So my big day was this past Sat 7/31 and I know reviews were helpful to me when I was just starting the planning process, so I have jotted down some of my thoughts below. If you'd like a more indepth review or have questions, let me know.
Reception/Caterer: Harbor Lights Room/Zilli Hospitality Group --- A+
Zilli Hospitality Group is the exclusive caterer to the Harbor Lights Room, Miller Room, Coast, and the Domes, but that is the reason I choose the location I did. I do know one of the owners personally, so I may be a little biased, but I know him through business, so I feel like I can still give a decent review. The room was gorgeous. If you wish you could have an outside wedding, but don't want to risk the weather, this is the venue for you. Massive patio outside that is semi private (although we didn't have any other people on the patio, probably because it's not easy to get onto unless you come out of the room) that we used for cocktail hour, our guests loved it, nice weather, great views of the lake, still able to get inside for some air conditioning relief if they wanted. The room itself is spacious, large enough where table teardown does not happen at all to set up the dance floor, so no distractions during the night, lots of bathrooms, etc. Food was great, warm, tasty, and the event manager and servers were polite and helpful. They asked me several times throughout the night how things were going, if I needed anything, if they could change anything, etc. All in all, great service.
DJ: DJ's on the Mix --- A-
We didn't exactly have the DJ we requested (he was training someone) but he was there and they too were very friendly, polite, came up several times to ask how things were going, if we wanted anything different etc. We did have the opportunity to pick all our music, what dances we wanted, etc. They used a really nice online system to do so. They kept the crowd dancing all night, and when things seemed to be slowing down a bit on the dance floor, they just moved the direction of the music, which was awesome. The owner was a little slow in responding to e-mail, but otherwise good service.
Flowers: Flowers by Faye --- B-
Don't get me wrong, the flowers themselves were gorgeous and she is reasonbly priced, but she screwed up all three of my bridesmaids flowers and then didn't offer any kind of refund or even apology. Each bridesmaid was supposed to have a solid bouquet of one color of roses, one hot pink bouquet, one purple, and one coral. We she mixed all the colors, yet had solid colors for the matching groomsmen. Again, like I said, the flowers themselves were of good quality and beautiful, but I was not happy that she screwed it up, my original invoice specifically stated what I wanted, and then she did not offer any kind of adjustment for her mistake, only saying that I misintrepreted what she wrote. No I didn't, but whatever, at least they weren't crappy quality. If you are using her, I would make sure you go over what you want with her a week or two prior, several times in detail. I only did over e-mail and clearly even after her own hand written invoice, that wasn't enough.
Tuxes/Wedding Dress: Savvy Bride A
I had no problems with purchasing my dress there. The ladies were very helpful, dresses were reasonbly priced, dress came in ahead of schedule. My husband ordered his/groomsmen's tuxes there, and aside from one screw up in a pants size (which was able to be corrected the next day for the wedding) everything was fine.
Cake: Brookfield Wedding Cakes --- A++
Susan Warner was awesome! Her cake was moist, delicious, and beautiful. She has so many options to choose from. While she may be a little more pricey, it was definitely worth the money. I heard numerous compliments about the cake that the reception, several saying it was the best cake they'd ever had. I went with a white cake with a hint of vanilla bean flavoring, raspberry filling, and butter cream frosting. I am a huge cake fanatic, I actually ate 2.5 pieces at the wedding and then ate my cake top at home (only because when my mom took it home that night, it slide off the seat of her car and was kind of destroyed, but it still tasted good!)
Photographer: R&R Photographic Imaging --- A+++++
http://www.rrphotographicimaging.com/I absolutely loved my photographers!!!!! Mark and Danny were amazing, came promptly on time, went to all the locations I suggested, no questions asked, took photo requests, and just generally blended in well with the group. They were fun and had some awesome photo ideas. I am SO glad I went with these two as they always work together so you always get two people photographing at the same time. So many more shots and ideas this way. Plus then one of them came with us in the limo, one could take pictures of me getting ready and one could be with him. It was great, and they were awesome. I highly, highly recommend them. I honestly was disappointed they were leaving at the end of the night, even though they stayed an extra hour beyond their contract time, without even asking me. They said they were just having fun!
Happy Planning!