I am the Mother of the bride and have lurked on this board for several months. We found almost all our vendors here and 5 years ago found all our Dallas vendors on the Dallas knottie boards.
My daughter's wedding was on Dec 20,2009. She has lived in OK for the last 6 months and I have been the one to do most of the research & legwork for her wedding trying to work with her vision.
Place: The Marquardt Ranch--A++--this place is GREAT to work with. She wanted an indoor wedding due to the time of year and they were able to turn the room around for the reception in no time flat, just as they promised. Everyone gets a day-of coordinator, we got Shavaun , who was wonderful to work with. In fact, she was training a new coordinator and we got a two-fer!! On the day of, she took care of everything and even though we had a few wrenches thrown into our plans, she had great ideas to compensate and took care of all details. She was such a great help to us!! The place is beautiful and even though they don't provide catering, music, etc, they were easy to work with and were able to make many great suggestions.
Catering: SA Rental and Infinity Catering--C-- this company is a husband wife team, they are able to provide food, rentals, and linens. They were recommended to us by our floral designer, Erin McLarty. I found Patty, the wife, somewhat scatterbrained. She was very forgetful and talked over me every time I spoke to her. I had to frequently stop talking, wait for her to shut up, then resume saying what I was trying to say. I found this very annoying. But, their prices beat everybody we talked to, and the tasting was very good, a lot of food for the money.
We provided the wine and wanted it served from the kitchen due to some family conflicts, they were suppose to provide one beverage attendant. This apparently did not happen. The wine was not served as requested and only a few guests actually got wine at all, only about 2 -3 tables out of 9. The bride's family had to practically beg for it before it was served. A beverage attendant was not designated until late into the meal, and she was rude to me and my oldest daughter during dinner. The service was slow & chaotic at first.
I paid for a coffee station inside with flavored coffees, but it was not utilized due to the location and apparently no one was informed it was available. The guests could not see it. Hot chocolate was supposed to be served on the patio during cocktail hour outside, but it was served cold and was never hot. This was a huge disappointment as we thought this was a really cute idea and it was chilly that evening.
I would not recommend this company to anyone.
Photography--AJH Photography--A-- Arol Horkavy is a very nice guy, and gave us a lot for the money with his package. He threw in a free bridal session. We have not seen the pics yet, but the only complaint I have is that while I understand that his style is mostly documentary, which is what my daughter wanted, he did not appear to be able to set up the posed after-ceremony shots with the families. He kept asking me what pictures I wanted next. Maybe its just me, but I thought he would know that there would be pictures wanted of the bridal couple with their parents, siblings and grandparents. I never saw a wedding photographer who needed to be guided in this area. If I had known that he needed a list, I could have provided it. I just assumed these pics were normal pics every wedding photographer takes after the ceremony. It made for a confusing and chaotic photography session just before the reception. Otherwise he was great.
Videography--Richard Lizama Videography--A-- We have not seen his final
product, but Richard was also easy to work with and has great prices. Video was not a priority for us, but we did want a record of the event.
Floral-- Edens Echo--A--Erin McLarty was a joy to work with, worked with the given budget & we were thrilled with flowers!! They were exactly as my daughter envisioned. She had wrought iron trees on the each table with clumps of flowers and hanging votives and they turned out beautifully. The bouquets were beautiful as well. The only complaint I had was that we rented 12 foot wrought iron trees wrapped in twinkle lights that were supposed to be arched together for the couple to stand under during the ceremony. I'm not sure who actually set up the trees, but they looked nothing like what we had discussed or what we actually saw while talking with Erin the day we chose them. They were rentals from SA Rentals (above) and I was told later that some of he catering staff set them up. I don't know if Erin did not see them or what, but they looked awful. By the time I saw them it was too late to do anything about it. I felt like the focal point of the ceremony was ruined.
Seventh Heaven Cakes--B minus--Michelle Brittain was great to work with and I have to say she was willing to attempt the cake design picture my daughter used as her inspiration. It was a very difficult design and some other bakers refused or wanted to charge a hefty price. The bride chose a dark chocolate cake with hand painted flowers and gold hand painted trim. The flower colors were not as vivid as we had hoped, therefore they did not show up well. The cake was tilted as well. My daughter was Ok with the cake, but I was very unhappy with it. I think this lady is a talented artist, but I just think that if the chocolate icing had been darker and glossy like the picture, it would have been great. As it turned out, it was not the focal point of the reception we had hoped for.
Finest Sounds of San Antonio-- DJ Antonio Garcia--A+--this guy was very easy to work with and very easy to contact, he responded promptly when needed. We only had him play dinner music for the reception as there was no dancing. He provided some pretty lights on the walls as well and we were not expecting that, it was very nice. The couple decided they wanted him to play a special song for the recessional and although he was not able to rehearse it with them, he played it just as they requested it and i worked beautifully. He does not charge an arm and a leg and he did a great job for us.
SA Limos--Tom Daniels-- A++-- the father of the bride decided he wanted to surprise the couple at the last minute with a vintage Rolls. He called Tom the day before, he was available for a one way split, which was perfect. They had their grand exit, saw the rolls sitting there & they were SO excited. The groom said later he was almost brought to tears!!
Hope this helps. This board and the Dallas boards were both so helpful to me as a mother of the bride. This is my last daughter, so I won't be needing The Knot anymore. Thanks girls!!