Better late than never. I learned so much from these when I was planning! Also this is my chance to thank you all so much for your help!! Please don't hesitate to ask if you want more info on any vendor. Check my bio for a few pro pics as well:
http://caitlinfeldman.googlepages.com/vendorreviews Ceremony: Trinity Lutheran Church in Historic Soulard: A+ We fell in love with this church when we moved to St Louis and decided to join the congregation. It was absolutely stunning the day of our wedding with all the stained glass. Pastor Jason was awesome, just enough funny to keep everyone smiling but also gave a really strong message. They will do ceremonies for non-members for a fee. Reception: Magic Chef Mansion: B I would give it an A because it was stunning the day of our wedding, however as we were the first big wedding she had there we were definitely the guinea pigs for a lot of things that went wrong. It didn't help that it ended up being 102 degrees the day of our wedding and she wasn't prepared for the vast amount of set up time that would be required for all our vendors trying to beat the heat in the morning. She has also decided not to refund our full deposit. Not for damage, but for vendors who set up outside of the contracted 8 hours around the time of our event. However, all vendor set up and clean up times were pre-approved by her and she never mentioned an extra fee for these pre-arranged times. Basically, it would be a site much better suited for a wedding of 50 or less people. Catering: Patty Long Catering: A- Most importantly, the food was AMAZING! We had stations and they were each so yummy. The St Louis BBQ station got the best raves from friends. We had a lot of problems initially with our contact not responding to emails or forgetting things. However, after she was replaced we worked with Melissa and she was fabulous. There were a few pricing things that got lost in translation but she was amazing the couple days before the wedding when things got crazy. Wedding Coordinator: Bride's Vision: C- Probably our biggest disappointment. We hired full coordinator services because neither of us are from St Louis or had family close by to help us. We had a high but strict budget, however, when she designed our budget plan she didn't allocate money for several big costs (which I didn't know we'd need but I don't make a living planning weddings) so we went over budget. Every vendor meeting we went to she told me and them to high ball everything ( ie every possible thing I could ever want) and then we would take things away from there. But the problem was that then I was signing these huge contracts that the vendors did not want to take away from. It was very frustrating and I didn't figure it out fast enough. We also specifically wanted every detail taken care of at least a month before the wedding because we're both in medical school and were taking finals up until the week of the wedding. This was not even close to accomplished and I was left running around like crazy the week of trying to get things taken finished. Quite a few things went wrong the day of the wedding and afterwards, and while I didn't know about them at the time (thank god), I'm now trying to clean up the mess and she has not been helpful. She gets a C- and not lower because she did introduce me to some of the vendors that I loved. Florist: Rich West Designs : A+ Absolutely perfect. I loved working with Rich. He was easy to get along with, quick to respond to emails, worked well within out flower budget, and creative. Our flowers turned out better than I imagined and made it through the 102 degree heat of the day. Photographer: Zettl Photography: A- Our pictures are beautiful and Peter and Stephanie are great to work with. DH is disappointed with his "pre-ceremony" pictures. He and his guys were invited into the stadium by surprise and took pictures during a Pujols homerun but none of those pictures are in our online album. We had also hoped for more "unique" outside pictures but it was so hot that we ended up taking a lot more staged pictures inside. Band: Richard Fuller Quartet: A This band played during our cocktails. Easy to work with and we got a lot of compliments. DJ: TKO DJ's: A- Again, easy to work with and we and our guests were on the dance floor all night. They did play a couple songs on our "do not play" list which made me a little upset at the time. Rehearsal Dinner and Hotel: Hilton at the Ballpark: B+ I, personally, had no problems with the hotel however, our parents and our guests had quite a few problems. We booked two suites for the night before the wedding and one suite for the night of the wedding. They got it mixed up. My parents paid for our suites but DH's parents paid for the rehearsal dinner. They got the bills mixed up. However, the location and rooms were perfect for what we needed. Hair and Makeup: Danielle Style (Danielle Erb): A I loved using Danielle. She is so much fun to work with and I got SO may compliments on my hair. My makeup also miraculously stayed on despite everything else at our reception melting in the 102 degree heat. Unfortunately, my hair did fall out in the back a little and no one told me so I couldn't fix it so I don't like how it looks in some of our pictures. If I could afford her I would definitely go to her for my haircuts now. Wedding Dress and Bridemaid dresses: Town and Country Bridal: A+ I loved these ladies so much. They all acted like surrogate mothers for me since I didn't have any family close enough to go with me on my fittings. They made the whole process of ordering bridesmaid dresses for my girls all over the country incredibly easy. Couldn't recommend them more! Tuxes: Mens Wearhouse: A DH says things were all good there. Since the guys were all over the country, having a national chain was super helpful. Dress Alterations: R & M Designs ( Connie): A Expensive but good. Connie is so sweet and made things incredibly easy for me. Veil and hair piece: Toni Frederici: A Again, expensive but good. I got to work directly with Toni and her assistant when they came to Town and Country for a trunk show. I didn't have anybody with me so all the ladies there pitched in and worked with Toni to figure out exactly what I wanted. Cake: Sugaree Bakery: A+ We loved working with Pat. We had a blast at our tasting and our cake was absolutely beautiful and yummy. I also thought she was pretty affordable compared to some of the other places we looked and gave us the option to have kitchen cakes that were exactly the same size and flavors as our real cake but at a fraction of the cost. Transportation: JED Limousine: A As far as I know we had no problems with them. We had a party bus for before and after the ceremony and then a town car for after the reception. Both had air conditioning and that was all we cared about that day. Invitations: Vellum: B We had issues with our envelopes. First enough weren't ordered, then were told they couldn't do hand calligraphy even though we'd already paid for it, then they addressed several wrong and wanted to charge us to order more. It was just sort of a mess. However, our invitations did turn out beautifully and Julie ( who eventually emailed me and made things right in the end) was very nice to work with. Reception lighting: Exclusive Events: A The lighting in our tent was simply beautiful. It was exactly as I had pictured it. Somehow, my contract never made it back to them signed and yet they were still able to squeeze our event in. Valet Service: August Evenings: A As far as I know there were no problems here. It was blazing hot so I'm especially thankful that we hired them as some of our older guests would not have made it. Tent: Traube Tent Company: A Easy to work with and they let us switch to a smaller tent when we found out our guest list was cut in half just a couple weeks before the day. Linens and chairs: Premier Rentals: A I had serious decision making issues on these matters and I'm so glad that I went the more simple options from Premier. They were affordable and we had no issues with them.