I’m finally getting around to vendor reviews from my Oct 9 wedding. I found these insanely helpful while planning, so hopefully I can do someone else the favor.
To all you ladies (and gents) planning, good luck with your wedding! Don’t worry too much about your wedding, it will be fantastic... no matter what happens and you’ll walk away from the day married to the person you love!
Venue - Sawyer-Hayes Community Center @ Tom Sayer Park: A+
This venue was exactly what we wanted. We booked before they were even open, so we were able to secure our date with no problem. Robin is fantastic to work with. You can bring your own alcohol, so that allows you to cut cost (BIG TIME!) on the bar bill. Robin has some great suggestions on how to set things up and suggestion on vendors to make sure brides aren’t getting ripped off. The only downside to this venue are that all rentals have to be removed from the grounds by midnight, which may result in an extra cost from your rental company/caterer. However, Robin was able to give us some tips on other rentals that were able to offset that particular cost.
http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/ep/SawyerHayesCommunityCenter/Photographer - Kreich-Higdon Photography: A+
If you’ve looked at any of their work on the website or blog, what you see is what you get. My wedding photos are gorgeous. And during the reception, you could hardly tell they were there, yet they took pictures the entire time. Very professional.
http://www.kriech-higdonphoto.com/blog/Caterer - Naiman’s Catering: A-
The food was great at a reasonable cost. In fact, several people told me it was the best wedding food they’d ever had (and we had a basic buffet). Wait staff was great on the night of. Les was perfectly happy to provide bartenders, even though we provided the alcohol. The downside was that Les can be pushy at times, especially in the two months leading up to the wedding.
http://www.naimanscatering.com/Cake - Nords: A
If you dont know about Nord’s Bakery, then you should. They dont advertise for wedding cake business. However, their cakes are great and they have a much cheeper price per slice than other major bakeries. They were happy to make my cake based on pictures I brought in. If you call, ask for Lynn.
Dress - Bridal and Formal, Cincinnati: A-
A great place to go if you’re just trying to get an idea of a dress.... their inventory is massive. They actually offered me a great deal on my dress (which I had tried on at 3 other stores prior to actually buying). Despite being a massive store, they still try to make you feel special, such as quickly giving you a bridal hair do when you think you’ve found “the one”. Only downside is my dress took longer than the original time frame to be delivered.
http://www.bridalandformalinc.com/Bridesmaids Dresses - Rebecca’s Bridal: A
Helpful staff. Great dress prices. And, the three dresses were delivered in 6 weeks.
http://www.rebeccasweddings.com/Alterations - Beautiful Bustles by Meghan Hicks: A+
Meghan did a fantastic job with my dress. She suggested a type of bustle that I had never seen that perfectly complimented the dress.
http://beautifulbustles.weebly.com/Officiant - Bob Mueller: A-
Bob was good about communicating and provided us with lots of ceremony ideas to get the ball rolling. The only reason that he gets an A- is that he showed up to the rehearsal without the ceremony we had written. However, he found it that evening and the actual ceremony went smoothly.
Musicians - Highland Chamber Players: A
Easy to work with. Lots of music choices on their website.
http://www.highlandplayers.com/DJ - DJ Joe Dubb (Joey Wilkerson): A
Joey was recommended by a friend. He was super nice when we met pre-wedding. He did an awesome job and kept the ceremony moving, all at what I thought was a really great price.
http://www.djjoedubb.com/Florist - Weddings by Chris (Chris Overburg): A++
I posted a few weeks back about Chris. My bouquets were one of my favorite parts of my wedding. They were stunning. If I ever have a need for a florist again for a special event, I’m calling her.
weddingsbychris@gmail.com
Hair/Make up - Hot Locks: A
Hot Locks is where I go to get my hair cut and my regular stylist (Paige) did my wedding hair. My recommendation to any bride would be to go to someone who knows your hair and your style. It makes it effortless.
Invitations - Hound Dog Press: A++
If your splurging on letterpress invites, talk to these guys. Nice guys and they do beautiful work. Also check them out if you’re looking for special thank you cards for those extra special gifts.
http://hounddogpress.com/Favors - Muth’s Candies: A
Muth’s makes a mean bourbon ball! They have a variety of candies to choose from and will package them in whatever size box you want. Spent less than $2/favor for something that was delicious and had some local flare.
http://www.muthscandy.com/