Hi everyone! I got married on 11/13 and I thought I would share my experiences with some of our local vendors. Enjoy!
Ceremony Location: Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview -- A
The church is beautiful and you can't argue with that! Plus, they provide a DOC for the ceremony, which was quite helpful.
Reception Location: Silverwood Park in St. Anthony -- A++
They do have a few rather constricting rules... you have to use a caterer from their list, strict about recycling and composting..... however, this place is gorgeous and they were really great to work with. We loved the fireplace patio and view of the lake! All our guests loved the venue too. The staff is very helpful.... plus, we got out of there a little late and they didn't mind.
Catering: Special Events Catering -- C
When we first started working with them, we were talking with a woman named Sarah, who doesn't seem to work there anymore. She was super helpful and friendly, and the food was fantastic at our tasting. However, closer to the wedding we were working with Kathy. Kathy is anything but friendly. We also had to repeat EVERYTHING we had already talked about with Sarah. Then, the day of the wedding they tacked on an extra charge because we were 15 minutes late sitting down to dinner... AND our food was luke-warm.
Flowers: Lexington Floral -- A
They are a little pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for! Our flowers were exceptional!
Hair: Smart and Chic Bride (Dee) -- A
Dee did a great job on everyone's hair and makeup! I didn't even do a trail run and she was spot on just with a picture of what I wanted. Awesome.
Photography: Agape Moments (Sarah) -- A
We don't have our pics back yet, but our e-pics were great! Sarah and her assistant were on the ball all day.
Reception Music: Big Toe and the Jam -- A++
Big Toe is a 10 piece band that plays funk/blues from the 70s/80s. More people danced at our wedding than any wedding I've ever been to! Seriously... at one point there were only 10 people sitting! (and we had 200 at the wedding) They let us choose what music we did or didn't want played, and are so much fun to work with AND to dance to!
Invites and Programs: EmmyLu Design Studio -- A+
Tons of compliments on these! You pick a design at emmylu.com and they personalize it for you. Then they send you a pdf and you print it. They don't have programs on their site, but we asked if they would create one for us. Prices were very reasonable.
Dresses & Tuxes: Wedding Shoppe -- B
I got my dress, BM dresses, and all the tuxes here. Everything was great for the tuxes and my dress, but they measured one of my BMs TOTALLY wrong. The dress was falling off of her! Then they just said "you must have lost some weight!" Ummm no, she didn't. So that was a big hassle to figure out, but otherwise everything was good.
Those are the major ones. Overall everything went great on the big day! Best of luck to all of you in your planning!