Arizona-Phoenix

Vendor Reviews (A little late!) LONG

I got married March 19th and am just now getting around to my reviews. (Better late than never?)

Ceremony and Reception Location:
ASU Karsten Golf Course
www.asukarsten.com
Price: $2925.90 for food and service fee (site fee was waived as DH and I are ASU alum!)
GRADE: A+
I'm sure you all know that finding a reasonably priced ceremony and reception location is HARD here in the valley. I looked for weeks trying to find something that would fit into our budget but that was still beautiful. After racking my brain, I thought about ASU's Karsten Golf Course, and although they mentioned nothing of weddings on their website, I thought I would send Jane Clark, their food and beverage manager, an email asking if they could accomodate our wedding. She admitted that they didn't do many weddings there (I don't think they had done any actually!) but was more than willing to work with us to create the day we wanted. And boy did she do just that! I met with Jane several times over the months leading up to the wedding, and emailed her at least once a week. Although the space at Karsten is a little awkward, and was at first hard to figure out where everything would work best, we ultimately decided on having the ceremony in the clubhouse (that has gorgeous high cathedral ceilings), and having the recption on the large patio overlooking the golf course. They let me create a menu virtually from scratch that ended up being only $25 per plate for pulled pork, marinated grilled chicken breasts, rolls and buns, mixed green salad, roasted red potatoes and fruit salad, and boy was it delicious! I still regret only having one plate! (Dang tight dress!!). Jane was so wonderful the day of the wedding, helping my family set up all the decorations and making sure that everyone had food to eat free of charge. She didn't bother us with all the payment details that night, and instead sent us the bill the following day. (Although my father was sure to give her and the staff a gracoius tip before leaving that nigth!) I was sad to hear that Jane has recently left Karsten for a job at Arcadia Room in Phoenix (although I may recommend you check them out just because she was so wonderful!). I am also sad to hear that ASU Karsten's days may be numbered as ASU is looking to use that space for football. However, really everyone there was so great that it may be worth looking into if you are planning a wedding in the near future!

Officiant:
Rev. Crystal Lloyd
www.ceremoniesbycrystal.com
Price: $250 for ceremony & rehearsal

GRADE: C
I really liked Crystal at our first meeting with her. She was a short, blonde lady and very nice and understanding of what we wanted for our ceremony. (DH nor I are very religious so we wanted a non-demoniational ceremony). We found a ready-to-go ceremony that she showed us that fit us perfectly, and I still really love the vows that we exchanged. She was fairly good at emailing every so often up to the date of the wedding to make sure I didn't have any questions, and her prices were reasonable. The reason for the low grade is that I was very unimpressed with her demeanor and style during our rehearsal. As the bride I was already stressed to the max as it was, yet she seemed even more stressed than I, which really only made me MORE stressed. She seemed to try to rush things, expected me to know how the ceremony was supposed to go and tell her what to do and where people should go, and she really did not handle my two four-year old nephews who were part of the wedding ceremony well at all. She was very bossy and seemed annoyed that these two four-year olds didn't just know what to do. The whole rehearsal put me on the verge of tears and after only one quick run-through I had had enough and told her we were fine and would just play it by ear at the actual ceremony the next day. We did play it by ear and in the end everything went smoothly, and I heard that she actually helped my aunts pin bouts on the guys the day of, but it would have been nice to have a better rehearsal to put me more at ease.

DJ:
Kyle with AZMusicMan
www.azmusicman.com
Price: $550 for 5.5 hours

GRADE: B
When first looking for DJs I had emailed a few for pricing, including AZMusicMan. They quoted me the best rates, and the only thing holding me back from putting in a deposit at the time was that I was waiting to go back to MA to talk with my parents about everything. However, Rankin (the owner) would call me almost every day to try and see if I was ready to put in a deposit, and finally I fibbed and told him I just wasn't sure of the price (just to see what he'd say). Well I'm certainly glad I did because he ended up knocking $200 off of his original quotes. Ultimately we obviously went with them and chose Kyle as the DJ we would work with. When we first met with Kyle I was a bit skeptical. He seemed a bit unprofessional and showed up a bit late for our first meeting. We quickly went over the type of music we listen to and he basically told us that if we give him a list of songs we like he can download them and have them ready to go for the big day. That was fine, and basically all we needed to know, so the meeting was short (and in hindsight I would have probably just skipped this meeting altogether as it was a long drive from where we live in Surprise to meet him in Scottsdale). We really didn't hear from Kyle again until I had to email him a week before the wedding to make sure he was still alive. I am a very anal person in general, so I had made a list of every song (about 100-150) I wanted played at the ceremony and reception, and when I emailed it to Kyle he seemed to have no problem with it, which was great. Come the day of the wedding, Kyle was there early and all set up and ready to go right on time! The ceremony music was perfect, and the reception was so much fun. I had quite an older crowd for the most part so he started out playing a lot of rock classics, which my family loved, but was really great about taking requests and playing newer songs towards the end of the night. He even let us play a song off of a CD that my BIL had in his car! Although I was a bit skeptical about Kyle leading up to the wedding, in the end I am glad we chose him and he did a wonderful job.

Photography:
Andrew Jade Photography
www.andrewjadephoto.com
Price: $1600 for CD with over 400 edited images & all rights to photos

GRADE: A
Andrew and Emily were so great. I chose Andrew Jade because I actually went to high school with Emily, however I worked and communicated with Andrew for the majority of the process. Our first meeting with the both of them was wonderful. They took time to really get to know us, and took plenty of notes about our style and what we wanted in our photographs. They were great at communicating with us up to the big day, and really took time to answer all my questions regarding the schedule for when pictures would be done on the day of the wedding. Andrew even took time to meet me at our ceremony and reception location to scope out possible photo shoot locations, and help me decide the best light and direction to set up the entire ceremony and reception. The day of the wedding they arrived early to get some pictures of me getting ready, and stayed until the very end of the last song to make sure every moment was captured. It took about a month and a half to get the pictures back, but they are so wonderful and I'm really glad I have the rights so that I can print and share as many as I want.  Overall I would definitely recommend them to anyone!

Make-Up:
Stephanie Nault
www.stephanienault.com
Price: $345 for my make up, two bridesmaids and mother, and for trial

GRADE: A
Stephanie was also very wonderful. She was the best at communicating with me through email, and always made sure that all my questions were answered, usually within an hour. She came all the way to my house to do the trial, and remembered what I wanted her to do differently on the day of the wedding (lighter under-eye liner and lighter lips). She showed up early the day of the wedding just to make sure she'd have enough time to get all the make-up done. My mother and sister, who rarely wear make-up, looked beautiful yet so natural at the same time. We chose natural make-up, mostly because at the time I booked her she didn't do airbrush (though she does now and was willing to do it for us as well). However, I'm glad I stuck with the natural make-up as I didn't feel as if I was wearing any more or less than I normally would, and it stayed on great (even through my many episodes of crying like a baby!) I would definitely recommend Stephanie, she is such a sweetheart!

Wedding Cake:
Bashas
Waddell & Reems, Surprise
Price: $70.83 for 6inch square cake and 8 dozen cupcakes
GRADE: A+
We had a fairly tight budget to begin with, and I knew I really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a wedding cake when all the ones I've ever had at weddings have been dry and tasteless. Not to mention neither DH nor I are big cake people anyways. Originally I had gone to Safeway to order my cake and cupcakes (we made a cupcake tower with a small cake on top to save for our anniversary), because I always had really enjoyed their buttercream icing. I placed my order and thought all was well, but when I went in a month later to add another dozen cupcakes to my order, I was told that they had made my order the week before and had to throw it all out because I didn't pick it up. I was given all kinds of attitude and told that they had tried calling me (no missed calls) and that the receipt had said February 18th (didn't have it with me at the time but when I got home I was surprised to say it clearly said MARCH 18th). They tried to get me to put a deposit down to make it all again on for the actual date it was for, and I said no way. In the end I ended up going down the road to Bashas and I am SO GLAD I did. The bakery manager there was WONDERFUL. She took the time to figure out exactly what I wanted, and showed me different options of icing and colors (something Safeway didn't do at all). I left there feeling a million times better about everything, and with a total that was going to be LESS than what Safeway was going to charge me. She even took the time the day I picked up my order to ask if the plate that my cake was sitting on was too large to comfortably fit on top of my cupcake tower. I thought it might be just a bit too big and would hang over the edge, but wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. However, she quickly rushed it back, took off the bottom plate and made a smaller one, and redid all the frosting border along the bottom of the cake. She really went above and beyond and the cake and cupcakes tasted AMAZING and stayed soft all through the night!

Flowers:
Blooms By The Box
www.bloomsbythebox.com
Price: $354.10 for 100 stems carnations, 2 bunches of monte casino aster, 2 bunches of pussy willow tips, 4 bunches of bear grass, 3 bunches of delphinium and 25 stems of hydrangeas, & shipping

GRADE: B
Again, with our budget I didn't want to spend close to a thousand dollars on flowers that would only last a day or two. I'm lucky enough to have an aunt who used to do flower arrangements for a living, so I ordered my flowers online from Blooms. They seemed to have the best prices and were the best about letting me choose exactly how much of each flower I wanted so that I wouldn't have a ton of extra I didn't need. I got all other supplies I needed from Michael's. (Basically just wire and floral tape). The flowers arrived two days before the wedding, which gave us Thursday night to rehydrate the flowers, and all of Friday to prepare the arrangements. The flowers looked gorgeous on Friday and our finished products were wonderful. We left them in a dark, air-conditioned room in the clubhouse where the ceremony was going to be the next day. I was horrified when I woke up on Saturday to an email from someone at the clubhouse who said the flowers were not looking so good (though I was so glad he took the time to tell me!). I rushed over there and was greeted by a ton of wilted blue hydrangeas (which we used in all the arrangements because they were so beautiful!) By that time I was willing to just cut my losses and salvage what I could of the bouquets and at least one bout for DH. However, not if my aunts had anything to say about it. Once they got word they sprung into action and somehow found a flower shop that had blue hydrangeas, and ran over to fix ALL of the almost 15 bouts and 3 bouquets. (They were my lifesavers!) Anyways, I don't think I would recommend to anyone to order flowers online, and instead try to find a flower shop that will give you reasonable prices instead. It will save you a lot of worry and hassle in the long run!

Well, there you go! Sorry it was such a novel, but I know that in my planning process I loved reading these and I really didn't want to leave anything out! In the end try to relax and enjoy the day! Everyone will tell you this, but looking back I'm glad I was able to breathe the day of and truly take time to remember the entire wedding! It really does happen in a flash!

Re: Vendor Reviews (A little late!) LONG

  • blue1981blue1981 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you for taking the time to do such a complete review. 
    BabyFetus Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    Wow I really like this review adn I like the fact that you did it all for such a reasonable price, the wedding looks like it was great.
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