Vedor ReviewsToledo Museum of Art - AIt was really really great. There were minor glitches, but hey, we were the first wedding in the Glass Pavilion ever – and were on opening weekend, so we cut them some slack. We worked with Eleanor, who was great considering how busy she was that week and the time leading up to it.
Our ceremony was in the Great Gallery of the main building and was amazing. Quite a few of our guests came early to check out the galleries and many people were amazed at the collection. It is really great. We didn’t use microphone and didn’t need to, the light and sound are both great as-is. We also didn’t decorate at all. We didn’t see the need.
The Glass Pavilion is terrific. With both of us being dorky architects, we were thrilled with such a modern space. And because the building is glass, it feels really open. The chairs the museum has are really modern also, I loved them.
We went back and forth quite a while on the table layout, which was hard because we had never seen the space, and it wasn’t finished being built. The layout ended up being fine, although, with 125 guests, a dance floor, 2 food stations, a bar and some high-tops it all just fit.
Minor glitches were: we couldn’t get into setup anything in the Glass Pavilion until 3:30pm that day. Because we were DIY’ing decorations, we were rushed. Eleanor had warned us about this though. We couldn’t dim the lights. That sucked, but oh well. Apparently someone had messed up the light system the day before. The guards are really strict. We had some confusion getting a wheelchair bound guest into the Great Gallery, and at one point, the guard didn’t want to let me into the museum with my bouquet, but hey, that is there job!
The museum is pretty expensive, but is an incredible setting. It really allows you to save on decorations and have a modern-styled wedding.
And because we were the first wedding there, a reporter and photographer from the Toledo Blade came and interviewed us and took some photos.
The article is about the whole weekend; our part starts toward the end under the pic of us dancing. Here is a link to the article, it is pretty silly, but funny that we are in the “Society Pages”. My name in bold face just killed me.
Oficiant – A++++++++We had a friend get ordained thru ulc.org and wrote our own ceremony with him. If you are not religious, I highly recommend this. The ulc is recognized by Ohio and getting ordained is really easy. Our ceremony was so personal, a little funny, and talked about specific things in our relationship. We think it was the best part of the whole wedding – as it should be!
Gladieux Catering – AWe worked with Dolly, who wasn’t able to be there at our wedding, but everything was great nonetheless. I think we were really a pain to Dolly, and she was wonderful to work with. We made up our own menu sort of and had them make a dish with Marc’s dad’s sausage (he owns a sausage business in Detroit). Everyone raved about the food and what I had was very very good. The tenderloin looked amazing and I heard the salmon was great. The lead waitress was great, really nice and accommodating. Drinks were strong and served quickly. The presentation was really great for everything.
The only issue that we had was that the buffet line was pretty slow. We had assumed (per the layout drawings) that both sides of the buffet were going to be accessible, but only one was. That sort of stressed me out, but there was nothing we could do about it and everyone else said it was not an issue.
Flowers: Glendale – B+Glendale did our bouquets, boutonnières and corsages. The flowers looked really great and Diane is really nice and has great style. I thought the price was a little high, but they had to deliver them, I wanted something for me that was slightly out of season, etc. so I understand. We did all calla lilies. Our orchids we got thru a local greenhouse that normally doesn’t do non-wholesale, but Marc is related to the person who runs it. The orchids were unbelievable. If you want something simple, it is a good idea to look at a greenhouse or flower market and do them yourself.
Accommodations / Shuttle: Wyndham Hotel: AAll of our OOT guests (over 90) stayed at the Wyndham. It was really great. No issues to report. We used their shuttle to get to and from the museum for the rehearsal and they even drove us to the baseball game and back from the bars. It was terrific. My only grievance is that we booked about 50 rooms and they did not ‘comp’ Marc and my room or our parking. I thought they might, oh well.
Music: Mariachi Nuevo Zapopan – A+We had never heard these guys, but someone recommended them to us. They did not charge more, even though they came down from Detroit. They sounded amazing. When my sisters and I were ‘waiting in the wings’ for the ceremony to start and we heard them, we all got teary. It was really beautiful and I didn’t have to pick out any ceremony music which was great!
Music: Itunes and system rental from Prodigy Music - AWe at first had talked to TRS Innovations about rentals, and they said everything would be fine, knew we were from NYC and just said to come in a couple of days before and reserve it, but when Marc went there, the guy wouldn’t let him reserve the system with a credit card and was super rude. He said he needed a local check, which is ridiculous and which he could have told us beforehand considering we told him we were from out of state every time we talked to him on the phone.
So Marc when to Prodigy music, got a great system (2 amps, 2 stands, a mixing board and microphone) for $80. It sounded great, the Itunes playlist was terrific and we had no issues at all!
Cake: Ice cream cake from Maggie Moos – B+We went to the one in Perrysburg, they are super super nice and the cakes tasted great and they delivered them for us. The only issue is that we ordered them with all white frosting, and the two with chocolate inside were also frosted with chocolate. No big deal, just not what we were expecting.
Table Rentals: Meredith Party Rentals – CMaking the reservation was easy and they were always nice, our issue was with the actual tables. We got ten 36” round hightops, and many many of them were off balance and one was even missing a slide off of a leg. The Glass Pavilion is a new building with very level concrete floors and none of these tables were steady. It was really annoying.
Shuttle: Birmingham Limos – AWhile I never actually saw this shuttle, the guests raved about it. We just had them run people from the Wyndham hotel to the art museum for the wedding. As far as I know, they were on time and nice. They were always nice to me on the phone and I thought the price was good.
Rehearsal Dinner: Toledo Mudhens Game Picnic: Coop – AThis was really really fun. A little pricey, but worth it. We had an area in the Coop deck with food and drinks, and then seats in front of it. It was really fun, the hens won and the fireworks were extra long. The only issue was that they ran out of drinks. We paid for a 3 hour bar of beer, wine & soda and at the end they had no water and only domestic beer. To my knowledge, 3 hour bar doesn’t mean “until we run out”, it means 3 hours. I’m going to email them about it.
Attire: Me - Sak's sample sale, Marc - Century21 (nyc dept store) and GMs - Men's Warehouse - AI got my dress at a sample sale and Marc got a very nice suit at a local discount department store. Both were amazing deals. I even got his vest at Forever21. HA! Lesson we learned, think outside the box!
Marc wanted his GM's in matching suits, and one of the guys is a big guy, so we went to Men's warehouse. We tried 3 locations and at the third the guy was really nice and we got a good deal.
I'm sure I forgot something, and if I remember it, or if you have questions, just ask and I'll add stuff!
Thanks!
Nikki
Decisive Moment Photojournalism 
