Vendor Review

June 9, 2007
Farmington Hills and Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan
(click on pictures for a larger view)

Bella Bridal Gallery – B+
My Dress
I love my dress and I love the location of Bella and most of the time I loved going to Bella, my dress wasn’t available anywhere else in the state (as a sample). There were a few occasions that I felt uncomfortable though because I didn’t order my bridesmaids dresses there or get my alterations done there, but that is understandable that they would want both of those pieces of business I guess and I got great service most of the time I was there. I also was disappointed that they didn’t carry Maggie Sotero, it made comparing my two final choices difficult, but I know different salons have different designers.

Netbride – A
Bridesmaids Dresses
Netbride was quick to give me quotes, the ordering process was easy and the dresses came in 2 months ahead of schedule and all in great condition. The sizing was off, but I think that is the designers fault.

Gourmet Invitations – A
Invitations
Tifany was great to work with and I got so many compliments on my invitations. Everyone said they were the nicest invitations they had ever received (seriously that is what I was told over and over, I’m not AWing). One problem was that I had ordered my pocketfolds in landscape layout, but she made them in portrait layout. They still looked great, but not what I wanted because no where in her contracts is the orientation called out.

North Congregational Church – A/Mark Jensen – A
Ceremony/Rehearsal
This church has a strong connection to my family and is where we attend regularly. The church is beautiful and it was a great setting. I wish that Mark would have been a little more flexible with the rehearsal, but it all turned out just fine. I was able to talk them into letting us throw rice, so that was a bonus!

Detroit Yacht Club – A
Reception/Day after brunch
Ever since my parents became members of the DYC, I have dreamed of having my reception here. It was pretty much everything I had dreamed of. One minor problem was the power outage that they had, although that only affected a few of the outlets on our side of the building and they were quick to light all places that needed it with candles. Julia was quick to respond to my (many) emails and great to work with.

Cakes by Suzanne – B
Cake
I loved Sue’s cakes growing up so I figured cakes were not that big of a deal, I never got to eat my cake so I’m not sure how it tasted, but I do wish it would have looked a little more professionally done. She took the picture I gave her too literally, but in the end it was fine.

The Little Flower Shop – A
Flowers
I never cared much about flowers other than wanting daisies and Christie at TLFS was good about pulling ideas and direction from me by looking through a lot of pictures. They did a mock-up of my bouquet that was very helpful and I was so happy with all of the day of arrangements. One thing that I didn’t like – it was not made clear to me what needed to be returned to them so I left a few vases at the reception thinking they belonged to the DYC.

The Shooting Gallery/Dionne Haglund – A+
Photography
There is not much I can say about Dionne that hasn’t already been said on the Detroit board other than she really is as great as everyone says. From the first time we met at a bridal show and she gave me and my mom a hug through giving me advice on the wedding day she was always fantastic and her work speaks for itself.

Shamrock Video Productions/Mike McGrath – TBD
Videography
We were so happy to meet Mike! We had been searching for someone with his style of shooting who wasn’t going to cost me more than $2000. We have not seen a final product yet though, so I will wait to give him a grade but he was good on the day of.

Rent-a-DJ/Kevin – B-
Reception Music
We liked Kevin & Kelly when we met with them and we got discounts by using both them and Dionne so we just booked them. I was so afraid of having a cheesy DJ but I thought Kevin seemed like he would be OK. He was OK – I wished I would have gone to see him in action ahead of time because there were a few things he did that I could have lived without, but overall he was respectful of my (demanding) ideas and he kept the party going all night. 2 things that I didn’t like – 1) we booked with Kevin and Kelly for our day. . . at our final meeting we were told that Kelly took another job and that we would have some assistant who I had never heard of before. Kelly had kind of sold herself on being an asset to me during the reception because she used to be a coordinator and I was disappointed that she would just back out. Turns out I was really disappointed because Kevin had originally suggested taking their extra lights to the DYC and when Kelly took the additional job those were tied up and they would have really come in handy with the power outage. And 2) in our contract I thought we were supposed to have 6 hours of music. Our cocktail hour started at 6:30 so when Kevin played the ‘last dance’ song at midnight I was a little taken aback – I didn’t do anything about it, but we were supposed to end the reception at 12:30

Luxury Limo Car & Coach – A
Transportation
This was all Jeremy’s department to work with them, but they were on time, the limo was stocked with what we had requested and he got us downtown in a shorter time that we had allotted for so it was great! The stereo didn’t really work and I forgot to burn a CD to play, but not sure that is the companies fault.

Sposa Seating – A+
Chair Covers/Table Linens
Maya was great to work with, she was very helpful and I totally had to splurge on my linens after seeing all that she had to offer. We were lucky enough to be the first to use this particular set of satin chair covers and the champagne sashes matched the colors in my dress perfectly! The whole room just glowed - I was so happy with everything

Larson’s Jewelry and Design – A+
Engagement Ring/Wedding Bands
Brian Larson is great to work with, he took all the time that we needed to go over diamond information when we first started looking at rings and he was great to lend advice when picking out bands. We will continue to use Larson’s for all future jewelry needs.

Men’s Warehouse – A
Tuxedos
We did everything with the Novi location and they were very helpful. They made sure that we were taking advantage of all the discounts available and that the rented tuxedos would match the owned tuxedos.

Gina Agosta Salon & Spa – A+
Hair/makeup/pre wedding pampering
I love this salon and have been going here for 12 years, but before my wedding prep I had really only ever seen John Agosta. While preparing I was able to get highlights & color, facial, mani/pedi, and of course my day of hair & make-up. Everything was great – John Paul did a fantastic job on my hair (and my sanity), my make up was great through the end of the night and my highlights and nails were perfect too!

Cudge.net – A-
Votive candles & holders
I ordered over 200 votive holders and candles and they all arrived in a timely manner, of all those, 3 were broken. I wrote to the company and they said they would ship replacements, I never got them though. Candles lasted through the entire night.

Steak & Ale – A-
Rehearsal Dinner
When we finally decided on a place we were happy with the private rooms that Steak & Ale offered. The meal selections were also great – we were able to offer our guests pretty much whatever we wanted for around $22 per person. I did not like the way the room was set up for the dinner and the waitress left one of our pre selected menu choices off her list when she was reciting them and then acted like I was wrong when I corrected her, but the food was great.

Hana Ayer – A+
Veil/Alterations
Hana saved my wedding day!! After losing 40 lbs my dress needed some major alterations and Hana really stepped up to the challenge, she did a lot of work on my dress and by the end it fit perfectly! Plus she was reasonably priced. She also made my veil and it was perfect.
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The Omni Riverfront - B
Hotel Block
Starr at the Omni was really great to work with, I felt like we got a great deal on rooms and the shuttle was invaluable to our guests (and us!). We did have a slight issue with the reservations process – we had several guests call and were told that the block expired or never existed when neither was true and were not able to get the reduced rate room until I contacted Starr and had it adjusted. I only know of the guests that mentioned it to me, I have no idea if even more were turned away or decided not to stay because of this problem. We did have a few guests upgraded to some huge penthouse suites (not sure why one of those upgrades wasn't us! lol)

Magnet Street Weddings – A
Save the Date Magnets
They were flexible with their designs so I could get the layout I wanted and they came in 1 ½ weeks earlier than scheduled

Vista Print - A
RD invitations
Vistaprint was easy and fast and best of all cheap!