I tried to include everyone and everything... so this is LONG! Our day was great and I was so happy with all of our vendors. No complaints about anyone, but here is who we used and a quick review of each:
Ceremony: Hyde Park Methodist. The church is absolutely gorgeous! They do a lot of weddings, so everyone knew what they were doing , and it all went very smoothly. Sara Thomas was our pastor and I thought she did a great job… she made the ceremony really personal.
Reception: Embassy Suites Rivercenter (Covington). Ok, I’ll be honest… I never really found exactly what I wanted for a reception hall, and have to say I somewhat just settled for Embassy. That said, glad I did! They went so far above and beyond what I expected. I worked with Shannon and can’t say enough good things, she was just wonderful – it is pretty much like having a built in wedding coordinator. If you have a smaller wedding you can have it in their Captain’s View room which has an amazing view of the city. Ours was bigger, so we had cocktail hour there & then moved to the bigger ballroom (which I originally wasn’t super impressed with, but by the time we were finished decorating it all it looked great!). Our guests still had access to the Captain’s View room all night.
Photographer: Innovatory. Loved Joe and Amanda! They were so great & fun to work with, but also knew when to fade into the background and make you forget they were even there. I really can’t believe they are as inexpensive as they are… you get a lot with them: two photographers, during the reception they set up a computer screen with a few teaser pics from the ceremony, they do an informal photobooth, give you a coffee table photo book, and you get a CD with all your pics. Took about a month to get all our pics back, which I thought was reasonable.
Flowers: Susan Foy. Susan did a great job! I gave her some vague ideas of what I liked and didn’t like and she made it happen. The hotel includes centerpiece flowers, so we just needed Susan for bouquets, bouts, and cake flowers… all of them turned out wonderfully. Her prices are reasonable & she even suggested ways for me to get the most for my money.
Cake: Spoon Fulla Sugar. We considered a few options that were more inexpensive, but decided to spend the money on them, and it was a great decision! Their cake is amazing, just thinking about it is making my mouth water.
DJ: Party Pleasers, Jeff Clark. Jeff is awesome! Played the songs we wanted, and not the ones we didn’t want. You can tell he is experienced… he kept the party moving at all times. He checked in with us a couple of different times throughout the night just to make sure we were happy. No complaints!
Hair/Makeup: Michelle Marx. I love her. As a person she is really laid back & funny… her personality really helped keep everyone calm while we were getting ready. As a hair/makeup artist… well, I was reminded why they call themselves “artists”… I felt gorgeous! She came to my parent’s house with her assistant and did hair for about 12 of us and makeup for 4 or 5. Everyone looked great even through the end of the night and I don’t think there was a single girl that was unhappy with how she looked. Oh, she also custom made my hair piece for me… feathers and beads… gorgeous!!!
Linens: Linentablecloth.com We bought chair covers and sashes. They all arrived earlier than they were supposed to (we ordered well before the wedding, but still nice!) and our order was correct. I’ll be selling 200+ white polyester chair covers and black organza sashes in the near future!
Dress: Wendys Bridal. This was before they merged with Cincy Bride. I loved my dress & I had a great experience with them.
Alterations: Lori Schur. Awesome! She took in the bust, hemmed it, and added a bustle for me. It looked great and she charged me next to nothing. She does work out of her home, in case that’s a turn off for you… but she has a room in her house dedicated to it.
Rehearsal Dinner: Molly Malones. So happy with this choice! Molly Malones is in Covington, its an old Irish bar. They were reasonably priced and we got an entire floor to ourselves, complete with bartender/bar, pool table, and darts. Our wedding was pretty formal, so we wanted something more casual for the rehearsal dinner, and Molly Malones was perfect.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Davids. Eh, what can I say… Its Davids. Nothing phenomenal, but no complaints. My girls were from all over so it was easy.
Tuxes: Mens Warehouse. Same as Davids… guys were from all over, so it was easy. They did mess up one tux, it was WAY too small, but luckily that guy went on Thursday, so they had a new one ready on Friday… still a day before the wedding.
Transportation: My Party Bus. We only needed transportation from the church to the reception, so maybe 45 minutes even with a quick stop for pics. Limos all wanted to charge us for a minimum of four hours, so I found Scott, with My Party Bus. Things went really well with them! They were there on time, with coolers and ice so all we had to do was add beverages. The driver was really nice and didn’t even seem bothered by our obnoxious screaming wedding party, ha.
Invitations: Michales, Anna Griffin Collection. We just got the kits that you print yourself. They worked really well and were really easy to put together… plus they came with matching thank you cards, so it was nice to have one less thing to worry about.
Honeymoon: Sandals Grande Antigua. We loved it there! It was so nice to just relax and not have to worry about a thing. We’d never done an all-inclusive resort before, so it was a fun experience. I’d recommend it to anyone.
Whew, I think that is it! Let me know if you have any questions about anything
