10/14 Vendor Review & Pro Slideshow

Here are my vender reviews. I don’t really like assigning letter grades, so I’ll just provide my thoughts. I had a wonderful, fun day. The wedding of my dreams!

Officiant/Church - Pastor Shaner at St. John Lutheran: Pastor Shaner is Ed’s family pastor. He is a warm, funny, wonderful man. St. John is out in Williston, so it’s sort of a hike for most Toledo residents, but for anyone on the East Side or in the suburbs, you may want to check out our church. He marries non-members, too. Our ceremony was short and sweet – exactly what we wanted. Pastor Shaner honored all of our wishes.

Caterer/Hall - Chef Bob/Zenobia Shrine: The food was delicious. The hall was beautiful. The staff was friendly and professional. Did I mention the food was awesome? I’ll quote my mother: “I’m trying not to make a hog of myself and call ‘mother-of-the-bride’ to get cuts for more food.” I heard several: “this is the best wedding food ever.” Chef Bob is a dream to work with, too. I highly recommend him. I know he’s buying a new location and will start working out of that next year, but I’m sure it will be great.

DJ – Takin’ Care of Business: I love Michelle (she’s Chef Bob’s wife). She’s very nice, easy to work with, and she really made an effort to understand what we wanted. We had several sort of out there songs requested, and she managed to find them all. She also did a great job of keeping things moving. The only bad thing I can say is she didn’t play all of the songs on our “Must Play” list, but I think we requested too many songs! She did a great job of reading the crowd and playing sons we were loving. I highly recommend her (she comes with the Chef Bob package anyway!).

Photographer – Everlasting Images: Sam and Nicole (and their new assistant) went an extra mile and then ran another mile after that. They are super nice, creative, professional, just wonderful people. They snapped something like 2200 shots at our wedding. They set up a slideshow of our pre-ceremony pictures for our guests. They gave us a free, framed 8x10 of one of our engagement photos that they really liked. I cannot say enough nice things! The pictures are beautiful. They are wonderful. I highly recommend them. If you’d like to see my slideshow (which was up after a week!), you can find it at: http://www.everlastingimages.biz/raced/

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Baker – Thrush’s: I’m still having sweet dreams about this cake. They are nice to work with; the cake was designed EXACTLY the way we wanted it; and did I mention their cakes are DELICIOUS? Great job!

Limo – A-1 Accurate Limousine: Our limo was very inexpensive. The driver was nice and professional and was very open to taking us wherever we wanted to go (even though we changed some things at the last minute). The limo was nice, but I could tell it was a few years old. The age didn’t bother me, though, because we got such a great deal on the limo (A-1 is literally ½ the price of most limo companies).

Dresses – David’s Bridal: Ah – the great David’s Bridal debate. I had an okay experience with David’s Bridal. When I tried on my dress, Jan (who I really like) gave me a ton of personalized attention. When we came in looking for bridesmaids dresses, we had no help at all. I was running around, grabbing dresses off of the rack for the girls to try on. The upside – the girls dresses came in quickly and with no problems. Also, DB is MUCH cheaper than the salons where you get more personalized attention. I guess it’s up to you. If you’re willing to spend more money to be treated like a princess, I’d go to another shop. If you’re willing to be treated like a number to get a good deal, go to DB. In retrospect, I kind of wish I would have went with a fancier store, but I love my dress and really can’t complain.

Tuxes – After Hours: The tuxes looked great. They all came in on time with all of the accessories (a friend of mine had a much worse experience: missing vests, late arrivals, etc.). The downside of After Hours is that they will drive you INSANE with the phone calls. Seriously. At one point, I had to calmly explain to a woman that the boys would be in to get fitted (this was 6 months before the wedding), but if she didn’t leave me alone, I’d tell them to go elsewhere. If you go with After Hours, make all the boys go in and get fitted right away so the crazy appointment setter does drag you down into her web of insanity! ;D

Seamstress – A Perfect Fit: Jane is great. First, she did a beautiful job altering my dress (she also altered a dress for another wedding I was in and did a marvelous job). She was also very good about meeting me at times that were convenient for me (even late at night sometimes!). Very nice lady. I highly recommend her.

Flowers – Beth Allen’s Florist: I love this shop! I brought in a couple pictures and some vague ideas, and the lady I met with (Nancy, I think) helped me put together flowers that I loved and that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I think the flowers turned out beautifully and this shop seems much less expensive than some of the other shops around Toledo. Highly recommended!

Hair Stylist – Chris Bloom @ Bloomers: Let me start by saying that Chris is my stylist, and I love her. I think she did a wonderful job on everyone’s hair (especially mine! Hee hee). The only problem is that she owns and runs her own shop, so it’s very hard for her to do wedding parties (we were really pressed for time). If you have a small wedding party (or are just looking for a new stylist), I highly recommend her. If you have a bigger party, you may be better off going to a shop with more stylists.

Table Cameras – WeddingChannel.com: We haven’t got all the pictures back yet, but, thus far, I can honestly say that these are a complete waste. First of all, the cameras are VERY chintzy. The flash didn’t work 90% of the time, some of the cameras quit working after a picture or two, the pictures mostly look like crap, and this is an expensive endeavor. The cameras were $4 each, and it costs about $5 to develop them. Plus, most people didn’t seem that interested in using the cameras anyway (we have several cameras with just one or two pictures taken on them). I would advise against buying these cameras. Get a good photographer (like Sam and Nicole!) instead.

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