Hi ladies! I've never posted here very much, but I've been a lurker for the last 8 months or so. I got married at the end of July and wanted to tell you about my AMAZING vendors! I hope this can help someone!
Belle Vie Bridal Salon (Chicago): A- I volunteer in Ethiopia every year, so once I heard that Amsale is from Ethiopia, I knew I wanted to wear one of her dresses as a way of representing my favorite kids. I called Belle Vie to set up an appointment and explained that I wanted to only look at Amsale’s dresses. They gave me the first appointment of the Amsale trunk show that Amsale herself was going to be at! I got to meet her, we talked about Ethiopia, and she personally helped me pick out my dress. It was a dream come true! The only reason I can’t give Belle Vie an A+ is because after my gown arrived, it took me a month of leaving them voice mails for them to return my calls so I could pay the balance on my dress and set up my gown viewing appointment. Other than that, everything went very smoothly!
Dianna at Hawaii Weddings and Events- A+++++++++++++ I LOVE Dianna! Within 10 minutes of first contacting her, she emailed me a response. I loved her auto-response emails letting her clients know when they would hear back from her. Somehow she always responded earlier than she said she would. She picked out the best vendors ever! She always seemed to know what I was thinking. A few times I forgot to tell her about something I wanted and then I’d find out she included it. On the worksheet I filled out I had mentioned it would be nice to give all of the ladies at the wedding a flower to wear in their hair. I totally forgot about it and almost cried when I saw her passing out flowers at the wedding. I let Dianna pick out the linens, flowers, paper products, everything. She understood my vision and I put full trust in her. She went above and beyond what I expected. My husband and I picked Kualoa as our venue because every time we go to Hawaii, the first activity we book is ATVing at Kualoa. Dianna knew this, so she surprised us by having Kualoa bring an ATV out to the island for us. She put a “Just Married” sign on the back and it made a great photo op. She just added so many little touches and details to our day to make it perfect. We received so many compliments from our guests. My Mom said she thought our wedding belonged in a bridal magazine it was so beautiful. We owe everything to Dianna.
Kualoa Ranch Secret Island & Hale Molii- A I didn’t have much interaction with the staff, but the little I did was great. They were very prompt in replying to emails and answered all of my questions. The venue was breathtaking!
Cake Lava- A+ When I told Dianna I was really hoping to have a Cake Lava cake, she told me not to get my hopes up. When we contacted them in March or April for our July wedding, they were miraculously available! Sasha was so wonderful to chat with via email and Rick did an incredible job on our cake! We went with the flavors Banana Nutella and Pineapple Coconut Chunk. I wish I had more than one piece!
Henry Makua (Ukulele player)- A+++++ I LOVED Henry! Dianna hired him to play during our ceremony. I expected him to play while everyone walked down the aisle, when I walked down the aisle, and then for the recessional. He did those, but he also surprised us by playing a song for us during the ceremony. He even played for at least 20 minutes after the wedding while everyone took pictures.
Rev. Frank Mak- A+ Rev. Mak is one of the kindest people I have ever met. He made us very comfortable from the beginning and even though he didn’t know us very well, he found ways to make the ceremony personal to us. We really appreciated him!
Troy Michael (DJ & Photo booth)- A+++++ Troy is amazing! He was our DJ/MC and he did not disappoint! We had many unusual requests and he handled everything perfectly. One way that we wanted to incorporate my husband’s culture into the day was by playing music from his country. Troy was really flexible and even found ways to mix this music with American music to keep my side of the family dancing as well. Since this was a destination wedding, I wanted to take a moment to show everyone how much we appreciate them and Troy came up with the best idea ever. It was hands down my favorite part of the whole night! We also used Troy’s photo booth which was great. He has great props which we used both in the photo booth and on the dance floor. I’ve never laughed so hard!
Tangos Catering- A+ Our food was SO good! Food was extremely important as my Grandfather always said the most important parts of a wedding were good food and good alcohol. We had a plated meal and everyone kept coming up to us to say that the food was amazing. Also, the staff were extremely attentive. As soon as we arrived to the reception, a server approached us to bring me my favorite wine and my husband his favorite drink. Here is our menu: Appetizer: Dungeness crab cake on baby arugular Chili Aioli Salad: Hearts of butter lettuce, teardrop tomato, orange and avocado basalmic dressing, Entrees: Coq au Vin Organic free range jidori chicken with mushrooms and pearl onion burgundy sauce, pommes boulangere, brussel sprout leaves, Roasted beef tenderloin and garlic prawn skewers on risotto cake, baby carrots and broccolini green pepper corn demi glace and chive butter, and for dessert: Caramelized apple tart with cinnamon ice cream.
Su V Florist- A+ Our flowers were stunning! The arch for our ceremony was incredible and she was able to reuse those flowers for some of our centerpieces. I sent Dianna pictures of floral arrangements that I liked and Su V went from there. Her flowers were even better than my vision! She was really flexible to work with too as we asked for leis for all of our guests a week before the wedding and she was able to deliver.
Shawn Starr Photography- A+ We haven’t seen the pictures yet, but we loved working with Shawn. He was so friendly and made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera. I LOVE the photos in his portfolio so I can’t wait to see how ours turned out! The only downside is we have to wait 3 months for our photos, but honestly, I’m pretty sure they will be worth it.
Crane Media Videography- A+ We haven’t seen James’ work yet, but he was great to work with as well! He did show us a tiny clip while we were filming and it looked SO cool! He also made us feel very comfortable. We had a great time laughing during my hair/makeup session.
Studio W Hair/Makeup- A+ These ladies nailed it at the hair/makeup trial. I told them to do whatever they thought would look best and I loved the result! Somehow they did an even better job the day of the wedding.