Hi ladies,I've been relentlessly stalking these boards for months (and have learned so much from everyone- big thank you to other Knotties!) but have rarely posted... mostly because I felt like an impostor since I actually live in San Antonio-- the wedding is in Austin, though. Anyway, I've noticed there have been a lot of brides popping up recently, and since I am getting ready to tie the knot on Oct. 24th I thought it might be time to give back and share the details on some of the vendors I borrowed from other knotties or discovered myself. I've tons of research trying to find quality vendors @ the most "fiscally responsible" (cheap) price possible
So on that note:-Flowers- Rebekah from Glass Fountain. Her estimate easily came in at half of what the other florists were charging me, she doesn't at all mind working with a budget, and even though I know there have been concerns in the past, she's been super-responsive (actually, I am kinda the non-responsive deadbeat). I don't know what the finished product will look like yet, but she seemed to know what she was talking about.-Caterer- 2tarts. These are two sisters who just started out; they specialize in local/seasonal and also are great for vegetarians. The way they do their price structuring is a little odd ($200 for a tasting?!) but then their prices are so reasonable that it makes up for it. The tasting was delicious (ask to have their strawberry cupcakes with buttercream lime frosting on the menu!), and I hope it's as good on the big day-Hair & makeup- Brizy Tait ("Keep Austin Gorgeous")- her portfolio looks great and her prices are pretty good as well, but still haven't had a trial so can't give a final report.-Musician- we wanted something unconventional, and I am in love with our ceremony/cocktail hour musician, Brett Randell (you should be able to find him on Facebook). He has a great voice, he's extremely responsiveness, and he has been willing to learn several songs I wanted (Jason Mraz, Ben Harper) at a really great price. He's really good-looking too... not that it matters, right?
As a side note, I posted an ad on Craigslist to find a ceremony musician, and had more talented people contact me than I knew what to do with (we ended up hiring another person for our rehearsal dinner just because).-Rehearsal dinner- Laguna Gloria is my favorite venue in Austin but it really wasn't in the budget; however, I am excited that we will be holding our RD at Mayfield Park right next door (lots of peacocks and waterlilies for the low, low price of $750). If we hadn't needed to confirm a venue for the wedding earlier, I would have considered them for the wedding. We are bringing in the Austin Barbecue Company to cater, and I have to say that David has been one of the most pleasant vendors I've encountered yet. Very responsive, follows up, and also is providing an incredibly amount of food at $10/head-Greenbelt DJ- I've read good reviews of him previously on the Knot board and my interactions with him have been nothing but positive, but I have yet to see him in action. That said, he has an online system that more or less allows you to design the playlist for the entire evening, so I just can't see how it could go wrong. -Photographer- If you have the $ to spare I would really recommend Bonnie Berry-- I think her photos are beautiful, she definitely knows what she is doing, and her prices aren't ridiculous (although not cheap either). Unfortunately we didn't have the money to spare, but I feel pretty good about the two photogs we are using. For the rehearsal dinner we are using Nessa Kessinger (would have used her for the wedding, but she was booked):
http://www.nessakphotography.com/ I love what she can do with color and she is very new and therefore excellently priced. For the wedding we are using Lauren McGlynn:
http://www.laurenmcglynn.com/enterHope that helps some new brides! Good luck and congrats on your engagements!