We were engaged for 14 months, so I had plenty of time to plan and select my favorite vendors. Everything turned out great! I have to admit I was pretty stressed/nervous for the first part of the day. It's ok if you stress! I feel like everyone always says that everything was perfect. Well, we took much longer to get ready and ended up being about an hour behind on pictures and only went to one location instead of two. The reason we were late was because I underestimated how picky I and some of my BM would be with our hair (I should have known!). It wasn't the stylists' fault--I had scheduled everything to the minute. Give yourself at least an hour buffer from the hair appt. ending to starting pictures. We had 7 people getting hair done, so you can see how easy it is to be late if a few people go over by 5-15 minutes. In the end, everything worked out--pictures are beautiful and the hair was gorgeous. So with that background, here are my vendor reviews:
Photographer - Kimberly Potterf
Gorgeous! I've admired the work on her blog all year, and she did not disappoint. She has the ability to make you feel at ease and beautiful. She even went to the Statehouse the day before the wedding to scout out the location and find great spots for shots. Below is the link to our pictures. It's probably easier to browse through some of the "Favorites" folders on the lower right hand side of the page.
Oops! I forgot to mention that Kimberly ended up having her friend, Stephanie of Novia Distinctive Photography assist and second shoot for her. Stephanie is a real sweetheart and go some amazing shots too! I want to make sure I give her credit!
http://pictage.com/742236
Hair & Bride's Make-up - Adam B at Waldo's on High (in the Short North)
Adam has been my regular stylist for years. He's now done three weddings that I've been in (including mine). As noted before, I'm extremely picky and he's always patient and works until everything is perfect. Kimberly's comment on my hair was something like"wow, that's the look that everyone always trys to go for, but I've never seen anyone get it right until now." Adam was kind enough to come to my place with another Waldo's stylist, Jeff, because the salon was closed for the Pride Parade (no parking anywhere in the short north). Everyone looked amazing and I couldn't have been happier.
Flowers - Flowers on Orchard Lane
FOOL greatly exceeded my expectations. I definitely had a vision, and Jan perfectly executed it. I can't tell you how many compliments we received on the flowers. I feel like we got a lot for the money too. When we received the bouquets and boutinierre's, they even gave us an extra one for the groom in case his gardenia (very sensitive) wilted in the heat too fast. I could not have been happier with the flowers.
Linens - Connie Duglin
We rented ivory pintuck tableclothes for the reception. They were gorgeous and really took the elegance up a notch. We worked with Randy at Connie Duglin, and he gave us great customer service. He even brought full size tablecloth samples and met us at our reception site, so we could see the options at the actual site. Then I changed my mind on what I wanted later, and he ordered more full size samples in at no charge. I'm so glad we spent the extra $$$ for linens. It's a really easy way to transform the look.