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We happened upon Oak Hill while browsing Galena area websites.
We had discovered "Galena on the Fly" and knew that we wanted to take
a Hot Air Balloon ride and were browsing the area to see what all else was
available there. The Oak Hill web site made everything sound so
beautiful and Vicki just fell in love with it when she first saw it.
The first e-mail back from Becky (Oak Hill Wedding Hostess) sold us
both and we knew we were headed to Galena for our wedding!
Our ideas and plans changed like the wind over the first few weeks and
Becky saw us through it all. She had recommendations for people
to call... made contact with them for us, as needed... she was
prompt, professional and courteous.... and her services the day of the
wedding were exceptional. We could not ask for a better
coordinator for our destination wedding. She made the whole
process totally manageable and we are so thankful for all she did to
help make our wedding day perfect! Four stars to Becky and
Oak Hill Weddings! ****
Pastor Donna Wrzeszcz (pronounced "Resh") of
Schapville Zion Presbyterian
Church was absolutely fantastic! She was recommended by
Becky as being "reasonable and very nice". What a wonderful
person! She sent us a sample ceremony which we used as a guide
to create our own. She called shortly before the wedding day
to verify that everything was in order. She showed up at the
church on time, ( a BIG concern of Vicki's LOL) and was very
pleasant to us and the children. She had made herself
familiar with the ceremony, so it didn't seem so stiff and rehearsed.
She also added her own personal touches to the ceremony and the
ceremony flowed smoothly under her guidance. She disappeared
immediately after the ceremony and we wish she had stayed around for
pictures and we would have loved to have her join us at the Barn
House, but we suppose she had other commitments to attend to or maybe
she was trying to be respectful to us and give us "our" time. Either
way, a Big *Thank You* to her and all she did for us.
Foxes Feather Creek Bakery
baked our wedding cake and supplied breakfast for our guests the next
morning. What a wonderful person Janet Fox is! She kept in
touch with us the entire time before the wedding and helped us with
our breakfast order. Her prices were extremely reasonable, the cake
was DELICIOUS and decorated just as we asked, breakfast was delivered
on time and we must say, her coffee cakes are to die for!
Debbie, of
Magnolia's & Company was AWESOME to work with. She called us
3 different times to verify information and keep us up to date with
how our order was coming along. Working with only a couple
pictures of Vicki and the girl's dresses, and a couple more
pictures of bouquets that Vicki hated for one reason or another, she came up
with bouquets, corsages, and a cake top that looked BEAUTIFUL with our
setting! What a talented lady! Very pleasant and
professional to work with. We were slightly disappointed with
Brian's boutonniere in that it was nothing but a rose, (no babys-breath
or ribbon or greenery), but in looking over our correspondence with
her, we find that all we requested was a pale yellow rose for Brian
and that's what we got so we can't complain. The rest of the flowers
were beautiful and we are so happy with what she did for us. We think
the flowers matched the dresses wonderfully and that is what counts.
Hay Day Catering provided the Hors d'oeurves and drinks for our
reception. We were not as impressed with them as we were
with our other providers. Although Sandy Smith, owner, kept in
touch with us and helped us with our menu planning, we felt more as if
she were just going along with our suggestions rather than giving us
the guidance we were looking for. Failure to verify the food
order and prices resulted in an overcharge of our final bill, however
she waived the additional amount since it was her oversight in not
verifying and correcting the information we presented to her.
Over-all, the food was good (with the exception of the flank steak
being mushy, according to our guests) and we believe her services were
adequate. She rates lower on our recommendation only because the
other vendors set such a high standard.
Grant Hills Country View Motel is owned and operated by a great
guy who worked with us to secure reservations for all our family.
The motel is the only one in the area that we found that offers rooms
with three double beds and their rates were very reasonable! We
stayed there ourselves the two nights before the wedding. Rooms are of
the typical motel type and very clean. The
three-bed rooms, pool, pavilions, horseshoe pits and a volleyball
net (along with playing equipment) made it the perfect setting
for us and what we wanted. The rooms were clean, and the
management was helpful and courteous, making the stay a pleasant one
for all our guests.
Best
Western in Galena was a great place to stay on our wedding night.
The themed room added a special touch and made it more than just a
"nice place". Indoor/outdoor pool. Clean. Courteous
staff. Reasonable rates. The only thing we did not
appreciate was the fact that we stopped in the day before the wedding
to give different credit card information. The credit card used
to make the original reservation was no longer an open account and we
wanted to make sure they had a valid credit card number on file.
The woman at the desk assured us they did not run the card through
until we checked in and we could just provide the other CC info when
we checked in. However, when we did check in we were asked if
there was a different card we wanted to use because the one they had
on file was refused. So that was a little irritating, but other
than that we had an enjoyable stay.
Galena-on-the-Fly is
Fantastic!!! Owned and operated by Andy
Williams and his wife, the flight experience was awesome!
Being afraid of heights, Vicki was pretty nervous about the flight but
Andy talked to her on the phone for 15 minutes when we first called to
make the reservation and calmed a lot of her fears. Andy was fun and
charming and made everyone on the flight feel comfortable. The
balloon ride in itself is something that cannot be described but we do
believe that the experience was enhanced because of the company we flew with.
Photographs were our biggest
disappointment. We did not have a photographer at our wedding,
our thinking being that we just did not want or need all the
pre-wedding photos and there wasn't all the activities of a
traditional reception, etc. So we relied on the candid shots
from guests to fill our photo album. To ensure that we had nice
photos worthy of being enlarged and displayed, we contracted with "The
Picture Taker" of Lafayette to take professional photos the day before
we left for Galena. Their work looked "okay" and that was all we
needed, so we went with their low prices and wound up with 24
pictures, none of which we ordered. Some of it was our fault
because we were outside and there was a lot of squinting going on, but
a lot of the other ones, we just kind of looked at and thought, "What
was this guy thinking when he took this picture?!" And so, while we do
have some pictures from the wedding that we can enlarge and display,
they are less than perfect for various reasons and the hassle of
having pictures taken 4 days before the wedding was all for naught.
We beg anyone not to skimp on this factor of your special day. |
