Hi Knotties,
We were just married this last weekend and I thought I'd write up some vendor reviews to hopefully help some of you at the beginning stages of you planning. I was very happy for the most part with everything a few hiccups here and there but everything was great! (and I'm normally a pretty critical person
)
Ceremony Venue / Reception Venue:
Mendakota Country Club, Mendota Heights, MN
"A-minus" We had our ceremony and reception all in one here. I was a little worried the room wouldn't be ready on time when I showed up in the morning of our wedding because they had a breakfast banquet going on, but they flipped the room and all of our vendors were able to get set up and it looked AMAZING! We got married outside just off of their poorch and it was a beautiful evening and it looked great. Heard great reviews of the food being some of the best food guests have ever had at a wedding so that's good too! The only thing I was a little disapointed in was that we told the banquet manager that the immediate family members of the bride and groom and the groomsmen / bridesmaids drinks were to be put on a seperate tab after the open bar closed and a few of them ended up having to pay cash for them. All things considering - that wan't a huge deal.
Cake
Emily's Bakery - Hastings, MN A+++Instead of getting a cake or doing cupcakes, we opted for petit fours (little 2"x2" chocolate cake squares that are individually wrapped) so kind of a cake, kind of like cupcakes. My husband wanted a chocolate chocolate cake with no filling so these were perfect for what he wanted. I brought a few left overs into work on Tuesday and my co-workers raved about how good they were! Easy to serve too!! The staff at Emily's was very accomidating and super easy to work with.
Hair
Root Salon - Molly Black, St Paul MN
A+++++++Molly came on site with an assistant to do our hair in the morning and did a phenominal job! I was a pretty laid back bride and told her to do whatever she wanted with my hair with a few guidelines and it turned out amazing! She really does a super job and did a great job on the bridesmaids in the amount of time alotted for her. I couldn't have been happier with her!! Would recommend to anyone out there!
Flowers
A Johnson Florists, Grand Ave, St. Paul MN
A++++++++I worked with Andy at A Johnson and he was GREAT! I didn't think I was that picky when it came to flowers and center pieces, but when he started showing me ideas in our first meeting I realized how picky I was about flowers. He offered up great suggestions and the arrangements turned out phenominally!! My husband and majority of the groomsmen are big hunters and I made the mistake of getting married on phesant opener, so he incorporated phesant feathers into the boquets and the groom's bouttiners and wrapped them up so it wasn't so obvious! I also provided him with a few small frames of our grandparents so they'd be with us on that day, and he did a wonderful job incorporating them into the boquet to make it very specical.
Bridesmaid Dresses
The Bridal Center - Plymouth MN
DThe bridesmaid dress situation was a bit of a disaster, but I don't think this company is in business anymore so that may be where there were a few hiccups. We ordered Alfred Angelo dresses over 6 months in advance and they claimed there was a glitch in Alfred Angelo's system and they only sent one dress on time. I contacted Alfred Angelo directly and they claimed there was nothing of the sort that happened. Long story short, the dresses had to be remade and rushed to us and the Bridal Center couldn't give me a straight answer as to when they would arrive - even though the folks at Alfred Angelo gave me all of the information. I was getting two different stories from the folks at Alfred Angelo and the people at the Bridal Center and none of them matched up. We ended up getting the dresses and due to the ordering issue, I requested that the Bridal Center pay to overnight them to the girls that were from out of state (4 out of 6), they wouldn't overnight them but they did ship them out, which ended up being a fair resolution. The main frustration was that they were slow to return emails and phone calls and give me updates on the dresses when only one arrived on time. I also felt like I was being lied to because they would tell me Alfred Angelo hadn't updated them but Alfred Angelo called me directly and updated me and told me they had just had a conversation with the Bridal Center. In the end we got the dresses, but the headache and lies that went along with it, I would have a hard time telling anyone to go through this company.
Hotel
Courtyard Marriott - Airport, Mendota Heights, MN
C+When we first made the arrangements, we worked with a gal, Billie, who was phenominal and very on-top-of-things. She accepted a new position and a new gal, Kristina took over who wasn't as great as Billie. The hotel has a complimentary shuttle that take guests anywhere within 5 miles of the hotel - which is why we choose this hotel so that guests from out of town would have transportation. When we set up the block of rooms, we were told that they would reserve the shuttle for wedding guests for a block of time and we rented a private shuttle for an extra 2 hours after the complimentary shuttle was finished. We were guaranteed that all our guests needed to do before 11 pm was call and the shuttle would be there. Well .... that wasn't the case. Before 11pm we had guests wait for over an hour for the shuttle to show up and between 11 and 1 when the shuttle we paid for was supposed to make round trips between the hotel and the reception site, it came twice and it's only a 10 minute ride at the most each way. Also, Kristina who we got passed off to after Billie left, was a very difficult person to work with. She was quite rude and snotty and had very poor follow through on questions prior to the guests checking in. The rest of the staff there was good, but the few things they guaranteed us (like the shuttle) didn't run properly and created a bit of a hassle for our guests.
I don't know what else is out there but if you have questions ... feel free to ask!!! I got my dress in New York City so nothing local with that. We bought our rings from Arthurs Jewelers in St. Paul - AWESOME!!!
All in all it was a perfect day - as I'm sure every bride thinks of their wedding day!