Vendor Information

Ceremony Location - St. Mark's Lutheran Church
St. Mark's is a beautiful church and they were very accomodating. My family used the church kitchen the day before to cook all of the food and they we stored all of the food in the huge walk in refridgerator. Grade: A+

Officiant - Pastor Dale Schaeffer
Pastor Dale is a lovely man. He personalized our wedding as much as possible. At one point Pastor Dale asked what my favorite food was, which I responded spaghetti. He asked if I loved spaghetti and I said, Of course. He then asked if I loved Ryan, which I responded Of course. He then asked, well do you love Ryan or do you love spaghetti. Very loudly I said, well, I love Ryan AND spaghetti! Grade: A+

Reception Location - Wood County Jr. Fair Building
THis was an odd location for a reception, but it worked out really well. It is a HUGE area and is equipt with a kitchen. I was a little nervous about this location, but with a lot of hard work we made this enormous pull barn into a beautiful, spacious venue. It was cheap and they provided all the chairs and tables. We got the keys for the building Friday evenng to set up and had to return them Sunday afternoon, giving my family time to go and finish cleaning. For the entire weekend it cost us $450! Grade: A+

Cake Creator - Myles Street Bakery
Meredith was wonderful to work with. She went with my idea and it turned out INCREDIBLE! Everytime I've tasted any of her cakes they have been incredible, but I got a lot of mixed reviews the day of. I had tons of people tell me that the cupcakes were incredible, but my family insists that they were over cooked and dry. I honestly don't know, I didn't get to eat any of it, and the little bit that I did have was all over my face. It was BEAUTIFUL though! Grade: A-

Florist - Mackenzies of Grand Rapids
I loved the flowers that Mackenzie's designed for us, which included my bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets, the corsages and bouts, and my unity candle flowers. I didn't like the Groomswoman's bouquet, but that wasn't her fault because it was exactly what I asked for. MY BAD! LOL! My mom and a family friend did all of the other floral decorations with fake flowers. They also turned out incredible! Grade: A+

Photographer - Steve J. Peterson
Well, you get what you pay for. Steve is a family friend, so I felt obligated to use him. Steve uses all digital which was great, but he isn't professionally trained and it shows. I filled out a checklist of pictures that I wanted taken and gave it to him, but he never once referred to it. Instead he kept saying, "Ok Heidi, what picture do you want next?" That is a lot of pressure for a girl that JUST got married and has so many other things flowing through her mind. THere are so many pictures that I didn't get that I wanted, but it's too late now. Grade: C+

Videographer - Steve Peterson
This is included in his package, it's nothing fancy but I'm glad we have it.

Disc Jockey - Buck O'Five
Larry is amazing! He is so funny and can really read a crowd. He didn't play any songs that were on our Do Not Play list and even helped us find an appropriate song for the Mother/Son Dance. He was very organized and kept us organized also. He even arranged for a lollipop toss for the little children before the bouquet toss (he brought the lollipops) and then made sure that EVERYONE got a lollipop after I threw the lollipop bundle. It was a HUGE hit! Grade: A+

Transportation - Childress
These guys were great. Ryan decided that we needed a limo to transport us from the ceremony to the reception THE DAY OF! He called and they delivered! It was a great suprise for me and the limo driver was really nice.

Hair Stylist - The Gallery and Anew
Well, this is a tough review to give. I was supposed to have 10 appointments at Anew. I called the day before the wedding to find out what time we should arrive and they told me that the appointments had all been canceled because I never had a hair trial. I go in crying my eyes out, explaining to them that I live out of town and the three times that I attempted to make appointments they couldn't fit me in. They appologized and said they assumed I didn't want to get my hair done there! i was so mad that I stormed out and drove to my best friends (MOH) and LOST it! SHe really stepped up and began making phone calls. We thought we were going to have to split up, but The Gallery said that they would take us because they felt so bad for us. Everyone's hair turned out great, mine was nothing like I wanted it and was falling out by the end of the ceremony but I just didn't care anymore. A friend fixed my hair at the reception quickly to get it back up and I danced the night away! Anew- Grade: F- The Gallery- Grade: A+ for saving the day

Here are my vendor reviews before I forget :)

Nazareth Hall-AMAZING!!! The food was fantastic, the waitstaff were professional, courteous and everything was fabulous. We were running ahead of schedule (shocking I know) and they moved the dinner ahead 30 minutes since we were all starving. It was perfect.

JEM Photography-Emy was awesome. She was so much fun, had great ideas and we got SO many pictures done before the ceremony...can't wait to see them!

Full Zoom-Again, they were great...we didn't even realize they were there!! They were never in any of our guests way yet were always there capturing the moments we want to remember.

Wixey's bakery-We're still eating our wedding cake and it's awesome! The cake was exactly how we wanted it and everyone raved about how great it was.

Emery's Flowers-This was my husband's favorite vendor. He was on time, had everything just the way we talked about and the flowers were beautiful! He delivered everything to everyone and our cake and hall were decorated beautifully.

Dagwoods Limo-The driver was on time, knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going and the limo was clean. I highly recommend them.

Two Guys Named Joe (DJ)-These guys had the dance floor full all night...and most of my family doesn't dance! They played the songs we wanted and had the crowd going and partying along with them. It was fantastic.

David's Bridal-I worked with Jan and she was great. She suggested I try on the dress I eventually bought. I had no problems with them although I bought my dress off the rack.

JC Penney-This is where we bought the bridesmaid's dress and they delivered on time, exchanged sizes without any issue and looked great on all the girls.

After Hours-I didn't really deal with them but my husband said it was a major pain. All the tuxes had to be altered, the wrong sizes had been ordered and one of my nephews actually got a free tux because of all the hassle. Everyone got what we picked out but it was a bit stressful for the guys.

I think that's it...let me know if I forgot anything! Happy planning :)

Prout Chapel - A. Everything went perfect there. Everyone was easy to talk to and work with. We had to chapel pretty much all evening Friday until late Saturday night. They gave us plenty of time to decorate & then to clean up. The one downfall was we had to pick up right after the wedding...but if you have family members that are willing to chip in it doesn't take to long.

Holiday Inn French Quarter - A. Everything here was amazing. They had everything set up how I had explained and everything looked absolutely great. The food was fantastic, we still have people calling and telling us how good the food was. We went with the Beef tips & Chicken over rice. Good stuff =)

Everlasting Images - A. I can't say enough good things about them!! Our slideshow isn't up yet, but they're hard drive crashed (yikes!) luckily everything is backed up in multiple ways. Both were really easy to work with & they were easy going which really helps when your nervous on the big day. I'll post more later when we get some of our pics back =)

Mary Lou's Creations - A Our cake was awesome. She put so much work into it and she pays close attention to detail. We had a beached themed wedding and she handmade shells to put on the cake and she even did some stuff with our cake topper to tie it all in together. The cake tasted great. There's a pic of me looking like I'm scarffing it down at the end of the night...it's pretty comical. I'll try to post pics if I get a chance.

Craig's Flowers - B+. We chose them because they were reasonable. They're prices were excellent. Everyone we dealt with were really nice. There were a couple gliches however...we realized right before I was going to toss it - that I didn't have a toss bouquet which was supposed to be included in my order. No big deal - I just used my MOH's. The other problem was the flowers for MOH weren't really what I had asked for. I wanted all lavendar & they mixed some lavendar & white...again not a big deal. No one but I knew so at that point I didn't even care. They were excellent when I realized I hadn't ordered an aisle runner...they found one for me the same day.

House of Hilton - B. I didn't get my dress there, but my BMs & FG did. The staff there was really helpful until the dresses came in. They had measured my FG incorrectly and the dress was too small. They offered to fix the dress, but they were going to charge us for their mistake. However, we were able to find a seamstress that could take the dress out as much as possible, it was a little snug on her, but she got by.

Men's Warehouse - A. I don't have too much to say about them. Everything came in when promised & everything pretty much fit everyone.

Sounds of Music - D If we could go back & make the decision over again - we would have just played my Ipod. Atleast then we would have gotten the music we wanted. My suggestion to anyone who has booked them is to make a playlist for them to follow to the exact songs that you want played. People actually left because the music.

Shamas - A. We went to the one in Perrysburg. Everyone looked stunning. My hair stayed in all night & I left it in while we opened gifts the next day. The makeup turned out great - I'm usually not one to wear makeup, but it looked natural & I was very happy with it! The hair stayed & the makeup stayed even through all the hot weather & dancing. I was very impressed. I would definitely recommend them =)