Texas-San Antonio

Vendor Reviews!! (A bit long, sorry) I ADDED VENDORS I FORGOT

 I recently got married on Friday Dec 10 

And I wanted to post reviews of all the vendors 

Before time passed, and my mind got fuzzy :)

 

 -->Day of Coordinator: Anita Rodriguez A+   

Tel: 210-685-4615

I HIGHLY recommend to all brides to be to have a day of coordinator.

 I'm REALLY organized, and had a plan for almost everything, but having a day coordinator for the day of the wedding, just made things go much smoother.  

With Anita there, I really got to enjoy the day, and I got a great price 

for coordinating since she's gaining experience to build her portfolio. 

(She quoted me $250) for day of services. Anita also has linen and centerpiece rentals. 

My candle set ups were actually rented from her ($18 a Table)

She also customized & created my invitations, which I will blog about soon.

 Everyone loved them, and kept commenting about how unique they were :)

So if you're looking for someone to make your invitations as well, I'd give her a call.

 

-->Venue: Scottish Rite Banquet Center A- Tel: 210-735- 6500

www.scottishritesanantonio.com/">http://www.scottishritesanantonio.com/

The Scottish Rite is a BEAUTIFUL place to have your reception/ceremony.

They offer 2 options for reception space, the hall or auditorium.

We held our ceremony and reception in the auditorium 

because of the beautiful architecture,history, and atmosphere. 

There was really no other venue (in my eyes) that compared to

 how beautiful it was.  The facility coordinator, Kelsey Meadows is such a sweetheart 

And was always willing to answer all my questions/emails and meet 

with me when I had any concerns. That said, there are several things 

that disappointed me.

1. About a few weeks before our wedding, they let me know 

Another event (a  christmas banquet) was going to be held 

the same day as ours. Since we had only rented the auditorium, 

They were renting the ballroom to the mason's the 

same day AS OUR WEDDING.  

 

The day of the wedding there were no conflicts with guests getting

 confused, but I do know that some children from the wedding were

 sneaking downstairs to the banquet hall, and my husband got scolded

 by a staff member the day of. It wasn't our fault, it was theirs for not

 locking the downstairs area like they had promised.

2. There was no heater in the auditorium! I was told there would be no

 heater in the foyer area (which we used for cocktails) but I was assured

 there would be heater in the auditorium. To be honest, I didn't notice it

 was cold, it was some guests that later mentioned it to me.

3. I had a hot chocolate and coffee station for cocktail hour, I recently 

found out they served "champurado" instead of hot chocolate. 

The guests loved it regardless, but I mean they could've of at least let me know?

 

4. The Ladies Parlor (A room provided to us for the bridesmaids to get

 ready, and for formal pictures) is such a gorgeous room. However, 

when my husband and I went to go see it in the summer the ceiling 

was all falling apart (messed up from the rain) well in December it 

was STILL the same. It's such a shame that such a gorgeous room, 

hasn't had the ceiling fixed yet. The staff and everything else was great! 

More details to come with pics on my blog ;)

 

 

-->Facility Coordinator: Kelsey Meadows  A+ Tel: 210-304-9269

SHE IS SO SWEET! She's the event coordinator at Scottish Rite. I had to give her a personal review because she really listened and answered all my emails and calls promptly. I wish her the best, she is truly awesome at what she does :)

 

-->Photographer: Caitlin A- (Caitlin’s Creations Photography)  

I'm having mixed feeling about this review. I found out about Cailtin through reviews from many other brides. She truly is a professional and went above and beyond to take some pictures I really wanted, however I really think she could improve her customer service. She's great at replying back to emails and calls, and getting the photos to you quickly, it's just that I felt sometimes she was a bit rude.

1. For example, at our engagement shoot I brought my sister along because I had some props for the pictures. My sister was there to help carry the stuff and help walk my puppy coco, who was in some of the shots. Well, she felt that my sister was distracting my then fiance and I. I didn't think so, but she asked her if she could "please go away" My sister was trying to get a candid pic on my fiance's phone while caitlin was shooting, and Caitlin got really upset.

She asked several times if my sister could "go away" to the point where she made us all uncomfortable. I truly felt my sister was helping us out, because I brought along with me many props such as the "&" symbol, things for a picnic layout, balloons, cupcakes, a blanket, & my puppy. So while I really appreciate her going along with the inspiration photos I sent her, I feel she was too harsh on my sister the day of. I should also add, our puppy was a last minute addition to the photos and she worked really well with her considering my puppy is pretty feisty.

 

2. When I received my bridal portraits, I was really excited but a little disappointed with them because in most of the photos you could clearly tell the top half of my dress (the bust) was too big. To be honest I had no idea, I thought the dress fit well, it had just been altered. And since no one (not even the photographer) let me know the dress looked too big I assumed it was looked fine. In the end, I asked her to photoshop the bust in the bridal portrait I ended up ordering, and she did. So things worked out, however, since I don't own photoshop, I won't be able to fix the rest of the pictures.

 

3. The bridal portrait I ordered was on metallic, I received a regular canvas. She's letting me keep the canvas one, but I wasn't able to display the metallic one the day of the wedding :(

 

4. The day of the wedding she did stay to get some good dancing shots and I really appreciate that. However, during formal portraits it got loud in the ladies parlor, and she had to yell and tell guests they had to step out. It was a little awkward to say the least. She did take extra formal photos that I hadn't added to the list, and I appreciate that but I wasn't able to take a picture with my grandma because when I tried to track her down, she had been so offended that the photographer had kicked them out. So I was put into a tough situation.

 

5. Also, I had a bad ass videographer that most of our budget went on. I let her know beforehand he would be shadowing us most of the time as well. So I asked to please work with him and his assistants. Well I found out from a few guests, that she had been bickering with them, about them being "in the way"

Um.. if guests let me know, it had to have been obvious right?

Overall, I think she's a good photographer, maybe works a little better for the traditional bride. My first choice was bend the light, but they got booked when we had made our decision. I'm writing this review to be honest to other brides out there in search of vendors. I'm not bashing anyone, I'm just stating the truth and my experience.

 

--->Videographer: Joe Simon (Joe Simon Productions)  A+++

http://joesimonweddingfilms.com/blog/

Tel: 512-373-3427

OMG! OMG! He's so professional. We booked him in Jan 2010 for our wedding in December. Since the start he provided a questionnaire for us asking for details from the day to help us out. He's based out of Austin, we actually traveled up there to sign contract and meet him. He's SOO nice. & the day of he was willing to travel with us (crammed in my husband's honda civic) downtown to get some footage of us in downtown San Antonio,Tx.

When guests heard when Caitlin would bicker with him sometimes, I was told he never argued with her back. He stayed quiet, and was a true gentlemen, as were his assistants. He even was willing to travel back downtown to record us (by the alamo) at night, before he left for the night.

He totally relaxed me when I was feeling the wedding stress kick in and was truly excited to film our day. I can't wait to receive our video so I can post it on my blog and share with you all!!! :) AHHSmile


--->Florist: Amanda Mora A- (SA Budget Bridal)  Tel: 210-269-0180

Flowers looked beautiful. I had only 4 large centerpieces with crystals hanging down and they looked gorgeous. Then I had 6 BM bouquets and 2 MOH bouquets & 1 bridal bouquet. There was an error with one of the MOH bouquets not delivered, my coordinator took care of the error, and they send another one. But they sent a bridesmaid bouquet, not MOH bouquet. My maid of honors had $50 bouquets with crystals in them, my bridesmaids had $20 worth bouquets with no crystals. It was a small order, so I don't understand, why there would be an error. The florist Amanda Mora, was very friendly though and attentive to all my calls/emails/ and meetings. Since the previous florist I had contacted (Eden's Echo) didn't respond my 2nd email.

 

--->Candle Centerpieces: Anita Rodriguez   Tel: 210-685-4615

I ordered 17 Candle Centerpieces. Amazing! Like I said aboveSmile


--->Musicians for Ceremony: Sarah Roth & Friends (Violinists) A-

Tel: 830-629-2332 

They were prompt they day of and played beautifully.

However, they were really hard to get ahold of (by phone and email)

Every time I called the phone was always busy.

I had to email them to ask them whether they had received my check, and they did a couple of days later. The same regarding the song list for the wedding ceremony. So they could improve their customer communication

 

 --->DJ: Music Connection A- Tel: 210-673-2850

Great! Very friendly and affordable.

They worked with the venue (Auditorium has no sound system)

And made wedding timeline go smoothly. They did however, venture  off from the playlist. Which was a bummer, because I worked a while on the playlist. I was really impressed how they were able to provide the song for the first dance as bride and groom (a last minute change)


--->Linens: Legendary Linens A (Leticia & Martin Medrano) 

Tel: 210-589-5828

They are a sweet couple, with linen & centerpiece rentals. They were ready the day of, and the tables and chairs looked beautiful. Linens are pricey though. We paid over $800 for just satin linens & napkins


--->Cake Provider: Natalia Tovar- Tel: 210-535-2353

Family Friend- She made our 4 Tier Cake. It was beautiful and everyone commented how lovely it was. She also made the groom's cake, which had a transformer's AUTOBOT symbol. Husband loved it!

 

---> Pianist for the Ceremony: Jairo Varela  A+ 210-449-4169

Jairo Varela is a college student piano/keyboard player. He played the How Great Thou Art for the Ceremony. He was contacted last minute by me and he still was completely professional. He played it beautifully and I highly recommend him to all brides to be out there. 

 

--> Singer for the Ceremony: Yolanda de La Garza A+ 210-722-9771Smile

Sweet girl! Beautiful voice! Amazing Personality. She was also a last minute addition, and I'm so glad I asked her to sing. She's getting married in march, so any gigs she could book before that would help her in saving up for her and her fiance's wedding.

 

"If music be the food of love, play on ..."-William Shakespeare

imageMy Wedding Blog

Re: Vendor Reviews!! (A bit long, sorry) I ADDED VENDORS I FORGOT

  • edited December 2011
    Congrats on your marriage!!! I bet everything, including you, was beautiful!! I can't wait to see the pics.

    I don't think you are too hard about the photographer. We hired one for our wedding, and were EXTREMELY unhappy with thier lack of good photographs, and basically did not listen to anything we wanted. We ended up losing 600 dollars in a deposit because we cancelled our contract with them. Honest reviews like this one, might have prevented me from making the mistake with our photographer...
  • Little_Lily_9Little_Lily_9 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Baby Blue, who had you hired previously if you don't mind me asking?
    Have you found your wedding photographers?
    If not, I have some recommendations your way Smile
    "If music be the food of love, play on ..."-William Shakespeare

    imageMy Wedding Blog
  • edited December 2011
    We hired Old World Studios out of Austin, and we have not hired anyone yet. Waiting till the holidays are over before we shell out more money.
  • edited December 2011
    Photography will be the most important part of your wedding.

    At the end of the day all you have is the photos. Definately take you time and find the correct photographer for you.

    Some that have great reputations in SA are: daVeck Studios, Goen South, Bend the Light, Marcus Revilla, La Vie, Elliott Hamilton.
  • jennidolljennidoll member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Little_Lily_9,

    I sent you a private message.
  • rammo01rammo01 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Little Lilly,
    Who was your assigned DJ? I am getting ready to book with the Music Connection.
  • Little_Lily_9Little_Lily_9 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I didn't find out who my DJ was until the day of. I can't remember his name, but he was very friendly & prompt
    "If music be the food of love, play on ..."-William Shakespeare

    imageMy Wedding Blog
  • rammo01rammo01 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    Is he in your video?

  • Little_Lily_9Little_Lily_9 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yes, you see him briefly, when the room is being set up :)
    "If music be the food of love, play on ..."-William Shakespeare

    imageMy Wedding Blog
  • edited December 2011
    How much did you pay for your videographer? And would you say it was worth it? We've been debating back and forth whether or not it is worth the splurge since we have such a strict budget.
  • edited December 2011
    Who is your assigned DJ...That's exactly why I didn't go with a company who you didn't know which dj would be showing up on the day of your wedding. 

    That's why I went with Ed Elizondo at Punalu'u Productions.  If you book him he is who you get.  This guys was extremely personable and professional.  Plus he had this huge set up for only $350.  If you can find an open date...book him fast.

    Here is his website

    http://www.punaluuproductions.com/

    That's my reccomendation.
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