Ohio-Cincinnati

Vendor reviews 6/12/2010

Reviews from the 12th!

Dress: Nordstrom A-
I ordered by dress online from Nordstrom back in Jan. I took it to the Kenwood Nordstrom to be altered and they only charge be $10! and it was ready in a week. The only reason for the A- is that the dress was not steamed/pressed when I went to pick it up, but they did it while I waited.

Suit: Tom James A+ We wanted a chocolate brown suit for my 6'2", 185 lbs DH and quickly realized after looking locally and ordering one online that he was going to need a custom suit to get what we wanted. As our luck was, the only chocolate brown available was a $1600 3 piece suit. We waivered for a while and our rep finally offered to do some fabric magic and we order his custom 3 piece suit for $950. DH looked perfect, exactly what I pictured!

Cupcakes: Ele cake company A+ We got 208 regular cupcakes they sell in the store (vanilla with buttercream and chocolate with buttercream) for less than $1 a peice. (We did not order the wedding cupcakes that are $1.15 a piece and are meticously iced, I just called and said I needed 208 cupcakes for June 12). We picked them up ourselves to save money and they were perfect. They arrived safely and looked great.
Sundae Bar: Graeters B+ I called 2 weeks ahead of time to order the sundae service through Graeters. Although their website does not indicate this, I was told they normally only do sundae servce which includes delivery and setup from 8-5 M-F (I guess only businesses use this service normally?), so that was a disappointment, but he said they could drop everything off at the local store and we could pick it up and set it up ourselves. Since we were having graeters no matter what, we did this and everything worked out fine. I did try to get a discount since they were not delivering or setting up, instead they gave me 12 free servings of sorbet for some lactose intolerant guests.
Photographer: Claire Staten Photography A+ Claire is a childhood friend who graduated from the Ohio School of Photography a couple years ago and is working as a photography assistant in Dayton. We wanted really casual photos taken (we only did like 10 min of family posed photos and she and her assistant/almost husband took candids the rest of the time, which was exactly what we wanted) and we didn't want to spend very much (we aren't big picture people). We haven't gotten all the pictures back, but the ones I have seen are awesome. I'm sure she would be interested in doing more weddings herself, if you want her contact info or want to see the pictures, let me know. Photobooth: Red Eye B- We had a few problems with the attendant and setup of the booth. First he arrived in jeans and a white t-shit with his pregant girlfriend, which was weird. Next the booth was supposed to go upstairs in the loft area. I told red eye previously that there were only stairs and they said this wasn't a problem. Well appearantly this did not get to the attendant since they did not bring a dolly or anything to get it upstairs. The booth was not setup until half an hour after it was supposed to be operating and even at that point it the printer was not working properly. In the end, everyone loved it and there was a line the whole night. I would probably still use Red Eye just because the other companies are at least $150 more expensive.

DJ: Chris Hatke A- Chris is a friend of a friend who owns/runs Cincy Wedding DJs and we didn't contact him until a month before the wedding. He was available and cut us a great deal since it was so last minute. Everything was great and everyone had a great time, but we should have been more clear on the type of music to play. He finally figured it out halfway through dancing and after that the dance floor was packed.  Caterer: Raffels Catering A+++++ I am vegetarian and we had a really hard time finding a local caterer that makes good non-meat entrees at an affordable price. Luckily we found Raffels! We worked with them for a long time to find the right entrees (we went there for 2 tastings and sent countless emails) and didn't sign the contract until a month out and even added things 2 days before. THE FOOD WAS PERFECT! We got so many compliments on the food from vegetarians and meat eaters alike (our only meat items were homemade quiche apps and tilapia as one of the buffet entrees). I cannot say more about the food, we even ate the leftovers the next day with DH's family and they were just as tasty!Location: Muhlhauser Barn A The barn is amazing and everyone thought it was so beautiful. Our only issue was there were ballons left from a graduation party stuck on the 20'+ ceiling when we got there on Saturday to setup, luckily we crafted an ingenius plan to get them down. Rehearsal Dinner: Deweys Harpers Point Party Room A+ Dewey's was great. The party room prices are really affordable. It was $400 for 35 ppl including non-alcoholic drinks, 2 salads choices and 9 pizzas served buffet style, and tax and tip. We also paid for alcohol on a separate check, but dewey's only has beer and wine and both are very reasonable. At first we thought 9 pizzas wasn't going to be enough as we had a bunch of 18-26 year old guys in the group who I know can eat a whole pizza themsevles including DH, but it was perfect, there was even a little leftover. The best part was, my best friend from hs is allergic to gluten and she looked online the day before and saw that dewey's will make a gluten free pizza if you bring the dough. She gave the dough to the server when we arrived and they made a giant pizza free of charge for her. I thought that was really spectacular, especially because we ended up forgetting that we had another gluten free person there, so they got pizza too. 
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Re: Vendor reviews 6/12/2010

  • edited December 2011
    Oh wow - I really wanna see photos!  That sounds perfect.  Honestly I wish I could have gone to that wedding.
    Congrats!
    the wedded pups - large
    jason + katherine - wedded 6.18.2011
  • edited December 2011
    I love the Graeters sundae bar!  What does that include, what is the price range of that?  Thanks!!
  • robbinrlrobbinrl member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks! It was super fun, my college friends emailed me the next day and told me they decided it was the most fun wedding they've ever been too. I was pretty pumped about that.

    The graeters sundae service includes preportioned 1 scoop servings of up to three flavors (we had black raspberry chip, buckeye blitz, and strawberry) in the normal cup with lid you get in the store, hot fudge, butterscotch, cherries, strawberries, whipped cream, and nuts I think. It is $4.50/person, which is pretty pricey and the same price for a sundae in the store, but it was worth it to us. Here's their info about it: www.graeters.com/sundae.
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  • clearheavensclearheavens member
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    edited December 2011
    Congratulations, robbinrl!  What a beautiful day you described!
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  • Lisa<3PeteLisa<3Pete member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi, I ran across your vender review in a google search of Muhlhauser Barn--my reception will be there--and I would be interested maybe using your photographer. Do you have photos I can take a look at?  Thanks,

    Lisa
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