I did a lot of research when I was searching for vendors and it paid off - my wedding was great! I was trying to be "green," so you'll see that in some of my vendor choices. Thought I'd share:
Invitations: Sam Flax - I did a custom design and they were very simple. I wanted them printed on recycled paper, and they had plenty of choices that didn't look like they were made of twigs and oatmeal. We did have to do multiple proofs (some typos from them), but it worked out great and I was happy with the product and price. I bought the same card stock to do my own save the date post cards (designed myself in Word and printed at home) - I was happy with them too.
Venue: We did the ceremony and reception at Trees Atlanta (
www.treesatlanta.org) - we were the first to do a wedding there and it was AWESOME. Joe is their events person and he was wonderful to work with. Our guests also thought it was a really cool venue and has a great set up for events (great indoor and outdoor spaces).
Caterer: Avalon Catering - the food was fantastic. Many people told us it was the best wedding food they had eaten. The shrimp and grits were a huge hit - people are still talking about them! The staff was great that night too - very professional and courteous.
Cake: Publix! I used the one at Toco Hills - though the decorator Kara actually works at another store now (she came back to do my cake). Everyone knows Publix cake is delicious, and this was another big winner - everyone said it was the tastiest wedding cake, including my mother in law, who declared it the best ever. ;o) I did a variation on one of their standard designs and added some gum paste flowers that they ordered. They delivered it and it looked beautiful. Note: we did have WAY too much cake. I was glad to take some home to freeze it for later, but we could have ordered much less.
Photographers: 35 Atlanta - we don't have the pictures yet, so this is an incomplete review...but Tyler and Lauren were great to work with and very professional. I can't wait to see the pictures!
DJ: Lou from Spectrum Entertainment - Lou did a great job. I wanted to dance, and he got everyone dancing! We enjoyed working with him - he has a ton of experience and he was very attentive to our needs and requests (like how much crowd interaction do we want, etc.).
Coordinator: Leah from The Whole Shebang provided day-of services and she was fantastic. I was completely confident in her and she had everything under control. People asked if she was a friend because she was so nice and not militant/bossy like some coordinators can be.
Flowers: Candler Park Flowers did our bouquets, bout's for the guys and corsages for the moms. They were beautiful and modern/simple - they looked chic. They are not far from Trees Atlanta (our venue), so it was easy to pick them up on the way to the wedding.
Dress: J.Crew - our wedding wasn't extremely formal, so their Gracie dress was perfect. I was comfortable and got lots of compliments. :O) I tried it on at the store at Lenox Mall first. I will note that I wasn't thrilled with the wedding person there - we were kept waiting for our appointment because the bride before us was running late, then when it was finally my turn (about 45 minutes late), she didn't actually help us - a regular sales person did. It turned out fine, but it was kind of irritating.