Vendor Reviews - Alms Park, Cincinnati, Ohio - June 18th 2011
Our wedding was held at the pavillion from 6pm to midnight. Some of these are really long. If they did well though, it's fairly short.
Rehearsal Dinner (June 17th) at Flipdaddy’s in Mariemont (http://www.flipdaddys.com/) - A+Flipdaddy’s did an awesome job accomodating us. We called less than a month in advance after cancelling with our original venue, and they were happy to get all 36 of us in there. When we got there we had two waitresses, very sweet and helpful girls, and three tables. The food was delicious and everyone loved it. They dealt with us running around taking photos, giving loud toasts (in two cases, loud drunken ones), and kept drink refills. The managed even bought the groom and I a beer! They made sure we were happy with everything. On top of that the food was delicious. It couldn’t have been better.Fail Rehearsal Dinner at Hofbrauhaus - FWhile we didn’t have our rehearsal dinner there, I thought I should detail out why so you don’t have to deal with what we went through. We made arrangements for our dinner with them in January. We called and talked to the group person Karen Maslin. She explained since it was on a Friday we had to reserve a room and pick from one of their banquet menus. Fine, we say, send us the stuff. A few days later and one call more, we get the menus e-mailed to us. There are a few menus to choose from. We think it’s all okay and ask for the contract. Again, it takes them about three weeks and about the same amount of calls more to get back to us. We immediately send the contract in VIA e-mail and never hear back. We call after a week (figured we’d give them time) and they said they got it. Our credit card never got ran for the deposit which was suspicious. So, we forgot about it eventually with our final year of school, and come May called again. After looking at the menus, we decided we wanted to do the sandwich menu at 9.99 a head. It accomated most. Well, we weren’t allowed to because it was lunch. And when we asked about doing their buffet option, we weren’t allowd to do that either because we were 4 people short of the minium. Which left us with two options, a meat and potatoe or a meat and other veggie menu. Both of these has 4 meat dishes and a lot of stuff our family and friends couldn’t eat. With quite a few diabetics and vegetarians, we asked what we could do about them. Well, they could eat salad for 25 dollars a head. By this time, the woman just sounds angry with us. We asked if we could just order off the menu like normal, and they said no. So we asked about cancelling (since they never charged our card) and she just hung up on us. We just stood their shocked. This is obviously only a summary, but it was just terrible for us and super stressful.Wedding Stuff:Venue - Alms Park - Premier Park Events (www.premierparkevents.com) : DMy wedding was beautiful. But that is because my husband and I spent months and months slaving over decorations and designs and set it up by ourself. The park is beautiful. If you want to get married here or another Cincinnati Park, go for it, but expect that it’s going to be rough working with these people.The company that Cincinnati Parks contracts out changed in January. We originally held a contract with Historic Park Properties, but in January, we received a letter that this was changing. We immediately called Premier Park Events to schedule a meeting to talk about things, sign a new contract, ensure that our money was all still there, and make sure things were generally on track. After two phone calls (during business hours) where no one answered, we got a meeting in mid-January. When we got to the building, neither of the two women (judi and someone else....) kenw about us coming. Judi, I believe, finally found it in her calendar and met with us. We told her our number, talked about some of the ideas with her, signed *something*, got a confirmation of our payment, and made sure things were in line. She had a folder with our name on it, and she stored it away with all that information. She said their designer, Kevin, would make us a 3D layout of our wedding and send it to us in the next weeks. Awesome! She describes some program that has 3d views and we can see everything. So we wait. And Wait. I was patient because, well, my wedding was in June so I knew I wasn’t priority. Now come March. I send an e-mail asking if anything has happened on it. No response. So we call, and they have no idea who we are. They can’t find our information. So we schedule another appointment for the beginning of April. We get there, and Judi starts asking us all the same questions we already answered, about numbers, what we want, etc. Exact. Same Thing. So we’re kind of annoyed. Kevin, who was supposed to meet with us, was running late. When he got there, he started asking us ALL the same questions. We say, uh, we just went over this, and he looks at all the information sitting right in front of him. We talk to him about all the things we want, the decorations we have, and what not. We are told we will get layouts by the end of the week. Yay! Finally. So, the end of that week comes. Nothing. I e-mail him on Friday in the morning asking where it is. Around 10pm on that Friday, I get a layout and quote that had so many mistakes it wasn’t even funny. And some weird excuse. And that 3D software? It’s nothing but an Illustrator scale drawing I could have done myself weeks ago. I e-mail back. It takes 6 e-mails to get everything right. Some of the problems included : 20 chairs less than we asked for, the wrong type of chairs, the wrong types of linens, the wrong size buffet tables, a quote with things missing or doubled, etc. We get something close enough after 2 weeks of this and settle. Closer to the wedding, we asked for some changed to be made, and that took calls and calls to get. We finally get our final walkthrough, a 10 minute meeting where basically nothing happens, and we’re still worried. All in all, the tables were okay, albeit tight, and since it rained, our head table got rained on a bit. And a lot of the linens were incorrect - most were floor length, we wanted lap. Only the round tables had lap length. Picky yes, I suppose, but I’m paying them a decent amount to do the right things. Also, things were not in the right place (dance floor tables and upper tables) and never moved (I picked up the hor d’ouvre table after the food was taken off and moved it myself.....along with a a few other tables) so yeah. Bride moving her own tables. Funny.All in all, they never answer their phones. It takes quite awhile for them to get back to you if you leave a message. And they never ONCE managed to do what they told me. I had to remind them of everything - including to send me my final quote. And probably my final bill, as I still don’t have it over 2 weeks after my wedding. They stressed me out, so yes, I hated them and if you can avoid using them, do it. But if you want to get married in one of these parks like I did, you just have to constantly pester them.Caterer - A Taste of Class (www.atasteofclass.com) - AGreat food. Great price. Organized. We met with a Taste of Class in July of 2010 and set up a hamburger / hot dog menu. It was picnic theme. They accomodated us really well and let us pick and choose what we wanted. We got a bartender, food, and servers for the price of 12 dollars a head. The food at the wedding was really tasty and everyone loved it. The bartenders were nice and good with drinks (they were strong too so everyone was feeling good!) There were only a few problems : ATOC didn’t communicate well with the bartenders (I guess they use another company) and they didn’t know we had keg beer or drinks that required a lot of sweet and sour. Fortunately, one bartender had the other run out and get what they needed. They handled it well and quickly, I was really impressed. Other thing was they took the buffett off too early. They asked me, and since I didn’t know what was going on as I was running around too much, I just told them to take it off when people were done. That meant after the last table got their food. So no one got seconds, which was sad. They did a good job getting our cupcakes out. Some minor issues with not really knowing what to do, but all worked out. I really do suggest using them - they make great food and are really great before hand. Florist - Robin Wood Flowers (www.robinwoodflowers.com) - CMy flowers were lovely, bright yellows and greens. But that came with some problems. I met with Robin in July and left without signing a contract. I called that day and said I wanted to set my date aside. I called a lot to find out how much the deposit was, and I finally went in and paid it. They had spelled my name wrong, so there was some confusion there. So I paid, and awhile later, I called to change some things. Robin was in a meeting, so I was told I would get a call back. I didn’t, so I called back and another worked took down the changes. I never got an updated thing, so i called back and got Robin. Turns out, I never signed a contract. So two weeks before my wedding, I finally signed it. I got the quote back and made sure everything was correct. I was really specific with boutonnieres - I even showed a picture of one with billy balls (the small yellow balls) and lined out what I wanted. So morning of my wedding, I go pick them up. Bouquets were lovely, albeit with a few more roses than I would have liked (I really dislike roses) but there were so many other beautiful flowers (I do know little about flowers, only how they look) that it was pretty much unnoticable. I stupidly left without checking the boutonnieres. I get home, and open them. And there are a bunch of really hideous plain white roses with a tiny amount of green. Having light grey and white suits, well, these looked really bad with the suits. And I hated them. I called, and I brought them back to get them redone. Which, involved us being about an hour late on schedule and driving more around in the rain. When I got there, they apologized and Robin even said it said billy balls on the quote sheet. They didn’t have billy balls, so something else had to be improvised. It worked out, but I was still a little disappointed. Robin is a great florist - just their organizational skills there are terrible. Great flowers - a pain to work with in my opinion.DJ - DJ Mailman - Meh. I’m not really giving this a grade. I made my own playlist. My mom wanted me to have a DJ, so I got her old mailman who works as a DJ on the side. It was cheap. He kept putting stuff on shuffle. He didn’t bring a mic. He wanted to leave early. Honestly, make a playlist. Get some speakers and a PA. We had a friend bring his PA and did all of our speeches on that and it worked a lot better. I did most of the talking to people anyway. Having a DJ just wasn’t worth it. People loved my music choices and there was never a song that didn’t have people out on the dance floor. If you know your guests, who will be there early and who will stay late, you can pick music really well to cater to everyone. This also eliminated anyone getting songs played that I hate.Photography - Drew Jacoby, Becki Young, Anna Hoop, and ourselves (flickr.com/o_hai for all credits and photos) - A+We had all of our friends do photography. Becki worked for McDaniels Photography in Loveland for 7 years and Drew and Anna just do good work. We also have a really nice digital SLR. I spread photos out over 3 days (me and husband on Tuesday before the wedding, groomsmen on Thursday before the weddind, and the rest the day of) and it turned out great. My friends did great work.Videography - Ourselves - A+Yup. I’m grading us. We have, also, a very nice video camera. We set that up before the wedding and taped it. Turned out great. Yay for being DAAP kids!Wedding Planning - Oursevles - A+We did everything ourselves, and honestly, I couldn’t have been happier. We were proud and everyone loved our completely DIY wedding. We made everything, from the centerpieces, the flowers (on tables), the designs, 120 customized pop bottles, invites, and everything. I’m a little proud.Paper for Invites - Paper and More - (www.paperandmore.com) A+I got some samples. They sent me paper. It was great.Transportation - Ride My Party Bus - (ridemypartybus.com) A+They got there early. They took us to where we needed to be. They came back and took us home. Bus was really clean. Music was hilariously loud. I hate limos and stuff, so I just got the most out there thing - and it cost me 500 dollars. I have absolutely no complaints. It was just awesome.Cake - Abby Girl Sweets - (facebook.com/abbygirlsweets) A+Delicious cake. As always. We ate it a lot before the wedding, we knew we would be getting delicious cake. They decorated as we wanted. They came perfect. They were great at communicating before and making sure things would be perfect. They brought everything in airtight containers that we rented from them for 15 dollars and just brought back the next Tuesday. Awesomely delicious and cute. I highly suggest them.Cutlery - EcoWare Cutlery - A+I ordered a bunch of cutlery online, and it came within the week. Everyone enjoyed my silly litle wooden forks and knives. Great.Dress - Bridal and Formal (www.bridalandformal.com) - CUgh. I got a bridesmaids dress. Let me tell you that once you start trying on bridesmaids dresses instead of bridal dresses they pretty much stop caring. So, it took 7 months to get my dress in. And I called to ask about it and they said it hadn’t even been shipped from the factory yet (In January, I ordered in June) but they would call to check on it. Two days later I get a call saying my dress is in and had been there. Since I was a bride but ordered a bridesmaids dress, no one knew where it was. When I picked it up, they asked me what color the bride was wearing if her bridesmaids dresses were white. Then they realized I was the bride. It was a weird experience getting the dress. I love dresses, I wear them all the time, but trying on bridal dresses there was just the funniest thing I have ever done. I don’t hate them, but I didn’t like them either.Veil & Fascinator - TessaKim http://www.etsy.com/shop/TessaKim)">(http://www.etsy.com/shop/TessaKim) A++
PERFECT! I got so many compliments from everyone and I had the perfect veil and fascinator. It came fast and in perfect condition. I had a lot of variety to choose from too. Order from her definitely if you love birdcage veils - her prices are reasonable and her stuff is great!
Earrings & Bridesmaid’s Jewelry - PiperBlue http://www.etsy.com/shop/PiperBlue)">(http://www.etsy.com/shop/PiperBlue) A++
Perfect. Great quality, all what I wanted, and came really fast.
Rings - Etsy via OttoBone & Titanium Knights http://www.etsy.com/shop/ottobone">(http://www.etsy.com/shop/ottobone & www.etsy.com/shop/titaniumknights)">http://www.etsy.com/shop/titaniumknights) A++
Again, perfect. We love Etsy. Anything we didn’t make, we basically found on Etsy. And our rings were awesome!!!!
Groomsmen Suits - Jos A Bank in Summit Mall, Akron, Ohio (www.josabank.com) - A
4 of 6 guys got measured and ordered suits. They were lazy at best about measuring so when it came time to alter everyone had huge alterations to be made (some of it could have been avoided). But, the suits came in fast, it took about a month to do all the alterations, and we had them. I don’t really have any complaints. They were suits. A good part of the decorations came from IKEA. In the Cincinnati area, as just a reminder, IKEA is a great resource. We spent over 12 hours total over the year before our wedding at IKEA getting ideas and discussing options for what we needed. We got a lot from IKEA at a great price and are selling it in the near future - it’s a great option not to be overlooked!
jason + katherine - wedded 6.18.2011