I'm back with a new name and some extra bling!
It was by far the most amazing day I've ever had. We had all of the people we love most there and while we had a little rain in the early afternoon, it cleared up just in time to have perfect weather for outdoor pictures at Lake Harriet.
RECEPTION VENUE-RADISSON-UNIVERSITY HOTEL: A+
Sara-the catering manager was awesome to work with! She was completely willing to work with me on everything I needed, was easy to communicate with and went out of her way to make sure our day was perfect. She even gave me candles she owned when I didn't have quite enough. The venue was just beautiful and looked absolutely amazing. The only small issue we had was with our hotel block-a couple guests had difficulty making their reservation in the correct block and correct rooms. Other than that it was great. I'd highly recommend!
FLORIST-DEVEN NELSON: A+++
Deven was by far my favorite vendor to work with! She was an easy choice to make when deciding on a florist. I liked that she does it full time and not as a side job. She completely understood my vision for the day and went above and beyond what I ever could have imagined. Great communication, very professional, and definitely knew what she was doing~while still being extremely budget friendly.
PHOTOGRAPHER-IMAGEN BY ALEX DEL TORO: A (pending pictures)
For what you get, the price really can't be beat! We had them do e-pics, our rehearsal/RD, and our wedding day. They were shooting our wedding day from 9am-10:30pm and were working hard all day long. I can't wait to see our pictures. Alex and his assistant did our wedding day and e-pics. Lizzy did our RD as well as our e-pics with Alex. Alex was just great to work with. It's obvious he has passion and skill for what he does!
TRANSPORTATION-URBAN EXPRESS: A
Extremely affordable! For only $175, they drove us from the ceremony to the reception with a couple stops in the middle. They held everyone we wanted on the bus (18 people), had an on bus cooler and easy to access garbage, and the seats were in a U shape, so everyone was facing the middle. The outside may not be that attractive, but it was a blast and probably my favorite part of the night.
HAIR/MAKE UP-SMART AND CHIC'S KIRA MCCARTY: A+
Kira was amazing. She is worth every penny! I was very pleased with how my hair and make up turned out and it lasted all night long! I was getting complements on how great it looked and she was very friendly, extremely professional, and definitely knew what she was doing. I would highly recommend her!
CELLIST-ARIOSO STRINGS' TERESA: A+
Arioso strings did a wonderful job at a very reasonable price. She was able to play any song I requested, helped me choose my music, and even was able to customize/rearrange a piece that I wanted. She sounded absolutely beautiful!
MUSIC-NEON EXPRESS: B
We were originally supposed to have Marc, but he had a last minute emergency and set us up with his backup, Scott. Scott was very nice and we had talked about the expectations and order of events a few days prior to the wedding. One of the things my HUSBAND(!) really wanted was have WWE theme music mixed in randomly throughout the night between songs and he was totally able to do this-my DH just had to find the music files and email them to him. Their equipment is pretty antiquated and out-dated. He used CDs for goodness sakes, and was unable to have an Ipod hook up to it. The reason for a B is that there were several songs on our must play list that did not get played, including a specific song that was to be used a dedication to DH best friend who died 2 years ago. He did not have that song. When I asked him about he said he just didn't have it. I replied (very calmly and nicely) that I would have appreciated if he had let me know ahead of time and I would have been able to get it to him. He brashly answered back, "well I just don't have it, what do you want me to say?!?" I was taken back by his rudeness and was pretty upset about it. I will definitely be letting Marc know. He also played a song that was on my DO NOT play list, and our last song of the night (SHOUT!) was skipping and unplayable. Also, he started to play the wrong song during certain dances -but fixed it on his own, and he did not play the song we requested for the cake cutting. Overall he did an ok job. Our dance floor was packed and our friends had a great time (but not necessarily because of him, but because our friends just know how to have a good time no matter where we are). In the end, you get what you pay for. He is the only vendor I was disappointed with. However, I would have rather done an ipod reception vs. hire a more expensive DJ.
ETA: After talking to Dave, he was very apologetic, and is refunding us our $50 deposit, which we were very happy with.