Inexpensive, Quality Vendors - Lawrence/KC area

meganlaurel

Hi. I'm new to the board and was wondering if anyone in the KC/Lawrence area had recommendations for quality vendors who are reasonably priced. We are specifically looking for catering, photography, DJ and hair/makeup services. Thanks in advance.

MLC613

I would look at Wedding Wire or KansascityBio.com Good luck!!

bsnbabe

I would look at Hyvee for catering, flowers and cake, I found they are super flexible but if you like what they have (which I admit is pretty darn good already) then they are an amazing bargain. If you really want to save money in the Lawrence area on hair/makeup find someone close to your services and go to them. I know my hair is very reasonable if they didn't have to travel. Photography - I am actually using a Lawrence based photographer for my wedding and considering other rates we have seen we couldn't believe his prices. His name is Matt Needham. My FI is a photographer and he loved Matt's portfolio better than anyone else's. Let me know if you can't find him online and I can send you his info privately. Good Luck!

tbridetobe

Hy-Vee's catering was the most reasonable I found and the food tastes great. Affordable Catering is another option, their prices are the same as Hy-Vee's, but they tack on a 15% "service charge" that Hy-Vee does not. I did not taste their food, but I've heard good things. I'm using www.alawson.com for photography, she's based out of Topeka but came to KC to have a consultation with me so I'm sure she'd come to Lawrence also. Chelsea Donoho is based in Lawrence and is a steal as well. I'm not having a DJ so I'm no help there. Look at www.chmakeupartistry.com for hair and makeup, she will travel to you. She might charge a little extra to come to Lawrence but you can check. At first glance, her prices look higher than other companies -- but, her prices include a trial, and the other companies I looked at did not. So by the time you add in a trial with another company, CaraSue's prices are actually right in line. For more reviews, look at kansas city bio [dot] com.

futuremrsdawes

I HIGHLY recommend my photographer - her name is Chelsea Donoho and she is in Lawrence, she does amazing work and her prices are very low.  Her information can be found at www dot chelseadonoho dot comAs far as other vendors that we have been using, we are using Bum Steer BBQ for catering and they have been great working with us so far.  A lot of our stuff (ie flowers, hair/makeup services, wedding coordinator) are either out of Topeka or Kansas City. When is your wedding?  I would be happy to let you know after my hair/makeup trial how she does, as she travels and isn't that horribly expensive.

Janelle21

So far I have booked Hy-Vee for catering, flowers, and cake. They are by far the most reasonable! If you use all 3 services, they take 10% off the final bill too. We went to a tasting and their food is delicious too!! We also have booked our photographer. We are using Terri Voyles. I met with her and she is very nice and her prices were the best I found for the amount we were getting! She is based in Leawood. We have not used her yet, but I have heard good things!

mariekaymarie

For Catering check out Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} www.decocateringkc.comHy-Vee or even Target has AMAZING cakes!! I am using www.colleeneidephotography.comhope this helps and welcome to the board!

chrisandjenna8

We aren't getting married in the Kansas City area but our photographer, Shutter Happy Studios is based in Lenexa.  She's inexpensive for the quality and what you get I guess.  She offers a wide range of prices and options.  Photos were one thing we didn't want to sacrifice for price.  We found her here and are paying her travel fees for the wedding because I think she's so great!  You can see her website at www.shutterhappystudios.comI hear a lot of great things about Hyvee on here too.Good luck!

meganlaurel

Thanks everyone! I've got a lot of leads now, and I very much appreciate everyone's input.

meganlaurel

Also, futuremrsdawes, our wedding is April 17, 2010, so I would be very interested to hear how your hair/make-up goes. Thanks so much!

futuremrsdawes

I will definatly let you know how it goes - I have a lot of faith in her as she does makeup for a lot of print/commercial ads so she understands really well makeup for photos.  I have my trial with her in a couple weeks - I have chin length hair so I probably won't have her do elaborate hair like a lot of brides would probably like - but I will post pics and what not regardless... I need to actually put together a bio finally so I have a place to put said photos lol

JessWG

Janelle, thanks for mentioning that Hy-Vee gives a discount when you get all three services!  I am pretty certain that I want to book them for catering and I was going to look at cakes there, but I haven't even thought about flowers yet!