Hello!
I'm here to share my experiences with our vendors from our wedding last Saturday in Milwaukee!
Venue/Cake/Catering=Potawatomi Bingo Casino: A+++++
When I began telling people where we were having our wedding, alot of the responses we got were "hmmm, ok, that's interesting...." because not many people even knew of wedding being done there. I don't remember where we came across an ad for wedding there, but this was actually our very first place we looked. Right away we fell in love with the Tribal Room. If you are familiar with Potawatomi, it is the room underneath the torch. It is a three-story circular room, half of it glass from bottom to top looking onto downtown Milwaukee, and the other half a great big stone fireplace. We had our ceremony in there, then went to Wild Earth Restaurant for dinner, and we headed back to the Tribal Room for the dancing and party.
They require you to use their caterer (which is know for some people that is a negative thing). But for me, I looked at it as one less vendor to research and book. Plus, the food there is AMAZING. They have chefs who have worked all over the country. We had Wild Mushroom Ravioli, Three Citrus Butter Chicken, and Braised Short Rib. We got so many compliments on the food; they did a phenomenal job. We chose to do our cake through them as well (although that is not required). There were several unique options (we chose Baileys Irish Cream flavored) and the cake also went toward our minimum. The staff was so professional and the catering manager, Dell, worked with us on every little detail from the moment we walked in looking for a place to get married to the wedding night reception. I highly recommend at least taking a look and considering it!
Dress(es)=Davids Bridal: A.
I didn't go in having a specific idea of what I wanted, so I think that helped keeping an open mind. I went right away when we got engaged a year ago, and the second time I went I found the dress. The women I worked with were so sincere and helpful and made us all feel so very comfortable. I knew the color that I wanted for the bridesmaids right away, so that same day their staff started picking out styles that would compliment not only the color of the dress, but the body types of the bridesmaids.
Makeup=Neroli (Bayshore): A/B
I had never gotten my makeup professionally done before this, so I was alittle nervous to see how it would turn out. My makeup artist (Briana) was so sweet and genuine, and made me feel super comfortable and confident and did an AMAZING job. I got airbrush makeup, and the price was very good compared to other salons around town. The only negative was with one of my bridemaid's makeup. Her makeup looked absolutely beautiful, but when she went to go pay, the woman at the counter charged her $50 over what she had been quoted. They ended up only charging us what we had been quoted, but they were not happy about it.
Nails-GLOSS=A
I went to GLOSS for the first time when I got my nails done for the wedding. It is on North Water Street, down the street from where Brady St ends. It was so clean and had a modern fresh look to it. Their prices were great, especially for a downtown location. Another place I looked downtown would have charged me $25 more for the acrylics.
Music/DJ=Kyle Feerick A++++
Kyle is a local musician that my husband knew. When we told him we were engaged he mentioned that he has been DJing weddings in addition to playing shows. We met and the decision to go with him was easy. Not only did he DJ the reception, but he also sang and played the guitar for us as we walked down the aisle. He gave us a huge list of songs that he could play acoustically, and even offered to learn one of our choosing. He also gave us a list of all the music that he has on vinyl, and any requests were just given to him the day of on an ipod and he was happy to play them. He played a great blend of upbeat, funky, old -school classics that everyone loved. He was amazing! Message me if you need any more info!
Photographer=Clint Wolf= A+
When looking for a photographer, we were browsing his page and sample pictures when we came across the wedding of a friend's friend of ours. So we asked them how Clint was for them, and they were positive about their experience. We decided to meet with him, and he was very professional, yet incredibly personable. He seemed genuinely interested in capturing the most happy moments of our day. We don't have the pictures back yet, so I can't comment on them, but working with him up to and the day of was great. He came with so many fun and unique ideas, and he was always snapping pictures of whatever he thought would be special. He was never in the way, but was always right there in the action. He noticed when groups of people were taking pics and would make the person taking the pic hop in and be a part of his picture. He is from the Chicago area, and Milwaukee is the farthest north he goes without charging alittle for travel (and with these gas prices I don't blame him!). I'll post some professional ones when we get them back. Oh, and he sends us a flash drive in the mail and we own, EVERYTHING. For his services, he charges more that fairly. Hundreds less that most local photography groups we looked at.
Invitations, Programs, Save the Dates-DIY from Paperandmore.com=A
We did all the paper needs for our wedding ourselves using paper from paperandmore.com It was great quality and inexpensive compared to buying from the local paper goods stores. Since we only had about 100 guests, assembly and printing didn't take too long. We had help from my mom and sisters, too. But I couldn't imagine putting together our own for a 150-200+ guest list.
Flowers=Whole Foods B
Something great about Potawatomi is that the space is so beautiful and already decorated with architecture, you don't need to decorate with flowers and bouquets all around. The only flowers I bought were my bouquet, and my two bridesmaids bouquets. We decided to go to Whole Foods the day before and buy flowers and put them together. This may not work for alot of brides who like to plan ahead . Even my husband was freaking our saying it was a bad idea. But it worked for me, and they were beautiful!
I have some pics in posted in my bio!