Big Rock Little Rooster (wedding dress)- A+
My stopping at BGLR was a total fluke but probably the biggest and best “look around” I have ever done. I randomly stopped in one day when I was by myself looking around at dresses at other places (Wendy’s, Girls in White Dresses) and had just swung by. Mallory (an employee) was there and she was the initial person to help me out there. She was so sweet and caring and really took the time to help me find “my dress”. I came back a few weeks later with my mom and my FMIL and there were other girls there who helped me out, but Kristen, the owner, was the one who sealed the deal for me. She made me feel like a princess, trying on different sashes, jewelry, veils and everything. When I finally purchased my dress, the girls pulled out a bottle of bubbly for me, my mom, and my MIL to celebrate. They made me feel like I was the only girl there and that I was their number one client.
Bella Laccio (Bridesmaid dresses)- B-
I had an interesting experience with Bella Laccio for my bridesmaid dresses. I heard about them, looking online at the Dessy website, found out that she was a retailer for them. So I went to Jen (the owner) with my MOH and we tried on a few styles and found one that I liked and that she liked and decided to go ahead and order them. All of my girls got their measurements to me and I forward them to Jen. It was then forever that I hadn’t heard from Jen and I would try to call her and she would never return my calls or respond to my voicemails. It was finally after venting on the knot that one of her friends and former brides saw my review and contacted Jen to let her know what was up. What happened was my file had been misplaced and was never completed. Jen was so apologetic and felt horrible that she worked out a deal with me to compensate for the frustration, angst, and anxiety that I had experienced during the whole ordeal. The dresses came in a bit earlier than I had expected and all was right with Jen. However, I just received (today actually) an e-mail from her saying that one of my bridesmaids had an outstanding balance due on her dress, which was really confusing because all my girls had their dresses and said that they had been taken care of and had paid (otherwise, how would they have their dresses?). I called up my bridesmaid and she said that there had been some confusion as to her card when she first paid, but that everything had been handled and taken care of, now she has to deal with it again. Jen was a sweet person to work with, but she seemed disorganized when it came to everything regarding my wedding.
Pinnacle Golf Club (Ceremony & Reception) - A
When my (now) husband and I started looking at venues, we were looking for a versatile place that we could use for both the ceremony and reception. We had originally wanted to go with Franklin Park Conservatory, but when we met with them, we realized that it wasn’t going to be big enough for all the people that we were planning to have. When we toured Pinnacle, my husband fell in love with the architecture and the place and I was blown away at the possibilities and the versatility of the space. We met with Lisa Bapst and she was our initial contact. She helped us through the first year of planning, then we worked with Tina Holley. Both ladies were wonderful in making sure that we were taken care of and were pretty quick with all responses via e-mail and phone. We had put together a detailed list of everything that we would need for both reception and ceremony, went over catering options (lots of choices of entrees and things!), and they were really flexible with our payment. All in all, the ladies at Pinnacle really helped me put together a fantastic space for my wedding.
Monica Gwaltney (Alterations)- A++
Monica is by far the most talented seamstress and sweetest person that I have ever come in contact with. She was super-fast and super accurate when it came to altering my dress. Her prices were very reasonable and she was super flexible to work with. She did not just my alterations, but my MIL’s alterations as well as doing a Bridal Party alterations party for all of my girls. It was such a convenience for me as well as my girls to get their dresses done all at the same time and while they were there. Monica even came during the day of my rehearsal down to Pinnacle to steam all of the dresses, and not just mine, but my mom’s, my SIL’s, my MIL’s and my bridal party’s dresses. I completely recommend Monica to anyone who needs a seamstress. She came highly recommended to me by the owner of Big Rock Little Rooster and I would recommend her (and have recommended her) time and time again. She charges a one-time flat fee for your alterations and will fix you and re-alter as many times as necessary up until your big day to make sure that everything fits like a glove.
Alternative Hitches (stationary)- A
I worked with Stefanie from Alt.Hitch. for all my stationary needs and was able to get a fantastic all inclusive package for all of my paper goods that I needed; save-the-dates, invitations, programs, menus, escort cards, and table names. She met with my husband and me on several occasions during unconventional meeting times to fit our busy schedules. She has amazing products and limitless options to be able to custom design everything and anything that you could possibly think of for colors, styles, etc. We went through the entire design process with her on every single different type of paper product that we needed and she sent us pdf after pdf making the slightest changes until we were absolutely happy with everything. She even made mock-ups for us for our STD’s and invites. My only complaint is during crunch time for both invites and our wedding day things (programs, escort cards, table names), it was very last minute that we got everything which kind of stressed me out a bit. Other than that, Stefanie was awesome.
Minister Images Photography (photographer)- A++
I worked with Katie Minister from Minister Images for my engagement photos and for my wedding day photos. She was absolutely wonderful. From the get-go she was so into my life and my future that I knew she was perfect for us. She was a pleasure, from shooting us on location in the Short North and Goodale Park. I can’t even imagine my day without Katie… she was just the best to work with. The day of the wedding, she provided a few flashdrives with some teaser pictures on it to hold me over until the final pictures could be done. Even without retouching, she was able to capture the true joy of the day that my husband and I were experiencing and she captured the memories that we wanted to be able to remember for always.
Rob McDowell: Encore Entertainment (DJ)- A+++
Rob was the heart and soul of the wedding. I had worked with Rob professionally before and had seen the awesome work that he did, but it wasn’t until I experienced it first hand and saw it with my own eyes at my own wedding did I realize how crucial he was to the success of my reception. Rob also did my ceremony music and timed out all of the bridesmaid walking cues, as well as personalizing our exit right into doing our cocktail hour music. It wasn’t until the reception that his true abilities to meld groups of people together came through to me. My husband and I have multiple groups of friends and very different families, and I believe that it was through Rob’s perfect execution of great music and blending personal styles that our guests were able to let loose and come together with everyone dancing with everyone. Rob ran the show for us, he timed everything from our entrance, to the cake cutting, to the first dance. He kept us up to speed with all of the on-goings of the wedding, and we didn’t have to stress about remembering anything. Rob made our wedding a breeze and definitely helped out guests create awesome memories on the dance floor that will keep them talking about our wedding for a long time.
Flowers on Springtree Lane-A
I worked with Anne and Robin from FOSL and they were just super sweet. They met with me initially into go over my vision and had met with me a few times afterwards to reaffirm the vision and go over flower specifics. I’m not really picky when it comes to flowers, I had an idea of what I wanted, but I knew that the ladies had been in the business long enough to create something beautiful and understated for my wedding. I told them to go ahead and create what they thought would be best with just a few pictures of ideas that I had given them. When I saw my flowers on my wedding day, they were stunning. They were just the right amount of simplicity and glamour all rolled into one. My bouquet was beautiful, my girls’ bouquets were beautiful and I think that the flowers added a whole level of elegance to my wedding. Anne and Robin were great to work with and awesome with working with my budget.
Sauer Cakes (baker)- A
I worked with Michelle Sauer of Sauer Cakes. The first time I met with Michelle, she put together the best little tasting experience ever! She had little cupcakes of the cake flavor that we had discussed and also had little cups full of the fillings that we had requested to try, but she had them in separate containers so we could mix and match flavors that we thought would be fun to try together. We ended up going with her Amaretto Crunch, Mocha cake with vodka Kahlua buttercream filling, and a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry filling. We didn’t want to do a whole cake that would be cut up because we were trying to work with a certain figure in mind. What Michelle ended up doing was making a faux cake designed to what my husband and I had designed, and then she made sheet cake to be cut up in the back and brought out. The cake was a HUGE hit, everyone loved how moist and delicious it was and no one knew that our cake wasn’t real! I would recommend Michelle time and time again for how fun she was and how great she made our cake experience.
Alison Feamster (Make-up artist)- A
I had Alison do my make-up for me for my wedding day and it turned out absolutely fabulous. My face kind of had a freak out the day before and I’m awful when it comes to my facial care regime. Alison was able to cover my imperfections while bringing out the true natural aspects of my look. I used her airbrush service and it was flawless. She traveled to my hotel where I had planned on getting ready with my girls. She was so nice and sweet but remained professional. When I first met with her, she seemed a little shy and I didn’t know if we would mesh very well in a client-professional manner, however after talking with her, we were able to warm up and she was able to understand my vision and helped me recreate the look that I was going for. I had a trial run (no extra charge)with her and she did everything down to the eyelashes that she had painstakingly glued on for me. She tweaked it around until I was 100% satisfied with it, and when wedding day came, everything went out without a hitch. I highly recommend Alison for her true gift of make-up artistry.
Jen King (hair stylist)- B+
I had gotten Jen’s information through Alison Feamster when I was researching hair stylists that would travel for my wedding. Jen was nice and open to possibilities of doing my hair and I did a couple of trials with her, both of which cost money to do, but it was during the second one that we were able to solidify my hairstyle. After the trial, the halfup hairstyle fell out about 2 hours after it was complete and I was worried about that. The day of, I told Jen my concerns and she said that she would make sure that it wouldn’t happen. I don’t know if it was the humidity or the style of curling tool that she was using, but my curls fell out again about 3 hours after she was done. It didn’t look bad or anything, but it just looked like a simple hairstyle that I could have done myself. Jen was easy to contact and she did a great job with doing my bridesmaid’s hairstyles as well. They all had similar styles (a low side chignon) and she did something a little different to each one to make it stand out; the girls’ styles lasted pretty well throughout the night of dancing and fun.