Hi!
I stalked this board for the past year while planning my wedding. I never posted because I didn't want to have to create a new username. Totally lame, I know, but I truly appreciated reading all the reviews and feel compelled to add my own reviews. BTW I'm very wordy.
Venue: Museum of Flight--A+
I had my wedding ceremony and reception here in August of 2011. The venue is incredible! Our guests loved that they could come early and tour the museum from free. There lots of photo ops with the planes and things for kids to do. And the giant windows make for great lighting! And the ambiance of the Museum of Flight made up for the food! The Museum coordinators are easy to work with and truly made it a special day! And they have a bridal suite available for rent that I highly recommend! Plus there's free parking and lots of it!
Caterer: McCormick & Schmick's--D
The Museum of Flight's in-house caterer is McCormick & Schmick's and you have to use them. They are very difficult to work with. They do not let you do a tasting of their food (and you can't get most of their menu items at their restaurants), and now I know why. The prime rib was actually grey and unappetizing (according to many of my guests) and the fish could be smelt from across the table (according to other guests). The only good item was our vegan option. And their catering manager was a total pain to work with. It tooks weeks for her to return emails and then she went on vacation the week of my wedding and it was like pulling teeth to get a new contact name from her for the person who would actually be working my wedding.
Flowers: Contemporary Floral in Kirkland--A+++
My flowers were simply stunning! Kristen Pedeferri is a talented florist! She met with me and my mother-in-law earlier this year to figure out flowers. She actually went to the flower market that morning and created our centerpiece as we were talking with her! They were gorgeous! And on wedding day, she came to my hotel to drop off all the bridal flowers and they were breath-taking! She even wrapped mine in a mini Chinese dress I had given her that was a replica of the one I was going to wear later that evening! And when she got to the venue, she realized that we forgot to tell her that we added 7 tables to our reception! She called her sister-in-law who stopped by her house to grab the remaining flowers and she worked all during the ceremony in the back creating the additional centerpieces! She's a magician! And she's so creative and easy to work with! I highly recommend her!
DJ: DK from Pro DJ's--A+++
We hired DK after meeting with several DJs. He came highly recommended by a family friend who usually doesn't have many nice things to say about anyone or anything. He was so easy to work with! He met with me the week of my wedding and I let him know I was going to do a surprise hula dance for my husband. He was able to find the correct version of the song and play it at a very specific time. All I had to do was give him a nod! So cool! And he had a great selection of Hawaiian music we used during the cocktail hour and great standards during dinner. My guests were raving how the song selection just kept getting better and better! And he was able to read the crowd and played lots of Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus when it was just the kids out on the dance floor at 11:30pm! I highly recommend DK!
Photographer: Lucas Mobley Photography--A+++
Lucas is just a great guy. My husband and I found him online about a year ago and fell in love with his journalistic style. His photos not only capture the events, but you feel like you know the people in the photos and what they are thinking. He did our engagement photos last fall and it was a blast! My husband actually mentioned that photo shoot during our ceremony stating that it felt more like a date and he forgot Lucas was even shooting it. The photos turned out stunningly! He also shot our wedding and was so easy to work with. He met with us a week before to go over what shots we'd like and go over our timeline of the day. He then figured out when he would arrive to get photos of us getting ready (separately) and do our first look, our wedding party photos at a park, and then family photos at our venue. He even stayed later than we planned to make sure to get me in a special dress I changed into later. He really made my day much less stressful! I highly, highly recommend Lucas! And side note: He's one of the tallest people I've met and I think he gets some great angles that way
We also hired his friend to do a photo booth for us that was a big hit! My husband and I actually went there to get a couple of shots of ourselves!
Hair/Make-up: Offwhite Make-up--A-
I met with Megan last fall and loved hearing her suggestions for make-up and hair. I did my hair trial with her at her cute little studio in Greenlake in July. I did it the morning of my bridal shower so I could get input from my aunties. She was super fast and very thorough. And she listened to what I wanted and fully delivered! My family loved the results! On the wedding day, she arrived to the hotel just a few minutes late (parking was insane in Seattle that weekend and she didn't want to charge us to valet). She set up shop in our room and started right in on my mother-in-law who had to leave early. Then, her assistant showed up and my mom and my bridesmaids all got their hair and make-up started. Megan did my hair and make-up and it was simply stunning! The best part is that we all still looked gorgeous at the end of the night! Even in 80 degree weather at a park for photos before the wedding! She doesn't go overboard, just makes you look like yourself in photos. We did the airbrush make-up and I highly recommend it! The only downside is that she's a bit hard to reach by phone or email. But other than that, she's fantastic!
Officiant: Frank Harlan--A++++
It's difficult to find non-religious wedding officiants in Seattle. My mom used to be one in Seattle, so I kind of knew our options. We met with two wedding officiants. Frank was the second one we met with and we had an instant connection! He brought us lots of sample ceremonies and encouraged us to come up with our own suggestions. He gave us lots of ideas to make our ceremony unique and different than others. I loved that he was an event planner (like me!) so I knew he understood all the components besides his involvement. He showed up 2 hours before the ceremony to work with our venue to make sure the ceremony was set up as we discussed. Then, he performed a very entertaining and emotional ceremony that involved many of our family members and the whole audience! Then, he stayed for the reception and worked with the DJ on the timing of events and did some emceeing. We had so many guests come up to us during the reception complimenting us on the ceremony! And we're still getting rave reviews from our guests! We had a ceremony that was fun and it set the tone for our reception!
Cake: Creme de la Creme--B
I tasted a bunch of cake at the Seattle Wedding Show and I enjoyed their's the most. And bonus, they are located just down the street from me in Renton! The cake was gorgeous and tasted delicious! The only reason I'm downgrading them is that the chef that we met with was really moody. They charge you $50 to meet with the chef to figure out all the cake stuff and he was totally disinterested. It turns out that he was exhausted from doing a Groupon deal, but it kind of ruined the experience for us. But the cake was really yummy!
Dress: Princess Bride--B
I know there are a lot of mixed reviews about Princess Bride. When I first walked into the shop, I was greeted with tacky prom dresses in outrageous colors. Then my consultant showed up in fishnet stockings and black leather booty shorts. I thought "this is so not where I'll find my wedding dress!" But, she led me to the bridal section and it was filled with so many beautiful dresses! She gave us a tour of what type of dresses were where and then let us pick as many dresses as we wanted to try on. We also got to take photos in the dresses, which was fab as I was able to text it to my mom in Hawaii to get her input. The downside to the experience is that they are very difficult to get a hold of. Once my dress came, they had me make an appointment for a "finishing touch" appointment where I was supposed to look at accessories. When I got there, they had forgotten about me and had a receptionist try to help me. I had to try to zip it up myself and no one really helped me. Then when I tried to leave with the dress (after paying the balance) they wouldn't let me. They said I had to leave it for my alterations appointments that would happen many months later. But, the seamstress wasn't available to talk with me to even see what alterations would entail. So, a few weeks later, I stopped by to pick up my dress, explaining that I needed it to make my veil. They had me make an alterations appointment (that I canceled later).
Bridesmaid Dresses: Nordstrom Wedding Suite--A-
My MOH and I came on opening day of the Wedding Suite and fell in love with a bridesmaid dress! I brought all three bridesmaids back a few weeks later and told them they could pick any dress that was purple. They all loved the same dress and they looked goreous in it! The dressing rooms are very luxurious and you get the total bridal experience. The downside was that our consultant wasn't very good. We asked her for pewter shoes to try on and she said they didn't have any. Then one of my bridesmaids we into the Wedding Suite (just outside the dressing room) and brought back 3 different pairs! Then we asked about accessories and she didn't have any suggestions, so my bridesmaid went back out and brought lots of suggestions. I believe that consultant is no longer working there.
Wedding Hotel: Fairmont Olympic Hotel--A+
I really wanted my getting ready photos to look pretty and the Fairmont Olympic is one of the most beautiful hotels! I stayed there Friday night in order to have the room for all day on Saturday and then we stayed their Saturday and Sunday night to recover from the wedding! The staff is super friendly and remembered my name the whole weekend! I read a review a few months ago where a bride was disappointed because she couldn't take her photos at the hotel because there was another wedding going on. So, I immediately contacted the hotel to find out if I could take my first look photos there. They told me I needed to contact them a week prior. So I did and they let me use the Spanish Ballroom and Foyer! Then, on our wedding night, they had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us!