So we got married on September 16th and everything turned out better than I could have ever dreamed! We’ve been working on the wedding for so long, I can’t believe it’s over and that it went by so fast!! Here are my vendor reviews for all of you guys. If you have any questions about any of them or want more information please feel free to PM me!
Venue: Hotel ZaZa (ceremony and reception) A+
I absolutely love this hotel! The space is beautiful and unique (lots and LOTS of amazing picture opportunities) and doesn’t require lots of (or any) additional décor. The food is amazing and all of the staff is super friendly and easy to work with. Our on-site coordinator was Ashley and she always responded to my (many) questions/e-mails quickly and with the information I needed. One thing that really just sold us on this venue is the fact that they do not charge a room rental fee. There is a food and beverage minimum but if you meet that, there is no fee for the room. Plus, they include a suite for the bride and groom to stay in the night of the wedding.
Photographer: Taylor Lord Photography A+
I cannot say enough good things about Taylor. Her work is amazing and she is just the cutest nicest person you will ever meet. She did a fabulous job at the wedding and when I looked back at the pictures, everything looked even more beautiful than I remember! Taylor has a great vision and goes above and beyond with every little detail. You will not be disappointed with her photos or her! You can check out the photos from our wedding here: http://www.taylorlordphotography.com/blog/?p=1407
Florist: Always Floral A+
Our flowers were beautiful and Sabrina worked within our budget to get us something we would be happy with. My bouquet was exquisite and Sabrina even sacrificed one of her D&G dresses in order to get the perfect lace for the wrap! Sabrina is so easy to work with and really knows what floral combinations to use to make each flower pop.
Cake: More Than Cakes A+
I’m a huge foodie and had a definite vision for what I wanted so both the look and taste of the cake was pretty important to me. I was very impressed with the cake that Barbra created for us. It was beautiful as well as very tasty! We had the champagne cake with dark chocolate ganache and the dark chocolate cake with raspberry but all of her flavors were delicious. She can customize flavors and can create just about any design you can come up with!
Day of Coordinator: Ellanesque A+
Lauren and all of the girls at Ellanesque are amazing! Everything on the wedding day went off without a hitch (as far as I knew anyway) and if there were any issues, they were quickly resolved by the girls. Lauren takes a very personal approach to the event planning process and isn’t afraid to keep people in check so that everything turns out the way YOU wanted it to. The week of the wedding, Lauren helped resolve a slight hick-up we had with one of our vendors which took a lot of stress off of me. I wish I found these ladies earlier so they could have been a part of the wedding planning process sooner!
Make-up: Cara Dulce A+
I love love love how my hair and make-up turned out. Jenny and Sara really know their stuff and are super fun to hang out with. My hair and make-up lasted over 12 hours with me crying, sweating, eating, drinking, etc. They also have some of the most reasonable prices for air brush make-up that I could find.
Officiant: Father Milton with Catholics without a Church B
Father Milton is a nice guy but the ceremony didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. There were a few mishaps which I could look over but the thing that upset me the most was the fact that he said the wrong name when announcing us as husband and wife! It’s not like he said my last name instead of his or just pronounced it incorrectly, he just flat out said the WRONG name. Also, the Catholics without a Church organization works off of donations BUT before the ceremony he ASKED for the donation even though we never mentioned that we were giving one. Don’t get me wrong, we fully intended on giving a donation and I even asked him how that whole process worked but first off, he indicated that we should donate a minimum amount (which was about twice what it would have cost if we would have hired an officiant) and he ASKED for it which makes it seem less like a donation and more like a payment. We ended up giving the same amount it would have cost to hire an officiant but I’m pretty sure if we were giving the donation after the ceremony, it would have been less.