Chicagoland. You get all the service of a much more expensive wedding venue without the cost or headaches. It is a beautiful venue, but somewhat old-fashioned. The food was excellent and the service was too. Theresa, the wedding coordinator, is like having your mom there. She'll make sure it gets done to your specifications and that it all runs smoothly on your big day. The grounds were well maintained, plus outdoor space (with a bar) free of charge. The sunset there is spectacular for your pictures. They treat you like family and make sure your are very satisfied with their service. Don't be turned off by the dated website or 80's brochure for weddings. For a couple on a realistic budget, Villa Olivia can't be beat.

Jessica McDougall was amazing and answered any question that came up very quickly!!

Everything turned out great! It was such an incredible value to have our wedding here. The price was reasonable and there was no extra charge for the ceremony on site, which was a huge plus! They put together all of our centerpieces for us and held everything for us until the next day so we didn't have to lug everything back on the hotel shuttle. The food was good, but it definitely tasted much better at our tasting than at the actual event. They also didn't move our cake to the center of the dance floor for the cake cutting, so no one could see anything since we were tucked back into the corner. Our ceremony site was also right next to the parking lot, but there was no issue with noise from cars. Overall, everything ran smoothly and our guests had a great time!

The Villa Olivia staff did a wonderful job helping our day come together. I never could have imagined all the details that we would need to manage. Jessica helped me so much, I absolutely appreciated her professionalism and guidance! Our day was wonderful, everyone on staff that evening was very helpful, pleasant and cooperative.

I'm glad we chose Villa Olivia!

Theresa and Jessica made the planning more laid back and less stressful. They were available to answer all my questions. Jessica was great and patient as we were talking almost daily about last minute details. We had a candy table and their team did a great job of setting everything up with my instructions I provided. Many of our guests commented on the quality of the food and thought everything was beautiful. Villa Olivia recently renovated and everything looks great. They also have a pergola near the pond which really made the pictures look gorgeous. Overall we are very happy we had our wedding at Villa Olivia and would recommend to anyone looking for a place in the area!

We had our ceremony and reception at Villa Olivia in the Rose Room and the garden outside. It was absolutely gorgeous! The room was amazing and everything looked so beautiful. You cannot beat the prices and everyone said that there was so much food and it was all great. My only problem was that apparently we were in the wrong bridal room before the wedding. No one was there to tell us and then they tried to ask me to move literally as I was leaving the room for the ceremony. It all got sorted out, though and the whole place was fantastic.

The staff really went above and beyond to meet all of our needs. The site was absolutely stunning and we received numerous compliments on the service, food, and location. One moment that really stands out in my memory is when, during dinner, the sun set over the green hills of the golf course behind the head table and was absolutely gorgeous through the huge windows. We got some great pictures of that!

I have to say we really enjoyed the venue and the staff that directly helped us day of. But the office staff was not very helpful after Sara left( which she was soo incredibly helpful until she left the week before our wedding). The girl that took over didn't even introduce herself when I came in to drop my things off and even spelled my last neme incorrectly on the wedding sign sheet(and when our best man mentioned it he was given attitude to change it! Really it wasn't busy and it takes 2 seconds to make the change and print out a new sheet!) Also, the last time I talked to Sara she had said since our wedding was the only one on that day we could use either ceremony sites,well when I inquired about this I was told absolutely no I could only use the one outside our room(which disappointed me because the other site had a beautiful pond). Well flash forward to our rehearsal the bartender (didn't catch her name either) asked why we weren't using the pond location and I told her I was told I could not.She then said she would switch it for me and left notes for all the appropriate people to tell them of the change! I mean if the bartender can change the location in 2 minutes pretty sure your office staff can,just pure laziness. This could have been 5 stars, but was really dissapointed in the switch of staff. If you don't want to do your job don't show up, weddings are very stressful and there is no need to add to it.

Well, all in all the wedding was amazing. The coordinators were very kind and prompt to respond and willing to help. The venue was beautiful as well. Inside and out. The food was delicious. The officiant we had was also very kind and informative. We also had no complaints from the guests.
However, there were a number of little things that were wrong, but only things that myself and the wedding party noticed. The guests had no idea anything was wrong. There were 2 weddings going on the night of our wedding and the weather was nasty outside so it was hard to get good pictures as their is a gorgeous brick wall but as you can guess, there is only one wall and 2 weddings at the same time. There is not enough room inside for 2 weddings to be taking pictures away from their guests. This wouldn't have been a problem if the weather had cooperated. There was a mix up with the color of the ribbon on my cake and instead of calling and asking, they guessed at the color. I was also very rushed by the serving staff to get my cake cut when I was initially told it was up to us when we cut the cake. One of the servers interrupted one of our table photos to tell me I needed to cut the cake so they could "get going". At the end of the night they also mixed up our cakes and we were sent home with the other wedding's cake top, and they had ours. Villa did call in a replacement cake top and we did receive one, however, (not Villa's fault!) the bakery made our cake green with purple stars/moons and it looked like a children's birthday party cake or mardi gras cake and not an anniversary cake. Lastly, I made a seating chart of who needed vegetarian meals. I had 3 people in my wedding party who needed vegetarian meals and they were served chicken. This was corrected after I noticed it once dinner was already in process. Aside from the mix up the food was phenomenal.

We got married here this past summer. Great working with the staff up until the event. Jessica was very friendly and flexible with what we wanted to do. Although, 2 parts of our meal were wrong (meaning gave us different food than what we ordered). The wait staff didn't seem to know what order we were doing events in. So that caused some frustration and confusion. The venue works with a bakery to do your cake as well. Our cake was decorated the way we had asked, too. Luckily, it all still tasted great, but if you are looking for a place that will get all the details right just proceed with caution!

The best thing about Villa Olivia was the food. It was exceptional! The price for what you got was outstanding. The room we had was beautiful, the ourdoor area a great bonus. A few issues, the woman that was responsible for that night was unresponsive, rude, and not accomodating- aggravated me to the point that my NEW husband had to ask me to come sit back down to eat- she didnt take care of ANY of the things I asked that night, and there were a few hiccups woith setup. I had menu cards printed and they left them in a pile on the table with the place cards- instead of putting them at each place setting. Also, upon dropping off the table decor, etc.. the day before, I had specific instructions along with printed photographs of how I wanted the candles to be arracnged, and they didn't do it- so instead of having 3 different colors alternated at each table, there was one color per table, and they were not even spaced out per color- which aggravated me. A few more, but I won't go on. For the money it was well worth it- I wish I was able to have the lady that I dealth with all long that night, I feel that would have been the difference to things getting done the right way.