Hi Ladies. I got married on May 21, here are my experiences...
Ceremony - St. Thomas More Catholic Parish - ABeautiful church, the wedding coordinators do everything to keep the ceremony sacred, as it should be. We brought our own priest, and musicians, the church was very accommodating and they actually film the entire mass for no extra charge.
Reception - Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center - A-My husband and I live in New York, so having our reception at a hotel was a big help because they took care of most of the big things. Christine, the catering / wedding director was such a joy to work with. She is so sweet, and really gets into making your day perfect. She even put together all of our center pieces (which were orange and lime sliced surrounding a candle in vases) that day! They gave us a great guest rate, and were very accommodating all around.
I gave it an A- simply because of the cake. It was a disaster, and nothing like I wanted. You aren't allowed to bring in any outside vendors, so there was no other option. Whoever made it clearly doesn't know what they are doing, the cake was leaning, very sloppy, and the wrong flavor. In the big picture it's not that big of a deal, still disappointing though.
But overall it was wonderful, the food was delicious, we had the reception in the Centennial room which is at the top of the hotel, with floor to ceiling windows facing north and west. It was a beautiful backdrop, especially at sunset. Our of town guests loved it!
Photographers - Fuse Photographic - A++I really can't say enough about Fuse. Travis and Laura are a husband and wife team, and they are the sweetest, most down to earth people you could meet. They were so patient, fun, and professional the entire day. Two days after the wedding they met up with us at Loveland Ski pass to do a 'day after', it's such a pleasure to work with them, my husband and I had the best time. All the photos turned out absolutely incredible. To see some of our photos:
www.fusephotographic.comDress - Bridal Collection - AI had a really great experience all around at the Bridal Collection. My consultant was Rikki, she's been in the business for years, and she really knows what she's doing. She helped me find a dress that matched my personality and weeding theme perfectly. All the alterations are done at the store, so you don't have to find anyone. The seamstress there is awesome, she really got my dress to fit me perfectly.
Bridesmaid Dresses - Dessy - A+I had 7 girls, all with different body types, so we chose the Dessy Twist Wrap dress. It's hard to find (especial in Colorado) and when they were delivered I was concerned because they are packaged like how you would receive a halloween custom (in the plastic pouch). BUT, they turned out awesome. Every girl looked amazing, because they styled it to flatter their best features. It's great for them because the price is definitely reasonable, and they are able to wear it again. They do run very big though, keep that in mind.
Hair and Makeup - Sky Salon and Spa - A+Between myself, my mom and the bridesmaids, we had 10 women getting hair done at the salon. Everyone was in and out in under 2 hours, and looked beautiful. Stacy Stenersen was the stylist for my mom and I, she was really wonderful. I have a ton of hair that goes down to my elbows, and she styled absolutely gorgeous, and it actually stayed all day. My mom and I also had our makeup done by Megan, both of ours turned out perfect. If you're getting married in the Centennial area this is really great place to go before the wedding.
Tuxes - Mens Warehouse - B-All of the mens tuxes came from here, they turned out really nice, but Mens Warehouse from my experience is unorganized and over priced. My husband had to tell them, multiple times what store he wanted the tuxes sent to. And out of the 9 tuxes we rented 4 of them were wrong when the guys picked them up. They did quickly fix the problem, and everything was fine on the wedding day.
DJ - ABC Music and Photography - C-These guys were terrible. They were nice and I think tried hard, but really did not create the atmosphere I wanted for our reception. They didn't start our entrance music until after we after we made it through everyone, they also started to play the WRONG song for our first dance song. On top of those two big mistakes, there were so many awkward silences between songs / events, where people were literally looking at each other wondering what to do. My husband submitted a very specific list of what to play months before, and they did not follow his request. We had a wide mix of ages, and they only played pop music, which is fine for my girlfriends who wanted to dance, but nobody over the age of 30 was on the dance floor because of the music. I strongly recommend not hiring this company for your wedding.
Limo - Denver Limo, Inc. - ADenver Limo was great, professional and patient. We had 2 midsize limos and a stretch Escalade and everything went very smoothly. After the reception we had one of their SUV's drive us up to Beaver Creek, we were over an hour late coming out that what we originally said, but they were very understanding and never rushed us. The guy drove us 2 hours up at 10:30 at night, even hitting a blizzard around the tunnel, and he was extremely gracious the whole way. They did overcharge us though, just double check your statements in the end!
Florist - Abloom - AI know absolutely nothing about flowers, so I had my grandmother work with Maxine at Abloom, and everything turned out wonderful. Maxine is very knowledgeable and put together some gorgeous arrangements that complimented our color scheme very nicely.
If anyone would like more specifics to help you make a decision on a vendor, please let me know!
- jackie