Our April 23rd wedding at Loose Park's Rose Garden could not have been more perfect ... and the reason for that is not only fantastic weather, friends and family, but because we hired some amazing people to do their thing and make it all come together ... thought these reviews might be helpful!
Ceremony Venue: Loose Park, Rose Garden - A+++We LOVED our outdoor venue, especially since the weather turned out perfectly! The process of booking will definitely be a “memory” since Loose Park books all of their days the first business day of the year that meant camping out in 15 degree weather, but it was well worth it. I believe the have amended the booking day to sometime in April now though. Very easy to book, reasonable price and limitations are clear (i.e., no outside flowers). Reception Venue: Arts Incubator, downtown - A+++We ADORED our reception venue. Ashlee at the Arts Incubator was super-sweet and easy to work with. Again, limitations/regulations were simple. We had the space the entire day so the girls got ready there. We brought in our own catering and alcohol and decorated ourselves which saved a lot of $. I was very pleased to learn that they let us bring in our boxes and store in the basement a few days before. It saved a lot of work the day of! I was concerned about parking but didn’t hear of any problems. My only suggestion is to be conservative on the # of tables you need. If you need more the day of you can always add to what you’ve reserved. We ended up not using the bar tables which would have saved us $20 or so. We were a little disappointed we couldn’t get on the roof for pictures (padlocked by the landlord), but understand that it is not meant for human traffic (which damages the seams), it’s meant to be a roof. Photography: PhotoMomentos - A+++We also ADORED OUR photographers, Marco and Jan Simonelli of PhotoMomentos. They are young, fun and hip. This was our largest investment and well worth it. They listened to what we wanted but took the initiative to be creative and find wonderful places to shoot and EVERYONE had a crush on Marco by the end of the day. They weighed in on the schedule and their suggestions were great. We even stopped at The Cashew in between for a few photos of just us and they were right behind us. They were on time and stayed until nearly the very end. Their photobooth experience was a fun highlight for the reception and incredibly affordable compared to bringing in an actual booth. They made everyone feel very comfortable. We just saw a preview of the photos on their blog and think they are FANTASTIC! Videography: Mike Varel - A+++Another person to ADORE, Mike Varel and his videographer partner, Ryan. Mike is one of the SWEETEST guys I know and we are so lucky that our photographer recommended him. His work thrives on emotion. Mike and Ryan were one of the first to arrive the day of our wedding and one of the last to leave. Sometimes you noticed him but other times you didn’t. He was quiet, just letting things happen as they did, never trying to “create” a moment. Even having him and the photographers there for our “first look” was comfortable because at that point everyone was a friend. I’m so excited to see our video! Catering: Cupini’s - A++We loved working with Eddie Cupini as well! My husband and I went on our first lunch date to Cupini’s so this was a memorable and “no-brainer” decision for our wedding day. Our tasting was so fun, we signed the contract and then Eddie was still incredibly prompt at responding to my one-off questions and needs. During our final mtg he pulled out this list of e-mails and points to cover off on that had accumulated too. Great attention to detail. The day of they were there on-time and Dunkin, the man in charge that day had everything under control. We were starting to run out of Boulevard Wheat beer very early on and Dunkin even offered to go pick some up for us. So easy! The staff was courteous and the food was delicious! The only problem we had is that we ordered pizza for 10 kids but they forgot to bring it. I didn’t realize it until after the fact but talked to Eddie about it. He is cutting us a check for the difference. We also used one of his staff as a bartender. He did a good job, but one of our drinks was an Old Fashioned that he had trouble making. But, not a big deal. We even paid Cupini’s an extra $50 and they put all of the chairs and tables back for us! Best $50 ever spent! I’m a BIG fan of Cupini’s! Cake: Rebekah Foster - A+++Oh my goodness! Our cake was DELICIOUS!!!!! We reached out to Rebekah after learning about her through a few reviews here, on the TheKnot. We actually talked to several, several people but decided on Rebekah because she’s a one-woman show, so sweet, and her cakes are pretty and tasty (even better than the tasting)! She listened to our design requests and delivered to the exact specifications. She even brought a box for the top layer of the cake. We even took a piece of leftover cake with us on the plane! Sooooo delicious! Groom’s Cake: Kristin’s Cakes - A+++I decided to have a surprise groom’s cake at the rehearsal dinner and wanted to spread our business around a little so I worked with Kristin for this cake. Again … so delicious! She delivered on the requested design perfectly! Alcohol: Red XWe investigated Cellar Rat, Gomer’s and Red X and ultimately went with Red X. Cheaper and easier to coordinate ourselves. Gomer’s actually never responded to our e-mail. Cellar Rat was ok but difficult to reach and not the most friendly. Flowers: The Flower Girl, Erica Smail - A+++I LOVED my flowers from The Flower Girl! Bouquets, personal flowers and centerpieces. She listened to exactly what I wanted and delivered even though our flower budget was quite modest and we did some things ourselves (i.e., got the vases and willow branches for centerpieces). The only problem was that we wanted chocolate cosmos for the guys and in my bouquet and none were to be found that particular week. Not her fault of course. She came up with an alternative, I wasn’t down with it, so just pulled them out at the last minute, so, they were perfect again. She is very sweet and I’m so happy to have worked with her! Stylist & Makeup: CaraSue Hall - A+I’m pretty happy I chose CaraSue. She obviously had the experience and her prices were reasonable. I loved that she was able to come to us. We did two trials and neither wowed me, BUT, the day of my hair turned out 100 times better than both of the trials and I absolutely loved it!! She did my hair and makeup. She brought an assistant who did the bridesmaids and my mom’s hair. The assistant was just ok. I mean, her skill was just fine but I didn’t jive with her personality. They seemed like they were in a huge rush. I was worried that because we were done by 10:30 a.m. that hair and makeup wouldn’t last until the 5p ceremony. Well, our hair lasted just fine and our makeup did too! So … all in all, a good experience and so happy I did this vs. going to a salon! DJ: Stephen Scott’s Amazing Weddings – A-The DJ was one of the last things we decided upon and this fell in the Groom’s court. Stephen was a really nice guy and was able to handle our two locations back to back very easily. The sound quality was good. We picked out all of the music up to the actual dancing part so he did deliver what we wanted. His “announcer” skills lack a little, but he would be a good choice. Chair Rental: Celebrate KC - A+Easy, easy! Chair rental was super-easy with this company! You get a quote and can modify it up to two weeks out (or something like that), pay half at deposit and then they show up!
