Hello Ladies,
This is a bit after my wedding, but I really wanted to still post vendor reviews because when I was engaged, I found these to be the most helpful in finding information for my wedding. I got married this past July 31 and my reviews are below!
Rehearsal Dinner: Molly Cool's A
My husband and I absolutely loved having our rehearsal dinner at Molly Cool's. A lot of the guests stayed at the Aloft hotel, so this was so convenient for them. They literally had to walk across the street to get there. We had our dinner outside in their covered deck. All the guests loved this so much because we were right on the river the whole night. It rained slightly for just a little bit, and you couldn't even tell. Kelly is the catering manager and she did a fabulous job. They are very good too at adding in extra deals. For example, as part of the bar package we did domestic tap beers and she added in spotted cow for the same price. It was very affordable and looked like a very classy rehearsal dinner.
Reception venue: Lakefront Brewery A
The brewery such a wonderful place to have the reception! All of our out of town guests loved the venue and the selection of beers. On a whole, I found this to be very reasonably priced as well. The staff all did a great job and all in all, everyone was very pleased!
Day of Wedding Coordinator: Chris Albrecht, Lets have an Affair A
Chris did an AMAZING job! Her service also include helping out the month of the wedding. We actually had a terrible situation where our original band bailed out on us a few months before and Chris was a tremendous help in helping us figure out the situation. Most day of coordinators I had contacted would only stay till after dinner.... Chris was one of the last to leave. She stayed through the whole night and at the end, takes care of all the gifts/decorations/etc. I originally didn't think we needed a wedding coordinator, but she was a huge help and would recommend her to any bride!
DJ: Steve, from Music in Motion B-
I rated most of my vendors really well, because everything did go surprisingly smooth. I am rating Steve much lower because we did have some issues with his service. My husband and I were very particular with our music selection for the whole event. We wanted a DJ that would not play the typically DJ music and we did not want an MC for the night. When we signed him for the contract he told us he could play ANYTHING we wanted. We literally gave him a document with a complete list of songs that would cover his entire time playing the music. We even sent him a jump-drive with most of the music that we had, so he wouldn't have to download all of the songs. He did do a great job playing what we wanted during cocktail hour and dinner, but once the dancing started he completely took over the floor and started playing a ton of music we did not want. We also specifically told him no country, and he even played country. So if you want a DJ to handle all of the music, he is very good. But if you have specific style of music you want played, I DON'T RECOMMEND HIM.
Band: Natty Nation A
We did a DJ/Band combo, where at 10:00 p.m. a band came on to finish the night. Natty Nation was amazing and all of the guests had so much fun! If you want something a little different than a cover band, I highly recommend this reggae band! The band that had originally bailed out on us, was a different reggae band, King Solomon. And I honestly thought Natty Nation performed so much better and did an outstanding job.
Ceremony Musician: Peter D'Amore A
If you are looking for an acoustic guitarist, I highly recommend him. So many guests complimented his performance. He also had a great way to make the songs sound romantic. We did a lot of untraditional songs for the ceremony. I walked down the aisle to an instrumental "The Wind" by Cat Stevens, and the bridal party walked down to an instrumental "Girl from North Country". He is willing to learn any song you want, for a small charge of $10 per song, and he was very affordable. Guests were staying in the church just to listen to him perform after the ceremony!
Flowers: Diane McNulty, From Hand and Heart A+
Diane did a fabulous job! She also has a very unique set up where she does everything from her home. She has a huge flower cooler in her basement. By having it set up this way, her fees aren't as high as regular flower shops because she doesn't have all the high overhead costs.
Dress: Gigi of Mequon A
Bev at Gigi did an amazing job! She found the exact type of dress I was looking for. I also recommend that you can still look at the store and not be intimidated by the designer prices. My dress was surprisingly more affordable than I would have thought. They have some dresses there where a designer makes dresses for Gigi that are basically knock offs of designers. Monique Lhuiller is my favorite designer, but I knew I would never be able to afford one of her dresses. My dress was actually a Monique knockoff. So I got a beautiful gown, without the steep designer prices.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Butter by Nadia A
I just wanted to rate this dress so that everyone would know of it. I wanted all of my girls to wear different styles of dresses in the same color. Butter by Nadia is a transforming dress. So if anyone is wanting to do the same thing, I highly recommend this. I did black and they looked great on the girls. They even changed looks multiple times throughout the night! Now, they have a dress that they will be able to wear in over 30 different styles, so they loved that too!
Photographer, Ryan Erdmann A
Ryan is a friend of mine that does photography on the side. I thought he did a fabulous job. I've posted two links to my facebook albums, so if any of you want to look at his pics. He is very affordable if any of you are looking for a photographer.
Hope these reviews help all of you planning for your big day! If you have any questions, let me know! And good luck with the rest of you and have so much fun planning!
Megan