Reception Venue- Voice of America Ronald Reagan Lodge: B-
First of this is a very beautiful venue! We did our pictures here as well and the lake view with the park is fantastic! You can rent the whole patio and gazebo outside as well as the lodge inside for a pretty reasonable price. We even got to have a second bar out on the patio! This venue does allow you to bring in your own vendors (they have a
preferred caterer list). You have to use their bar package because they
are a park.
The downside to this venue is that the staff seemed unorganized throughout the entire process. They were making changes to their staff during our planning, which caused a few issues. I hope they get their new staff all sorted out because it is such a beautiful venue. Also, I would reccomend having someone there to organize things instead of trusting VOA to do that. We had a family friend there to help greet venders, make sure the room was arranged properly (there was some issues with this), and set up little things for us like place cards. After running into a little problem with the room arrangement I was so glad she was there to fix any issues.
I can't stress enough how beautiful the venue was! It's a real gem that not a lot of people seemed to know about.
Catering- Jeanette's Delicacies- A+
Jeanette was great! All of the food was fantastic! She has recently moved to Beckett Ridge as the new caterer for them so you can tell she is doing well. I think her prices are about average. She was organized throughout our planning and made everything easy. As a bonus she can also include chair sashes so that was one less vendor we had to worry about.
Flowers- 2 Little Buds- A+
We love 2 Little Buds! I had already used them before for buying flowers and they are just great! I went in with no idea what I wanted and they made great suggestions. All of my flowers turned out beautiful and lasted the whole day! They did my centerpieces too, which cut lemons in a vase with blue hydrangeas. They looked great! I loved how much they seemed to care.
Ice Cream- Aroma's Gelato- A+
We decided not to have a cake and did a gelato bar instead. This was my favorite part of my reception! Everyone loved it and it was great for a summer wedding! You get 6 flavors for 2 hours unlimited for I think $3 a person plus a $150 service fee (it could have been a little more if I am forgetting something, but it was reasonable!). After doing our tasting it was so hard to narrow it down to our 6 favorites because they were all delicious. Also, it is in a very nice case with 2 people Aroma's has doing the scooping. It was awesome!
Makeup- BrideFace- A+
They did great! They are a little pricey but you get what you pay for with makeup. Our makeup lasted the whole day with no problems. We had Danielle who was super nice and open to what each of my bridesmaids wanted done. The whole process with them was organized with no issues.
Photography and Photo Booth- Cindy Dover Photography- A+
Cindy did my sisters wedding last year and we had to use her again for mine! She is so nice and creative! She only takes on so many weddings a year so she can really concentrate on the ones she does. She had all my photos edited and complete within a week and a half of our wedding (!!!). You can tell how much time she puts into editing each photo though, they are all beautiful. I didn't have anything special in mind for photos and she had a great ideas for us! She will also accommodate to whatever special ideas you are wanting. She also makes you a really nice guestbook and wedding album included in the package we got. She is about average for price, but I was glad to spend the money on a good photographer.
She also just got a photobooth this year and it was awesome! She gives you a good price on it if you book her for photography too. You can fit many people in the photobooth. She has great props and we even added our own cutouts of ourselves that we took beforehand which were a huge hit! Each time you go to the photobooth you get 2 prints, one to keep and one to put into a scrapbook for us to keep! It was so fun looking at everyone's pictures and comments the next day. She also had them all on Facebook the next day so everyone could have them digitally. It's a really great photobooth!
Limo- Jimmy's Limo- A
Jimmy's Limo was great! We actually got upgraded the week of our wedding to their highest limo because ours was in the shop. If you have the money, go for the party bus! We had a lot of fun and it was very spacious.
DJ- Johnny B- A+
Johnny is great! He again did my sisters wedding last year and did a great job at both. He's been doing this for a long time and knows how to be a fun DJ. Can't say enough good things about him!
Dress- Fabulous Bridal- A+
I really liked them! I didn't try anywhere else because I found my dress the first day I looked! It was an in-house design and I was the first one to buy it, so it was nice to know 100s of other brides around the nation weren't wearing the same dress as me. They gave my bridesmaids a discount (20% I think) on their dresses so we of course got them there too. We did a Maid's party with champagne and cheese/crackers. Their staff is very accommodating and organized. I loved my dress!
Alterations- Cynthia's Sewing- A+
Cindy was great! She is located in West Chester. She did my dress, one of my bridesmaids, and my moms for a very reasonable price!
Honeymoon- A+
We went to Couples Barbados and it was so amazing! They just re-branded themselves in June to Couples, so the price was a great deal for Barbados! It's couples only and an all-inclusive right on the beach. We loved it there.
We really enjoyed our vendors! Hope this helps!