Mt. Hebron Presbyterian Church, Ellicott City (
http://www.mthebronpc.org/)
A+
We had originally chosen the church for its beautiful amphitheater but when we learned they also booked the indoor chapel as a back up, we realized this was the better choice. I suffer from migraines and being outside too long in the sun is a trigger. The chapel was small, but large enough for my guests. Quite cozy! The decor is simple, lots of wood, floor to ceiling windows, stained glass over the entry way. The acoustics were amazing and we did not need microphones. Ginger Dunn, who runs the Hebron House, was wonderful to work with! She answered any questions I had quickly -- I never had to wait very long.
David's Bridal, Rockville
B-
Mixed reviews here. I loved my dress, and the consultant I had the day I went to try dresses was good. I also like that they offer discounts to the BMs on their dresses since I bought my dress there. What I didn't like is that we were essentially ignored the day we went for the BMs dresses. I didn't like that three of the four dresses ordered had to be reordered because the seams were bumpy or it was the wrong dress. I also don't like that they don't accept returns or exchanges. I bought a torsolette and shoes and ended up not needing them. I had to sell them on eBay because DB wouldn't let me exchange for something else.
KC Formalwear, King's Contrivance
A+++
Nick is amazing. We ordered all the tuxes here and I had a bustle added to my dress. He barely had to measure anyone for the tuxes -- he just glanced at H, grabbed a sample jacket and it was perfect. He did, of course, properly measure him. The tuxes fit everyone perfectly. No complaints.
I know he does regular tailoring/alterations too. He's just awesome.
Cakes by Sue, Elkridge
A+
Sue is AWESOME! We had our tasting and I chose two extra flavors on top of the two she includes in the free consultation. All were delicious, but H and I are fans of raspberry in cake, so we went with two layers of lemon with raspberry fruit filling and the base in chocolate with raspberry buttercream. EVERYONE loved it. The cake was moist and just utterly delicious. We ended up taking our top layer on our honeymoon because our wedding day went by so fast we didn't get any cake! I'll definitely recommend her to anyone that needs a cake. Her prices beat the other vendors I considered and her cake tasted better.
Acropolis Restaurant, Baltimore
A+
We chose the Acropolis for a few reasons: one of our favorite restaurants, H is Greek, and they are friends of his family. The food was amazing, the staff was friendly, engaging, and hardworking. The cost was far lower than every other place we considered and we already love the food. I had wanted to decorate the night before, but they said to just drop off the stuff and leave directions and they'd handle it the morning of the wedding. And did they ever! The room was beautiful and exactly what I hoped for.
Photographers - didn't use a vendor. My dad and a few friends stepped in. My dad is a part-time photographer until he retires from his current job and then he's going full-time.
DJ - a friend of ours has a DJ business with his father. He offered his services as a gift to us. He was awesome! He had great suggestions for songs for cake cutting, final song, and background music for dinner. They are located in Dundalk and I can give their info to anyone who's interested. Off the top of my head I don't know if they have a full web site yet.
Officiant - a friend of ours got ordained for us. He's a ring announcer for various independent wrestling feds along the east coast from NY to Maryland. Those at the wedding that didn't know this, didn't know that he wasn't really a minister. The ceremony was beautiful. I'd written most of it, but he embellished here and there and his delivery was spot on. He came with his own film crew (they are doing a documentary on him because he's legendary in east coast wrestling. They were amazing -- they were quiet and out of the way, and very appreciative that we let them come film.
Limos 4 Less (
http://www.limos4less.com)
A+
We opted not to do a limo, but got point-to-point service with a town car. The price was the best we found after calling over 20 vendors. This company was the one that informed us we didn't need to pay for four hours of service and that we could go with point-to-point, meaning pick-up at the church, drop-off at the restaurant, pick-up at the restaurant and drop-off at home. The driver was on time, courteous, and a great driver. The car itself was spotless and very roomy.
Flowers, Safeway, Ellicott City
A+
We were going to get our flowers elsewhere, but things happened that were beyond anyone's control. I went to my local Safeway and the manager of floral spoke with me. At first she was hesitant about preparing my bouquet, four BM bouquets, Groom's bout, GM's bouts, 3 corsages and three extra bouts in less than two weeks, but when I convinced her I didn't really care what kind of flowers she used, she was happy to oblige. My one request was to throw in a couple of red gerbers. The bouquets were mixed flowers and everyone loved them! The corsages were red gerbers (yay!) and the bouts were red rose buds. Rebecca did an amazing job on short notice.
I think that's it!