I'm finally married! I read these boards a lot while planning our wedding, so I hope that someone finds my advice helpful! Venue: My Old Kentucky Home State Park, Bardstown, KY Grade: A None of my guests had been to a wedding there and everyone was raving about how beautiful it was! Not too expensive either. They were very helpful with everything I needed. Chuck is the manager of the private event stuff and he is the best! Photographer: Jason Coobs Grade: A Jason was/is great! I only have the preview on his blog of my photos, but I am already impressed! So much more beautiful than I had imagined! He is easygoing and relaxed and just a really nice person. I was able to book him short(er) notice when Ramon Rodriguez skipped town. You can see the preview here:
http://www.jasoncoobs.com/blog (Melanie and Brad, October 21) Caterer: Masterson's Grade: A I booked them very early and then got nervous closer to the wedding because they don't get a lot of praise on this board. I was VERY impressed! They had their stuff together! They helped with so much set up and decorating, when they could have just said they weren't responsible for that stuff. The food was great, the servers were great. I had asked if the servers could do drink service to the tables, and they did for no extra cost. Also, we had a candy buffet and some of the servers helped guests with that and made up little bags of candy and passed them out to guests. I really felt like they went above and beyond to make everything perfect. Lauren Flippin was my coordinator and Van was the head server. Wedding Coordinator: Emily Heeringa, (502) 523-3994 Grade: A I really had to convince my Mom and Husband that we needed a day of coordinator. They just thought it wasn't necessary. I met Emily and hired her for the day. On my wedding day, I said to my Mom, "Isn't Emily doing a great job?" and she said "Emily? She is a LIFESAVER!". She made sure everything was exactly how I envisioned it. She helped me by taking the heat in some situations. This isn't my example, but it's a lot easier to have someone else on hand to tell that girl you find annoying that her seat is in the back.... There was no way we could have done all the decorating ourselves, and Emily got it all done. My guests could not stop raving about the attention to detail. Emily also helped handle problems.... see next topic
Cake: Heitzman (Hikes Point Location) Grade: C I had given them a color photo and color swatch of what I wanted my cake to look like. It was a dark sage, kinda like the color at the top of this message board that says "Post a new message". The cake was seriously almost white. I was also disappointed with the size of the cake. The tiers appeared to be about 4" tall. I was thinking more like 6" tall, like the photo I had given them. I had told them the cake could be delivered between 2:00 and 4:00. I thought I was being very easy to work with, giving them such a large window. I think it got there at 4:45. BIG THANKS to Emily for chewing them out and handling it!!
I happened to walk in the room when the delivery person was setting up the cake. I was very specific to everyone involved that I did NOT want a flower cascade. That screams 1992 to me. Well, what do I see?? GIANT FLOWERS WRAPPING AROUND THE CAKE! Luckily I stopped him. There were so many flowers left by the florist that I had him just put them around the bottom of the cake. There is a photo of the cake in the preview on Jason Coobs' blog. I had also rented a sliver cake stand from them. They brought the cake stand. But, the carboard foil wrapped platter the cake was on was bigger around than the sliver stand. DUH! It kinda hid the stand, so that was disapointing. The only reason they aren't getting a lower grade is because the cake tasted good and it was pretty. It was a pretty cake, just not what we had ordered, IMO. But, we are the only ones who knew it wasn't what we had ordered. I definitely don't think it was worth the $400.00 I paid for it. Dress: Bridal and Formal, Cincinnati Grade: A My dress was a Mori Lee, and I loved it! Bridal and Formal had a great selection (I'm a plus size gal). All of the people there were very friendly and helpful. My Mom and I took a Friday off work and went up there, which I think is best. I say if you can go on a weekday, do it. You'll get a much more personal experience. I also got my veil and hair comb there. Those items were a little pricey, but you do get a discount if you buy the dress there as well. I ordered the dress in May, in came in the beginning of August. Also, they gave me a nice discount of the ticketed price without me even asking. The tag said $850 and they told me the price was $650 without me even saying anything. Alterations: Csilla Designs, (502) 671-7070 Grade: A+++ This is weird, but I'm so sad I'm done seeing Csilla! My dress came strapless and she used the shawl to make a wide halter strap for me. She took some of the lace appliques off the dress to put on the straps, and I still can't find out where she took them from! She seriously knows what she's doing. She was also a lifeaver on my bridesmaid dresses. See next topic for that... Bridesmaid Dresses: Etsy Seller: ClassicTailors (Swing Dress) Grade: D The photos don't show you exactly what you're getting. It was basically a potato sack with sleeves. The dresses shipped WAY late and the girls got them about 2 weeks before the wedding. None of them felt comfortable in the dress. We had given ClassicTailors specific detailed measurements for each girl. The dresses hung off all of them. We took them to Csilla and she was able to sew pleats in the dresses so the the skirts laid better. This is all hard to explain without seeing the dress, but basically it wasn't what we expected from the photos, and Csilla saved the day
Tuxes: Men's Warehouse Grade: A The groomsmen's vests were accidentally ordered in PERIWINKLE instead of PERIDOT! The correct vests came in the very next day. The guys looked great! Florist: A Touch of Elegance,
http://www.touchofeleganceflorist.com/ Contact: Patty Grade: A Flowers were beautiful! As you might gather if you keep reading (or read between the lines) I'm kinda in the wedding business and I've been to a lot of receptions. Most of which don't have many flowers. I found out quickly why... because they are so expensive! Patty worked within our budget to give me exactly what I wanted. I had a TON of flowers! She came to my venue and set everything up and her husband even helped some of the other people with hanging paper flowers in the room! Patty is such a sweet person and just wants everything to be perfect for her brides, and she works hard to make sure it is perfect! DJ: You're Next..... Karaoke & DJ, Contact: Meredith Dixon & Amy Cooper (502) 267-7394, (502) 724-2841 I kinda dropped the ball on music and didn't give them much to go off of, and they did great! A couple people asked me if I chose all the music because they really liked it. They were on time, very friendly. VERY reasonably priced. I don't want to say how much I paid, because I know from talking to them that the price depends a lot on your specific event. I had a smaller group in a small space (75 guests) and I paid less than $300. I had told them nothing cheesy. No goofy dances. Right away, 4 people requested the electric slide. They asked me if they could play it and I said if it had been requested, then yes. I think it's great that they asked me!! Around the Town Carriage, Bardstown Grade: A My Dad and I rented the carriage for us to ride up to the ceremony in as a surprise. We pulled it off! Everyone loved the carriage! It was beautiful! Ask for the Victorian. They were very helpful in meeting us off site and helping us pull of the surprise. Chair Cover Express, Contact: Mimi,
http://www.chaircoverexpress.com/ Grade: A They came in on Thursday, exactly what I had ordered. We put them on ourselves. Nothing exciting, but no problems. Cheapest price I could find. Hair: Tia Krieger, Grade: A Tia is my personal hair dresser and I asked her to come to Bardstown and do my hair for the wedding. She came down and did my hair and a couple bridemaids. She touched up my hair after pictures/before the ceremony and again after the ceremony. I paid her $120 to do this, which I think is very reasonable. Each bridesmaid was $40. Rosemark Haven Bed and Breakfast, Bardstown Grade: B We rented the Guest House for us to stay in and for everyone else to get ready. My MOH and her FI rented a room inside to stay in. Her FI had several negative encounters with the staff. They never struck us as friendly. The owner, Mike, was nice. It was a great space to get ready in though!! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about any of my vendors! My advice for brides.... DON'T STRESS! It will all fall together! Accept help from others. And, get a wedding coordinator!! I'll be posing a for sale listing as soon as I catch my breath
Stay tuned if pink, green, or chocolate are your colors.