Ok Girls, I just got married back on September 25th, 10 days ago and I have a little time so I thought I would do a vendor review of who I went with to help you all out. Ceremony/Reception: Cedar Lake Farm
www.cedarlakefarm.net This place was absolultey FABULOUS! Its out in Wright City which is a bit of a drive. But all our guests about 125 agreed it was worth the drive. It is owened by the guy who owns Growlers. You can use their catering or cater through another company which is what we did. It is an old rustic restored red barn on a huge farmland with a pond, gorgous waterfall, lake and covered patio for dinner seating. The have heat lamps and fire pits if its cold and fans if its hot. Michelle Tinker is the contact person out there and she is wonderful. She is so sweet and helpful. She was prompt with all my emails and questions and the staff the night of the wedding was amazing! I would get married here all over again. So Picturesque. Caterer: River City Catering We went through this company out of St. Charles. It is actually based out of the Cecil Whittakers off of 94 and Wolfrum. Great Food! and decently priced. It runs about 13.95 per person. The staf was great and everyone loved the food. The only thing to make sure you notice in the contract is that you pay for the staff they bring out to your sight per person per hour. Other then that everything was great, highly recommended D.J. : TKO We went with TKO dj which is well known in the St. Louis area. We had Sam Prainito as our d.j. who was amazing. We met with him before our wedding and went over songs to be played and not to be played, involvemnet he should have during the night, etc. He stayed right on target with everything we asked for and was extremely professional! Flowers: Marry Me Flowers I found this company at a Bridal Show it is a small company based out of Christy the owners home in OFallon, Mo. She did a perfect job and it fit well within our budget. She has many different packages if you are choosing to do one type of flower. We choose gerber daisies and got my bouqet, toss bouqet, 4 bm bouqet, 4 corsages, a cake topper, and 6 bouteniers for under $500 dollars. They where delivered to us in Maryland Heights without any additional charges. Definetly worth every dollar. Dress/Veil: Elite Bridal I found this shop through my mom, she and my aunt got their dresses here when it used to be Bluesteins bridal in downtown St. Louis. I had already been to Davids and wasnt finding anything I was in LOVE with. Stumbled upon my limited edition Maggie Sotero dress on the 50% off rack and it fit like a glove. The girls at the store where great and I was able to get appointments easily and it was never overly crowded. My only complaint was the bussel didnt work. That was really the only alteration I needed along with being hemed up some and I felt like I paid a little to much for that. The night of the wedding no one, family or freinds could get the bussel to work so we had to safety pin it up so I could walk around and dance. Hair: Melissa Mullins-Reddick Melissa works at fantastic sams in Florissant, however, that isnt how I was referred to her. I was referred to her by a past friend. And while she did a great job on my hair and my girls. She was not professional in the slightest. She was told all girls would be paying for their own hair and choose not to collect from them but rely on them paying her she ended up missing out on the flower girls money and persistently contacted me throughtout my honeymoon trying to obtain the money, knowing the whole time I was out of town on my honeymoon. I would have gladly paid her but she handled the situation horribly and even called me names and had her hsband contacting me and calling me names. I wouldnt suggest her to anyone, if you do come accross her! Make-Up: Stefanie Kirkendall, Clinique Stefanie is my husbands cousin and she works at the Clinique in Dillards in the Mid Rivers Mall. She did my makeup, and my bridesmaids and did a great job. She really knows how to find what shades and colors best flatter you and give you a great glow! Baker: McArthurs Bakery We choose to get our cake through McArthurs. They are really well known throughout the area and the had the best prices for our budget. Our 3 teered cake that was to feed 100 only cost us $280. We choose to forgo fillings but they added them in for us, of course we didnt realize this until we ate it. I also got a Grooms Cake from them and they were very helpful in meeting with me to help me figure out how to get what I wanted done in a reasonable dollar figure. The cake tasting great. They only set back was the delivering fee to St. Peters was around$100 so we choose to pick it up and transport it ourselves. Rentals: Weinhardt We choose to use weinhardt to rent some flatware and they where very eay to work with and had a variety of choices. Picking up and returning was very simple. Would deefinetly recommend. Photographer: The Photography Shoppe I found the photography shoppe at a Bridal show and they had really nice photos as well as a really decently priced package for all that you receive. We paid $1800 for an engagement session, bridal session, 11x14, 8x10 an album, 2 parent albums, 4-5x7, cd with all images and copyright release and 2 photographers for 8 hours. I am extremley picky about photography my dad is a professional photographer and its all I grew up around. I can say I wasnt entirely thrilled about our engagement shoot down by the arch my fiance was squinting and frowing the sun was in our eyes. The photographer didnt give much direction to us. Out of about 150 photos I had maybe 30 I liked. I talked to the owner and they agreed to do another engagement shoot for no additional costs. This time we went to Cedar Lake Farm where the pictures turned out much better. As for our wedding day we are still waiting on those photos. The guy that did our engagement photos was not shooting our ceremony instead it was 2 girls, who gave good direction and where really nice. I will update once we get those to let everyone know my overall opinion. For the price you get a good deal, but they can be hard to get in touch with. Centerpieces: Where all DIY with supplies from Hobby Lobby. I have 18 Lanterns for sale if anyone is interested Favors: We made as well. We made personallized cancer wrist bands from
www.wrist-band.com good prices. Fun to make, we ended up donating to a Charity. Programs/Invitations: All DIY from Kits I got at Target and Office Depot. Extremley easy and saved A LOT of money. Server Set/ Champagne Glasses:
www.alfaweddings.com wide variety BM/GM gifts: All items where bought off of the knot website. Guys got Flask and Beer Mugs. Girls got Canvas Totes filled with compact, makeup bag, pen and stationary, flasks, frame with a pic of my girls and me from the Shower. I think that should do it if you have any questions feel free to ask! Good Luck Girls! Enjoy the day because it flies by!