Here comes the Guide…!
‘The Best of’ is here! We’re absolutely head-over-heels excited to share the Best of Midwest Weddings Guide with you today! Featuring the photographs of the unbelievably talented Liz Banfield (who shoots on film, truly fine art!) and the beautiful and practical layout by Verdant Studios (we heart our designers!), our goal is to create the most gorgeous, useful and trustworthy wedding guide out there.
From a rural Ohio farmstead to an ultra-modern Iowa museum, from handmade caketoppers and ring pillows to elegant stationery, we’re so proud of the quality our members represent. With so many remarkable professionals and artists here in the Midwest, we’re working hard to make the Guide comprehensive—we hope we have your patience and support as we keep building! We’ve truly only just begun to grow!
Which is where you, our wonderful readers, come in: we would love your input, suggestions and stories! Without a doubt, our most valuable recommendations come from brides and peer professionals alike. In our hope of featuring only the finest vendors serving our region, we need to hear from you. Post a comment and let us know your thoughts!
To show our gratitude, we’ll be holding five days of giveaways! Five days—we’re so excited!
Here’s the scoop: In the spirit of the wonderful carnival Real Midwest engagement we have for you on Thursday (see the C&B homepage gallery for a sneak peek!), your comment is your raffle ticket. Share with us: As a bride-to-be, what do you most need from a resource like ours? Brides and professionals, who are your favorite florists, artists, photogs, cake bakers, stationers, fashion & jewelry designers, event planners, caterers, interior designers? What are the best places to get married here in the Midwest? We’re listening!
The prizes? We have so many surprises in store! First up, a $25 gift certificate to Paper Source (got to love PS and their Chicago home!). We’ll reveal the rest of the goods and winners each day next week—stationery, sweets, a little something to wear and more—we can’t wait!
- Readers have until midnight CST on Thursday, October 8th to enter the giveaways.
- Just make a comment on this post with your ‘best of the Midwest’ ideas to enter.
- One entry per person per day, please.
- Write up a post on your blog about our exciting news of the Best of Midwest Weddings Guide and giveaways, drop us an email at info@cloverandbee.com with the link and we’ll enter you twice for that day.
- You don’t have to be from the Midwest to enter—all ideas are welcome!
- Winners will be randomly picked and announced each day next week, Monday, October 5th through Friday, October 9th.
With so many chances to win, we hope you’ll share the buzz with a friend! Welcome to the Guide and good luck to all! Stay tuned for a whole whirl of Midwest vendors coming to C&B Daily!
My husband and I were recently married in northern Wisconsin, and we have two vendors we’d love to brag about: our amazing photographer Mary from Majella Studio (www.majellastudio.com), and our DJ Eric of Extreme Entertainment (www.extremeentertainment-greenbay.com), both from Green Bay, Wisconsin. They were hands-down the best vendors we hired for our wedding day, and went above and beyond to make sure their part of the day went smoothly. We would hire them again in a heartbeat, and recommend them to anyone who will listen!
Thank you for the link to d.Sharp, their stamp cake garlands are adorable!
As a bride-to-be, I have had a lot of trouble finding reviews and information on custom dressmakers and tailors that do wedding/bridesmaid’s dress alterations. I’d love some reviews and recommendations on good ones.
I am so excited that this is finally up and running! I moved to Iowa from Los Angeles last year, and when I got engaged two months ago, I was surprised by how hard it was to find the sort of fresh, stylish wedding vendors I was looking for.
Then this site came along and opened my eyes to a whole world of Midwest awesomeness!
At the moment my fiance and I are narrowing down our photographers and starting to look at catering options. Any of these in Iowa that people have to share would be greatly appreciated!
We are getting married Oct 15th 2010! I have a lot of time to plan, but am really enjoying collecting ideas already.
As a bride-to-be, what do you most need from a resource like ours?
First of all, I am in love with the fact that there is a “Midwest” resource! The modern feel of this blog is amazing and so refreshing. I would like to be able to browse vendors by state, or major city, or topic. Thanks so much for all you have done!
This site is fantastic, and I’m so glad there’s a resource like this. I’ve always been rather envious of the great resources available for brides in, say, LA, and I’m glad C&B is here for us Midwesterners.
“As a bride-to-be, what do you most need from a resource like ours?”
Really, the big thing I’m searching for right now is a reliable list of officiants…surprisingly, many other websites have failed me on this!
I am getting married October 10, 2009 and Abbey Fowler from Syd Design (Grand Rapids, MI) has done all of our “paper work”. From invitations to programs to thank you notes to favor tags to place cards. She is absolutely amazing and wonderful to work with. She has such a talent. She definitely needs to be part of the Best of Midwest!
We are getting married Oct 15th 2010! I have a lot of time to plan, but am really enjoying collecting ideas already.
As a bride-to-be, what do you most need from a resource like ours?
First of all, I am in love with the fact that there is a “Midwest” resource! The modern feel of this blog is amazing and so refreshing. I would like to be able to browse vendors by state, or major city, or topic. Thanks so much for all you have done!
We are using Morsels Bakery in Traverse City for our guest favors. Jeff has been wonderful to work with and the morsels are delicious!
I love the idea of having a “midwest” centered resource for brides-to-be!! I’m getting married in Nebraska next June and find that most websites with “resource libraries” have little to nothing on my state!!
The only vendor I have to recommend so far is our fab photographer Khara at “Kabloom Studios” …we just got our e-pics back this past week and they are simply perfect!!
I will try and give you more resources as I “use” more vendors from Nebraska…thanks for starting this great site!!
Thanks so, so much, ladies! These are such great recommendations and suggestions. Hope you’ll keep the ideas coming–we hope we can help!
Another idea…I really love reading other brides’ opinions on vendors…it would be cool if for different vendors in the guide readers/brides could give their input/review on their experience!!
Of all the vendors at my wedding, I’d have to say my favorite was Perfect Plate Catering based in Columbus, OH. The food was spectacular, and I didn’t even notice them there — and that’s saying something!
I was so excited to find a mid-west oriented site…and I seriously love everything about it. The clean layout, the beautiful photography, the advice! Since I am in the very early stages of planning my wedding, I’m finding inspiration in everything on this site! But I would love to have a list of local and reliable vendors and possibly reviews from other brides.
I’d like to share a the gorgeous organic farm and market we booked for our event in Illinois (just outside of Chicago), Heritage Prairie: http://www.hpmfarm.com
I have been looking for a mid-west resourse. Keep up the tips!
Indiana brides check out Jessica Strickland for photography, she is AMAZING!
Here are two more amazing additions to the “Best of Midwest”: Two Birds Photography, from Kankakee, Il, and The Henry Ford Estate, in Dearborn, Mi.
My husband and I were married in June and our wedding was perfect because of these two vendors.
Finally, a wedding website about the Midwest! I feel like every wedding blog out there is about the East Coast, West Coast, or the South! As a bride to be I am looking for ways to have a stylish wedding in the Midwest on budget! I’m tired of going to the same types of weddings over and over again, but want to hear about money-saving ways to throw a modern, personal wedding.
As a Midwest bride getting married in Iowa, I find that it is difficult to find reviews of vendors, florists, photographers etc. I would love to have access to reviews by previous brides on Iowa vendors. I would also just love to see REAL weddings in the Midwest rather than weddings only on the East and West coasts. Most of the wedding blogs out there don’t feature weddings in Iowa, let alone the Midwest.
I want to add a bit more – it’s been really hard to find pictures and information about real weddings in Wisconsin. The closest resource I’ve found is by scouring a couple of local photographers’ blogs, but even that’s not the best. More details and more information about real weddings…that would be fantastic.
I’d also like to throw out the name of our awesome venue – if you’re looking for a fabulous barn/farm location near Madison, Schuster’s Playtime Farm is a very unique location run by a wonderful, friendly family. We can’t wait to have our wedding there next year.
Vegan wedding cake bakeries! Anyone have a good one to recommend in Iowa?
I’m so excited to see this mid-west focused blog! I’m getting married in July, 2010, so I have lots of planning time ahead of me…so far, I’d love to recommend the caterer we’ve selected. Jordan’s Food of Distinction in Chicago has been wonderful and made us feel like we have a vendor that will work with us to create a meal that reflects our taste.
One of the best wedding photographers in the Columbus area is Kitty Maer of *Print.
I am so happy to hear of a resource for Midwest brides! My wedding is in less than 6 weeks and I would love to share with you the positive experiences I’ve had with my vendors thus far. They have been amazing. I trust them and the work they do.
It was important for me to support my community and small business owners at every given opportunity during the wedding planning process. Not only did I find some of the best vendors central Ohio has to offer, they have helped me from fretting over the little stuff. What a great bonus!
I would recommend ALL of these vendors to anyone in the Columbus area. Top-notch folks!
· First Community Church – Real people, real faith, strong community support and diversity. We’ll be lifelong members.
· The Worthington Inn – Historical home/inn turned outstanding restaurant. Event planner Vance is on the ball and very personable. Beautiful, romantic space.
· Kitty Maer/Christa with *Print Photography – I second Lisa. Best of the best photographers. Love. Love lovey LOVE. Swoon-worthy work, amazing personality, professionalism and eye for detail.
· Kristin/La Bella Torta – Sad to say that Kristin is getting out of the baking business at the end of this year. One of my favorite vendors. Her ganache is out of this world!
· Heather/Bloomtastic Flowers – She and her team left me with so much confidence. She worked with my budget and lack of flower knowledge to come up with seriously cool wedding flower ideas. True flower artists.
· Mercurio Brothers Printing (CA) – MB was my only non-local small business vendor. They letterpress and digitally printed my invitations and RSVP cards. As a designer, I’m yet to find anyone so affordable with such on-the-ball service. Customer for life. They’ve been letterpressing since the 1940’s. Need I say more?
Wow so great to see all the comments on here!! I’m just posting again…for hopes of winning!! Can’t wait to see how this website develops…looks like it will Rock!!
I would love to be able to search for vendors in my area, and read reviews!
We are also planning a midwest wedding, but from a distance (in Ohio, to be married in Wisconsin). With the distance we are relying on the web for lots of ideas and inspiration. Having a midwest-specific resource is just what we need! thanks!!
Anyone looking for a great place to rent chair covers and sashes? For our wedding this past August, I hunted high and low, throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois for the best price on these items. Elegant Presentations of Elgin, Illinois, was hands down the most affordable, with the best selection! Who can beat $1.99 per chair cover, including the sash?!? http://www.egpres.com
I have loved watching this site develop! I love when you have real weddings featured in order to get vendor information. More real weddings, more vendors!
I agree with Julie…I would love to see a real wedding weekly feature…from different weddings all around the midwest! maybe have some ‘planning tips’ from the bride and/or groom as well!!
I never thought about getting married there myself, but I want to see photos of SOMEONE getting married at the Merry-Go-Round Museum (http://www.merrygoroundmuseum.org/) in Sandusky, Ohio. I posted about it on my blog here: http://writtenbliss.blogspot.com/2009/04/back-to-childhood.html.
We would LOVE to find someone to film our wedding in super 8. I have seen lots of companies that offer this, but the all seem to be on the coasts!
I would love a section on advice for recent brides AND grooms. Something that was broken down by State or mertropolitan area. Living in Madison, WI..I haven’t found outlets for this sort of thing. Everything is Chicago, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis!
Thanks!
I’m so glad to finally find a midwest wedding guide with style and grace. So much of my wedding finding has been based on either coast- It’s so refreshing to find midwest vendors and a midwest wedding community! hurrah!