i agree with other july 10th bride - we did have a great day for pictures!
Reception: City Club of Cleveland A+
- I had a very smooth experience with them the entire time. Everything looked gorgeous and I heard the cocktail hour and reception food was excellent. They are also a little flexible if you want to tweak the wedding packages. It was a very classy and simple place. The only bummer is that there isn't easy access to outside because it's on the second floor. However, I think our guests enjoyed it because they could walk to east 4th right after the reception. They had plenty of managers on site and handled any little things that went wrong. I also liked that we had a room to relax in before the cocktail hour started. It was big enough for our large bridal party and they also had some snacks and drinks for us there. I could go on and on about this place but in short, great reception site!!!
Photographer: Robert Rodriguez A+
Loved him!!!! Haven't seen the pics yet, but he was just snapping away the entire time. There were times I'd ask him to get a picture of something and he already had. Or he would take pictures of things I didn't think of. He was also not a cheesy wedding photographer - very professional and sort of blended into the background. He also worked well with our interesting families which was a huge relief. I felt that he was reasonably priced for what we wanted - excellent photographry, someone experienced, and rights to our photos afterward.
Salon: La Barberia in Little Italy B
The reason I gave them a B is because of the stuff that happened before the wedding day. I just felt like they were not as a friendly when discussing pricing and the whole day in general. I couldn't get them to commit to any pricing for hair. They also charged for a trial. I didn't have a problem with the people who do the hair and makeup - they were great. They were a little more on the expensive side but we got married at the church in LIttle Italy so the convenience outweighed searching for another place. The day of, however, they were great! Everyone looked great and they let us take over the upstairs to hang out and eat breakfast. I was really pleased with the day of, just often frustrated beforehand.
Florist: Roses for Weddings A++++++
Everyone says great things about Ety and so do I! She is great to work with when ordering flowers because she creates a specific web page with your order. I changed mine a few times and she didn't seem to mind at all. She also was able to dye my hydrangeas to the beautiful shade of blue I wanted. I love how she has the option of having your flowers picked up the night before or morning of because that definitely saved us money. I feel that her prices are about the lowest around and I really valued being able to get ahold of her easily.
Limo: All Occasion A++
I also think these guys have the best rate. All I had to do was mention the knot and I got the limobus for 100/per hour. I think normal limos are less. The limobus was clean, had napkins, ice and cups. The driver knew the general area we were going and was very friendly and on time. The bus was kept cool and got us where we needed to go in good time. I've heard many horror stories about limo companies so I would highly recommend this one! Tracy is also very nice and easy to get a hold of.
Dress: David's Bridal A
I wasn't looking for a one of a kind dress and actually didn't want to spend a lot of money on the dress. I went to the one in Great Northern and had a great consultant (Tina) who wasn't pushy at all. She respected by price range as well as the style I was going for. They do bug you for awhile by calling you about bridesmaid dresses and other things, but I just told them I went elsewhere for those. The reason they didn't get the + was due to alterations. The alterations were great, just expensive. I feel I could've gotten them done a litlte cheaper somewhere else, but just went with them for convenience (and paid for it).
Bridesmaid Dresses: J Crew online B+
I wanted my bridesmaids to be able to wear their dress again so I went with simple black dresses from Jcrew.com. The hardest part was that the dresses were only available online so sizing was a little difficult for some of the girls. Also, the V necks were a little lower than anticipated and some of them had that altered slightly. However, they all seemed to like the dress in the end and they looked very classy in my opinion!
Mens Wearhouse: B
The only irritating thing here is that they somehow forgot the coupon we gave them for a free groom's tux, but they did fix that immediately. Also one of the groomsmen said his tux was not sized appropriately. Overall, the boys looked good.
Rehearsal Dinner: We sort of did this ourselves instead of going to a restaurant.
DJ: We had a friend who does DJ work on the side and he did a great job.
Hope this helps all the brides-to-be - good luck with the planning!!