Hey Everyone,
This board was super helpful to me in the planning process and I just wanted to share my vendor reviews with future brides. Our wedding was in May and everything went great! I just want to thank all the brides on this board for their input - our wedding would not have been as amazing as it was without all your help.
Vendor Reviews
Hackberry Creek Country Club – Ceremony and Reception: A++++
My fiancé and I had a wonderful experience with Hackberry Creek. The coordinator, Paige is super responsive to e-mails and was very accommodating. We looked at several venues but picked Hackberry because we thought that they had the best value. A lot of extras are included if you pick one of their premium packages such as colored linens, chair sashes, votives etc. On the wedding day, everything went pretty smoothly with only very minor hiccups. Several reviews online mentioned piped in music at the club disrupting the ceremony and sure enough when we were taking pictures ahead of time, there was music playing over the clubhouse speakers. They promptly turned it off when we asked them to though. We had a buffet and for some reason rather than providing large dinner plates, they had smaller dessert plates so our guests had to use multiple plates for the buffet. Overall though, the food was great and the staff provided good service. The event flowed smoothly and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this venue to another bride.
DiFiori – Florist: B+
Overall, DiFiori provided beautiful flowers on the wedding day. The reason why I gave them a lower rating is because there were some details which we discussed in person/e-mail but did not occur on the wedding day. These were relatively minor though – for example, my submerged centerpieces were supposed to have floating candles but there weren’t any candles on the day off. Another detail was that the ceremony flowers were white instead of blue. In their defense though, they did provide a detailed planning document to me for review ahead of time and I missed that they hadn’t listed the candles and that the color of the flowers was not right. Overall, I would still recommend them to other brides but would caution them to be very thorough when reviewing the planning document they provide. A couple of weeks before the wedding, they were also not very responsive when I was trying to pin down the final payment amount so that I could pay them. I was trying to communicate with Robin and I finally had to call her daughter Katie so that I could get what I needed. All the florists I met with had similar issues though so maybe it’s just the nature of that business.
Perez Photography: A++++
I love Perez and they were one of my favorite vendors to work with. Photography was very important to my fiancé and me so we did allocate a large percentage of the budget towards it. Cesar and Tanya always responded to my e-mails in a timely manner and stayed calm and collected throughout the entire wedding. I love my pictures and had problems narrowing them down for the album. Highly recommended!
Autumn Video: A
My main goal in having a videographer was to document the wedding day and not to have a really professional looking video. Based on that I was really pleased with William’s work. He was very reasonably priced when I booked him and his rates were significantly lower than other videographers I looked at. Even though he’s a one-man show he did have an un-manned camera that captured different angles on the wedding day. Looking at the video, I wish he hadn’t zoomed in so close to my face during the ceremony and he didn’t include any footage from our private last dance even though I can see him taping us in photos from it. On request though, he was happy to provide tapes of all the footage he took. I think he was a great value and I enjoyed working with him. I would recommend him to brides who would like to document their wedding day but are trying to stay within their budget.
Andrew with a Music Wave – DJ: A++++
I booked Andrew during a time period when several Knot brides had recommended him. After I booked him there were 1-2 only ok reviews about him so he was the vendor I was the most concerned about on the wedding day. However, Andrew was amazing!!! I thought our guests would need some encouragement to get on the dance floor but Andrew kept the floor packed all night long! He also suggested several games to get the dancing going and he took requests from our guests so that he played songs that everyone would enjoy. Someone previously reviewed him as playing too many slow songs so we specifically told him that we only wanted two slow songs and that was all he played. Overall Andrew made our wedding a really fun party which was exactly what we wanted and I would highly recommend him!
Serenata Strings – String Quartet: A+
Serenata Strings played beautifully at our wedding. However, since our ceremony was outside it was actually pretty difficult to hear them. On hindsight, I should have just had our DJ play our ceremony music but at the time we thought that a string quartet would add “something extra” to the ceremony. Overall I would recommend them to any bride who’s looking for a string quartet.
Colleen’s Cakes – Bakery: A++++
Colleen was awesome to work with! She has a great personality and we booked her on the spot when we met with her. We had a ton of cake at the wedding which tasted great and looked amazing. She was also very accommodating in choosing ribbon that matched my colors exactly. I would highly recommend her!
Works of a Wink – Invitations: A++++
I had a really hard time choosing invitations – I went to numerous places and couldn’t find anything I liked that was reasonably priced. Erica was able to create a custom invitation for me that I loved and her prices were reasonable. I originally wanted pocket-fold invitations but decided against them because I didn’t have enough enclosures plus Erica doesn’t really make them. I would have had to order the enclosures from her and get my own pocket-folds. Instead I had Erica create a small rectangle with our names and I made my own belly bands and put the rectangle over them. She was very patient with me even though I asked for numerous minor changes. We had several compliments from our guests regarding the invitations and I’ll definitely keep Erica in mind in the future for Christmas cards etc. I would highly recommend her to any bride!
Becky Fowler – Alterations: A++++
As everyone on here knows, Becky was really sweet and did wonderful alterations on my dress. She was a great help in choosing a bustle and even though I did a one point bustle which is notorious for breaking, it stayed put all night long. I would definitely recommend her to other brides.
Maybe Sew – Alterations: A++++
About a month before my wedding, I decided that I wanted a true sweetheart neckline for my dress. When I brought it to Becky she did a pinched sweetheart (pinched the fabric into a sweetheart neckline w/o cutting) and after some deliberation I decided that I didn’t quite like the way it looked and wanted someone to cut it into a sweetheart. I decided not to go back to Becky only because she lives pretty far from me and Leighanna was close enough to North Dallas where I could drop off the dress at lunch time during office hours. She did a great job with the neckline and I loved the final result. If anyone is looking for a seamstress closer to North Dallas, I would recommend Maybe Sew.
Alternative Wedding Services, Arianna Gray – Officiant: A++++
Rev. Ari was a joy to work with. She’s one of those rare people who’s truly passionate about what she does and it shows in the service she provides. We were able to completely customize our ceremony (even including a short story about us) and were able to incorporate some unique elements. Rev. Ari also did a great job conducting the rehearsal and prompting us on the wedding day so that we didn’t forget to do anything. Highly recommended!
Terry Costa – Wedding Dress: A+
I purchased my dress from Terry Costa during one of their bridal fairs. Overall I had a decent experience with them. The dressing rooms are not super nice but I got my dress at a great price and it came in almost a month early.
Al’s Formal Wear: A+
We got the groom and groomsmen tuxes from Al’s because the groom’s tux was free when you get 4 groomsmen tuxes and they had the exact color for the vests and tie to match my bridesmaid dresses. Overall the tuxes all fit and we had a smooth experience with them.
Haute Façade – MUA: A++++
Kelly did my makeup and she did an amazing job. She doesn’t do air brush but she uses studio quality makeup which did not budge the whole night. I have oily skin and I had so much fun at my wedding that I forgot to touch up my makeup during the night and it still looked great at the end the night (8 hours after it was applied). She also did my hair and she was able to match my vision exactly. I would recommend her.