Well I just got married Aug. 27th and first off I would like to thank everyone for their great advice over the past year! My wedding day was amazing! But I did have a few minor issues. So here's my vendor reviews...
Dress
Amelishan Bridal
Hubertus
A
I got my dress here, as well as my bridesmaid dresses and groomsman gifts. I have no complaints, everyone is very nice and helpful, and they have a great selection of fairly inexepensive dresses, as well as lots of sales and special events. They do rip tags though, which doesn't bother me but I can definitely see why it would annoy others. Also they offer a discount if you buy the dress on your first vist, which is nice if you are lucky like me and find THE dress on your first visit (I was aware of the discount and went there last) but it does kind of put on the pressure. All in all though, I loved working with them.
Tuxes
Men's Wearhouse
Milwaukee
C
Lots of minor issues with this company. The first time my boys went they had to wait forever for service (even though they had an appointment). Then there was all kinds of problems with sizing but they did fix them. Also they wouldn't let the guys change where they picked up their tuxes after the initial fittings, even though it was well before our wedding date, which was a real hassle for our OOT GM. Everything worked out fine but I really would'nt recommend them because everyone I know that has used them has had some kind of minor issues.
Venue
The DeKoven Center
Racine
A
The DeKoven Center is a beautiful American Gothic university built in the 1800's. Our ceremony was held outside in the "quad" area and our reception was in the Great Hall. We also had cocktails and apps in the Assembly Hall. We had a great time and got a ton of compliments. The main contact for weddings, Alex, is a little flaky but we really never had any issues, she ended up handling everything very well and she is very sweet. A lot of people think you cannot have civil ceremonies on the grounds but that is NOT true, we had a wonderful civil ceremony. You can't have a civil ceremony IF you choose the chapel for your contingency site in case of rain. Which makes sense to me, why would you want a civil ceremony in a chapel? (Although the chapel is gorgeous!) We had the Great Hall set up for our contingency but thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day!
Caterer
Chef John/Oakland Catering
Racine
A++
Amazing!!! I have never tasted anything so good! I stuffed myself both at my tasting and my wedding. Everyone was raving about how good it was. Everything is homemade, right down to the salad dressings! Even the bread and butter was unique and delicious. Also the presentation was great (we did a buffet) and everyone was a pleasure to work with. They really bent over backwards to make everything perfect. I can't say enough good things about this company!!
Florist
A New Leaf Floral
Brookfield
A++
This woman does truly wonderful work. She did my SIL's wedding as well as a few funreals and did a beautiful job. But she really outdid herself at our wedding. We asked for loose wildflower bouquets with lots of greenery and boy did she deliver. She came up with an amazing design that included not only a variety of beautiful wildflowers but also six different herbs, wheat, several berries, and bear grass. They looked and smelled incredible, and both wedding party and guests could not stop talking about them. I would 100% recommend her!!!
DJ
Radioactive DJ
Milwaukee
B
Our DJ was Chris Morgan and all in all he did a good job, everyone was up and dancing all night and he played geat music. But he asked us to make a list of 10-20 "must play" songs, we picked about 15 and I think he played maybe 2. Plus he totally missed our cake cutting song (James Taylor, How Sweet it is) and played some random song instead.
Photographer
Amanda Schlicher, from Ari Rosenthal Photography
Shorewood
A+ (So far)
Ok, we haven't seen our pics yet, so I can't say for sure, but I will be truly shocked if our pictures don't turn out amazing. Her portfolio really wowed me. She was adorable and fun to work with. She was genuinely excited to shoot our wedding, and she couldn't stop talking about how adorable we were and how awesome our venue was. She always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. I will post pics when I get them!
Cake
Aggie's Cakes and Pastries
Milwaukee
C
I really thought I was going to be thrilled with this bakery. They make truly beautiful cakes and our tasting was super delicious. Everyone was great to work with.
BUT when it came to the wedding day I was dissapointed. First we had rented a tree stump stand, which did not show up with the cake. My MIL sent the driver back for it and he came back with an ugly wooden thing (not a stand) that resembled a fence around around the bottom of the cake. Also the design on the cake was all wrong. It was still very pretty but we specifically said we did NOT want that design!! When my MIL called the next day to complain, they did return her money for the stand rental, but the woman said it was becoming too much of a hassle to rent it and she was going to stop doing it. Ok, but you already rented it to us! Wtf? Also they did give us a $50 gift certificate to the bakery to make up for the wrong design. We love the pastries so we were happy for the gc, but it wasn't the best solution considering it just brings them more buisness, no real loss to them. As a day to day bakery I would definitely recommend them, but for a wedding cake, proceed with caution! (Oh but the cake was delicious on the wedding day)
All right, I hope that helps someone!
Happy planning ladies!