Hi Ladies - So I finally got around to finishing my vendor reviews. My apologies that they took so long and I have so many of them. These were invaluable to me during my planning process so I hope they help you too. I won't be on these boards much any more so feel free to email me if you have any questions. You can reach me at
brittiny.lenz@gmail.com. Happy planning to all of you!
Venue: A+++++Via Vecchia Winery: http://viavecchiawinery.com/ I cannot say enough about the guys at Via Vecchia!! They are the most wonderful men and did everything in their power to make sure my day was everything I dreamed of. They happily accept ideas from brides on ways to improve the space. For example they decided to buy lanterns for all the brides to use and solicited our ideas on what would be the color. They really do aim to please.
This space is perfect for a bride looking for something rustic and unique. This space has a rich history plus the wine is delicious. From my first tasting to leaving on my wedding day I was taken care of. They have lots of nice touches included in the cost that would normally be add ons at other places. For example, tables, the cherry colored chairs, set-up, tear down, etc. You do have the space for your rehearsal and the use of the space for the entire day of the wedding. No paying by the hour here.
I received so many compliments from friends and family for how unique this space was. For those unfamiliar with it, it has slate looking floors, wood beams and is all brick.
We also had our ceremony here outside in the alley. It was 7:30pm, just an hour before sunset, with Leveque tower in the background and white Christmas lights strung overhead. It was stunning.
I would highly recommend this space to anyone looking for something other than the standard hotel/country club experience.
Caterer: A- Catering by Scott: http://cateringbyscott.com/
Scott is the exclusive caterer of Via Vecchia. I admit I wasn’t happy that I was limited to one caterer when I first agreed to work with Via Vecchia. I’m a girl who likes my options. But Scott was really wonderful and understands how best to use the site at Via Vecchia.
Scott is much more than just a caterer. He’s been in the industry for several decades so he’s happy to share his advice and ideas. He really had a wealth of knowledge. Scott had great ideas of how to trim the food budget making it very cost conscious for me. The food was delicious. We did a create your own pasta bar and three passed hors d’ouevres. Got tons of compliments with how flavorful the pasta was.
Scott also acted as my day of coordinator making sure all the last minute decorating, seating, line-up, etc happened as planned. He didn’t stay till the end of the night though and actually didn’t say goodbye before he left.
My only frustration was simply a personality clash. Scott is a quick thinker with lots of ideas. So many times he made changes to ideas before I could even understand them. It was a lot to process sometimes. Because of this there were a few hiccups the day of. He didn’t set out my cake cutting knife and didn’t fill my glasses with the champagne for the toast. These were family heirlooms and I am sad we weren’t able to use them. We were also supposed to get food to take back to the hotel and didn’t. It was sent home with my parents instead. Scott also didn’t like to communicate through email which was a big deal for me since I work all day and spend the evenings with my 14 month old daughter.
Other than that, he was great and ultimately delivered delicious food to my guests, which is most important.
DJ: A+ Midwest DJ Pro (Pete Downhour): http://midwestdjpro.com/
Pete was amazing in every way possible. He was professional, organized, easy to work with, and played great music. He is the owner of the company and the only one involved so you always deal directly with him. I loved this. He was always super quick at returning calls/emails. He’s got years of experience in the industry so he’s a great one with ideas too. He kept our party moving and wasn’t one of those guys who like to hear himself talk. He stuck to any play list requests that we had and timed everything beautifully. He also worked with my on the ceremony music as well, which included sifting through prerecorded music of my dad’s and formatting it correctly at no extra cost. I had tons of compliments from friends that Pete always played the right music at the right time. I would highly recommend him
Photography: A DegasGirl Photography (Kristen Yates): www.degasgirlphotography.com/">http://www.degasgirlphotography.com/
Kristen was wonderful to work with. Our package included an engagement session, eight hours of photography the day of and the images on a disc. I was on a super tight budget so this package worked well for us.
Kristen has an artsy eye which was really appreciated. I wanted photos that told a story by capturing all the “unseen” moments and details. She did that beautifully. Her work was fantastic. It has a very natural feel to it. We didn’t do a bunch of forced posed shots (which I hate) and she had ideas of things I haven’t seen in your typical wedding photos.
The only reason I didn’t give her an A+ was because it took longer than she said to get both our engagement and wedding photos. And of course, I was excited and impatient to see them. This was largely due to the huge number of photos she took therefore taking longer to edit than initially anticipated. What girl can complain about having too many photos.
Makeup: A+ Eye Candy Cosmetics (Candy Thomas): www.eyecandycosmetics.org/">http://www.eyecandycosmetics.org/
Candy was amazing! I actually found Candy through a random google search after my first makeup artist backed out and I think it was actually a blessing in disguise.
I did do a trial and would definitely recommend it. It put me at ease knowing exactly how it was going to come together and gave us the time to play and tweak everything for the look I wanted.
My mom didn’t understand why I wanted to splurge on having my makeup done but come the day of the wedding she finally understood. We both got so many compliments. Candy is super affordable compared to other makeup artists and I would highly recommend her work.
A tip though – make sure you schedule plenty of time for the makeup. I literally scheduled an hour and half for me and 45 mins for my mom and one of my bridesmaids. I could have used a little more time.