While our wedding day was perfect and magical, there were a couple of things that happened that kept it from going 100% smoothly. Randy, the minister, and I all showed up at the church, which is really all that matters, but there are two less-than-stunning vendors that participated in our day. Much to the surprise of anyone who knows me, even as they were happening, I laughed about the situations. They make for good stories and things I will remember. But that said…I want to help any brides-to-be that happen to stumble on to this site.
Big City Limo Company
From the start, I knew I wanted a town car to transport just my mom and me to the church and just Randy and I to the reception. What I didn’t know was how expensive this is! I set Randy on a project to find something for less than an arm and a leg. He found Big City Limo Company which would provide us with a town car for four hours at a reasonable price.
I found out later that the car service called Randy early in the day because they wanted to confirm pick-up…at our house. Ah, no. My fiancé will be at the Ambassador as we already discussed. They realized he was right and threw in a limo upgrade for the mistake.
So the limo arrived on time at the hotel, mom and I get in and we get on the freeway…in traffic. The driver asks if side streets are ok. I wouldn’t have said yes if I realized he didn’t know where he was going. We took the LLLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGG route through Milwaukee’s not-best neighborhoods. Just what you want to do in a limo. But we got to the church (10 minutes after the bridesmaids and photographer), so all was well.
Fast forward to the drive to the reception. Randy and I were all googley-eyed and excited, so we didn’t notice when the driver passed the exit for the Milwaukee PUBLIC Museum until too late. When asked, he thought his notes said the Milwaukee ART Museum. He apologized for his mistake and then asked…where’s the Public Museum? Wow. We told him, but he missed the turn, so we ended up about 15-20 minutes out of the way.
Minor detail – Randy thought there was supposed to be champagne in the car. Never was. I guess you get what you pay for.
The Cheesecake Store
As most of you know, Randy and I relished in the Cake Tasting Tuesdays of last summer. We knew we wanted cheesecake and when we stumbled into The Cheesecake Store in Menomonee Falls, we thought we had a winner. The first cake we tasted had some foreign matter (cherry skins?) in it, but the cake was so dang good, we asked for an explanation (and another sample) and signed them up for our cake.
Our original design was to use 1-inch ribbons, which I would provide, around the cake as decoration. At the end of January, I contacted them to say I didn’t want to do the ribbons (costs were starting to add up!) and that they should just do a simple design in white frosting to mimic our invitations. After a little back and forth, they agreed. Or so I thought. Fast forward to two weeks before the wedding when they were asking for extra money so they could buy the ribbons. I reminded them of our conversation, and I thought all was well.
I’d give the cake a B- overall. The design was a C at best. They bought their own cheapy ribbons to go with the original design with just a hint of art deco flourishes in frosting. They get a B in taste. It still was pretty good, but the fudge brownie crust was not a crust but at least half of the cake…there was barely any cheesecake.
But wait…it gets better.
I learned later that a Museum patron took it upon themselves to see if the cake was real and dragged their hand through the frosting. After Michelle pummeled this kid to the ground (or just got them to go away), she called Joe at the Cheesecake Store. He stayed on the phone long enough to hear what happened and her request to return to make the cake pretty again. And then he hung up…and wouldn’t answer his phone again. We have yet to hear from Joe, even for the certificate we are supposed to get for a free anniversary cake.
The design issue could have been forgotten if the general customer service was better. I think the cake still tasted better than any of the other options we tried, but I’m not sure it was worth the headache.
Next up – The Ugly (Amount of Time Spent on DIY Projects)… Stay tuned!
