Hi ladies! My H and I were married on July 17 and I thought I'd share some reviews for any brides who are searching for vendors. I hope this is helpful!
Photography- Van Deusen: I have worked with Van Deusen before both for my high school senior pics and my e-pics, and I was very pleased with the pictures both times! I worked with Lori, who did my e pics and most of the wedding pics, but she also broght along her coworker Paul to the wedding to get an even better variety os pics. Lori is so sweet and fun to work with, and she is great to talk to. She has done so many weddings, and was very helpful in helping us get the day organized. She typed up a schedule for the day and emailed it to me a few weeks before, and it was so helpful in helping me understand where everyone needed to be at what time! The day ran very smoothly thanks to her timeline! As far as prices, they are a little bit on the pricy end, but soo worth it- the picctures are all georgeous! There are many packages to choose from to accomidate your needs. She will also really listen to you and try to figure out what style of pictures you like. I would highly reccomend them to anyone still looking for a photographer!
Cake- Icing on the Cake in Overland Park: This cake was so delicious! We got a lot of compliments on it! The lady who owns it makes her own buttercream icing and it was soo good! There are many elegant designs to choose from, and she will really get an idea of the theme of your wedding and make a beautiful cake to go with it! She has several delicious cake flavors and filling flavors to choose from. We ended up getting white cake with a chocolate filling and white icing- can't go wrong with that! Her prices are also very reasonable.
DJ- Jeff Holmes (DJ Holmes): Ok, I gotta admit, I was kind of worried about the music because H and I talked to him maybe twice before the big day. However, there was absolutely nothing to worry about. Everyone who heard that we hired him told us how wonderful he is, and now I know why! He is very professional, he has done TONS of weddings and really knows what he is doing. He really helped H and I understand what to do when and he really made the recption flow smoothly. He also takes requests for music, and my guests loved that! Everyone had so much fun... he really knew how to get the party started! We ended up hiring him for another hour at the last minute to extend the party because everyone had so much fun!
Ceremony- Unity Temple on the Plaza: What can I say, I love it here. Neither H nor I are particularily religious, but we wanted the ceremony in a religious setting. I love the Unity Temple- everyone is so welcoming and laid back. They will do your wedding no matter what religion you are- Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, whatever. Everyone is welcome. There are three settings to choose from, depending on how big your wedding is. The santuary holds over 1000 people, the chapel (where our ceremony was) holds about 200, and then there is a tiny chapel that holds about 30 people. There are two ministers, and you can choose who you would like to do your wedding. There id Heidi and Duke, and we had Heidi do our wedding. We love her- she made both of us feel so welcome and comfortable, and the ceremony was beautiful! Both ministers have a sample layout of a ceremony for you, but you can add or leave out whatever you want.
Reception- Intercontinential Hotel: All I can say is- wow, what a party! Our reception was in the rooftop ballroom overlooking the plaza- such a great view! Dustin was in charge of decorating the ballroom, and he did such a wonderful job! The whole staff at the intercontinential is so professional and friendly- we were very happy!
Dress- Noltes: I was sooo happy with my dress, and the price made me happy too! The alterations department was a little unorganized, so that was kind of comfusing, and at the reception my bustle kept coming undone, so I'm not sure if that was their fault or mine. No one was really sure how to do the bustle, so I guess they could have explained it better. However, my experience there overall was a good one. My consultant was Ashley and she was very helpful and very enthusiastic about her job, which made shopping more fun. We didn't end up using them for bridesmaid dresses, but if you get your dress from Nolte's, they do offer a discount on BM dresses (note that they are located at a different Nolte's location than the wedding dresses) and other great perks as well. My mom got her dress from the Northland Nolte's (which is also where the BM and FG dresses are) and she looked STUNNING. Loved her dress, and LOVED mine- didn't want to take it off!
Tux- Jos A. Bank: Ok, this is really the only bad review I am going to give.The men looked stunning on the wedding day, but getting there was a process. First of all, I did not think we got great customer service. Second, when the tuxes came in, they were ALL messed up. My H had to reorder his pants because they were WAY too big for him, and one of his other GM had a problem with sizing as well. His dad recieved the wrong tie and vest color. However, they did overnight everything and everything came in on time, and they all looked stunning, it was just a big headache.
BM Dress- Ida's: Really nothing much to say here, Ida's was great. The people working there are friendly and available to answer questions, but they arn't all up in your face as you shop and they leave you alone unless you ask for help. They had a great selection of BM dresses, wedding dresses, and MOB dresses, and the prices were wonderful. We ended up picking two dresses that looked very similar and were the same material for the girls to pick from, and both dresses were well within everyone's price range.
