Hey ladies!! Its so hard to believe that our big day is over already but I really wanted to take this chance to review and recommend our vendors because they did an AMAZING job and the day could not have been more perfect
We had a few small snags during the planning process as you will read below, but nothing major and the wedding day was exactly how we imagined! Definitely consider these vendors because they were each so helpful and great, you will not be disappointed!! (Sorry these are a bit long!)
Pittsburgh Airport Marriott: A When we first started working with the Marriott, we worked with Jeannie as our coordinator. She was very difficult to get a hold of at times and wasn’t exactly the most friendly person. Because of that, I was very concerned about how everything would end up turning out with our reception. Later on in the process, Maria and Brittany took over helping us because Jeannie had to take time off. I have to say that when I met with Maria to make sure she was up to speed on everything we had gone over with Jeannie, Jeannie had apparently completely filled her in and everything was going exactly as we wanted.
Maria and Brittany were SO helpful making sure all of the finishing touches were in order and changing schedules last minute to accommodate our crazy schedule the week of the wedding. They replied to all of my emails and calls, which was really helpful since we planned everything from out of town. On the day of the wedding, the hotel staff was so great. I think the shuttle actually brought some people to the ceremony in Bridgeville! We were also able to use this room on the top floor for our hair and makeup, which our vendors loved because it gave them more space than in my hotel suite.
After the ceremony we got back to the Marriott around 4:45 PM, with our cocktail hour starting at 5. Maria, Brittany, and Jeannie were all there with our Maitre ‘d for the night, Eric. Eric was awesome! He worked with our DJ to make sure we were on schedule with introductions, toasts, the serving of the food, etc. I can’t say enough good things about him and his assistant, I think his name was Derek. The staff overall was wonderful and professional.
One of the best parts for me was being able to walk through the cocktail area and into the ballroom before all of the guests to see everything. It was SO perfect. The room looked gorgeous! We then had our own area for the wedding party to have drinks and appetizers during the cocktail hour.
We got a ton of compliments on how the room looked and our guests loved the food (Mediterranean chicken & roast sirloin with shallot demi-glace were our entrée options). My only complaint was it took a little long for the cake to be cut and served because many guests weren’t at their tables any longer. We ended up extending our bar for an hour because we had so many guests still partying with us and dancing.
For our room block, Jackie was super helpful. We had a lot of out-of-towners who were able to get the block rate on several nights, rather than just the night of the wedding. She also helped us rent the back section of the Marriott’s restaurant as a “hospitality room” the Friday before the wedding, where we were able to bring our own food and drinks. Everyone loved it, and it was quite the party to come back to after our rehearsal! Jackie also helped arrange it so guests would get Welcome Bags when they checked in, and that was a big hit.
Despite some of the frustration at the beginning of the process, the Marriott ended up being the absolute best option and everything turned out so perfect and beautiful! I know everyone says this but we had the best reception ever!!
Joy Lager of Beauty by Joy: A+ Joy was so great from the very start. She came out to my parent’s house, which was a bit of a far drive, the morning of our engagement photos to do my makeup trial. She listened to my ideas and made suggestions, and did an amazing job. On the day of the wedding she was on time, got all set up and got to work with makeup for 3 of us. Her and my BM talked me into the false eyelashes and I have to say I loved them. I did the airbrush makeup and it was perfect throughout the whole day! I am SO glad I paid the money to have her do on-location makeup, it was well worth it because she is awesome, so talented, and so easy to work with! I got so many compliments and the makeup looks perfect in our photos!
Brooke Rockwell Hair Design: A+
Brooke was also so easy and great to work with. Because we had a lot of girls needing their hair done and her sister was doing another wedding that day, she brought along a friend and fellow hair stylist, Briana. I was really paranoid about having a crazy hair-do on my wedding day (the source of many wedding nightmares! Haha) but at the trial Brooke made me completely at ease. I knew she would be able to work with my complicated curls and on the wedding day, I LOVED my hair. I asked for a slight change in what we did in my trial and Brooke created such a gorgeous updo, it was exactly what I envisioned. Brooke and Briana were on time and got done with everyone with time to spare which was great because I really wanted to avoid rushing. They are both so talented and sweet, it was a great decision working with them!
DJ Harold Purdy of Modern Era Weddings: A++
Harold was exactly the kind of DJ we wanted for our wedding reception. He was so easy to work with and get in touch with, has a very outgoing personality and was confident and fun as an emcee. He worked so well with the hotel staff and with our photographer to make sure the reception went off without a hitch. He also did such a great job keeping my husband and I informed when we would be doing the garter/bouquet toss, special dances, etc. The best part though was that he is more of a club DJ than your typical wedding DJ. He mixed songs, played a GREAT combo of old and new songs, and got our guests involved. The dance floor was seriously PACKED from the time open dancing started until the very last song. We even extended our bar for an hour and Harold kept the party going the whole time! We couldn’t have made a better decision on picking Harold as our DJ, we are still hearing from both our younger and older guests on how great he was and we couldn’t agree more!
TDF Limo- Jimmy (Driver): A
TDF Limo was hard to get a hold of at first, which is why I am not giving them an A+. I found that email was better than phone calls. Jimmy, our driver, was incredibly nice and helpful. He came early (which made me so relieved) and called when he got to the hotel. We had the Ford 18-20 passenger limo bus which was perfect for our 14 person wedding party and my big dress! It was really nice and new on the inside and clean. They had it stocked with champagne, a few liquors and mixers. We hooked up an iphone to the stereo and played our own music. Overall, very happy with our decision on the limo bus and glad Jimmy was our driver!!
Cakes by Tammy: A++
Tammy is the BEST. Seriously. She was so incredibly great to work with, was easy to get in touch with, and both the design and the taste of her cakes are amazing! She adjusted the buttercream so it wasn’t too sweet for us and matched the monogram from our invitation on our cake. I also wanted flowers on the cake and the way she arranged the flowers made it SO gorgeous and elegant, we got so many compliments! We also got cupcakes and an ombre cake for our rehearsal and she did such an amazing job, our guests devoured them! You can’t go wrong with her strawberry mousse and almond fillings. Our wedding cake was so perfect, and it’s the one thing I sat down and ate in its entirety that day because it was just SO good!! We would work with her again without a doubt!
MB Bride: B
There were a few snags at MB Bride, but there were also some good things which helped them get a “B-” rating from me. First, I live out of town and made flight arrangements specifically to go to MB Bride for their Pronovias trunk show. When I showed up for my appointment, it was like no one even remembered it was a trunk show weekend and the Pronovias gowns were never delivered. We spent around 4 hours there that day as they had me try on other gowns that were not at all what I was looking for, all while they tried to track down the trunk show gowns and call the Pronovias rep. After such a long wait, we decided to leave and I was SO frustrated and disappointed. They called later that day saying the gowns were delivered and asked if I could come back, so I had to cancel another vendor meeting the next day and drive an hour out to Greensburg again on the day I flew home. Luckily I found an amazing Pronovias gown and they offered a significant discount for all of my troubles.
The first fitting my seamstress didn’t show up and we had to wait for her. After that though, everything went pretty smoothly. Paige was my seamstress and she was wonderful to work with. My gown had so many layers of tulle (40ish buttons on the bustle) and she also sewed down tons of pieces of lace that looked feathery on my gown. All in all, my gown was beautiful and exactly what I imagined! My BMs and my mom also got their dresses there, and they didn’t have any problems.
Caitlin Thomas Photography: A
Caitlin and her husband were great to work with! She is SO talented and made everything so easy for us on the day of the wedding. I had gone over some specific photos I wanted to get and they made sure we didn’t miss any of them, including all of the family formal shots we requested. It was cold outside for our photos and Caitlin got all of our wedding party shots very quickly so everyone could get back into the limo while my husband and I got some by ourselves. We haven’t seen the full gallery yet, but the photos we have seen turned out so beautiful so I’m sure the rest will be too. She even helped with my dress bustle and had safety pins on hand when we had trouble with it! Caitlin’s photography is a great value for her level of professionalism and talent, we couldn’t be happier with our decision to work with her!
http://blog.caitlintphotography.com/2013/04/caitlyn-steve-married/
Parkway Florist: A
Cheryl is not only a very knowledgeable and talented florist, but she was also so helpful and listened to all of my many ideas! I gave her photos of bouquets, centerpieces, and boutonnieres that I liked and she did a really great job replicating them and still managing to keep us on our budget!! She was also able to get us the dusty miller I had my heart set on even though they don’t do well in cold winters. Cheryl and her staff also stuck around at the beginning of the ceremony to help me with my train and veil once my bridesmaids walked down the aisle. Parkway Florist is very well priced for the high quality, beautiful work that Cheryl does. We were very happy working with her and we definitely recommend her for future brides!!
Rehearsal Dinner: Burgh’s Pizza and Wings: A
We rented the private room at Burgh’s for our rehearsal dinner and it ended up working out so well for the 40-some people we had there. The room has private bathrooms, a bar, lounge chairs, and dining tables. We did a beer and wine cart, then offered wings, pizza, pierogies and salad for our guests. The second round of food came out a little slow but we were able to take home the leftovers so it wasn't too big of a deal. The price was very reasonable and everyone absolutely loved the food!