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Arlington entrepreneur celebrates weddings

Keith KoKoruz of Arlington Heights in January bought the iconic Fred Fox Studios. He is adding it to his portfolio that includes Aberdeen's Wedding Florists, DJ services, photography and other bridal services.

He has built an array of services dedicated to celebrating weddings. He even points out that he's dating a woman who sells wedding dresses.

“There is some irony there,” he says.

After the recent acquisition, KoKoruz consolidated Fred Fox's Northbrook corporate office and its Schaumburg sales office, located in the House of Brides, into a new one-stop Wedding Design Center at 1173 Tower Road in Schaumburg. The center is also the home of The Keith Christopher Entertainment Group, also owned by KoKoruz, which offers DJs, live entertainment, décor lighting and photo booths.

It is also the home of Aberdeen's, founded in 1958 and owned by KoKoruz and business partner, Dena Wickland of Lake in the Hills.

It also houses Bella Sebastian Beauty, a hair and makeup company for brides on their wedding day. KoKoruz owns this business with partner, Desmond Lane of Volo.

In addition, KoKoruz produces the Windy City Wedding Show, one of the largest bridal show production companies in the area.

His interest in the wedding industry goes back to when he joined Theta Chi fraternity while attending Northern Illinois University. That's where he started as a DJ with some of his fraternity brothers. A year later, he opted not to finish college and instead started his own company.

“I love getting people on the dance floor and making brides happy on their wedding day,” KoKoruz said.

After 20 years, he left that business and started Keith Christopher Entertainment Group. A year later, he launched Windy City Wedding Show that produces bridal expos and events featuring vendors and services.

He started with a few shows. “We now produce 16 shows in the Chicagoland area and three in Milwaukee under the name, The Badger State Bridal Expo. We are sponsored by David's Bridal, Men's Wearhouse and The Knot.”

He's happy to add Fred Fox Studios and Aberdeen's in his arsenal.

As for the photo studio, he said the previous owner of Fred Fox turned 88 years old in 2014.

“I have known their staff for as long as I have been in the business,” KoKoruz said. “I had breakfast with the vice president, Terry Terchin (of Hoffman Estates), last summer and he said that the owner was looking to officially retire and that led to multiple talks that eventually led to me buying Fred Fox Studios officially in January of this year. Terry has been with Fred Fox for over 40 years and is our general manager overseeing the day to day operations with me.”

KoKoruz said he's enjoyed his work in the wedding industry.

“I like to learn about all aspects of the industry. Everything ranging from how videos are shot and edited to the types of linens that are used on the tables. I always found what other wedding vendors do interesting,” he said. “In today's economy, a person can grow their business by selling to more customers or selling more servicers to the same customers. I would prefer to be a one-stop shop for brides to get excellent entertainment, flowers, photography and video services as well as on location hair and makeup.”

Heat and serve

HVAC and plumbing contractor R.J. Kuhn's Rick Kuhn, co-owner and son of founder Dick Kuhn, donated nearly $9,000 toward a recently completed energy efficiency project at the Kendall County Food Pantry in Yorkville. Nicor Gas will recognize Kuhn for his work and making the food pantry energy efficient during a ceremony today at 2 p.m. at the pantry. The pantry received an energy assessment in 2014 and Maria Spaeth, the pantry's executive director, took the project to correct the inefficiencies to Kuhn. The project finished in January and cost about $50,455, of which Kuhn billed the pantry for $41,455. The food pantry also received a rebate from EnergySmart for $5,516.88.

FastTracks

Andrew Partridge of Chicago has joined his father, Michael Partridge of Mount Prospect at the Partridge Dental in Des Plaines. Andrew didn't always want to be a dentist. But after he participated in a service trip to Peru with his father in 2010, he pursued dentistry. While in Peru, Drew and Michael provided dental care to residents of villages along the Amazon River. ... Christina Keeley is now the full-time events director at the Schaumburg Business Association. ... Kurtis T. Muth and Timothy V. Weidner have been promoted to project managers at Engineering Enterprises Inc. in Sugar Grove.

Rolling Meadows native Caroline Jagla has joined Castle Chiropractic in Rolling Meadows as a Chiropractic Physician. ... Robert Papineau joined The Missner Group in Skokie as senior project manager. Papineau was previously a project manager for Ledcor Construction in Oakbrook Terrace and he serves as a volunteer firefighter for Western Springs.

Alan Burkhard of Wheaton is the new president of Chicago-based Call One, a nationwide provider of voice, data and Internet service systems. Burkhard was previously the company's chief operating officer. ... Anna Shafiei has opened Waxing The City — Naperville and hosted a grand opening last week. ... Denise Provenzano, who owns five beauty salons in Naperville, Lisle and Batavia, has been elected president of Cosmetologists Chicago, an association of salon professionals in the Midwest.

Eduardo Conrado, previously senior vice president of marketing and IT at Schaumburg-based Motorola Solutions, has been named chief innovation officer. ... Bill White Jr. has been named managing broker of the Baird & Warner's Glen Ellyn location.

Owner Designer Mollee Johnson and her Style 1519 in Lake Zurich has been awarded Best Of Houzz for customer satisfaction by Houzz, a platform for home remodeling and design. The “unique, detail oriented design firm” was chosen by the more than 25 million monthly unique users in the Houzz community.

•There's more to business than just the bottom line. We want to tell you about the people that make business work. Send news about people in business to akukec@dailyherald.com. Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter.

Keith KoKoruz
Jim Brudnicki, HVAC manager of R.J. Kuhn, from left, Maria Spaeth, executive director of Kendall County Food Pantry; and Rick Bill, Kendall County Food Pantry volunteer. COURTESY OF NICOR GAS
Kurtis Muth
Timothy V. Weidner
Caroline Jagla
Robert Papineau
Alan Burkhard
Eduardo Conrado
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