My dress store: A+
Dar-Lynn's Bridal in Matthews, NC
-Staff was very friendly, dresses were moderalty priced. They served sparking drinks and snacks! I found my dress for a very great price. They even accepted my mom's credit card over the phone.
BM dresses/ Guys Suits: D-
Affordable Elegance in Greenville, NC
-At first everyone was very nice and friendly. I had no issue with customer service for months. I'm told we have until the beginning of March to order dresses since my wedding was June 4, however, they told me the sooner the better. I'm glad I didn't listen. We ordered dresses by the beginning of Feb. I'm told 6-8 weeks and the designer is a quick shipper so its normally been around 6 weeks. I'm a little worried by the end of the 8th week, more worried by the 9th week, extremely worried by the 10th week and glad I finally got by dresses btw the 11th and 12 weeks. If your wondering I called them every other day. My girls had less than 4 weeks to alter dresses; thank goodness they picked good seamstresses. This got me thinking about the guys rentals. I was like well lets hope this had something to do with the Japan crisis in March and just ignored my fears. As you can read in my prewedding recap--we were w/o suits Thursday before wedding. Wednesday before wedding grooms gets 3 suits out of 9. And they have the nerve to tell him its not their fault that the ppl renting from the previous weekend didn't return them on time AND they were closed Memorial Day. He storms up there with a BM and GM demands money back and returns the 3 suits he had got the previous day. Then the girl tells him well we might have them tomorrow or Saturday. That doesn't fly since he was on his way out of town to CLT for the wedding. Then she said well I'll hold on to these just in case b/c this late your not going to be abe to find anything!!! I DO NOT RECCOMEND this store to anyone in the Greenville area!!!
Music: A+
Mark & Kellie from Jupitar Jones
-I just love these two the being with. They are the leads for Jupitar Jones a local cover band. They played live music for the wedding and then DJ'ed the recpetion. The live music was beautiful and what I imaged! My only complaint-and I'm not going to hold them fully responsible--I really wanted music at the reception that was what their band plays(Footloose, Fishing in the Dark, Copperhead Rd, Journey songs, Fat bottomed girls etc). I don't remember them playing anything the band plays. However, I learned from DH he was telling them not to play that type of music. I didn't want more pop songs or line dancing songs I wanted more classic stuff. Apparently DH was telling them the opposite of what I was requesting. But no guests noticed and everyone had fun especially my 2 yr old God daughter/FG she was a Dancing Queen!!
Venue/Food: A+
Carrigan Farms Moorsevlle NC
-Doug and Kelly aren't your typical wedding venue ppl. They run a working farm and do events on the side. Weddings are just one event they have on their property. Doug is a 3rd gen. farmer. Its a produce farm--no livestock! Beautiful is the only way I can describe it! Since he is a farmer it was a little tricky b/c I was worried about fees and stuff he hasn't even thought about. I would reccomed this place. His wife Kelly is very organized so if you can work with her I would reccommend it. But they work together. I just think she is a better record keeper but hey she is a woman!! Check out the website by googling carrigan farms!! I promise its worth the look. Price wise its not too bad, IMO. But adding up all the costs of linens etc snuck up on us. Overall my mom and aunt were pleasently happy with the bill not being out of this world! One thing is if you have an event on Saturday night you have to have 150 min. ppl paid for. Unfortunally for us we didn't have 150 ppl. They also were very easy to work with when it came to guests with special needs i.e. 2 family members that are vegitarians.
Photography: A+
F5 Photography, Winston Salem NC
-Ross Clodfelter and Jamie
Ross did my bridals and he did a great job. DH wasn't 100% satisfied with Bridal enlargement due to coloring issues of the ink so Ross offered to re-print it. Jamie and Ross were easy to work with. She owns her own photog business but helps Ross out when he needs a 2nd photog. They were really fun to work with and I can't wait til I see their pictures. My bridal's came to be in less than a month and it was packaged really nicely in a tin can cd holder. He was really down to earth. I asked for detail shots and I believe thats what they worked hard at. They were good sports since it was hot and some of my WP wasn't fully listening!!!
Hotel: A+
Wingate By Wyhdam Moorseville NC
Very friendly and great staff. Rooms were clean! My suit was huge we were able to fit all my BMs (7) 2 Fgs hair stylist and make up lady in. With plently of room! Also the working manager let me have Friday and Saturday night free b/c we had booked enough rooms.
Rehersal Dinner: A+
Gianni's Tattoria Concord NC
-When Heather told me the rehersal dinner was the one thing I wasn't going to need to worry about she was right! Friday when I arrived to help my aunt decorate we just needed to set out our simple table arrangements and we were done! It was beautiful just the way it was. Food was to die for!!!!! I highly reccomend!!!! If you live in the area stop by and eat lunch or dinner and check out the upstairs if you can!!!
CAKE: A+
Kripsy Kakes Mt Pleasant NC
-Christy
She is a friend of my cousin and makes the yummiest cakes. She made my shower cake the grooms cake and wedding cake. All 3 were almost the center of attention! I have to share this. His cake was a new ECU logo--the NC state with the pirate face in it. She dyed pound cake purple and had lemon filling in it so when you cut into it you saw purple and gold!!! Since many of our WP was ECU fans it went over VERY WELL!!! The wedding cake was delcious according to everyone but I forgot to get a slice only ate what Thomas shoved in my mouth! We are going to request an anniversary cake for our 1st yr. We didn't save any cake but none was wasted!!
Hair: A+
-Kim of Denver NC
I've known Kim for almost 10 years now. She has been doing my hair since high school. She did a great job wtih my BMs hair. She is a sister of one of my BFFs to.
Make up: A+
Teresa of Cornelius NC
Teresa did a great job with make up. She uses Mary Kay make up. All my girls were stunning!!! I loved that we got to keep touch up lipstick/lip gloss or mascara.
Lunch: A+
McAllister's Deli in Moorseville NC
-I ordered a deli/sandwich tray with sweet tea for lunch for the girls and it was delicious. I even had enough for DH sister, mother and neices and nephews to come over and eat some. Also, the photogs, hair lady and the make up lady got lunch.
Cooke Rentals: ?A?
Cornielus, Denver and Charlotte
I can't get an accurate grade for them b/c I wasn't there during most of the planning but I do know they made a mistake and fixed it for us. The one interaction I had with them they were easy to work with. They were also easy to deal with when we had to cancel our rental 2 days before the wedding.
Wedding coordinator/decorater/designer was my aunt and she did a great job despite loosing 3 parents so close to my wedding.
Preacher was my cousin and he lost 3 grandparents in the month before the wedding! My MOH (his sister) had to text her family and tell them my wedding was Saturday and Josh was marrying us, she and her husband were in the wedding and their mom was the coordinator so DO NOT have their grandmothers funeral on Saturday. (She died Thursday before the wedding!)