Ashley West Photography- A+ She showed up, on time, looking professional, with her second shooter, and they were ready to roll (start taking pictures). Her & the second shooter (SS) were upbeat, fun, outgoing, and made me & my H feel GORGEOUS/HANDSOME the entire day (I'm a bigger girl and was feeling a little self conscious leading up to the day). Never once did I feel rushed but she kept us on schedule, she handled my large family and my request for a picture of all of us with ease, and she had the pictures back to us within 2 weeks! (WOAH!!) When my H & I looked at the pictures, we were BLOWN AWAY! We were/are SO happy with them! The quality, the detail she captured, the creativity, the editing, EVERYTHING was perfect. She was well worth the money (which initially I thought was a lot but realized you get what you pay for AND it's definitely worth the investment to get good pictures). I highly recommend hiring a SS (whether you choose Ashley West or not) because they were able to get 2 angles to everything! I highly recommend her to everyone. Her SS was Ashley Thacker if you're ever looking for a photog and Ashley West is booked.
VVerdesigns- A+ Virginia did an awesome job. My instructions to her were "SUNFLOWERS! As many as you can put into one wedding! with mixed in purple flowers" and she delivered! The flower arrangements for the tables (20), the bouquets (5 BM, 1 Bride), corsages (3), boutinerres (8), aisle arrangements (10), archway for the "alter" (1), my hair piece (1), and vases were all high quality, well made, and perfect. She delivered the flowers for a minimal fee (1 hour drive each way), used her creativity and unique flowers in the arrangements and got the flowers from local sources (within I-270). She was very creative but didn't push her "limits" in that she stuck within what I asked for but made it unique. I got SO many compliments on our flowers and I couldn't thank her enough. Her creativity and skill as a florist helped make our vision come together completely. Her prices were also EXCELLENT. I will definitely use her in the future for any of my floral needs. My friend who's getting married in a few weeks told me she wished she chose Virginia because of how much I got for my money and for her wonderful ability to make beautiful arrangements.
Men's Wearhouse- B The tuxes looked nice but they messed up the color of the dads' vests/ties. I didn't realize this until my dad greeted me to walk me down the aisle. I'm not sure who at MW thought a plum tie with a black vest was a good idea but they need a wake-up call. Otherwise, things went smoothly. Price was a little high just to rent a tux but that's pretty typical.
Joan's Bridal Couture- A I love Joan and her personality but I don't like how after she steams your dress it hangs in the middle of her store until you pick it up. For everyone and anyone to walk by, touch it, and say "Ohh, that's pretty." The price was good, especially for a smaller, privately owned boutique. I would buy from her again but I do wish she would change the one thing I mentioned above about the steaming of the dresses.
Madison on Paint (Chillicothe, Ohio)- B- The people were really nice and easy to get a hold of...until you sent in your deposit then it was like pulling teeth to get them to call you back! After talking with them and planning a wedding with them as my venue for a year, I ended up with about 8 phone numbers, NONE of which they would answer. The MOP has in-house catering, DJ, and linen service which made it convenient and fairly inexpensive (DJ $500, Caterer about $17/plate, Linens $? but reasonable). I then got a call about 4 days before the wedding saying "ANNMARIE, We really need your final numbers for catering, it's getting down to the wire." Uhhh, I left you several VMs on ALL your ##s, eventually just leaving the info on the VM and you STILL never responded. As a business, you need to have 1 primary phone number you use and you need to return phone calls.
The food was good but not what we tasted at our tasting (we tried a creamy, green pesto sauce on our chicken which is what I told all my guests the chicken dish was and it was served with a red pesto, oil based sauce), only to find out after the fact that their "chef" they boasted about and told us would be preparing all the food was let go between our signing of the contract and our wedding. That explains the food change, but the downside for us was we never thought to get it in writing that he'd be the one preparing the meal so it wasn't a breech of contract on their part. The servers would clear food/drinks off your table before you were even done. My dad set his drink down in order to turn around & say goodbye to my grandparents, and when he turned back around, his beer was gone...in less than 2 minutes!
The other thing I didn't like was they shut down the bar and HOUR before the reception was over and tried to convince us to let them keep the beer we paid for from an ourside vendor--insisting it would go bad. We took it with us, had a party the next weekend, and it tasted FINE! Plus, the owner bumped into me during the reception and caused a guest to spill beer ALL OVER my dress. They also started to clean up the center pieces and other decorations before our 5 hour allotted time was up and tried to throw my bouquet away! I would not recommend them to others in the future because of these things I mentioned.
Adena Mansion & Gardens- A+ After checking out the venue, we loved the property but our only reservation was al the rules due to it being a state park/historical site. This included setup/tear down and deliveries of chairs, etc. but the deliveries, setup the day before, and use of the property (mainly the barn where the ceremony was) was absolutely perfect. We got so many compliments on everything and the beautiful setting was a huge contributing factor to it all. Teresa was great to work with, helped us out, and was straight forward about things. The rental price was reasonable and it was nice to know it helped go towards preserving the historical site.
Salon Lofts Pickerington (Brooke H.)- A- Brooke was so nice and allowed me to have 2 trials because I wasn't happy with the first. The day-of, she brought her friend/other hair stylist Anita with her & they made getting ready fun! Anita was SO good at doing hair and I almost wished I had booked with her! Brooke is good but Anita just had a little extra touch that made hers REALLY good. I had to have Brooke touch up my hair because it almost seems like she teased it without smoothing it back over on top so it looked frizzy. Anita had to help her redo this once my hair was already done because she wasn't able to figure out a good method to do it herself. Overall, it was good but I'd book Anita over Brooke if I had to do it over again. The nice thing was they traveled to our location and took their time. Because they were friends with each other, it made things fun for people around them as well.
Ireland's Spa (Canal Winchester)- A+ I can't remember the name if the person who did my gel nail manicure but she was really good! I got my nails done the Thursday before my wedding and they lasted! I did rigorous set up of the venue sites and they never once looked worn or chipped. She gave me a few tips on how to keep them looking good, explained her technique (but in a good way, she wasn't trying to teach me how to do it), and she was nice. I also got a mini-pedicure which consisted of shaping/trimming my toenails and polish. This was nice for several reasons. One reason was the price! It was about $20-25 and the second reason was when I was on the beach on the honeymoon, it didn't hurt as bad when I stepped on the sharp shells thanks to my well-earned callouses still being there (yes, I see callouses as a good thing...). I would return there again. They also have make up services at good prices ($17 for eyes) but I already had plans to have my friend do my make up so this wasn't a service I used.
Personal Touch Party Rentals (Lancaster, Ohio)- A+ The price can't be beat (less than $1/chair) and the chairs were all good quality, sturdy, and did not look like they had been used a million times. We used the folded, off-white chairs and had several guests that were 400+lbs that sat comfortably on them. The delivery was on time, the pickup was on time, we were able to add 2 linens & 2 tables to our order with no problem with only about a 2 week notice (for sand ceremony and guestbook), and the PRICE...excellent. I was so happy to find them. Their website is a little old-fashioned but don't let that change your mind, the service, prices, and equipment were all great. Highly recommend them.
Symphonic Strings (Circleville, Ohio)- A+ The director was so nice, we talked quite a bit, he made good suggestions for songs for the ceremony (I was stumped as to what I wanted) and it all sounded beautiful. The price was beyond amazing. 7 piece orchestra (is it an orchestra with 7 pieces?), which did include some *very talented* students for $200. Cannot beat that and they sounded great.
The Cake Lady of Circleville- A+ Well, if this tells you anything: we already ate the top layer of our cake
. Her cake was delicious, her prices were great, she worked with us and made the cake exactly how we wanted! I saw a cake topper made of grape vine on Etsy but didn't want to pay the outrageous price so I sent her pictures and asked if she could make it and she did--for only $30! We were so happy with our service from her. The grooms cake looked amazing, got a lot of compliments on it, and the cake was sooooo good.
The Hampton Inn & Suites (Chillicothe, Ohio)- A+ Andrea was great to work with, she stuck to her word from when I first blocked rooms with them of "I'll take care of this, you have enough on your plate" and she did. The room blocking went perfectly, she even through in the suite the night before for us which helped A TON! The set up she put in the room for us included champagne, flutes, a picture frame, chocolates, a sign for our home, and a welcome letter. We felt right at home. There was another wedding and a family reunion in the hotel the same weekend which made for a hectic time but the staff handled it wonderfully. If I didn't live an hour away from there (which means I have no real reason to stay there other than special occasions like our wedding night), I'd definitely stay there again.
Whittich's Candy Shop (Circleville, Ohio) A+ We ordered our favors from Whittich's and as usual, their chocolate was DELICIOUS. We were so happy with the quality and price of the favors, not to mention they bagged and tied ribbons on the individual chocolate sucker sticks at no additional cost for labor (we had to pay for the bags but it was a very small charge). I will continue to fulfill my sweet tooth by going to Whittich's--the nation's oldest confectionary!
Creatingpapermemories Etsy shop- A We got our invites, programs, thank yous, and many other things through this etsy shop. The owner had quality products, was quick with processing and delivery, and was good about communication. I highly recommend you check out her shop. The only reason she didn't get an A+ was we ordered a big package that included invites and programs but opted to recieve the programs later (due to figuring out details) and the color paper we used for invites was no longer available so we had to go with another color a few shades lighter than what we wanted). She was honest with us about the paper ordeal and gave us options though, so I appreciate that.