Venue/Catering: Deer Creek State Park, Mt. Sterling, Ohio - A+ http://www.deercreekstateparklodge.com/
We chose Deer Creek because it was in our budget and we felt we'd get the most bang for our buck there. We were absolutely right. Our ceremony was held outside at a lakeside gazebo that was simply beautiful. All chair set up, etc. was provided by Deer Creek and was in place the night before our wedding. We had to do any additional decoration of the gazebo, which was minimal, because it was simply stunning there all on its own. Also provided - electric hook ups for a speaker system, a table for candles, etc. at the gazebo and another table for programs and bubbles as our guests walked in, which was also set up by the Deer Creek staff. Had it been raining, we would have had our ceremony indoors, as a guaranteed back up space is a part of the contract.
The grounds are gorgeous and made for lots of beautiful pictures that I can't wait to see.
Our reception was in the Mezzanine (they also have a Grand Ballroom), which is a really unique and interesting space. The food was amazing and very affordable. DH is a vegetarian and finding a place with good vegetarian food was important to us. The vegetarian options from the tasting were so good, we had a hard time picking which one we wanted. There were also plenty of plated meal and buffet options to choose from. (We went with plated meal because it was actually less expensive than buffet.) No cake cutting fee. Plus an extra dessert provided by Deer Creek. Bar prices were also very affordable. Deer Creek's liquor license does not allow you to bring in outside alcohol, but we were able to choose the beverages we wanted available at the bar and everything else was kept out of sight. We had water, pop, 10 different beers, 5 different wines, champagne, well and call liquor, open bar all night. The bar bill was actually less than I was expecting it to be too, which was a bonus.
But the best part about Deer Creek, without a doubt, was Lindsey O'Diam, the catering sales manager. She also acted as our DOC, as a part of the regular package charges. Throughout the entire 10 months from the time we booked Deer Creek until our wedding, she was extremely helpful and easy to get a hold of. No high pressure sales. But she was very knowledgeable and had great suggestions. She also had a wonderful grasp of wedding ettiquette and was willing to customize things as needed. She was always responsive to emails and calls. She drove up to Columbus to meet with us for two hours, about a month and a half before the wedding, to go over every single detail for the ceremony and reception. The day of, she oversaw set up of the reception, watched the weather to make sure we didn't need to move inside, wrangled wedding party members, vendors, guests and her staff - not to mention getting my perpetually late DH to the altar on time. Throughout the entire wedding process, my mother kept marveling at how calm I was. This was almost entirely due to Lindsey. She was amazing.
Photography: My Studio 23 Photography, Jenni Martini, Columbus, Ohio - A+ http://www.mystudio23.com/Jenni was fantastic. You can tell she really enjoys her job. We initially met with her about 9 months before the wedding and decided on the spot that we wanted to hire her. She was incredibly affordable, very personable, and we really liked the photos and albums she showed us. We met with her again about a month before the wedding to plan a day of time line, discuss the kinds of photos we wanted to take, etc.
She arrived at the venue on time. But of course, DH is perpetually late so he wasn't ready for pictures yet. (This did not make me happy.) But Jenni handled it with ease. She met with me, took pictures of my dress, flowers and shoes. When he still wasn't ready, she took the me and the bridal party outside to take our pictures early, reasoning that it didn't really matter if the guests saw the groom and groomsmen getting pictures taken before the wedding, but I needed to make an entrance and couldn't be seen.
She had great ideas for locations for photos, made great use of the beautiful space, and was really wonderful about taking breaks (it was 90 degrees out) and being flexible.
After the photos were done, she bustled my dress for me (in much quicker time than my mom and bridesmaids could have) and even brought an emergency kit that came in really handy when one of the loops had fallen off of my bustle during the rush. She fixed it with a safety pin and it held all night.
I haven't seen the pictures yet, but based on what I have seen so far, I am sure they turned out great.
Cake: Peace Love & Sweets, Ashley Johnson, Washington Court House, Ohio A- http://www.peaceloveandsweets.com/
Ashley Johnson is a culinary school graduate from Court House who runs a small cake business from her home. The cake was amazingly good. We got layers of chocolate and s'mores cake with white butter cream icing and chocolate butter cream filling. It was delicious. The cake was moist and flavorful. There was about an inch of frosting on top of the cake (which is a huge bonus in my family and I wonder if she did that because I mentioned how much we love frosting). Much better than the cake we sampled from a local bakery, and at about 1/3 off of the cost. She also provided to-go boxes, so our guests could take cake home with them and a box to store our top tier for next year, included with her cost. Because she was local, she did not charge a delivery fee, but apparently charges a $30 delivery fee if she is traveling further away (she delivers as far away as Dayton).
The only reason I give her an A- is that she was, sometimes, hard to get a hold of early on in the process. It would occasionally take a couple of weeks to return emails or calls. There was no deadline looming at this time, so I didn't worry too much about it though.
Flowers: Connells Maple Lee Flowers, Jill Elmore, Grove City, Ohio A http://www.cmlflowers.com/Jill at Connells Maple Lee was very easy to work with. We didn't do a lot of flowers - just bouquets and boutonnieres. When I originally met with Jill, she gave me some suggestions that were a little different from what I had been thinking in terms of flower choices. I ended up going with them, and it turned out beautifully. I had a bouquet of champagne roses and blue hydrangeas that looked prettier than I imagined. DH has a boutonniere with a champagne rose and blue hydrangea. Groomsmen/bridesmaids/fathers had blue hydrangea bouquets/bouts. Mothers had wrist corsages with champagne roses and blue hydrangea. And the cost was less than I had anticipated with my original flower choices. Delivery was free and the flowers were there half an hour earlier than promised - which was both good (in that they certainly weren't late) and bad (in that it threw off the timeline for getting them flowers to the groom's party a little and added a bit of stress.
We made our own playlist and a friend set up his speakers for us, so no DJ to review.
All in all, I am extremely happy with the vendor choices we made for our wedding. We did a lot of vetting before hand. I would recommend any of them to anyone else.