And with this they are officially done! Woohoo. I added a few proof pics we got back from LV Wedding Communication at the bottom.
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Group Dinner -
Yolo's: B
Giving them a B, but nothing really spectacular about their food, service, or anything. Like most Mexican places on the West coast, they use black beans instead of refried and their salsa has cilantro in it. The food was nowhere near as good as your average Mexican place back in Texas (Tex-Mex or not), and about twice the price. The only drink menu they had were their specials, of which some were sold out due to an issue with the machine they use to make margaritas. (No margaritas, boo!) The waiter came often to the table, but since there was no regular drink menu and the bar was located at the front of the restaurant, we had to keep asking him if we could have this cocktail or that. He had no clue about drinks at all... Eventually we all ordered whatever was left off the specials menu. I know some brides have talked about the idea of doing your wedding here, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you already love the place.
Spray Tan -
Smooth Brides (Kelly): B
I got a sunburn on my neck/arms/back that turned into tanlines about a month before the wedding. Since my dress was sleeveless and backless I decided to get a spray tan to help even out the tone. Rheanne said she was quitting the business when I called from referral from this board and I could never get ahold of a person from Tantrix (which has a sweet bridal tan package) no matter how many times I called, so with the wedding just a week out I decided to book with Smooth Brides because they also had good reviews on Yelp.
Kelly was great about communication before and after I booked. However about an hour before my tan appointment, she called to get my room number. I gave her the room number and then she told me she couldn't make the appointment due to not knowing the room number beforehand. (But somehow managed to call my room telephone without it..?) So she asked me to reschedule later that day and we reschedule.
When she arrived she was sweet as pie and got to work straight away. She said a spray tan usually took about 10 minutes, but in my case it took more like an hour because there was some problem with her sprayer (it wasn't coming out properly) and the non-tanned part of my skin was so pale it apparently took more application than usual. It looked fine when she left, but started to rub off quite a bit after the first shower. You can still see a bit of the color difference in a few of the wedding pics, but nothing a little editing won't fix.
About three days later the rest of the spray tan had completely washed off. I think that was probably just due to my skin not taking it well. We didn't have room for a trial in our schedule, but I would definitely recommend a trial first to other brides thinking about doing it.
Dress -
Ting Bridal (etsy): A+++++!
I took a pretty big risk ordering my wedding dress online, but anything local was $4,000+ and everytime I went dress hunting online I always ended up back at Ting's
Lanvu gown. She was a pleasure to work with all the way and finished the dress a week before the date originally quoted, shipped it out quickly, and it arrived packed carefully and in pristine condition. It fit like a glove and I adored my dress! The only mishap i encountered was that she made the sash without confirming what color I wanted first, but she was quick to send a new one at no extra charge.
MOH's Dress -
David's Bridal: A+++++!
Since my MOH and I are an ocean apart, it was really convenient going with them. I picked out a dress online, my MOH went in for a fitting at the nearest location to her, and the staff person that assisted her was kind enough to put a hold on the dress order until I could call the next business day and pay for it over the phone.
When you place a dress order, their database is able to pull up the exact date the dress will be in by, which made me feel very comfortable about the whole transaction. In fact it was such a breeze that another Japanese friend of mine requested that I help her place an order there for her reception dress, too. It also came in way before the due date and she was pleased as well.
Groom's Wedding Band -
Raven's Refuge (etsy): A+++!
We ordered my custom wedding band from the same store that FI bought my e-ring from, but for groom wedding bands they were so expensive we just couldn't afford it. We found something almost exactly the same for much less here. Communication was great; talking to Laura was like talking to an old friend and she was oh so helpful. The ring had to be remade once because it didn't turn out as planned, but they let us know this before shipping to us. Because of this we were worried the ring might not make it in time, but turns out there was nothing to worry about and DH loves his ring- it fits perfectly, too!
Record Guestbook Frame -
DA Custom Frames (etsy): A++++!
I didn't want to just leave the record out on its own for guests to sign, and we also wanted a functional way to display it after the wedding. David had a custom record frame up that had previously sold, so I asked him if he would be willing to make another for our wedding to which he replied it would be no problem.
The frame is simple and well-crafted. There's no glass at the front, so after inserting the record and screwing it down, guests can sign the record with ease and then it's ready to mount. You can see the listing
here for an idea of how it looks. I think we paid around $30 for it before shipping.
Invites -
Ello There (etsy): A
We splurged on our
record invites because they were just too cute! Maddy assisted me the whole way through our order. I ordered a custom map to be printed on the back of the record sleeve, which held up printing time a little longer than expected.
Although the end result was fab, I didn't have a design planned out in advance and it took weeks of repeated explanation to finally get a sample design that included everything that was supposed to go on there without any errors. It would have been better to have had a sketch of a rough decision of what we wanted done drawn up beforehand to avoid miscommunication;/delays. (My MS Paint skills just weren't cutting it.) Replies from Maddy were always received by the next business day.
Cake Topper -
Heather Boyd (etsy): A++++!
We weren't planning on having a cake topper until I saw
this topper and just had to have one! Our order was shipped super last minute, but Heather was very accommodating and it was mailed out two days later. The topper came carefully wrapped and was a cute as can be! Definitely one of our favorite details of the wedding.
Veil -
Carmen West Creative (etsy): A
The original veil I had set my signs on was quite a bit out of our budget, so I fould a
blusher veil here which we could afford, worked great with bangs, and was small enough that it could be styled a number of ways.
Clutch -
Leela Purse (etsy): A-
I previously reviewed her on here after receiving my clutch, but on the day of the wedding the pearl strap broke at the reception and the clasp was not the strongest. I didn't have anything heavy in there- just oil blotting sheets, my phone, some cash/ID cards/room key, and lipstick/gloss.
The ordering process itself was very smooth and fast. She made sure multiple times on the custom order to make sure everything was correct and the shipping was super fast. The clutch was well padded in the box and came with its own dust bag. So definitely great customer service! The pearl strap is easy enough to fix on its own, but I was just surprised at it coming apart after one use only.
Bride's Hairpiece -
Peace & Glory Details (etsy): A+++!
I hadn't completely decided on my hairstyle before my trial with Francesca so I ordered
her piece with three red roses with a pearl accent on a whim incase the veil looked too plain on its own. It's just darling in person, was shipped quickly, and went really well with the veil. The seller was especially friendly to boot and made sure I got the color that best matched our wedding colors.
Hair Pins -
Sugar Flower (etsy.com): A++
Since my bouquet was made up of red roses and stephanotis, I deided to have a few
stephanotis pins on hand incase they could be incorporated into my hairstyle to match. I used one for my hair and gave another to a friend to wear on the day. My hair is pretty fine/limp so usually pins and clips slide right out of it, but these have held in place so well I've since gotten multiple uses out of them.
Maid of Honor Hairpiece - Olini Floral (etsy): A+
This was another last minute order. I ordered a teal/turquoise flower hairpiece and it arrived looking even more lovely than in the picture. She loved it!
Thank You Cards - A Sea of Ink (etsy.com): A+++!
Ordering from Colleen was such a breeze! We ordered her Vegas sign cards and she had two color change proofs back to us within a day of contact. We picked the one we liked best and in no time the cards were printed and arrived on our doorstep. The quality of the paper stock used is excellent and Colleen was such a sweetheart to communicate with.
