Ceremony Location - Erie Street Market
What can I say...I was stressed out all year about the place possibly closing and the concerts they just starting. Being in New York, it made it even harder to focus and I decided not to let myself stress and just go with it. I have to say that I'm glad I did. The day before the wedding the forecast called for ALL DAY RAIN. This was difficult because the ceremony was supposed to be held in my parent's backyard and the chairs and a tent for me to walk out of was all set up. Fortunately my DOC had everything covered and was able to move all of the chairs from my backyard to the market. One of the matience guys was nice enough to help her organize everything and set it all up the morning of the wedding. The room looked beautiful after it was decorated, and it turned out to be a great ceremony. They even gave us the vacant room across the hall to get ready in. Though the restrooms look like something you might see in a public high school, my bridesmaids were able to decorate them and make them look pretty.

Officiant - Susan Spackey
Susan was great. She customized our ceremony to fit us and did a wonderful job. She is also very organized and has a really nice sopeaking voice.

Reception Location - Erie Street Market-Civic Center Promenade
Well, as stated above, the night tured out great. My husband was complaining about a light (bright spotlight type of light) being on and no one could seem to figure it out. That was the biggest complaint we had. Also, the room is VERY large so music could easily ehco if the equiptment is not set up properly. I don't recall having any problems with the sound though.

Caterers - Chef Robert Rosencrantz
My parents got calls from their friends for days after the wedding complimenting the food. It was great!

Cake Creator - Cake Arts Supply
I cannot recommend Cake Arts. My cake looked nothing like the picture I sent them and one of the flavors was wrong. The cake was set up so you could see the cardboard between the layers which should be sealed with icing. I was also supposed to have a swiss dot pattern on the cake (which I personally spoke with Dorothy the week before about) and all it had was some slopped on icing with dents from the rain hitting the icing. They were also supposed to put the flowers on the cake and they failed to do that, so my DOC, with no reference picture, put them on herself. My mom called to complain and spoke to Dorothy's daughter who informed he that her daughter was the one who set up the cake and she had never done it before. Nice! No apology and no call from Dorothy to apologize or anything. Total disappointment!

Florist - Blossom Designs
Shelly has good quality flowers, but she didn't listen to what I wanted. I sent her pictures and she told me I sent her a pic of red gerbs...to me they looked pink! She was able to change the order and get me the pink I wanted, but my mom had to call and plead with her. After telling her I want yellow lillies with orange, pink, and purple accents, I ended up with orange lilies. It's not the end of the world, but yellow was the main color. I was disappointed with that too. Emery's did my centerpieces...see review below.

Photographer - Sarah J. Guess
Sarah and her assistant were awesome! By the end of the night I felt Sarah was a new friend. She does amazing work and I couldn't recommend her enough!

Videographer - Full Zoom Productions
I am still waiting for my DVD with the wedding footage, but they were there recording everything from our vows to the drunken dancing that happened later in the evening. They put together our photo montage and played it during the reception. It was a big hit, so hopefully the video is just as good!

Disc Jockey - Takin Care of Business
This company is owned by Chef Bob's wife. She was supposed to be our DJ that night, but without explaination, she wasn't. It wasn't a big deal because our DJ played all of our songs and kept people on the dance floor.

Transportation - Birmingham Limo
Bob was out limo driver and he was awesome! We had 2 bottles of champagne included in our package and he poured it as soon as we were about to step into the limo. I highly recommend Birmingham!

Invitations - Simple Elegance
Jenny was awesome to work with. I designed my invites myself but couldn't find the means to put the pocketfolds together at a reasonable price. She was able to do that for me. She sent me proofs until the invites were perfect. She does great work!

Rental Company - American Rent All
They came and said up the chairs and tents when they were supposed to so I have no complaints

Jeweler - Zales
They cracked my e-ring while it was being resized. I did not notice it was cracked until I was looking for bands and a guy at another jewelry stored showed me the crack. We took it in to have it fixed and when they returned it to me, a diamond on the side was crooked. This was unacceptable. I sent my ring back in and they called me to tell me they couldn't do anything and it needed to be replaced. I have a newer ring with better quality diamonds, but I probably wouldn't buy anything else there.

Tuxedos - President Tuxedo
Men looked great, prices were great!

My Dress - Highlight Studio
I tried on a Maggie Soterro dress in Monroe, Michigan and thought it might be the one. A few weeks later, while back in NYC, I found out about a place that sells the dresses for cheap. I went and bought it for almost $200 less. Though her English is not the best, Carol is great to work with and calls you constantly to give you updates on the status of your dress.

Bridesmaid Dresses - House of Brides
We were able to order the last minute dresses from here and they came in early and in perfect condition. They also saved my girls some money which was great!

Hair Stylist - Salon Hazelton
The salon is laid out kinda funny and the place is pretty small. They did a great job on my hair but I think they are on the pricier side.

Makeup Artist - Missy Bevier
Missy is a friend of my SIL and was "hired" to do my makeup last minute. She has the warmest heart and is great to work with. She did makeup for 3 of my BM and they all looked HOT! She'll give you what you want and her makeup lasts...well at least until you get cake in your eyes! Contact me if you want her info. She is good and affordable and will come to your location!

Wedding Coordinator - Melissa Lohr-My Beautiful Memory
Melissa was the shining star of the day. As mentioned above she was able to set up my ceremony site last minute without a single sign of worry. She also qued us all the way through the reception when we couldn't hear the DJ and made sure the Bride and Groom and all of their family members were happy. After the wedding she stayed and removed and counted all of the chair covers and everything else that we left lying around! She literally worked her butt off! I honestly don't know what we would've dome without her! She is a lifesaver! I defiantely recommend her to anyone.

Honeymoon Destination - Royal Decameron Beach Resort and Casino
Beautiful resort, beautiful country. For a honeymoon I would probably recommend an adults only resort. We had our room changed because of loud kids in the room above us, but they were just everywhere. The adult only pool was our saving grace. The jungle boat tour was the highlight of our trip. We were able to feed wild monkeys from our hands...it was CRAZY!

Other Vendor - Emery's
I went to Emery's a little over a month before the wedding, stressed out about my centerpieces. The owner (Ken, I think) was able to give me ideas and gave us what we wanted at a great price. The one disappointing thing was the quality of the rose petals he gave us. They were browning on the edges and shriviling up. He charged us a lot for them too which I didn't quite understand...

Other Vendor - Hook My Wedding Up
I was desperate to find affordable chair covers and I was excited once I did. The one thing I didn't know is that Kim, the business owner is the biggest you know what on this earth. She ALWAYS had an exccuse for everything. Though this wasn't a big deal, when you arder a sample, you expect the product you order to be the same, right? Not in this case. The sashes for the chair covers we ordered were not the same color of the sample we ordered. Her excuse: "we change the colors so much it might not always be the same." BS!!!! We ordered those samples only a few months before and you changed the color??? We did get or chaircovers, but this lady is just very unpleasant, and a liar!

Ceremony Location - Cedar Creek Church
Grade: A+

The Church was absolutely beautiful! The church staff is amazing and made things so easy for us. It really made the process more enjoyable. The church's wedding coordinator was amazing. She made things extremely simple on all of us girls and everything ran smoothly. Though at one point she asked me if I wanted a muffin or some triskets. I said triskets would be nice thinking she was offering me something to snack on. I hadn't realized that we had forgotten bread for communion and that's what she was asking about. So low and behold Jon and I stood at the alter trying to quietly 'CRUNCH' triskets during communion. Neither one of us could help but laugh. The lighting and sound was wonderful (Thanks Matt!) and the chapel looked exactly as I had dreamed it would.

Officiant - Pastor Ed Bellner
Grade: A+

Ed has been there through so much of our relationship. He's funny, caring, and compassionate. He was wonderful to work with and I don't think we could have found a better match for us. He wrote a beautiful ceremony that fit us to the tee and claimed he had worked harder on our vows than any others he had written. We had a lot of fun with Ed! I'm so thankful he was there for us it was an honor to have him officiate our ceremony.

Reception Location - Civic Center Promenade
Room Rating: A

Jon and I fell in love with this location the moment we saw it. The room was exactly what we were looking for. It was plenty large enough to hold our group and fit the style of our wedding perfectly.

WARNING: This venue requires special attention in the sound department. If you plan on using this space let your DJ know about your concerns so that he or she can make sure that they make needed adjustments. (more in DJ review)

Hall Manager: F

Connie Huffman was an absolute nightmare to work with! And believe me I tried time and time again to give her the benefit of a doubt. She was rude, cold, dishonest, and completely unsympathetic to everything we went through. She refused to listen to any of my concerns and failed to take any responsibility for scheduling conflicts. I called her the week before hand to see when we could come in to decorate, only to have her inform me that she had permitted COT Environmental Services to hold their frog town fair in the civic center from 9am to 1pm the day of my wedding! And then she proceeded to treat me like an idiot because I was upset. I demanded something be done to make a mends for what she had but me through and I refused to pay the rental cost for the hall. After 20 min. of listening to her attempts to dodge the subject I think she knocked an additional $500 off the bar. Which was not worth the fact that I spent the Thursday before the wedding having to pull off to the side of the road several times to puke, because the stress she was putting me through was making me physically sick. On top of everything she had the gaul to show up at our reception and tell me 'see you can't hear the music...' and arrogantly ramble on about her being right! I'm not a violent person in the least but I have never in my life wanted to pummel anyone as badly as I did in that moment listening to that 70 year old woman talk down to me like that. She also promised added security and that no concert goers would be permitted on our side of the building; which never happened. The gross bathrooms we were forced to use due to the concert were mildly cleaned but not repainted as she promised they'd be. She's one of Carty's henchmen as far as I'm concerned and will not hesitate to step on anyone if something deemed by the city as more important happens to fall on your day. I honestly don't know how this women can sleep at night. I'm sure I sound like bridezilla but I really had trouble not bringing my issues with her to light. That and it feels incredible to vent.

Caterers - Event Professionals, aka Chef Bob
Grade: A+++++, I don't think I could put enough pluses behind this grade! <

Chef Bob saved my wedding day! No Joke.

He went above and beyond anything that I could ever have expected a caterer to do. He's gained my trust, confidence, and recommendation for a lifetime. When things got bad the week before the wedding he stepped up and hired added staff to set up and decorate the hall for us at no added cost! Which I must add included hanging a chandelier, placing favors, and assembling all 35 floral centerpieces! He made me feel at ease during an extremely stressful time. All while catering to two large wedding receptions that evening!

And The food? The food was incredible! Everyone at the reception and after raved about it! Chef Bob was creative and helped us put together a unique menu that was perfect for our summer wedding. He even put together a wonderful vegetarian option for us that left several of our vegetarian guests raving about it and thanking us for thinking of them.

If you haven't picked a cater yet I can guaranty 3 things with Chef Bob: 1 - food will be amazing 2 - you can count on his service and staff 3 - Chef Bob will do anything in his power to insure you have the wedding of your dreams!

If by some strange chance you're reading this Bob, we cannot thank you enough!

Cake Creator - The Bake Shop
Grade: A

Kristy was wonderful to work with. She's one of the nicest people I had the opportunity to meet in this process. The cake tasted amazing and her prices really can't be beat in this area. It's well worth the drive to Fayette to meet with her. The only reason I didn't give her a higher rating is because I'm a designer and had too high of expectations for the graphic elements of the cake. The cake was still very beautiful and I'm sure I was the only one remotely disappointed in the way it turned out. I highly recommend Kristy! Her lemon cake with raspberry filling will be a "birthday must have" for years to come. Sadly it was everyone else's favorite at the wedding too so I didn't get a piece of it at the wedding.

Florist - The Flower Market
Grade: B

The flowers turned out ok and the prices were very reasonable. Most of the flowers I fell in love with during our two year engagement were out of season in August but there was nothing they could do about that. They weren't the best but for the money they were a wonderful budget florist.

Photographer - Sarah J Photography
Grade: A++

Sarah and Mandy were amazing. They made us all feel relaxed and made things fun for us. They really went above and beyond the call of duty. Mandy even poured us champagne! A few times through out the night they even helped me hunt people down and manage the DJ. Everyone loved our wedding pictures! I'm so glad we chose to work with Sarah! I was absolutely blown away by these two! My youngest niece was a very unhappy camper most of the day but they still managed to get a ton of amazing shots of her. With the exception of a few shots you'd never guess she was upset! Thank you both so much you were incredible!

Disc Jockey - Larry's Jukebox
Grade: D

My cousin Larry has DJed a number of our family weddings and has done a great job so we hired him to DJ our reception. A month before the wedding he informed me that he wouldn't be able to do it because he had to go out of town and that his partner would be DJing our reception. He reassured me that his business partner would do equally as well as he would and with all the other stress we were under, I just trusted that he was right. I gave the partner very detailed instructions as to what type of music to play, not to play, as well as special dances and songs we needed throughout the night. I swear the guy never looked at our sheet. He got our entrance song wrong on top of saying our last name incorrectly. Which he continued to do for the rest of the night even after being corrected several times. His equipment wasn't set up well enough to accommodate the room so most of our guests couldn't hear anything. I felt like I spent most of the night trying to manage the DJ because he was incapable of keeping anything going. Very few people even danced because of the music selections he made. I can honestly say that he was the worst DJ I had ever encountered.

Musicians - Millenius Strings
Grade: A

Wonderful! My husband composed the song I walked down the aisle to. But he didn't get them the sheet music until two days before the wedding and they still played it perfectly. They were extremely reasonably priced as well. To save money we went with the trio instead of the quartet (which basically meant we had one violin instead of two)

Transportation - Family Friend
Grade: A+++

1964 Candy Apple Red Convertible Chevelle! It beat a limo any day. Thanks Pete!

Invitations - DIY
Grade: A

I designed the invitations, maps, and response cards. Ordered gatefold jackets and envelopes from Invitation Paper and printed the invitation and inserts through my wholesaler.

I ordered all the ribbon we used in wedding projects, including girls sashes from JKM Ribbon. Very reasonably priced, excellent quality. I saved over $100 buying their ribbon verses the midori satin ribbon at Romantic Flowers and JKM's ribbon was just as nice.

I was very happy with the results. All in all I think they ended up costing about $2.50 an invite.

Rental Company - Meredith Party Rentals
Grade: A

We rented silver charger plates through them. They let us pick them up a day early and were easy to work with. We didn't like that you had to return them clean though, it would have been nice if they provided this service. Even if you had to pay more for them to do it.

Tuxedos - MW Tux
Grade: A

Everyone's tux fit except for the jr. groomsmen and they got a new jacket in for him in time. Over all went well.

My Dress - I Do Too Bridal in Plymouth, MI & Bestbridalprices.com
Grade: A+++++ / A+

I Do Too Bridal in Plymouth, MI was wonderful. So many bridal shops are rude to brides that aren't able or willing to spend a small fortune on a dress they'll only wear once. I Do Too treated you like royalty. I've since gone up there to shop with friends and they've been just as helpful. I fell in love with my Casablanca 1827 dress there and planned to purchase the dress from them until I found it new, in stock, in the right size, and color I needed for half the price online. I ended up buying my dress from bestbridalprices.com. I was very happy with the dress and it arrived in less than two weeks. I just felt bad not ordering from I Do Too.

Links:

I Do Too Bridal
Best Bridal Prices

Bridesmaid Dresses - Ann Taylor Celebrations
Grade: A+++

100% Silk dresses for $79.99 can't really beat that. I think the girls were thankful. :) We ordered them offline and they all came in quickly and with garment bags. We ordered the smallest size Ann Taylor carried and had it rebuilt for my 9 year old niece (which was on clearance for $29.99 at that point.) Some of the girls had trouble with their alterations, hence the reason why my sister's dress was so much shorter than the other girls. But everything worked out in the end.

Hair Stylist - Amy at Shamas Perrysburg
Grade: A+++

I had an archive of pictures I had collected and not a clue what I actually wanted. Amy was able to combine ideas for my pictures and run with it. I was extremely happy with the results. She truly has bridal hair down to art form. My hair held all night even after a drive down 795 in a convertible. She was extremely sweet and worked to fix any concerns I had along the way. Including almost redoing it because I wanted more texture than we were achieving with my insane, never wanting to hold curl, hair. Everyone complemented on how much they loved my hair all night. Amy was more expensive than many of the other options in the area but in my opinion she was worth every penny!

Makeup Artist - Shannon at Shamas Perrysburg
Grade: A+++

Shannon was amazing. She did a fabulous job with my makeup and never once tried to talk me out of the dramatic look I was going for. I couldn't have been happier. I searched high and low for airbrush and couldn't find it in Toledo. The makeup Shannon used paired with My Laura Geller's Welcome Matte Primer lasted all night with minor touch ups.

Wedding Coordinator - Didn't have one
Knottie LisaNowSpitnale told me on her wedding day that I needed a day of coordinator. So not yet having hired one my mom and I agreed we should. Unfortunately my mother-in-law talked me out of it. I cannot stress how much I wish we would have had one. If you haven't hired one yourself I'd highly recommend finding room in your budget to do so. Your wedding will run smoother and be far less stressful on you and your fiancé.

Honeymoon Destination - The Vallarta Palace
Grade: A+

The Palace was amazing. The service was wonderful especially when you tipped. Every room has a large walk in shower, Jacuzzi, and well stocked mini bar. Almost all rooms have ocean views. The pools were amazing and the poolside service was even better. The restaurants were all very good; though my husband and I went through salt withdraw by the end of the week. Proof of how salty American food really is. We swam with the dolphins at Sea Life Park and did the Rhythm of the Night dinner. On our last full day there we went into town and bought souvenirs and took pictures of the art on the boardwalk. We had a great time in Mexico until 2am on the morning of our departure. I woke up feeling like I was going to die. [Whole Mexican stomach thing; and no I didn't drink the water] By the end of our 16 hours of traveling I almost wished I were dead, lol. I went through all three airports in a wheelchair because I didn't have the strength to walk but a few feet. It's funny how quickly you get through customs and security when you're in a wheelchair though. The flight from Puerto Vallarta to Phoenix felt like the longest flight I've ever been on in my entire life. I didn't think we'd ever get on the ground. Luckily the staff in Phoenix gave us the last row of the plane to ourselves. So I used my husband's lap as a pillow, curled up in the two seats I had graciously been provided, and slept the entire way home. I was just thankful it happened at the end of the honeymoon and not the beginning of it.

If you plan to honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta I recommend finding a hotel in Nuevo Vallarta [new Vallarta]. The hotels are all fairly new in this part of the city and It really made the difference. Also the Rhythm of the Night is a must! Vallarta Adventures does it and it was one of the most romantic things we had ever done. You depart by boat and are treated to drinks and snacks as you cruise the Vallarta coastline and Sierra Madras Mountains. As the sun sets you arrive on a part of the mainland that feels like a deserted island. There's no electricity to that area so everything is lit by candlelight and torches. They put on a show depicting a Pre-Hispanic wedding and then serve an amazing dinner complete with live music [non-cheesy mariachi band]. On the way back the host of the boat taught everyone how to salsa. It was a great way to spend the evening and the best meal we had all week!

Other Vendor - Wedding Night Accommodations – Belamere Suites in Perrysburg
Grade: A++++

INCREDIBLE! We enjoyed our stay so much! We stayed in the standard room on our wedding night and the presidential suite the next night it was wonderful. We've already talked about going back. I'd highly recommend the presidential suite however, I'd have to agree with the lady who helped us book the rooms, you won't have time or energy to fully enjoy the presidential suite on your wedding night.

The food - Premier Catering - I have not yet met with them to decide on the menu for the wedding...but we're thinking it'll be pretty basic. I have used their services for various work events in the past and would highly recommend them. There is one hall to which they are exclusive but do go to several other locations throughout the Toledo area.

Update - we have the menu picked out to match our rather simple tastes...meatballs, chicken breast, various sauces, salad, new potatos, green beans. Simple enough to where not many should turn their nose up and we'll have a vegetarian offering as well.

Photographer - Tymeless Images Studio - Shawn insisted on using them...they've photographed the weddings for many of his friends. We're working with Jeff...he's responsible for our engagement pictures and just really fun to work with! Hopefully he can even get the camera shy MOH to loosen up some!

DJ - Decorative Sound - Mike will be providing the DJ services for the evening. Again, his company is one that I have used for a previous work event and we were quite pleased with his company's services.