Vendor Reviews (5.21.11)

Scioto Reserve Country Club: A+

We had both our ceremony and reception at Scioto Reserve. The day of the wedding went wonderfully and all of the staff, including our coordinator, Ann Marie, was great. They were able to accommodate most of the requests we made. We asked for golf carts and were provided them for after the ceremony to go out on the course to take pictures and they also stocked them with beers and bottles of wine. We were given a champagne toast during the reception with our package and we asked that the champagne be provided outside prior to our outdoor ceremony for guests who were arriving early on the first run of the shuttle bus and they accommodated that and didn’t charge extra. A cake from the Cake Studio was included in our package which looked and tasted great. We were also able to have our rehearsal dinner and spa treatments at Kinsale go toward our minimum.  Only small complaints: they said they would refill our dessert buffet and we left with a lot of desserts and take home boxes so I don’t think they refilled it. Occasionally, early on during the planning process I had some trouble getting email responses from our coordinator, but the last month or so this was not the case at all. I would recommend them for sure.

TEAM DJ: B-

We worked with Todd from TEAM DJ and he was great to work with throughout the planning process. He gave good advice for some music selections and I really liked their online planning tool. The reason I gave them a B- is because the day of the wedding he brought a guy with him who he told us was assisting him that night. I assumed the guy was in training and figured it was no big deal because everyone needs to learn sometime. But toward the end of the night Todd was no where to be found and the other guy was running the show. My husband said he saw him sitting back in the grooms quarters talking with people, obviously not working. At one point something went wrong with their computer and the music stopped right in the middle of one of our favorite songs and the new guy didn’t know what to do. I would probably give them a C, however, they did play great music and people danced all night. We were just disappointed that we paid to get one person and didn’t really get him.

Todd Seimer Photography: A+

I just received my negatives and slideshow in the mail this past weekend. The photos turned out amazing and really allowed me to recap the entire day, they were beautiful. Todd was also wonderful to work with. By the end of the process my husband and I felt like we were friends with Todd. We had a lot of fun taking the photos and Todd was willing to stay around later into the night, without charging us, to make sure he caught enough fun moments.

Flowers on Springtree Lane: A-

Anne and Robin were wonderful to work with. I received so many compliments about the flowers. People thought I spent a ton of money on them, but FSL gave me very expensive looking and beautiful flowers for an affordable price. The only reason I gave them an A- instead of an A+ was because one of the arrangements on the trellis corners started to fall down a little and my Mom told Anne about it and she said she would fix it before she left and she never did. It wasn’t very noticeable but we thought it should have been fixed. Other than that, I was incredibly impressed by how beautiful the flowers were…I absolutely loved them.

Wendy’s Bridal (for wedding gown): A

I know some people have had poor experiences there, but mine was just fine. The consultant didn’t pressure me and pulled dresses in the styles that I was interested in. I even went back several months later to buy a veil and was given the discounted price that I should have only gotten if I bought it at the time I purchased the dress. Overall, I had a good experience there and my dress was perfect for me.

David’s Bridal (bridesmaid dresses and flower girl dress): A-

I knew what I wanted before I even went in by searching online. So I didn’t really need a lot of assistance from the consultants. If I would have not known then it may have been a problem since they were very busy and didn’t give a lot of attention to us. When one of my girls dresses came in the zipper was broken and she had to send it back and got a new one. Overall, it was a good experience and the girls looked great in their dresses.

This was the one pain I dealt with while planning. I ordered my linens online and they were supposed to send me another order form via email…I never received the other form until I called them and was told someone else was in charge of the rental program and she never recorded my order. I filled out the form and faxed it to them. I called them to make sure they received it and was told I would receive my linens on Wednesday before my wedding on Saturday. By Tuesday I still had not gotten a shipping confirmation, so I called again and was told they were never shipped. She said I could have them by Thursday if I paid for 2 day shipping, I refused to pay extra and they said they would ship them so I could get them by Thursday. On Thursday evening at 5pm I still hadn’t received them so I called again, they said the linens would be getting to me that day and they finally did late that evening. My Mom had to spend hours ironing them on Friday since they came so late. They seemed very unorganized and were a pain to deal with.

Nth Degree (shuttle bus for guests): B

My Mom dealt with them the most so I can’t really comment too much, but the only reason they got a B was that the driver was supposed to take a group of guests back to the hotel at 10pm, 11pm, and midnight and I was told he left at 10 minutes til 11pm and came back about 30 minutes later saying he was taking guests back when there had been no one on the bus. I suspect he left for something else, food, running an errand, I’m not sure, but some of my guests had to sit and wait for him to come back.

Karen Schott (wedding gown alterations): A+

Karen used to own a bridal shop but now works out of her home. We only found out about her because my Mom works with her neice. She was great. She did all of my alterations for an amazing price, I probably would have paid 3x that much at any of the bridal shops. She also did great quality work and had it done quickly.

Crowne Plaza Dublin (hotel block): A

The price was really good at the Crowne and the rooms were pretty nice. You can tell that it’s an older hotel that has been updated. They also provided a free buffet breakfast and the bar stayed open late for our after hours parties (after the rehearsal and after the wedding). We had the suite for me and my girls to get hair and makeup done and it worked out wonderfully. My only complaint was that the wait staff for the breakfast could have been better, they didn’t seem too interested in helping anyone, but overall this hotel was a good experience.

Alison Feamster (makeup): A

I heard about Alison from the knot message boards and I really liked the idea of the airbrush makeup. During my trial I thought my eyebrows looked a little dark (they are normally blonde), and the eyeliner was a little darker than my normal look. She did exactly what I asked on my wedding day and I thought it turned out great. I was a little worried about having time to get everyone’s makeup done since she had a wedding earlier in the day and we didn’t have a lot of time, but she arrived early and worked quickly, but still with good quality, to get everyone done. She was really nice, but didn’t really talk too much to us, that’s the only reason I didn’t give her an A+.

Sarah O’Day from Studio on Park in Grove City (hair): A+

Sarah cuts my hair normally so I was excited she was able to do my hair for my wedding. She did a wonderful job and made sure throughout that I liked everything she was doing. She felt like part of our group rather than an outsider just coming in to do hair. Everyone liked how their hair turned out.

Dream Limousine: A+

My Mom booked them last minute for my husband and I and some of our bridal party to ride from the venue back to the hotel. They were on-time, courteous, and a good price. I would highly recommend them.

CJ Carioti Jewelers (rings): A+

We bought both our wedding rings and my engagement ring there. They were wonderful throughout the entire process. Absolutely no complaints, everything they did was outstanding and the rings looked great too.