Did you know that you can BUY tablecloths cheaper than you can rent them? I found that out when dealing with chair cover express. They made me 20 Custom tablecloths for far less than it would have cost me to rent them. They also delivered the chair covers and sashes, and for a small fee set up the entire room, including the tablecloths. At the end of the evening, they were there to remove all of the chair covers and sashes, and they even removed my tablecloths and placed them in large bags so that my parents could get them home. The tablecloths are machine washable, which makes them ideal for reuse!

They have a private room upstairs that fit our 50 rehearsal dinner guests perfectly. We got to customize our menu, as well as our bar. We had a bartender/server, who was on top of things, but not in our way. It was an intimate affair with wonderful food.

They can save you 40% off Carlson Craft Invitations, and they are the same ones you could get at any party store. Ours arrived within 3 days – not 3 weeks! They did arrive with a typo on their part, and they fixed it, and shipped the correct ones to me the very next day!

My mother is picky, and Laura the owner rolled with the punches. She wanted her corsage to be the most special, and Laura obliged. I wanted something different, but I still wanted classic roses, and Laura created a rolled rose petal boutonnière for the guys. I thought I wanted a very small simple bouquet, but Laura explained that you want your bouquet to be proportional to your hip size. My bouquet was simple and beautiful, and just the right size. They even provided me with vases for my head table, which I was not expecting at all. And after our honeymoon when opening our gifts, we found a beautiful antique looking vase in our gift pile from Laura and her staff. They were easy to work with (even if we were not) and they delivered on every promise, with a few surprises.

We were able to choose our own wine for our mini bottles, design our own label with a photo of ourselves, and then after it had been made, John, the owner allowed us to come in and bottle our own wine. This was a unique experience, and my husband and I will remember that for a while. Our guest really appreciated the wine. We put an extra bottle in the welcome baskets for our guests as they arrived at the hotel. John printed a different photo label for those bottles that said welcome instead of Thank you like our reception wine did. The only complaint that we have is that the red did not keep much past 6 months. The white is still kicking (we had leftovers, and occasionally we will pull a bottle for dinner). Overall great experience with a local vendor.

Words can’t describe how happy we were with our dueling pianos. For a very reasonable rate (when you compare to a DJ in the Detroit area) We got 2 dueling pianos, and musicians. They covered their own travel expenses, as well as coordinated the arrival of the slam jam pianos. They allowed us to customize our reception to the point where I was able to change the words to a song that my husband danced with his mother to so that it was accurate for them. We have been to many weddings where the guests leave shortly after dinner. 95% of our guest were still dancing the night away at 1:00 when the venue kicked us all out!

Beautiful doesn’t do this chapel justice. A former Catholic Seminary, the perfectly polished marble floors will captivate you. The only drawback, 6 months of wedding preparations, including a weekend retreat. One of you also has to be catholic. There was a lot of red tape to cross in order to have our ceremony here. The nice part was that our reception was also in the same building, and so was the hotel, which was one stop shopping for our guest. You do not have to have your reception at this location to have your wedding here.

The food was OUTSTANDING, the portions so large that I don’t think a single guest finished their meal. The service was wonderful. The head table, and both parents table got their own dedicated server, which was nice after a long day. For those three tables, drinks were brought to you, so you never had to get up to go to the bar. We had ours in the atrium, which was beautiful. It has a glass ceiling so it was bright for dinner, and then got dark, and candle light for the dancing. Very romantic.

The only complaint that I had was that when you are more than a month away from your wedding it is hard to get a phone call returned, or a question answered, but they do turn on the charm a month out, making sure you feel like you are the only Bride that they are dealing with.

The guest rooms here are beautiful. The beds are comfortable, and the staff polite. The only complaint that we had was that my husband and I paid for our bridal party’s rooms, and they must not have taken very good notes, because they not only charged us – but also each member of our bridal party – which was a bummer for them, because they had that charge on their credit card until we returned from our Honeymoon. The problem was taken care of when we brought it to their attention.

My cake was exactly what I wanted, plus – her cakes are 100% homemade, including the fillings. We had a real fruit filling in one of our layers, and it didn’t taste sugary and canned like some of them do. Her cakes are the type of cakes that guests taste, and then start making plans to steal more pieces and take them out to their cars! She can do butter cream, which is what I wanted, but she can also do fondant. She has some really great cake pictures on her website, but she is open to hearing what you want. She is willing to sit down with you personally so that she knows that you are getting what you wanted. The prices were fair for the quality of the cakes. We got a large sheet cake that she filled to look just like the regular wedding cake when it was cut. This made sure we had enough cake, but that my wedding cake could still be what I wanted it to be.

This venue was the perfect fit for the 35 people I had at my shower. We got a nice historical room in the front of the old farm house all to ourselves. The food was really good – but when I learned that they had it catered in from another local establishment, I was appalled at the price up charge (Plus you had to pay a room rental fee). The service wasn’t great. Even though we had a designated server, my mom and sister spent the entire shower refilling glasses, and clearing plates.

Be aware that Bridal show “contests” are a fraud. We went to a show in the Detroit area one weekend, and then the Grand Rapids show the next weekend. Would you believe I won a FREE Honeymoon from the same company BOTH weekends! After doing some investigating, that particular company has had to change their names several times to avoid people catching on. They have stranded countless couples in popular destinations with fraudulent “reservations.” If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is!

My other comment about this show (and all shows) is that the bridal gown fashion show consists of all size 2-4 models. Hello ladies. I am a size 14 – and I am proud of my body. But it is really hard to imagine what that size 2 dress is going to look like on me. I did write a letter to the association encouraging them to get some REAL models. I believe that if they didn’t let the bridal companies participate unless they had a wide range of sizes, then we as the consumers would get a better show as a result.