yea, even 2 weeks later. I've been busy!
the whole day was an A+. had a blast and married the love of my life. it was HOT though--95 degrees, 95% humidity, and no breeze whatsoever. I had sweat rolling down my face and back. thank goodness for good makeup, it didn't budge all day.
I didn't stress out all day until I had to take my watch off. I hated not knowing what time it was, so my mom loaned me her beautiful vintage style watch (that actually coordinated with my jewelry) so that I would stop freaking out. I felt so much calmer once the watch was on--did not realize I was THAT attached to my timepieces. it became my something borrowed.
we took the majority of our pictures before the ceremony, but the girls and I did our pictures first. so from about 3:30 pm to 5 pm (the start time), I was BORED. I was just sitting around with nothing to do but wait.
I really enjoyed having a day to be girly and to hang out with all of my bridesmaids. many of them had not met each other until the night before at the rehearsal, and they hit it off really well. lunch was enjoyable--we ate at Cheddar's and I gave out their gifts at this time. being short on time, I nixed my original idea to paint mugs for them, and ended up getting jewelery sets for them (NOT for use in the wedding, none of the jewelry matched). each jewelry set was related to their birthstone, and I tried to think of each girl's personal style when picking it out. everyone said they loved it.
most of these vendor reviews are College Station based, so I guess it will be more helpful for those Aggie brides wanting to get married in the area, but CS is a beautiful (and cost effective) alternative to having a wedding in Houston.
venue:
A-. Avalon Weddings in College Station. not an A+ because the owner did a very effective job of pissing me off the day before during setup (he claimed he didn't know we were setting up on Friday, even though DH and I talked to him about it 2 weeks prior, and again one night prior. our coordinator called him on his BS and he shut up). but overall, very nice. well-maintained, beautiful, had the necessary items. we got a lot of compliments on the venue from the guests.
coordinator:
A+. Ashley Brockman in College Station. loved her. we hired her for last-minute and day-of coordination mostly, but she definitely helped me out when I needed it during the entire planning process--we had about 3 meetings throughout before the final month when I was meeting with her weekly. she was great, kept me on track, did a couple of things I didn't want to do, helped us set up and clean up, and she really did a great job of coordinating and keeping the day moving. money well worth it.
photographer:
A+. Houston-based. Glenna Harding. okay, she is actually an old friend of mine and family friend (her mom taught with my stepmom, and she's one of my stepmom's former students/athletes), so I may be biased. but she was great. very creative with the shoots and poses, funny. everyone loved her. even though DH and I didn't do a "first look" she was still able to catch both of our reactions to seeing each other for the first time. DH loved her, and he only merely liked our old photographer. I am still waiting on the photos, but it shouldn't be much longer--I'll post pics when I have them.
DJ:
A. David West with Attic Productions. Houston and CS based. although not many people danced at the wedding, it was due more to my crowd than the DJ. David was pretty cool--he played our custom remixes, fading them out perfectly; stuck to our selected songs, didn't play anything on the "do not play" list, and didn't have any stupid games to play, just played music and emceed when needed. I had no complaints about him. he gets an A instead of an A+ because he just didn't stand out either. very in the background--like he's supposed to be, right?
cake:
A+. Mary Burkhalter with Heavenly Crumbs. excellent cake--lemon with raspberry filling and white buttercream icing. moist and yummy. very pretty too. she let me make every single decision on the cake, and was willing to work with me on the budget.
tent rental:
A. Party Time Rentals. they're THE rental company in CS for all rental needs. we only rented the tent and dance floor from them, but would have rented the chairs and tables had they not already been provided by our venue. they came out the day before the wedding, set up the tent, and needed no direction from me other than "where does this go?" they knew exactly what they were doing and did everything promised.
alcohol:
B+. JJ's Liquors in College Station. we had beer and wine only and no bartender. I give this a B+ because the keg they brought was in an ugly orange igloo cooler and it wasn't hidden, just out in the open where everyone could see. that was my only complaint, but it was a large one. other than that, they were easy to work with, can't complain about the price and they worked with me on the type of alcohol that I wanted. I wanted a certain kind of wine, and they got it for me (and we got to keep the extras, yay!).
caterer:
A+. yea, sorry yall, you can't hire our caterer. they were some friends of ours that we tailgate with in the fall. they have won a national competition for tailgates for the fall of 2008, so they're good at cooking for and entertaining mass quantities of people (a usual tailgate is about 75 to 100 people). they made us some excellent brisket, bbq chicken, pork loin (I had so much of this, soooo good) and sausage. the sides were excellent as always, especially their mashed potatoes. LOTS of compliments on the food, and we gave them a hearty and public thank-you during the reception when dinner was nearly over--all the guests applauded loudly.
pictures forthcoming, as soon as I have them, yall will see them!
Glenna Harding Photography