I'm finally back and finally free of obligations and back on a normal sleep schedule! We came back from our honeymoon in Italy Thursday night, I worked Friday day only to go to my girlfriend's rehearsal & rehearsal dinner that night, followed by all day getting ready to be her bridesmaid Saturday afternoon
I have been so jet-lagged and so exhausted I was dreading sitting down and finally starting this thing, lol, but I did it!
My wedding went off without a hitch,
besides the horrible rain weather that crushed my dreams of an outdoor gazebo ceremony
ha ha. But regardless, I married my best friend and none of the bad weather mattered once I walked down that aisle and saw his face
He cried like a baby the whole time which made
me cry, hehe. I'm voting A+ to F. I will sound super nit-picky, but it's only because the wedding went
so great overall I still have to dissect
everything.
Rusty Pelican Venue- A+
I can't even begin to go on and on about how spectacular the Rusty Pelican was as a whole was for our wedding. As I said, it poured rain all day and unfortunately I knew I'd not be getting my outdoor gazebo wedding, but instead they instantly turned the ceremony into an indoors wedding, and it was still shockingly beautiful. The reception room (Pelican Room) looked gorgeous. I can’t believe all I had to do was bring the little things (candles, candy buffet items, card holder, etc.) and the staff set everything up just as I would have.
Don was my coordinator, and he tends to get a really bad rep from girls. I understand this, as I was not fond of him the first few months because he always seemed rude when I called to ask him questions…However, over time I realized he’s just not the greatest people person, BUT, he's unbelievable at his job. He’s super organized and has done weddings for so long and so often it’s like brushing his teeth. He follows a strict time schedule just so the bride gets the most out of her day, that’s all. On our wedding day he was a total pleasure and did everything I asked.
The staff was complete perfection. At the end of the night I had guests coming up and raving about their server, or bartender, or busboy by name! Not to mention every single employee that night made a point to come up and introduce themselves to my husband and I. That place truly is a well-oiled machine, and seeing as how much you get for your money I can’t even understand why everyone wouldn’t get married there.
For Better For Less Florist- A
I love Irene to death. I think it's extremely cool that she's essentially a florist who buys in bulk and therefore doesn't overcharge like a typical flower shop.
While I got many compliments on my centerpieces and bouquets throughout the night, I only took the + away because I was a little saddened that my bouquet didn't really turn out like we spoke. She knew I wanted LARGE blooming yellow roses, but instead mine seemed a little fresh and were very small roses that hadn’t fully matured, which bummed me out a little 
I still think she is amazing, her prices are fantastic, and she's easy and reliable. It most likely was due to when her shipment came in and that they were just a little ripe....still not her fault!
Jason Angelini Photography- A+
Jason, as we all probably know, is fantastic. I still haven’t seen the shots he took, but I know I will be very happy with them. He was great at our engagement session, but at our wedding I was worried because I found out we were his 5th consecutive wedding in a row that week!!! This kind of work is exhausting, but I felt like he not only fit in with our friends and family, but even seemed to enjoy himself! He dealt with the crappy weather outside as best as he could and really made my husband and I feel like getting good shots of us at different times in the night was very important
Chad Whelan Videography (Digital Wave Productions)- A
Chad and his wife both showed up, though I barely spoke to his wife. Chad himself was really delightful. He got my sense of humor and me, him, and Jason Angelini basically had fun all night just making jokes and coming up with new shots.
He also completely surprised me by showing up and saying "Hey, I just thought I'd go ahead and shoot the video in HD for you, after I turned it down a week prior due to $$$ constraints. I obviously haven’t seen the video yet, but based on his past work that I have seen I can just judge on how great he was to work with on the wedding day.
Frank Lebano the DJ- A+
Frank Lebano was sooooo great. We had so many compliments from him all night that he not only played great “in between” music (music during dinner, cocktail hour, etc.), but that he wasn’t corny and annoying like most DJ’s come off, and also knew how to gage the crowd’s reaction to the dancing music played during the reception. There were maybe 2 times a song was played that just for some reason wasn’t received like we hoped, and about halfway through he’d make an insanely smooth transition to the next one by fading out and making a small announcement as if the song was just over. Frank is also a pleasure to work with before the wedding when picking out the many songs.
John Melchinger the Officiant (A Perfect Witness)- A
John was really excellent. In fact, I appreciate him even more now after just attending my best girlfriend’s wedding yesterday where her officiant just had no charisma at all.
The only reason I take the small + away from his A rating is because in a hilarious turn of events, he mis-said my last name during the ceremony. I personally laughed out loud when it happened and thought “how ironic,” because people weirdly always mistake my last name for the way he said it, but of course it angered my father quite a bit. I even said “glad that will never happen again!” and everyone laughed J He put together a really beautiful ceremony as well-considering we had no unity candle, sand ceremony, readings, and said we wanted 0 religious mentions he created an entirely new wording that was tailor made to us and the day’s events. There was not a dry eye in that room; I have the pics to prove it! It should also be mentioned he has a great booming voice that carries without a microphone, and all around great sense of humor and personality.
Chantilly Cakes- A+
Our cake was insanely delicious and gorgeous to look at. We seriously didn’t even want to cut it it turned out so perfectly. We even had guests taking pictures of it all night prior to cutting because they said it was one of the most original wedding cakes they had seen.
To boot, it was seriously delicious! I don’t know about you, but I have been to many many weddings where the cake was stale or just didn’t taste good at all! Our cake had 3 different layers and guests were going back numerous times to try them all, that’s how loved it was! I can’t wait to eat our top layer in a year!
Cari Collinsworth w/ Kyle Lynn Cosmetics- A+
As I expected, Cari was UNBELIEVABLE. Not only do I honestly think she made me feel the prettiest I’ve ever felt (and probably will ever feel), but she made all 5 of my best girls look freaking fantastic. They brought in little clips from magazines of hoe they wanted their hair and when I saw these pics I worried “oh crap, there’s no way that’s gonna happen….” only for me to be happily proven wrong!
On top of being a total sweetheart, she had to deal with a few of my girls being late and reassured me it wasn’t a big deal and not to feel bad at all. She worked at record speed to keep on track and I think we genuinely all looked beautiful. My fake eyelashes and airbrush makeup lasted well through the next night even! Also, she is totally affordable.
Shutterbooth- A+
Man oh man, I am SO glad we decided to do a Shutterbooth. While a little pricey, we got a good deal I think for 3 hours of service w/ 2 booth attendants AND a special deal that included them putting together the extra copies of the photos into a photo album. I would say 75% of our guests raved all night about how much fun they had going in and out of the booth with new ideas, and he photo album was a really awesome extra touch, because the girls would put it together the second the strips printed and have the guests sign off with a little message.
I would totally recommend forgoing the typical boring favors that no one really cares for anyway and instead doing a photobooth.
Daisy the Alterationist- A+
Everyone know-Daisy is the best. She turned my dress from a zip-up back to a lace up back and added a French bustle. She charged me easily $100’s less than any other place would have and her work was flawless. All my girls had their dresses altered through her as well as my mother and she charged them practically nothing. My mother is even now starting to take clothing into her that she’s always just held off from having altered anywhere else due to seamstress’ overcharging.
Moncher Designs (Invitation Company on Etsy)- A+
I honestly think of all the things I designed, bought, and picked out for our wedding that the invitations were the thing I loved most. I’m not the typical bride-I haven’t had a dream wedding picked out since childhood, nor have I always envisioned what I wanted because I figured if I got married I’d probably just elope. When it came time for picking invitation I was dreading it because everything I saw didn’t fit mine or my husband’s personality at all. So one day after browsing Etsy invitation designers for hours I ran across these 2 ladies who run a company called “Moncher Designs.”
They had a wedding invite design that I practically screamed out at the computer because it fit the elegance and simplicity I dreamt of. The girls were super easy to design with, super quick, and the invitations turned out even more beautiful than I expected. We had so many compliments on them front family that they were so different but so classy; they really did a great job and have a ton of different designs. They also pre-stamp the envelopes for you and stuff them, so all you need to do is print out the address.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/moncherdesigns?ga_search_query=moncher+designs&ga_search_type=seller_usernames
Elabria Designs (Program Fans on Etsy)- A
I had decided from the beginning when I wanted an outdoor April wedding that I’d have programs that were little fans. I searched and searched Etsy and found this woman, a graphic designer who does just program fans. After feeling hopeless and almost afraid I’d have to do a patchy DIY project I suddenly found her! People loved our little fans, even though we were rained out and were moved inside, everyone took one home! I only took the + away because I think at one point she took on too many orders (busy season) and the fans came pretty darn close to the wedding, even though she had originally said they’d be to me about a week sooner. That momentary stress of “OMG, am I going to get these!?” took the + away, ha ha.
