Hey everyone, I found the vender reviews very helpful in my planning so I thought I would return the favor. Before I get into it all I have to first say that I had a great tragedy in my family, I lost my dad 11 days before I got married. We went through with everything because it was what my dad would have wanted. All of my venders were very willing to work with me and I am so happy they were flexible.:
Church: Lifestream Christian Church in Batavia- A+
This is my home church so I am a little biased. The church looked absolutely beautiful. We had our flute player and piano player from the church band play and everyone said over and over how lovely the music was. I am not sure how easy they are to use if you are not a member but I think it would be pretty cheap in comparison to a lot of other churches and they are close to Pattinson Park and also Norlyn Manor.
Reception Venue: Receptions Eastgate- A+
Receptions gives you so much for the money they cost. We did a Friday night for 150 people and it cost us 25 dollars a person. Since it was a Friday they did not have a minimum requirement and they covered everything! They boxed up our extra cupcakes, helped us carry out our presents to the car, provided a projector for no cost, and even had someone go through the line for me and put food on my plate and carry it back to the head table for me! They were so flexible and the room looked absolutely beautiful. I would definitely recommend them to anyone on a tight budget who does not want to have to worry about setting up or breaking down anything.
Dress: David’s Bridal-A+
I went to the Tri-county one on a weeknight and had such an awesome experience. I got 1 on 1 attention and since they were not busy my consultant was with me the whole time. I tried on 10 different dresses and got my dress that night. I never regretted the decision and everyone loved my dress.
Bridesmaids Dresses: David’s Bridal- A+/F
So my girls were kind of all over the place but 3 of my bridesmaids went to the Kenwood location and got awesome service. Another went to Easten in Columbus and I have absolutely no complaints about them. However, my friend who lives in Toledo went to the one in Maumee, Ohio and there was a whole big issue with them. First of all my girls could pick any dress they wanted as long as it was in cornflower, well my matron of honor got a dress from the Maumee store (the exact same dress one of my bridesmaids got) in a darker blue color. I got an email notification when the dress came in that it was a different color and my matron of honor texted and me and said sorry but it would still “look ok” according to her consultant. Neeedless to say I called them immediately and they blamed ME! I asked them who said it was ok to CHANGE the color and the response I got was well in the computer there are two different colors so I must’ve told them two different colors. I told them I did nothing of the sort and that they needed to fix it. I got no apologies from them and since she lives 3 hours away it’s not like I could go there in person to straighten it out. It was a huge mess but it worked out. I was very disappointed with them however. So if you have bridesmaids in other areas of the state/country please be aware that this could happen to you.
Guy's Tux's: Men’s Warehouse A+
The guys all got a discount on their tux rental and the tuxes all looked and fit great. They even gave me our deposit back on my dad’s tux.
Cake: Inspiring Kind Boutique- A+
This little hole in the wall boutique near the Anderson Town Center has the BEST gourmet cupcakes I have ever tasted in my life! Mary did an excellent job!! We had 6 different flavors of cupcakes and four big trays of sugar cookies in fun shapes and sizes and she set them up beautifully for me at the reception hall. She does not do a lot of orders for big weddings (mostly 75-100 people) but she did an amazing job. The only issue I had was she did not have a cupcake stand that was big enough so I bought one online for 60 bucks and decorated it with ribbon and it looked absolutely gorgeous. I got it on save-on-crafts.com
DJ: Backdraft Productions- A+
Brad is my husband’s cousin and he generally does weddings up near Bellefountaine, Ohio but he wants to expand down into Cincinnati and Dayton. He did an amazing job. He played just what we wanted him to and kept the party going. I have never seen so many people dancing as I did at our reception and my husband and I have been to a lot of weddings. He did ours as a gift to us so I have no idea what it would cost but I definitely would recommend him.
Photographer: Glutz Photography- A+
We spent near 2 thousand dollars on our photography and have over 1000 images from our wedding! Plus we get three albums made up and 100 4X6 prints with the package we got AND a bridal portrait session. Brian and Kevin did an awesome job capturing every moment of our wedding and they had so much fun doing it. They were very accommodating and just wonderful to work with. Generally speaking I hate getting my picture taken but they made me feel so comfortable and they we worth every cent. We have so many memories of that night and now we have so many lasting images we can look back on.
Flowers: Mt Washington Florist- A+
Dave was amazing! He listened to me and produced beautiful flowers that matched exactly what I wanted. He has such a creative eye for making things beautiful and was a joy to work with. At the last minute he came up with a flower and candle display for my dad so we could put it up front to honor his memory. It was beautiful and just the kind of thing he does for his customers.
Travel Agent: Victoria Travel-A+
I am so glad we planned our honeymoon through them. We had a set budget and told them we wanted a beach honeymoon probably in Mexico and they got us in a five star resort in Riviera maya with a straight through flight for UNDER our budget! We ended up at the Valentin resort and we absolutely LOVED it!! The whole thing ended up being less than 3000 and it was all inclusive!! Our room had a balcony and a jetted tub in the room and we got a complimentary bottle of champagne when we arrived because it was our honeymoon. I have zero regrets and am so thankful Victoria Travel was able to get us such a great deal!
Hotel Block: Holiday Inn Eastgate-F
They were horrible to get ahold of, they released our rooms before the release date and told us after the fact that we did not have enough rooms to qualify for their shuttle service. They took no responsibility for releasing the rooms early and actually turned away most of our guests. Crappy, crappy service. Go with someone else!!!
All in all we had a wonderful time. Everything ran smoothly and the only thing that went wrong was something we couldn’t change. My mother walked me down the aisle and I married the most wonderful guy in the world! Thanks for reading and good luck on all your planning. Let me know if you have any questions I can help with!!