Sorry I didn't post sooner but my computer's been down. I got married on 9/3. We had a tent wedding in Wayne, Maine. It was a little humid, but other than that it was fabulous. I don't have tons of vendor reviews because photography was done by a friend trying to get her business going (she did a great job!), my grandmother did all the decorating and planning, and one of my bridesmaids sister in law did our day of coordination.
Ceremony Music- A+
Alexander Prezzano Classical guitarist
He showed up 30 minutes early, played what he was supposed to, was dressed wonderfully, and we got tons of compliments on his performance. He was super fast at getting back to my emails too.
Officiate A
Mike Flynn Notary Public
He met with us once a few months ago to go over the ceremony. He wasn't great at responding to email, but picked up every time I called. I thought he did a great job at the ceremony and he was the most reasonably priced officiate I found. He was exactly what we were looking for.
Tent Rental A
The Tent Shop Monmouth, Maine
The prices were insanely cheap, the tent quality and appearance was fantastic, and the set up and delivery were early. Diane was a bit spacey at times, but everything got done. The only problem was one of the sidewalls was filthy that they delivered. I called and she had another dropped off immediately.
Miscellaneous Rentals A-
One Stoppe Party Shop South Portland, Maine
We rented crystal glassware, our chairs (we brought them ourselves in a pickup), our sweetheart table, and lace table toppers from them. Everything was in good condition, but the sweetheart table was supposed to be a 36" round and they gave us a 30" round. We ended up changing our layout, using that as a cake table, and folding one of the bigger tables we luckily had on hand down to be the sweetheart table.
Food A
Famous Dave's Scarborough, Maine
Hope was a dream to work with. She always answered the phone, was super accommodating, and did everything I asked her to do. The food was hot, the server was nice, we got loads of compliments on our atypical wedding food, and the server did her job. The only complaint I have, and this may make me sound a bit bridezilla-y, but I specifically asked, and it was promised to me, that the server would wear khaki pants and not shorts to my semi formal evening wedding. The server showed up wearing shorts. It annoyed me for all of two seconds.
Cake C-
La Bella Torta Turner, Maine
http://labellatorta.biz/Bre was nice and helpful when designing my two cakes at our initial meeting. I wanted a grooms cake for Josh that looked like the 81 camaro he's restoring. I thought it came out kind of childish looking, and I had asked her to write Z28 on the side and she didn't. My biggest problem was my wedding cake. It was lovely, but not what I ordered. It was the wrong color, she charged me for materials like silver edible dowels and edible glitter that were supposed to be on my cake, but they weren't there. It was supposed to be an obnoxious over the top glitter fest and it was plain looking. A lot of people said it was delicious, but I thought it was dry, and tasteless. I was really disappointed in the cake. She hasn't responded to my email, which doesn't surprise me because she was terrible about replying to my emails prior to the wedding day.
Dress and alterations A+
Bridals by Sandy Alfred, Maine
I loved Sandy. I picked up a discontinued gown for cheap, and she hooked me up with a seamstress friend of hers from South Carolina who was going to be visiting. The seamstress transformed my dress, Sandy was always understanding when I called her panicking about the dress, and she never minded that I visited my dress often. She's super sweet.
Flowers A+
Trader Joes, Portland, Maine
We picked most of our flowers from neighbors gardens but we picked up some extra roses the day before the wedding. They were cheaper than Sam's, were gorgeous, and held up for a week after we bought them. My grandmother did all the arrangements.
Tux Rentals Two grades, F and C-
Classic Tuxedo South Portland, Maine
We didn't end up renting with them. I was pressured into putting a deposit down at one of their bridal shows. When I went with FI to try on, the man was nice and helpful. When I went back in to place the order, the different guy was rude, pushy, and said they lost my order. He wanted $20 more per tux than originally quoted. On top of that their sales people called me constantly. When I just went in finally last week to get them to refund my deposit which I was told would be no problem, the man who helped me grilled me about why we changed tux companies, argued with me about giving me the deposit back, literally threw his hand in my face and told me to calm down, and finally said he'd mail me a check. They're sketchy in my opinion.
Tuxedos on Broadway South Portland, Maine
We ended up renting the tuxedos from him. At first things were wonderful He told me if we rented three tuxedos, the grooms was free, his prices were much cheaper than other places, and he had more of a selection. After talking with him I brought FI in to try on. We picked a tux, he took his measurements, and we left. Fast forward to five days before the wedding. The owner left a super nasty voicemail on both mine, and FIs VM telling us the groom had not been in to be measured, and time was running out. When I called him and reminded him he took Josh's measurements he said he had no record of that. So Josh went in. When he went in, the owner also informed Josh that he hadn't paid for his tux. H isn't confrontational so he paid him. When I found out I called and left a message. To his credit he called right back the next morning, and was apologizing for the mix up. Just seemed weird. Then to cap it all off, no one's tuxes fit right. DH's father's pants were too short, DH's entire suit was too baggy, and my brother's pants were too short.
I ordered our table linens through linentablecloth.com and the products were fabulous and delivered in a timely fashion.
I think that's it. We had an awesome day, and I really didn't dwell on any of the tiny snares or annoyances until much later. I'll be posting stuff for sale soon. I have no pro pics back yet, just what's on fb. I am just so thrilled to be married!