DJ, florist, caterer-help!!

TuckerDeosdade

I'm getting married in October and have no experience whatsoever with this. I already have my venue (my church) and a photographer. Right now I'm looking for a DJ, florist and caterer.

I have no idea what the cost is for DJs or florists. I've found DJs for anywhere from $400 to $1000. I don't have a planner, and we're on a kind of tight budget as it is. Any recommendations? I think I can do the centerpieces for the reception tables myself since I want mainly candles, but I need flowers for the ceremony and everyone involved.

The caterer is difficult because we need it to be $10-$15 a head, which I know is pretty cheap. Any recommendations for good people who can work with a budget and not make it seem cheap???

linzlars

I used Music Connection for my DJ. We hired them for 6 hours and paid $600. That included basic lighting at the reception.  I thought they did a great job at keeping the party going and being the MC for the night. I think they are among some of the cheapest prices you can find too. Jesse, the owner, was willing to work with me on price too. I'm not a very good haggler (I feel too guilty haha), but you could probably get him to come down on price even more if you tried.
http://www.sawhost.com/musicconnection/home.asp

A lot of girls on here, myself included, recommend Erin from Eden's Echo for a florist. I was very happy with how my flowers turned out for my wedding. She is very fun and friendly, and will try to work with your budget too. We only got flowers for the wedding party from her (bouquets, bouts, and corsages), so I can't say anything about how her centerpieces are, but it sounds like you might only want the basics from her too. I would highly recommend emailing her to get a quote.
http://www.edensecho.com/

As for caterers, my food was included in my venue so I don't know a lot about what is out there, but I will say that you could look in Carino's catering (if you're not familiar with them, it's an Italian chain restaurant). We had our rehearsal dinner at the Carino's on 1604 and Blanco, and it was amazing. I've been a long time fan of their food so I might be biased, but I thought everything was great and their service was outstanding. They have really good prices too when you do their party pans. I think we probably paid around $8-10 per person for the RD for appetizers and an entree.
http://www.carinos.com/page/catering/

rmfriedman

Definitely get in touch with Fred Bishop for DJing also.  He did an AWESOME job at my wedding.  His email address is: encore-entertainment@austin.rr.com.

*GregsGirl*

 Hello! I'm a former knottie, turned nestie, turned bumpie...but I like to pop back on here from time to time...

Florists-- I highly recommend Erin from Eden's Echo. She's always professional and you can tell she really loves what she does and it shows in her work. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

DJ's- We got a package from Cutting Edge Entertainment where we got the DJ for 5 hours and our Limo (one of the big SUV ones) for right around $1000. I forget his name but the owner was super friendly and always professional. In fact, we really wanted to do the Evolution of Dance (if you dont know what I'm talking about go to You Tube RIGHT NOW and check it out) for our first dance and he was able to make a great mix using that idea and our actual song (God Bless the Broken Road). Really, really great guy. Our Limo driver was hilarious too....kept making jokes about taking me to Mexico if I had second thoughts!

If you're really having budget constraints...look into having music played off a laptop or mp3 player...sure its not the best solution in the world but as long as there's music coming from somewhere people will have a good time. Make sure you have the other big things like a venue, photog, etc.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

becky5858

I used Eden's Echos for our flowers and loved her!!!

My caterer was also awesome and really really worked with us on the price.  They were the Columbia Culinary Team (http://www.thecct.net/cct_home.html).  Fantastic food and service!

marisa39

Definitely look into Carino's catering.  We used them for our wedding and they were the most budget-friendly of any caterers we looked at.  Not to mention, I got a lot of compliments on the food.

BabyBlueNTexas

I just booked a DJ worth looking into. His name is Nathan Teague and he offers the same service as many but under $700. His website it bringitonproductions.com.

mybignotsofatwedding

I just booked a great DJ for a very reasonable price.......they will beat any written estimate from another san antonio company.  KOW Music SA 210-455-0787.  I saw a wedding they did in December and the dj was awesome.