RVL ENTERTAINMENT
Sean, the owner was very accommodating up until a week before the wedding when we submitted our wedding questionnaire and I was told "due to the growing nature of our business it is no longer in the best interest of our company to provide all special request songs". We had only requested 5 songs (first dance, father/daughter dance, anniversary dance and bouquet/garter toss)all of which were mainstream, easy to find songs. If I as a client have to download and provide the music to the company, I'm not sure why I wouldn't just download all my own music to an ipod. In all fairness when I told Sean that I was unhappy with this, he was very apologetic and said he had obtained all requested music. The actual DJ who did our event on the other hand, was a mess. He showed up 10 minutes before the start of our cocktail hour dressed in shorts and a polo and when confronted about these things, was very defensive and rude. My dad ended up having to help run cable and he did change into khakis and a different polo, still not the semi-formal attire I had requested in our questionnaire. After the wedding we brought all of our concerns up with Sean and he forwarded them to our wedding day DJ (Ryan) who told us he was unable to offer us a refund/partial refund because he was "short on cash". All in all my guests had a good time because the dj played mostly requests, but I would not book this company again and learned that you get what you pay for and there is a reason this company is the cheapest in Edmonton. I had also heard from a wedding planner we were considering hiring,that this company has been operated under several different business names, and that once the reviews get too bad, they change their name.
BEE BELL BAKERY
We booked Bee Bell because we won a $150 voucher at a wedding fair, the cake was supposed to be an exact replica of a cake they had at a wedding fair, and it was for the most part. The middle layer was supposed to be quilted with black pearl accents and we ended up with white pearl accents. The cake was yummy and HUGE, would have easily served 2x the number of people they quoted us to and we ended up with TONS left over, but that's no fault of the bakery. We were very indifferent about the cake, if it would have been an exact representation of what we ordered I would give them 5 stars.
SAWMILL BANQUET CENTER
Wow, I don`t have enough good things to say about this place. Paul, the banquet manager/coordinator was so amazing to work with. He always answered emails the next day, and sometimes within hours and him and his staff went above and beyond what I expected from a caterer. When my flowers died between Friday’s set up and the wedding day, they phoned 7 florists to find me new ones, when my dj wasn’t there they phoned my parents to find out where he was, when I forgot to create a signature drink Paul looked one up for me and printed the signage for the bar. Every neurotic bridezilla moment, big or small they did whatever they could to put me at ease without making me feel like a crazy person. The night of the wedding they were constantly checking with me and my MC to find out how things were going, and what they could help with. They cleaned up the entire hall the night of the wedding so all we had to do was show up and pick up our things. The pricing was AMAZING for what we got, and the quality of the food was outstanding. The room rental fee includes all staff (bartenders, waitresses, clean up, cake cutting) and there are no surprise extra fees, what you see really is what you get. They were as committed and concerned about our day as we were and I can honestly say that they made my day that much more amazing. If you’re looking for great food, and amazing service definitely book the Sawmill, you will not regret it.
THE WILD ORCHID
My flowers were EXACTLY what I asked for and we received SO many compliments on them. The staff were great to work with, never upset that I kept changing my mind. It definitely helped the process by giving them a list of things I absolutely did not want (lavender, white, green, etc), and I gave them several pictures to go from as well as a color swatch of the girls dresses. Kind of pricy ($1000 for 2 church arrangements, 2 bridesmaids, 1 bride, 5 boutineers,4 corsages)but I would pay it again in an instant, I loved my bouquet so much I paid to have it preserved.
URBAN AFFAIRS EVENT RENTALS
Do not book this rental company unless you want the run around and unwanted stress. Initially I booked because of pricing and the booth at a bridal fair but they offered a groupon type deal a few months after we booked and ended up with more clients than they could handle which lead to poor service. Our contract said they were to be there with all rentals at 3pm and were setting up the backdrop. They phoned the day before the wedding and said they couldn't find my napkins so they were renting them from another store and I would have to arrange payment in lieu of the balance I owed them. Then the Friday before the wedding they showed up at 4pm, and dropped stuff off and didn't tell us where (the assistant was outside in her car instead of telling me where everything was).When they arrived they had an entirely wrong set up for the backdrop and had to leave to rent the right one from a different rental company and even then the backdrop did not get set up until saturday afternoon. The uplighting didn't show up until 7pm, and then only 7 of the 11 lights were there, without extension cords that I had previously requested be delivered. The candles for the vases were not there either, and the vases were FILTHY. It was also very hard to get email replies back, and the things I asked her to look into were not done without me having to remind her. After the wedding I addressed all my concerns and no type of reimbursement was offered. This is a one woman show with too many clients and poor time management, the price difference from other companies does not make up for the poor customer service.
THE PAPER TREE
We did DIY pocketfolds with supplies from the paper tree, the staff were very helpful and offered great advice on assembly, glue and paper. Kind of expensive but on par with what other paper stores in Edmonton charge. All the stationary for our wedding was DIY, so I have no reviews other than they were helpful and the store is well laid out organized.
BMP PHOTO BOOTH
Got a great price on a one day facebook sale, Trevor was great to deal with, friendly and upbeat at the wedding, he came in Friday to set up and showed up at the designated time Saturday night. Our guests LOVED the photobooth and had so much fun. We love that we have a copy of each of the photo strips in the album that was included with the booking. I have been to LOTS of weddings with photobooths, and this was a very simple set up (curtained off partition)and was kind of small and the quality of the pictures were very basic (but good) in comparison to some of the more well known/photographer run booths with the photo walls instead of booths, but we were very happy with it all and would book again.
THE TUXEDO HOUSE
This was the only tux shop in Edmonton that had the tie and vest color we wanted. They also have ALL their tuxes on site so if the day of the fitting something is wrong they fix it immediately unlike the bigger shops where all the tuxes are stored in a central location (sometimes not in Edmonton). Price was comparable to other stores and they fit great and the quality looked awesome.
BRIDAL DEBUT SHERWOOD PARK
Had great service every time I was in, dress came in WAY earlier than quoted and the pricing was fair. Only lost points because they recommend me to get a bigger size since I was between sizes, I went with the smaller one and still had my dress altered down 1.5 sizes. Alterations are WAY overpriced, had a professional seamstress do all my alterations from her home for 1/3 of the price (she works at a popular edmonton bridal salon)and she custom made my veil and rented the hoop. DO NOT get alterations done where you buy your dress unless you are made of money.
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CINDY GANNON PHOTOGRAPHY
We won 4 hours of wedding photography, with all negatives on a disk via a facebook contest. Cindy and her assistant Vanessa were great to work with, we had so much fun doing our pictures and having our consultation. She understood the vibe we wanted for our pictures and was very accommodating with them, even picked up our balloon order the day before so we wouldn't have to worry about them the day of. Only reason not full points on the review is some of the ceremony pictures are very blurry and I feel like some moments may have been missed. This may have been no fault of Cindy's, the church had restrictions on when it was ok to take pictures and we only had 4 hours of photography so we were a little pressed for time. We honestly had such a great experience though and for a free package we were more than happy, she even edited some pictures even though it wasn't included in the package.
feel free to send me a messgae if you have specific questions, also I have a lot of wedding stuff for sale I can link you too on kijiji