LInks to vendors in my bio below.
Ceremony
Ceremony Site: Greenmead Village Chapel, Livonia: A+++: $1000 for Livonia resident for chapel AND reception venue. It is so lovely there. It only holds up to 100 people, but our total attendance was under 80. They supply 2 ladies to work the rehearsal, they walk you through everything (as an historic village, they have certain rules), and get the bridal party down the aisle, keep the ceremony moving.
Here's a pic before it was decorated
Officiant: John Davis from Davis Entertainment: Grade B. $160 for officiant services, but only because we also used him for DJ services. For us it was easier to just get an officiant who was already coming, and his services as a DJ were great. He read vows I sent him, and has sort of a weird cadence when reading them. But he was efficient and drove all the way from Grand Blanc (where he lives) for the rehearsal and then the next day again.
Ceremony Music: Violin and guitar: Angela Dunning-Cauchi: Grade A+. $275 for rehearsal and ceremony. Angela is a friend of a friend. I heard her play at a friend's wedding, and her version of "Ave Maria" made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. She is a "stay home mom" who happens to be an amazing musician. Her email (she gave me permission to share) is angelanicole1981@gmail.com . She played "Canon in D" for the wedding party, "Trumpet Voluntary" for my procession, "Starry Starry Night" for the candle lighting, all on the violin, and "All You Need is Love" on the guitar for our recessional. One of my daughter's friends who is NOT for hire has a beautiful voice, and sang "Ave Maria" and the recessional.
Reception
Reception Site: Greenmead Village: A++++, cost with chapel $1000 for Livonia residents. This worked for us because we had a small wedding . You have to have under 100 for the banquet area as well. We ended up with 80, and the room available is just right, could possibly fit one more table of 10 along with the dance floor, DJ, cake table and gift table. They have restrictions (no open flames) due to their historic nature, and only allow you in for 2 hrs before guest arrival times. You bring in your own liquor and food, and this worked for us. We had to have a DOC to do the set up, but it was still worth it.
Caterer: Holiday Market A++++: roughly $20 per person plus 4 staff people at around $1000. EXCELLENT FOOD. It was the BEST WEDDING FOOD I have ever had, and my guests all raved......even some of the skinny chicks had 2 plates full!!! We had Michigan Salad (mixed greens with dried cherries, candied pecans, maytag blue cheese, raspberry vinagraitte), beef tenderloin with veggies for sandwiches, chicken piccata, green beans with garlic, rosemary roasted red potatoes, pasta with red sauce. They also made a sundae bar at about 9:30 pm with 4 kinds of Rays Ice Cream (the raspberry sorbet is fabulous), sauces, various chopped nuts and candies and sprinkles plus whipped cream. They also picked up Bates Burgers and fries at cost and served that in a lovely way around 10 pm. The guests just loved this touch, especially the oldsters who grew up in the Livonia area, as well as the teens.
FYI for brides: If you can bring in your own caterer, look at non-standard options like gourmet stores. Most do catering of some type and their food is amazing and they are more willing to negotiate than standard caterers. They do this because they don't just make money on their catering, but are also gourmet markets. Vince & Joe's, Joe's Produce, others do this, look into it. After our taste tests we went with Holiday Market, but only because they had done this venue before and their food was a touch above the others, but they were all good.
Bakery: Holiday Market, A+++, $180 for cake that serves around 120. We had the yellow cake with Passion Fruit Mousse, buttercream. It was SO GOOD. We have the rest in our freezer and are taking slices daily, LOL
DJ: Davis Entertainment, grade A, $600 with the veteran discount due to my fiance's vet status. John Davis has over 400,000 songs, from the swing era, 80's, Motown, hard rock, etc. I am guessing here that he does not have a lot of the current music trends that my 16 y/o daughter and her friends wanted, as we continually asked for them and didn't hear much. However, it's just a guess. We asked that the "Home Run Song from The Natural" be our entrance into the reception since we are huge baseball fans, and he found it and had it for our entrance, so he is willing to supply what you want. Just not sure how much he has of the current genre.
Favors: Did my own, 2 glass coasters per person from the Knot shopping site, 99 cents per pair on sale. Purchased white opalescent cardboard and made guest monograms on my home printer and inserted those into the openings on the coasters meant for photos. I didn't have any left, so all was good.
Lighting: DJ brought it. It was fairly good. Because of the small size of our venue, he was limited in his ability to use it all.
Other
Limo: Aristocat Limo, Warren: A: We just had "transfers", a LIncoln Navigator there that seats 10-14 (I say more like 8-10 comfortably), I think it was about $270, then a simple town car to drive my parents back home around 10 pm, $150. The Lincoln Navigator's cooling system worked well for those in the front of the limo........I was in the back and it was a bit less effective.
Florist: Costco all the way baby! A+++: I have a fairly large garden and have arranged my own flowers for a long time. I ordered flowers directly from the woman who sets up their kiosk at the Roseville store (Maria, 586-260-8531). I thought I had a "secret source", like an addict who has a secret seller, but found out she does about 15-20 weddings per weekend! Call her about 2-3 weeks before the wedding and you can place an order with her for the bulk flowers you want. We ordered 70 stems of white Asiatic Lillies, 8 dozen white vendella roses, and a ton of baby's breath. It came to about $200. We arranged to pick up the order the Wednesday before the wedding so the lillies would have time to open. Otherwise I'd say arrange to pick up your order on Thursday. It's now a week after I picked them up and the roses are still gorgeous. The lillies open upward along the stem, so the ones recently opened are fabulous, the ones lower that were open when we got them are sort of wilted. Baby's breath lasts forever, LOL.
I also ordered the 20 piece bridal package from their website for $399. You have to order 30 days before your wedding, but I think I called them 25 days before and there was no problem. They will change out any of the centerpieces for bouquets. It's impossible to change the corsage and bout count unless you are switching one for the other, because their packaging is set up "just so" and they use the available openings. They arrived in gorgeous condition, and even now, 6 days after they arrived, they look fabulous (I've kept them in water before drying them). The roses in the bouquets have white pearls in the center and are beautifully hand wrapped with white organza ribbon. There may be local florists who can do it for this price, but I didn't have time to shop around.
DOC: Shelly from Simplicity DOC (in my other post I erroneously said Jill, but they are both great). A+++++. $550 for (I think) 8 hrs on the day of the wedding, plus 1 meeting beforehand. I don't know where I would have been without Shelly. I had SO MUCH DIY stuff to arrange, and she did it all within 2 hrs due to the venue's access rules. Everywhere I looked on my wedding day, there was Shelly, helping me, guests, whomever. Because of all the DIY there was also a lot of packing up, and she did it as well. We drove off to the hotel and she was still there, LOL. However, our wedding did end a bit earlier than most (11:30 pm). She was invaluable and I think this was one of the best decisions I made for our wedding vendors.
Miscellaneous equipment: Bartender, Davis Entertainment, $270 for 2 bartenders, one signature drink, and 2 pony kegs of beer. His wife and daughter do the bartending, and they set it up very professionally and did a great job.
WINE: We purchased our own wine from Champane's Wine Cellars in Warren on 13 Mile between Van Dyke and Mound. I've lived in Warren for 16 yrs, and never went there. I will now! I'd grade the assistance of their wine manager and prices A++. We purchased 5 bottles of good champagne, another 19 bottles of whites, reds and 2 dessert wines (total of 24 bottles) for $220. Great selection, very helpful. We went in and told them we wanted to average about $10 per bottle, some were more, some less, but they were all great. We were done in less than an hour. I think we had 3 bottles of champage left, and 4 unopened bottles of wine. Many of my guests were accomplished wine drinkers and they liked everything that Champane's helped us choose.
Photography
Photographer: Brian Jones, from Captured by Brian. Brian is the hubby of a former Knottie (Taryn), and she offered his services when I first joined the Knot. He did a great job, but I've only seen a couple of finished pics. He is NOT available for hire, as he's finishing his master's degree and a new dad. Maybe someday, LOL.
Picture Locations: Greenmead Village in Livonia. It is a public park, and they have lovely gardens and structures. Free, LOL.
Engagement Pictures: Also Greenmead Village.
Beauty / Attire
Wedding dress: I made my ceremony dress, my reception dress was a sample sale purchase from Alessandra's in Warren. $235, alterations $165. They are great to work with, and so friendly. They seem to have a fairly large selection of BM dresses and MOB/MOG dresses, a few flower girl dresses. Can't speak to their selection of wedding dresses, but I've seen other great reviews on selection and price from other Knottie brides.
Tuxes: Our guys just all bought black suits. I got them silver silk tie and pocket square sets from Macys.com when they were on sale for $25 each (I think). Kevin's vest/tie/pocket square set was under $50 from an online sale at JC Penney's website.
Bridesmaid Dresses: I told everyone to just get their own black dresses. Worked out well since they were various ages/sizes.
Hair: Deux Adore: A++++: $65 for me, I think $45 for the BM. Stephanie does a GREAT JOB.
Makeup: Deux Adore: A++++ we went with airbrushed, and it was AMAZING!!!!! I was worried because I'm an *ahem* older bride, as were 2 of my BM. It didn't make us look older, in fact it was fabulously light and covered well all day. I think it was $65 with false eyelashes for me, $55 for the gals.
Paper
Save the Dates: DIY
Invites: DIY
Programs/Menus: DIY