My husband and I were married Saturday August 14, in Omaha at the new St Charles Borromeo catholic church. Our day was just awesome and i'm happy to say, everything went perfectly! I'll have items from our day for sale soon.
HALL /> /> Bel Air Banquet Hall A++. Shelly and Holly (the owners) were just fabulous from day 1. They were the most affordable venue for what we wanted. Our wedding was 130 of our closest family and friends, it was a small and intimate occasion and that is exactly what our venue was.
CATERING /> /> Bel Air Banquet Hall. A++. Shelly is a superb cook! As soon as you walked into the hall it smelled delicious! Our guests complimented the food! Our buffet was, baked herb chicken, hot tender beef with mushrooms, au gratin potatoes, seasoned green beans, italian pasta salad, tossed salad, and warm rolls.
BRIDES CAKE /> /> Bel AIr Banquet Hall A++. Holly baked my cake. It was a four tier marble and white cake, the flavors alternating with the tiers. So many guests commented on how yummy the cake was.
ALCOHOL, BEVERAGES /> /> Bel Air Banquet Hall. A++. The hall let us put a set amount of money down. The just kept track as the night went on. Basically that covered all the guests beer (3 choices) and wine (3 choices. Our guests were happy and so were we, with the alcohol selections they could choose from.
GROOMS CAKE /> /> Omaha Cake Gallery. A++. SO GOOD! Tons of compliments on the grooms cake, which was a 2 tiered chocloate frosting with chocolate covered strawberries....flavors - oreo with oreo filling and choclolate with baileys cream filling.
DJ /> /> Mark K, with Bandstand. A. Mark was great! He kept the dance floor going all night! At the beginning of the night he made sure that the flow of everything was moving at a nice pace. He didn't play a lot of what was on our play list, but we still enjoyed his music selections!
BRIDES DRESS /> /> Bridal Traditions. A. The girls there did a fabulous job of helping me pick my dress. It was the Maggie Sottero Reese. It fit my body and my personality perfectly. And they measured me so good that they only alterations I needed was a hem and a bussle.
TUXES /> /> Tip Top Tux. B. The people there were very helpful when we went to pick out the tuxes. My husband said the day him and his best man went to pick up tuxes, they noticed their shirts were wrinkled. That's the last thing that my husband wants to do the day of the wedding is iron his shirt. SO i'm glad he checked his tux and tried it on. The tux place did end up ironing all the shirts...so it took my husband about 2 hours just to pick up his tux.
PHOTOGRAPHER /> /> Christine McGuigan Photography A+. Christine is just a gem! She's such a sweetheart and very easy going and pleasant to work with. She did our engagement session and our wedding day. She kept us on schedule before the wedding started and was happy to meet us out for a few candid shots before the reception. 1 week after the wedding she had about 6 preview shots she showed me and told me the rest would be done in a few weeks. Quick turn around AND she's very AFFORDABLE!
HONEYMOON /> /> Enchanted Honeymoons. A. Andy, our travel agent, was nice to work with. We told him our budget and he ended up going over our budget quite a bit, but we didn't mind. We extended our budget to allow us a 7 day all inclusive in Mexico. The resort we picked was awesome and totally us. We had a blast!
CEREMONY MUSICIANS /> /> Kim Brokke & Ben Baber. A++. They were amazing!! I had my heart set on a harp for the wedding and Kim was a beautiful harpist AND vocalist. Listening to her sing brings tears to your eyes, she's just phenomenal. She sang the Ave Maria in Latin. Fabulous! Ben was a great pianist and they worked very well together.
FLORIST /> /> Piccolo's. B-. I wasn't too happy with the flowers. That was probably my least favorite thing about the day. We originally booked them and was meeting with a man named Kevin. Weeks before the wedding he left the company and I had to have another meeting with a new woman. I suppose that is why the flowers weren't up to par. I wanted roses and black baccara roses with rhinestones in my bouquet. The black bacarra rosses looked wilted. And they didn't put rhinestones in the roses. They put a few sparkly things in between the roses, but not in each rose like i wanted. I also told them, not once but 2x - i don't like greenery. The day of the wedding my bouquet has greenery in it and it also has these green strands sticking out of it everywhere! I had my Aunt find some scissors to cut the greenery out. Our centerpieces, were 9x3 vases with damask design on them. In each one there was to be 10 red roses in each. And that's it. Well, i get to the reception and half of the vases are filled with greenery!!!! And there were maybe 8 roses in each vase. I wasn't happy with that. But on the plus side the flowers on the altar and the head table were gorgeous.
REHEARSAL DINNER /> /> Lo Sole Mio. A+. Anyone who lives in Omaha knows how good this place is! The meals were awesome and everyone loved their food. They let us do an open bar and just paid the tab at the end of the night. We had our own room and the staff was wonderful. The evening was just awesome!
INVITATIONS, PROGRAMS /> /> Elman & Co Printing. A++. Maybe I'm a little biased b/c I work there, however in all truth - our invitations were the best invitations I've ever seen. My boss let me design whatever I wanted and use whatever paper stock I wanted. They just turned out fabulous - truly awesome work. I had a coated paper that felt like velvet and the envlopes were a bright silver metallic. Tons of compliments on the invites. I also ordered my foil stamped napkins and matchbooks thru them as well.
MAKEUP /> /> Blush Makeup Artistry. A+++. Christine is just awesome! She uses an airbrush makeup for your foundation. I looked flawless ALL day and with crying and sweating the makup didn't run. My eye makeup stayed the whole day and everyone compliment how great I looked. She let me keep the lip gloss she used for touch ups during the day. She also did my bridesmaids, they looked great!
Ok, I think that's everything. Good luck to all the engaged ladies planning right now! I know it's stressful, but the day after your wedding you're going to look back and say - wow, that went way too fast!! My only regret is not hiring a videographer. I would have loved to see our big day thru the eyes of everyone else. But, I guess I just have my memories to remember our big day - and that's fine too.
