I got married on 10-02-10 in Portland, ME. The weather was perfect... just cool enough so I didn't sweat my butt off during the photos and ceremony. DH and I opted for a first look in order to get most of the formals out of the way. I highly recommend it if you're not super traditional. It saved so much time, and I got such a great reaction from my husband
It was great seeing him before things got going with the ceremony and all.
First I'll do my vendor reviews:
Wedding venue-- Keeley the Katerer: A
Fi and I paid for a majority of the wedding on our own. We could have gone fancier, but we both agreed that it's one day & we didn't want every spare penny we have to go into wedding savings. The prices were the most reasonable around. The food was delicious. They were so friendly, and I had so many compliments on our buffet selection. I personally loaded my plate & I barely touched the selection. Three different carving stations... three different salads... seafood newburg... stuffed shells... meatballs, etc... it was perfect. My only warning is you deal with the owner himself during all the planning then on the wedding day you deal with somebody else entirely. She's a very nice woman; it's just a little bit of a curveball.
We had our ceremony onsite for the additional fee. They had chairs set up and would have put out any decor we had. It's a really pretty backyard with a nice white arbor to get married in front of that's decorated for the season.
Photographer-- First Frame Studio Sanford, ME (Gretchen Halverson): A+
Gretchen and her assistant photographer, Kathleen, were both super fun on the wedding day. I just remember laughing a lot during the little photo session with me and my bridesmaids. I can honestly say they are incredibly sneaky photographers, I barely recall seeing them snap a picture the whole night (I mean that in a good way!). She was great with organizing our formals and getting them done ASAP. Gretchen is such a sweetheart and I looooove the sneak peaks I've seen so far.
DJ- McD's Entertainment: A+
It's a husband wife duo. Prices are so reasonable. My husband's father works with the wife & they have DJ'd a few of his events. They really listen to what you want. While waiting to walk down the aisle they were playing Vitamin String Quartet which fit perfectly with the theme of the ceremony They sounded great, pronounced everybody's names correctly, and got a great feel of what the crowd wanted.
Cake- Nothing Bakes Like a Parrott, Portland, ME: B
There was a mistake with the flavor of the top of my cake. Which is fine in hindsight since it was never served. Apparently Keeley's didnt get the memo that it was to be served. Even though that layer was incorrect it all tasted great & looked gorgeous! She's a little difficult to get in touch with. I just emailed her today about the mess up on my cake-- I'm wondering what will happen.
Flowers-- Globalrose.com: A++++
I ordered 500 roses. Only two of them arrived broken and that was at the stem so the flower was still totally usable for my centerpieces. I made 5 floral centerpieces, my white rose bouquet, 2 bridesmaids and 1 MOH bouquet, 7 boutineers, an arragement for the room I was getting ready in, another arrangement for the guest book table, and plenty of rose petals to go around. It all came out beautifully. It took 5 of us probably about 3 hours to get all these done the day before the wedding. I couldn't have been happier with how they turned out.
Ok here are my sneak peaks-- a lot of them are detail shots... it's what I really wanted. You put a lot of effort into these details, you can't let them go unnoticed!!
my bouquet on my train
MOH bouquet... and you can see how the head table was decorated...
Ring shot!!
Me waiting to walk down to see the groom
If you have any questions feel free to email at KIST1002@gmail.com
Thanks!