We got married on June 23, but I figured I would finally post some reviews :-)
Venue: Pittsburgh Opera House A+++
LOVED this venue! It turned out absolutely gorgeous. A ton of extra work needed because it was all DIY, but in the end I got exactly what I wanted and saved a whole lot of money. Sean, their coordinator, was awesome and very helpful. My best advice if you choose this location - pay someone to do the clean up!! We paid a day of coordinator to handle the set up, but didn't prepare for the clean up. So after all the guests had gone home, my poor husband and I had to stay behind packing up food and loading up our friends' cars. Not the most romantic end to the evening. Lol. Then I had to go back on Monday and spend half the day cleaning up the rest. Definitely would have been worth spending extra money to have someone else do it.
Flowers: Tracey Ruscitto Floral A+++++
She is a friend of ours, but she does a beautiful job on all of her weddings. Our centerpieces were AMAZING. And very affordable. Can't beat it!
Music: Steven Vance A++
We booked our ceremony string quartet, a strolling violinist for cocktail hour and dinner, and our DJ through Steven Vance. The string quartet was amazing. They learned the song "A Thousand Years" for me to walk down the aisle too. It was really beautiful. The guests raved about the violinist. Our DJ had a last minute family emergency and we got a replacement, but he was still okay.
Photobooth: Youngstown Mojo A-
The most affordable booth we found, and it included a scrapbook service and props. Wasn't a fan of the guy running the booth though. He just sat in the corner silent all night - didn't interact with guests or show anyone the scrapbook, so most guests didn't even know it was over in the corner and we got very few photos in our scrapbook as a result. Guests still absolutely loved it though!
Catering: Our Little Secret Catering A+
Food was fantastic and SO inexpensive!! We only paid $14 per person for a buffet with 4 entrees, 3 sides, and 2 salads and everything was delicious. Chicken piccata and zucchini parmesan were our favorites and we had a couple of trays leftover after that we got to take home - tasted awesome leftover too! We also had rosemary beef tips, tilapia, parmesan asparagus and roasted potatoes with garlic aioli. They did a strawberry spinach salad with walnuts that everyone loved too. Staff was friendly and easy to work with. The only complaint I had was that we paid an extra $100 for an extra server to specifically be in charge of washing dishes to be sure we didn't get stuck with that at the end of the night, yet they didn't wash the silverware. We had over 700 pieces of dirty silverware that we had to haul home and wash ourselves. Not happy about that. But the quality for the cost was amazing.
Hair: Brooke Rockwell C
Not happy with the hair. I didn't like my hair at the trial, but figured she would do better the day of - not the case. She wasn't even able to provide photos or a book to look through - I had to spend the morning searching online trying to find something myself. It really didn't look good when she finished, and it didn't last more than 2 hours before it all fell out. I also thought she was very overpriced. My bridesmaids were not happy about being charged $70 each plus tip for very simple updos.
Ceremony: First Baptist Church
Wonderful church and it is really gorgeous! One of the few pretty churches in Pittsburgh that will marry non-parishoners. Paster Denning was very friendly and did a great job. They had a nice spread of fruit, cookies, and drinks out for the bridal party before the ceremony. Definitely recommend!
Photographer: Stephanie Strasburg C
I picked her because she came recommended on this board. I may give her a higher grade once I finally receive some pictures, but I don't think I would recommend her to anyone. She was great the day of the wedding with making sure she got as many pictures as she could. But it's been 4 months since the wedding and I still don't have any pictures. I had several friends get married 2 months after me and have their pictures within a few weeks. Had I known it would take this long, I definitely would have gone with someone else. It also makes me nervous because we had a different photographer take engagement photos for us over a year ago, but that photographer ended up vanishing into thin air and stealing our money - we never did receive any photos. Hopefully that isn't what is happening again here!!!
Rings: Kaufmann Jewelers on E Ohio St
Doug at Kaufmann's custom designed my engagement ring and wedding band to match. They are very unique and so pretty. I get compliments on them everywhere I go. He also has a lifetime warranty on them. One of the diamonds fell out and was lost, and he replaced it free of charge. We got my husband's white gold band there as well. You can tell it's high quality - we had one from Kay's that I ended up returning because the weight and feel of Doug's was so much better. Not to mention the warranty!
Overall it was a wonderful day!! :-)