Ohio-Columbus

Vendor Reviews: Part 1 (Major Vendors)

Ceremony and Reception Venue: The Grand Valley Dale Ballroom, A+


Non-pro picture of the reception setup

 

In my opinion, The Valley Dale is an overlooked gem in Columbus.  Originally built in the early 1900s, it was host to a wide variety of world-renowned entertainers including Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.  It was restored to its original beauty in the late 1990s and is now on National Register of Historic Places.  And it is b-e-a-utiful!  I had so many people tell me that it was one of the prettiest venues they have ever been to for a wedding.

 

To top it off, Dana and Marty (the managers at the Valley Dale) are awesome to work with, and our event coordinator Robin made sure that everything went according to plan.  I really cannot recommend The Valley Dale highly enough! 


The only (tiny) negative thing I can say is that we were a little under their minimum so Dana sent me an email listing some of the additional items we could add on (we went with more up-lighting).  When we got to the Valley Dale for the rehearsal, we saw that they have a grand piano that you can rent, and I wish we would’ve known about it because we would have added that instead of more lighting (but we weren’t going to pay an additional $250 to rent it for an hour!).  Not a huge deal though.

 

Final verdict: book with them!


Photography: Melee Photography


I think it is weird that people give their photographers a rating before they have gotten pictures back so I will hold off on that for now.  I will tell you though that they bring a 42” TV to your reception and continually update it with photos taken throughout the day, and the pictures we saw were beautiful!  I am so excited to see the rest!!

 

Cake: Anita Kline, A+!!!!


 

Everything I had heard about Anita was 100% true!  She was absolutely my favorite vendor to work with.  When I emailed her telling her I wanted to have an anemone on top of our cake but our florist told me they were out of season, she emailed me back within an hour suggesting a couple of different options she saw on etsy—and she was on vacation!  She is so sweet and can truly make your visions because a reality.  Not only was our cake stunning, it was the best tasting wedding cake I have ever had!  Plus, I should add that her prices are really affordable.

 

Final Verdict: you are crazy if you don’t book her!

Catering: PC Events, C


This is a tough review to write because if I was rating on only the wedding day, PC Events would definitely have an A!  The Captain was a dream to work with (if you book PC Events, request Josh for your reception!), and the food was good.  However, the month leading up to the wedding was such a headache!

 

PC Events used to have an account coordinator that everyone apparently loved.  However, since she left the owner/head chef has taken over customer relations.  Big mistake!  He is not personable, pretty egotistical, and terrible at communication.  I mean awful.  For example, our contract stated that we could make changes to our order up to three weeks before the wedding, which was Thanksgiving weekend.   However, I felt pressured into paying early (two emails and a phone call on a Monday when our final payment wasn’t actually due until Saturday) because he wanted to shut down for a week for Thanksgiving, which was not a big deal but a little advanced warning would have been nice.  Then he tried to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to make any more changes because we already made our final payment and that locked everything in.  I told him that we made our final payment early as a courtesy to him so he could shut down for the holidays, and that I should not be penalized for it.  (That and the fact that he was trying to breech our contract.)

 

Then I didn’t hear anything from him for a week and a half!  I had no idea if he had made the changes I requested or not.  I followed up with a phone call and another email and when he finally got back with me, he kept running in circles trying to tell me half-truths.  Luckily, I had the contracts and all of our written communication in front of me so I was able to point out all of the holes in his arguments.

 

Final verdict:  if PC Events gets a new account coordinator, I think you would be safe booking them because as I said—our actual event was great!  It was just all of the crap leading up to the wedding that would make me hesitant to recommend them.


 

Florist: Flowers by Jerry, A-


My toss bouquet and my brooch bouquet (looking a little worse for wear)

 

Jerry is a great guy to work with!  He is fast to respond to questions, and he was patient when I changed my order about a dozen different times.  I will be honest when I say that flowers were pretty low on my priority list so I wasn’t too picky about who I booked; I just wanted someone affordable.  I was a tiny bit disappointed because I told him I wanted a mixture of ivory flowers (roses, freesia, lilies, etc.), but the bouquets were about 90% roses.  Nonetheless, they were still pretty.

 

Final Verdict: Book if you want affordable, simple flowers

 


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