Well, I guess I'm a little wordy so I'm going to break my reviews into a few entries. First up are vendors related to the ceremony. If you want to see pics related to any reviews (flowers, ceremony), go to my photog's blog at
www.jodischlosser.net and scroll down to wedding "Nancy & Justin".Ceremony: The Butterfly House: I first have to comment on my disappointment dealing with The Butterfly House before the wedding. Working with the special events woman (I don't want to name names) was frustrating in the sense that she was unaccomodating, disorganized, and at one meeting downright rude to my mother. I can list off the top of my head at least 5-7 issues I had with her attitude and inexcusable disorganization; I am so annoyed with her almost 3 weeks after the wedding that I am seriously considering drafting a letter of complaint. Now, all that being said, the wedding went off without a hitch (maybe because I avoided even making eye contact with this lady). Our guests were so complimentary of the ceremony and the park and exhibits. It was great to have Faust Park's carousel and historic village right next door, and we did all the pictures without having to drive elsewhere. In total, a score of A+ is diminished to a B- due to the working relationship. My reason for this is that I sadly had more people tell me how sour and disorganized this woman was than I had people comment on the beauty and fun of the location. Officiant: With This Ring (Doug Robison): I really liked working with Doug. He was organized, well-prepared and very professional. He had a ceremony script prepared months in advance, but was flexible with changes and gave us good advice for our vows. He was on-time and always organized. I liked the feeling he gave our ceremony - the tone was serious but not overly so - I give him a high score of A+.Ceremony Musicians: Serenade Strings: I booked a trio very last minute - probably three weeks before the wedding. I considered myself very lucky that they were available on such short notice. I liked working with Ranya - she was polite and responsive. Also, I typically find music a bit overwhelming and thought their website was really helpful with ceremony music suggestions - you should check it out even if you're not using them. My only complaint is that because our venue was in the suburbs, we didn't qualify for the ceremony special. In total, score of A.Flowers: Dierberg's Florist: I think a lot of people forget about Dierberg's as a floral possibility - and they were really good. You aren't actually ordering through a grocery store, they have their own offsite location for weddings and the consultations. We worked with this adorable little lady named (perfectly), Rosie. She was so, so sweet, as well as very talented. My only complaint, and it is very very minor, is that Rosie likes to talk! As an out-of-town bride, I didn't always have a lot of time at meetings so this bothered me sometimes but, again, such a minor thing! The day of the wedding, the flowers arrived right on time and they were GORGEOUS - full of color, elegant, exactly what I ordered, and they held up throughout the day with no wilting. Beautiful and an A+.Day of Coordinator: Melanie McCormick: I was a very organized bride and so didn't want to pay a ton of money for a DOC. Melanie just does this on the side and so was able to provide us what we needed but without breaking the bank. She doesn't have a website or anything; if you're interested in hiring her just email her at md_mccormick@yahoo.com. She was great to work with - really, really professional and very responsive. She called all my vendors the week before the wedding and found a few timeline issues, so that saved me a huge headache on the day of the wedding. I also got a little sick at my wedding reception (NOT from drinking, but from exhaustion/dehydration!) and she ran off and brought me back Vitamin Water and Gatorade - really went above and beyond. Then when I came back from the honeymoon, I received an email from her with her bill and my jaw dropped because it was so low! I give her a score of A++ for me, but do want to say that if you are a bride that doesn't want to get involved in details, then she might not be for you (I made all my own schedules and handled most of the communication with vendors).More to come!