Weddings and Things

It's that time of year again - time for engagements! Planning a wedding is quite an undertaking (usually) and I have to say I didn't love that part of it - having a constant to-do list is not my idea of a good time!

I've had a lot of people asking me who I used for things and my recommendations and I'm happy to oblige.

Location/Food
We had our reception at Embassy Suites Hotel. I did NOT want a hotel reception but they were actually fantastic. Amy Stamper worked with us and was unbelievably helpful and nice - and she was completely on top of things! We didn't use a wedding planner but she basically did everything for us - she even coordinated our other vendors for the big day. Their chef helped us pick out a meal and they were patient and worked with us to meet all of our needs. Everything was wonderful! Also, we didn't have to pay a "room fee" as part of the package - we just paid for food! Definitely check them out.


Photography
Our photographers were awesome. Seriously. Since Chris dabbles in photography quite a bit, he was really, really picky when it came to our photographers. We used Varland Photography from Cincinnati and they didn't let us down. Annie and Toby (a husband-wife team) were affordable, gave us rights to the photos, threw in an engagement session, and were just downright cool people. We were sad the wedding was over because that meant we couldn't hang out with them more. I definitely recommend them!


Flowers
We used Ivory Rose Floral for flowers. Beth, the owner, runs the business and makes all the arrangements herself. Since she gets wholesale flowers and does all the arranging, it makes her cheaper than other places. She did a really good job, but I felt she seemed to sort of push roses. If you want a crazy bouquet, that may not be the place to get it, but for everything traditional she's your lady! She will loan you vases (like for centerpieces and things), but I recommend buying them from a craft store or flower shop so you can give them away at the end of the day without collecting the vases.


Dress/Alterations
I got a Maggie Sottero dress from Ruth's Bridal. I hate to give bad reviews but I will say that my dress was two MONTHS late and once it finally came in and was at least two sizes too big. Like, waaay too big, maybe even three sizes. Nobody there ever seemed worried about it (even though I was stressing more than a little) and they are terrible about answering their phones. They have gorgeous dresses, but charge a lot and I wasn't a fan of their service. They don't do alterations in store, either.
On the bright side, I did use Barbie at Alter Ego for alterations, and she was wonderful. She knew exactly what she was doing, was prompt, and was reasonably priced. If you need alterations definitely go there!


Tuxes
We got our tuxes from Genos. They were fine, we didn't have any problems with them but a couple of the tuxes didn't fit, so we had to go back and get them changed. Get them as early as they let you to make sure they fit!


Musicians/DJ
The Newman Center provided us ceremony musicians for a donation to the church since we are parishioners there. Our DJ was Thomas from Complete Music, and he was really laid back and had a great personality, not annoying at all. He did get a couple of our songs wrong (like, the "bouquet toss song"), but the ones that were really important he got right! :)


Invitations
Our invitations were beautiful! Emily Mistretta at Minuteman Press did our invitations and she was wonderful to work with. My mom loved her, her dog, and her baby - I swear she would make up excuses just to go visit them! She is very affordable, very professional, and very patient! We couldn't make up our minds with the invites so she made many different proofs, and when we realized two days before the wedding that we had no programs, she whipped them up exactly like we wanted in no time! Very highly recommended!!


Cake
I almost forgot the cake! We used Martine's, a honest-to-goodness French lady who makes delicious, beautiful cakes. Her prices were about the same as everywhere else we looked (maybe a tiny bit higher) but her cakes were richer and prettier. She took my ideas and ran with them!