Mac and Ray's Harbor, reception site & wedding cake: A

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The view of Lake St. Clair from Mac and Ray's is what convinced us to book this location. It paid off because on our wedding day, we had a rainbow that appeared over the water that the guests enjoyed before we arrived! Lisa Kliza at Mac and Rays was wonderful to work with. She pays attention to every detail so we knew we were in good hands. We went with the filet mignon and chicken picatta dish and the guests loved it! Mac and Ray's also does a limited vendor menu to help keep costs down. They also had a great kids' menu since we had several guests under the age of 10. We went with the upgraded bar, as well, and were pleased that they were serving strong drinks to guest instead of the watered-down ones you usually find at weddings. The layout of the room we used (the Commodore Room) was great because it has a separate bar area near the dance floor with several high-top tables guests could gather around. This is where most peple were after dinner! To save money on cake-cutting fees, we went with Shelly, their pastry chef, for our wedding cake. Guests complimented us the whole night on how great that cake was and it looked absolutely beautiful, too!
http://www.macray.com/MacRay/banquet/

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Immanuel United Methodist Church, ceremony: A

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Matthew and I are not religious and therefore do not belong to a church. We wanted something that looked historical and had a terrible time finding a place that would marry nonmembers. Then we found Immanuel United Methodist Church and were so pleased! Pastor Lynne is incredibly friendly and personalized our ceremony with items we shared with her during our two pre-wedding meetings. One of the requirements to gettting married here is going through three couples counseling sessions which we weren't too thrilled with at first. But, the sessions are with an actual counselor, not anyone affiliated with the church, so you spend the time working on your relationship, not on hearing religious propaganda. We really liked the counseling sessions!
http://www.eiumc.org/templates/System/default.asp?id=33214

Amber Hunt Photography, Wedding & engagement pictures: A+

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Amber works for the Detroit Free Press and does wedding photography at night. Matt & I were looking for someone who brought a photojournalistic style to their work so Amber was a perfect fit for us! She is a great to work with, very funny, and her pictures are amazing. We were so happy with the prices of her packages- we received two photographers for the entire day and own the rights to our pictures so we can print them at any time! If you are looking for a photographer, check her out!
http://www.amberhuntphotography.com/

Two Penny Productions, Wedding video: A+ (video pending)

We absolutely recommend Two Penny if you are looking for a video that is unique. They are incredibly artistic, arrived on time, and are easy to work with. They worked nicely with our photographer and we never felt like we had cameras in our face all the time. We can't wait to see how the video turns out.
http://www.twopennyproductions.com/main.html
http://vimeo.com/twopenny

 Sposa Seating, Chair covers: A

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Maya was the easiest of all our vendors to work with. We communicated with her via email the entire time, gave the final payment to Mac & Ray's to give to her, and the chair covers looked great. We loved that she was the leastexpensive company we could find and that they set up and take down the chair covers. Perfect!
http://sposaseating.com/


Bliss Weddings, Month of wedding planner: C

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We have mixed reviews about Amanda. Our contract stated that we had unlimited meetings with her the month of the wedding but could contact her via email as many times as we wanted leading up to the wedding. I emailed her several times asking for recommendations for vendors, asking her to proofread invitations, and similar requests. She was terrible with responding back. Finally, after not hearing back from her for OVER A WEEK, I contacted her again, telling her I was not pleased with her work. She told me Bliss was getting a lot of business, and they bit off more than they could chew. Sherecognized the problem and said she was hiring another assistant. After that point, things went more smoothly but I was really nervous with how things would turn out. The day of, everything went well. She and her assistants did a great job setting up our tables and everything else we asked them to do. She did, however, show up an hour late to start setting up the reception site, which we weren't thrilled with.
http://www.yourblissweddings.com/

Entertainment Express, limo: F

This is the one vendor we were extremely disappointed with. To start, they were 45 minutes late to pick up the guys which put everything off schedule. Luckily, we were able to adjust so that the ladies were only 15 minutes late to the church as a result. We had a terrible time trying to change a pick-up location with them (they "forgot" to file the paperwork), the limo driver HIT acar on the way to pick up the ladies, and she passed our locations twice and had to turn around. The icing on the cake was when she charged us $60 for us going over an hour on our time. HELLO! We went over an hour because YOU WERE LATE!
http://www.ee-mi.com/

 Jamie Flannagan, DJ: A

Jamie is a friend of a coworker of mine and works on the weekends at 96.3. He is very reasonably priced, has the top-of-the-line equipment, and played a variety of songs. He comes with an amazing old-fashioned microphone that our guests commented on throughout the night. We were pleased that at 11:00 p.m., he still had the crowd up dancing!

 President Tuxedo, Tuxedos: C-

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The tuxes looked great, but took several attempts to get them correct. Apparently, the people who work here cannot measure properly because we had two groomsman go to pick up their tuxedos the day before the wedding and their tuxes did not fit. In addition, our wedding planner had to pin the sleeves on the ring bearer's shirt, a groomsman's shirt, and a groomsman's coat because they were too long.
http://presidenttuxedo.com/

Zazzle.com, Save the Dates & custom stamps: A+

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We ordered our save the date postcards and custom stamps for save the dates, shower invitations, wedding invitations, and response cards. The siteis easy to navigate, the products arrived quickly and they looked great! My advice is to check the internet for discounts, though, because they frequently offer great deals!
http://www.zazzle.com/


Viviano Florist, florist: C

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We are pleased with the customer service we received from Viviano but were not pleased with our flowers. The bridal bouquet was supposed to have stephanotis in it and when it arrived, it didn't. We called them and they delivered them to us, though. Additionally, the bridesmaid bouquets were ridiculously small in size, even though on the paperwork we told them we wanted something "big and showy." Many of the flowers also looked wilted.
http://www.viviano.com/

Kathleen at Plush Paper, Wedding invitations: A+

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I have to admit that I was disappointed when I couldn't afford to have Gourmet Invitations do my invites but after seeing the final product Kathleen created for us, I wouldn't have it any other way. Kathleen was so friendly to work with and she is great with responding quickly to emails. I had to be difficult to work with because I didn't have a clear vision of what I wanted (I just knew I wanted them to look classy and elegant). Kathleen took that and created masterpieces with our invitations! In fact, the invitations turned out so well that Matthew and I decided to splurge on wedding extras! She did a great job on these, as well, and we especially love the kids’ menus she put together for us.
http://plushpaper.blogspot.com/2009/08/lisa-matthews-wedding-invitations.html
http://plushpaper.blogspot.com/2009/10/lisa-matthews-wedding-extras.html


 

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Gina's Bridal, bridal gown & accessories: A+

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I shopped at a *ton* of stores before I found "the gown." I was getting desperate and my fiance's coworker recommended Gina's in Milford. I was hesitant because it is a 45 minute drive from my house but it was WORTH IT! What impressed me most about Gina's what they genuinely love what they do. They are friendly, welcoming, and know their stuff! They are a small boutique, packed with a huge variety of dresses and accessories. If you haven't found the dress, you need to make a stop into Gina's in Milford!
http://www.ginasbridal.com/


Netbride.com, Bridesmaid dresses: A

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I ordered the dresses through Netbride because the dress I wanted was cheaper there than anywhere else. They offer free shipping to one address so I ended up ordering the dresses for the girls. I didn't think this would be a problem but it was awkward asking my bridesmaids for money and two of them waiting months and months to actually pay me which was reallyfrustrating. (This is why I gave them an A, not an A+, which is unfair to them but the experience overall didn't warrant the +.) The dresses, however, came in two months earlier than they quoted me (bonus!) and look great! NOTE: We ordered from the Dessy Collection and the sizes ran about 1-2 sizes too big. Order the size you normally wear in street clothes, not the size they recommend.
http://netbride.com/

Cardstore.com, Shower invitations: A+

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Sorry to give out all these A+ grades but we've been really fortunate with the people we've worked with! The cardstore had a really cute invitation for the shower where all we had to do was change the names and information. Quick & easy to order and they arrived quickly, too!
http://www.cardstore.com/


Cloverleaf Restaurant, Rehearsal Dinner: B+

The food and service were great here. We loved having the heated patio all to ourselves. We weren't happy that the pizza took 45 minutes from the time we ordered it to arrive and the $50 deposit was not a deposit at all- it was a charge for the room rental which they did not tell us at the time of booking. Overall, though, everyone enjoyed it and it was a great choice for us!