I am one happy married lady! I was a big time lurker and seldomly posted, but always found the post-wedding reviews most helpful. I was married Nov 5th in an outdoor ceremony with 87 of my closest family and friends. It was my most perfect day! Hope you find these reviews helpful...
Venue (ceremony & reception)
ALDREDGE HOUSE
Oh, how I loved this place! If you are looking for a beautiful backyard setting, seriously delicious food (and I'm super picky about wedding food), a vintage yet timeless ambiance (is this possible??), and a creative and helpful catering manager...Aldredge House is your place. The house is so grand and classy but holding the ceremony and reception outside (they have a separate area for the ceremony) makes it feel so relaxed- it really was the best of both worlds I thought.
Pricing includes venue, F&B, a wedding coordinator (day of), white garden chairs (for ceremony&reception), tables (up to 13, rounds of 8-10), white linens/napkins, basket with champagne and sparkling water, cheese/crackers and cake or pies, and she'll throw in comp easels if needed.
Megan with Food Glorious Food (the Aldredge House's caterer) was great! She's the only contact with the AH and very busy, so responses definitely took a few days but I wasn't ever in a rush with time-sensitive requests so I didn't care. She knew her stuff though and we created our own fun and festive fall menu for my day.
My DOC was Evelyn Tan with Bride Associates and she was amazing! She was like a ninja- appearing out of nowhere and calmly letting me know I had 3 mins to cut the pie, til the first dance, etc. If she could tell I was having too much fun to cut pie she would wait a few minutes longer. I didn't feel rushed at all, or ever have to think about any to-do's on my wedding day and I was able to enjoy every minute of the day. Evelyn is perfect!
Photographer
Natalie Shelton w/
NBarret Photography
My favorite vendor...worth every penny,. Natalie is so artistic but more than that, she's such a sweet and fun chick! Check out her stuff:
www.nbarrettphotography.com/blog/">
http://www.nbarrettphotography.com/blog/.
Floral/Decor
BranchingOut Events
Picking a florist was definitely not my favorite part of the planning process. So much money for something that will be thrown out in 5 hours
Those feelings changed the second I met Debby Jewesson with BranchingOut. Our first meeting was at her office/showroom, talking about my ideas (I didn't really have any), and what kind of feel I wanted--pretty/girly/timeless/vintage. That girl immediately flew into action. Yippee! She was perusing through the aisles of her showroom, picking up various funky pieces, vases, flowers, just fun stuff, and setting it up to wait for my feedback. She would interchange pieces, add something, take something out...she's brilliant and her hands-on approach made flower-picking fun! And most of all I had complete confidence in her and never thought about the floral/decor again. Whew!
On my wedding day, my flowers made me so very happy, I couldn't/can't stop gushing about them. I wanted a very soft, natural look as if I picked them myself from a wonderful, beautiful garden somewhere...and Debby delivered, and I knew she would. AH has an arch at their ceremony site that she decorated soooooo beautifully. My centerpieces were very simple- sweet bird set on birch, spanish glass vases with soft floral. Everything was just perfect.
DJ/Lighting/PhotoBooth
Randy Ro Entertainment (Randy Roberson)
I guess I'm just not made out for the bride role because I had a hard time with my search for a DJ too. I just always felt like they were soooo cheesy...such a beating. Randy was the first DJ my FI and I met with and we both really liked him. He is totally laid back yet very professional. You will do the majority of the talking at your first meeting. He doesn't throw out a bunch of ideas for the first dance, or getting grandma involved, or money dances, or flash mobs, whatever. He has a great, subtle sense of humor and you feel confident in everything he says, at least we did. We wanted less interaction, more music. He delivered and was flawless. Our dance floor wasn't packed the whole night but I didn't expect for it to be. The photobooth however was! all night long, and the pics from the booth are hilarious. Great investment! I highly recommend Randy.
MUA & Hair Courtney with Chi Ro
I have mixed feelings...her mom is so sweet and coordinates all of her appointments, via text. Courtney is very nice as well and has perfect the "Jessica Simpson due". My trial was before my e-pics...was super quick and went well- my hair wasn't 100% what I wanted (I'm beyond picky with hair!) but with a couple of personal touches I was happy. As for makeup, that was the first time I ever tried airbrush and I don't wear a lot of makeup anyway...when it was done I was scared. Clown face! Why did I decide to wait until AFTER my appt to pick up some things at the grocery store?? My friend said it looked good so I went with it, and the e-pics looked amazing, so what do I know?
My wedding party, mom, and I all had hair/MU done on my wedding day- 10 services total. Courtney was quick (maybe 40 mins for hair AND MU per person). I LOVED my hair and makeup- it was natural and perfect and lasted the entire night, granted it was just a half-up do. Still flawless. My BM's and mom didn't care as much for theirs, clown-face comments were made, a couple of tears shed. Courtney was patient with their hair redo requests and I thought they all looked great with some tweaks.
Note- Courtney is adament that anyone having a service done needs to be showered and lined up ready to go all at the same time (in my case 8am for pics at 2am) or she gets pretty bugged. In her experience (made sense to me, especially with my group of notoriously late girls), one late BM means two late BM's, and then she's waiting and it interrupts her groove and she ends up having to rush the Bride's makeup. I secretly appreciated HER taking the role of bridezilla so I didn't have to
Host Hotel
AdolphusI like the common areas (piano player, great wines/food, historic vibe) but the rooms are definitely lacking. Service was decent, room rates are pretty cheap, overall OK place. Almost everyone stayed there the night of the wedding, and they all loved it. There's some fun, walkable bars around too that are great to keep the party going.
Happy planning to all you Brides-to-Be! My advice is to try and enjoy every minute, pray for perspective, and just go with the flow. No one will notice (or at least point out) any misses. Your wedding will truly be perfect because you are marrying the person you love and that's the only thing that matters.