I know I haven't posted much on here since the early stages of our planning, but I always appreciated these posts so here we go:
Venue: Heinz Field (Nikkie Feroce Dvorak) - A. We loved everything about the North Club Lounge at Heinz Field and Nikkie, especially being able to watch Batman being filmed. The only thing is that I wish she would have been the one to tell me about the movie being filmed there and that my wedding day was the day 10,000 extras were going to be in the stadium instead of reading it in the paper. We were disappointed not to be able to go on the field for photos, and I understand their hands were tied by the filming, but getting our pics with Hines Ward in the locker room more than made up for it.
Caterer: Aramark (Brittny Begg) - A+. I can't say enough great things about Brittny, she was able to fully accomodate all the dietary needs in our group and the food was fantastic! Every time we made even the slightest change she had an updated contract to me within the hour. She kept the cookie table filled all night long, and didn't bat an eye when we asked for "garbage plates" (local Rochester drunk food) to be served out of the concession stand for late night snacks. Unfortunately we had one guest get too drunk and started yelling at the bartender, between Brittny and Nikkie they handled the situation and we didn't even hear about it until that person's father told us how he apologized profusely to them.
Cake: Prantl's - A. The cake was delicious, everyone was asking for their buttercream recipe. There wasn't as much lemon filling as I would have liked but there were more strawberries than expected. Also I got a call from them the day before the wedding saying they forgot to add on the delivery charge when we made final payment, nothing major just a minor annoyance.
Flowers: Blumengarten - A+. I wanted simple, classic bouquets and that's exactly what they delivered. The flowers were incredibly fresh and are still going strong in a vase at my office. We also ordered bulk stems, the price was great. They delivered exactly when they said they would and didn't question when I asked that my Aunt receive them since we would already be gone for photos
Hair: Monica Kitta - A-. We had 4 people total get their hair done and we all loved our hair. We were doing really good on time until she tried to put my veil in. She would put it in and it would mess up my hair, she would redo my hair put the veil back in and mess up my headband, redo again and mess up something else. She had a problem with my veil during my hair trial too but she said she knew exactly how to fix it and I didn't make her try it then, so it's partly my fault too. Eventually she had to cut the veil off hte comb and pinned it into my hair, by the time we were finally done we left almost an hour late for photos. And from having to redo my hair so many times the one side started to fall out 1/2 way through our photos.
Limo: Celebrity Limo - A. The driver showed up 20 minutes early which was wonderful. Before we left she confirmed the itinerary with me, but once we started getting to the general neighborhood of each place she made us turn down the music so I could give her directions. The A/C didn't seem very cold, but that may have been due to having 12 people in there on a very hot day. Otherwise, it was very clean and comfortable.
DJ: Memories in Motion (Shawn Steele) - A+. He setup for the ceremony, cocktail hour and the reception. Every aspect was well played and we got several complements on the music selection early on. He kept the dance floor packed all night, even my great-grandmother was out there and my father-in-law was doing the Dougie with my brother and one of the groomsmen. He did an awesome introduction for us into the reception that we were not expecting. I was surprised to find he was based out of Erie when we met him at a bridal show, his personality can't be beat
Officiant: A Simple Vow (Chaplain Mark DeNuzzio) - A+. He made the ceremony the perfect blend of sentimental, sarcastic and sports oriented. His Mike Lange goal call for our first kiss had everyone in the room cracking up. Jeannie helped keep us organized in the madness the few minutes before hand, we couldn't have asked for anything more. It was perfectly us.
Rehearsal Dinner: World Series Suite at PNC Park - A. The suite itself was awesome, and everyone had a blast. Trying to place the food and beverage order with Levy Restaurants was worse than pulling teeth. I left multiple voice mails that went unreturned, when they e-mailed me order forms they only sent the food not the beverage form. The food was very good for ballpark food, we had to remind them after we got there about the 4 vegan meals. They missed the ribs in our package so we were offered to pick something else and they compensated with some extra beer or wine. Paula, our suite attendant for the night, was fantastic. We saw her driving to work as we were crossing North Shore Blvd to get to Heinz Field on Saturday, she honked and waved and congratulated us.
Hotel: Hyatt Place North Shore - A+. Since this was a destination wedding for us, everyone stayed in the hotel. Every single person on staff there went above and beyond anything I ever could have expected. Every staff member we came into contact with always smiled, asked how your day was going and could they get you anything. When we got in to town early cause we couldn't sleep and didn't our room wasn't ready, they unloaded our car for us to put it in the room behind the front desk. When we came back to check in they loaded everything back on a luggage cart for us. We had reserved the hotel shuttle to take my grandparents over to PNC Park for our rehearsal dinner, the shuttle hadn't returned from it's previous run so the manager on duty took them over in his own car. The rooms are huge, even when we had 10 people in our room while we were getting ready it didn't feel crowded. Their liquor license extends to their parking lot so we were able to have a tailgate party one afternoon and some late night card games after the rehearsal dinner. If anyone is looking for a hotel block in that part of town I highly recommend the Hyatt. Originally they quoted me $199/night, but when I told them the other hotels (including the Renaissance) were offering $159/night, they lowered their price to $169/night. The extra $10 a night was well worth it.
I think that was all of my local vendors. But Pittsburgh put on a great show for all of our guests, everyone left saying what a wonderful and friendly city it is.