Hi ladies-
So, my wedding day has come and gone and it's just like everyone says- it flew by and seemed to end before it even started! It was a magical day and I wish I could do (most of) it all over again every weekend
Without further ado, I'd like to share my experiences with some of our vendors.
Venue: Seville Golf and Country Club
Grade: C
We had the worst experience with Seville, which is really unfortunate because the venue itself is gorgeous, the food was delish and the banquet staff was wonderful. Our terrible experience mainly had to do with the private events director, Melissa Sprinkle, and her assistant Erika. I could write a novel about all of the things that went wrong with them but that would take way too long. To sum things up, they double booked our wedding date without ever informing us that double booking was even something they'd consider doing, they snuck $550 in extra charges into our final contract about 5 days before the wedding, they promised us a lantern exit without receiving permits from the fire department and only after I asked repeatedly about it did they tell me about one month before the wedding that they never got the permit, one of their staff memebers ruined our sparkler exit (he grabbed a bunch of about 50 sparklers and lit them all at once so it shot up like a huge fireball and then burnt out...and instead of having all of our extra sparklers (I ordered enough for each person to have 3) close by, they had them stored somewhere in the building so they could not get them back to the exit fast enough, our signature drink was a mojito but they ran out of mint about 20 minutes into our cocktail hour, etc etc... Melissa was consistently unfriendly to our wedding coordinator throughout the whole planning process and even though the place is so pretty, I would not recommend having your wedding there unless you dont mind that there might be a 2nd wedding going on at the same time as yours, unpleasant dealings with Melissa, etc.
DJ: Desert House Productions
Grade: A-
Minus a few questionable songs that we heard played during our cocktail hour that didn't really fit our taste, the music was fantastic and Dave really did a great job with keeping the party going all night long. We didn't want any traditional wedding music and wanted the reception to feel more like a club with lots of house remixes, etc and he exceeded our expectations in that respect.
Floral: Jan Dekker Designs
Grade: B-
Unfortunately, Jan had some personal things going on that seemed to spill over into our wedding. Communication was not great and the end result did not meet our expecations. For example, flowers I specifically said I dont like ended up being used in not only my bouquet but also in several other arrangements. However, she did the flowers at my friend's wedding last year and everything was amazing so I do believe it was just an "off day' for her...unfortunately it just happened to be on my day!
Bundtinis: Nothing Bundt Cake (Scottsdale)
Grade: A+
We only had a small cake for cutting (made by a friend of our wedding coordinator) but then had mini bundt cakes for our guests to eat (called Bundtinis). The owner of the Scottsdale location, Suzanne, was great. She gave us a free box of 12 bundtinis so that we could taste them and pick our flavors at home. She offered delivery to our venue for a very fair price ($20) and everyone loved the bundtinis since they were something other than cupcakes. They were fresh and tasted fantastic. We had some leftovers and they were just as good the next day.
Cake Pops: Classy Cakes by Melissa Hollobaugh
Grade: A+
We ordered bride and groom cake pops from Melissa and she was wonderful to work with. She honored an old price I'd seen from her a long time ago via etsy and did not charge a delivery fee to bring the pops to our venue. They looked wonderful and tasted even better! All of the guests loved them and raved about how great they were.
Dress: Lillian Lottie in Old Town Scottsdale
Grade: A+
I had a great time working with Meghan and the other girls. I got a great deal on my dress, they worked with me on adding my own custom touches to it, offered me a discount on the headpiece I bought from them, etc. They were a pleasure to work with!
Transportation for our Guests: Arizona Corporate Coach
Grade: B+
The owner (David) was a pleasure to work with, super responsive to e-mails, and the prices were very reasonable. However, the large bus used to transport most of our guests to the wedding did not have functioning AC and the guests all complained about how hot and uncomfortable it was (it was a 40 min ride to the venue). I contacted the company after the wedding to complain and they are sending me a check for 20% of the service fee which is very nice. However, it would have been even better to have had a functioning AC for the guests in the first place or to receive a larger discount.
Limo Transporation for the Wedding Party: Platinum Rides
Grade: A+
The driver was early, the limo was clean and in good condition, they had complimentary water and champagne stocked for us and it was just a wonderful and stress free experience with them.
"Grand Exit Transporation:" Aries Limosine
Grade: A
We ordered the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. The car arrived early, the driver was courteous and the car was great.
Wedding Coordinator: Teagan Mercer Weddings and Events
Grade: A+
There is not much I can say that would do her justice...Teagan is a dream to work with and anyone would be lucky to have her as their coordinator. You will not find anyone better- she is the most caring, thoughtful and sweet person you've ever met but she is still authoritative and detail oriented and makes sure things get done how they should. Do yourself a favor and contact her if you are thinking of hiring a coordinator- she's worth every penny!
Hair: Jena Dobson (formerly Jena Mourray) from Salon Tru
Grade: A+
Jena is AMAZING and she knocked it out of the park. She did my hair as well as all of my bridesmaids and they all looked fabulous. I was stunned by my own hair and wish that it could look that fabulous everyday. Seriously, everyone loved her and I would recommend her in a heartbeat.
Makeup: Rachel Bush
Grade: A+
Just like Jena, Rachel was fantastic! She is a master at makeup and we all felt like movie stars and models on the wedding day
She was a joy to work with!