Hey Y'all!
So we had the absolute BEST day, cannot believe it's been a month since our wedding! We cannot think of a single thing that wasn't completely perfect. We had a relaxed, DIY backyard wedding at our home in Harwich. The ceremony was at the tiny, historic Kelley Chapel in Yarmouth Port. The biggest challenge we had was finding vendors who got what we wanted to do...simple, rustic, affordable, home-grown, organic, eco-friendly. The vendors we ended up with were great. Here are our reviews:
FLORIST - New England Flowers, Harwich. A++
Brianna and Enid are SUPERSTARS, absolutely, hands-down amazing. Incredible to work with, super enthusiastic, awesomely creative. Totally got our style and even worked with flowers that we had grown to use in the bouquets. Very relaxed but completely professional and the best part - affordable. I cannot say enough about how incredible their work is. They did set up at the chapel that included a lot more than your average pew clips.
CATERER - Sumptuous Catering/Mahonys Atlantic, Orleans. A+
Shannon Mahoney is AWESOME to work with, was very attentive, detail orientated and her husband's food GREAT. We still have people talking about the BBQ buffet we had. We shifted around our menu a lot through our planning and Shannon just rolled with it, always accommodating us. Even when Shannon had a baby 3 days before our wedding she had a VERY capable, friendly and talented staff that came in and took over 2 days before the wedding. I was worried when I heard Shannon was not going to be there but I had no reason to be, they were great. The bartenders were awesome, friendly and totally got into our crowd. And really, I cannot say enough about the food - incredible.
PIES & SUNDAY BRUNCH- Marion's Pies, Chatham. A++
Marion's is a landmark in Chatham but we never imagined they'd be just as amazing to work with for private catering. Cindy is simply wonderful, so sweet and nice and genuinely happy to work with brides. We ordered 17 pies of all different types and she was so great with suggestions of what is freshest. We also had Cindy supply Continental Brunch items for Sunday morning and it was all phenomenally good. She even delivered for free as a wedding gift.
WEDDING PLANNER - The Perfect Plan, Connie Clark A+
Connie is awesome. She was a total savior to us. We hired her and her assistants for the day-of coordination and my mom and I could not have had nearly as relaxed of a day without them. She was super organized even when we totally were not. She got our style and even did some special little touches like mason jar lanterns hung in the trees and lumanarie. I had some guests complain to me that her assistant up at he chapel was a bit rude but I think that was more due to our lack of instructions to them so they were trying to organize without much to go by so they were frazzled. I mean they had chalk for me to cover up a stain on my dress that I got on the drive to the chapel! SAVIORS!
DJ - Cape Tunes, Al Vickery B
Warning: my DH and I are VERY particular with our music, it was probably the one thing that we micromanaged the most. Scott that heads up Cape Tunes is AWESOME! Super easy to work with and very, very friendly! Even loaned us some wireless mics for our ceremony. We wanted a DJ that would simply show up with equipment and play our playlists for cheap. Our brothers were the MC's announcing everything. Al the DJ we got was very friendly but for the first hour+ of dancing he didn't play one song off of our playlists even though we had given him specific instructions to do so. He played a lot of cheesy mixes that are totally not our style and really played NO slow songs. BUT after we asked him again to only play our playlists he did for the rest of the night and even told us he wanted to copy it!
HAIR & MAKE UP, Bridal Hair Pros, Reggie & Pat A++
I LOVE Reggie and Pat!!! They were just the best. They came to my house and spent the morning primping and prepping us and were totally into the scene, we loved having them there. They've been in the business forever and are VERY VERY good at what they do. They are fast and professional and affordable and just so sweet.
PHOTOGRAPHER - friend of family from Chicago...wish she was a Cape Cod or even Massachusetts photographer because she was hands down the best.
TRANSPORTATION, First Student School Buses, Dennis. A+
These guys were great to work with and the best part, VERY VERY affordable. The drivers were very professional and fun and both even stayed on all night doing the shuttles even though we only paid for and needed 1 because they liked our crowd so much. Very easy, very fun way to transport your guests and since it is a charter you can have booze and decorations on board.
SET-UP:
TENT & RENTALS: Undercover Tent, Dennis. A-
UCT was great, had everything we needed, worked with our changing lists and numbers and were able to setup early so we could decorate. Tony and Barbara in the office were super responsive in replying to our emails. The only hang up was that they did not originally deliver everything we needed at first and by Saturday morning they still had not brought all of our order so it was a little stressful...but in the end it all got there.
PORT-A-POTTIES - Eliza J. C
They were terrible at getting back to us with confirmation of delivery or even to confirm the order.
I think that's everyone...If there are any backyard brides out there that need any help please message me...we went through it all but in the end, it was just what we wanted.
