Hi all! Just wanted to post some reviews of the different vendors we used in Atlanta. Hope this helps!!
- The Emory Conference Center Hotel -- AWESOME. I can't say enough good things about this place! We had our reception in the Silverbell Pavilion and it was beautiful -- it did not feel "hotel-y" at all. The coordinator, Uli, is phenomenal -- super responsive, super detail oriented, super helpful, and just the nicest and most down-to-earth person you could hope to meet
She was also super responsive to concerns about budget and helped us put together a very reasonable meal package. We got a TON of compliments on the food.
The only downside of the conference center hotel is they don't allow outside caterers, so if you were hoping to save money that way it's not an option. BUT the food is totally reasonable and delicious, the venue is beautiful, guests get VERY reasonable rates on rooms, and they take care of EVERYTHING. Plus they give Emory students, faculty, and staff a discount on food -- small but it helps!
- Carithers Florist (Marietta) -- Wonderful!! The flowers were beautiful. Nikki was very responsive to emails and everything turned out perfect. She got us an estimate of how much the flowers would cost the same day I met with her when all the other florists I met took a week or more to do so. Plus, she was very willing to work within our budget and was candid about what we could and could not afford on our budget. Overall a great experience.
- Miss Mamie's Cupcakes (Marietta) -- I can't tell you how many compliments we got on these cupcakes. The tasting we had with them was some of the most fun we had during the wedding planning process -- they let us try any flavor we wanted (and they have a ton!) and sent us home with the leftovers -- we ate cupcakes for a week! The only thing is that we had hoped getting cupcakes would save us money but in the end we had to rent a cupcake bar from them which was a bit expensive and brought the cost up to what a normal wedding cake would have cost (almost $500 for 100 cupcakes and a small cake). But it was totally worth it!
- David's Bridal (Kennesaw) -- I will say that they have a huge selection and I got a ton of compliments on my dress, which I bought for a very reasonable price off the rack. BUT some of their salespeople are super pushy and rude -- I left feeling uncomfortable and as though I had been bullied into buying stuff from them. If I had to do it all over again I think I would shop bridal shows or other stores -- I think you can find affordable dresses for an equivalent price without the hassle of dealing with their salespeople. Plus, they are VERY aggressive about advertising once you buy something from them. I got tons of promotional mail, email, and even phone calls from them after I bought my dress -- super annoying.
- Kay Jeweler (Kennesaw) -- Leslie is extremely knowledgable and helpful and helped us to pick out a really wonderful ring for my husband. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for many of their other staff members. Our ring was ordered incorrectly and when we went to pick it up the finish was wrong and it had been engraved incorrectly, but nobody had checked to make sure it was OK. Leslie was great and rushed the re-order for us so that the ring was in on time for the wedding, but I had to run out there the day before the wedding to pick it up, which I wasn't happy about.
- Rich the DJ -- He was super responsive to our requests and concerns before the wedding and responded to emails usually within a few hours -- awesome! Plus he has a great website that lets you put in music requests and set up a timeline for the evening which was really helpful and kept the evening on track. I think he did a good job with the music selection during the evening though we did get some comments that he was very serious and somber-looking the whole time. The people at our wedding were tough to mobilize to get on the dance floor and dance but I don't think that was his fault -- I think we just had a tough crowd