Hey Ladies! I got married on June 30, 2012, and I just thought I'd get on here and provide vendor reviews. I found them helpful when I was doing my wedding planning, so hopefully you these reviews will be helpful to some of you.
Ceremony Venue - Highland Baptist Church - A
I already had my own minister so I needed a place that will allow you to bring your own officiant. Highland Baptist allowed that, and the church is BEAUTIFUL. They require you to use (and pay for) a wedding coordinator that they provide. The wedding coordinator was really good, though, and kept things on track for the ceremony. They are very strict with music restrictions. They only allow religious or classical music. No contemporary or secular music is permitted. This was not a problem for me, but might be for others.
Reception Venue - Hurstbourne Country Club - A+
Hurstbourne is not only beautiful, they are also wonderful to work with. The guys in charge of weddings (Tony and Andy) were both so friendly and accommodating. The food was great, and the staff were wonderful. I highly recommend this venue.
Florist - Dixie Florist - B
I was very, very pleased with Dixie Florist up until the week of my wedding when I went to look at my bouquets. They just weren't what I had envisioned AT ALL. I worked with the owner (a friend of my mom's) to come up with something that I really liked, and ended up pleased with the end results. The flower arrangements for the church were beautiful and the bouquets ended up beautiful as well. I just could've done without the extra stress so close to my wedding, especially when I thought we were on the same page. I would still recommend them, though, because I liked the end product and they were easy to work with...and affordable!
Photographer - James Byrd Photography - A
I have seen a sneak peek of two of my pictures, and the two that I saw were gorgeous. Melinda and Bill have great personalities, are fun and easy to work with, and they're affordable. I can't wait to see the rest of my pictures!
Videographer - Vanguard Video - A
I haven't seen the video but I saw samples of their work prior to booking them and they were good. They are affordable, and they totally stayed out of the photographers' way. I barely even knew they were there (in a good way).
Cake - Bonita Logsdon - A+++++++
This woman works out of her home and makes the best cakes I've ever tasted. Not only that, but they are extremely affordable. I have had multiple people tell me how great the cake tasted.
Limo - Sand Dollar Limo - A
I was very nervous about using this limo service because the contact person was very hard to get in touch with to confirm. However, I was very pleased with them on the wedding day. The limo driver was prompt and polite. It was 108 degrees on my wedding day, and the A/C in the limo didn't work very well. However, the day before the wedding the limo company called to see if we wanted a smaller limo that had much better A/C, but it wouldn't accommodate our wedding party so we had to go with the original limo. It was hot, but to their credit, they tried to resolve the situation.
Make up - Cassie Lynn Young - A+
I got airbrush make up and it was fabulous. Loved it.
Hair - Jennifer Farris (J. Estell Salon) - A+++++++
Jennifer has done my hair for years, so I am very comfortable with her and she knows my hair, but she did a wonderful job on my wedding hair-do!
Tuxedo Rental - Rebecca's Black Tie - B-
I was disappointed with Rebecca's Black Tie. My husband and I picked out the tuxes in December. A couple of months later, I was in the area and took my mom in there to show her what we'd picked out but I couldn't find it in the book. It turns out that particular style had been discontinued, yet no one had contacted me to let me know. We only were in there by chance. I was not pleased that I did not receive a phone call to inform me that they'd been discontinued.
The tuxes were supposed to arrive early the week of our wedding, but they didn't arrive until Wednesday, and when they did arrive, not all of them were there. Some didn't arrive until Thursday. Some of the guys' tux jackets didn't fit so they had to make adjustments there. The tuxes were very expensive to rent and I just felt like our experience there was subpar. Once all was said and done, though, the tuxes did look really great. We ordered the Bridesmaid dresses from Rebecca's and they were great. It was just the Black Tie store that was a disappointment.
That's all I can think of right now. Sorry for such a lengthy message. Hopefully these reviews are helpful to some of you. Happy Wedding Planning
