Ceremony Music- Four Seasons String Quartet, $440 for one hour + $40 travel fee-A
Communication prior to the wedding was great. I never spoke to them at the wedding, my DOC handled that, but the music sounded beautiful to me and my guests had nothing but great things to say about them.
Reception
Reception Site- T-Plex, $1800, includes chairs, tables, security, A/V equipment- Communication/Staff- D, Venue Itself-A+
The venue itself was amazing, and just perfect for DH and I. We put a full day and a half of work into setting it up, and it paid off- it was exactly what I pictured. I loved the flexibility of having a "raw" space to decorate. Our guests are still raving about how awesome and unique our wedding was. However, working with Pat was a huge disappointment. Good luck getting an email back from her without having to resend the same email 3 times on 3 different days. She will tell you things before you book, such as "You have the week before the wedding to set up" and "You have about a week after the wedding to take down as long as there is not another wedding immediately after." Neither of those things happened. There was another event- a dinner for a bank group from Chicago- the Thursday before the wedding. We were not allowed to set up before that day, and it took a lot of persuading to get Pat to let this other group take the second floor so we could do SOME work on the third floor that day (two days before the wedding.) Understanding that Pat and all other staff are volunteers, we did not ask for much. I went down to the second floor to get a broom and she rolled her eyes at me. She was rude the entire time we were setting up, would not let us have the tables and chairs to set up that day (because she needed them for the other event), and gave us some major static at 3:30pm that we were not done- she had told us that we could have until 4:30, when the other group was due in. The next day when we came back to set up everything else, there were not enough round tables (though she had promised via email that there were more than enough round tables for our 200 guests). The volunteers setting up were able to find the additional 5 round tables we needed, but not without much ado. She was also extremely rude at the rehearsal. I didn't deal with her much the day of the wedding. We had planned to return the Monday after the wedding to take down. My ILs went to the T Plex the day after the wedding at about 11am to find my BILs tux vest that he left there, and Pat informed them we had to take down everything NOW because she had an investor group coming in a few hours. I was extremely pissed that she did not communicate this beforehand, and we were late to our day after BBQ with all OOT guests because of this. If you're in love with the venue enough to deal with it, just be prepared. One very cool detail was that we arrived at the reception in a Model T- we were picked up in front of the Fox Theatre, and I felt like a celebrity riding down Woodward with DH. It was a very special experience I will always cherish.
Caterer- Detroit Beer Co., $22.95pp for buffet with two entrees and other various items (potato, pasta, salad, etc)- altogether we are paying just under $10k for beer, wine, sangria, dinner, and cocktail hour apps.- A
The food was great, Jennifer was always quick to respond to my emails, and all of the staff were awesome. The bartenders actually came to the head table a few times to make sure we had drinks. Chef Reggie did a fantastic job putting the food together.
Chair Covers/Linens- Purchased from Linentablecloth.com, approx. $750 for 25 120" round, 8 14' banquet, 220 chair covers, 220 sashes.-A
Quick shipping, no issues. The linens were great quality and I plan to resell them.
Bakery- Just Baked, ~$2.00 per cupcake- A
The cupcakes were delicious, and they delivered to the venue and had them all set up on a stand when we arrived. Perfect!
DJ- Detroit DJ (DJ Chuck), detroitdj.net, $725 ($450 for DJ services, $125 for projector/screen, $150 for ceremony package)-A
DJ Chuck was great! We had to pay more than I originally wanted to due to the layout challenges of the venue- we needed a separate setup for the grand entrance in the 2nd bay, and the main setup in the third bay where we had the dancefloor. DJ Chuck kept things rolling all night, and was so friendly.
Favors- Photobooth and sugar cookies- my mom arranged the cookies, I'm not sure how much they were but I believe ~$1/cookie from Elliott's Bakery in Trenton
Lighting- N/A
Other
Limo-Randazzo Limo, $400 + tip for white school bus for 5 hours. Communication- D, Day of- A
The communication was not there- I had to call back several times to confirm my reservation because they were "too busy." My DOC also said that when she called them to confirm details, they were beyond rude. The bus itself was a lot of fun- lots of leg room, head room, they played our music, and the driver was AWESOME.
Florist- Linnaea Floral Design, $545 for 6 BM bouqets, 2 Jr. BM bouquets, 16 bouts for GMs, dads, sponsors, 9 corsages, and a ceremony arrangement, A-
I loved that Lisa brought my vision to life with flowers I never would have thought of. The flowers were exactly what I envisioned. I knew going into it that Lisa had another wedding that same day, so we agreed my parents would meet her the day before the wedding to pick up the arrangements, and she assured me they would keep. She said she would be putting them together that Friday at her supplier in Romulus. However, she arranged the flowers on Thursday, and by wedding time on Saturday, some of the bridesmaids' bouquets were browning at the edges, and the bouts looked a little wilted. This is the reason for the A-. I'm sure if we didn't have the timing issue the flowers would have been perfect.
DOC-Grand Jour Events (Stephanie), $425 for rehearsal and wedding day-A+++
I cannot say enough good things about Stephanie. She would have been worth every penny at double the price. Even DH was a believer after seeing how much she did. He thought because our wedding was very DIY that all the details were under control and we did not need a DOC. However, now I don't know how we could have done it without her! She kept things rolling and handled all the mini crises that came up. She made sure we had drinks as soon as the ceremony was over, kept us on schedule for the special dances and cake cutting, and packed up almost everything at the end of the night! She was amazing!
Photography
Photographer- Tammy LaBar, $2400 for e-shoot, 10 hrs on wedding day plus second photographer, CD of images, online gallery, and all rights-A+
I have worked with Tammy before for a boudoir type shoot, and I knew she would do our wedding. I also told her after the wedding that in a few years, I'll be seeing her for maternity and baby pics! She was AWESOME. Although our package only included two photogs, she had 4- two leads and two assistants, because she had a lot of details she wanted to capture of our wedding. They were great- all had a good sense of humor and the pictures are beyond beautiful. Plus, I got them back less than 3 weeks after my wedding!!
Videographer- We are asking my very talented cousin to record and edit the wedding day video. We will give him $500.- TBD
Photobooth- Rock the Booth, $600 for three hours plus scrapbook- A+
This was one of my favorite details of the night! Very friendly and professional attendant, and you MUST get the scrapbook- the memories are worth so much more than the $100 fee for it. The attendant did a great job putting it together. I had so much fun in the photobooth, and even my 79 year old grandma loved it! Great investment.
Picture Locations- Lafayette Coney Island and other Detroit places TBD- Lafayette was awesome, the staff there took pictures of us and put them on their Facebook! Plus we got a standing ovation.
Engagement Pictures- Tammy LaBar, included in wedding package
Beauty / Attire
Rings- Dillon's Jewelers (Westland), where FI got my E ring. My wedding band was $500. DH's ring was the Gear Ring from Kinekt Design, $165- A for both. Highly recommend Dillon's.
Wedding dress- Allure Exclusive P900, Allure Bridals Livonia, $1600- C
The dress was perfect, but the staff was not very friendly and not good at communicating. They caused me a lot of headache while I was waiting for the dress to arrive.
Alterations- Michelle at The Wedding Shoppe, $380 for 7 pt French bustle, taking sides out and in, and sweetheart neckline- A+++
Michelle was amazing. Allure ordered my dress a size down because it was "only an inch difference". I was too caught up in my bliss of finding the dress to contest this. Bad idea- I had a meltdown when the dress arrived and wouldn't zip. Enter Michelle. She made me feel at ease immediately and said it was no problem to let it out, even though it was lace. She ended up having to take it in even further than the original size because I lost so much weight due to stress before the wedding. The alterations were perfect, and my dress was a dream come true. I thought the price was very reasonable for what I had done.
Tuxes- Men's Wearhouse, ~$160 each, groom's was free- A
No major issues, and the tuxes looked great. We did a grey Calvin Klein tux with Mermaid (aqua) vests.
Bridesmaid Dresses- Various Liz Fields styles in "Pink Coral," Netbride.com, all between $97-135- A
The dresses looked great and were very inexpensive. The girls did their own ordering so I can't speak to their customer service or shipping speed.
Hair- Patti Rodriguez? (works out of Hollywoods Hair in Southgate)- $45 per bridesmaid
Patti does great work. All the girls loved their hair and I thought they all looked great.
Makeup- I Make You Up, Aleksandra Adams, $80 for mine, $50 per BM for airbrush- A+++
Aleks and her assistant did my makeup as well as my BMs, my mom, and MIL. Everyone loved the airbrush and couldn't believe how natural they looked. I thought they looked amazing and I loved mine as well.
Paper
Save the Dates- DIY'ed them on Vistaprint, FREE with coupon for 100 postcards
Invites- Cardsandpockets.com, ~$3.00 per invite including mounting- A
The invitations looked great and I got lots of compliments on them. I designed them myself and had them printed and mounted on the pocketfolds.
Programs- Office Depot, ~$200 for 150 booklet programs, hand folded and stapled.- A