Just married October 3rd and there's zero traffic on the Memphis board so I thought I'd post here: Venue - Botanic Gardens The venue was wonderful but if you use BG, DO NOT use Joe. He never responded to emails or phone calls (i'm not being a Bridezilla, I'd literally let a week or so go by without a response). We did a mark up of the layout for the reception, I added something and scanned it weeks before the day, the set up guys didn't have it on the day of (probably because Joe doesn't check his email!) We agreed to do hosted bar except cash liquor, he had no record of it etc. He was SO frustrating to deal with, I eventually had to go to his boss Pat (which I HATE doing) and she was great. He emailed me today asking to charge the bar to my credit card on file...without even mentioning how much it was. WHO in the world allows people to blindly charge their credit cards for large expenses without even knowing the total? ESPECIALLY since he's dropped the ball on a bunch of things, why in the world would I trust you to charge my credit card? I am very annoyed with him! Flowers - Susan's Florals I was on a lowww budget and when I came into the brides room, my flowers were there but I thought some other bride had taken over because my flowers were nicer than I thought they'd be for my budget! I have already had a few engaged friends ask who did my flowers from my facebook pictures. She did a WONDERFUL job. Catering - Krag Catering Food was FANTASTIC. Everything was delish, I got tons of compliments on the food. Cindy was great to work with, very sweet lady. The only problem was the servers were taking peoples drinks away if they left the table. It probably ended up costing me more money on the bar tab, (we'll find out when I hear back from Joe's boss!). Might want to mention something about it to Cindy if you use her. Cake - Peggy Montgomery Absolutely fabulous. The grooms cake was german chocolate and it was devoured with a vengeance. The cakes looked great, they tasted even better. She is a sweetheart also! DJ - Dingo (DJ we used was Justin) Justin was aweeeeesome. At the end of the night, there was still a huuuge crowd on the dance floor. I've never seen that many people dancing at the end. He literally had to kick people out so DH and I could have our "alone" dance to set up for our exit. He mixed the songs perfectly, he denied guest requests very tactfully so no one got mad, he was just all around awesome. Photography - Nathan Rye Nathan was also amazing. He had great ideas for poses, he took suggestions well, and when we were in the reception he scouted this amazing scene for us to take pictures in front of (full moon + garden fountains + uplighting= amaazzzzinnng) We took all of our formal pix before the ceremony and he put them on a big screen in the reception for people to see. Everyone was saying how amazing the pix looked, he did a GREAT job.
