Hey ladies! We had a wonderful wedding in May, and most of our vendors were really great! Other people's reviews were super helpful to me during the planning process and I hope mine are the same!
Ceremony site: First Baptist Church of Dayton- Pastor Kennedy is a really great guy and did a wonderful job of creating a ceremony that was meaningful to us. Plus, the building is gorgeous and the organ is amazing!
Reception site: The Cannery Art and Design Center- We received a call from Christy less than four months from our wedding saying that her art gallery was moving locations. This upset us because we had picked the art gallery for our reception because of its character. But really, that was the least of our worries because the new building was significantly smaller than the previous location and we were terrified that we wouldn't fit into the new space. She did give us the offer of a full refund if we wanted to go somewhere else, but at only four months out everything else was booked. The major problem was that we had already booked our caterer, bartender, etc. and couldn't find a place that would let us bring in all that stuff. (Well, there were a few but they were booked.) So we had to stick it out. There were so many stressful situations along the way- not being sure if the renovations in the new place would be done by our wedding, not being sure if we would fit into the space, and dealing with setup the day before (a whole other story that I won't get into). In the end, things worked out ok- it was truly a miracle that we only had 100 guests show up when we invited 150. We seriously could not have fit one more person in that place (but we would have been fine in the old location).
If we had to do it over again, we would have taken the refund, canceled all of our contracts and gotten married on a beach somewhere, just the two of us- that is how stressed out the whole thing made us.
Caterer: Bullwinkle's Top Hat Catering- The food at Bullwinkle's was leaps and bounds better than any of the other places we tried. John was really nice and helpful (There were a few times where I tried to get ahold of him via email without response, but he was always very responsive via phone) Our guests loved the food- the sirloin steak was tender and cooked perfectly, the crab-stuffed fish was flaky and moist, and the veggie pasta was a hit. Bullwinkle's also set up dippers for our chocolate fountain and tended to the chocolate fountain for us. Everything ran smoothly on the day of, and they even lit the votives on our tables for us. The only slight mishap was that we thought they were going to bring us a cake knife for our cake cutting but they didn't/couldn't find it so we just ended up using a regular knife (no big deal). Overall, I was really impressed with the service and the food, and our guests were, too!
Cake: Ele- All I have to say is yum! The cake is delicious and the frosting is excellent, and the flavors they have to choose from are unique and tasty. We had chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filing, lemon cake with raspberry filling, and banana cake with bavarian cream filling (our favorite!!!!). Ele was very organized, professional, and helpful! Here's a pic:
Bartender: Bourbon Street Bartending- Everyone was super impressed by the bar! Bourbon Street Bartending provides all the liquor, mixers, ice, cups, etc. and was incredbily affordable. We had a full bar and everyone commented on how great the liquor selection was and how strong the drinks were. They were really great at communicating throughout the process, too. Highly recommended!
DJ:
UR Way Light and Sound- Kim and Brandon were really great to work with throughout the planning process; they always responded quickly and were very organized.
They definitely kept the party going all night long, and things flowed incredibly smoothly. Kim was great at checking in with me to make sure we were ready for the parent dances, cake cutting, etc. and she even went through the buffet line with me and held my plate for me. Talk about full service
Photographer: Lisa Rice- We love Lisa! She's really sweet and easy to work with, plus she's incredibly talented. She does a lot of things to get you to interact with each other and catch your spontaneous emotions rather than being all posed and fake. Lisa did our engagement pictures, which turned out beautifully, and we're excited to see our wedding photos! Below is our teaser pic:
Makeup: Heidi McKenna- Heidi is highly recommended on this board, and for good reason. She was very patient and accommodating during my trial when I kept asking her to change my lip color
My makeup felt great the whole wedding day, even after being out in the heat and after crying during the ceremony.
Hair: Michelle Marx- Also highly recommended on this board, and also for good reason. Michelle was fun to work with and captured exactly what I wanted. She was super fast at curling my massive head of hair
Rentals: Prime Time Party- Highly recommended! They were incredibly organized and efficient- I made so many changes to our order in the last few weeks before the wedding and they were great at emailing me updated copies of our order with every change.
Flowers: The Flower Shoppe- I didn't really know what I wanted in terms of flowers, but Mark was great at coming up with creative ideas when all I told him was "I want blue hydrangeas and some purple stuff" Below is a pic. Everything turned out so beautifully!
