We just had our wedding and I wanted to give an overview of all of the vendors and things we used.
Ceremony - Tripoli Shrine Center. Terry was a pleasure to work with there and we got a lot of compliments on our ceremony location since it's such a beautiful and unique venue. For those looking for a non-church setting, this was perfect and a great price, $500 for 3 hour rental.
Photographer - Clint Wolf. We LOVED him. He was so easy to work with and a lot of fun, too. He is very creative and we put him in control for most of the day. I think he works well with brides that don't have a million certain pictures they want taken, and are more interested in ideas as the day progresses. If you have a lot of pictures you need to have, he may not be the best choice. He does tend to focus more on candid shots. However, we went to the Milwaukee Art Museum as he had shot there before and he had some great ideas, and also had fun ideas at Pabst Brewery (where our reception was). I haven't seen the final product yet, but from everything I can tell, I think they will be great. He was a good fit for the type of bride I was.
Transportation - Partridge Party Bus. We had the Jamaica bus and had a blast on it. My maid of honor made some party cd's and we filled a cooler with beer and drove around Milwaukee. Everyone loved it and the driver was very nice. I had them shuttle guests back and forth from the hotel and reception and had no issues. If you have a fun-loving party crowd as a wedding party, then I'd highly recommend doing the party bus as that was probably the most relaxed I was all day!
Reception - Pabst Brewery - Best Place hall. I can't say enough about Kimberly, the coordinator there. She was awesome to work with. We had a snafu with one of my other vendors(see below) and their staff helped my mom get all of the decor set up in no time. Our guests couldn't say enough about how cool and unique the venue was. My DH and I knew as soon as we walked in that it was the place for us and fit our personality and the type of wedding we wanted. We had about 120 in there and it felt very full.
DJ - Midwest DJ and Sound - We had Harrison and we really liked him. I was as little nervous as I had started to read reviews online and had heard a few horror stories from this DJ service as you don't know your DJ until the week of. My maid of honor did a very unique speech (she rapped it to the Ice Ice Baby song) and he pulled it off without a hitch. He played everything I wanted and had the dance floor bumping all night long. It was never empty and that was exactly what I wanted.
Food - Tall Guy and a Grill. I can't say enough wonderful things about Dan, the owner. He's new and has a store in Tosa. He was wonderful and professional to work with. We had some German food on our menu and it was all very tasty. I loved working with him and he made our evening very special.
Flowers/Invites/Decor - Custom Floral Design - Christine, the owner, was our one vendor disappointment for the day. We got what we paid for. We weren't the couple that needed fancy invites, so she did ours for dirt cheap. There were a few grammatical issues with them. The biggest snafu came the day of, as she advertises herself as a wedding coordinator, and left my mom high and dry while setting up at Pabst Brewery. She wasn't always the easiest to get a hold of. I'd be very cautious working with her. However, the flowers were lovely and a good price.