Casa Marina- A+- Loved every minute of working with Bev. She found the colored napkins that I want, a week before the wedding, she kept everything running smoothly, and was just a dream to work with. Sterling ran the dining room, and brought us a tray of our hor d'oeuvres once we sat down (and man were they good.) Everything was delicious, even things I didn't know they handled they handled, and I can't say enough good things.
Elite Hair Salon (Jacksonville Beach)- A It's an A, because when I walked out I wasn't really feeling my hair, because the back wasn't close to the picture I brought (although the front was dead on), but I didn't want to take any more time on it . BUT my bridal party and the moms looked GORGEOUS. Like, WOW. When I saw the pictures of my hair, I realised that it was absolutely perfect with my dress, and my hair looked better than the picture.
I also got my makeup done here, and it was exactly what I asked for, looked perfect, and stayed the whole night long. The whole time I was planning on doing it myself, but last minute I decided just to have it done while everyone else was getting their hair done. A+ Awesomeness.
Blossoms and Accents- B Most of my flowers looked stunning, they price was awesome, and they give a military discount. The only major problem was, I didn't like my bouquet. More specifically, I asked for a JUST irises bouquet. And that part looked perfect. But there were some wilted stems of something added (crocuses?) that looked awful by the time I saw them. You can't they are there in the pictures, but how sad that I didn't like my bouquet. But, Rachel was great, everything else was really nice, and I would recommend her, but just be VERY firm with what you want.
Engagment Photographers- Wedding and Portrait Photographers of Jacksonville- C Tammy is sweet. The session was "free." (Read: The disc for our pictures was stupid expensive. We could have had a session with Ginger and Jon for $100 less, had the session we wanted, and gotten more out of it. Damn.) We did our session in St. Augustine, and they just sort of know their way around, and know what pictures to take where. It was not personalized at all. It was a far cry from what I had wanted. The only good thing was that we did get some beautiful pictures. Not enough for the price. They give these out like candy, so be warned. Don't do it, unless you want them for your wedding. They'd probably be more flexible in that case.
Ceremony Photographers- Ginger Dupre Photography- A I found their website through another vendor's blog, and I am so happy we went with them. Ginger and Jon are awesome. They were like little wedding ninjas, and I was very comfortable with them. There was a minor hiccup when we weren't sure what was going on, so we didn't get as many photos of the girls and I, but ultimately it was so much fun working with them, and though I haven't seen the pictures yet I saw what they were taking pictures of, and know they'll be great. (For less than a quarter of the price, of the wedding and portrait photographers for 6 hours worth.) Love love love, and can't wait to see the results.
AriaDress (online)- Bridesmaid dresses- A The girls looked beautiful, and the prices were not that much more than David's bridal for dresses made of a lovely stretch cotton that they *cough* dare I say may actually wear again. Maybe.
Unique DJ Entertainment- B- I thought at first the company was sort of sketchy because they are only reviewed on weddingwire, and they only talk about weddingwire. Hmm. But my fi was all about him, so we booked him anyways. During the planning process, DJ Willie was good work with. But it wasn't Willie that came, and I am convinced that if it had been him, the score would be an A+. A family emergency happened to him, so they sent a replacement. So. 1) My song to walk down the aisle was wrong. It was the right song, wrong era (Day by Day by Frank Sinatra.) As it turns out, it was the wrong version, they played the upbeat jazz version that I didn't know existed, and not the slow and beautiful version that I had meant. So. I wished that they maybe would have confirmed the song list with me some time before the ceremony, but hindsight is 20/20. Because of the upbeat jazz, my dad kind of rushed me down the aisle... and we stood at the alter for 2 minutes waiting for the song cut off. 2) The first dance was cut really short. And went right in to the father daugther dance. Granted, And they didn't stop it. They just let it happen later on. I did not approve. 3) I didn't have a problem with anything else, but my grandmother did not approve of the MC's way of phrasing things. And my gram doesn't offend easily. So. There you go. Like I said, I really liked Willie, the owner, but if an emergency comes up, put in the contract that you MUST meet with the replacements before the big day.
Pineapple Post- A+ (Invitations) We went here because it is owned by an alumni from my VA university, and I'm so glad we went here. The selection is massive, and in a range of prices (ours were $150 for 100). The service was out of this world, I've never had more fun going through books and books of paper (and even the fi liked them.) The invitations came in waay early, were perfect, and it was a ton of fun in the process.
Craig Grandstaff, Reverend Clergy Services- B+ It was kind of pricey, but we went for the platinum package because it was the only one that gave us creative license. And boy did I take it. He requests that you only copy and paste from his variety of ceremonies, and I learned why the day of. I had changed the order of the ceremony from the usual readings order, to accomodate for my brother reading the Mawwage passage from the Princess Bride, and my FIL (who doesn't liked to be upstaged) reading a serious passage later on. Rev. was reading from his book, forgot my brother's reading, and put the readings back-to-back, which of course FIL had to upstage... le sigh. It was a minor hiccup on the rev's part, but majorily cringe worthy on my end. I had written it like I did for a reason. Also I'm pretty sure he said he would mail the marriage certificate so we wouldn't have to worry about it. He didn't. And that has caused us mass chaos ever since.
Classic Cakes- A++ I had to end on a good note. And man oh man was this cake a good note. Carol and I sat down, and I ended up saying, "I just want the sleeping beauty cake." No one knows what that looks like, so I described it to her, she drew it up, and it looked gorgeous. And then came the day of. I had missed a few details, but she had sat down and watched the movie, and caught them. It was breathtaking. Loved it. And the taste! We went with Reeses, and white with lemon. We got more compliments on the cake than anything. My mother told me she would have paid twice as much for that cake. 11 days later (yesterday) we were still eating the cake Casa Marina saved us. and it was still DELICIOUS. Yeah.
(Excuse a little rant here... ) As you may have surmised from the reviews... our wedding had a plethora of problems, and I didn't even mention my MIL walking in on our first look and trying to steal that scene. (How romantic?) Or that our pictures will take a while getting back to us, because they'll have to photoshop his aunt out of all our ceremony pictures, because she decided she our photographers weren't doing a good enough job and decided to take matters into her own hands. (My best friend is a wedding photographer as well, if we had wanted backup we would have used him. We told that woman to sit down twice. Interrupting the unity candle ceremony. Twice.)
But at the end of the day, it's all behind us now. We keep getting compliments about how it was the most fun and beautiful wedding anyone has been to, and honestly? Hubby and I are married. Irregardless of everything that went awry that day, and since, we're finally living in a happily ever after. So when whatever goes wrong at your wedding, just keep telling yourself, "I'm marrying the man that I love," and it'll be okay.
OH! And if anyone is doing an outside unity candle ceremony, spencer's has the relighting birthday candles to stick in the candles (it works!). If you need DIY help, let me know.