When you are looking for recommendations about who to hire for your wedding you could ask Facebook or you could ask the people who truly know (other wedding professionals).
These are Cincinnati wedding professionals personally recommended by The Dudeist Ministers after almost 700 ceremonies.
Every vendor listed has been personally recommended because they are professional, kind, and welcoming to ALL couples.
If you contact one of these other small businesses, please make sure you tell them we sent you!
All loves belong here.
A&S Party Rental
Best for: Couples who need rental items for their wedding ceremony, reception, or private event.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Cary Girardot has been kind, professional, and helpful, and we trust him to take good care of couples we send his way. For weddings, that kind of reliability matters because rental problems are never fun on ceremony day.
Good fit for: Couples who need wedding rentals from a local company we trust.
Ruth and Rose
Best for: Couples who want their wedding tables to look unique, personal, and beautiful.
Location/service area: Cincinnati and Dayton area.
Why we recommend them: Ruth and Rose offers mismatched vintage China place settings that are genuinely beautiful. This is a good choice for couples who want their reception to feel warm, thoughtful, and different from standard rental place settings.
Good fit for: Couples planning a vintage wedding, garden wedding, intimate reception, tea party-style reception, or wedding with a softer, more personal table design.
Vibrant Music
Best for: Couples getting married in venues where sound can be tricky, including barns, echo-heavy rooms, and large reception spaces.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Gary Dixon is excellent at reading a space and getting the sound right. Some venues echo. Some barns sound flat and dead. Gary knows how to adjust the music and sound balance so the reception still feels right.
Good fit for: Couples who want an experienced Cincinnati wedding DJ who understands sound quality, reception flow, and difficult venues.
UpBeats DJ
Best for: Couples who want a fun reception with strong lighting and a club-style party vibe.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Doug is great to work with, and UpBeats DJ has one of the coolest lighting setups we have seen. They are a strong choice when the reception is meant to feel like a real party, not just background music in a rented room.
Good fit for: Couples who want dancing, lighting, energy, and a wedding reception that feels more like a celebration than a formal playlist.
Alterations of Springdale
Best for: Couples who need wedding clothing altered, repaired, fitted, or adjusted before the ceremony.
Location/service area: Montgomery, Ohio and the Cincinnati area
Why we recommend them: Irene and her team run a small, hardworking alterations shop that has taken excellent care of us and the couples we have sent there. Irene has altered our suits, repaired personal items, and helped couples get ready for their wedding day with careful, reliable work.
Good fit for: Couples who need suit alterations, dress alterations, last-minute wedding clothing adjustments, or repair work from someone local and trusted.
Baked Bliss by Julie (Custom Cookies)
Best For: Custom cookies when you want something to fit your wedding theme
Location/service area: Cincinnati, Ohio
Why we recommend them: Julie is the partner of Marc, one of Jon's friends. They are both absolutely amazing humans and Julie always saves cookies for Jon because she knows he is unloved and has no one to bake for him.
Good fit for: Couples that want the best cookies around and want something fun and different
Central Pastry (Wedding Cakes)
Best For: Wedding Cakes and other baked goods when quality and taste is more important than having unusual flavors
Location/service area: Middletown, OHio
Why we recommend them: In business since 1949, they have more than 70 years of cake baking experience. Jon’s grandma was the best baker he has ever known. She would admit that Central Pastry could make better cakes than she could.
Good fit for: Couples that want the best cake in southern Ohio and don’t mind a little bit of a drive
Tano’s Bistro and Catering
Best for: Couples looking for reliable Cincinnati wedding catering from a local restaurant with real wedding experience.
Location/service area: Located in Loveland, serves the entire Cincinnati area
Why we recommend them: Jon’s personal pet peeve is cold bread. Happens ALL THE TIME at weddings. He had gone to the Tano restaurant for years. Then he was at a wedding and the bread wasn’t cold. Jon was so suprised he asked who was the caterer – TANOS!
Good fit for: Couples who want traditional wedding catering, good food, and a local caterer we have personally experienced.
McLeod Studios Videography
Best for: Couples who want a high-quality Cincinnati wedding videographer.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Michael is based in Cincinnati and is one of the best wedding videographers in the entire country. That is not an exaggeration. He is in high demand, so couples interested in working with him should reach out quickly.
Good fit for: Couples who have a larger budget. If you care more about wedding video quality and want someone highly skilled, experienced, this is the best videographer in Cincinnati.
MasterWorks Photography
Best for: Couples who want experienced wedding photographers, especially for themed weddings or weddings with a creative style.
Location/service area: Cincinnati and Dayton area.
Why we recommend them: Michelle and her husband have decades of experience photographing weddings, and that experience shows. Michelle will even dress in costume for a themed wedding, which is the kind of commitment we respect. They book quickly, so couples should reach out early.
Good fit for: Couples who want experienced photographers, themed wedding photography, costume wedding photography, or a team that knows how weddings actually move in real life.
We recommend Michelle even though she thinks the first Star Trek movie is the best. It is not. The ONLY good star Trek movie is Wrath of Kahn. That we recommend her as a photographer even thought she is so obviously wrong about a movie should tell you what an amazing photographer she is.
Mischief and Laughs Photography
Best for: Couples planning a small wedding, simple ceremony, or Cincinnati elopement.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Cara does great work and is one of the few photographers in the area who offers smaller photography packages for elopements. We have worked with her personally many times and trust her with our couples.
The Cincinnati Nature Center
Best for: Couples who want a beautiful natural setting and a wedding venue that supports a nonprofit organization.
Location/service area: Cincinnati and Milford area.
Why we recommend them: The Cincinnati Nature Center is an amazing wedding venue, and the venue fees support an amazing nonprofit. With two wedding locations available, it can work well for weddings from about 50 to 200 people.
Good fit for: Couples who want an outdoor wedding, nature-focused ceremony, scenic wedding location, or a Cincinnati-area venue connected to a good cause.
The Cincinnati Wedding Chapel
Best for: Couples who want a small elopement ceremony with up to 25 guests.
Location/service area: Cincinnati and Milford area.
Why we recommend them: The Cincinnati Wedding Chapel is our indoor location. We provide it free of charge to any of the couples hiring us to officiate a ceremony to them.
Pattison Park Lodge
Best for: Couples who want an outdoor wedding with an indoor backup option.
Location/service area: Clermont County, Ohio.
Why we recommend them: Pattison Park Lodge is a great option for couples who want an affordable outdoor wedding location without gambling everything on the weather. It works especially well for weddings under 100 people (don’t believe them when they say it fits more)
Good fit for: Couples planning a smaller wedding, want to do their own catering or affordable options.
Promont House
Best for: Couples who want an outdoor wedding with a historic home as the backdrop.
|Location/service area: Milford, Ohio.
Why we recommend them: Promont House is a beautiful choice for couples who want history, charm, and a smaller wedding setting. It works especially well for weddings under 50 people.
Good fit for: Couples planning a small Milford wedding, historic wedding, outdoor ceremony, or intimate wedding with a classic local backdrop.
Rhinegeist Brewery
Best for: Couples who want a fun, high-energy Cincinnati wedding reception.
Location/service area: Cincinnati, Ohio.
Why we recommend them: Rhinegeist is one of those places where the reception already has a built-in sense of fun. Jon doesn’t even drink beer (he prefers cider and Irish whiskey). We enjoy doing weddings and events there because the space works well, the energy is strong, and the staff knows how to handle events. When you contact them, ask for Cass or Hannah.
Good fit for: Couples who want a Cincinnati brewery wedding, large reception, lively party atmosphere, or a venue that can handle weddings big or small.
Somerhaus
Best for: Couples who want something different, stylish, and modern.
Location/service area: Cincinnati, Ohio.
Why we recommend them: Somerhaus has style and flair without feeling generic. The staff does an excellent job, and the space works especially well for weddings of about 25 to 150 people.
Good fit for: Couples planning a stylish Cincinnati wedding, intimate wedding, modern reception, or celebration that does not feel like every photo on the big corporate wedding websites.
Fire and Ice Wedding Services
Best for: Fun, high energy or non-traditional wedding
Location/service area: Serves the entire Cincinnati area
Why we recommend them: They are a LGBT owned company. Not only is Malaki an awesome wedding planner, they are also a dance teacher. That means they can help you get ready to grove your night away at the reception!
Good fit for: Couples who are LGBT allies and want something different than a traditional wedding ceremony.
Shiri Ayalon – Financial Planner
Best for: Couples who want to plan their future together after the wedding.
Location/service area: Cincinnati area.
Why we recommend them: Shiri is an excellent financial planner. If you and your partner have goals for your future, she can help you make a plan to get there. She is also a strong ally for the LGBT community.
Good fit for: Couples who want help with financial planning, future goals, budgeting, marriage planning beyond the wedding day, or working with an LGBT-friendly financial planner.