We had difficulty in finding a venue for the rehearsal dinner because our dinner was held on Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving). Most restaurants wanted to have as much space available to offer to shopping patrons, and thus would not book a 40-person rehearsal dinner. Luckily, The Ram was willing to accommodate us for a very reasonable price. Also, the coordinator for The Ram was very flexible in working with my mother-in-law, who is in Alabama, to plan the dinner. We chose to do a 6-item menu rather than a buffet in order to accommodate everyone’s preferences, which was well-received by the attendees. The service was good despite the large number of individuals, and everyone that was asked responded positively about the quality of the food.

My husband and I held both our ceremony and reception in the Crowne Room at the Hilton North, which is the big round room that is visible from the outside of the hotel. The room is gorgeous and has plenty of space for a large guest list. Also, the hotel is very nice and can arrange for guest accommodations as well.

The initial coordinator at the Hilton was Tory Worland, who was fantastic to work with. Unfortunately, he left the company less than 1 week before our wedding. Thus, we had to change coordinators with little time to spare. The coordinator that we worked with was a temporary replacement from another Hilton property. She was very nice, but not fantastic as was Tory. She was much less involved during the wedding day than Tory had planned to be, such as with organizing all of the vendors and making sure that things went as planned. Also, there was a mistake in our hors d’oeuvres menu. We ended up having beef skewers rather than beef brochette. We are not sure where the miscommunication happened, but it may have been related to changing coordinators.

Overall, the Hilton was a good choice for a venue. I cannot speak for the current coordinator as most of our experience was with Tory, but I can speak very positively for the head chef (great guy, great food), the front desk staff (very helpful and nice to all of our guests), and the coordinator for our guest room block. It was great to give our guests the opportunity to book a room, which took away the concern for individuals driving under the influence of alcohol after the reception. This was important to us.

One other negative to having everything at the Hilton is that there really isn’t a good area for photography. We took a lot of pictures in hallways and in an empty banquet room, which turned out “okay” but not as beautiful as we would have liked.

J. Scott Photography is a husband-and-wife business with Jamie, the husband, as the main photographer. Jamie does beautiful work, and combines artistic photography with traditional portrait work. Despite the fact that our venue (the Hilton North) did not offer very many pretty picture-taking spots, Jamie was able to work with what was available and get a lot of phenomenal shots.

The package deals are pretty standard, with a pricing system that is based on the number of hours that the photographers are there and whether you hire just Jamie or add in Brandy. Also, your photographs are placed in an online gallery so that your guests can browse them and purchase what they want. This was an important feature for us since many of our friends and family are out-of-town.

If you are looking for a social photographer that is going to be talking to your guests and making friends, Jamie and Brandy are not for you. Jamie is very clear about his role as the photographer, which is to have his eye in the camera taking photographs. This was perfect for my husband and I, and Jamie took hundreds of proofs during the wedding day as promised rather than speaking with guests. Jamie is also very clear and straightforward to work with prior to the big day. This is helpful during the chaos of your wedding day, as you have already covered what you want and do not want, and Jamie is able to capture just that rather than having to ask you. I was pleased with his work and would use him again in the future.

My husband and I wanted to have an all-in-one civil ceremony and reception in one location, rather than having a church ceremony then a separate reception. Thus, we were looking for an officiant that was flexible in the design of our ceremony and could travel to our venue. We also wanted an individual that possessed a sense of humor. We found that in David Daniels of Just Perfect Weddings. Not only was Dave willing to officiate our wedding the way we wanted, he is also creative and brought a lot of great ideas to us. Also, Dave takes care of sending in the paperwork for you after the wedding. All in all, a great choice for us.

Using the Men’s Wearhouse for the tuxedos was very convenient, as the company is nation-wide and groomsmen/ushers that are not in the area of the wedding can easily stop in to get measured and to place their order. All of the tuxes looked great, and everyone’s order was on-time and perfect. The Castleton location by the mall was the location that my husband and my father used, and the staff there is very knowledgeable and extremely friendly.

We got our invitations through Ann’s Bridal Bargains, which is an online (but Indiana-based) company. The prices are unbeatable, and the quality of the invitations was stellar. We received all of our orders very quickly after placing them. I highly recommend this company to the bride on a budget. The available designs are simple, but pretty.

Do Not Use Adriene’s Flowers for your wedding, although it is a good flower shop to visit if you are in need of a bouquet or plant that you are planning to take with you. At first, I was impressed by Steven (the owner) and his straight-to-the-point style of doing business. However, he cannot keep his paperwork straight and this caused him to get our order wrong. My bridesmaids were supposed to carry 4 white roses with gold dusting, and my Maid and Matron of Honor were supposed to carry 6 each. When my grandmother arrived at the hotel with my flowers on the day of my wedding, there were only 3 roses each for my bridesmaids and 4 each for my Maid and Matron of Honor. All of the other flowers were correct, and they were beautiful. Although I was irritated, I quickly got over it and went about my day.

My anger came later when I attempted to contact Steven to receive a refund for the flowers that were omitted. There were 10 roses omitted, and at $5.50 per rose that ended up being a significant amount of money that I was owed. I was able to talk with Steven once on the phone about the mistake, and he promised to look at his paperwork and call me back. After a few weeks and numerous phone calls, I finally gave up and decided to cut my losses. The Adriene’s location from which I ordered my flowers is out of business (Fishers), but I hear that Adriene’s in Noblesville is still open.

I found this company through a family member, and was generally happy with the service. We contracted DiscTurners to be both the Master of Ceremony and the Reception DJ, and we also purchased additional lighting for the ceremony and reception to jazz up the Crowne Room. Our ceremony and reception were deejayed by the owner and his wife.

Pre-wedding communication with the deejays was great, particularly as some of our music selections were somewhat obscure and there was difficulty obtaining those selections. The ceremony went off very gracefully. However, I was disappointed by two things at the reception. First, the deejays took a song request that was on my No-Play list. Then, when a friend realized that I was upset, he ran to the deejay to have it stopped. Rather than fading out the song and starting another, the song stopped abruptly before another one began. Also, the deejay requested that all of the guests at the reception come out to the dance floor for a “special well-wishing to the happy couple”. All guests obliged, and once everyone was there the deejay then proceeded to announce “okay, group photo! Where is the photographer?” This was awkward and it irritated my photographer, which is not exactly what a bride wants at her wedding reception.

Overall, DiscTurners is a good company and they do have several different individuals that can be hired, depending upon your personal style. I would use them again if I were in need of a DJ service.

The official order for our wedding cake was completed through the Hilton as part of my catering package. However, I can attest that Taylor’s Bakery is a phenomenal company that designs simple, but beautiful wedding cakes. Our wedding colors were navy and gold, and Taylor’s made a white cake with a blue swiss-dot design that was actually navy, rather than the electric blue that you often see with cake icing. At least 20 guests commented on how wonderful the cake was.

If you are looking for lots of attention and a swank store from which to buy your bridesmaid dresses, Bridal Outlet is not for you. However, I initially entered the Bridal Outlet because I was able to walk in the door and look around at dresses without being hassled. My initial plan had been to go to another, nicer place when I found the dress that I wanted. However, I could not find another store that carried the particular dress that I wanted without spending an additional $20 per bridesmaid. So, I ordered through Bridal Outlet in order to save my bridesmaids some money.

Unfortunately, 4 of my 8 bridesmaids had to order via telephone, as they live out-of-state. 2 of them had a decent experience with this, and 2 did not. In talking later, we discovered that the 2 girls had spoken with the same woman, whose name I cannot remember. She was not well-informed on the sizing particulars for the brand of dress that I ordered, and nearly forced the bridesmaids to order dresses that were completely the wrong size. Also, not all of the women that work there dress in a professional manner, and often you must search for a salesperson in order to get help. However, it is cheaper than other stores, and if you are a do-it-yourself kind of person this may be a choice for you.