I want to first say that I had my DREAM wedding. The weather was perfect and I am still smiling from ear to ear about how perfect everything was. It was a very stressful week beforehand trying to finalize everything and finish all the decorations but it was ALL worth it. I loved all of my vendors but will give a more detailed description below: (Sorry it’s long, I wanted to give a thorough review)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Venue- Kitty Hawk Pier House- Hilton Garden Inn: my dream location and it was BEAUTIFUL. The Hilton staff was awesome and took care of everything. We worked with Miha for the last year and half of planning. She was great at continually reassuring me that everything was going to work out. She has a very laid back and carefree personality so at times that was frustrating to me because I am very Type A personality, however she is the professional and clearly handles weddings for a living and everything turned out amazing. She was even able to make the Pier House exactly how I wanted in 2.5 hours. There was another wedding earlier in the day that had the Pier House until 3:00pm and my wedding started at 5:30. That was very stressful for me, however between Miha, the Hilton Staff, and my florist, they were all able to pull it off. The food for our tasting was sub-par at best, however the food for the reception was beyond our expectations. Everyone commented on how delicious the food was, from the appetizers to the dinner. For hors d’ouevres we had mini crab cakes, bacon wrapped scallops, bruschetta, caprese skewers with balsamic glaze, and andoulli sausage and gouda cheese stuffed mushrooms which were all served butler style. We also had a cheese and cracker display that was for people to help themselves. The dinner entre options were beef tenderloin, mahi mahi with mango salsa, or chicken marsala. The food honestly was amazing. I couldn’t have been happier.
DJ- DJ Bruce: He was AWESOME. He kept the party going as soon as the cake cutting was over, NO ONE left the dance floor until the reception was over. It was AWESOME. He was great to work with and I would highly recommend him if you want an awesome party.
Photographer: Matt Lusk- I love him and his wife. They were great to work with and make you feel very comfortable. I cannot wait until we get our pics back!!
Cake: Cotton Candy Baking Company. I cannot say enough good things about Megan. She saved the day when we had a cake nightmare (as many of you may have previously read) and we are so glad we chose to go with her. EVERYONE raved about the cupcakes. We chose Triple ginger Lemon and Snickers and then our cutting cake was cookies and cream. We had people crowded around the cake table at the end of night filling up to-go containers because they wanted to take leftovers home. We loved the display she put up and seriously cannot thank her enough.
Flowers/Decorations: Sugar Snaps. I LOVE SHIRLEY. She seriously was amazing and she absolutely created the image I envisioned for my wedding day. She is definitely the vendor I talked to the most over the last year and half and we met a few times. She was amazing and was able to create the most beautiful tables and decorations in just 2.5 hours! As I mentioned earlier, there was another wedding that day at the Pier house so it was amazing at the work Shirley and her staff did. I HIGHLY recommend her for your wedding.
Nails- Hairoics: I would say that this is the vendor I was least pleased with. We had to put a large deposit down, which I was told was to hold the salon for my bridal party (10 people including our mothers and flower girl) and that area of the salon would just be for us. Well, that’s not how it worked. They had other people getting their nails done, and then tried to tell me that they didn’t have time for one of my bridesmaids to get her manicure. It all worked out in the end though. I was not happy with my nails. I had to get acrylics put on because I don’t have long nails and I was not happy with them at all. I lost one nail the wedding night and the sides of several others were chipping off as well. I ended up ripping them all off the day after the wedding (which means they were only on for less than 2 days). After they finished my acrylics, they usually put a thin layer of shellac on to help keep the polish on and they were out of the shellac so we had to go without. They were nice ladies and all but for the money that we spent, I was not impressed. I would recommend going elsewhere that is cheaper for your nails.
Hair/Make-up- Bombshells: THEY ARE AWESOME! Jen and Alicia did our make-up and hair at our rental house. I had a trial of make-up done at the expo in January and then I paid for a trial of my hair earlier in the week and I am so glad that I did. I felt very comfortable and confident in both of these ladies. They are so laid back, willing to change or do whatever you ask, and overall were just awesome. They made all of my bridesmaids, mothers, and flowergirl look absolutely beautiful and I honestly have never felt so pretty in my life. Love them and HIGHLY recommend them.
Officiant: Betsy Haas- I highly recommend Betsy. She was awesome to work with and I feel like I have gotten to know her well over the last year of emails and phone calls. She did an awesome ceremony for us and was willing to incorporate our wine box/love letter ceremony into it. It was beautiful and she was a loud voice so the guests are able to hear even in the beach.
Tux rentals: Black Tie Affair- Donna was very nice and great to work with. We had a few issues with 3 the guys’ pants not fitting correctly when they went to try them on Thursday, and also there was a stain on my FI’s jacket, however she was able to order new pants and a jacket and everything was perfect for the wedding day. She even arranged for us to be able to drop them off on Sunday, since we were all leaving town and they aren’t typically open on Sunday.
Alterations by Lucy: I never met her personally, however my mom had a dress emergency and Lucy was able to fix it in no time and made her look beautiful
Rehearsal: High Cotton Barbeque: The food was awesome! Everyone raved about it. They delivered the food on time, set it up nicely, and it was a quick and easy clean-up. Everything went well with using them and the beef brisket was to die for!
Chair rentals: Ocean Atlantic Rentals- Not too much to say about them other than they were nice, easy to work with, and delivered on time. I had the Hilton set up the chairs and stack the chairs after the ceremony because of the other wedding that day. I would recommend having the groomsmen or other family do it though because otherwise they charge a lot of extra money to set them up and tear them down. It was easy enough to draw out a diagram and have the Hilton staff set it up.