Info on vendors in the Rochester, NY area

Though living in DC area, I'm getting married in Rochester, NY and have info for brides-to-be on some Rochester vendors.

Flowers - A fabulous florist by the name of Lill Schaffer works out of her home in Fairport. The flowers and arrangements are lovely and elegant, but expect to pay 2500+ depending on your needs. Lill is great woman, very professional, and I highly recommend her.

Photography - I found a great photographer in Buffalo, because I had trouble finding a great one in Rochester! I spoke with a few photographers in Rochester, and here's the scoop:

Schutter Photographics: Great guy, works on his own out of his home in East Rochester. Quiet, personable, and professional. Prices are very reasonable - $1400 for the day, not including albulm. Albulm is ordered separately after the wedding, and runs $500-$800. Takes mostly candid-stlye black and whites. Great candid black and whites. Problem: I wasn't impressed with the color, posed shots.

Darklight Studios: A husband and wife team, work out of their home in Chili. Was not at all impressed. Husband has a good eye, and takes all the color shots, but his posed photos were, in my opinion, very tacky. Wife takes the black and white candids, and most of them aren't very good. The prices are way too high, and I felt the husband (I didn't even get to meet the wife) was very pushy - told me I had to book within the next two weeks in order to get anyone good. My wedding, at the time I met with him, was 10 months away.

Mark Dellas Photography (in Buffalo, NY): If you a looking for a photographer in Rochester or Buffalo, meet with this man. His photos will amaze you. Mostly black and white, he does little color in his wedding photography, but these photos will blow you away. Prices are not cheap, but are reasonable - you get what you pay for (about $2000 for the day, you do the album separately later).

Reception Sites - We originally booked our wedding for the Memorial Art Gallery in the Cutler Ballroom. Memorial Art Gallery does their own catering through the restuarant on site, Cutler's. After visiting the site on a day a wedding was taking place, we decided to switch venues. The reasons: 1)We showed up at 5:00pm, and the reception was to begin at 5:30pm. Guests had apparently arrived early, and were corraled in the gallery entrance. There was a paper sign that had been hung by the staff that stated that guests would not be allowed to enter the reception area until 5:30pm. 2)We walked into the reception area to take a look, and noted that the staff was still setting up for the reception! The tables were not finished, the flowers were not out, and nothing was completely done! Not to mention that nothing had been done to make the site look "special" for the wedding (if you visit this site and think that it would look so elegant done up for a wedding... think again. The problem is, they DON'T "do it up". They leave it as is, just adding tables and chairs). 3)The Memorial Art Gallery only provides you with brown metal chairs for your reception. If you want the "white chairs" they tell you about, you have to pay extra to rent them. We saw these "white chairs" that day - they are not white, wooden chairs, but white plastic folding chairs. Worse, the white plastic on many of the chairs is stained. 4)The menu is very impersonal. Essentially, they give you a menu and tell you these are their "wedding menus" and there aren't a lot of changes they are willing to make. They also aren't big on letting you do any tastings to decide what you like. I ate at Cutler's, and it was fine, but I wasn't impressed. I imagine I would be even less impressed when they are making the food for 200. My florist also had a terrible lunch there - the bread they served her was moldy. 5) If you are even considering the Memorial Art Gallery, take a look at the bathrooms. Seriously, I didn't think to look at the bathrooms before I signed the contract, and I wish that I had. Think about how much you're paying for this wedding, and then look at the bathrooms - do you want a women's bathroom that doesn't even have a counter, just a sink hanging off the wall? You cannot fit three people in that bathroom, how will your bridesmaids help you use it after you've had a few glasses of champagne?

So we're on to a new reception venue - The Rochester Club Ballroom. So far, our experience there has been great. Charyleah Cordone, the owner and general manager, is very detail-oriented. She assures us that everything will be set and ready well before the guests ever arrive. The menu features a choice of served soups, and all sound wonderful. The soup is a nice touch, and I can't wait for the tasting! Charyleah and her staff are very flexible, and this is really what makes the place wonderful - she will make a special recipie for you if you like (she's having the bartender make my grandmother's whiskey sours), and she will keep the place open as late as you want (of course, she has to stop serving alcohol at 2:00, but she'll keep the reception going later than that if you want).

Anyway, if anyone has any questions about these comments, don't hesitate to e-mail me at [email protected]

Happy wedding planning!
Rebecca