Hi ladies,I didn't post on this board too often, but I used a lot of your advice throughout the wedding planning process. We got married on October 24th and our wedding was wonderful and everything we planned for! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet (explanation below) but I can send them to anyone who may be interested in my locations. Hope this helps all the planning brides out there! Reception – The Mills House Grade: A+++ Our reception at the Mills House turned out absolutely perfect and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Sara Jones was our contact and was the coordinator for the evening. She was wonderful to work with, very helpful, and always responsive. She found a way for us to make everything happen that we wanted, even if they were last-minute requests. The food was amazing (from what I’m told – I only at the food at the tasting!) and the staff was great. I would highly recommend having your reception here if you’re looking for a location with real Charleston charm. Overall, it was a little on the expensive side but worth every penny. Band – Travis Allison Band Grade: A+ The band was awesome and our guests were dancing all night long. Travis is very professional and was great to work with. Highly recommend them. Florist – Dale Wallace of Fine Floral Creations (Summerville) Grade: A Our flowers and décor looking AMAZING. Dale was able to create centerpieces, bouquets, bouts, and décor that would fit within our budget. The overall outcome – phenomenal and completely unique. Photographer – Tammy Bevins Photography Grade: TBD I absolutely loved the photos Tammy took for our engagement session. My bridal portrait session with her turned out well, but I didn’t have as many favorites as I did with the e-session. I’m hesitant to give a grade to Tammy yet because it’s been almost 3 weeks and I haven’t seen a single picture from the wedding – not even a sneak peek – so I’m pretty disappointed. L She is a very talented photographer but at times I felt their “business side” was not the best. Ceremony – St. Luke’s Chapel Grade: A We were looking for a location that was inside and downtown, but non-denominational. St. Luke’s Chapel was so beautiful and was the perfect size for our 120-guest wedding. The only issue we had was that they tend to book back-to-back events, so we had to end our rehearsal exactly on time since there was another event coming in after us. Limo Transportation – White Tie Limos Grade: A Great! Guest Transportation – Absolutely Charleston Grade: B We hired trolleys to transport guests from the Mills House to the chapel and back in order to accommodate over 75% of our guests being out-of-towners. The company did a great job on the day of. The only issues we had was that A) The idea overall became a bit confusing for the guests who didn’t read all of the inserts that came with the invitations and
The company was a bit slow in booking us because they had another wedding on hold for our date. After much convincing and a promise to deliver the deposit right away, we were able to secure the trolleys. Getaway Transportation – Charleston Black Cab Company Grade: A They were great and were waiting outside when it was time for us to leave! Dress – Bridals by Jodi Grade: B My gown was reasonably priced, came in in a timely manner, and they were great about steaming the dress before my portraits and wedding day. My biggest peeve was they never called me when my dress was in….I called them to check on it and they said it had been in. Bridesmaid Dresses – Jcrew.com Grade: A We ordered the bridesmaid dresses from JCrew.com. It was a great choice for a reasonably priced dress that I thought the girls would enjoy wearing again. JCrew was great about adjusting the price we paid for the dresses when they went on sale a few weeks later. My girls only paid $99 + shipping for the dresses! Makeup – Pamela Lesch Makeup Artist Grade: A+ Pamela was fantastic! She came to my house to do my makeup (and my mom’s) which was so nice on a busy wedding morning to be in the comfort of your own home. She used Airbrush MAC makeup that made me look and feel like a supermodel and stayed on all day and all night. She also applied false eyelashes, which looked great and she made me feel comfortable with them since it was my first time wearing them. She also did my makeup (as my trial run) for my portrait so I knew exactly how my makeup was going to look for my wedding day. Highly recommend. Hair – Fabienne at Nouveau Salon (Summerville) Grade: A+ Fabienne is fantastic and used to do my hair when I lived in town. My ‘do stayed put all day and all night long and she is VERY reasonable. She also arranged to do all my bridesmaids’ hair, which look great too. Fabienne is very talented and creative and was able to give me the exact hairstyle I wanted from a picture I brought in of another bride. Alterations – A Stitch Witch Grade: A They were great! I had to visit with them 3 times the week of the wedding to get my dress altered (too big, too tight, then just right). They were really accommodating and probably would have done anything to make sure my dress fit me on my wedding day. Accessories – Ordered online from various sites Shoes – Zappos.com Jewelry – Bloomingdales.com Garter & Cocktail Napkin – The Knot Store Jewelry – D. Geller & Sons (Atlanta, GA) Grade: B My engagement ring and our wedding bands were purchased at D. Geller & Sons in Atlanta (where we live). They were great and even worked with me to design my wedding band and I ended up with exactly what I wanted.