My late Vendor reviews!
Cake
“Let Them Eat Cake” Andra Millage Bellingham- A+ Andra is incredible. It threw us off at first because she works from her home but has decades of experience and has her business license! We arrived there for a (free) tasting and she was all set up to show us her delicious cake and giant books of photos that she has done over the years. She is from the south so she is a master of the groom’s cakes. We wanted buttercream, but her skill is so amazing that you would have thought it was fondant! She listened to us, drew out pictures as we were speaking, and even whipped up ganache right there in front of us when H said he hated icing to show him that icing doesn’t HAVE to be super sweet. She also had great pricing! Our cake fed about 100 people and cost us 200 bucks. LOVE her! (please don't pay attention to the pathetic flowers in between the two tiers. They were putting the flowers in there as someone took this pic so it wasn't all done)
DJ“Adam’s DJ Service” Adam – A+Adam was the coolest guy to work with. I wasn’t able to have an initial meeting with him so we talked on the phone for like... two hours! He gave us homework in the form of a music sheet that walked us through what we wanted for every single thing, the genres we do and don’t want played, who can’t and CAN’T make requests, etc. He drove all the way up from Tacoma to visit with us at OUR house and talk through the music selections we made, had great suggestions, explained how he keeps the energy high, etc. He was amazing and had every single piece of music for us. The couple times he didn’t he found them immediately for us. He even arrived super early to set up and help my Aunt, and had awesome games to play during the down times (like cake cutting). He was the MC and basically a coordinator by keeping the guests in the know of what was going on, knowing how to read US and read the crowd to make us happy, kept all down times filled with music and activities, and was super fun. I cannot talk this guy up enough.
FlowersFlorabundance.com - DEverything arrived on time, but some things bothered me. They were HORRIBLE at estimating shipping charges so I was charged several different times and WAAAY more than I should have. Not happy about that. Also, when we did a trial run with the hydrangeas, one bunch was 10 stems. By the time the wedding came around this changed to FIVE! I was peeved. I would have used someone else if I were to redo it. Not worth it. I used them because I thought they would save us a ton, but the shipping ended up making it pretty much balance out to if we had used someone else. Fail.
Haggen (Sehome Bellingham) - CI had them make my bouquet and corsages. I have no idea how the corsages turned out because H picked them up and forgot to give them to people. They sat in the fridge the entire night. >_< The bouquet was much smaller than I had expected, and she argued with me for like.. 10 minutes about how I DON’T want irises because they are PURPLE not blue. Finally I just gave in and said, okay fine. Add them if you want. What a fail. She was way too pushy. Also, I hated the greenery she added. Not at all what we had discussed. PhotographerKristin Harris Photographer- Kristin and Julie- A+Gosh… She was awesome. We met her in a Starbucks and we knew we clicked immediately. She was so sweet and happy to learn more about us as a couple. She asked us a bunch of questions about our style and what we’re looking for as a client, she showed us her work and brought paperwork for us to fill our and check her prices, but she didn’t push for us to make a decision. We knew she was going to be our photographer. She was 1,500 for 6 hours of photography at the wedding (which was PLENTY to get everything in), AND the engagement shoot. She gives all the rights to photos so that you can take the pictures and have them printed wherever you want, she posts your sneak peek super fast and to her blog AND facebook so we can show them off. She was so awesome. She was always on time, and arrived super early to the wedding to scope out picture spots She loved that I had a “must have” list of pictures, was so great with our overly picture-taking family that got in her way nonstop, she knew to get a bunchof artsy picture AND formals. She really listened to what we wanted in our wedding photography. She followed us wherever we wanted to go and just let us be natural, but if we were stumped at what to do she was quick to help us pick a pose. Amazing. Amazing. And I can’t stop looking at our photos because they are all so amazing!! She was the sweetest vendor EVER to work with. I can’t talk her up enough J (as sparent knows :P haha)
VenueBellingham Cruise Terminal (Jerry) – AJerry (the “groundskeeper” for lack of a better word) was sooo easy to get into contact with, so sweet and helpful, and the venue was incredible. It was only 1,000 for the entire day (8am-midnight) which included tables, a full kitchen, and chairs (but we rented our own because we wanted chivalri). It has the most natural beauty since the view from this giant glass dome is of water and rolling hills. We had our ceremony and reception there and the transition was incredibly easy because they have this wall divider that moves. We were able to have the tables all set up on the other side of this, have everyone leave the room after the ceremony and meet us outside of it (still indoors) for cocktail half hour, pull the blinds so no one could see what was going on, and pull the tables right out from this other section. It was incredibly smooth. The only reason I didn’t like the venue was that there was no place to get ready, but that was part of the sacrifice of picking a public building. It was fine though because the hotel was literally two blocks up the road :P We had compliments all night at the beauty of this venue. Everyone loved that it felt like we were outdoors on the water, but weren’t in the rain! Haha! Also, they have a “preferred vendors” list for caterers but are TOTALLY fine with you choosing whomever. We didn’t use anyone on the list and it was great. We also bought the ten dollar liquor license so we could serve our own liquor (no bartender required). Easy easy vendor to work with. J
Caterer“Billy McHale’s” Kristy- A-She was amazing for the price. It was great food, they were totally willing to work with us and our dietary needs (Groom can’t have onions and FOG can’t have onion or garlic!!! Ack!!) Their staff was super, they were on time and fast moving, and she was easy to communicate with. The only thing that people thought was weird was that they didn’t bring water pitchers.. awkward and the iced tea we paid for didn’t get moved from the cocktail hour into the area where dining was so I think it went untouched after the cocktail time which was a shame. The only reason I’m giving her an A- was that it was a little difficult to get a hold of her for a month because she was on vacation (so maybe that’s not totally fair) but I also haven’t heard back from her since I emailed her last week about a couple missing items from our rental list that we think got mixed up with her. She was really great during the wedding planning though, gave quotes right away, was able to work with the dietary needs as mentioned before, was GREAT pricing (She ran about 1,900 for 70 people for dinner, tea, coffee, cake cutting and passing service, and that’s including tax and gratuity), put up with me switching the final number on her 4 different times (oops!), let us borrow two of their galvanized bins for beer, and was very under the radar during dinner that I barely even saw them! Sneaky, friendly crew! Definitely worth checking out J Paper stuffSTDs- Peartreegreetings.com A+BEAUTIFUL stuff. I loved them! The only reason we didn’t use them for our Invites was because they’re a little pricey and don’t have a TON of stuff to choose from since they are small. Definitely check them out though! When we got our STDs in they were accidently the wrong size font. I called and she fixed it asap and sent them out so we got them in about three days, and was so friendly and helpful about it. Invites- David’s Bridal – A
They were beautiful for the price! We loved our invites. They LOOKED way more expensive than they were. Menues/Programs - Kinkos – AThis was all my aunt so I’m not really sure how difficult they were to work with, but they looked AWESOME! Hahaha Dress- Originally David’s Bridal Lynnwood – F-They were AWFUL! We came with a list prepared with names and style numbers thinking it would make life easy for the consultant. She drew ONE that was on the list, and all the others were just ones SHE wanted… She also spent our ENTIRE TIME bitching at how my fiance’ was there and how he really shouldn’t be, he won’t love anything I love, and she can kick him out whenever I want. LADY BACK OFF. Idk what made me pick a dress.. I think I was so frustrated that I just wanted out of there and be one with it. F F F F F F F
Alicia’s Bridal Oulet- Bellingham- A+They were AMAZING. The outlet was an easy layout to make it easy, there was no pressure, the ladies there were so wonderful and sweet and let us just go and pick our own stuff (which I like.. I don’t like having someone stalking me as I look at retail stuff). My gown was a PERFECT fit by 2be bridal, and was 1,700 marked down to 600. I had the alterations there make it into a sweetheart neckline and she was wonderful and cheap. H and I totally cried when I put on this dress and we were sold. It felt great to buy from such wonderful people as well. GO CHECK OUTLETS BEFORE YOU BUY AN EXPENSIVE GOWN!!!! That’s my advice 
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Wedding Ring Tiffany & Co. Bellevue- AMy ring is beautiful. It’s my dream ring from my dream man. Ann at the Bellevue Tiffany’s e-mailed back and forth with Ryan his entire deployment to work with his budget and find me the perfect ring. She went out of the way for us and we are so thankful. They were sooo not snobby which was what I was expecting. They didn’t rush us into a decision when H got back and we went to look at rings. We sat there and she asked us all about how we met, deployment, where we live, our wedding, etc. She honestly cared about getting to know us as a couple which she really didn’t have to do. Wonderful.
Makeup/Hair Eva Salon Bellingham- CThey were nice to come in on a Sunday since all other places were closed, but honestly.. They weren’t great. They use Aveda make up which doesn’t last, our hair didn’t stay put, and we didn’t know how to say “this isn’t dark enough” to them. We all ended up touching up our make up when we got to the hotel… I feel so mean for saying that, but we were just NOT impressed at all 
We all wanted dramatic and got “natural” which just isn’t us. I wanted the make up to SHOW in pictures, and last all night. Oh well… At least they opened for us on a Sunday and were friendly.
