I got married on May 7th and here are the reviews.
Dresses:Suburban Bridal- F!!!! I got my wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses here. My wedding dress came in messed up-it had fabric in the front that was covering the beading and in the back there was a bubble of fabric-like there was too much fabric or something. They told me nothing was wrong with the dress and that it was my body(I am 125 lbs. and 5 ft 5"). After having them attempt to fix it several times while they told me nothing was wrong I realized they were not going to fix it for me. I ended up having to go to a seamstress who works out of her house. she found several problems including some that I hadn't even seen and she fixed it. Suburban would not return any money and refused to admit that there was something wrong with the dress. Next I had all of the girls(8 total) that were in my wedding go in and get sized and put down a deposit for their dresses in October. they said they would be in March which I thought was a really long time. On March 31st I called because they still had not called me or any of the girls. They told me the dresses were still not in and they would call when they were. I asked them to track the dresses and she told me that they have no way of tracking them.(I knew this was wrong because every shipment is assigned a tracking # whether they use UPS or FedEx or any other Freight company-I schedule shipments at my current job). I asked if they could tell me if they had even left the manufacturer yet and she said she didn't know at all. After asking them to call the manufacturer in front of me she refused and said she couldn't do anything for me(this was the owner). When I told them I would have to call the news station if they took our money and the dresses didn't get there in time she asked if I wanted a refund!!!! Why would they rather give a huge refund than try to find out where the dresses were by simply calling the distributor that they ordered them from? Does that not sound fishy to anyone else?? We had to take the refund and scramble for dresses from other dress stores-thankfully Bridal Traditions and David's let us buy a lot off the rack so my dresses were at least similar in color. I know that Suburban Bridal has beautiful dresses but it is not worth the upset-as soon as they have your money they could care less whether you get your dress in time for your wedding or not and God Forbid if that dress comes in with any problems! For girls who are looking for somewhere other than David's-Bridal Traditions has a great variety and they are very helpful. Sorry for the looooong review I just don't want anyone else to get screwed and I wish I would have taken into consideration all of the bad things I read about them on here before I went there.
Cake:Cameo Designs(Donna Hultman)- A I give Donna an A because her cakes are delicious and beautiful. The only thing you should know is that she likes traditional cakes (won't do topsy turvy) but other than that she will do pretty much any design and it looks great and you have the option of several flavors at the wedding.
Linda Lee-Seamstress- A Linda fixed my screwed up wedding dress and she charges a flat rate for wedding dresses so even though mine had more work than the normal client it was the same price, I think it cost only $178 when most places are around $300. She is in Council Bluffs.
Ceremony: Joslyn Castle on 39th and Davenport- A+ The venue was beatiful, we were married outside although if the weather was bad we had the option to go inside which was nice. They also gave free tours of the castle after the wedding.
Reception: Anthonys Steakhouse- A+ This place was awesome! It took place in their ballroom which I didn't even know they had until we were looking for a venue. We had 400 people at our wedding reception and this held them all very comfortably with a huge outdoor patio with a connecting bar. Their service and food was also perfect. I had different centerpieces for each table and they had no problem setting them up.
Florist: Debbie Pitt(Flowers by Design- C I really liked her(she is very creative and helps you save money) and I think that Debbie normally does a great job but for my wedding day this was the only aspect that didn't go smoothly. I didn't see her at all. The boutineers were wilted by the recepetion and the petals for the aisle were not the right color and were a bit wilted too. The flowers for the flower girl basket were still on the stems in a vase filled with water and the altar flowers had to be displayed differently(we had to set-up) because she forgot to bring flower putty so that the vase would stay put. We also had to transport the flowers to the reception ourselves because she was not there. I think maybe she scheduled another wedding on the same day because I made my own brooch bouquet, centerpieces, and the bridesmaids bouquets so maybe she thought she wouldn't have to spend much time on mine. I have heard great things about her so I really think my situation was not a usual for her.
DJ: Dallas Hendrix- A+ He is a buddy of ours and just DJ's at bars so this was only like his 2nd wedding and he did a great job. Wasn't all dorky and played a variety, very lively.
Singer: Michael Walker- A+ My Dad hired him to sing during dinner- was skeptical because I thought it was not necessary but he did such a great job. He sings Frank Sinatra type music and is just as smooth and entertaining. He totally gets into it and walks around the room while he does it. He is a busy man though and hard to get a hold of.
Invitations and Programs: United Enterprises- I work at a printing shop so we did them all here. They turned out great. I don't know if I'm allowed to rate since I work there but If I could I would say an A+. We got them back in 7 days.
Limo: VIP Limo- A They did a great job but were very expensive! I wouldn't have gotten them because of the price-we had a big party and needed the bus-but my dad insisted so he paid half(Total of 900 for only 2 hours!)
Hair/Make-up: Velvet Chair Spa A Everything went smooth at this salon/spa. I got my make-up on there and it looked awesome!! i also had them do my friends make-up and my sisters and they both looked amazing too. Very nice atmosphere. My only complaint is that I told the lady that my curls were going to come out becuase I know my hair and she didn't put much product in becuase she thought my Hair was holding it good and she thought I should have a more natural look. By the time I was ready to walk down the aisle I had already had to recurl and by reception it was practically straight.
Enchanted Honeymoons: A+ They told us what vacations were in our budget and helped us find this awesome resort in Mexico that was a Five Star, Five Diamond! We got such a great deal too and hope to go back with a bunch of friends in like 5 years.(It was only $2,700 total for both of us to stay for 7days at an all inclusive including air fare and a 100 spa credit at the resort)!
Photobooth: Photobooth Experts- A+ This was such a hit at the wedding and people had so much fun with it. They also had the scrapbook full of pics ready for me to take home the same night which was nice.
Rental Companies: Gibbs Rental - A+ They had all of the chairs set-up by the time I arrived at the castle and it looked perfect.
Ceremony Music: Nova String Quartet- A+ They played so beautifully. I barely noticed they were there because they just came and played all of the music and then packed up and left-very professional. Leading up to the day they were so easy to work with too.
Photographer: Jessi Sallenbach Photography- A+ She did an amazing job! So friendly and budget friendly too. She worked with her husband and they worked so well together. She helped the day go smooth and the pictures turned out beautiful! You also get the copyright and she puts them all on a disc so that if you don't want to order prints through her you don't have too.
Videographer: Loren Winkler- B He did a good job of filming but they didn't stay for the garter and bouquet toss(left without saying anything) and also missed some funny stuff on the limo. I was kinda bummed about it because he was all about getting as much footage as possible( he wanted to be there for the rehearsal dinner, showers, and hair appt.!). In his defense he usually does musice videos and other movie related videos so weddings aren't his usual so he thought he was all done. He was pretty expensive(father picked out-he did not do well with budgeting).
I think that is all of the vendors-we had a lot!!! I hope this helped some people-I pretty much had great vendors except for Suburban Bridal. I stil wish I would have reported them to like Six on your side or something. But in the meantime please pass this along. The owners name was LuAnne and the manager was Lisa. These were the two I dealt with, I liked my dress after it was fixed but I should have paid attention to all of the bad reviews I had read about them.