Hey ladies, my husband and I tied the knot yesterday and I thought I would give you reviews before we take off for our honeymoon on Tuesday...
Rosie's Bridal: B-
it was kind of a drive for us every time I had to do something here because it's in Independence and I live in Lawrence for school, but they had the designer of my dress. The person I worked with was soooo nice and helpful, and, of course, I cannot remember her name, but everyone there seemed really friendly. The reason for the down grade was because of the alterations. You can see where they sewed in the bustles on the outside of the dress (which I'm sure only I noticed) and the bustles that were sewed in didn't actually lift the dress all the way off the floor and people kept catching the sides of it and stuff. Originally, I was nervous about wearing my 3 or 4 inch heels because I was told it would make my dress too short, but that was not the case at all. I got cups sewn into my dress, which was a sweetheart strapless dress, and am so glad I did. I didn't have to pull my dress up all night or worry about my bra showing or anything.
David's Bridal: B-
I got my wedding shoes here, and they were super comfortable all night. They had about a 4 inch heel as well, and I only took them off for the last 45 minutes or so of the reception. I had them dyed blue, and the color was so much lighter than the swatch. The woman I spoke with was very nice and re-dyed them at no charge, but they still were too light. When I came to pick them up, I talked to a different woman and suggested maybe we just try to dye them the darker blue they had. She got really upset when I suggested that and became extremely rude after that, so I just kept it the way it was, and dealt with it. They were still cute, just more of a baby blue than an electric blue. Two of my BMs got their dresses here, and had no problems.
Mia's Bridal: A
The only thing we got from here was my mom's dress, but they were really nice when I went in to try on dresses (just didn't have the one), that I wanted to give them a good review. My mom didn't have any problems with her dress, and the alterations went well also. I think both her and my sister also got their jewelry from Mia's, and were happy with the selection and prices.
Men's Wearhouse: B+
My husband wasn't really thrilled with the varying lengths of the sleeves and jackets (some shirts were longer than the jacket sleeves, some were the reverse) and one fo the GM's top buttons fell off at some point during the photos before the ceremony -- just not the highest quality. Maybe remember to have extra buttons around. Everything else was good with them, and they look really nice in photos and stuff. They were also available ahead of schedule, and professional to deal with. We ended up buying the GMs ties in the color we wanted because MW didn't have it, but no big deal - the GMs loved the ties and it was nice to give them something in addition to their other gifts.
Erica Johnson (Hair and makeup): A+
LOVED my hair and makeup. LOVED. We did a trial, and after reflecting on it, there were some slight changes I wanted - the day of she totally rolled with the changes and made me look so awesome! She came to me, and also did my mom's hair and two BMs. They all were different and cute, all stayed up and styled, and she did everyone's hair (including my hair and makeup) in a little over 2 hours. I all but passed out right after walking back down the aisle, so people were patting me with wet towels and such, and the makeup lasted so well even through that. I had my hair half up with the plan to bobby pin it all up after the ceremony and I highly recommend that if you plan to have your hair all or partly down. She had great prices, is friendly, and really flexible.
Loose Park Rose Garden: A
We were among the crazies to get up really early on Jan 3 to make sure we could get our time and day (and apparently the last bunch to do so since they changed the date you can reserve it). It makes for a good story, and we had all the rules down so there weren't any surprises. It was super hot, and I almost passed out after the ceremony, but at least it wasn't raining! I do recommend making sure you have bottled water for guests if you are having a wedding there. My husband said there weren't many who took advantage before the ceremony, but after the ceremony everyone bee-lined for the water. Also, be prepared to be charged twice as much for having any chairs delivered to the Rose Garden. Since it's a public park, the companies basically kind of wait around during your ceremony so they can get the chairs (because they cannot leave them there). I get the impression from quoting a bunch of companies that they hate going out there lol.
Celebration Party Rentals KC: C-
We just got chairs for the Rose Garden from them, as they were the best price for companies who deliver there. Setting up everything went great with reserving it and payments, but on the actual day they were about 25 min late putting our chairs up, making our guests stand around for awhile and forcing us to start late. there was also only one person out, when the company said there would be two people setting up, which contributed to the delay.
Pech Limo: A
We got the package where they have a certain number of drop offs and transfers, and they were on time, friendly, professional, great. I thought I wouldn't care about the champagne in the limo after the ceremony, but I really appreciated the day of. My husband changed the times slightly a couple times before the actual day, and they were flexible and accomodated the changes. My husband also used this company for his bachelor party.
Berg Event Space: A
That place is so freaking cool looking, we really didn't do much to it. My husband and I looked at more than 30 different venues, and he saw this by himself at first. He liked it so much that it made it into our top four, and when I saw it I was sold. We used the magnetic wall as a huge photo wall, and had a videobooth in the side room that a lot of people took advantage of. The lounge seating was nice (a good place for my FG to crash), and there was attention to detail, even in the bathroom (which I didn't actually go into, but heard about haha). We had been talking back and forth with one person, and right before the wedding there was a change in coordinators, but nothing was forgotten or miscommunicated. Very friendly and professional, and they made sure the night was going smoothly.
Delish: A
The initial communication was a little rocky, but it was quickly corrected and smooth sailing from that point on. The tasting went well, and the food was so well prepared - we got many compliments. We were also able to get more for our money than with the other catering companies we looked into, and ended up doing a buffet with steak, chicken, salad, green beans, rolls, and garlic mashed potatoes. We had the wow coffee bar and the soft pretzel bar, and had passed apps and the cheese and fruit display as well. They made sure to save us appetizers, made us a plate, and got us drinks and anything else we needed throughout the night. Cake cutting was quick and they passed that as well as champagne, and we were able to keep left over food and such. They worked so smoothly with the Berg and the DJ to coordinate everything. Both Mary Berg and Jesse Stuckwisch were so helpful and great to work with.
Divine Bakery (Dana Gerling): A++++++++
Best. Cake. EVER. We fell in love with Dana's strawberry cake at our tasting, and had that as well as white cake. Both my husband and I made a point to taste each kind, and they were just as good as, if not better, than the tasting. Everyone we talked to mentioned how cool the cake looked and how amazing it tasted. Even the vendors were asking who did our cake. Dana took my idea and perfected it! We are already looking forward to coming back in a year to have her make us an anniversary cake:)
Clara's Flowers: A+
Clara is such a friendly, sweet woman. Flowers really weren't important to me in the beginning, so it was frustrating trying to find someone who was in the price range we wanted and didn't go overboard with our requests. After meeting with Clara, I was excited about the flowers and she translated my visions perfectly. The bouquets were beautiful and better than I could have pictured, and the reception centerpieces were wonderful. She really takes pride in her work and her service. My aunt helped set up the photo wall we had beforehand, and complimented both the florist and cake baker. She had the bouquets personally delivered to the Rose Garden for us, and really accomodated our tastes.
4Honor Photography (Mike Tsai): A+
Mike was our second photographer, and a friend of our main photographer. Our main photographer is a family friend, and doesn't do wedding photography, so I am only reviewing Mike. He was AWESOME. I don't know how we thought it would be ok to only have one photographer. My FG and RB are both 3 and he did such a good job trying to keep them on track and shooting around their meltdowns. Every once in awhile, I would look over and see Mike taking an awesome pic that I hadn't even thought about. I can't wait to see his pics!
Premier Midwest (Danny Haas): A+
We were really nevous about having enough people dancing because our families are both a shy bunch. Danny completed exceeded our expectations. He kept the party rolling, read the crowd so well, and took cues from us seamlessly. My husband editted his M/S song down, and it was no problem getting that to Danny, and the planning beforehand went really well. It was so easy to leave everything up to him. He even took notice of a couple mentions in my MOH's speech of some songs/artists and threw them in!
Intercontinetal Hotel: A
The BMs and I took getting ready photos here before the ceremony, and some of my family waited here before they had to go out in the heat for pictures. This is also where my husband proposed, overlooking the plaza lights on New Year's Eve, so it was an easy choice. No issues with cars coming and going (they didn't even charge them to park or anything) and room service was good. I'm sure we will probably be booking another suite here for anniversaries to come.
Bed, Bath, Beyond: A
We didn't have any problems registering, and have already returned a couple duplicates from showers and such with no problem (and no receipt).
Target Registry: D
The only reason we didn't just delete this registry is because people kept buying from it -- but I constantly had items disappear, or something that I deleted would not really delete, and then there were duplicates. We have returned one thing without a receipt, and didn't have a problem because it was off the registry. I assumed Target would be cheaper on items than BBB, but not true at all -- after I registered at BB, I started to transfer things over to even them out, only to find that Target was more expensive on the same exact items. BBB has those 20% off coupons and free gift wrapping (and things didn't randomly disappear), so it was about twice as big as the Target one.
Shutterfly: A
We used Shutterfly as our wedding website, save the dates, our guest book, and for the pictures from our photo wall. We took full advantage of all the discounts that we got via email, and everything turned out really well. We used one of the free photo books as our guest book, and read through it today. The ink from the pens we got didn't smudge, and it's so much better having photos of the two of us with the well wishes. We will probably also use Shutterfly once our prints come in, as we have the rights to the pics.
Jared's Jewelry: A
My husband purchased my wedding bands at the same time he bought my engagement ring. They are so nice every time we go in for a cleaning and inspection. I went in two days before the wedding, and they resized everything, and polished my engagement ring (which I've been wearing for a year and a half) to look just as new as the bands. I'm so glad my husband went with them. We are dropping them off before we leave for our HM to have them soddered together.
I think that is all, I hope I didn't forget anyone! Yesterday was the best day, and it was so nice being able to let everything go and leave it up the professionals. to give just one more general piece of advice: my husband and I were focused for a long time on making sure our guests were happy. Then, about a week ago, we switched our focus and just made everything about the two of us. This continued on the wedding day, and I would have it no other way. Just being so in sync that day, and taking in every moment together made it all the better.
We were engaged for a year and a half, and have many other reviews of places and people we checked out, but did not use for one reason or the other (lots of venues, cake bakers, florists, DJs, and a couple catering companies). If anyone has questions, feel free to pm me....but I probably won't respond until we are back from our HM in South Africa. HTH.