Hi everyone! Here are the reviews for the majority of our vendors - let me know if you have questions! I will get additional photographer info - and pictures! - soon! Dress: Filene's basement Running of the Brides in Boston. A+++ Ok, I realize this is not a usual choice for most people, but I was living in Boston until recently and once we got engaged I thought, why not? A bunch of friends came up to visit and participated with me, and it was AWESOME and crazy - and I found a $1000+ dress for $250 in about an hour - and the only alteration it needed was being taken up. If you are somewhat open about what style you want, and about designers, and also if you are a fairly "average" size (more selection than for super petite or curvier ladies), I would definitely recommend this. BM Dresses: Aria Dresses. A+++++++++++++ Seriously, they were so nice to work with, the dresses are very affordable for the quality, and we were able to just pick a color for all the girls and let them pick the style they wanted. I think (unless they are trying to just not hurt my feelings) that all my bridesmaids liked their dresses alot. Hair: Eden Salon in OKC A+ they did a great job, and everyone was thrilled with their hair and looked beautiful. Tuxes; Men's Wearhouse: B+ They were easy to work with, and have a nice program where guys can go to any men's wearhouse (our groomsmen were in several different states/cities) to get fitted. However, we found out two days before the wedding that they'd given everyone the wrong shirt! They WERE very prompt and proactive in fixing it, but it was a bit stressful! I would just recommend, whoever you use for tuxes, making sure your groomsmen know what they are supposed to be getting so that when they pick it up they'll immediately know if something is missing or wrong. Oh, and we got the guys ties and pocket squares from Aria Dresses to match the bm dresses - we were really happy with how these turned out. Flowers (bouquets, boutonniere): Evelyn's Flowers in Midwest City: B The flowers were lovely, and we got many compliments, but they were not what I asked for! I wanted the dominant color to be red, with a mix of "fall" colors - yellows, oranges, etc., but there was almost no red in the bouquets and a lot of peach/pale orange. The young man that we worked with on the bouquets did not seem too interested in discussing what the bouquet would actually look like, and more so had a "i do this all the time, don't worry about it," attitude - not very comforting. In the end, they were beautiful, and the price was right, but just don't be afraid to be really assertive about what you want. Flowers (reception): we did 'em ourselves. Bought, borrowed, containers, bought flowers at walmart and sam's, and also used potted mums from home depot on outside tables. It was easy, cheap, everybody said it looked nice. We did 4 different centerpieces: one was a grapevine-type wreath with a tall cylinder vase full of fruit, pinecones, etc., in the middle, one was a galvanized tin container with mixed fall flowers, one was mason jars clustered together with daisies, and then the mums outside. We just made them all the day before and took them to the reception site the day before; they were fine for a day. church (St. Joe's Old Cathedral Downtown): B I have to condition this with the explanation that we do not normally attend this church (long story), and also used priests from other churches (other long story), so that probably made our experience a little more challenging than most. I have to say, though, that the packet they send you when you are getting married is very scary and mean-sounding, and if we hadn't had our hearts so set on the church we'd have gone somewhere else. The wedding coordinator was a perfectly nice woman, but there were a lot of things that we had to do a lot of leg work to figure out - just what paperwork, etc., did or did not need to be done, that sort of thing, and also had a hard time with making changes to our wedding selections after our initial meeting. I would say try to work with your priest on what you want, because they have the final say anyway. Also, the church recommended that after the ceremony we go hang out downstairs until they could get the sanctuary cleared out, an that ended up being kind of a frustrating waste of time, we thought. It is a beautiful church, though! reception site: Harn Homestead: B++++++ I LOVED our reception site, everyone thought it was so cool and pretty and unique, and the wedding coordinator was so nice and easy to work with. The absolute only complaints are that 1) it is pretty pricey, considering they don't really do much of anything for you in the way of set up, clean up, etc., and 2) despite all the communication we had up until the day before about set up (we paid extra to have them set up the tables), some things were still a little teensy bit off - a lot of this, though, is because we had questionable weather at the last minute and had plan B's, plan C's, etc., for set-up. But, we loved it and had a great time. Their website doesn't have much in the way of pictures of weddings, so definitely consider emailing them and asking them to send you some pictures of weddings there if you're considering it. caterer: Johnnie's catering: A++++++++++ Ok, I actually never managed to get far enough into the building to SEE the food, and only got to eat the little "to go" box that they made up for me and DH, but everyone said it was beautiful and yummy. Debbie was fantastic to work with, was excellent about being very honest with us, even when it was going to make them less money (you don't need that much food, etc.), and without even really being asked came up with a lot of special decorative touches that everyone loved. They also provided the bar service, and we did a "hosted bar" - we bought the alcohol, they served it, and this worked out really well. cakes: family friend (wedding cake) and Amy's Cakes (groom's cake)A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For the wedding cake, we asked a family friend who's made all my childhood birthday cakes, and it came out AWESOME. We pretty much said, we trust you, do what you want, and it turned out beautifully - and tasted great, which was why we wanted her to make it in the first place. I was sort of prepared for a 'homemade' looking cake, but it looked like something right out of a magazine. The groom's cake was an airstream trailer on a little sheet cake "yard" with lawn chairs, etc., and it was a huge huge hit. It was also completely delicious, despite being covered in silver-painted fondant. Amy was fantastic to work with and easy to stay in touch with and ask questions, and her cake tasting was super fun. Delivery of the cake was also free, which was nice, especially since it was just for the little groom's cake and not a big expensive wedding cake! DJ: Tulsa Wedding DJ's (Chasen was our dj): B+ partly due to planning a wedding, initially, from far away, we had some difficulty and stressful moments with figuring out DJ stuff. The day of, though, our dj was Chasen and he was great and so pleasant to work with; would come up and sort of whisper in our ear "ready to cut the cake now?" and it was really great, eveything went really smoothly and people had a great time. We didn't dance as much as we'd hoped because the dance floor was outside and it turned out to be really chilly, but we still had a blast. Photographer: Mandy at Gordon Dinsmore (?): I can't really rate yet, because we don't have our pictures yet, but she was great and very professional to work with, and super fun the day of. My only regret was that we didn't spend more time beforehand working out a list of "must-get" photos (didn't take a single picture, I don't think, of me with my grandmother, for example), and that we didn't more fully discuss timeline because pics ran a little later than we intended. BUT I think they will be really great and we had a great time working with her, and when we realized we were ready to quick taking pics and get to the party, she totally ran with it and it was very smooth...I will post more once we actually see the pictures.
