Hey ladies. I just got married on July 31st in Albuquerque. Here’s my review on everything I can think of.
Rehearsal Dinner – Macaroni Grill – A+
We had about 20 people and bill, including tip, was about $500. We did, however, did not have any alcohol for toasts and we made everyone pay for their own alcohol. It was the best way to keep drinking under control. Still, the staff was fabulous and the food was amazing. I’m so happy that we chose this place!
Hair and Make Up – Mark Pardo – A+
I went to the branch on Paseo Del Norte to do both and make up. Hair was done by Danielle who is the sweetest person ever. She worked so hard on my hair. I wasn’t supposed to be with her but because my original hairstylist had a stroke, she was able to squeeze me in and everything turned out fabulous. My make up was done by Kristen and I LOVE her. She did such an amazing job. She visualized what I wanted and made it perfect. Most brides want something natural – which she does an amazing job with – but I wanted something more dramatic. So I got an almost black smoky eye. It turned out beautifully.
Nails – Magic Nails on Golf Course – A-
They did a good job on my nails and my girls. The only think I didn’t like was how they were trying to push their fancy pedi, flowers on everything, and fake nails. You just need to keep telling them “no”. And then they always ask “are you sure” or say “it will be so pretty”. They are persistent. Still, my nails came out really well. So if you can handle that, it will be ok. Honestly, how my nails came out saved them a bit in this review.
Flowers – Savon Wholesale Florists – A+
OMG!! They did such an amazing job on my flowers! I was so excited! I was scared that my flowers were not going to look that great because I chose something that I never seen pictures of – and WOW! They made it beautiful! I also had my girls carry a small bouquet of 3 spider mums, and how they did the ribbons made it perfect. I never thought that I would be so stoked about my flowers but they were my 2nd favorite thing about the wedding (#1 is my cake). Delivery was on time and it was inexpensive. For bridal bouquet, toss bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquet, 8 boutonnieres, and 3 corsages, we spent about $380. Again, my bridesmaids bouquets were small, but it was such an amazing price!
Cake – Say it With Cake – A+++++++++
This is the only thing that we went over budget for and I do not regret it! My heart stopped (in a good way) when I saw our cake. It was beautiful! Birdie (the owner), did such a fantastic job on it. We had a mad hatter in black, white and bright green. We had polkadots and stripes everywhere. I sent her so many scatter brained emails and she delivered with ease! Say it With Cake was so amazing. I even got my now hubby a grooms cake at the last minute with a barrel of monkeys and she was so happy to do it. She loves what she does and that shows in every single cake she makes! Oh – it also tasted amazing! ^^
I got a 4 tier cake (the top tier is of course saved) – and that feeds about 115 people. This did cost close to $600. If this is too much, you can always go for a smaller cake and just buy a sheet cake at costco or something. It is totally worth it though! Say it With Cake is amazing!
Pictures – Portraits by Dolores – A+
Dolores is amazingly enthusiastic photographer who has been taking pictures for many years now! You can see in her work how much she loves these pictures. Also, she will start working on your pictures right away. It has been 6 days since our wedding and she is already finishing up some proofs. Also, she does not spare on how many pictures she takes. Now, I know I was hot and grumpy while taking pictures (as will many of you), but if you just sit through them and drink some water, you will find that you have so many amazing pictures!! Within her main package, (~$700), you get a CD with all of the photos. So all you need to do is take the disk to Walgreens or wal-mart!! She also gives you the option of selecting a print package too! So many options, so inexpensive and so amazing (she has shown my some pictures because I’m so curious)!
DJ – Nathan from Too Hot To Stop – C+
Nathan was very nice to us as customers and he definitely played music that we loved. If I could just grade him on that, he would have a much better review… Though he was nice to us, I heard many complaints from my guests that he was rude to them. Hubby and my family are not big dancers (only when they start drinking a lot), so the first couple of hours, no one really danced. However, some would request songs just to hear and not dance. He finally told my cousin that if she doesn’t dance to the song she requested, he will not take any more requests. Then he kept running off after he started a song to talk on the phone. Another guest approached him to request a special song for us and he told her that he’s busy and brushed her off. They were pretty inexpensive but I was disappointed in the way he treated my guests.
Tuxes – Mens Warehouse - C
This is the grade hubby gave them. It was just bad customer service all the way around. When I first called, they put me on hold for a good 10 minutes and before I had to hang up on them. They also seemed very condescending when I wasn’t aware that they never had tuxes to rent in their stores (just a heads up, you just pick and hope it looks good on your FI). The day to pick them up was interesting too. EVERYONE was rude and we felt that we were just pesky little customers wasting their time. It was horrible. Now, what saved them from a worst grade was the fact that hubby had a white suit and his jacket had a stain on it. They first tried to clean it and then ordered another jacket. I was frightened that they wouldn’t get the jacket in time (it was Thursday that we had to pick up the suits and the wedding was on Saturday). However, they came through. Still, they did not inform hubby that his jacket was in. He had to go and check himself. How nice is that? I would attempt to avoid Mens Warehouse. Then again, maybe it was just this one on Menual. Try the one on the west side if you can or just go to Suits Unlimited. Yuck.
Dress – David’s Bridal – B+
My dress was beautiful. My helper was wonderful. Alterations were pricey (expected though) but the people who do them are amazing. WARNING – Do not work with a chick named Bess. I’ve always had bad experiences with her and so has everyone else I talked to. Many describe her as just weird. The only problem I had was with my MOH’s dress. When it was about time to get it, we both called. We called them about once a week for four weeks (both of us!). Finally, someone told MOH that he dress was in and has been in for a month. It pissed me off, but at least we ordered dresses a good 6 months before the wedding.
Venue – Nativo Lodge - D and A+
I know this looks weird but I had to use two different grades for Natvio.
The A+ has to go to the banquet manager, workers and chef. Food was amazing, the set up was beautiful and the banquet manager worked so hard to please us. They were always trying to help us and serve us. They even bought hubby and my first drink!! They made sure we ate and even boxed our entrees and put them in our hotel room so we could eat something. They did an amazing job! Our reception was a dream come true! Absolutely beautiful!
Now the D+. We booked this place a year and a half before the wedding date. About February, we received an email saying that the event manager has changed and she was kind enough to introduce herself to us. I do believe that she is also the event manager at Hotel Albuquerque (they are of the same Heritage Branch). However, she did not respond to my emails after that. We later found out that someone else came along to replace her for Natvio. This woman was very kind but I notice that she had all the emails I wrote earlier which were never responded to, printed out in her folder. Either there was no communication between the two or I was just ignored. Still, she was easy to work with so ignored this blinding fact. I continued to write emails, however, with no responses. Perhaps 2 weeks later, I called to finalize some details and found out that someone else was event manager. Thus, in the last 6 months before my wedding, I dealt with 4 different event managers and only 1 informed us of this change. It was frustrating. Finally, this last woman…. Yikes. What a nightmare. She 1st seemed aggravated that we came over to meet her and talk about some details about the wedding. Given, we didn’t have a meeting but that’s what happens when we try calling her for a good 3 hours with no avail. So, she was rude to us in our first meeting and then she tried to charge us $500 for the rehearsal. So we fought about this and won. The rehearsal… well, she told us where tables might be. I had to say no, “I want them here”. She had no control of the situation. My sister had to basically be a wedding planner and do everything for me (before I had a panic attack). The event manager just stood there and watched. Finally, the day of the wedding…. I saw her maybe 4 times. She informed me of something (I don’t remember, it was 30 minutes before the wedding and that’s just a flash). I’m sure I saw her somewhere else and then she visited us twice at the table during the reception. 1, to see how everything was. 2, to say that she was leaving. I’m sure if we said, “please do something”, she might have had done so. However, I find it horribly unprofessional if I had to say something like that.
Despite event manager chaos, the wedding was beautiful and perfect. I loved it so much. It was a fantastic day!!!