Hi ladies! I got married on July 28th and after getting back from our honeymoon just a few days ago, I finally wanted to get get on here and share my thoughts about how things went for our wedding. Sorry this is kind of long, but I wanted to be as honest as possible about all aspects since I found these reviews very helpful when I was planning! If you have follow-up questions about anything, please don't hesitate to ask!
Ceremony: The Village Meeting House. It might seem odd to put a ceremony spot on here, but we had a terrible time finding a place to do a non-religious one that wasn't outside, and this worked out well for us. It's fairly inexpensive to rent (I think it was less than $300 and that includes a deposit we should be getting back) and it's right in the village of Williamsville, which is very cute. The space is very small and no frills, but we wanted a place that was more intimate, where our guests could actually see and hear everything that was going on, and this was perfect for that. It's also a historic building, which we loved!
Reception: The Lafayette Hotel. Our reception was in their Greenhouse room. The room itself looked great--lots of exposed brick and tons of natural light--one whole wall is basically floor to ceiling windows, plus there are a lot of skylights. So many guests raved about the space and how it was cool to go somewhere that felt more urban, not like a banquet hall. It was also nice for some guests to be able to stay at the hotel that night, and they were very impressed with the rooms. I wasn't wowed by the food (we had a buffet that was one of the same options that Pearl Street offers) but I have been to countless weddings over the years and rarely leave thinking about how good the food was, so to me that's not a big deal. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't awesome. Natalie was great to work with, very sweet and very enthusiastic about everything. I will say that it seems like they are very busy with overseeing events at three different venues now, and the response time was a little slow at some points, which made planning a little stressful. The actual night went well, and considering my wedding was one of the first ones here, I am sure that future events will run even more smoothly.
Transportation: Buffalo Trolleys. My mom got a deal at a bridal show in January for this company. We thought it was fun and different from a limo, and we thought it would be cute for pictures too. Unfortunately two things we didn't take into account: 1) The windows on the trolley were huge and not tinted like a limo's would be, so as we pulled up to the ceremony, all the guests milling around outside who were trying to get a peek of me were able to. I realize that may not be a big deal, but I really wanted to be able to make my "grand entrance" (haha!) and was annoyed that people were clearly able to see me. 2) The much bigger problem was that there were NO shocks on the trolley,which we didn't know until it was too late. As we drove from the ceremony to Tift Farms where we did our pictures, we literally were popping out of our seats from the impact. One of my bridesmaids had the champagned knocked out of her hands and it went flying all over my other bridesmaid sitting in front of her. Luckily, it dried clear! But if I had known the ride would be so uncomfortable, I never would have booked them. Two of my bridesmaids were pregnant, and I felt especially awful that they were getting so jostled around.
Hair and Makeup: Glam on Location. I know there have been some negative posts about Heather on this discussion board, but I wanted to share that I had a great experience with her. She was on time and thorough for my hair and makeup trial, but there were aspects of it that I didn't love. For the wedding day, she happily listened to what I wanted to change, and I ended up loving my hair and my makeup. All of my bridesmaids had their hair done, two had makeup too, and everyone loved it (even the pickiest ones!) She brought another girl, Nikki, with her, who helped with hair since I was nervous about running short on time, and she was also great.
Flowers: Graser's Florist. Carolyn was great to work with--very friendly and very conscious of wanting to save me money. She was quick to discuss inexpensive ways to work flowers into our centerpieces, and she never made me feel pressured to buy anything extravagent. Unfortunately, there was a major miscommunication with the decor I wanted for my ceremony, and I was not happy with the result as it wasn't what I wanted. My mother called Carolyn a few days after to discuss it, and she was very nice and offered to send me a check to reimburse me for that part of the wedding decor, which she promplty did. I appreciated her responsiveness.
Photographer: Wendy Mitchell Photography. Wendy was great to work with! She was fun, energetic, professional, and most imporantly, she made my very camera-shy husband comfortable having his picture taken,which is almost impossible to do!
We got SO many compliments on her from our friends and family, and she also got pictures up on her blog only two days afterwards! Here is a link if anyone wants to take a look:
Cake: Dessert Builders. This is the dessert side of Rich's catering department. We got a discount from a bridal show, and we ended up getting a two-tier cake, plus a separate sheet cake, for about $325, which was an amazing deal. We got three different flavors too! Heather is the contact person there, and she is so sweet. She baked a separate mini cake for our anniversary next year, so we didn't have to try to save the top--she already had one boxed up for us!
She also honored our request to make the carrot cake without raisins and walnuts. All three flavors were delicious! We got so many compliments!!
Favors: Fowler's Chocolates. We ordered Truffalo Buffalo bars for all of our guests as favors, and they were a big hit. The woman at Fowler's we dealt with (we went to their Cheektowaga location) was so nice, and she happily offered to tie the candy with ribbon in our wedding colors for no extra charge. They have a ton of "Buffalo" themed chocolate, incuding sponge candy, chocolate chicken wings, Buffalo nickets, etc. It's a great way to incorporate the Buffalo theme into the day.
Rehearsal Dinner: The Eagle House. This was very convenient since it was so close to our ceremony spot that we could walk over to the dinner after the rehearsal was over. They did an amazing job! Everyone loved the food, which was a Buffalo buffet with roast beef, chicken wings, pasta, etc. We live in VA even though I'm from Buffalo originally and my husband (it still feels weird to say that!) is originally from Rochester, and many of our friends from there were coming to Buffalo for the first time, so they loved the food, especially the wings.
I think that's everything! Hope this helps someone else with planning!
Alison