Invitations – Paperfling, B. Ruth at Paperfling did a great job with our invitations. She helped use some pocketfolds and envelopes I had already purchased, and combine them with some other decorative papers and printing to create our final invitations, which I think turned out beautifully. I didn’t give her an “A” for a few reasons – 1) I had to go back and forth with her about 5 times proofing the invite (inappropriate capitalization, extra spaces, spacing, ect), which was kind of annoying seeing as she should be the invite expert. 2) we had based our quote on 100 invites, but she never confirmed with me the amount before she went ahead and printed, so I paid for probably 10 to 15 more invites than I needed. 3) She didn’t tell me that she was planning on putting stamps on the RSVP envelopes as part of the assembly, so I had already purchased all the stamps and ended up with a bunch of extras. However, all things considered, I would work with her again as I think her options and the end result were just great.

Dress –  Cynderellies Closet, B,  and La Belle Reve, B.  I bought two dresses, the first at Cynderellies Closet in Edmonds. I give them a B because I wish they had been honest with me about how the dress was going to look before I purchased it, but they could sense it was my favorite, so probably didn’t want to disappoint me. Everything else was flawless – very nice service, on time delivery, very good prices. I bought my second dress at La Belle Reve because I didn’t like my first dress once it came in. They were very understanding, didn’t push me into a new dress and tried to make my original one work, even though that’s not what happened. They kept me updated on the order process, and were generally responsive. In general, I just don’t trust the way bridal salons do business, so I won’t give either an “A.” I had a lot of trouble finding a dress, and I wish sales associates at every place I went were more helpful and actually suggested some dresses based on your shape and desired look.

DJ – Wavelink, A. We worked with Brian from Wavelink and thought he was great. He has a ton of experience and has a great online planning tool. He really listened to us regarding what type of music we wanted, and worked in almost all of our requests. He did a pretty good job reading the crowd, but played a few songs I felt were a little off. Our reception seemed to come to a natural end around 10:20 or so. In fact, our “last dance” was the last song of the night, but I thought he might have tried to play it a little earlier when there were still a few more people there. But he’s not a mind reader! Brian also did our ceremony music and it was flawless.

Makeup – Sequoia Leopold with My Flawless Makeup, A. Sequoia did makeup for my two bridesmaids, the moms and myself. She does airbrushed makeup, and it went out so smoothly and covered well. I had a eyebrow waxing incident a few days before the wedding that left a red rough patch above my eyebrow, but she covered it well. I also felt her fee was reasonable and included a trial run, which she kept great notes on.

Hair -  Vu Montgomery with Obadiah Salon, Bellevue. B+.  Vu is very good at what he does, and did a beautiful job with my hair. He does runway hair for fashion shows and very cutting edge/artsy stuff. So, if you don’t have a pretty good vision of what you want, he’ll push you towards something more edgy or a little out there. He also has a pretty sarcastic/dry sense of humor, but is a nice guy.

Veil - Elegantgowns.com, A+. I identified the specific veil I wanted in a book at my local bridal store (make, item #). The veil was selling for over $100 at the store. I found it on this website for less than $50.  It shipped directly from the manufacturer, so I know it was exactly what I wanted, and it was one time. I was very pleased.

Alterations - Darcy Martin , B. I had a mixed experience with Darcy. She didn’t write down my 1^st appointment, so wasn’t there after I drove all the way up to Lynwood to see her. She was very apologetic about it, and even comp’d me some of the cost of my alterations as a result. She is a very very sweet lady and is fun to work with. When I went in for my second appointment, she noticed that she hadn’t sewn on of the loops for the bustle, but promised it would be done when we pick the dress up. Well, it wasn’t, and my bridesmaid had to frantically sew a loop onto my dress right before the ceremony. So that was a little disappointing. On a personal note-  I would recommend an underbustle rather than an overbustle. Overbustles turn out with flaps of the dress waving around next to your butt all night like wings. So I would have done that differently! I also bought my jewelry from Darcy, which was awesome and very reasonably priced.

Tuxes - Men’s Wearhouse, A. They do tuxes, are reasonably priced, are national, and didn’t screw anything up. I was happy and it all seemed to work out well.

Transportation - Seattle VIP, C. The car was late, the driver took what felt like the longest possible way to get to our destination, and was kind of a jerk. But what can you say, he got us from point A to point B.

Rehearsal Dinner – McCormick & Schmicks  Bellevue, B. Our food and service the day of was great and I was really pleased with everything during the evening. The only reason I gave them a B was that it was difficult to get straight information from them and they weren’t terribly responsive heading up to the event. They took my credit card information months in advance when we scheduled the date and said they would charge a deposit, and never did. The communications just weren’t very clear or easy.

Fitness - Healthy Bride bootcamp, Bellevue, A+. I started the 8-week fitness class in March, with classes 2x a week. The instructor, Stacie Chavez, was great and super supportive. I know I am a lot stronger now and I lost at least a percentage in body fat, which was great. It did help my confidence in the dress and on the wedding night.

Wedding Coordinator – Jenny Harding with A New Chapter Weddings, A. I worked with Jenny from the beginning of the planning process through the day of the wedding. She is a very sweet and easy to work with. At first, I wasn’t really sure what her role was – what was she supposed to do, what was I supposed to do, and what was I willing to let go of (I’m a bit of a control freak). But eventually we figured out the best way to work together, which involved weekly email updates. I am a very organized person, so I didn’t use her budget tools/timelines so much, and created my own for a lot of things, but I didn’t have too – that’s just something that I wanted to spend my time on. Jenny recommended almost all of my vendors, set up and attended almost all of my vendor meetings, kept track of contact details, communications, payments due, and communications with my various vendors. The greatest value of using Jenny as in the weekend of the wedding – she coordinated and took care of everything. She worked her ass off the day of the wedding, was there before I got to the venue, and left well after the last guest. She worked will all the vendors, did all the set up, gave all the directions. It was amazing, I didn’t have to think or worry about anything. She worked with family and wedding party to make sure they all had everything they needed, and was right there throughout the reception to let us know what was going to happen next. Really, I couldn’t have been more pleased with her day off. Of course there were a few small things I would do differently now, but none of that was a result of her. Oh, I’ll also note that she is very respecting of the Bride’s opinion, vision, and decisions, so if you need her honest input, creative guidance, or suggestions, you have to make it clear that is what you want. I’ll also note that she’s not exactly for the budget bride, but does doe various levels of coordinating services (full deal, day-of, etc).

Venue  –  Seattle Tennis Club, A+. We worked with Amy Rathbone, their catering manager. She was very nice and accommodating for us. It is a beautiful venue. We had planned to perform our ceremony on the north lawn, next to Lake Washington, but due to the weather, we had to move the ceremony inside on the day of the wedding. They handled the change in plans and transition from ceremony to reception so smoothly, the guests couldn’t believe how quickly and easily it was done. The wait staff was great, and everyone was understanding and accommodating. Although this is a private club, you do not have to be a member to hold your event there, and while not inexpensive, we found the Tennis Club to be less expensive and more flexible than Newcastle Golf Club.

Catering – Seattle Tennis Club, B+. Like most similar venues, the Tennis Club requires you use them for food and beverage. The food was good, and everyone seemed very happy. We were able to choose exactly what items we wanted available at the bar ahead of time, and the staff and presentation was wonderful. The only reason I didn’t give them an “A” is that I thought the food and beverage was priced a little high.

Officiant – Len Smolen , A+. Len is a sweet, gentle, kind, romantic, soft-spoken man. He is very flexible, and was willing to conform to any type of ceremony we wanted. His experience and professionalism made our ceremony go smoothly, and he talked us through the entire process. We thought he was just great, and our family just loved him. We also felt he was reasonably priced, and had met with another officiant that wanted almost twice as much!

Flowers – Kendra Yaple with Loves Me Flowers, A+.  Our flowers were absolutely gorgeous. She totally understood what I was looking for, had good suggestions about how to make it work. She even did a full mockup of a centerpiece for no additional charge. She’s easy to work with and responsive. I also felt she was very reasonably priced. I wish I could have those flowers in my home all the time!

Cake – Crème de la Crème – A+. We had a classic chocolate cake with European buttercream. Our cake was absolutely delicious. I loved it, and I don’t really like chocolate all that much (hubby’s choice). The design was fairly straight forward – swirls, but they also included our monogram on the cake using edible ink at no additional charge. We also received a 10% discount for using our wedding coordinator. We loved our cake, and I’m trying to come with a reason to spend that much on cake again!

Photographer – Redstone Photography – Grade pending return of pictures, B+ based on experience. Cassie and Jessie Redstone are to very fun and creative people. Being photographed for several hours straight is an odd experience, but Cass really worked it and seemed to be able to get what she needed out of everyone. She also listened to me when I said “no, I don’t want to do that.” During the ceremony and reception, they were not intrusive at all – in fact, I don’t even remember them being there. So our experience was good based on that.