Most of these vendors can be found by googling their name but if you have specific questions please contact me at wshoe3@aol.com.
Good luck!
Stacy
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Heidzillas A++
Heidi from Heidzillas is the real deal. She was an integral part of making my wedding last week go smoothly. From the minute I hired her, I was so happy I did. Whether it was picking her brain about vendors or how to handle certain situations she helped me with everything I needed. What I am most thankful for is not the tasks I asked Heidi to do on the day of the wedding but all of the behind the scenes things that she did. I am just now finding out how helpful she was with so many things. Hiring Heidi was the best wedding decision I made (aside from the groom of course) and I would recommend her services to anyone.
Justin Ketchem Photography A+
Even though we do not have our wedding pictures from Justin yet, I have no doubt that we will be nothing less than thrilled with them. Justin came to Chicago (where we live) to do our engagement pictures. We went all over the city and got some amazing shots so I can only imagine how great the wedding pics will be. Justin is fun and easy to work with. He is extremely creative and very professional. All of my guests commented on how they "didn't even realize he and his assistant Lance were at the reception". This was exactly what I wanted. I loved working with Justin, as did all of my bridal party and give him my highest regards. Justin is so worth it!
Attention to Detail- Doug A
Doug of Attention to Detail was great to work with and we absolutely can't wait to see the final product. We have already seen a sneak peek of our "First Look" and couldn't be more thrilled. From the very beginning it has been a pleasure to work with Doug. Even though we never got to meet him prior to the day of the wedding I was not worried. Every phone conversation we had assured me that he was professional and knew his stuff. The day of the wedding he worked well with the photographers and stayed very inconspicuous. I would highly recommend Attention to Detail for your wedding video. The examples on their website speak for themselves and we felt Doug was outstanding.
All Eyes on You Makeup- Kerry Rihtar A+
Kerry is amazing. She did my makeup, my mom's make up, and several of the bridesmaids. Everyone was thrilled with the work she did. Her motto is to make you look like yourself but better. She does not try to talk you into makeup you aren't comfortable with or go overboard. I am not someone who wears much makeup so I was nervous when I met Kerry for my trial. However she immediately put me at ease and I didn't think twice about how is was going to look on my wedding day. It also helps that Kerry is a easy to work with and a pleasure to talk to. Everyone was happy to have her around while we were getting ready. She was very accommodating to bridesmaids who saw how great the rest of us looked and wanted to get their makeup done too.
Colleen Sotos-Martorano- hair A+
Colleen is great. At my hair trial I took her in a picture of what I had in mind. Thirty minutes later my hair looked beautiful and exactly how I wanted. The day of the wedding she did a beautiful job on everyone's hair and was very accommodating when we asked her to do a few extra people. She came to the hotel and brought all of her supplies. She is fun to work with and has great stories! Everyone's hair held up well despite taking pictures in a wind storm down by the Lake.
Windows on the River A-
Overall Windows was a great place to have our reception. The food was fantastic and the setting is great. I am happy that we choose Windows for our reception.
A few specific details I had requested prior to the reception were not followed through on. I know that none of the guests probably noticed but it bothered me that night and I really wish I wouldn't have had to worry about it. I worked with Kris and she was always helpful, not always the most prompt with responses but I eventually got the information I needed. My only other concern was that we were told some of the servers were not very friendly.
All Occasions Limos A+
A very positive experience. Kim, our driver was great. Very polite, helpful, accommodating. I really enjoyed him. When one of our shuttle buses for guests did not show up on time he offered to help transport them around!
The limo was clean, on time, and we got a great price.
I would definitely recommend this company to others.
Hyatt at the Arcade A-
Overall the Hyatt was a good place to have our guests stay. It was close to bars and restaurants and a unique venue. The rooms were clean and the staff very accommodating.
However many of our guests had trouble with their reservations which was a headache for them. Also, the sales staff person that we worked with left the company about 6 weeks before our event and we were not informed. We were sending e-mails to her and not getting any response. It took some time to get a hold of a new contact and some of the details were lost in the process. The suite I thought I had booked (per the pictures that were sent to me) was not the suite I walked into the day before the wedding. By that point it was too late. The suite I was in was very nice but not what I "signed up for".
Hungarian Cultural Gardens A
Beautiful site if you can handle worrying about the weather for months...
It was well maintained with no trash on the ground. The employees at the Cleveland Special Events department (where you get the permit for use from) where not always the most helpful or friendly but it was still worth it.
Silver Lake Florist A
The flowers were absolutely beautiful and exactly what I described to Besty at Silver Lake Florist when I met with her. She was extremely easy to work with and flexible. When I changed my mind about a few things the week before the wedding it was no big deal and they even cut a refund check because of what I changed my mind about. They had no problem dropping off flowers at the hotel, ceremony site and reception. I was so happy to work with Silver Lake Florist and even though they are located about 40 minutes from Cleveland I would still recommend them to any Cleveland or Akron Bride.
Mark Maliniak-Ceremony Musician A
Mark was very prompt in responding to e-mails and worked me on my music choices. He helped me pick songs that would sound good being played on a solo trumpet and brought his own accompaniment music for a few of the songs. The day of the ceremony he sounded amazing. Great ceremony musician!
TKO A+
We were not disappointed. TKO lived up to all of the awesome reviews we had read. Ted was great to work with during the planning phase. Jim and Scott were great the night of the wedding. They kept people on the dance floor without being obnoxious about it.
We had requested a lot of a certain musician to be played during the cocktail and dinner hour and that's exactly what they did. Then later in the evening we had a special surprise planned for my grandparents, except as we were announcing it, my grandparents were no where to be found. Jim and Scott played it off like it was no big deal, quickly switched to some dance music to distract everyone and tactfully did the whole thing over a few songs later. I am very thankful that we hired TKO as our DJ service and would gladly recommend them to anyone.
Wild Flour Bakery A
Even though this cake came as part of our package at Windows-I would have choose it no matter what. Once we had our tasting I was sold. Both Mona and Sue are great to work with. Its really great because they send you home from your meeting with a huge box of 8 (I think) types of cake and filling. I thought it was so nice that we could take everything home to try, that way we weren't feeling pressured and could really take our time enjoying all the cakes.
The wedding cake was exactly what I wanted. The design was just like we talked about and tasted amazing. We had 4 different flavors and they were all great. We also got the Groom's cake from here and it was also perfect.
All Aboard Charters F
This was the one vendor I was worried about from the start and I should have gone with my gut. Their quote came in lower than others but it was not worth it! We hired them to provide us with two 55 passenger shuttle busses to transport guests from the hotel to the ceremony site and then to the reception. Then we had one bus all night to make runs between reception and the hotel. Even though we sent them a detailed request of what we wanted, every time we called them prior to the wedding to ask a question or confirm something, they seemed disorganized and confused. However they assured me they'd be ready to go on the day of the wedding.
Well the day of the wedding only one shuttle bus showed us. So it had to make multiple runs to ceremony site and we had to wait 20 minutes to start the ceremony because half of the guests weren't there. We were told by multiple guests that the driver was rude to them and valet at the hotel. Then after the fact when we called the company to discuss what had happened and attempt to get a refund they tried to tell us they wouldn't refund us because the one bus had done just as many trips as two buses would have done. There is nothing in our contract about number of trips and we told them that. We are awaiting a refund check and our entire payment is being held by our credit card company until we get it. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
Red Eye Photo Booths A+
Great experience! They were easy to work with during the planning process. Worked with me to create a graphic for the bottom of the photo strips and sent me multiple copies until we got it how we wanted. The night of the wedding they were all ready to go when guests got there. Everyone loved it and there were no issues with the camera or printer. I had a disk with all of the pictures on it within 5 days of the wedding. Absolutely worth booking!
Cleveland Corporate Services A
Used them for the speakers at the ceremony and the slide show projector at the reception. They were very helpful as we determined exactly what equipment we needed and very prompt in answering our many questions. The technician who was with us the day of the wedding was great. He had everything ready to go and was very on top of the music/speakers at the ceremony and the slide show at the reception.