Hi everyone, I was married last June and it was around this time last year that I was going crazy trying to get everything finalized for my wedding! I thought I would re-post my vendor reviews instead of trying to reply individually to each post. My wedding was great but I am SO glad all the planning is over! Good luck!
Vendor reviews—beach wedding in June 2012 at Citadel Beach House Vendor reviews on the knot were so helpful to me when planning my wedding, so I hope these are helpful to you! Please PM me if you need contact #’s or pictures!
Venue—Citadel Beach House A+ This is a pricey venue, but for a beautiful ballroom right on the beach, you can’t beat it! I only wish I had more time there! Don the caretaker was wonderful, and was an expert on how to set it up & make it flow.
Dresses—Jodi’s Bridal A+ Betsy was the bomb from A to Z—she coordinated everything and was simply awesome (our dresses were special order from a designer they no longer carry so we could get the perfect color). Highly recommend!!
Alterations—Stitch Witch F STAY AWAY!!! Do not let Roberta touch your dress!! Not only were they rude, expensive, but everything I needed done was “impossible”. They want to do the minimum amount of alterations so they can move on to the next dress…they don’t care how you look or feel on your day. After taking it back multiple times, it still wasn't right....I just gave up!
Catering—Sticky Fingers A If you are looking for simple, southern food, this is the most economical place to go. They were 50% less than other wedding caterers (for the exact same food!!), were very professional, and catered to our every need. The devil is in the details…you must be very specific with them regarding every little thing…I thought I had covered everything, and ended up with a few things not getting back to me. There was also confusion on packing up the cake, so half of our leftover cake went missing. BUT, Sean Fogerty is the best, was very accommodating, and the food was great (yes, I got to eat!)
Bar Service—Sticky Fingers A+ Who knew? Again, the most economical choice around, we provided our own alcohol, they served it for $20/hour, and provided cups & ice. Simply the best!!
Cake—Jaclyn Story at Michelangelos A+ Jaclyn provided 2 cakes for 175 people for <$500…we had a beautiful 3 tiered beach themed cake, plus another sheet cake in the back…we had carrot cake with brown sugar crème cheese icing, and lemon chiffon cake…both were delicious and moist. We can’t wait to eat our top tier!! Jaclyn did everything we asked, even recreating a picture of a cake we showed her…who could ask for more? (Sticky Fingers cut & served the cake for $30)
Flowers—Fredericks Weddings A+ Lily at Fredericks Weddings on Rivers Avenue was by far the most economical choice for flowers. I knew they would be beautiful (as she also arranged flowers for my sister’s wedding) but I was simply blown away at how beautiful mine were, and how she paid attention to every detail. My bouquet was perfect, as was all the bridemaids bouquets and each boutonniere. She also made pew bows for me for a very economical price, and even set them up in the church!! Simply wonderful!! Highly recommend!!
Hair & MakeUp--Charleston IDo—MakeUp A+ Hair (bride) F- F- F- Gillian from Charleston IDo (her salon is the Hair District in West Ashley) was great at the TRIAL. Very much knew what I wanted, took pictures of my look, all was good. On my wedding day, she did my makeup—all good. She did my hair and it was not anything close to what we had discussed at the trial. She did it again, again it was wrong. I asked her if she wanted to look at the picture, she said no she had it, and snapped at me. Then she admitted that she was getting me mixed up with another bride!!! After the third time, I was so pissed at her I just said whatever, and I HATED, HATED, HATED my hair…it was the WORST part of my day!! Her website is down I see, maybe she has taken a hint & gotten out of the bridal business!!
P.S. All my bridesmaids & my mom, who had their hair done by Graham, looked fabulous…I highly recommend him (I think he also works at Stella Nova).
DJ--Complete Music A-
This company was very aggressive in their marketing, and I think they did a good job. Alan was simply awesome in keeping us aware of what needed to happen, asking us questions (down to when the caterers should start) and even getting me a drink!! My only recommendations would be to ask them not to hang their advertising on the DJ booth (I thought it looked tacky, particularly in pictures) and I would make a very extensive, specific song list of anything you don’t want to hear. I submitted an extensive do not play list, but didn’t include everything, thinking that surely they wouldn’t play “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang—I was dead wrong, and ended up being sorry!!
Photography—Amy Priksasky B- Disappointment. Just plain disappointment. Here’s my advice for hiring a wedding photographer: Do not hire them based on friends recommendations, how great their pictures are online, no matter how nice a person they are, that does not mean they will take great pictures of you. Meet with them in person, make sure they will listen to you, make sure they will give you the direction you need to get the best pictures possible of your day. ALWAYS get engagement pictures taken, they are the trial run of you & your photographer for your wedding day!
Amy & my DH & I did not “gel”. Amy has taken great pictures of my friend’s babies & weddings. However, she did not seem to understand what we wanted from the very beginning. At all. She didn’t listen. You will never see our pictures on her website…why? Because 1) we are not young, pretty model-type people 2) we are not comfortable in front of the camera (i.e. spontaneously posing for those oh-so-special moment pics—we need guidance) 3) the pictures were simply sub par (blurry, out of focus, subjects off center). We had 2 engagement sessions to try to get things right….out of 300 pictures, we liked 10. Same with our wedding pictures, we liked 30 out of 1000. She shoots 3-4 weddings a weekend, but you will see only 1 wedding shows up on her website…wonder why?
To Amy’s credit, she really did try, and went above & beyond to take pictures of us that we would like. However, she could not give us the guidance that we needed (she is very shy & soft spoken). Also, when she asked for examples of shots that I liked, I sent her approximately 30 shots that I thought would look awesome. She took 0 of those. 0. Waste of time. There isn’t even a good picture of us at the altar…we are asking friends & family if they have a decent pic. How embarrassing!! Lastly, you must trust your photographer. Amy lied to us in our 1st conversation when she told us she had shot weddings at our church before. One week before the wedding (ONE WEEK) she told us our wedding would be the first at our church, and that she & her photographers would show up 15-30 minutes prior to look at the site. My normally calm DH hit the roof!! He could not believe that anyone who is a professional would not want to meet with the bride & groom at the venue before the wedding! Amy did take some pictures that we liked, none of them were “wow” shots. I have to say my absolute favorites would have to be the shots of our first dance with the DJ set up/speaker equipment as our backdrop in every picture(instead of the beautiful ballroom or maybe even our friends and family?). Wow. Sorry it was so hard for you to cross to the other side of the dance floor, Amy!! Don’t make the same mistake we did…we should have hired another photographer.