Vendor reviews.

Here are my vendor reviews from my 10/22/11 wedding.  Sorry it took so long. Just got back from our Honeymoon.

Ceremony
Ceremony Site: Our Lady of the Lakes A-     I am giving them an A- because the coordinator the assigned us was straight up crazy.  She showed up late for rehearsal and then had no idea what she was doing.  She kept trying to send people in the wrong order and she would make really bad off the cuff comments.
Officiant  Deacon John Schulte from OLOTL A+++.  He is amazing!! We were super comfortable with him and even though we are new to the church and only met him once, we felt as if we had known him for ever and he made our ceremony very personal.
Ceremony Music  Timothy R. Smith.  A++   Guy writes his own music, sings, plays the piano and organ and can get you other musicians that you may be interested in such as trumpet player and string ensembles.

Reception
Reception Site: The Fountains of Clarkston C-  The banquet manager there is a nightmare and the staff has an attitude problem.  You can ask ANY of my other vendors..I am no Brideszilla and I was very laid back during this entire process but this B---ch makes my blood boil.  She is very unorganzied and forgetful.  She tries to change things thinking you will forget what was agreed on.  She tried to close our party down early when we had paid for an entire extra hour and when she was approached by my H..she changed her story.  She always changes her story and I have over 75 emails to back me up.  I wanted to give this venue and F but I can't because the venue is absolutely gorgeous and the food was amazing....but unfortunately working with her is NOT worth having this venue.  There are other venues that are amazing and gorgeous.  Their prices are not an exceptional value either.  We chose it because of the bar in the basement and the look of the room.  IF we would have known about Kari...we would have gone elsehwere.  If you do decide to use them or you already have booked with them...my advice to you is to email everything to Kari so that you have it in writing.  Emails are legal documents and my emails were needed in atleast 10 occasions when she tried to go back on things that we had agreed upon.

Chair Covers/Linens:  N/A  I want to comment here because so many people thinkg they need linens and chair covers.  You don't.  Our venue only came with short table clothes and banquet chairs.  We rolled with what they had.  Everything else takes away the focus from linens.  I don't like the way chair covers look and I wasn't paying $7 a chair for chivari and I think our room looked great!!
Bakery Lisa's Confection Connection A++  Under $400 for cake and cheesecakes for 170 people.   This little cake shop in Clarkston will blow your mind.  Her prices are amazing and she is very flexible.  Most importantly her cake blows sweet and savory and Elite sweets out of the water.  We tasted a lot of cake and Lisa had the best prices and amazing cake.  We took our top layer home and finished it throughout the week.  She also made us mini cheesecakes and they literally disappeared in 10 min!!! 
DJ  Audio Logic DJ out of E. Lansing. AAAA++++++ We paid $700 for unlimited hours and they traveled for free to our location.  We had SOOOO  many compliments on our DJ.  Our photobooth host even got his card.  Our DOC even mentioned them when she blogged our wedding!!  We got his card from a wedding we attended that went until 2:30 am and the dance floor was NEVER empty!!  I guarantee you that Day and Shawn will keep your party going all night!!
Favors DIY PhotoStrip Frames:  I bought them from a company online for 1/2 price of what Shutterbooth wanted and made my own inserts using publisher.  Cost was total of $150 for 170 favors.
Lighting Sly Dog productions.  A+ The did a great job.  I paid $330 for 14 up lights and undertable lighting for the cake table.  It really transformed the room.  They have great deals.  Frank is great to work with.

Other
Limo  24/7 Limo. B  $700 for 6 hours for party bus that holds 26 people.  We got a deal because the person who owns the limo company is a partner in the Fountains.  The bus is in great need of some repair to the inside.  There were tears in the seats and it looks old and rundown.  The driver also got lost twice which cut a lot into our picture time.  It got us where we needed to be and they showed up 15 min early.
Entertainment express. F------  We used them for my bachelorette party.  NEVER EVER AGAIN.  Just know that if you use them it is a crap shoot.  You won't get the vehicle they promise you and you pay for and you will not get any  money back when they completely F*CK you over!!
Florist  Bellisario A++  I can't say enough good things about them.  I gave her a general idea of what I wanted with no specifics and Jennie did an amazing job.  My tall centerpieces were perfect and my bouquets were just amazing.  They were worth every penny!! They did 18 centerpieces 9 tall trees with orchids, 9 short.  One head table centerpiece, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 1 amazing bridal bouquet, flower ball, 7 bouts, and 6 wrist/pin coursages. Also, flowers for the cake.
DOC:  Simplicity DOC Shelly. A+++++++   I woke up the day of my wedding and I didn't worry about anything wedding related.  Nothing. Shelly was amazing.  She is worth every penny and probably even more.  She was key in dealing with the Fountains the night of the wedding.  IF she had not been there I may have gone off on the manager but instead I just kept dancing and enjoying my night.  I only paid for the 8 hours but because of the issues with the venue Shelly stayed righ up until almost the end of the night to make sure that they didn't try anything once she left. 

Photography
Photographer Church Street Studio A+++  Mary is amazing.  She has such an eye for photgraphy that she is worth every penny.  I spoke with and met with photographer that had less expensive and more inclusive packages but when I met Mary I knew I had to have her.  She really is amazing!! I can't wait to see how the pics turn out.

Photobooth:  Shutterbooth. A- We had a big breakdown in communication and misunderstanding of what I was paying for.  Just so you know. You don't actually pick your host.  They do.  You just fill out some personality profile and they match you up.  So if you go into their office and they tell you that there is a book of hosts and you get to pick...You don't.  Also, they will send you emails throughout that are automated.  They will tell you things like your host will contact you this week.  They won't.  Your host doesn't call you until the week of your wedding.  I could have done without a client manager. She didn't really do anything.  I had to contact them for everything.   I LOVED our host Jodi.  She was great.  Very laid back and easy going and fun.  Shutterbooth is expensive but they did a great job.  People used the booth and we have amazing pictures.  It was worth the money.
Picture Locations:  We went back to our house to shoot pics near the lake and in and around our property.  It was pretty awesome. lol
Engagement Pictures

Beauty / Attire
Rings:   Diamond Emotions.  Look it up.  Pretty Awesome.  A guy we know owns the company.
Wedding dress Elizabeth's Bridal Manor:  C They were ok to get a dress from.  They were going to do my alterations but they kept canceling my appointments. The first time they cancel it was because they said the work wasn't complete from the last fitting.  The problem with that is that I had not had a fitting yet. Then they tried then to make my first fitting for Oct 8th and I was getting married on Oct 22. I then pulled my dress out of there and took it to the wedding shoppe.  If you want a maggie dress I would say that its ok to go there if you know what you are looking for but DO NOT attempt to get your alterations done there.  There is no flexiblity.  They only do alterations on Tuesday afternoons.  If that doesn't work for you then you run into the same problem I did...they would schedule me for a Sat or a Sun and then cancel.   
Alterations The wedding Shoppe Berkely A+ Michell is awesome.  I paid only $260 for the bust to be taken in, some boning removed and a low french bustle.
Tuxes  Men's wearhouse  A Can't really say anything bad.  It was all pretty standard stuff.  Nobody had any major issues
Bridesmaid Dresses Moni's Bridal D  Do not go there.  They are a little less expensive but they are rude.  The insulted both of my plus sized brides and then orderd my MOH dress two sizes bigger.  They said they would do the alterations for free but she lives an hour and a half away!!!  As far as the dresses go we had Mori Lee dresses and the clasps on the back of EVERY DRESS broke with in 5 minutes of them putting them on.  All of my bridesmaids had safety pins holding their dress together.
Hair& Makeup Bridesmaid Beautiful. B  They did a good job.  For the number of girls we had they should have sent two people for hair.  ( Which when I asked Olivia when I first signed the contract she said there would be.) We had 7 girls for hair and they only sent Julie who did a great job but we ran all the way until it was time to get on the limo and it left us no time for picutres.  I told them that we had the photographer coming at 12.  That is really my only complaint with them

Paper
Save the Dates:  Wedding paper Diva's  B  They looked nice but not worth the price.  Early in wedding planning before you know where the cheap stuff is...you make mistakes like buying from wedding paper diva's.
Invites  Smileblueeyes on Etsy.   A++ AMAZING!!  Paid less than $200 for 130 invitations. They were a personalized seal and send and they got so many compliments. 
Programs/Menus  $70 For 100 programs.  I  rocked these out myself.  I must give myself props that I used publisher and made a totally awesome program that people thought was professionally done.  I have to thank Liz for the general layout though!!  
Host Hotel  Hyatt Place Auburn Hills  A-  They gave us a free shuttle.  That was the best part.  Place is nice.  Breakfast kind of sucked compared to what our guests at the comfort inn who paid way less were eating  They also put us right by the elevator so needless to say we got up at 8 am after not getting in until 2am...so that we could go home and get some sleep.