I just got married back on May 21st.. and wanted to share some vendor reviews with you guys.. some vendors are in Columbia, some in Charleston... but many are willing to travel....
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VENUE: B Fort Jackson Officer's Club - Ft. Jackson, SC When we first started looking for a venue, we knew we wanted to have the wedding and reception in one place. i know I hate traveling between ceremonies and receptions, so why not make it easy on the guests. With that in mind, that left us with a few options. That's when we came across the Officer's Club and it was perfect. Have the wedding outside on the lawn, and reception on the inside. I was happy with everything and things went well the day of. It was afterwards, when I started hearing stuff I became a little disappointed. We had an open bar...(wine, beer & signature drink). All of the groomsmen & Dave hung out in the reception area before the ceremony, they ordered a few beers and after 2 or 3 in for each.. the bartender told the guys they would have to pay for what they drank. Then I also found out that we'd reached out tab within the first hour of the reception, so we added more cash.. but that's only to find out they'd run out of 3 of the 5 types of beer we were having served. I also went to the bar to get a water since I was so thirsty from photos outside, and the bartender told me there was a table for water on the other side of the room. I said, "I'm the bride and would like a water." Other than that, I was happy. Just disappointed with the whole beer thing.
PHOTOGRAPHER: A+ (So Far)Photos by J.Kay Bryan - Saluda, SC Judy Kay and Wayne Bryan are amazing people to work with. I don't know where to start. When I first met them back at Starbucks, I fell in love with them and their style. They make such a great team and are so much fun. Our e-session in Charleston was a great time. Dave and I got all the pictures we wanted and more. They have such a creative eye. My bridals turned out amazing!! (Here's a link to see those:
http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=1037578) The day of the wedding, everything was great. JK was there for every moment and really took time to get pictures of the details. I really see these people as family now! I can't wait to see more than just the collage teaser we've gotten.
VIDEOGRAPHER: A+ (So Far)www.britesideproductions.com/">
Briteside Productions-
Charleston, SC Josh of Briteside Productions and I actually worked together at the first TV station I worked at in Charleston. I'd seen his news work of course on a day-to-day basis, but it was only a few weeks before I left the job I found out he did stuff on the side. The day of the wedding, Josh was very attentive. He was covering each and every moment and was right there the whole time and never got in the way. I'm looking forward to seeing what he's putting together.
DJ: A+SoundQuest DJ - Irmo, SC I'd had my dreams set on another DJ for the longest time but when it came to meeting him at a bridal show, I was disappointed and knew I didn't want to book them. That's when I came across SoundQuest DJs. Geoff, our DJ for the wedding/reception was amazing. He def kept the party going all night long, got really involved, got out on the dance floor and showed us some new line dances. He also got the crowd involved which is what I wanted. He was always checking on me to make sure I was okay, and if I looked stressed, he would ask me what he could do to take care of it. I highly recommend him and Sound Quest. Tammie, the office manager is great to work with!
FLORIST/WEDDING COORDINATOR: A +
Chastain Floral - Columbia, SC I'm lucky to say Sandra Chastain is a great friend of the family so of course, I won't look elsewhere for flowers. Working with her was amazing. I gave her my budget and she made it work. She made rehearsal go by very quick and smooth, and was in total control the day of. The base was slammed full of people the day we got married because of Retire Appreciation Day and Sandra kept checking to see how many people were here compared to what we were expecting and kept me up to date on things. The flowers and arrangements were beautiful, even though I only got to enjoy them for the day.
WEDDING DRESS SHOP: A-David's Bridal - North Charleston, SC David's Bridal is typical, like any other David's Bridal. My friend and bridesmaid, Krystle, worked there at the time when I was shopping so of course I got great service. I never felt rushed. As for alterations, the manager at my store is fab! She won't let things go that aren't up to standard. I highly recommend them.
CUSTOM GARTER: ABonanza Seller - TheArtofSports Jan was awesome. I just happened to come across her website and just tried my luck to see if she had what I wanted and she did! And my custom garter turned out amazing!! Dave totally loved it! I will have to post a picture!
RHINESTONE HOODIE: ACustom Bling Apparel Tina and Custom Bling is great. Her work is awesome and she has a lot of options when it comes to styles, layout, fonts and colors. And she's really quick!
TUX RENTAL: B Britton's On Devine- Columbia, SC We had to find a new place to rent tuxes after the original place we'd gone to was going out of business. I have to say I'd met the owner, Perry, prior to doing business with him because of my job and knew he was a little scatter brained. Well that remains true. He was a little unorganized at first, he had our info written on the back of envelope. But the next time I went in, he had turned his game around some. He didn't always do what he says, but things seemed to go fine for the guys for the wedding. There was a few issues the week of. One tux was late getting in, and the Best Man's tux at the Friday fitting had tar on it, but he was quick to get a new one in for Ryan to wear the next day.
WEDDING HAIR: A+Oakes Salon -
Mount Pleasant, SCMy awesome friend Tina has been doing my hair off and on for the last two years and so it was only fitting to have her do my wedding hair. We never got a chance to do a trial run, but I sent her lot of pictures and she did exactly what I wanted. She came to my hotel that morning to get me ready and checked on me during the reception to make sure things were holding up. I love what she did!
BRIDE'S WEDDING RINGS: A+Jewelry Warehouse - Lexington, SC After working at the JW for 8 months, I wouldn't go anywhere else to look for an e-ring. So that's really that only place Dave and I looked and luckily one of my former co-workers, Tuesday, was still working there and she took great care of Dave when he went back to make the purchase. Then on top of that, my jeweler friend Dena, did an awesome job sizing my ring. If you're looking for the local feel for jewelry, go to Jewelry Warehouse.
GROOM'S WEDDING RING:Kay Jewelers - Summerville, SC Nothing really special to say about Kay's. It's just your average everyday jewelry store.
WEDDING INVITATIONS: Bwww.zazzle.com/">
Zazzle.com I searched for what felt like years for invitations and then finally came across Zazzle after my Matron of Honor ordered my shower invites from here. The site is really easy to use and you can do just about anything you want. The more you order, the more you save. The only thing that does suck, and I've emailed about this, is you can't ordered extra envelopes. So you either have to order more invites than needed to get the extras, or you go to Staples and buy envelopes there. The envelopes are also sorta thin and you can see the invite through, so I added liners to make them a little thicker. The quality of the paper is pretty good too.
SAVE THE DATE MAGNETS: Awww.magnetstreet.com/weddings">
MagnetStreet.com MagnetStreet was real easy to work with. The website allows you to take just about any design and change it to the colors you like. Production on 200 magnets took less than a week and that includes shipping to me. It's one of the very first wedding-related purchases I made. Great quality products.
WEDDING CAKE: A-Parties To Go - West Columbia, SC Carol Sturkie was a pleasure to work with. During our consultation, she asked lots of questions and made sure she understood what we wanted. And the day of, it looked amazing. There was one part of the cake I think could have been smoothed out a little, but otherwise, it was delicious. The only reason she get's an A- is because I spoke with her when she delivered the cake and told me she was leaving boxes for the leftovers and top layer under the cake table, but later that night when the caterers starting cleaning up, they told me there were no boxes left. So we had to wrap up the middle and top layer of our cake in foil, put it in the freezer that night, and worry about boxing it correctly when we got back from the cruise.
WEDDING CAKE TOPPER: A+Crafty Eddy - craftyeddy@gmail.com I love my cake topper from Crafty Eddy. I told him what I was looking for and within a few hours he had an image sent back to me and after a few changes I wanted made, the cake topper was made with in 48 hours then mailed out. It's great quality work and once you paint and bling out the cake topper, it looks amazing. I highly recommend using him if you're looking for a custom cake topper.
GUEST FAVORS (Koozies): B-Charleston Angler Screen Print - West Ashley, SC I searched for ever for the right logo I wanted and Charleston Angler had it
. They were pretty easy to work with, nothing spectacular. Service was okay. There was a little miscommunication between the employees when they came in. One thought the other had called me to let me know they were in, when in fact no call had been made. So I just happened to call (a week after they were supposed to be in) and they told me they'd been waiting for me to come pick them up. On the up side, I got 7 extra. lol