I love Michael’s! I am a huge DIY girl, so I was at Michael’s just about every week for four month’s before our wedding. They had everything I needed to make the table numbers, programs, and so much more.

We had an outdoor wedding and reception so we had to rent everything. And unfortunately we rented them from Party Town. They were very unorganized. They forgot to bring 6 tables, a couple of table cloths, the covering for the bar, the covering for the risers, and they ordered the wrong color table runners and chair bows. They did deliver everything, including the right color chair bows on the morning of our wedding, but instead of table runners they gave us extra chair bows and when I called the owner to find out where the table runners were, she didn’t answer and never returned my call! So, I was forced to use the chair bows as table runners. I was very disappointed with the quality of the chairs and tables. The tables were very old and worn. A couple of them had a holes going all the way through them and my dad had to put duct tape on them to close up the holes. As for the chairs, I paid extra for white wooden chairs so I didn’t have to cover them, but while we were setting them up we found that they were dirty, torn, and broken. There were at least a dozen chairs I refused to use and requested that they bring me new ones. They made me feel as if I was inconveniencing them! On the set up day, they were over 2 hours late and it took them all day to do it. The guy who was in charge of the set up was so rude to us. Party Town offers very poor service. I do not recommend.

I had a wonderful experience with Ken from Vita Bella. Our pictures are fantastic. You can just tell he loves what he does. He was so enthusiastic about our wedding and even came out to our wedding location before hand to scope out unique places for us to take pictures. (Our wedding was in my parent’s backyard) He was very professional and accommodating. When we asked him if he would stay longer so we could get some pictures with the fireworks, he did without question. Vita Bella provided excellent customer service and has prices for every budget.

Our flowers were one of a kind, gorgeous creations! Wayne’s Daughters is a greenhouse in Caledonia. One of the daughters, Jennifer, also does wedding flowers. We had an outdoor wedding in my parents backyard, so I used a lot of garden flowers like geraniums. The owner grew 12 huge planters and hanging baskets filled with flowers especially for me. Everything was so beautiful! Jennifer created our bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. She went above and beyond what I imagined. As soon as I saw my bouquet it brought tears to my eyes, it was just so beautiful! Working with Wayne’s daughters and Jennifer was such a great experience. Everyone was so kind and their prices are great. I would definitely recommend them.

We had a candy bar for our favors, so we ordered about 8 lbs of candy. They had a great selection and offered everything I was looking.

I bought frosted plastic Chinese take-out boxes for our guests to use for the candy bar. You can’t beat their prices, but you should expect a low quality product. The boxes come with the flaps open and when I tried to close them, half of them cracked. The only way I could close them was by using a lighter to make the creases flexible. When I called Oriental Trading to complain they sent me 3 dozen more boxes for free. They have excellent customer service and prices.

I can’t say enough about Saz’s catering. During our cocktail hour we had butler style passed hors d’oeuvres, which were fabulous. And for dinner we choose to go with food stations. There was a chef carving station, pasta bar, stir-fry station, seafood station, flavored coffee bar and best of all a mashed potato martini bar! I still have people telling me how amazing the food was at our wedding. The way they displayed the tables and the food was beautiful. Each table had gorgeous fresh flower centerpieces, which they provided. And they also made sure they were coordinated with the colors of our wedding. Their customer service was beyond what I expected. They were willing to change parts of the menu, so I could get everything I wanted and stay in my budget. I couldn’t find another caterer that could offer me as much as Saz’s did and still remain in my budget. Saz’s was so organized, professional, and offered very reasonable prices. I would definitely recommend Saz’s to anyone, especially if you want to have food stations.

Aggie’s cakes and pastries is a very small bakery in Milwaukee. We had cupcakes instead of a traditional cake and they were a big hit! They were so delicious. We had chocolate with raspberry filling, white with strawberry filling, marble with French cream filling, confetti with cherry filling, and chocolate chip with fudge filling. They gave me a cardboard cake stand that I was able to decorate myself. On the top of the cake stand was a small cake for my husband and I to cut. I told her I wanted our cake to look like a giant cupcake and she did an amazing job. Everything was exactly what I wanted. I recommend Aggie’s cakes and pastries. They offered excellent customer service and exceptional pricing.

I had a horrible experience at David’s Bridal. They would not let me and my bridesmaids try on a couple of dresses by ourselves. Even though they had plenty of dressing rooms open, they refused to allow us to try on dresses, since we did not have an appointment and there weren’t any available associates. They made what should have been a fun experience into an unwelcome event. Needless to say, I never went back!

I had a great experience at Savvy Bride. It is a small boutique with only a few employees, so everyone knows who you are. You can just tell that they all love weddings. You are supposed to have an appointment, but I didn’t have one the first time I wandered in. They were very busy, but still tried to help me look for a specific dress I wanted. They didn’t carry it in stock and just as I was going to leave, the owner suggested I try on a different dress. It turned out to be the one! I loved their enthusiasm so much I ended up getting my dress, the bridesmaids dresses, and the flower girls dresses there. They did a fantastic job with all of the orders. Everything came in on time and was ordered correctly. I would definitely recommend this shop!