Vendor Reviews

NOTE: I'm putting these up as a I finish them.  Still more to come, so make sure to check back.

                                              ****WARNING: This is a LONG section****

So I’m stealing a bit (okay, a lot) here from Wedding Wire’s rating system.  I’ve rated each of our vendors based on (1) the quality of their service; (2) their responsiveness; (3) professionalism (including general attitude); (4) value for cost, i.e. was it worth the money we spent; and (5) flexibility, i.e. attitude and willingness to work with us throughout the ever-changing planning process. 

I’ve included detailed descriptions where I thought they were useful, as well as a general recommendation guide, including HIGHLY recommend, recommend, recommend with caution, and DO NOT recommend.  If I HIGHLY recommend someone, it means that I strongly suggest you find a way to work them into your budget; if I recommend someone, they’re definitely a solid vendor – not my favorite, but no big problems; if I recommend them with caution, use your best judgment as to whether the risks outweigh the benefits; and if I DO NOT recommend them, well, I’m sure you can figure that out. ;)

If you have any questions about our experiences with a specific vendor, please feel free to page me on the Cincinnati board, or the Planning and Etiquette board.  Or send me an email at hrparker at gmail dot com.

Note:  Looking over this, I’m feeling like quite the idiot noticing all of the “10s” -- it feels like the equivalent of those knotties who give everyone “A++s” --  but our vendors really were all that great (with the exceptions noted below).   I guess what I’m trying to say is – hire these peeps.  You won’t regret it. 

Photography
Steph Carson with Steph Carson Photography (assisted by the fabulous Menad and Steph Keller)
www.stephcarson.com
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
We’ve only seen our e-pics and a few photos from the wedding, but we’ve been blown away by Steph’s artistry.  Apparently so has everyone else, including one of my engaged coworkers who decided the moment she saw our teaser pics that she HAD to have Ms. Carson at her wedding (if you’re reading this, Steph, please let her down gently if you can’t / don’t want to do a NYC affair – she seriously spent about three hours staring at your blog at work today!).  I’d say more, but I think the pictures speak for themselves.  You can see them on her blog, listed above. 

Responsiveness:  10/10
I think the only time I had to wait more than a day or two for a response was when Steph was on one of her overseas jaunts (j.e.a.l.o.u.s.!)

Professionalism: 10/10

Value for Cost: 10/10
Worth every penny we spent and then some – in fact, I’m kinda wishing now we’d gone for package A, just so we could have even more Carson fabulousness.  ::sigh:: 

Flexibility: 10/10
Flexible was Steph’s middle name.  She was willing to come to New York to do our e-pics, and when I screwed up by failing to make sure the museum was open for our planned shoot, she quickly came up with an alternate location – in a city she doesn’t even live in! – and we got some absolutely gorgeous shots.  And when hair/makeup/putting on the dress ran late on the day of, Steph improvised to come up with some great shots with our limited timeframe.

Videography
Matt Pine & Scott Reith with Lifetime Video
www.lifetime-video.com
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
What can I say here?  Matt was the very first vendor we booked, even before the fabulous Ms. Carson – his work is really that good.  Matt is a visionary and an artist, and his ability to capture the (T)ruth of a moment is unmatched in the videography world.  He was my go-to person throughout the planning process for suggestions on vendors and other wedding ideas, and I am incredibly grateful for his recommendations.

If you haven’t seen Lifetime’s work, stop reading this review and visit their website NOW.  The pre-trailer Matt provided his absolutely stunning.  We can’t wait to see the rest.

Responsiveness: 10/10
Matt always got back to me with 24 hours, usually before that. 

Professionalism: 10/10

Value for Cost: 10/10
I’m actually shocked that Lifetime is still charging as little as they charge.  Maybe I’m biased from my time in Manhattan, but the quality of work that they provide would easily be worth double or triple their rate here in the city. You Cinti gals are getting a steal.

Flexibility: 10/10
I'm sure that I caused a few grey hairs to pop up over at the Lifetime office with my frequent possible changes, but if I did, Matt never let on. They were all incredibly accommodating. 

Floral Design
Katie Elfers with Inspired Floral Design
www.katieelfers.com
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
Just check out our pics.  Katie went above and beyond our expectations.  Our non-chuppah chuppah was absolutely gorgeous, my bouquet was fabulous, the girls’ bouquets were fabulous, and the table designs / centerpieces had our guests talking all night long.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it here again - I don’t think you’ll find a more innovative, creative, knowledgeable florist anywhere in Cincinnati.  Katie thinks outside the box and is incredibly passionate about her work – and it shows.

Responsiveness: 10/10
Katie was always extremely prompt when returning emails or phone calls.  I think we had our estimate within three or four days, and any changes were shared within a couple days after I requested them.

Professionalism: 10/10
I can honestly say that I was a little wary meeting with her at first because she didn’t have an office for us to visit (we met at a super nifty coffee shop in Kentucky), but by the end of that first meeting, I felt completely at ease.  And her website is definitely the most professional I’ve seen.

Value for Cost: 10/10
We booked Katie before her rates increased, so she was definitely worth everything we spent, and a ton more.  Even at her new rates, the kind of talent she provides is still a steal.

Flexibility: 10/10
I don’t know how many times I changed plans, but it seems like every time I talked to her I was asking for something new or different.  Katie was always extremely accommodating.  Even when our guest count dropped dramatically two weeks out (and AFTER our final order was due), Katie still did her best to accommodate are changed plans.  Book her.  You won’t regret it.

Wedding Coordinator
Kristen and Rick Kloth with Tres Chic Event Planning
www.treschiceventplanning.com
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
O.M.G.  Book Kristen, and book her NOW.  I BPH Kristen.  I honestly do not know how our wedding would have happened if it were not for Kristen and her fabulous husband Rick.  Kristen took everything off my hands Thursday afternoon before our Saturday wedding, and it was fantastic.  All I had to do was show up and smile.  Fantastic!  Either she or the CC (in any case, I’m sure she supervised) handled the set up of our semi-elaborate table scheme, including personalized menu/place cards, favors, candles, etc.  And when I forgot to mark the table cards with guests’ meal choice (oops!), Kristen took care of it for me.  They also packed up everything at the end of the night.  Oh, and when “fights” broke out between what Joe and I wanted and what our officiant wanted, Kristen handled it.  I love her for that, really I do.  Again, BOOK HER!

Responsiveness: 10/10
Immediate, or almost immediate, responses every time.

Professionalism: 10/10

Value for Cost: 10/10
Like Katie, we booked Kristen before her rates increased, so we REALLY got a deal.  Even at her new rates, the peace of mind she provides is worth it.

Flexibility: 10/10
I’m surprised Kristen doesn’t have a full head of grey hair after dealing with our wedding and all the changes, but she handled it all with a smile.  Again, I BPH Kristen.

Makeup Artist
Nancy Dawson with Brideface
www.brideface.com
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
As my bridesmaid put it – “you look gawgeous dahling!”  Really, though, Nancy is fabulous.  I wanted a glam look, but not a drag look, and Nancy provided that fabulously.  Foundation looked flawless, lips were the perfect color, and the lashes – oh, the lashes.  If for no other reason, you should hire Nancy for her lashes (and the black lash glue that she uses! ;) ).  Nancy also did a trial for me, painted my face at Steph Carson’s open house, and did my make-up for my b-pics.  Each time she was absolutely fabulous.  And she made the entire wedding party look fabulous as well.  Hire her.

Responsiveness: 10/10

Professionalism: 10/10
You should see her kit!  Anything and everything you could ever need or want to make you look your best is contained therein – even more important, she knows how to use it all. 

Value for Cost: 10/10
Worth every penny.  I know there are some less expensive make up artists in town, but none of them come close to the artistry that Nancy provides. 

Flexibility: 10/10

Hair Stylist
Sam Hills with Salon Cherry Bomb
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
I found Sam through a recommendation of Nancy at Brideface.  I told her I wanted red carpet hair, not “bridal” hair, and her immediate suggestion was Sam.  Thanks Nancy!  My hair looked fabulous, my wonderful ladies’ hair looked fabulous, Sam was fabulous.  For realz.  He’s such a great person to be around (he definitely made the morning more fun), and he was able to keep a “theme” going throughout the entire bridal party (40’s glam) without making it too theme-y, and while making every wonderful lady look gorgeous in her own way.

Sam should move to NYC to become my stylist.  It’s fun here, Sam, I promise.  ::bats eyelashes:: 

Responsiveness: 9/10
In general, I think Sam got back quickly.  I think there was only one time I failed to hear back, but it was when I was freaking out close to the wedding date, so I deducted a point for additional stress.

Professionalism: 10/10

Value for Cost: 10/10
Sam required a minimum number of people (I think it was three), and his prices were incredibly reasonable.  I think they may have gone up recently (he was named the best stylist in Cincinnati at the end of last year), but I’d say he’s still worth it if you’re wanting glam instead of prom curls.

Flexibility: 10/10

Reception Entertainment
DJ Toad
www.djtoad.com
HIGHLY Recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
Absolutely fabulous.  We gave him only three instructions: (1) No country – except for the father/daughter dance; (2) No hardcore rap – no scaring the elderly guests; and (3) No cheese.  I had guests coming up to me all night asking me how I’d come up with such a great playlist, but really, the magic was all him.  He picked the perfect songs for dinner, and great songs for the dancing.  He even had the mothers and their friends up boogying.  It was great.  J  I think the entire night, there was only ONE song that he played that cleared the dance floor.  The rest of the time it was packed.  I had

Responsiveness: 9/10
Almost always heard back from him right away. Towards the end, I felt a little like I couldn’t reach him to discuss our playlist, but apparently we didn’t really need to anyway.

Professionalism: 9/10
Okay, so he probably really deserves a 10 for the day of but those glasses kind of threw us and our guests for a loop – check out my pics to see his completely funky eyewear – fabulous, but not exactly wedding appropriate!  ;)

Value for Cost: 10/10
We got a “friends and family” discount with DJ Toad, so his services were definitely worth it.  Knowing what we know now, we would still have booked him at his regular rate, though – he’s good. 

Flexibility: 10/10

Ceremony & Cocktail Hour Music
Stephen Nordstrom with Quartet Zaria
HIGHLY recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
The music during the ceremony was great, from what I’ve been told (I was a little distracted ;) ).  We’d heard horror stories about students playing poorly, but this quartet is absolutely fabulous.  They came dressed professionally, and played beautifully.  I will say that we probably didn’t need them for the cocktail hour – no one could hear them over the chatter in the atrium – but that definitely wasn’t the quartet’s fault.

Responsiveness: 9/10
Sometimes it was difficult to get a response from Steven, but overall I was happy with m experience.

Professionalism: 9/10
My biggest complaint here is that Steven is a bit…touchy….about his status as a “professional.”  When I asked if I could have a sample mp3 of their music (we obviously couldn’t go hear them play since we live in NYC), he got VERY offended and acted like I was accusing him of not being a professional.  His attitude on this issue I considered very unprofessional.

Value for Cost: 10/10
Quartet Zaria is a CCM group, so their rates are much lower than your typical ceremony musicians, but they’re musical ability was just as good, if not better.

Flexibility: 9/10

Venue (Ceremony and Reception) & Catering
The Cincinnati Club / Davis Catering
www.cincinnaticlubbuilding.com
Recommend

Quality of Service: 8/10
Overall, the service was great. Food was yummy, plating was nice, etc.  And the location is gorgeous.  I did have the following complaints though: (1) the lack of a bar downstairs. They use long tables and pull the beer out of a cooler from behind L - this could be avoided if you used the Oak Room upstairs, where there is a bar; (2) the fact that they ran out of champagne (apparently we went through THREE CASES by the end of the cocktail hour); (3) they served our meals too late (the bride and grooms’), meaning our food was cold by the time we got to eat it; and, finally, (4) they changed the veggie entrée by removing the Portobello mushroom cap in which the risotto was supposed to be served, but didn’t tell me they were doing so.  We’re arguing with them right now about whether we’ll get a discount for those dishes.

Responsiveness: 9/10
In the beginning, I definitely had some problems getting responses to my questions, but as we got closer to the date, the CC was much better about getting back to us ASAP.

Professionalism: 9/10
When we first met with them, we weren’t incredibly impressed with their professionalism (I think the person who met with us to show us the place might even have been in sweatpants), but the venue is so gorgeous that we booked anyway, and we’re so glad that we did. 

Value for Cost: 10/10
The Cincinnati Club and The Phoenix were at almost exactly the same price point when we booked, but I think we got a bit better value with the CC.  The food, particularly the appetizers during the cocktail hour, was fantastic.  We actually just got our final bill from them and the fact that Joe didn’t have a heart attack when we opened it says a lot!

Flexibility: 9/10
We had a bit of resistance to our rectangular-instead-of-round table idea, but other than that, CC was great when we needed to make changes, i.e. when we wanted to move the location of the bar, when we needed to get in early to set up our non-chuppah chuppah, when we had our mini sorbets delivered early, and when I wanted to switch to having our champagne passed with our hibiscus flower garnish.

Printing
Letterpress with Kevin with Jazyrain
www.jazyrain.com
Recommend

Quality of Service: 9/10
The letterpressing was absolutely gorgeous.  My only complaint is that I wish the paper could have been thicker, but I think that was our own fault (any thicker paper would have burst open our pocket folders).  We also had a few issues with changing file types on fixing things (I designed all of our paper products myself), but, again, overall we were pleased.

Responsiveness: 8/10

Professionalism: 8/10
Meh, I had some problems with lateness, and will an extra charge popping up for some things, but over all everything went great.

Value for Cost: 10/10
Kevin seriously had the lowest prices around for letterpress printing.  I think he’s raised them since then, but he’s definitely still worth looking into.

Flexibility: 10/10

Calligraphy
Danae with eDanae’s Art and Calligraphy (Etsy)
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=93875
Recommend with caution

Quality of Service: 10/10
Danae’s calligraphy is GORGEOUS.  Simply stunning.  There’s no way for me to get around giving her a ten for the quality of the work she provides.  We actually had at least ten guests contact us specifically to talk about the envelopes, they were that good.

Responsiveness: 6 /10
Danae was sometimes difficult to reach by email, or by phone, which caused quite a few problems when we were down to the wire in getting everything done on time.

Professionalism: 3/10
Here’s where the problems come in.  Our invites actually went out a few days late because Danae was so late in getting them back to us; first, she couldn’t finish them because of the snow storm, then because her kids were sick, then, well, you get the picture.  Then, when it came time to ship them (and we needed them overnighted they were so late), she got to the Fed Ex location and realized her credit card was expired.  So she emailed ME (thank god I was home), and asked me to either give her my credit card information (yeah right!) or to set up an account with Fed Ex so she could use that account to ship the envelopes.  I set up the account and forwarded the account number so we could get our envelopes as soon as possible.

She only agreed to over HALF the cost of the overnight shipping (even though the need to ship overnight was because of her mistakes), and also agreed to do 50 of our table cards for free to make up for he mistake.  Unfortunately, when I asked about the table cards, she told me she wouldn’t have time to do them because she’d just received a group of rush orders, and I have yet to receive compensation for her half of the shipping costs. L

Value for Cost: 9/10

Again, her work is gorgeous, and her rates our fair for the quality she provides.  You can find calligraphy for quite a bit less, but it’s nowhere near as good.

Flexibility:n/a

Bakery
Maribelle Cakery
www.maribellecakerycincinnati.com
HIGHLY Recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous cake.  We weren’t thrilled with the chocolate cake (more on that below), but our other guests liked it, and everyone loved the white chocolate with mocha raspberry filling and the orange butter with strawberry cream cheese filling.  Maribelle cake = Yum!

Responsiveness: 9/10
Generally heard back right away.

Professionalism: 8/10
Had a couple of problems with mix-ups in payment, and a BIG problem in terms of cake flavors.  At our first meeting, we had discussed having three cake flavors (chocolate, white chocolate, and orange butter).  At the end of the meeting, we decided to nix the chocolate in favor of more orange butter and we discussed this change during several phone calls with them.  However, when our DoC Kristen spoke with them closer to the date, they told her that they had no record of the change and would not make it.  Grrrrr….

Value for Cost: 10/10
Yes, I know.  Maribelle is the most expensive bakery in town.  But once you try their cake, you’ll understand why.  And, unlike a certain other large, well-known bakery in town, they don’t freeze their cakes at all (and YES, this other bakery DOES freeze their cakes no matter what else you’ve heard).

Flexibility: 7/10
See the professional bit above.  I KNOW that we discussed the chang (I have notes of all of it), and even though Kristen contacted them before they’d even started making the cake, they were unwilling to budge. 

Favors
Neuhaus Chocolatier
www.neuhaus-chocolates.com
Recommend

Quality of Service: 10/10
The chocolates were fantastic, and our guests loved them.  Neuhaus boxed them and wrapped them in pretty gold paper with a white bow (for free – though I think they normally charge for this service) and shipped them overnight.  They were a big hit. 

Responsiveness: 9/10
The first person I worked with was FANTASTIC.  Unfortunately, she left the company about a month before the wedding and all hell broke loose in terms of the order and me getting responses.  It all worked out in the end, but I wasn’t entirely happy.

Professionalism: 9/10

Value for Cost: 9/10
Fabulous, but expensive.

Flexibility: 8/10
We actually had to change our chocolate choices TWICE through no fault of our own (the company discontinued some flavors and was having problems importing others), and the new choices were in no way “bad” chocolates, but we didn’t receive any of the discount that they promised us for our trouble.  ::grumble::

Lodging / Day-After Brunch
The Cincinnatian
Recommend

Quality of Service: 7/10
Our actual stay at the Cincinnatian was fabulous.  The room was great - so great, in fact, that we decided to just stay in one of the regular rooms instead of upgrading to a suite for the HM night (saving us lots of $$$).  The problems really happened with our brunch.  The day after I checked in (I stayed at the Cincinnatian for three days leading up to the wedding), I went to the Palace Restaurant to let them know that we would be hosting a brunch the morning after the wedding.  They took down the time and the approximate number of guests.  However, when we arrived the morning after, the restuarant acted as if they had no idea to expect the 20 guests, and were INCREDIBLY slow getting our orders.  No on refilled our drinks, and half the table was finished eating before the other half even received their food.  At one point my father actually got up and picked up a pitcher of water to serve everyone, and we had to spend 20 minutes finding a server to gve us a check - and we were the ONLY party in the restauarant at that point in time, so it wasn't as if they were too busy to help us.

Responsiveness: 8/10
Hotel deserves a 10.  Every time I called to request something (a mirror to hang the dress on, a pair of scissors, glue, etc) they were there immediately with whatever I needed.  See above for why they only get an 8.

Professionalism: 9/10
Except for the Palace staff, everyone - from the front desk to the valets to the cleaning staff - was VERY professional.

Value for Cost: 9/10
The Cincinnatian is an expensive place to stay.  But it's also one of the few 4 stars hotels in town.  I do know that several of our guests were able to get REALLY good rates (lower than our block rate) just by checking Expedia.

Flexibility: 10/10
The front desk deserves this rating.  We actually changed our reservation FOUR times once we were checked in, and not once did they even bat an eye.  These people really were fantastic.

Printing Menus/Tablecards/Brochures
Staples and Kinkos
HIGHLY Recommend

If you’re in NYC, go to the Staples at 81st and Broadway – they actually kept the store open late just to help me finish printing my menus and tablecards the night before I flew to Ohio.  If you’re in Cincinnati, go to the Kinkos at 5th and Vine and ask for Amy – she saved me the night before my RD when I was printing out last minute menus and our brochures and welcome letters for the OOT bags.