Lauren Kadrlik

Review of Bellagala

I muddled for a year over whether to leave a revie...

I muddled for a year over whether to leave a review because I hate leaving negative reviews. So I'll start with the positives:

Mike Hongslo was our DJ and he deserves all of the 5 stars in the world! We were told SO many times that our wedding was the best - half of our guests stayed the entire time!, and Mike deserves 100% of the credit.

Leah Schmidt was our florist and she was awesome to work with also. Looking back, my only wish is that I would have communicated better with her regarding coordination of delivery. I had friends helping set up and they had no idea she had delivered the flowers so some of our pictures are without boutonnieres, etc.

Leah and Mike got their own individual reviews because they were excellent.

For his sake, I'd rather not specify who main our photographer was, but to save everyone anxiety, his initials are JY. I am so glad we had a second shooter (Jennifer, who he called Sam...? and she thought this name was Patrick?) because she was amazing and took initiative - many of my favorite photos were taken by her. Without getting too into detail, I look pissed in many of our photos because of his rude comments and oblivion to the shots I wanted (I gave him specific inspiration photos). Our finished photos include a close-up of the microphone, undecorated hall photos and a lot of unflattering photos. Many dance-related shots were missed because he left earlier than established for a "date". Though the quality/post-production of the photos is great, our pictures are my only wedding regret. I've chalked it up to conflict in personalities.

Overall: if you bundle, it's a great deal - that's why we chose them. I would pass on the finished photo books and opt to make your own - you only get 20 photos. Also, apparently to get the people you want, you have to book at least a year and a half in advance (we booked 13 months in advance and JY was our fifth choice). Again, I hate to be negative but I hope the constructive criticism helps.