My extremely comprehensive review for those looking for wedding vendors around Central PA
Venue: A
Four Seasons Banquet Center - Landisville (Lancaster), PA
Traditionally, I believe this venue has been used as a "budget" venue -- which is what we loved about it at first. It's affordable enough for a budget bride to glam up -- or you can use it as is and still have a nice venue. They've done a ton of remodeling and are working towards becoming one of the top wedding venues in the area. We used both rooms they have available and had the run of the facility that night -- Windows Room for our ceremony and the Banquet Room for our reception.
Terri is extremely easy to work with and very accomodating and will work with you from start to finish to make sure your event is perfect. They have a list of caterers (budget to pricey) to choose from and have several bar options. We had one miscommunication early on, but it was easily cleared up. Only downside to this venue is that you will most likely need chair covers, which they may start providing, as the chairs they currently have are more pizza shop than wedding venue. But, they are working to upgrade them.
Windows Room Ceremony:
Coordinator: A+
Taryn Blake Consulting - York, PA
We "won" Taryn's services in an auction and it was one of the best decisions we made. I was a DIY bride, but I wanted someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to handle some communications with vendors, and also someone to run the day of coordination. She handled all of those duties very well. She kept in close contact though the planning period and I didn't worry at all on my wedding day, as she made sure the day ran smoothly. She also handled my cake freakout (more on that later) well and deconstructed and reconstructed the cake so that it wasn't a complete disaster. As much as I planned for the wedding, Taryn always came up with questions on topics I had never even thought of, which helped us thoroughly plan and execute an (almost) perfect wedding,
Catering: A-
Rettew's Catering - Manheim, PA
We created our menu (Asian Bar with Sushi, and Thanksgiving-esque Carving Station) as soon as we got engaged and had to find a caterer to execute it. We loved that Rettew's rand with the ideas and didn't lock us into a standard beef/chicken buffet. I did not see the food set-up, but was told by many guests that it was beautiful and fun. Michele was easy to work with and very organized. Cons: 1) I requested and paid for an additional salad dressing option (Italian), but the dressing was green and unidentifiable and it grossed out my step son; 2) I was told guests had to ask for serving utensils for the cocktail hour and sushi station as there were none set-out; 3) the Spicy Tuna Sushi wasn't spicy and some of it wasn't Tuna -- they threw some Salmon in on me (i hate salmon). But overall, the food was delicious and I got a ton of positive comments.
Photography: A+
M. Reed Photography - Marietta, PA
We LOVE Melissa. She is so easy to work with. We went with her unlimited package and used her from 2pm to almost 11pm and she worked non-stop. My husband and I are not picture people, but even he would pose for her b/c (in his words) "she makes me look good". She is fun to work with and got some fun pictures of the guys. She was everywhere at the reception and got pictures of every guest and some great action shots of my step son on the dance floor. Many guests commented on how personable and nice she was and everyone loves the photos. My only regret with pictures has nothing to do with her and everything to do with me -- I didn't make a photo list for her, but she worked well without one and got all the must have shots.
Wedding Cake: No Grade
Kakes by Krista - Lititz, PA
In my mind, spoken request, and on paper, the cake was supposed to be all white iced on the outside and the top tier and bottom tier was supposed to have white cake dyed teal (the cake was to be dyed teal, not the icing). Clearly there was a miscommunication and the top and bottom tier icing were dyed a bright beachy turquoise (did not match my pop of deep aqua color scheme). Also, the middle two tiers were styrofoam and were only 3 inches, rather than the standard 4 (she claims they were 4 inches, but the ribbon around the tiers was 1.5" ribbon and went halfway up the tier), which made the cake look fat and flat, rather than tall. I do not recall discussing styrofoam tiers and had decided not to use three other cake decorators b/c they used styrofoam tiers (I hate styrofoam tiers, b/c unless they're covered with fondant, which I hate as well, they look styrofoam).
I've decided to not give a grade to the cake b/c there was clearly a miscommunication somewhere along the line, and I was made to feel like a bad person for being upset about my cake when there are way worse things people deal with in the world every day. Instead, we're going to have a wedding cake party for our six-month anniversary and I will either make my own perfect wedding cake or try another cake decorator to achieve my wedding cake look.
DJ Cool LA (Lancaster, PA): A+
Little known DJ - we know him b/c he works with my husband -- he's extremely affordable, will do exactly what you want him to do - brings a good energy and plays all the right music. We do not have a particularly dance crowd -- but the dance floor was full all night and everyone had a great time -- and this was at 1/3rd of the price of most DJs. I was a little worried about using him b/c he isn't a popular name, but I would use him again in a heartbeat.
Christopher Bohn, Accoustic Guitar (Philadelphia and surrounding areas): A
I went to school with Chris and came acrossed him on GigMasters. We used him for our ceremony music, and he mixed up accoustic guitar and vocals to provide perfect music. I barely remember the music from the ceremony (I was half in the moment and half freaking out about my cake), but all my guests said he was wonderful.
Robb Green, Officiant (York and surrounding areas): A+
We are not religious and decided to go with Robb after deciding against the self-united route. He does not charge a set fee (my dad gave him a monetary gift for performing the ceremony) which is nice, because some of those fees are outrageous for a 15 minute ceremony. He was punctual and spoke to both me and my husband before the ceremony (he did a good job trying to take my mind off the cake, which I was flipping out about when he walked in!). Very nice guy and very beautiful ceremony.
Some other vendors I recommend:
Stands Hair Design, Red Lion PA -- Deanna and Chelsea do a great job on makeup and hair.
Pinkies & Toes Nail Salon, Mountville, PA -- They provide drinks, wine, fruit and chocolate for no additional charge. My girls and I had a great four hours getting pampered the day before the wedding.
Christine Your Seamstress, Red Lion, PA -- She reconstructed my bolero jacket, chopped 8 inches off the dress, steamed, and did a beautiful nine-point bustle for a very reasonable price.
DIYUplighting.com -- If you want uplighting and choke on the price of the local guys, go here. It's $17/light, super easy to use, super easy delivery and return, and worth the price to add a little color to your reception. I was skeptical at first, but we uplit the entire reception room in teal for less than $250.
Sams Club Flowers -- If you are going to DIY flowers, Sams is the place to go. I price compared with every other company available, and Sams is the best price (even without a membership). Flowers were delivered early Thursday morning just as promised -- unpacked them, threw them in buckets of water, and they were gorgeous early Friday morning when I put bouquets together. The flowers actually got better with time...so if I had it to do all over again, I would probably have them delivered Wednesday. The hydrangeas lasted three weeks -- roses about 2.5 weeks.