We got married on 9/25/10 so I know I'm a little late, but things have been quite busy since we got back from our honeymoon in October. If anyone wants more info on any of the vendors I used, just let me know!
Reception Venue: Gahanna Sanctuary - A
They’re affordable, have pretty much no rules regarding caterers, bartending, or decorating, and the venue itself it unique and fun. It smells a bit musty to begin with, but once there’s cooked food and flowers and candles going, that goes away. It would help if they had people who were available to answer questions other than Thursdays between 6-8, but otherwise we had no issues.
Caterer: Laura’s Catering (www.lauras-catering.com) - A+
Laura was pretty new when we booked her, but she quickly became one of our favorite vendors because she’s so personable, gets really excited about hearing about your wedding, and she came up with some great decorating ideas for the serving areas. Plus, she’s SUPER flexible on pricing and will work things out to fit within your budget. We LOVED all the servers, chefs, and especially Laura.
Photography & Videography: Picture Perfect Portraits (picperfectportraits.com & also on facebook): A++
Our absolute FAVORITE vendor, they were super easy to work with, extremely affordable (cheaper than anyone else we found that didn’t completely suck) and Shannon takes absolutely gorgeous photos. Our “wedding music video” they made for us was a big hit with our family and friends. If you’re looking for something extremely affordable but still top quality – definitely give her a call before she learns she can charge a LOT more for her photos. Shannon was also always the quickest to respond to my emails and answer any random questions I came up with while planning.
Officiant – Michael Bruno – B-
We got lucky finding our photographer on craigslist when she was just starting up, so we though we’d try the same thing for our officiate. He seemed like a pretty cool guy when we met with him, and then he was extremely hard to get ahold of leading up to the wedding when we were trying to finalize the wording for our ceremony. We ended up pretty much writing the whole ceremony script ourselves and sending it to him and praying that he showed up on the day. Thankfully, he was early to the rehearsal and the day of the wedding, and everything went smoothly. But all the stress leading up to it is what caused the grade of B-.
Dress – Atlas Bridal in Toledo – B+
Since this is out of town and I don’t anticipate many people traveling to the dirty northwest to find their dress, I won’t write a whole explanation. If anyone is particularly interested in my experience with them, just let me know.
Invitations – We did ourselves (my sisters & I have actually started a business as a result, but abiding by the rules of Knot-dom I will refrain from mentioning the name J )
Flowers – Blooms Direct in Grandview – A+
We actually just ordered our flowers from them and then put together the centerpieces and bouquets ourselves, which turned out to be super inexpensive and looked great (it takes some patience though!). They were super helpful in answering our questions about pricing, suggested quantity, which flowers were the most durable, ordering procedures, etc. Our flowers arrived right on time, looked great, and help up extremely well.
Garter, veil, hair fascinator – I bought from several sellers on Etsy.com. Love that site! If anyone needs specific seller names let me know and I can peruse my emails to find the contact info.
Transportation – Bexley Beat – A++
They were more affordable than anyone else I contacted, and the drivers were both very friendly and patient with my husband’s very rowdy group of groomsmen. You only pay for the hours you use them (so for instance, you don’t pay for the hours you’re at the reception and they are not needed), and the buses are well maintained, very clean, and always on time if not early.
Ceremony Chair Rental – ACC Party Rentals – A+ (accpartyrentals@columbus.rr.com)
They were super cheap, delivered early, arrived right on time to pick them back up, and we had no problems at all. In fact, they were so efficient I didn’t even see them the whole day. The chairs appeared and disappeared without anyone noticing!
Band – Mrs. Robinson & the Graduates – A++
I am prejudiced – they played for free because my husband’s older sister is the singer. But they play great music and I know they do a decent amount of weddings, and all our guests (even my fam who were unfamiliar with them) had a great time and we got a million compliments on band choice.