Back from my wedding this past Saturday, October 8 so I wanted to share my reviews! The day was wonderful, I had a blast and I don’t think we could have asked for more perfect weather. My two pieces of advice before the reviews…
#1 – Let people help you! My new husband (yay!) and I planned the entire thing with minimal input from anyone else, so it was hard for me to turn over control. Plenty of people want to help you, you just have to let them! I made them a to do list so they felt more comfortable with their jobs (taking programs to church, paying vendors, etc) and gave them a list of all my vendors with their contact information just in case of any emergency/questions.
#2 – Enjoy it. I was on that dance floor all night. You worked too hard for this day, make sure you get to enjoy the party!
Now onto the reviews…
Ceremony Site – St. John Catholic Church: B+
Overall I was pretty happy with St. John, but there were a few minor gripes I had. Our rehearsal coordinator was really friendly, but kept telling us that the priest “may do this or may do that,” “sometimes he does this and sometimes he does that.” Got me super flustered! But during the actual ceremony Father Mark was SO good at directing us and there were no worries.
Only other gripes I had were that the floors where we were before the ceremony were DIRTY. I didn’t realized exactly how dirty they were until I sat down during the ceremony and looked at my dress – there were mad dust bunnies stuck to me. Gross! And lastly, when my dad and I came up to the main aisle the coordinators didn’t shut the door so I was just standing there in plain view of everyone while she fixed my train. Like I said nothing major, just little annoyances.
Reception Site – East Lansing Marriott at University Place: A++++++++
Cannot say enough about the staff at the Marriott. They went above and beyond all my expectations, from the actual reception to the room block and everything in between, they were perfect! I had tons of compliments from my guests on the hotel staff, bartenders, etc. Great!!!
Chair Covers/Linens/Lighting/Cupcake Tree – Weddings by Nicole: A
Super easy to work with, really responsive via email leading up to the wedding. Everything looked great and was set up just as I ordered.
Just Baked (cupcakes), Royal Oak: A+
We ordered 3 different flavors of cupcakes and they were a hit! We literally had no extras at the end of the night.
Uptown DJs: A
Arrived on time, did everything he was supposed to and had the crowd dancing.
Rehearsal Dinner – Spartan Hall of Fame Café: A+
I would highly recommend this restaurant – their prices were super reasonable and they had a private room which was really important to me. Food was great, staff was really attentive and it has a great atmosphere.
Party Bus – Dreamkeepers: A
The driver arrived on time, bus was clean and he knew his way around MSU’s campus. What else can you ask for?
Delta Flowers: B
This was my only real let down of the day, but it wasn’t a big enough deal to really complain about. All the flowers were gorgeous, but my bouquet and the reception centerpieces were about ¼ the size that I thought they were going to be. Part of that I guess is just basing an arrangement off what I saw in pictures, but I thought the centerpieces were tiny for what we paid. Also, my bouquet cost 3X what my maids did but it was the same size – I know some of that is because I had orchids in with my roses, but I have a hard time believing that the few stems of orchids accounted for that much of the difference. Like I said above, the flowers were pretty and nobody else knew the difference in cost, it was just kind of a bummer to me.
Also, the shop normally doesn’t do contracts – I said I wouldn’t book without it and they whipped something up for me to sign, but just a heads up if you’re considering working with them. I guess my advice would be to make sure you specify size in your discussions, not just the arrangement/flowers you like.
Photographer – Lovella: A+
We’ve only seen one sneak peek but I love it! Lindsey and Brandon are really easy to work with, and weren’t in everyone’s faces all night – they just hung in the background. Loved my engagement pictures so I have high hopes for the wedding pics. Highly recommend!
Wedding Dress - Brides by Demetrios, Troy
Loved my dress and had a great shopping experience, but didn’t get my alterations done there.
Alterations – The Wedding Shoppe, Berkley: A
Michelle did a great job! Only complaint that I had was sometimes I felt rushed during the appointments, but the dress fit beautifully in the end.
Tuxes – Mens Warehouse: A
All the boys looked great! Only mixup we had was one groomsmen had one shoe that was ½ size bigger than the other, but he was a trooper and didn’t want to bother going back to the store.
Bridesmaid Dresses – Konja’s, Berkley: A+
Huge selection of dresses, and free alterations for the bridesmaids.
Hair & Makeup – Bridge Street Hair Company, Dewitt: A+++++
LOVED this salon! We had 11 ladies getting hair and makeup done and they ended up getting us out of there ahead of schedule. Really accommodating people, super reasonable prices. Check them out!
Here are a few pics!
