Well our wedding was Saturday and everything went pretty well! Wanted to give everybody our opinions of the vendors we used to help with the planning process!
Venue: The Elms Resort & Spa (Excelsior Springs, MO) Working with these ladies was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. They don't seem to communicate with each other and would often give me two different answers to the same question within hours of each other. I spent a lot of time backtracking on issues we had already discussed and trying to figure out who knew what they were talking about. I even had to personally contact the General Manager of the hotel to sort out some things on two occasions. I could write a book about my complaints with the planning process and the wedding coordination staff at The Elms...it was VERY stressful! That being said, our wedding was absolutely beautiful. Our ceremony was held in the gazebo outdoors and our reception was in the Regent Ballroom. They helped set up everything the morning of the event and our guests commented on how lovely their experiences had been. The banquet manager accidentally dropped the top layer of our cake when she was trying to put it into the box and was very apologetic and contacted the caterer herself to arrange for that portion of the cake to be fixed or remade. Despite all of the planning nightmares we had to put up with in the 9 months prior to the wedding, our actual wedding night went very smoothly and was minimallly stressful. I just caution all brides considering The Elms to get EVERYTHING in writing, and be very very very patient!
Flowers: Good Earth Floral Design (Overland Park, KS) Our flowers were GORGEOUS!! Ashley did an amazing job and I could not have asked for anything better! She was wonderful to work with from start to finish and I would recommend her to anybody! She created all of our bouquets, corsages, and bouts and everything was perfect! The only negative for me was that our location was out of her delivery area, but my dad was able to meet her husband in KC at 10am on the morning of our wedding and bring the flowers to our hotel. She created exactly what I asked for and I think her prices were more than reasonable. She was just awesome awesome awesome!
Photography: Real Deal Wedding Photography (Kansas City, KS) Our photographer was Kevin Sisemore and he was great! These guys were great to work with and again very reasonably priced. They did change our assigned photographer a few weeks before the wedding but had warned us that something like that may happen so it was not a surprise. Kevin showed up on time and made everybody feel very relaxed and comfortable. I can't wait to see the photos he took!
Cake: Carolyn Lawrence (Lawson, MO) Carolyn has made cakes for our family since my parents were married 25 years ago. I found a picture online of what I wanted and she told me she could do it. I gathered a few things and dropped them off at her shop and when the big day came she presented a cake that looked exactly like the picture I had sent her! It was absolutely beautiful and so many people commented on how good it looked and tasted!!
Officiant: Reverend Tim Brooks/Simple2Elegant Weddings (Kansas City, MO) Rev. Brooks was also great to work with and made us feel very comfortable and relaxed when it mattered most! We live in Colorado but flew to KC about 6 weeks before the wedding and he welcomed us into his home for a brief get-to-know-you kind of meeting. He listened to what we wanted and provided suggestions to guide us along the way. He was very friendly and professional but most of all a genuinely nice individual. We got the impression that his greatest concern was that we were enjoying ourselves and we could not have picked a better officiant!
Music: Music By Jim (Independence, MO) This was probably the vendor I was the most disappointed with, but it was definitely not a total bust. Jim was very kind and did his best to make sure he was meeting our needs. One problem we experienced was that he did not have a big digital soundsystem, he was using individual CDs which left awkward gaps of silence between songs which was kind of a buzz kill at times. Also, it seemed like the music wasn't loud enough so it was kind of hard to really get into it. Lastly, he played all of the music selections we had requested but when it was just him playing his own choices they seemed a little outdated or not quite the genre or tempo to match the party. To his credit though, he began to get a better feel for our crowd as the night went on and everybody still had a great time. I would recommend him for somebody who isn't looking for a real "dance club" type atmosphere or for an older crowd.
Hope this helps and if anybody wants more details on our experiences don't hesitate to ask!