My big day was perfect for my husband and I... everything was beautiful! Feel free to PM me for any more information on these vendors. Also, brevity has never been a talent of mine- these are long!
Ryan Smith (DJ) – A+
Ryan is a super nice guy and was wonderful to work with throughout the entire process. He was always helpful, responsive, and focused on making the wedding run smoothly. Definitely a great value, as he took care of my ceremony music, reception music, and kept my timeline! I highly recommend him.
Picture the Love (Photography) – A+
I just love PTL. They are so fun and laid-back, and take amazing photos. Kim fell right in with the girls as we got ready, making everything really comfortable and easy. She even went so far as to help me out with a vendor issue the day of (see videographer review below). Eric was with the guys all day, and my husband said everything went great with them, too. You also can barely even tell that they’re there during the wedding- they were never in anyone’s face or blocking any views. I don’t have my photos back yet, but they did our engagement photos as well and we loved those. I’ve also seen a ton of their work online and they do such a great job of capturing moments and details. Highly recommend!
Anita Kline (Cake) – A+
Another vendor I loved! Putting flavor aside for a moment, Anita really makes you feel welcome and taken care of. For the tasting, she has tons of flavors and photos of her work. Once you book and go back in to design your cake, she really listens to what you want, offering suggestions but ultimately making sure your cake is what you want. I was so happy when I saw it! It looked amazing. And the flavor- after my husband shoved cake in my mouth and everyone was looking at us and there were photos and all this other stuff going on, all I was thinking about was how delicious that cake tasted! Many, many guests told me it was the best wedding cake they’ve ever had.
Monica Gwaltney (alterations) – A
I loved all of my fittings with Monica. She’s super energetic, knows what she’s doing, and makes you feel like a million bucks- you’d never think she sees tons of girls in wedding dresses with the way she makes you feel and makes you look after alterations. Her prices are very reasonable for what she has to offer, too. I would absolutely recommend her to anyone, especially for your wedding dress. The only reason I didn’t give her a plus is because she missed the appointment for my dress steaming (right before the rehearsal) and we had to reschedule it for the morning of. It ended up not being a problem, but definitely gave me a few moments of panic. Note: she also altered two of my bridesmaid’s dresses, one of which required adding fabric, and she made it look like it had been there all along. Seriously a very talented seamstress.
Fr. Stephen Ayotte (officiant) – A
Fr. Stephen is the priest at Holy Angels and Saints Catholic Church. We met with him because I found out he will perform a Catholic marriage rite outside of the church. Though that is the only reason we met with him, we ultimately booked with him because he has a great philosophy about weddings and makes it a fun event. He had everyone laughing and involved, and that definitely helped to calm my fried nerves during the ceremony. His homily was amusing, but also had some serious points that hit home and reminded you why you were there. A lot of people commented on how much they liked him, and he really set the tone to have a fun night!
The Flowerman (floral) – A
I like that you can create your own packages with The Flowerman: full-service floral, all DIY (including DIY training if you desire), and half and half. I did half and half, purchasing super cheap box lots of stems for all of the arrangements and bouquets (I have an amazing couple of friends who put them together for me!). I did pay them the typical florist price for the corsages and boutonnieres. Everything was fresh and beautiful, and some of it even survived in my garage after I was back from the honeymoon.
AddVision (videography) – B
I am looking forward to seeing our video, as the samples I’ve seen from AddVision have all been incredible. Everything went pretty smoothly with them, the reason I knocked them down to a B is because I ended up adding an extra hour of coverage right before the wedding and they were supposed to send me an updated contract but never did. I sent them my final payment a few days before the wedding, sans contract, and they never confirmed receipt. I felt nervous about their arrival since the communication kind of dropped off, so Kim from PTL offered to call them for me (again: she is amazing) to check in since they have a good working relationship. They then asked her to confirm some arrival details I know the zoo event coordinator had already sent them. It was unsettling because if she hadn’t called them, would they have made it to where they were supposed to be? Having said that, the guys were very nice and honestly I didn’t even notice I was being filmed the entire night, which was important to me. They never obstructed anything for the guests and were very professional.
The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium (venue) – C
I have actually been avoiding writing this review. Everything the day of the wedding went perfectly- the food was good, the pavilions looked beautiful, and the staff was friendly and well-prepared. The event coordinator responded to my questions promptly throughout the planning process. However… the last two months leading up to the wedding turned sour due to some unforeseen circumstances with other zoo events. First, we rented two pavilions along the river for the express purpose of having a beautiful river view. Two months before the wedding, we were informed of a giant white event tent that had been erected and would be staying up during our wedding, obscuring the view of the river and just changing the whole atmosphere. It was a serious tent, and we were told that taking it down for our event was not an option. We were also told the sides of the tent would not be there, but then two weeks before the wedding, during a planning meeting, they off-handedly mentioned the sides would be attached, even further obscuring the view. All you could see from the ceremony pavilion was white plastic. Second, all along we were told the zoo would be closed and we would be the only people there. I learned (on my own) two weeks prior that our wedding day was actually opening night for Boo at the Zoo, a zoo-wide children’s event that also included running the carousel right behind our pavilions. Though everything turned out great in the end, these surprises were things I absolutely did not need to be dealing with so close to the wedding day and things that should have been made clear from the beginning. Had we known we’d have no view of the water and that the zoo would be consumed by a Halloween event during our wedding, we may have looked elsewhere.
Connie Duglin Linens – C
This linen vendor is the only option if you get married at the zoo. They were at the menu tasting and mentioned their free fabric samples. At this point I knew my colors were orange and gray, but I didn’t really have a handle on the exact shade yet, so they offered to mail me samples of all the orange and all the gray options they had. The samples never came, so I decided it wasn’t worth my time. Long story short, I changed my mind and went into their store to choose chair covers, sashes, and table runners. It was pretty painless and I chose the same gray color for sashes and runners. Weeks later, and only a few weeks before the wedding, the zoo event coordinator (who handles the linen payment and scheduling for you) called to let me know that they actually didn’t carry table runners in the gray color I had chosen. (Um, what? Then why did they let me place an order for it?) They suggested using a chair sash as a runner instead, saying it was cheaper anyway. The sashes were way too thin for that, so I ended up doubling up two sashes and then the width was just about the same as if I had gotten the runner. Last, my day-of helpers ended up setting up the tables themselves instead of CDL in order to give them enough time to set up the centerpieces, etc. In the end the room did look beautiful.