Megan Pettry of Creative Edge Photography was great. She stayed with us throughout the day and night, taking pictures as we got ready before the ceremony, during the ceremony, family pictures, wedding portraits, and then at the reception. My favorite photos of hers are the pictures she took of my husband and me after the ceremony. Very arty and she made us feel comfortable.

The Perrin House is just beautiful. It’s an historic home that’s been updated recently in a primarily traditional style but with modern touches. In other words, it’s a bed-and-breakfast without the sort-of-creepy overly Victorian look. We stayed in the Rush room, primarily because it features a tall, very grand bed. The attached bathroom was also nice, with a claw foot tub.

The next morning we had their breakfast at the dining room table with a few other guests. While we would have preferred to dine alone, the delicious meal more than made up for that. It was a fresh, comforting, and inventive breakfast.

A lovely place for us to spend our first night together as a married couple.

We rented audio equipment and white chair slipcovers from Midwest Rentals. The slipcovers made SUCH a difference at our wedding. While the chairs at Duncan Hall are pretty, the slipcovers brightened up the room and brought the whole look together. Customer service was good; the staff was laid-back when we brought the wrong credit card, for example, and had to leave and come back. All in all, a breeze.

While we had a fine experience at The Outpost for our rehearsal dinner, I give this vendor a 3 because of all the horrible things that happened to other people we knew who had booked them around the same time. Basically, we knew two different groups of people who had found out their date and time was double-booked. For any kind of wedding function, that’s a total nightmare.

Our event, however, was fine. The food was fair and the room was nice and clean. We were able to use their equipment together with our laptop to run a slideshow of pictures from our childhood.

This was the perfect place for our wedding. I wish I could show pictures! We had our entire day there, from getting ready in the two upper parlors, to the ceremony in the ballroom in front of their giant windows, to the cocktail hour in a side parlor, to the reception dinner in the ballroom. They included just about everything, including china and glassware. It was fairly reasonably priced. And it was so beautiful. The venue is very unique, in that it was somewhat like having your wedding at a very rich person’s house. The ballroom has incredible character. Our guests were impressed.

Duncan Hall was the perfect venue for our reception. We had a party of about 100 guests, which was a great size for this moderate-sized ballroom. 150 probably would have fit comfortably, as well. The character of the building, with its parlor rooms, added a lot to the wedding atmosphere. There was space for us to have a cocktail hour in a side room while we turned the ballroom from our ceremony setup to our dinner setup. Our bridal party had dinner on the stage and the rest of our guests were on the ballroom floor, with a space in between for dancing.

I do recommend renting their plate service, which in the end saved time and effort, even though their china wouldn’t have been my first pick. Once the food is on the plates, you don’t even notice! I also recommend renting your own slipcovers and long tablecloths. The long tablecloths make the setup look much more formal and luxurious than what is provided by Duncan Hall.

Perhaps because the ballroom is not too big, we were successfully able to arrange our own music, using a rented speaker system and our laptop.

A lovely place for a traditional but still intimate wedding reception.

Stone House Restaurant is a family-owned business and has that small-town feel. Unfortunately, they didn’t have their own contract and were a little more casual about the arrangement than a bride likes. I finally got them to sign a contract that I put together.

The meal was EXTREMELY affordable for what we had planned. Unfortunately, the result was not top-notch. I heard complaints about the steak in particular, which was a little embarrassing. A case of “you get what you pay for.”

I had a good experience with Netbride. We had the girls try on their Watters & Watters dresses at a local shop (I know; it’s cheating!) and then order at a discount from Netbride. My maid of honor’s mom did their alterations, so we didn’t need that from a bridal shop. The dresses arrived in perfect condition, on time.

I went everywhere looking for a bridal gown. The dresses I liked didn’t look good on me, and vice-versa. I even bought one gown I ended up not using! When all else failed, I remembered Lois Jaques, who had made my senior prom dress and was a known wedding dressmaker in my hometown. Together, we designed exactly what I was looking for. For the price of a very plain gown from a bridal store, I got a completely custom dress with 4 different fabrics, including silks, and incredible detail. Lois is such a joy to work with.

Lois Jaques made my dress, so alterations weren’t exactly a part of it. But if I had gotten my dress from a bridal shop, I certainly would have hired her for my alterations, as she’s done them for me before. She’s excellent and fun to work with.