I could not have made it through my engagement, especially the last couple of months without all of you on the Mpls board. Thank you so much for your advice, ideas, and inspiration. There are a few photos on my knot.com website:
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/EmilyJohnston&JeremyBest
Check out our photographers web site for even more photos. The link to their site is below in their review.
Vendor Reviews
Reception: Doubletree Park Place in St. Louis Park A
We worked with Katie and she was wonderful! It was important to us to have a hotel connected to our reception site with so many out of town guests attending our wedding. We used the atrium for our cocktail hour and then moved up to the ballroom for the reception. I liked having the two separate spaces. They were both large enough to accommodate our +275 guest list. We also were able to use the parlor rooms on the 14th and 15th floors for after bar parties. We knew our friends wouldn’t be ready to end the night at midnight, so we continued the party in each of the parlor rooms. We also used the parlor room on the 14th floor on Friday night so my parents could entertain out of town guests who were staying at the hotel. It worked really well. The only negative with the Doubletree was the room block reservation process. Many of our guests were told the room block was full, when it wasn’t. They were still able to get rooms at the discounted rate, but they wouldn’t show up when we pulled the room block list. This posed a small problem when we were doing bags for all of the guests staying at the hotel. We didn’t have an accurate count, so we planned on lots of extra. But as far as I know everyone got a bag and we only ended up with 4 extra on Sunday. So it all worked out in the end. I can’t say enough about Katie. She really went the extra mile for us. From the beginning she had great ideas and was always willing to answer our questions. The food was excellent, the chef even used a recipe that my mom had for wild rice and he’s going to add it to their banquet menu. They were all great to work with and I’d highly recommend this space to anyone looking at it for their reception.
Make-up: Mariah’s Beauty Marks A+
Mariah did a great job for both my trial run and the day of. I found out about her on these boards and she was really easy to work with. I went to her for my trial run and then she came to the church on my wedding day. She’s a great listener and my make-up looked great all day long. www.mariahsbeautymarks.com
Dress: David’s Bridal A
I didn’t want to get my dress at David’s simply because everyone seems to get their dress there and I didn’t want to have the same one as someone else. That being said, when my mom and I walked into the Richfield store and saw the dress on the mannequin we both liked it because it was different from anything else that we’d seen. And we’d been to six other stores. I tried it on, it fit like a glove, and when I imagined myself walking down the aisle in it I could actually see it. I knew it was the dress for me. It came in a couple weeks prior to the estimated delivery date. I picked it up and that was it.
Alterations: Louise Kegley A+
There is nothing I can say about Louise that hasn’t been said before. She’s wonderful to work with, easy to meet with, and simply fantastic. All I needed was a bustle added to my dress. She showed me a couple options and had it done in about a week and a half. If you pay in cash, you get 10% off.
Flowers: Christine’s Floral Touch A++
Christine Anderson is simply wonderful. Our flowers were beautiful and super affordable. I found some snowflake earrings that she was able to attach to wires and incorporate into my bouquet. It added just the sparkle I was looking for. Christine is the type of person that won’t leave until the job is done. I highly recommend her. christine@christinesfloraltouch.com
Cake: Queen of Cakes A+
I loved our cakes! After trying 4 other bakeries I decided to go with Queen of Cakes. They were a little more expensive than other bakeries, but their cake is so fantastic and having good cake was really important to me. We had centerpiece cakes (one on each table) and then a special cake designed after the box that my husband put my ring in when he proposed. There were five different flavors for the centerpiece cakes and then we asked them to try a special flavor for our cake, which they did and it tasted really good. It was also important to me that the cakes were fresh, and going with a larger bakery like Queen of Cakes insured that they would be. They did a fantastic job on our special cake. You also get a discount if you book three months in advance. I worked with Bethany and she was great. www.queen-of-cakes.com
Photography: Pavelena Photography A+++
Our photographers were beyond wonderful, and our photos are amazing. Pavel and Helen did our engagement photos and our wedding photos. Prior to our engagement photo shoot, they went to Minnehaha Falls and scouted out tons of different spots to take pictures. It was the hottest day of the summer, but we spent probably three hours taking pictures. Pavel came to our rehearsal and was at the church the day of the wedding early to set-up and scout out more locations. They were with us from 10:00 in the morning until 9:00 that night. They captured so many wonderful moments and even set up their laptop at the reception with some photos that they took prior to the wedding so everyone could see them. When choosing your photographer you want someone that has a good personality, someone who listens to you, and someone who goes the extra mile. Pavel and Helen do all of that and more. I can’t recommend them enough. And their price can’t be beat! www.pavelena.com
Rehearsal Dinner: Chatterbox Highland Park A
My husband and I had our first date there, and it’s right across the street from our church. So it made perfect sense to have our rehearsal dinner there. They have a banquet room that was the perfect size. We ordered off their limited menu and everyone raved about their food. They brought in a couch and set up an old school Nintendo so that the kids and adults could play games while waiting for their food. Plus they have board games that you can use, there were a couple tables playing Jenga. It was so much fun and the perfect way to start off our wedding weekend.
Honeymoon: Sandals Regency, St. Lucia A+++++
I highly recommend going away right away after you get married. We left for St. Lucia on the Tuesday after our Saturday wedding. It was great to have a couple days at home to pack and rest a bit before the big trip. Then we were on our way to this wonderful island in the Caribbean. We had such a great time at Sandals, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. All inclusive is the way to go on your honeymoon. You don’t have to worry about a single thing. Your biggest decision each day is what drink to order at the swim up bar, believe me there are plenty to choose from. The beach was beautiful, the pools (there were 3) were so much fun. The food was unbelievable. We took pictures of almost every meal. We also went on two excursions, one was a catamaran cruise around the island, the other was zip lining through the rain forest. So much fun! Other than the excursions we spent time in the pool, on the beach, meeting new people, resting and relaxing. It was so hard to leave! It’s worth every penny that we spent, and so worth saving for. Go on a honeymoon, go to an all inclusive, and go to St. Lucia if you can. You’ll have the time of your life.