Hello Ladies!
I hope everyone's week is off to a wonderful start! I was quite often a lurker on the boards, but never posted much. Vendor reviews and photos were a HUGE help to me when planning my wedding (I'm a Miami, FL native living in Indianapolis, IN who planned a wedding in Cbus, OH) so I thought I'd share! Please feel free to message me if you have any questions. What they say is true...enjoy every moment because it flies!!
Wedding Dress - Bridal and Formal, Cincinnati
After (exhaustive) internet research, I had a pretty good idea of the style of wedding dress I was after. I knew that I only wanted to go shopping once and walk away with a dress. I grabbed two of my best girlfriends and headed to Bridal and Formal. I had an appointment on a Saturday morning in late July. I was able to get right in and requested a private fitting room, which I got. I loved being able to pull my own dresses, and tried on several. I fell in love with my dress (Melissa Sweet - Deanna), then realized it was over the budget I had set in my head by almost $1K. Bridal and Fomal worked with me and came almost all the way down to my price! All in all, very good experience.
Day of Coordinator - Ana Titus
I work in the nonprofit sector and have planned many events in my day, so I'm a bit of a control freak. I knew that in order to relax on my wedding day, I had to have someone else to worry about the details. Ana was wonderful, and completely set my mind at ease. She did everything I asked and then some. Everything was set up perfectly, and at the end of the night everything was returned to it's rightful owner. Such a huge peace of mind on such a busy and important day!
Hotel Blocks - Crowne Plaza and Hampton Inn, Downtown Cbus
Both hotels were very easy to work with in the beginning and happily set up room blocks for us. My MIL said that the Hampton Inn was very hard to get a hold of at times (phone would ring & ring with no answer), but that was the only complaint I heard. We had several problems with the Crowne Plaza, from lost reservations to our guests being told that we had not blocked rooms and the hotel was sold out. All was made right in the end, but dealing with them was VERY frustrating.
Rehearsal Dinner - Max & Erma's, Downtown Cbus
We chose Max & Erma's for our rehearsal dinner for a few reasons. One, my DH LOVES their tortilla soup. :0) It was very convenient because we had several OOT guests and since we were serving alcohol didn't want anyone to have to drive. Max and Erma's is attached to the Crowne Plaza, has a large private room and an expansive menu. We had almost as much fun at our rehearsal as our wedding. The food was good, the staff was nice...no complaints! Not sure about pricing here as my in-laws took care of the bill.
Band (Rehearsal Dinner and Ceremony) - Bright Light
In a word, amazing. These guys were BY FAR one of my favorite vendors, and I found them completely by accident when someone posted their youtube demo here on the knot. To me, a wedding ceremony is deeply personal and music is a HUGE part of that. I had VERY specific choices in mind when it came to our music, and everyone I contact either suggested different songs or was insanely expensive. Not only did these guys learn all of my music selections (bridal party walked in to an instrumental of Train's "Marry Me", I walked in to an instrumental of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses", our unity candle song was Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" with vocals, and we walked out to Stevie Wonder's "Signed Sealed Delivered" with vocals), but they came to the rehearsal, played our rehearsal dinner and ceremony for less than most other combos wanted for just the ceremony. Everyone loved them, and they made our rehearsal and ceremony extra special. Check them out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G8DQVuOfFs