Hi Everyone,
I got married this past Saturday in Milwaukee. Luckily, the ceremony began at 5:00pm and it was not raining at all during the 30 minutes. I felt so blessed! I thought it would be nice to write a review for all vendors I used for those of you who're planning your wedding.
1. Chair, table, and linen rental: TLC Design ( 2 out of 5 stars)
Terry didn't respond e-mails as efficient as other vendors. She only responded fast when it's about payment, although she did respond to voice mail efficiently. I think the garden chairs, table clothes, cocktail tables we rented from her are good; HOWEVER, she didn't measure the height of our reception wall correctly, so it turned out that the backdrops that cover the wall of reception hall are 4 feet short. I've sent her couple e-mails with photos and reminded her I wanted my reception hall to be exactly the way the same as the photo I sent her; however, her excuse is that the catering manager told her the wrong measure. Although she did say that if I don't like the short backdrops, she can take them off and give me full refund, I was mad at her attitude that she even didn't apologize to me. She measured the width of the reception hall, how come she didn't measure the height of the reception hall when she ordered the pipes and fabric for the backdrops? We spent a lot of money for the backdrop to cover the not so pretty wall paper at our reception site, but she seems not care about our needs that much. All in all, I'd not recommend you ladies to book her.
2. DJ: Midwest Sound (5 out of 5 stars)
Our DJ is Michael Breitbach. He did a very good job. He did everything we expected him to do.
3. Reception venue: Radisson Hotel Milwaukee North Shore (5 out of 5 stars)
Although we have been sent to different catering managers and banquet managers during the past 3 months, everything including food, decor, and services turned out to be very well on the wedding day. We had alll our food vegetarian, and they're good at accomodating our needs and adjusting the price for us. We worked with catering managers, Michelle and Nicle, they are both very nice people and respond to e-mails very fast. I've asked them tons of detailed questions and they never let me down. Tim, the banquet manager that ran our wedding reception is also very reliable. We sent the boxes for decor on Friday around 8:00pm for our Saturday evening reception, and he is able to set up everything exactly the way we expected--some even going above and beyond.
4. Wedding Cake: Simma's Bakery (5 out of 5 stars)
The cake is pretty and tasty. Although one of the sales lady, Cara is not that friendly as we expected, the other sales lady (sorry we forgot her name) who later took care of us is very friendly and understood our needs very well.
5. Flower: Belle Fiori (5 out of 5 stars)
Emily responds to e-mail very efficiently, and she does meet our expectations. The flowers are good.
6. Hair and makeup: Bride Heads (5 out of 5 stars)
Angie and Corinn are friendly and accomodate to our needs very well. Their prices are fairly reasonable. Although they're based in Madison, they traveled to our location on time. I highly recommend them for your on location hair and makeup services.
7. Officiant: Judith Kubish (5 out of 5 stars)
Judith's service is exceptional. She sent us the couple questionnaire and wrote the ceremony based on our information, so the ceremony truely reflected who we were. She let me feel trustworthy on our wedding day.
8. Harpist: Nancy Drabot (2 out of 5 stars)
Nancy disappeared just one or two weeks before our wedding. We sent her our song list for ceremony but she didn't get back to us until a few days before our wedding day. She should have let us know ahead of time that she will be out of time for a certain period of time rather than letting us hang in there and be worried and stressful. We even thought what if she doesn't show up on our wedding ceremony, what can we do? On the wedding day, apparently her practice is not enough because she made some obvious mistakes when playing recessional music.
9. Photographers: A and A Phtography (rating not be given until receiving our wedding photos)
Andy and Amy are a friendly and laidback couple. They are flexible and accomodate to our needs well. We didn't take our engagement photos until 10 days before our wedding and it took them only 2 days to get the finished products to us, and we're satisfied with them.
10. Bridal Gowns: David's Bridal at Brookfield (2 out of 5 stars)
I had my veil, wedding dress, shoes and under garment, bridesmaid dress purchased at David's bridal. I am short and the sales lady there should have ordered a petite dress for me so I can avoid the extra money on length alteration. However, she just didn't bother to do that for me. The service for my bridesmaind dress is also not good, she didn't help my bridesmaid zip the dress at all and never tried to order the dress that's not available at store but available on David's bridal website. All in all, although the dresses for myself and my bridesmaid are good, the services are not recommended.
11. Tuxedo: Men's Warehouse at Bayshore Towncenter (4 out of 5 stars)
The sales ladies there don't do a good job of meauring. They both ordered pants that are too short for my husband and the groomsman. Luckily we tried on the tux one week before the wedding day so they can fix the problem for us. Other than these caveats, they're pretty good at addressing our needs. They even lent us the display vest and tie for our groomsman without charge.
Feel free to send me an e-mail at howie0331@hotmail.com if you have any questions. Good luck on wedding planning and wish you a successful wedding and marriage!
