akeith18's reviews

Blustery Day Design made us BEAUTIFUL wedding invitations! We had thought about DIYing invitations but I am so glad we did not. We emailed them and told them we wanted to stay at or below $3/piece for an invitation, reception card, reply card with envelope and an outer envelope (5 total pieces). She was able to stay within our budget and we did spend an extra $25 on cream, textured cardstock and $25 to have the reply card envelopes pre-addressed. We chose to hand-address the invitations. They can do any combination you are looking for but I think it's great that you can tell them your budget and they can help you make it work.

They are so good at creating something that perfectly fits within your vision for the wedding. The only heads up I would give is that it often takes a few days for them to respond to emails, etc. So if you're worried about not hearing back right away, that was pretty much the norm for us. Not really a big deal since we weren't in a huge hurry...and I'm sure that if you were, they'd be more apt to work more quickly.

A

Just 5 months before the wedding, I chose to switch makeup artists and was lucky enough that Nancy was still available on our date. Brideface REALLY is worth the money. I know that Cincy brides are well aware that she is a bit pricier than some alternatives but I am SO glad I had her for makeup. She and her great assistant, Jenny, did makeup for 10 women and I have never seen all of us look so beautiful. If you're going to spend money on great photography it makes no sense to not get the best makeup artist.

She uses great quality products and has a TON of industry experience. This is not a side job for Nancy-- believe it or not, she lives, eats, breathes and blogs nothing but makeup and skin care.

She uses false lashes with black glue (something your photographer will be thrilled and relieved to hear) on everyone and it such a blast to work with.

A+++

Our "splurge" of the wedding was with our photography. I am a big 'picture person' and we had the pleasure of seeing Steph's amazing talents when my husband's sister worked with her at her own wedding 2 years before our's. Steph truly is the BEST wedding photographer I have ever found. I spent months looking around for the right photographers and nobody compares. If at all possible, I strongly suggest finding other areas to cut back so that you can have someone like Steph. (I DIY'd flowers, programs, and various things to make room for this)

We were thrilled by our engagement photos about 6 months before the wedding and honestly blown away by our wedding photos. I believe our contract stated 300-400 pictures and we got 542 photos that I will cherish for a lifetime.

A++++

We DIY'd our flowers through The Flowerman in Dayton, Ohio. We went in for a meeting several months before the wedding day and received great insight and help from Stephanie about what flowers to choose based on my overall vision. I brought in pictures of what I was looking for and she did a great job of helping me pick the right flowers (because I didn't know a lot about flowers).

We chose to do their Sunday class 3 weeks before the wedding. For $40 a person, we received 2 dozen roses and 3 hours of instruction on constructing bouquets, corsages, bouts, pomeander balls, altar pieces, etc. I mention this because I think it gave us a leg up on the day we constructed all our wedding flowers because we knew what to expect in advance and worked more efficiently on the day.

We came in to do all the flowers on Thursday before the Sat. wedding. We did 6 bridesmaid bouquets, my bridal bouquet, and probably 25 total bouts and corsages. We also did a flower girl's pom ball and ordered 2 box lots of hydrangea (cheaper this way). I think we got A LOT for the money and while it definitely is a little stressful to DIY flowers, it was so rewarding to look at all of them on the big day and see our hard work come to life.

Anyone near Cincy/Dayton should at least make a consultation with Flowerman when shopping around for floral options.

A

We worked with Dan Blevins of CSC. Dan was very professional and easy to work with throughout the planning process and on the day of the wedding.

We are so glad we chose someone with a lot of industry experience who is professional and does not desire to be in the spotlight at a wedding reception. We wanted a DJ who was almost hard to notice and the spotlight would be on us and our guests on our special day.

Dan really knows how to get people up and dancing. Experience pays off when looking for a DJ and we keep hearing from our guests that our reception was the most fun party they've seen at a wedding and that they've never seen so many people on a dance floor for an entire night at a reception. Dan also does a great job of incorporating our music choices, requests but still using his talents to keep things moving.

A+

This is a tough one for us. During the planning process, I was very stressed about working with Rick from DiPaolo's. When planning a wedding, you want someone who is "on it" and cares as much about the details as you do. For the planning process, I would have given Rick a C at best.

However, despite my worries, we were THRILLED at the food and service at the reception. This was an on-site event for him (meaning we used the reception room at The Elms hotel where Rick's restaurant, DiPaolo's, is also located). We, as well as our guests, were so pleasantly surprised by everything he and his staff did to make our reception elegant and beautiful. To the best of my knowledge, people LOVED the food and were very well taken care of.

Food we chose was Chicken Piccata with artihoke hearts, meat lasagna, roasted potatoes, green beans, salad. Granted we were starved by the time we ate, but the food was terrific.

Day of: A

We are not big cake people, so when it came to finding a cake we wanted something that tastes and looks good but is also very affordable. We were also doing a candy bar as favors so we knew there would be plenty of sweets to go around.

We found the name of Frosted (located in Fairborn/Dayton, Ohio) from a friend and were impressed by Melissa's quick response. After meeting with her, she was clearly very reliable and we knew she'd be easy to work with. We chose a marble cake with buttercream frosting and a cream cheese filling. We heard that the cake tasted good but we only tasted it during the cake-cutting (which went by in a blur).

I thought the cake looked beautiful. We chose a simple round, 4 tier cake with little detail. I also had fresh green hydrangea waiting at the reception for Melissa to put in the top tier of the cake and cascading down the layers. She did a wonderful job and is very "on top of it".

A

I first found "the dress" at the Tri-County location in Cincinnati. Like many girls say, it's pretty hit or miss for service at David's Bridal. On some occasions, I have been blown away by the attentiveness and service of the staff and on other occasions I have been very disappointed.

I didn't have any issues with my dress, the ordering, etc. at David's. My bridesmaids ordered their dresses from either Tri-County or Kenwood locations in Cincy as well as a location near D.C. No issues with sizes, etc. but a few of the girls had minor issues when picking up their dresses. Apparently David's now uses the bride's name on all the bridesmaids' orders as well and each time a girl picked up a dress they were, at first, told the dress was under my name instead of their's. They were all able to argue their way out of it but it was kinda annoying to hear that 4 of 5 bridesmaids had to do that... esp. when it should be common sense that the person who paid for the dress with their own credit card would be the person picking up their dress... not the bride!

I did get $20 off each bridesmaid dress because my dress was bought at David's. A small, but nice perk for the girls. I think most of them paid $125 or less for their dresses.

I got really lucky because my dress only needed a bustle and some steaming. At our first fitting, Pauline was very helpful and she pays GREAT attention to detail. She even added some additional fabric over a spot that seemed to be irritating my skin underneath the dress-- something I would have just lived with but she insisted on patching it for free.

My dress had a medium-sized train and fullness, but Pauline said I only needed a one-point bustle. I must say, I didn't come to our first fitting with much of an idea on what I wanted a bustle to look like so when she suggested her idea I just went with it. Looking back, I'm sure I could have had her do something more elaborate with the bustle but it served its purpose and I didn't have any issues with it staying put, getting stepped on, or bothering me at the reception.

Overall, a great service-- especially for the price.

A-

Cincy Event Planning was a great vendor. While I don't think we had any major crises that weekend, I wouldn't have known because Lindsey took care of everything. It's well worth the money to have the peace of mind and know that everything will look the way you have always dreamed. I really can't imagine spending all the time and money planning a wedding and NOT having at least a DOC to execute all your hard work and plans. There are just too many last minute things that no bride should be worried about when you're trying to enjoy and savor every moment of the big day. Lindsey was very helpful in the last few weeks of planning by keeping me on track with what needed to be done. She took copies of all the contracts and contact info for each of my vendors and confirmed with them the week of the wedding so I didn't have to. I also met with her the week of and gave her several boxes/totes of decorations, programs, candles, candy bar supplies, etc. and it was all out of my hands from that point on. She came to the rehearsal on Fri night and kept things moving and gave orders so that I didn't need to. On the wedding day, she spent a couple hours setting up the reception and then was at the church to decorate church, help all the bridal party and family who had questions, etc. and I am so glad we had her around.

A