auley's reviews

The first time I went to Catan's looking for bridal dresses, I wasn't happy with my attendant. She kept telling me to smile and enjoy myself. I was stressed out and I was with my future mother and sister in law! I am shy and don't know them well yet, and having them and someone unfamiliar to me there was hard, and her pointing out my lack of smiling made things a lot worse. I even apologized to my future in laws to make sure they didn't think I had a horrible time with them!

I went back again with a good friend who knows me really well and she asked the attendant (a different one than before) out and let me just try on dresses with her and my mother. This second visit was a better experience and I found the perfect dress at a great price, but believe it or not, I saw the previous attendant again and she asked me if I had smiled for this one! I couldn't believe it. I only went back because I had such a great experience with the bridesmaid dresses, otherwise I would never have come back after that first visit.

I purchased vases here to make my own centerpieces. I couldn't believe the prices, better than anywhere else; I looked online but the shipping was outrageous. I saw them at Jo-Ann's but the price even with a coupon wasn't as good as the regular price at Flower Factory, plus I got an extra volume discount which was like getting one vase free! Some of their stores you can't get into without a vendors license but some of them you can (they list them on their website). If you can get into one, definitely go check it out. They also have a lot of flowers, party supplies, craft & scrapbooking supplies and holiday stuff.

I purchased a lot of paper to make my own invitations. Hollo's in Brunswick sell paper by the pound here, at very reasonable prices! They also have an "invitation station" where they have samples of wedding invites you can make yourself easily. And envelopes! A whole room full of different kinds of envelopes! Absolutely everything you need to make your invitations they have. I can't say enough good things about this place!

Dale is a great guy to work with--he had his basic packages that he was willing to customize and get down to our budget which was around 1300. He's extremely friendly too; I do some photography (I just have a fancy camera that I've barely begun to scratch the surface of!) and he offered to help me learn more about photo editing and suggested ways in which I could better my own photography! He's really out there because he loves photography and what he does, and I think it really shows.

I am making wedding centerpieces--I was quoted $800 to do the same thing that I will be doing for $250! I purchased the hydrangea and salmon colored baby's breath from Afloral.com for incredibly reasonable prices. The hydrangea came a little "smooshed" but they just need some time with me fluffing them out.

The shipping was unbelievable! They shipped from NY and I am in NE Ohio so granted I was close, but even the processing time was awesome--from the time I hit the submit order button, they had processed and shipped my order by the next morning. I ordered from them twice, and both times my package arrived the very next day.

I bought the heart cookie cutters that come with personalized messaging. Not only were they extremely reasonable (I even searched around to find out what just the cookie cutters would cost and I wasn't finding anything even close), but they came out perfect with personalization and a cute cookie recipe on the back. I am doing a lot of DIY stuff for my wedding, but 175 favors was just not do-able. This was quick and easy and came out perfect!

This place actually has a little diner place where you can get food for lunch or dinner (I don't think there's much room to sit in there, so plan on to-go style!), so you can sample their food any time! There food is excellent, I've had it on a number of occasions and I'm really excited to have them for our reception! They're well known for their BBQ, but they have lots of excellent food.

The Church in the Valley in Peninsula is a classic church--it's in the middle of the Cuyahoga National Park and has a white bell tower and a banquet room in the back (can't serve alcohol there though so we didn't opt to use it for our reception, but we may look into it for rehearsal dinner). There is a bridal changing room upstairs which I believe is the library, but nice with a mirror and a bathroom nearby. The elevator goes all the way to basement where you walk through to get to the back of the church without anyone seeing you! You start walking down the aisle beneath the bell tower. The church is burgundy and has a nice altar and an electric piano which looks like a baby grand piano. Organist comes with the price, the officiant is extra money but you can bring in your own officiant! They are a nondenominational church. The lady is a little difficult to work with if you're an email person like me, I think calling is probably better. But the site is just perfect, I'm excited to have my wedding there! And there's a nice wedding photos spot right across the street at the covered bridge.

Acker Moore is a beautiful reception site--it's a brand new VFW. The price is pretty good and the bar area is magnificent, although you have to get your alcohol from them. It was the first place we went to and holds about 250 people, more than enough for me. I'm excited to be having my wedding there.