I was just a lurker on this thread, but I found several of my vendors by reading people's vendor reviews after their weddings, so now that I'm married, I wanted to share my experiences!
Venue: Stonebrook Manor, Thornton
Grade: A-
Stonebrook Manor is a beautiful setting for a wedding. We had our ceremony out in one of the gardens and our reception inside in the ballroom and it was perfect. I could not have asked for a better venue to get married at. There was another wedding going on right before ours, but I never felt like we were sharing space. I never saw the other wedding (except right before our ceremony) and I never heard them at their reception even though they were right next door. My only complaint with Stonebrook is that they are a wedding factory. Everything is already planned out for you and they would really like it if you used all of their vendors. I felt like we had to push on everything that didn’t match up to how they usually do it—moving our ceremony from 7 to 6:30, bringing in all of our own vendors, etc. Granted, they did work with us and almost everything worked out as long as we pushed for it, but I feel like for the money we were paying, we should not have had to push for so much. This is really just a matter of personal preference; Stonebrook would be perfect if you were looking for convenience and all of your vendors in one place. We were just looking to personalize our wedding a little bit more, so all the pre-planned stuff was a little annoying for us to work through. Also, get everything in writing if they make a special accommodation for you. There were a few minor things that they said one thing and then when it came down to it, said they never told us. Not a big deal in my case, but it could have been, so get it all in writing.
Day of Coordinator/Partial Planner: Danielle Odil, Something Classic Events, CO Springs
Grade: A+
We initially hired Danielle as our Day of Coordinator, but about 6 months before the wedding decided to hire her for partial planning assistance as well. I found her inspiration board to be very helpful in getting a vision for my wedding (I’m not a visual person) and she was very helpful with any questions I had about planning, finding vendors, etc. The day of the wedding and the few days before, she was amazing! She ran everything, every last detail, and I didn’t have to worry about a thing, and best of all, neither did my mom. Danielle made it possible for me, my mom, my bridesmaids, and all of my close friends and family to sit back and actually enjoy the day instead of worrying about the details. I knew my wedding and reception were safe in her hands. She set everything up, cued the ceremony, told my husband and I where we needed to be and when, kept us on time, and helped clean up after we left. On a more personal note, Danielle is very energetic, knowledgeable, resourceful, and truly cares about each wedding she does. I always felt like she was really excited for me, truly interested in my wedding, and cared about me as a person. My mom continually says it was the best money she ever spent and that Danielle is worth every penny and I completely agree.
Florist: Cherrie Silverman, Cherry Blossoms, Westminster
Grade: A++
I could not have been happier with the flowers at my wedding! Flowers were essential to the theme of the wedding (we did an English Garden theme), but I have very little knowledge of different flower types and I did not want to spend a lot of time micro-managing this aspect of the wedding. Cherrie was very upfront about her prices and her work, and the quality of her work is outstanding for a very good price. She can be a bit scattered sometimes, but she was genuinely excited about doing the flowers for my wedding (as she told me many times) and all we did was give her a general idea of what I liked, the colors I wanted, and the things we needed and she took care of the rest. I never stressed about the flowers and when I walked into the bridal room on the day of the wedding and saw my bouquet and the bridesmaid’s bouquets waiting in vases, I was in awe of what a beautiful job she did. I knew we picked the perfect person to do our flowers and as long as I’m in the area, I will never use another florist besides Cherrie.
Photographer/Videographer: Yellow Paddle Photography, Windsor
Joe and Elizabeth-photographers, Gary and Dani-videographers
Grade: A
We went with Yellow Paddle because my brother in law works for them and we happen to know the founders of the company. They take up and coming student photographers and match them with you to give you a great deal- students cost less, but often do better work because they want to do their best, plus they get to build their portfolios. Even though they are “students”, all of their photographers have a ton of on the job experience, are quite good, and do quality work. The day of the wedding, the photographers were great about getting our extensive list of family shots (we have a somewhat complicated, large family) and were unobtrusive throughout the whole day. I really never noticed them taking pictures besides our formal shots. We loved having two photographers because it gave us two different perspectives of our day. We also did the videography package (we knew the videographers too) and they were excellent as well. We haven’t seen the video yet, but they filmed everything unobtrusively and were very behind the scenes. We can’t wait to get our video and our disc of pictures soon!
Cake: Das Meyer, Arvada
Grade: A+
Stonebrook Manor includes a cake in their package, but we went to Das Meyer because my husband did not like the icing on Stonebrook’s cakes. It was all very easy to set up and they were always helpful with any questions/special requests I had. They do tastings every Saturday for most of the year and you go in and basically have as much cake as you like as you taste their specialty selections. Das Meyer makes the best wedding cake I have ever tasted and ours was no exception! Plus, they make you a free cake for your first anniversary so you don’t have to worry about saving any or eating freezer burned cake in a year!
Dress: d’Anelli Bridal, Lakewood
Grade: A
We went to d’Anelli pretty early in my search for a dress and I’m so glad we did. Carol, the consultant we worked with, listened to my thoughts about what I wanted in a dress and let me pull my own dresses that I was interested in, but she also asked if she could suggest a dress for me. Initially, I was apprehensive, but I agreed to let her select a dress for me. As soon as I put it on and walked out to show my mom, she was in tears. She knew it was the one, and Carol agreed. They insisted it was “me”, that it fit my personality better than any other dress. Carol took my size into consideration (I’m very petite) and said that I didn’t want a dress that was overwhelming in size, fabric, or decoration, and this dress was none of those things. I needed a little convincing, but after 3 trips back, I knew the dress Carol suggested was the one. Like Carol, everyone else there was always very helpful, very nice, and very accommodating. On my wedding day, I knew I had made the right choice. I felt like me in my dress and that was so important.
BM Dresses: David’s Bridal, Westminster
Grade: B
I went to David’s Bridal for my bridesmaid’s dresses because I had bridesmaids all over the country and wanted them to be able to go to a store in their area and get their dress on their own so we would know it fit, they could go at their leisure, etc. I also figured they had a good selection of dresses in a lot of different colors which was good for my bridesmaids as they all have very different body types. I ended up picking out two dresses in the same fabric and color that each bridesmaid could choose between. It ended up that all my bridesmaids wanted to pick the same one—how convenient! However, after two of my bridesmaids ordered their dresses, they discontinued the dress that all the girls liked and didn’t inform us. So when the other two girls went to order their dresses, they had to get the other one. It all worked out fine in the end, and everyone looked great in the two different dresses, but I was really upset that they didn’t even tell me that one of my bridesmaid dresses had been discontinued, especially since if something had gone wrong with the dresses that did get ordered before they were discontinued, we wouldn’t have been able to fix it.
Formalwear: Men’s Wearhouse, Broomfield
Grade: B+
We chose Men’s Wearhouse for the same reason that I chose David’s Bridal for my bridesmaids—we had groomsmen from all over and Men’s Wearhouse is a national chain. All of the guys looked great in their tuxes and they even had sizes for our ring bearer who was three. The only reason I didn’t rate them higher was because their customer service while we were in the store was really bad. Every time I went in (and I heard the same from my dad and brother when they went in), I felt like I was seriously inconveniencing the salesperson for needing help and asking questions. No one offered to help us when we walked in or even when we wandered around the store looking lost. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if this only happened once, but it happened every time I was in the store. It was convenient, and a great product, I just wasn’t pleased with their customer service.
DJ: A Music Plus, Denver
Grade: A
Originally we weren’t going to use a DJ, so when we did decide to use one, we wanted to find one that wasn’t too expensive and would accommodate our specific instructions and requests. A Music Plus was exactly what we were looking for. Every time I called or emailed them, they were very helpful (even when I called multiple times, just to confirm our sound arrangements for the ceremony). They gave us a comprehensive packet to fill out before the wedding that detailed our wedding vision, special songs to played, announcements to be made, and play/do not play lists. We gave them a sampling of songs that we liked and during the reception, they pretty much played songs off our list or similar songs. The DJs were professional, fun, and interactive, but didn’t talk much except to make announcements, which is exactly what we wanted. The only two things that seemed to go wrong were that the sound cut out on our pastor about halfway through the ceremony and they didn’t invite other father/daughter and mother/son couples to join us during those two dances like we had requested. Other than that, everything was perfect music-wise! I would definitely use them again.
Paper Products: Chelsey Helberg
Grade: A
I found Chelsey through a school friend as she had just quit her job to start her own design business. We were having a hard time finding an invitation design that we liked at any stationers so we asked Chelsey if she would design something for us. We met and looked through paper samples and some previous invitations she had designed. She ran us through all the options and was very upfront about what options would be more/less expensive. Once we picked something, we drew up a contract and she sent us four designs to choose from. When we got the invitations, we were so happy! They were unique and high quality, and everybody we knew complimented how beautiful they were. We were so happy with them, we went back to Chelsey for announcements, menus, bar menus, table cards, programs, and cards for our welcome bags. Again, everything she designed and printed for us was outstanding! The only reason I didn’t give her an A+ was because she was sometimes very difficult to get a hold of and often waited until the last minute to get things done. This was very frustrating sometimes, but for me, she made up for it with the quality of her product (and nothing was ever actually late). She’s just getting started and doesn’t have a website yet, but if you want her info, message me and I’ll send you her email.
I hope this helps! Happy planning!