This is extremely long, but I put it in alphabetical order so scroll through if you are looking for something specific. I gained a lot from vendor reviews when I was planning so as we were in the planning process I kept a lot of mental notes.
Adonis Limo: D
Well, we went with this company because my fiancé used them the night of our engagement. That experience was perfect, so the natural choice was to use them for everything else.
We were going to use it for my bachelorette party, but my sister moved to a local hotel with a shuttle and the idea of saving $500 made me decide to cancel. I immediately called the manager, Oz, (not a wonderful wizard) dozens of times only to get a full voicemail box or to leaving several voicemails with no returned calls.
One day after several calls from both fiancé and me we finally got to discuss our 3 vehicles for the wedding day. This was the week before the wedding and I was extremely frustrated we were so close and still hadn’t paid an invoice or gotten details settled. But after speaking for 20 minutes I thought Oz and I were set to go. But when he never emailed me the invoice as promised, I called back THE NEXT DAY and he said “oh you’re the trolley wedding right?”
It gets worse… Soon after, I found out how we’d been charged for the bachelorette party. I did become bridezilla and giving me no chance to calm down, Oz hung up on me. From then on I had no contact with him and left everything to my fiancé and the planner.
The only reason I didn’t give it an F is that the drivers were friendly and easy to deal with, but our limo bus had gnats or fruit flies (as it it hadn’t been cleaned from the last event) and during the break we asked for him to try and get rid of them, but nothing was done. Don’t use Adonis unless it’s the last limo company left in the city!
Andrea Friar Photography-Milwaukee: A-
We considered using a friend as well as a few other locals and then in a Craigslist search I stumbled upon Andrea. We used her for our engagement shots and were happy. Her prices were extremely friendly to our budget. In the chaos of the days leading up the wedding we didn’t talk in depth about what I wanted and then in the busyness of the actual day a few of the poses I wanted didn’t get taken. Also, if I could change two things I would have a second shooter for many photo ops that got missed and I would have her be more helpful with pose suggestions. During our wedding party shots we kind of just made it up as we went along. Otherwise, as she is newer to the business in Milwaukee, the quality and professionalism were good! I love looking at her other weddings on her website.
Belovely-Milwaukee: A
Angie was recommended to me on The Knot because I wanted airbrush makeup. I had a trial and gave her my feedback. On the DO she came to my hotel, brought an assistant and offered to do the makeup of the ladies who were hanging with me the morning of.I looked great and felt great. It is more expensive than traditional makeup but it is entirely worth it. While I got sweaty and felt gross on our hot July day, the makeup maintained until the end of the night—lasting over 12 hours!I will use her again for any future important events!
Cakes by Stephanie-Menomonee Falls: A
I honestly left this to the wedding planner because I couldn’t handle the old-school way of business. (example: we mailed her a picture of the cake along with a letter describing it) We enjoyed the tasting and the sample cakes were a great purchase as we had enough to share with both families. The cake was to look extremely simple as we added flowers to it. Tasted great, I just wish I could have eaten more!
Double Platinum DJ- A
The owner Bill djed our wedding and followed our exact playlist as best as he could. The dance portion of the reception got started about 45 minutes late so he had to trim it down. He went on the fly and did the best he could to cover the music we picked. After the fiasco at the engagement party I wanted the music to be perfect. We also had uplighting and a personalized monogram on the floor. It definitely added to the room and it was worth the extra money.
Events Planned-Tiwana Ward, Milwaukee: C-
What a rollercoaster up until the day of. I was working 13 hours a day and as we got deeper in, firing her wasn’t going to work simply because she was so involved in everything. She came recommended by a friend of my now husband who had seen her work a party. We think that she may thrive at smaller events, but in regards to keeping track of her for a year, I became bridezilla! She has a full-time job for a local popular wedding location and handles at least a few clients in her own business at a time. In my opinion—it’s too much. She wasn’t great with email responses and her phone was constantly off, disconnected, out of service, you name it. She hid her pregnancy from us for a while and when she finally told us we found out she’d be out for the month of May and some of June (month before our date). This is where I ended up micro-managing and got involved with every vendor in case she couldn’t resume her duties after the baby was born. Several times she told me she took care of something and when I would check on it, the vendor would have no idea what I was talking about.
She was ALWAYS late for our appointments and I’ve heard every excuse in the book.
Pros: -sitting across the table from her in meetings, she was “On” and organized. She would go over time and genuinely seemed to enjoy the process.-The day of went off with only a few minor issues. (They could have been prevented if she’d listened to me)-she was a sounding board when I was debating something or needed help with general wedding questions-no one in my family or husband’s family had to lift a finger (now if they did, they weren’t supposed to J)
Get a planner—just not her (for your wedding)!
The Flower Lady- Wauwatosa: A
Everything looked beautiful. My bouquet wasn’t quite what I expected but it was gorgeous. I only wish the boutonnières hadn’t wilted within the first hours of the day. Ron who was our point of contact also assembled the flowers on the cake perfectly to match my inspiration picture.
Hotel of the Arts- Days Inn- D
Awful management and follow-through… I waited 19 days for a refund on our incorrect room charge. They are terrible at returning calls, emails, you name it. My parents were some of the first guests to stay here when it opened. They usually stay at the Courtyard Marriott, but wanted to give it a try. I support this hotel because it is in a neighborhood that is transforming. I purposely picked it so my relatives from Iowa would have to step out of their cornfield comfort zone.
Milwaukee Public Market- A-
We originally booked their Italian neighbor to the north. At the time I was out of options for a ceremony location and was walking around downtown in the summer of ’09 and noticed the market did weddings. The piano there wasn’t up to par and live piano music was a must, so we just decided to switch over to them for the reception.
The young, lofty space was much more “us” and Ellen, the coordinator was more attentive then the previous person.We were excited to have OPTIONS and to be able to tweak things and use several of the food vendors from downstairs. We would also save $3,000 because we didn’t have to meet a $10,000 minimum like at J. Bouna’s.
I wanted bellinis as our signature cocktail renamed “Kellini” after my new last name Kelly. I know this was quite the challenge to get the right concoction, but Ellen and the team figured it out. The few things that made me sad on the day of were passed on as feedback: drinks and food removed way too fast, cake and food thrown out, etc. As a wedding party we were very active and only sat when we ate and we would leave one sipped drinks and they would disappear by the time we returned.
Overall, it was a great location that guests were shocked to see transformed. We loved doing something different and giving everyone a pleasant surprise.
Studio M Boudoir -Oak Creek: A-
I went on a fruit and veggie diet for the week before and was definitely nervous. Melissa was easy to work with and professional. I was only slightly confused when I wasn’t shown all the proofs. Perhaps they were crap, but I would have liked to decide that for myself. My husband loved the picture book and wants more!
Target Registry: C
Wanted to include this because it is driving me nuts. We have gotten more than 5 double gifts and I haven’t gotten the full credit for it because the guests didn’t attach receipts. Something with the system was off because even if it was fulfilled we got a double gift!I love Target and I’m not sure how this could have been prevented. Just beware and if you get a double gift return it ASAP—you might still get the full value.
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music: B
We went for our first visit and we felt rushed and completely like the contact there could care less. All invoices and phone calls were always behind schedule. My now husband and the planner both said when they shook hands with her she immediately wiped her hands on her dress. Hmmmm…
We had to overlook the lack of attentiveness because the musical environment was perfect for us. BUT the rehearsal went well and then on the day of, the contact was sweet and had a smile on her face. If they want to do more weddings, I think they need to show they care and that they are interested in that line of business.
311 Lounge and Restaurant-Milwaukee: D
We held an engagement/ RIP party for ourselves and were shocked to find out when the DJ started playing that the owner had gone over to him and notified just then that none of the music that night could have cussing in it. We don’t have majorly hard-core music, but the goal was to play a soundtrack from our single lives. We used to go out dancing and of course songs have an occasional word here or there. (Ludacris? Kanye?)
If we had been given this information in our consultation I never would have chosen that club. In fact we turned down HiLo because of this very reason. The owner needs to get on a more professional level. I should have thought twice when our contract was on a hand-written tab of paper.
Again, I hope this is of some help to those in the planning process. Let me know if you have any questions!