An I Do Flowers? and a Would you do this?

Kershnic

First of all...  Anyone out there use Alissa at I  Do Flowers?  I think we got the initial recommendation from this board and we liked her in person and liked her estimate but I'm still freaking out about making a final decision.  Any reviews??

Secondly....  We're having the ceremony at a church in the suburbs, and the reception at Gale Mansion in Minneapolis.  We'd love to get ready and take wedding party pictures at the mansion, and have tossed around the idea of doing that and then taking the wedding party in a limo to the ceremony site (probably a 20 minute drive).   Is this totally insane?  Are we going to get wrinkled and not feel our best when we get there?  Or is it worth it to have the experience of getting ready/taking photos in a beautiful space (the church has boring Sunday school classrooms for changing)? 

Enchanted616

I don't think this is crazy at all!   I would do the same for the sake of pretty pictures.

My main tip though for the limo - dont overcrowd!  I had one for my sister-in-law's wedding recently, and although it was advertised as a 18 passenger SUV limo, the 14 of us were super cramped and hot!  And we arent big people and the dresses weren't big at all, haha.  Since you will be seeing your future husband before the wedding to take pictures anyways, maybe it would be nice to have a seperate limo for the two of you, few minutes of alone time before everyone arrives.  Make sure you let the limo company know ahead of time and keep the AC up. 

LittleSweetie

I haven't heard a bad thing about Alissa at I Do Flowers.  Would you be comfortable booking her if you met with other florists?  Have you shopped around at all?

If the mansion has space for you to get ready, I don't see why not!  Then all your junk is there waiting for you at the end of the night instead of having things in two places.  It will help with cars at the end of the night as well.  If the mansion is beautiful, then I don't know why you wouldn't start there to take pics.  You could also get ready there, go to a 3rd spot to take pics, take pics at the church, then pics between C&R at the reception.  Or just reception -> church -> reception would work great too.  You really can't go wrong with that model!

kristigiles

I LOVE Alissa.  She has been my favorite vendor to work with so far!  I'm indecisive and have changed my mind a few times and she happily changes it and gives me a new quote right away.  

AJandBJ

I used Alissa for my flowers! I think they looked beautiful although I've heard that some of the corsages didn't hold up through the whole night of dancing. Flowers weren't very important to me, and they all look great in the pictures (which was what mattered to me). She was VERY easy to work with, and didn't mind dropping off half the flowers to one location and the rest to another.

munkychip

I hit a few bumps in the road with Alissa. I think her price is right, but she seemed a little bothered by me at times.

Kershnic

Thanks for all of your input everyone!

blondie424

If you are looking to shop around before booking to compare prices, I would HIGHLY recommend contacting Deven Nelson, she does AMAZING work and was super reasonable.  I have pictures of my flowers PIB in both Pro and Non Pro sections!

www.devennelson.com/

nazweber

I used Alissa, she was fantastic. I changed my mind about 4 times and she was so nice about it. I visited with 4 florists before choosing her.

Here is a link to my wedding with tons of flower pics.
http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/03/29/minnesota-wedding-by-jenn-cress/#comments

gettingmarriedin2011

I am using Jeni at Simply Stated Elegance- she was great to work with and very inexspensive compared to other quotes I received.  It is a big decision so do not worry about having a hard time-  Good luck