We finally got hitched last weekend and before I forget everything, here are my vendor reviews. Reading other people's reviews really helped me over the last year and I want to pass on the help.
Columbus Pro DJ- We had Ron. I was feeling okay about that before the wedding because everytime I said to someone in the wedding business that we had Ron, they kept saying that he was great. Well now I know why. He was the best DJ I have ever seen at any wedding (luckily, it was my own). He was clear, easy to understand, worked really well with the photogrpahers and videographers and the recepetion site. When our reception had a few issues like the hotel shuttle not showing up with the bridal parents for the introduction, he smoothed everything out. He was really flexible and encouraging, especially to the few that had to give toasts. Every time something was going to happen, he gave us the heads up or checked with us to make sure we were ready. When he noticed that I was on the corner of the dance floor looking for my hubby, he actually went and found him and directed him towards the dance floor. The week beforehand, he called both me and my hubby-to-be to make sure we were all on the same page and made a few suggestions that really made the night flow perfectly. It has been a few days since we had the wedding but guests are still talking about how good he was. I would recommend him in a heartbeat.
Berwick Manor- We had Berwick Manor cater our rehearsal dinner. Our rehearsal dinner was at Coffman Park in the pavilion. We had 94 of our closest friends and OOT relatives join us. Between all of our guests, we had vegans, vegetarians, Jews who keep relaxed Kosher, Jews who keep stricter Kosher, meat lovers, peole allergic to nuts, etc. Berwick Manor sat down with my to-be-hubby and worked out a menu that worked perfectly. Everyone else in our immediate families went for a tasting months ago (I was sick at the time) and came back raving about the food. The day of, they showed up on time with great attitudes and were on top of everything all night long. The food was fantastic. All of our myriad of guests were happy.
Just Pies- because my hubby loves apple pie, I thought I would surprise him with an apple pie from Just Pies up on High Street in Worthington for the rehearsal dinner. I had heard their commercials on the radio and decided to give them a try. Not only were the pies delicious, the woman who answered the phone had all sorts of solutions for the various eating requirements of our guests. The crusts have lard in them, which did not work for the vegetarians or Jews in my family. I ordered 7 pies, some crustless to forego the lard and some with the crusts still on. Talk about a hit! Everyone was stuffed with the food from Berkwick Manor but the moment the pies came out, our guests were raving about them. My personal favorite was the banana cream, crustless.
Makoy Center- For the last few months I have been working with Kaitlin and Linda to hammer out all of the details of what I wanted and how much it would cost. I had heard good things (read the vendor reviews, etc) and I knew it would probably be alright. I was so impressed with the Makoy Center when it was over, I wanted to make sure I wrote my review before I forgot any of the great things they did for us. First they went over the reception schedule with us and got the names of all of our other vendors. I didn't have a wedding coordinator, but Linda handled so much of that herself so I wouldn't have to worry about when each vendor was showing up and what they would need when they got there. Then when I had to call a few days after the numbers cut off date to tell them I had to add three more people, they said not to worry about it. They had already set up more tables and would already be making more food than I needed. Since I had 9 people call to cancel or add on over the course of three days, their attitude was very much appreciated. On the Friday before our wedding, I dropped off all of the non-flower centerpieces at 2pm and met Clay, the guy who would be running the site the night of. I had a bit of a freakout over something going on in my family and not only was he not bothered by it, he actually managed to make me realize that I was overreacting and calmed me down and got me laughing. He went through a checklist of all of the things that I might be dropping off, what I wanted them to look like the night of our reception, etc. We forgot to bring a few things and he stayed a little later just to give us time to drop off what we had forgotten.
When we got to the reception site, Lisa, Clay's assistant, came out to meet us and let us know that the hotel shuttle had a problem. Ron, our DJ, worked very closely with them and got us back on track. When I walked in, everything was exaclty where I wanted it to be and set up perfectly. Every last detail was in place. Over the course of the night they kept things going seamlessly and even managed to solve a few of our hiccups. All things told, we fed 200 people for about 14K with a champagne toast for everyone, fantastic food (I recommend the salmon), a giant dance floor, and an open bar. I went to a lot of reception sites before I decided on the Makoy Center and I am very glad that I did. The Emerald room is elegant enough on its own to not need a bunch of other decorations which made life easier. We did, however, swap out the centerpieces on the buffet tables with some of our own. I am sure those silk arrangements they have in stock are someone's taste but they are definetely not mine.
If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out the Makoy Center.