We married on 09/20/14
in the Carrollton area and had an amazing time! I’ve reviewed the vendors we
used. Keep in mind that these reviews are from my (the bride) perspective. ***Also,
prices mentioned are what I paid at the time of hire and may have changed so please
contact the vendor for current pricing.***
·
Ceremony Venue-St.
Catherine of Siena, A+ http://www.stcatherine.org/
We regularly attend
this church and had an easy experience preparing for the wedding. The church
required us to attend a Pre-Cana class and have pre-marital counseling with a
sponsor couple. Our sponsor was the Deacon and his wife and it took about 7 months
to go through the process. The church wedding coordinator, Micheal Cervantes,
is very easy-going and helped us picked the songs for the ceremony and also
played the piano for us ($100)! The church secretary, Sandy Leners, is also
very nice and helps make sure you have all the paperwork to get married. I
think the church rental was around $350.
·
Reception Venue-Plaza
Arts Center Carrollton, A+ http://www.plazaartscenter.com/
We couldn’t have asked
for a better space. It was different and accommodated all our guests. For
$2700, you get the venue which holds up to 200, 1 bartender, 1 security officer,
tables and tablecloths and chairs. It is located in downtown Carrollton near
Babe’s. The venue also has a coordinator that will help you set up the space on
the day of. You can bring in your own food and alcohol and even hire a
decorator if you’d like. At the end of the night make sure you have friends and
family help with putting up the tables and chairs and taking out the trash (our
families were not too thrilled about this duty). The contract only provides
sweeping/mopping. Everything else has to be taken care of after the party.
·
Photography-MNMFoto http://www.mnmfoto.com/
I found Murtaza
through a Facebook ad that popped up on my Newsfeed. When we were looking for a
photographer he had just moved here from Houston and was offering a crazy
discount. For $1100 (his regular fee is around 3K), he shot engagement pics
with a 16x20 canvas included and 8 hours of the wedding day coverage. Here our
engagement pics http://www.mnmfoto.com/dallas-engagement-downtown-photo-session/.
We have horrible profiles and were disappointed that all the pictures were with
our faces turned! Hopefully our wedding pictures will be better. I will update
when we get those back. He replies quickly to text and emails, has great energy
and is very personable. He also brings an assistant on your wedding day to take
additional photos and coordinate the group shots.
·
Video-Durham Video
Photography, A http://durhamvp.com/
Video was the last
thing we decided on. I must’ve provided my info at a bridal show and received an
email with specials. Scott was very negotiable with the price and for $900 we
were about to get video for the entire day plus a highlight video. Our wedding
was less than 2 wks ago and he has already shared a video link of the major
events for us to see. His price includes DVD and bluray disks. The videographer
was very unobtrusive during the whole day and I love being able to watch everything
over again.
·
DJ-SK Entertainment, B+ http://themckinneydj.com/
We hired Steve K after
meeting him at a free Plano bridal show. While we were at his booth I found
myself dancing and knew we had to hire him. He was also offering a great
discount at $700 for 6 hrs, uplighting and a monogram display. He met with us a
week before the wedding to discuss the placement of the lighting and to see the
venue. He knows his stuff and was very willing to have our input. Something
weird is that he requires his payment PLUS tip PRIOR to his services. The
contract states that there is an automatic 20% tip added to the remaining
balance. So we paid $200 deposit and had a $500 balance which means an
additional $100 tip. So he cost $800 in the end. I felt like he went outside to
smoke every 30 min and did notice some down times without any music playing. My
DOC said he asked for his money right when he arrived at the venue and
complained that we didn't have his table ready (we just didn't have a table
cover on it). When the party did get started, he did a great job with the songs
and kept the dance floor hopping. He provides a great planner for all the
reception events and you can add your requests.
·
Catering-Thornhill
Catering, A+ http://www.thornhillcatering.com/
I found Thornhill
after hours on the internet. We went for a tasting at their location near
Baylor hospital in downtown. For about $10/person we were able to serve the
guests a 6oz. sirloin or chicken piccata with green beans almondine, fettuccine
Alfredo, salad, rolls and tea. About a week before the wedding our guest list
grew to 200 (an additional 50 RSVPs) and they were very nice and brought enough
for 250! Everyone loved the beef, and we had plenty of leftovers. Alberto was
easy to work with and one of his servers even jumped behind the bar to help
serve drinks!
·
Cake/Cupcakes-RedRaspberry,
A+ http://www.redraspberrycakes.com/
We also found
RedRaspberry at the free Plano bridal show. My husband and I love many of their
flavors so in the end we decided on cupcakes and a small 6" cutting cake.
Plain cupcakes were $2.50 and cupcakes with filling were $3.50 and the cake was
about $65. The company is run by 2 sisters and since they work out of their
home they are able to cut costs for their service. Everyone loved the beautifully
decorated cupcakes. Brides, if you decide to have cupcakes make sure to put a
sign for the guests to not eat them until your cake is cut! By the time we cut
the cake, there were no cupcakes left and our table looked empty!
·
Ice cream surprise-Gypsy Scoops, A++ http://www.gypsyscoops.com/
We surprised our
guests with ice cream to go with their cupcakes! It was a hit and didn’t damage
our budgets. Julie is so sweet and process was very easy. We paid for guests to
enjoy 2 scoops in a cup or cone for $3.50. We paid for 100 guests and were
invoiced for any additional servings. The ice cream was delicious and had many
flavors!
·
DOC-Amy Lacey, B http://amylaceyweddings.weebly.com/
I found Amy through
another knottie and met with her months before the wedding to discuss what I
wanted. Her enthusiasm will definitely reel you in! I am a major planner
and was excited about someone taking over for the big day so I wouldn’t stress
out. Hiring Amy had some pros and cons. I liked that she checked up on me every
couple of weeks to see where I was with the planning. I liked that she
contacted the vendors the week of the wedding to make sure all of them were
showing up and to clear up any questions. I liked that she met with me and my
husband and talked about every detail and scenario that could happen on the
wedding day.
My husband and I didn’t
like that she didn’t visit the venue before the wedding to help us figure where
everything should go (her car had broken down, but when it was fixed she didn’t
make time to go to the venue). On the day of the wedding, I am so glad I had a
very trusted and organized friend go to the venue to help Amy! Amy was an hour
late (she was getting some additional table cloths) and by the time she arrived
my friend already had everyone working. Those who came to help setup agreed and
told me that my friend did a lot more work than Amy.
She said 2 things that
kind of got under my skin: 1. ‘I couldn’t remember if it was your
wedding or another wedding that I was going to do…’. It wasn't very comforting that she was confusing our day with someone else’s. 2. ‘That’s
not the way it’s supposed to be done!’. I felt at times she didn’t go with the flow
well and showed her frustration to the guests. While she was cutting the stems
for the boutonnieres she cut herself and was super freaking out. I needed a
calm presence and her energy did not always provide that on the day of.
Also, for our sparkler
exit I had bought many lighters like she suggested and they were nowhere to be
found once we needed them. I felt that she should have checked on where they
were at some point in the day to make sure we had them. My friend that helped
with the setup might have moved them, but Amy should have followed up. I liked working with Amy, but she wasn't as thorough as I hoped she'd be.
Alcohol from Total Wine, A+
Flowers-DIY from Kroger and Costco.com, A+
=======================================================
In the end, we still
had a great time, minus a few bumps. All the things I mentioned above no one
probably noticed and guests still said they had fun. Keep an open, relaxed mind
on your wedding day and know that everything might not go as planned.