Hi there! We got married in the Lake Geneva, WI area on 6/18/11, and I wanted to provide reviews on our vendors. Hope this helps anyone in the area getting married! Please feel free to contact me if you want any additional information.
Bride/Bridesmaid Dresses
Eva's Bridal, Oak Creek, WI: A-
Great prices, but they do tag rip. They did have good discounts and dresses came in very timely. My matron of honor bought her dress after the rest of the bridesmaids because she was pregnant, and they still honored the discount they had going when the rest of the bridesmaids bought their dresses. Overall very pleased.
Groom/Groomsmen/Usher Tuxes
Dubois Formal Wear-Sears, Brookfield, WI: A-
Decent prices, everything came in on time, they had to make a couple exchanges for a couple of the guys, but they got those in on time as promised. A little light on help in the store, as we had to wait for a while, but overall good service.
Ceremony/Reception Venue
Abbey Springs, Fontana, WI: A-
Really did a great job. Jenna, the Clubhouse Manager, is great to work with. Everything we laid out that we wanted for set up for both the ceremony and the reception were done well. A few minor things happened, such as the guard gate not letting us in initially for the rehearsal dinner and the tables in the reception room set up slightly off, but I think it's normal to have a few small things to fix, and in the grand scheme of things, they were quite minor. We got great feedback on the appetizers and Italian buffet we had for dinner. One of the bartenders was rude to the guests from what I hear, and we did share that with Jenna. But overall, Abbey Springs did a great job in their preparation, set-up, and were more than willing to work with us (and cut us a few deals along the way!). The picteresque setting of the tent next to the lake for our ceremony was fantastic.
Wedding Cake
Cakes by Dea, Marengo, IL: A
Beyond fabulous. Dea executed our creative vision perfectly, and the cake was DELICIOUS. We had a chocolate and yellow cake with vanilla carmel latte filling, and a red velvet cake with cream cheese filling, and everyone raved over it. She also created a great groom's cake for us! Dea also did my sisters wedding a few years ago. Her prices are extremely reasonable and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a cake.
DJ
Flipside DJ Services, Milwaukee, WI: A
Dan Palmisano owns Flipside as a side job, and he was a dream to work with and his execution was spot on. He did both the sound system for our ceremony and the reception music. He listened very carefully to the genres of music we wanted and played a perfect mix. We received rave reviews on our music from everyone. Dan went above and beyond for us, and his prices are EXTREMELY reasonable. I would highly recommend Dan and Flipside.
Flowers
Frontier Flowers, Fontana, WI: A
Renee Cerny is awesome! Her creativity was extremely helpful to me, as I didn't have much of a vision for what I wanted for flowers. We provided her with some fun ribbon, I told her the types of flowers I liked, and told her to use her judgement. My bouquet was gorgeous, the bridesmaids bouquet were perfect, and the flowers up at the front of the ceremony were AMAZING! She also was able to provide us with brightly colored table runners for the reception. I totally recommend Renee and Frontier Flowers.
Photography
Amy Sanders, Lake Geneva, WI: A
I haven't seen the pictures yet, otherwise I would rate her an A+. What a wonderful woman. She's a close family friend who does photography on the side. In addition to getting a FABULOUS price, she has such creative ideas for photography and is good at getting large groups corralled and establishing rapport with everyone. She charmed the pants off my husband's grandfather, which is sometimes a feat! She stayed quite late at the reception taking photos, and everytime I asked her to take a random shot, she was totally fine getting up from what she was doing to accomodate. Love Amy!
Officiant
My Best Ceremony, Lake Geneva, WI: C
Well, what to say about this. This is a group of 3 ministers that make custom ceremonies for couples, regardless of religious beliefs. The initial minister that we met with (who we really liked) was not the one that was ultimately assigned to us. The one who was assigned to us was definitely a horse of a different color. Our initial meeting with him went fine. He did tell us that he takes his job very seriously and would run the rehearsal for us, and emphasized he wanted no one showing up drunk at the rehearsal, or he wouldn't marry us. We thought that sounded strange, but then he told us stories of large wedding parties at the rehearsals just wasted and out of control. We told him he had nothing to worry about with our group, and he didn't. However, he ran the rehearsal like a military boot camp. He was also quite condescending. My matron of honor, who was pregnant, got a chair to sit down on while we rehearsed, and he told her she couldn't sit down. He was extremely long winded as well, which wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have those other issues. I will say that he listed to what we wanted for our ceremony though, and the readings and passages and vows and things all came out in the style that we wanted it to. But he really rubbed us the wrong way, and I don't think I would ever recommend him as a minister to someone looking for an officiant. Additionally, my husband and I both thought we may have smelled alcohol on him during the rehearsal and the ceremony. I'm hesitant to say that, because I don't want to make an unsubstantiated claim and ruin someone's reputation. We could both very well be wrong. So, please take that part of my review with a grain of salt. The inital minister we met with was great though, so it probably largely depends on the minister who performs your ceremony.
Overall, our wedding went fantastically! We have nothing but wonderful memories and great vendors to work with!