Overall, I had a great experience working with the majority of our vendors!!!
Blue Harbor Resort: A+ for the venue itself and food......F- for Customer Service
The Blue Harbor is a beautiful venue and worked perfectly for us as the majority of both of our families live out of state so we wanted our wedding reception to be at a hotel that offered a little more than just a normal hotel. The food is catered by Weissberger's and was great...we received a lot of compliments on the appetizers and dinner choices that we offered. However, the special event people at the Blue Harbor were very difficult to work with since the beginning. We worked with two different people because the first person ended up moving out of state for her husbands job so she left her position, and her boss then took over our wedding at that point. The average response time for a phone call or email was at least two weeks. The week before our wedding, I had to call numerous times a day everyday until I would get a response. The original person we were working with did not write all of the details pertaining to our reception in our file so we basically had to start over when she left and that was a month before the wedding. They made the planning process more difficult than it should have been. I am a patient person and I was a pretty laid back bride but it did get very frustrating as it got closer to our wedding day. Our final payment was charged without the itemization for our bar bill, appetizers, etc that our contract states we would receive BEFORE they charged our credit card for the final payment. After calling for a week and finally getting a hold of someone, we were mailed a copy which did not add up to the same amount we were charged so we had to get a refund. Our wedding reception did turn out to be perfect and beautiful but I would not want to work with them again in the future!
Sweetheart Cakes (Port Washington): A+
Susan at Sweetheart Cakes was great to work with! We wanted pretty basic flavors for our cake and they had great options. During our first and only meeting, we decided on most of the details for the cake but we did not have to finalize with her until 15 days before the wedding. I think I had to call her twice during the process with some questions and she returned my calls within a few hours. She is very nice and we received a lot of compliments on our cake as well.
Midwest Sound: A+
I was a little concerned after we booked with Midwest Sound because I attended a wedding that was also using Midwest Sound and the DJ was extremely annoying, kept calling the bride by the wrong name, etc.!! I also read a few reviews on here that were not all that great about Midwest Sound. Luckily, I had nothing to be concerned about! They were very easy to work with during the planning process and were reasonably priced as we were still considered to be off season. Since we got a really good deal, we were able to also do uplighting which looked awesome and added a little to our venue. Our DJ, Chad, called us a week before the wedding to discuss final details and he was very professional. He did a great job on our wedding day..he emceed the entire night but wasn't over the top and played a great selection of songs all night. The dance floor was never empty. Everyone was having so much fun that my parents offered to pay him more to keep playing after midnight, however, the Blue Harbor would not allow it. No one wanted the party to end...I think that's a sign of a good DJ!
All Decc'd Out: A+++++
Sally from All Dec'd Out is amazing!! She does fresh flowers, fake flower rentals, linen rentals, decoration rentals, centerpiece rentals, etc. She has an overwhelming amount of options for decorations and centerpieces and she is willing to come up with just about anything you can think of. I got all of our fresh flowers, church/reception decorations, linens and centerpieces from her and I could not have been more happy with how they turned out. I think her prices are very reasonable and competitive. The quote for all of my fresh flowers was half of what I was quoted from other florists and they were just as beautiful. Sally (or someone from her team) will also service the entire day of your wedding so she'll put out your name place cards, make sure your cake servers get put out, put out favors, set up any other special things you have....for example, I had baskets for the bathrooms and frames with our grandparents wedding pictures that were displayed at the reception...she will do all of that for you. She also asks for your other vendor info (cake, DJ, etc) and if they aren't at the venue at the time they are supposed to be, she will call them and make sure there aren't any problems. I believe her and her team only do two weddings a weekend so they are able to offer a more personalized service. Another thing I really liked about All Decc'd out is Sally does not require your final order until 2 weeks before the wedding..that way if you already blew your budget, you can remove some items from your order or vice versa.I would recommend her and her services!
Paper Lily Designs: A++++++
Lauren from Paper Lily Designs was great to work with! She designed and printed my shower invites, wedding invites and programs. She asks for your budget and then designs a few samples within that budget. We were able to order pocketfolds from her for our invites that we would not have been able to order elsewhere because of the price. Her prices are EXTREMELY affordable! She also does calligraphy. She addressed our invites and they looked gorgeous. It was so easy to work with her and plan on using her services for any paper needs I have in the future...I actually just ordered my sister's baby shower invites from her! I was completely satisfied with how our invites and programs turned out!
Stone Manor Bridal: A+++++++
I LOVED working with the ladies at Stone Manor Bridal. From the beginning, they were very welcoming and were able to help me find the perfect dress. I ordered my wedding gown and all bridesmaid dresses from there. After we ordered the bridesmaids dresses, 2 of my bridesmaids found out they were pregnant! (At the time of the wedding, they were 9 months and 7 months pregnant)! Stone Manor was extremely helpful with cancelling the original order (which they didn't get charged for) and finding a dress that would still look similar to the not pregnant bridesmaids but would also accommodate their big bellies. I got my alterations done there as did the majority of my bridesmaid (including 1 pregnant bridesmaid) and they turned out perfect! I would highly suggest going to Stone Manor to check out their selection of dresses!!
Lamers: A
I was completely clueless as to how expensive wedding day transportation is until we started doing research! We were not set on a party bus or trolley but needed something that would fit at least 25 people. We only needed transportation for 3-4 hours and found that most companies had a required minimum number of hours (most were 5 hours). We ended up renting a trolley through Lamers because they did not have a minimum number of hours required and they were on the cheaper end.....it was still more than I would want to spend on wedding day transportation but we got burnt out on researching companies and just made the decision to go with Lamers. The sales person was very helpful and responsive. The trolley arrived on time and the driver was very nice. The trolley itself was clean and cute. Lamers has you write out your itinerary before the wedding day with times and addresses so the driver has that before they arrive...everything went smoothly for us.
I am not going to do a review on our photographer because he is a family member and I feel like my review would be biased!