Hello everyone!
It is two months until our wedding and I thought I would share with everyone who our vendors are and what I think about their pricing, coordinating, and helpfulness.
For alterations I went with Final Stitch, which is locally owned. I have yet to get my dress back, just took it in last week, but the man who runs the shop was very professional. This was one of the only places that was highly recommended to me and had great reviews. I will say that it was quite pricey and more than I expected it to be. To have the sides taken in, the bottom hemmed and have a brussel put on the back of the dress ran around $350.
We went with Melba's flowers for our centerpiece flowers and this was once again very recommended more so than any other florist. I met with Melba and she is a very nice lady, very passionate and knowledgeable about what she does. My favorite colors happen to be a dark, blue cobalt and orange. I brought various pictures illustrating what I would like and she helped me create that and keep under my budget. We're having both ceremony flowers and receptions flowers. We paid around $900 for two candelabras with flowers on them. Three floral window decorations and ivory bows for the pus. We also have 16 tables, each with a floral centerpiece and each centerpiece was around $25. This price also included my bridal bouquet and my five bridesmaids bouquets. Also, set up/ delivery were included in the quote. I recommend Melbas, she is great to work with.
For my dress I went to David's Bridal. I have heard mixed things about them, whether it be poor service or quality, but I had a good experience. The consultant was very nice and patient, spent three hours with me and I ended up buying a very lovely dress.
Our ceremony will be held at the Old Town Chapel connected to the Hotel Albuquerque. They provide you with dressing rooms, which include full length mirrors, bathrooms, and a vanity, which is convenient., for both bride and groom. The chapel is very simple and elegant and will fit around 180 guests. The chapel fee is 2,500, plus tax. I think it is completely worth it.
The reception will be held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in the Salon Ortega. The room is nice and sits around 120 people. Wood floors, kiva fireplace, very ballroom-ish. The lady who is the events coordinator there is very, very flaky and hard to work with. The rental fee is around 900 dollars, which is reasonable, but the woman who runs rental services acts like she never has the time to talk to you. This is my only complaint. All food and drink must be done with the connected restaurant.
Our dj is Holwin Coyote, a little pricey (1,300) and was referred to us. I wanted to go with too hot top stop dj, but my Fiancée didn't. I heard too hot does an awesome job with an affordable price (around 600).
We are renting some room decor and table linens from Albuquerque Tents, the table linens run from $8-$13 dollars, which is reasonable compared to other places.
Finally, we are getting our cake from ABC Cake shop. Every Sunday they do a free cake tasting that you need to schedule, but it helps out a lot. We have a three tier butter cream cake, with a chocolate and strawberry filling batter. The cake, plus a sheet cake was around $345, including delivery and tax, it will serve around 130 people.
Good luck to everyone!