Hi ladies! I apologize it’s taken me so long to write these, but better late than never, right? I know I found the reviews super helpful during the planning process. But first I wanted to share a little advice that I wish someone would have shared with me along the way… Hire vendors you genuinely like as people, even if they have a little less experience or are a little more expensive than others (this coming from a bride with a $12k budget). These are the people you're choosing to surround yourself with on what's supposed to be the happiest day of your life - make sure they're people that will elicit that happiness and make you feel comfortable throughout the entire process. I truly feel that DH and I found the most talented, thoughtful and friendly group of people to help make our wedding dreams a reality. Even our guests were commenting on how comfortable our photographers made them - who goes out of their way to comment on photographers during a wedding?! Someone who's really impressed, that's who. 
Also, even if you have to sacrifice in other areas of your wedding (for us it was forgoing a videographer), hire a day-of coordinator. Alec and I can both say that we remember almost every moment of our wedding day and were able to hug nearly every one of our guests (so important considering they flew in from all over the world to join us for one day!) because we were PRESENT. We weren't worried about cueing the DJ or making sure the groomsmen had their boutonnieres on correctly. Kristi took care of all of that for us!
Congrats and good luck!!
Venue: Driftwood Estate Winery, A+
DH and I fell in love over a glass of wine, under the stars, in the middle of nowhere so we knew we wanted the same for our wedding day. Driftwood Vineyards gave us all that and more with its totally unassuming, open air pavilion that just happens to look out into the most gorgeous, rolling Texas hills covered in grape vines. And since it’s in the middle of nowhere, as soon as the sun goes down, you can see every star in the sky. The best part – they’d only had five weddings there since they opened so it was a completely blank slate. Dana is such a sweetheart and went out of her way to accommodate us however she could We still email on a regular basis as we’re lifetime members of their wine club (register for a membership – you’ll get a hefty discount on the rental fee). I could go on and on about this place and the beautiful people who work there…
Photographer: A L Collective, A++
I know I’ve already gushed about them above, but Ashley, Laura and Mandy are a dream team. I interviewed countless photographers before deciding on A L Collective and it was worth every minute of research. My DH and I seriously thank our lucky stars we found them. They ended up shooting both our engagements and our wedding, the latter of which was so amazing it ended up on Style Me Pretty: http://www.stylemepretty.com/texas-weddings/2012/07/03/hill-country-wedding-at-driftwood-estate-winery-by-a-l-collective/!
Day-Of Coordinator: Joyful Details, A++
Another one I’ve gushed about all over this forum, but Kristi really went above and beyond for us. Throughout the entire wedding planning process, Kristi was so responsive, friendly, creative, and totally willing to help us find vendors that would fit into our tight budget (did I mention she was only our DAY-OF?! Yeah, she's amazing). Kristi and her team arrived at our venue hours before we ever got there, managed all of the vendors, helped decorate and got the entire venue set up without a hitch. Can’t say enough about this amazing woman.
Hair and Makeup: Haute Façade, A++
After a traumatizing experience during my trial run with another salon in town, I was frantic to find a hair stylist for the big day and was relieved when I came across Stephanie Goldsmith on Wedding Wire. She had just relocated to Austin from Dallas and had more than 30 5-star reviews. When I finally met with her in person she thought I was nuts for booking her without a trial run, but I just knew from the start she was going to make me feel comfortable. On the day of, she arrived right on time, did my mom’s, MOH’s and my hair and, because she said my mom’s hair was “so easy,” did my makeup for free (I was planning to do it myself)! I’m not sure how else to explain it except that I looked exactly how I’d dreamed I’d look on my wedding day. I felt beautiful and confident and my mom and MOH said they felt more beautiful than they’d felt in a long time. And all of our hairstyles held up all night! Needless to say, Stephanie is a rock star.
Invitations: Twig & Lily, A+
Christina, an Etsy dealer who happens to be based in Austin, has such an eye for design and was very patient with me while designing our invitation suite. We received so many compliments from the friends and family that received them.
Florist: Unexpected Elements, A+
Wendee was very responsive and such a doll to work with throughout the entire process. She was always willing to give DIY flower advice (since she knew we were on a tight budget) and even let us borrow a ton of props and decor at no charge as long as we returned them to her (who knows how much money that saved us?!). My bouquet was much tighter than I’d hoped (I wanted something with that natural, just-picked look), but that may have been a miscommunication on my part. The bridesmaids bouquets were gorgeous!
Décor/Rentals: Marquee Rentals, B
Got just what we needed at a fair price and they were sweet enough to throw our rentals on the same truck already heading down to our venue to save us some money. The only reason I gave them a B is because there were some billing issues after the wedding (we were billed twice) and the reps were less than enthusiastic to fix the issue.
DJ: Austin Party Machine, C
Not bad, per se, but definitely my least favorite vendor of the bunch (given we were spoiled with an AMAZING group of vendors). Leading up to the wedding we’d worked exclusively with Tim, who promised he’d be our DJ on the day-of, but he ended up sending a colleague instead. My only complaint is that she only played the songs we’d sent on our “suggested song list.” She didn’t pay attention to the crowd and keep people dancing – i.e. she’d play a country song right after a booty shaking song causing everyone to evacuate the dance floor. But she was very nice to work with and gave us a CD of the songs from our wedding at the end of the night.
Transportation: Star Shuttle, A+
Absolutely fantastic group! We got a 55 passenger bus to transport guests from their hotels Downtown to our venue in Driftwood (didn’t want anyone drinking and driving on those roads!). They were sweet, responsive, ON TIME, and their pricing was far and away the best.
Cake: Central Market, B
We chose Central Market because it was the same baker who made the dessert my DH brought to our picnic the night he proposed, plus their pricing was less than half the price of local bakeries. The wedding cake was absolutely delicious, but not exactly picture-worthy. I’m sure it would have been prettier had we chosen fondant, though.
Caterer: Carino's Italian Grill, A
First and foremost, Carino’s provided a full buffet with three entree options, sides, breadsticks, iced tea, water, etc. for only $12/person (service included)! That’s pretty unheard of so I was excited to sign a contract with them. However, I was REALLY nervous in the months leading up to the wedding that we’d made a mistake choosing Carino’s. It took them weeks to respond to emails and they continually sent us outdated invoices. Turns out they were in between event planners when we booked so we were actually dealing with the general manager (poor guy!). When their event coordinator finally stepped in a month before the wedding, it was smooth sailing. The crew did a great job, served yummy food (if you’ve ever eaten at Carino’s you know the food isn’t 5-star or anything, but still delicious, comfort food) and we got lots of compliments.
Seamstress: Triana Tailors, A
While the initial cost was more than I anticipated, I paid one upfront fee and they kept tailoring my dress until they got it just right. The ladies were very sweet and the dress fit me like a glove!