Hey guys! Sorry this is REALLY long, but I got a bit wordy thinking back on all the stuff that happened.
I was mostly happy with everyone, with one major exception. LOL So hopefully these are helpful to you! Enjoy! Vendor Reviews Ceremony Location: Mary, Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Sammamish, WA - B So, it’s a gorgeous church, nice long aisle, the whole shebang. However, the coordination staff? Not so easy to work with. Lots of things were a “no-no” to them, i.e. letting our flower girl sprinkle fake flower petals. Their thought was that someone would slip and fall on them, and it’d be a liability. Of course, it was a Catholic ceremony, so there were a ton of hoops to jump through before we could even be considered ready for marriage, so that was a little difficult. But the biggest thing that almost pushed me to the Bridezilla edge was the fact that at the last minute, literally, the priest decided that he was going to say our vows to us, and we would say “I do.” Now, we had specifically said in our meetings before the wedding how important it was to us that we say our vows to each other, not just say “I do”. No offense to those of you who are doing that or did that, but it was very, very important to us. But when the coordinator woman walked into the bride’s room, I’m all dressed, ready to go, she comes in, and says, “There’s been a slight change of plans,” and I about lost it. When she finished telling me what Father wanted to do, I had to put my foot down and tell her, “No, that’s not what we planned,” and had to explain how much it meant to Juan and I to say our vows to each other. When she saw how upset I became, she told me she’d fix it, and she did. But come on, we’d planned it that way, we knew how we wanted it, and damn it, we were going to do it that way!! But, all in all, really, it was a beautiful ceremony, and I didn’t even cry!! LOL The only time I cried was when my brother came to get me in the bride’s room and he told me how beautiful I was.
Ceremony Musician: David Yackley
http://www.yackley.com: - A+++ He is AMAZING. He’s a pianist and vocalist. He did all the songs we wanted to (since it was Catholic, we had to stay sacred or instrumental), and he did everything wonderfully. He even did a song that we didn’t ask for, but it was gorgeous! He even asked a friend of his to sing with him, and she did amazingly well, too! She kind of sounds like the Little Mermaid. So it was wonderful! He was a bit pricey, but TOTALLY worth it. Reception Venue: Cascade Club at Trilogy Golf Course, Redmond, WA: - A + Gorgeous setting, beautiful views of the golf course, trees, and a pond outside, and the room was the perfect size for our 100 guest reception. The room is beautifully decorated, the lighting is very nice, and the floor is perfect, too. It’s half carpet, half wood flooring, so you don’t have to rent a dance floor. The coordinator there, Violet, is a dream to work with, even though she wasn’t who we originally met with. But she came through beautifully. The facility has a preferred vendor list, but as long as your caterer is licensed and insured, they let you bring in whoever you want. The room is big enough to fit up to 250 people or so, but that’d be pushing it. We had 100, and it was pleasantly comfortable. It is a private club, however, so if you rent the room, just know your guests won’t be able to use the entire place. Just the main room, and the restrooms, and the patio outside. And the room has a kitchen attached, so the caterers can use the warming ovens and the ice machine, but that’s about it. Can’t use the fridges or anything else. But they can use the dishwasher, sinks, and the coffee makers and stuff. All in all, they made the reception run very smoothly. They even called the limo company to come get us early because things were winding down so fast, and guests were leaving. So they did go the extra mile. Great place! Photographer: Amber Roberts Photography, Seattle, WA: - A++ We loved her from the moment we met her – she’s very pleasant to work with, has great ideas, and most of all, she’s very talented! She’s flexible with creativity (which is great, since the hubs is an artist and very much the perfectionist), and has awesome flexibility with her packages and how you can put them together. She’s gotten very busy, but I think that’s because she’s done such great work! We haven’t seen our pictures yet, but we’re SO EXCITED! She was all over the place at the ceremony and reception (she works alone, unless you request a second), and I’m sure she captured some classic moments, along with ones we never thought of. She is just the sweetest person, and we can’t rave enough about her. I’ll let you know once we get the pictures back if she was worth the money. Caterer: La Figa Catering, Seattle, WA: - B So, I’ve talked about this guy a bit, and it’s all still true. But when the time came for the reception, he came through with flying colors. Tiberio Simone is from Italy, and a very free spirit. He does things his own way, and is hard to pin down. But his food? Incredible. He’s definitely a pain to get to do anything (like accepting a down payment, or getting paperwork from him in a timely manner), but really, our guests were taken care of SO WELL. His wait staff was incredible (our guests raved about the bartender), the food was done very well, and people couldn’t stop talking about how good it was. I loved that he made hubby and I sit down and try to eat, but honestly I couldn’t really taste anything since we were so distracted. But I know my guests were happy, and that’s all that mattered. I don’t know that I’d use him again, however, since it was such a pain to get anything done (we felt like the ones doing everything for him). But really, the food was fantastic, and if that’s what you care about, then he’s your man. I do have to say, however, that he was great to have at the reception. He was talking to our guests, keeping the kids entertained (he enlisted their help with serving cake and stuff), and really was a people pleaser. DJ: Sounds Unlimited, Seattle, WA: - A++ We had Shawn Gellatly as our DJ, and he really listened to what we wanted, and really delivered! We don’t have the most dance-friendly family, but people were dancing most of the time, which, for our families is a HUGE thing. He played so many great songs, I barely sat down myself! He made things fun, wasn’t cheesy AT ALL, and some great moments happened because of things he did. He didn’t play anything off our DNP list, and he mostly stuck to our MP list. But he played the songs all the way through, didn’t cut anything off early if people were having fun, and played all the right songs at the right time (first dance, father/daughter, mother/son, cake cutting, etc). He called a few days before to make sure we had everything straight, and he really took care of us. And, when we first decided to hire them, they bent over backwards to placate my husband who wanted to have the right to say, well, if we’re not happy with this person, we want to have the choice of someone else, etc. They really, really made sure they let us know that they valued our business. I’d use them again in a heartbeat. Florist: Brittany Flowers, Kirkland, WA: - A++ Patty at Brittany Flowers is a floral design GENIUS. Our arrangements, bouquets, bouts, and corsages all came out wonderfully, and we got TONS of compliments on how well the colors worked together! She really made them look amazing, and we couldn’t believe how lovely everything was. She was moderately priced, and since we didn’t have floral centerpieces (which I’ve seen her do, and they’re GORGEOUS), it didn’t cost us an arm and a leg. But really, she thought of everything, and went above and beyond what we were expecting. Amazing work! Cake: New Renaissance Cakes, Seattle, WA: - A++ Bonnie is the shiznit. She did exactly what we wanted, worked with our unique tastes, and made cakes that we will remember forever. She is a talented baker (the cake was super scrumptious), and the decoration was spot on. She was able to use the cake topper my BIL made for us (which kicked butt, by the way, wait for pictures), and it was truly awesome. She also made hubby’s groom cake, which was really, really wonderful (he wanted a Superman emblem, and a Superman emblem is what he got, it looked totally authentic). The flavors were so great (bananas foster, white wedding cake, and raspberry white satin). Grooms cake was toasted hazelnut. Mmmm! And she’s making us a cake for our 1st anniversary. Very professional, and did everything right. So pleased with her! Dress: Amanda’s Bridal Boutique, Redmond, WA: - A- I have to say that these ladies were so awesome. The shop itself is small, and cramped with dresses, but they have a large selection, and they know what looks good on what body. They have a lot of experience, and really go the extra mile. My dress, for what I spent (less than $1500 total, including alterations), was absolutely beautiful. I have to say, though, the bustle did keep falling out (even though I told them to reinforce it), and the cups they sewed into the dress didn’t hold my chest nearly as well as it needed to be held. I was self-conscious about it all day long, but decided to just go with the flow, because I didn’t want pictures of me hoisting my chest up every five minutes. So my only complaints were with the alterations, really. But other than that, totally happy! Tuxes: Tuxedo Club, Kirkland, WA: - A+++ We had a HORRIBLE experience at Tux Shop (the one in Redmond), and because of all the great reviews on TK, we decided to go see Bob. What a difference!! He wasn’t there the first time we went, but his worker was so great, made us feel super comfortable after our awful experience, and got hubby into a tux. It was so great, and Bob really bent over backwards to make sure everything was right. He even picked up the tuxes at the hotel for us, which was so nice. Go see Bob! Hair: Dani at Salon 074, Sammamish, WA: - A Dani knows exactly what she’s doing! She turned me from frumpy to fabulous in about a half hour. She really took care of me, made sure I was completely happy with what she did, made changes I asked her to make, and got my mom’s and BM’s seal of approvals, and we were on our way. My girl’s hair was great too, the other girls there did a great job for them, too. We were a pretty bunch of girls! Makeup: Off White Makeup and Beauty, Seattle, WA: - A+ She was on time, made me look gorgeous, used air-brush makeup, false eyelashes came with the price, and she did my other BM in a flash. She did great work, my makeup stayed all day long and all night long, and it was totally worth it! She came to my home, too, which made it really convenient. I think the makeup itself was beautiful, I felt confident and glamorous. She made changes about the colors that I wanted, and took suggestions from my MOH and BMs and Mom. I would hire her again. And she didn’t cost an arm and a leg! Which was even better. Rental Company for tablecloth covers: R&R Party Rentals, Bellevue, WA: - D- Okay, they came through with the tablecloth covers, which is why I didn’t give them an F. So, our “clean-up crew” turned out to be our family. The person who knew what to do with the covers didn’t pass on any message as to what to do with them (she went home early from the reception sick). Hubs and I were blissfully on our way to Hawaii none the wiser. We get home, and I notice that I’m $500 short. Well, the covers had somehow ended up in our garage for 10 days. So they charged us $500 for them, thinking we’d kept them and weren’t going to return them. They said they tried repeatedly to reach me (which I am saying is untrue, because I checked my messages while I was in Hawaii, never got one from them), and so they decided we also needed late fees, even though we had no idea what happened. We get back from Hawaii, the very next day, we returned the linens. It took them nearly a week to get the money back in my account. Then they took an additional $150 (which they say is half of what they would have originally charged) in late fees. And then, when they finally put the money back, it wasn’t the original amount they took out, citing there were “hangers” the linens came on that weren’t returned. I didn’t get any hangers, so we couldn’t return them. UGH. It’s all over, but it was a huge, HUGE headache. Not what I wanted to come home to after an already kind of crappy honeymoon.