Hi everyone, just wanted to post these. Other people's reviews helped me so much when I was planning, I thought I'd do my part.
Ceremony site--Robert Carr Chapel, TCU--B
We loved this site and thought it was absolutely gorgeous, but we did have a couple of issues with them. It was really hard to get in touch with the main coordinator because she only works 2 days a week for a couple of hours. We got a really good deal for this venue, but the price has recently increased for 2010, and I can't say that we would have used this venue if we had to pay the new price. When we had to reschedule our wedding from July to April, they were not accomodating at all. Included in the price was a coordinator for the rehearsal and the day of, which was nice. She was very helpful, but I had no way of contacting her as the chapel people did not release her name, and I did not hear from her until about a week and half before my wedding when I was supposed to hear from her 4 weeks before. Overall, this was a pretty good venue, and I'm hoping the pictures will come out well!
Reception site--Hilton Fort Worth--A+
This was the best decision we made for our wedding. We were originally going to have our reception at the Botanic Gardens, but had to find a different venue when we moved the wedding. We are so glad that we did. Amber took care of everything for us. We had a brunch meal, which included an omelette bar, a fruit bar, french toast, bacon, sausage, and lots of different juices, all of which was amazing (or so I hear--I could hardly eat a bite!) As we had a morning wedding, they let us set up everything the night before (which eliminated so much stress the next morning). They even let our linen people come and put the linens on the night before too. They let us store all of our vases and everything that we needed for the wedding at the hotel the week before. My girls and I stayed in rooms the night before, and the staff was really nice. The extra money we spent compared to what we would have spent at the Botanic Gardens was well worth it as so much of our stress was eliminated. They gave me and my DH a room for the night and brought us champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.
The only thing that could have been a little better was the timing of events during the reception, but that is easily overlooked as we are still getting compliments.
Dress Boutique--Ocones--A
I ordered my dress from Ocones and was really happy with the service I got.
Dress Alterations--Becky Fowler--A+
No need to really say anything on this as everyone knows she's amazing, but Becky was the nicest lady I have ever met. Her prices are extremely reasonable and she does such a great job. She even made my bird cage veil for me for $15 when I brought her the fabric I bought online.
Bridesmaids Dresses--Stardust Celebrations--A
We ordered our bridesmaid dresses in December--just in time to get them in March. Stardust has the best selection of all of the shops we looked at. All of my girls were able to find a dress they liked in the fabric I wanted, and they offered a group discount. The dresses came in in February, so we were extra happy with them.
Suits--Joseph A. Banks--C+
We decided to buy suits for our guys instead of renting tuxes. We got a good deal during a sale (which are always going on), but had many issues with delivery times and being overcharged. The guy worked with was quite rude to my DH and I (aka going off to help other customers in the middle of waiting on us). Alteration prices are quite expensive and take longer than other tailors. It's a good quality suit for a fairly low price compared to other places we looked such as Men's Wearhouse.
Photography--Kari Crowe Photography--A-
This was one of the most important decisions for me. Kari worked with us to create a package that worked for us. We loved her style and were super happy with our engagement shoot. I can't wait to see how our wedding pictures came out!
http://www.karicrowephotography.com/search?q=merrieVideography--Autumn Video--A+
We haven't gotten our video back yet, so this is a tentative score, but we are very happy with this decision so far. William was so accomodating (offered to shoot our wedding despite having a wedding booked later that day). His prices were very reasonable. He's having a spring special for $200 off his main package, which includes him coming to the rehearsal. He had another person filming with him, which is always nice, and he takes the time to hand create a DVD cover for your video. I have high hopes for this video.
Flowers--Branching Out Designs--A+
It took a long time for me to sort out the flowers for our wedding. I interviewed several florists, but my personality and vision for flowers clicked immediately with Debby's. She was very budget friendly and worked with us to get the prices down to what we wanted. She let us order loose flowers from her, so we were able to do the centerpieces for the reception ourselves. The flowers looked gorgeous and I LOVED my bouquet. She even threw in a bunch of extra flowers for free that her wholesaler had given her!
Cakes--Creative Memories--A+
I order a pina colada cake from Creative Memories every year for my birthday, so I thought it only fitting to order my wedding cake from them as well. I went to one of the tastings and won a free groom's cake, so we were really happy.
Sharon does such an amazing job on every cake they make. We originally ordered 4 tiers, but cut it down to 3 after we had less people than anticipated rsvp. The only thing I think could have been better is if they had put the flowers we ordered from Debby on our cake for us. I had to have one of my cousins fix it beforehand, and she was almost late to the wedding. Nevertheless, the cakes were delicious and we are still enjoying the leftovers!
Ceremony Music--Serenata Strings--A+
We were super happy with Serenata. Karen was amazingly nice and quickly responded to all of our emails. They were well priced and even learned some songs they didn't know for us.
Overall, we thought our wedding went amazlingly well and are happy with generally everything. I have some things for sale, which will be posted in my bio as soon as i can sort everything out and get pictures up.
Hope these help!