Need some tips/ideas for Fort Wayne Wedding October 2012

kbklips2002

Hello,
I was hoping someone to point me in the right direction. I grew up in Fort Wayne but live in Mesa,AZ now. I am planning on having a Wedding at the end of October 2012 in Fort Wayne but need to find a place that does tux rentals, a place (bakery) to get the cake, a place to order the bouquet and a good place to find some decent but cheap decorations or decoration ideas and last but not least maybe a couple bridesmaids dresses. We already have the vendor (Goegleins) for the actual wedding and they do catering as well so that's all taken care of and I think we maybe set as far as a photographer goes and we have our DJ. We are working on a limited budget maybe 4-5k at the most. The dress and rings are also taken care of already. This whole wedding thing is new to me so if anyone could help me here and at least point me in the right direction I'd very much appreciate it!!

lindenheart

Here are my vendors. I can't really tell you how they did because I've got 2 months before my big day but so far they've all been gret to work with -

Loui's Tux (it's located in Glenbrook Mall) - they run a special where 5 tuxes/suits will get your groom' tux for free and "free" invitations. We have 4 GM but are also renting suits for the FOB and FOG. You have to pay for the invites upfront but once all the tuxes are paid for you are reimbursed for the cost of the invites. My friend did this 2 yrs ago and had no problems. I haven't had any issues yet either. I will say this though, only the invites are free. The direction card/response card/rsvp card/etc you have to pay for. I bought these at wedding bell invites online so it was way cheap and I've still gotten a ton of complements on the invites.

Courtney's Bakery is doing my cake - absolutely delicious!! Don Halls makes great cakes as well. Yum-Mees just opened 8ish months ago and they make tasty cupcakes and are also doing wedding cakes now.

One of a Kind Events is my florist and has been AMAZING! Linda, the owner, is also my wedding coordinator. Her flowers are beautiful and she completely understood the theme I wanted for the flowers. She's great at being sensitive to your budget as well. Wedding Coordination may not be in your budget but you might consider her as a DOC (day of coordinator). We're renting decorations from her as well, like candy buffet dishes, lanerns, pedastal columns, candles, etc.

I'm not sure how often you can be in Fort Wayne, but you may want to try to get here during one of the bridal shows as you can strike a lot of deals then. Even if you go to the one next February there would still be a lot of vendors open for July. One thing you may not want to wait on is transportation. We had a heck of a time trying to rent a limo for my August wedding. Apparently 8/27 is a huge day to get married here in FW and limo rental companies are booked solid.  You may not run into this in October but it was a hiccup that caught me off guard.

Congrats! Have fun planning!

Monolayth3

I second courtney's bakery.

I used nutcracker sweet shop for ours at my husband's insistance. Was cheaper than courtney's but they did not get it perfect. Courtney's has the best cake. It tastes awesome. Especially their lime!

Halls cake was dry and flavorless. They were the most expensive of the ones I looked into. The red velvet was very gross.

lindenheart

@Monolayth - That sucks that you had a bad experience with Don Hall's, I really liked their red velvet cake.

OP - I would definitely make sure you taste test at a couple bakeries, how good a cake tastes defibitely varies person to person.

kbklips2002

Thanks for the ideas!! I've decided to move the wedding to September. My aunt suggested moving it to September as most of the leaves will have already fallen off the trees by late October and it might be chilly. I forget how soon the seasons change since I moved to Arizona haha!! So anyways, now were thinking of moving it up so we can enjoy the beautiful leaves/fall season. Thanks again for all the tips! Lindenheart.... my birthday is August 27th haha GREAT DAY! Hope you have a beautiful wedding!

Monolayth3

If you have any intrest I look a ton of pictures of Foster park at the end of Sept beginning of October. here is the http://www.flickr.com/photos/48272780@N06/with/5357742761/

lindenheart

kbklips - how fun! Looks like august 27 is just a good day all around! I had originally wanted a Sept wedding but a lot of places were booked. I got engaged in October so I was calling less than a year out and knew this might be an issue. So late August it is!  

Good luck planning across the continent! I can't even imagine doing so! Do you visit Fort Wayne very often?

kbklips2002

Thanks Monolayth3, it looks beautiful. We were thinking either end of September or October. I still can't pin down a date yet. I have been looking at bridesmaids dresses and think I have decided on one.

Lindenheart, I do come as often as I can. I think I went home about three different times last year I seriously lost count... maybe it was four. My sister graduated, my mom passed away in September, and my grandma returned from being on duty with the air force and I came home for Christmas since it was (our first Chistmas with out mom) and her birthday was on Christmas. It was def a difficult year and making all these plans with out my mom has been tough but I have a lot of family that is super supportive (most of which live out there) and is why I tend to visit as often as I can. I was thinking of seeing if I could manage a trip out there before the wedding to try and sit down with the caterer and any other vendors I decide to go with etc. Well, ladies... It's getting late here so I'm gonna get off here. Thanks again for sharing your ideas and thoughts again!! If you think of anything else do let me know!! Oh and best of luck to you Linden... you'll have to send pictures of your wedding so that I can see what it's like. Have a great one!

kbklips2002

It's been a while since my last post but wanted to share with you we are all set to get married in fort Wayne at geoglines October 6th 2012 (this year) it's all coming together!