Church: A+++, Country Club Christian Church
The staff and the church was amazing. My husband and I are both catholic but do not belong to a parish so we could not find a church to marry us. This church is one a few that will marry non members and it is beautiful. When booking with the church you have to do a little Great start communication course before they will marry you. It was a great thing for both my husband and I. We got to know our minister and some other people getting married it was a great time. They take time to get to know how you want the service to go and take control of it on the wedding day. Our coordinator did a great job arranging everything and the ceremony went so smooth and it was just beautiful. They were great!!
Reception Venue: A++++ Uptown Theatre/Valentine Room
I do not have enough good things to say about this place. Kim is the coordinator for everything here and does just an amazing job. The space was beautiful and everything went just perfect. I would recommend this place to anyone I know. She was so easy to work with. Everything I asked “can we do this” she either said yes not a problem or we can’t but we could do this. We did a menu tasting and it was really great it was nice to taste the food before picking it. I just don’t have anything bad to say. The staff, well everything was just amazing. They timed everything perfect kept us doing what we should and kept the partying going as long as we wanted it. Best decision we made out of the whole wedding process!
Hair: A+, Kari (don’t remember her last name)
My original hair stylist backed out about 2 weeks before the wedding, as with the make-up so we went on a frantic hunt. With no time for a trial I choose Kari after an easy conversation over the phone I felt comfortable with her so I went with it. Found her through a friend of a friend. I sent her some pictures and different ideas. She showed up at the hotel on time and did myself and 4 bridesmaids. When there was a small crisis also did a quick hair-do with my candle lighter. She was easy to work with, knew about hair and did a fabulous job on everyone’s hair. Everything works out for a reason.
Make-up: A++, Monica with Motives make up
My original make-up person backed out 2 weeks before the wedding so on a frantic hunt we found her through a friend of a friend. They did a fantastic job with everyone. My make-up looked amazing. They were on time and brought everything they needed and were very proficient with getting everyone done. I hate to say it but everything happens for a reason and I am glad this reason happened.
Spray tan: A+, TanPerfekt-
I had 7 people that needed to be tanned for the wedding. She came to my house and set up a tent and tanned everyone in our own home. We had a little party and drank and had a great time. She tanned everyone. She did a great job on me. With spray tan and everyone’s skin reacts differently we had a few that it didn’t stick real well in places but that is not her fault. She was very easy to work with and showed up on time and did everyone and did a great job.
Limo: A+, Overland Limo-
We reserved a trolley. The driver was on time and the process to book the trolley was just perfect. Since it was mother’s day weekend and prom season they worked well with the time frame we needed the trolley. The air and radio worked and that is all that mattered to me. It was a good choice.
DJ: A+, Complete Music- Chris O
I selected complete music after attending the Perfect wedding guide bridal show. Chris was outgoing knew his music and was confident about his work. We got the show special so we saved some money and he was a great choice. He was prompt and attentive at each meeting knew what we wanted and was great at the wedding. Kept everything moving on time and kept everyone involved good at reading the crowd and was just a plain great guy. We wanted a party and lots of dancing and that is exactly what we got.
Photographer: A++, Kenny Johnson Photography-
We booked Kenny after a long list of photographers out there. I saw him at the perfect wedding guide bridal show and got some information. I also got the show special with this booking as well. We did our engagements and they were perfect and so my expectations of the wedding were really high. And he did come through. We got our CD of photos back in a week. He did a great job. He came when we were getting ready and stayed until I felt bad and told him that he could go home. He stayed until 10:30 which was so much later than I expected. He did a fabulous job and my wedding party just loved him. He got all the important moments and the moments when we thought no one was looking. I have one tiny complaint and I know that he is busy but sometimes they were a little slow on returning emails. That becomes pretty stressful when you are bride that is trying to get things done. But the service during photos and meeting and such was great. Kenny was another great choice in all the pool of photographers.
Cake: A+++, Carolyn’s wedding wonderland-
The best cake you have ever tasted. Not only did our cake look fantastic it tasted just as good as it looks. This is a lady that does this out of her home. We got her name from a friend that has been getting cakes from her for years. We went to a cake tasting and were sold. We tried other cakes and this one was amazing. We walked in not knowing what we wanted it to look like and she helped us figure out our style and we went with it. It turned out amazing.
Flowers: A+++, Connie Bell
My wedding was over mother’s day weekend so we had a terrible time finding a florist to take on our wedding. I got this women’s name from a friend, the Price Chopper florist, she did not have her own shop and just does flowers out of her home. She was the nicest lady I have ever meant. Has been doing flowers for decades and did a fantastic job. My arrangements were absolutely stunning. She took everything I said and made it ten times better. I couldn’t have been more satisfied with her service.
Wedding Dress: A++, Belle Vouge-
I would recommend this store to anyone I know. They had a great selection for all price ranges. I gave them my budget and they did not let me try on anything that was outside of that. I bought my dress after trying a dozen. I left, thought I hated it and they let me come back two times to either exchange it for a new dress or try anything they knew to help me love it. I ended up loving the dress I originally picked just paired it with a different sash with more bling and they let me exchange the original belt and were always very easy to work with and the staff was fabulous. Never overly busy so always got one on one time with my consultant. Great customer service.
Photobooth: A-, A good time Photo Booth-
This was one of the first vendors I booked for my wedding. They had the best looking website and when I meet with them at my first bridal show they were really great people. The booth looked like a booth but wasn’t a hard shell so you could fit lots of people in it. They were right on the other side of the booth and could adjust the camera and everything. I was just as pleased with them at my wedding. They were great with my guests. We did get guest book service (came with the show special) and it was the best thing we did it was so cool. The staff put the book together did a fantastic job. I would have given them a A+ but they forgot to turn on the video service (which came with the show special). I didn’t notice till after the wedding, but the owner was very apologetic and offered a little refund for the service we didn’t get. Other than that they were great, would book them for any future events.
Hotel block: A-, Hampton Inn & Suites Country Club Plaza-
We chose this hotel for the location and the amenities. It was very close to both the church and the reception hall. They offered free breakfast and free parking, which all of the other downtown hotels do not. Jessica was my booking agent and was great. Always responded to my emails quickly and helped with everything I needed. I would have given then an A+ but we did order and pay for pizza for when we got back after the wedding and arrangements were supposed to be made with the front desk and the pizza was turned away. Just a tiny communication gap, but other than that it was great.
Rehearsal Dinner: A++, Anthony’s Italian restaurant-
We chose Anthony’s because of the history is has with our family. As always they treated us like family and the food was served hot and on time. The waiters took great care of us and our family. Everyone had a great time here.
Tuxedo’s: A+ Tip Top Tux, Zona Rosa
I dealt with a couple different people while going to Tip Top Tux for our tuxedos. But each person we had did a great job. We have had experience with all the other Tuxedo shops and decided to go with TTT because of the service and the fact that you get to have a groom try-on. We went in told them what we wanted to try they ordered it and we got to see everything together before we decided on which tuxedo we wanted. We actually went back 3 different times for different sizes, different color combinations and such and they were fantastic. We didn’t have any problems. The only problem we had was the shoes were too big on most of the guys but we ordered them all new pairs and they were in the next day the switch happened and everything was great. We picked a new design of shoes and didn’t know that they ran a little big so it wasn’t their fault.
Alterations: A+++, Custom Alterations & Sew, Excelsior Springs, MO
I cannot even begin to say how wonderful this small town company is. They did a wonderful job on my dress. It fit like a glove they took some extra length off my dress and I needed the material for my flower girl’s dress to be made from. They cut it beautifully and had it all ready for me when I needed it. I did 2 fittings and they got it right each and every time didn’t have any problems. My Husband is short and always has trouble with his pants. We purchased his tuxedo pants because we needed them altered quite a bit. We took them to a place in Zona and they did a horrible job and we were unsure if they were even fixable afterwards. Custom Sew took these pants and did a miracle on them. And they finished them in one day. We took them on Tuesday of the wedding week and they were done by Wednesday afternoon. When we got there and he tried them on, they were perfect. My H and I couldn’t have been more relieved. I can’t say enough good things about her work. We will be taking any alterations to her from now on.