Hey there!! We just got married in Cincinnati and wanted to share some vendor reviews. I can't rave enough about all of them. The best part about them is that we planned our wedding while living in Texas and all of these people were flexible, understanding and overall did a great job. We did a lot of things ourselves, but here are details on the vendors we did use.
Hope this helps!!
Venue - the Millennium Hotel (Ventanas Room 31/32nd floor) - Marty Karp coordinator - A+ www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumcincinnati/meeting/weddings.html">http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumcincinnati/meeting/weddings.html
My husband and I grew up in Cincinnati, but have lived in Texas for the last several years. One of the things we hoped to have was a view of the city for our wedding. After searching for months and checking out pretty much all of the hotels in Cincinnati/Covington/Newport we found the Millennium had a gorgeous room on top of the North Tower that used to be a revolving restaurant. We worked with Marty to book and he was attentive, knowledgeable and overall great to work with. He truly made us feel like we were the only wedding he was working on and exceeded our expectations in every way. the packages are great and the food was some of the best we've ever had. And the view - sunset and nighttime overlooking the city - was just perfect
Photographer- Lucky Clover Photography A+++++
Robb & Katie O'Dell are the best! www.luckycloveronline.com/">http://www.luckycloveronline.com/
We went with the Dublin package which was a fantastic deal. We flew in for our engagement session and even though the weather wasn't the best, Katie and robb still found a way to get outstanding photos in beautiful spots. We were then able to book them for our event on the 17th (family only) and then again for our big wedding/reception on the 19th. Katie got photos of me and the girls (starting with makeup/hair up until the end of the night) and Robb stayed with the guys. They gave us suggestions for photos, talked to us whenever we had any questions and were highly professional. We happened to find them on the Cincinnati boards last summer and are really happy we did. They also provide a CD or DVD of your photos so not only can you purchase the prints from them - you can also print your own. Plus - they are right on par with pricing - and in some cases a little less than the competitors. We would absolutely book them again for family portraits, etc.
DJ - High-Vox Entertainment - Scott Wherle - A+
Scott did an excellent job. We asked him to incorporate both Irish and Turkish music into our dinner music and throughout the night and he was able to keep everything flowing well while doing so. He is very reasonably priced and has virtually anything you could ever want him to play. He had a bad experience at his wedding with a DJ not showing up and went professional shortly thereafter. He has had many years of experience with weddings and other events and can tailor everything to what you want - formal, casual, etc. He is very professional and was great for us to work with both in person and online/over the phone.
Hair & Makeup - Mitchells in Kenwood - A+++
My sister goes to Mitchell's regularly and suggested I work with her stylist. Unfortunately her stylist (Tami) wasn't able to work with me on the day of, but I was able to book with Stephanie for hair. I purchased both the bridal package as well as the wedding party package for the girls. Stephanie and her assistant were great to work with. They tried a couple of different styles before we found the right one at my trial run. On the day of they did and even more incredible job with making my hair look amazing.
After I saw them, I then went to meet Macy for makeup. All I can say is WOW - I would love to have her do my makeup regularly! She is a licensed aesthetician and is well versed in all types of skin care, etc.
Flowers- HJ Benkens - Jeff Green A++
Jeff was great to work with. He totally put my mind at ease from the first moment I contacted him! I wasn't really sure what to go with initially for personal or reception/ceremony flowers so I turned to Jeff's creative mind to come up with something. He suggested incorporating hypericomb (sp ?) berries along with ivory roses for the girls and then created gorgeous columns of flowers for us for the ceremony. Since our location was overlooking the city we didn't need huge amounts of flowers and Jeff completely understood and did not pressure us to get a lot of things we didn't need. He intuitively was able to come up with wonderful ideas and executed them to a T. He is a little more expensive than some other florists - but worth every penny!
Cake - Sweetwater Bakehouse - Becca Kelly - A+++++++
WOW - Becca is awesome. She was someone who loved baking cakes and went professional a few years ago. We looked at a few potential places in Cincinnati before we met her, but as soon as we did - we booked her. Her cakes are the most flavorful, melt in your mouth, beautiful creations. My husband said at our tasting he could just eat the Raspberry filling we picked by itself because it was so good. We selected that filling with Vanilla bean cake and then Strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream filling. The cake was then frosted with Vanilla buttercream and topped with fresh berries. there is a sample pic on her site. The best part about Becca and SWB is that instead of having to save the top tier of the cake for your 1 yr anniversary - she bakes you a fresh one (5" round, any flavor). She has vegan options also for anyone who prefers non dairy cakes. Her pricing is also great - $2.75 a piece!
Wedding Party Gifts
Bridemaids Gifts- the Knot wedding shop A
Engraved photo keychains
Groomsmen Gifts- the Knot wedding shop A
Engraved flasks
DIY Stuff that Worked Out Well:
Invitations - we got them at Target and printed them at home. the assembly took awhile, but it was totally worth saving the money.
Favors - we bought the bride and groom boxes at Hobby Lobby and filled them with a combination of Jordan Almonds and Hershey Kisses. Since DH is Irish I got us tiny four leaf clover charms to affix to the boxes. Since I am turkish I also got us little Turkish evil eye charms to add to the boxes. It took a few hours to put these together, but they were really cute and they felt very personalized (in a way we couldn't have gotten otherwise). Everyone loved them too!
If you'd like any other info on these vendors let me know and I'll be happy to share!