Affordable Catering – A+
Our food was delicious! We saved a lot of money going with Affordable Catering and we worried that we may have sacrificed on quality, despite loving the food during the tasting (everyone can create tasty food for 2 people, but what about 150?). Wow, we were wrong, the food was outstanding! Our guests went through a buffet and we were served directly at our seats, which was so nice and gave us a chance to eat plenty. They even made me a special vegetarian entrée, which was very nice! We barely had any leftovers; people kept going up for more! My only complaint was that I specifically asked for our veggie and fruit appetizers to be placed out by the bar before dinner opened, and this did not happen. This could have been due to spacing issues, but we are unsure.
Belle Epoque - C+
This salon is super trendy and has a perfect downtown location close to a lot of hotels and wedding venues. Rian did my updo and I LOVED it! She was super sweet and really listened to what I needed. My wedding day was super hot and windy and my hair looked perfect up to the moment I took it out that evening!
Although I LOVED Rian (she gets an A+++++) I cannot say the same thing for the service my bridesmaids received. All my bridesmaids and FML got their hair done, and only 2 loved their hair. My MOH was in tears by the end of her hair and got her money back (seriously, this chick just kept brushing her hair and could figure out how to use a curling iron, it was unreal!). My other bridesmaid had to go back and get someone else to do it. All in all the manager was very patient and gave money back their money was owed, so that is good. However, it did cause a lot of stress in the morning and my MOH missed some of the early pictures because she needed to go to another salon to get her hair done (which made me very sad!).
If you go here schedule appointments with Rian, Emma, Kali and Adrienne (NOT Jessica or Ryan).
Cara Porter Makeup – A+++
Cara did an absolute wonderful job with my makeup and the makeup of my bridesmaids, mom and MFIL! When I did my makeup trial in March my husband had seen pictures and mentioned that it was a little too dark for his liking. I mentioned this to Cara and she did it differently on the big day and it looked PERFECT! She is so flexible and can do so many different styles of makeup! Also, the best part of getting my makeup done is that it stayed ALL DAY! I am serious, my makeup looked just as good at 11pm dancing at my reception as it did at 11am getting it done! She uses a variety of tools to accomplish this and I really appreciated all the care she took to make it look perfect. Great job!
Emilee Miller-Eye Lashes – A+++
Emilee is my friend from college and is going to Paris Beauty School in North Kansas City and she did my eye lashes as my wedding present. She did an amazing job and I loved them. I hate the way those fake eye lashes from the drug store look on me and these looked so natural and pretty! So many people complimented me on them and they lasted all through my honeymoon too! When the makeup artist looked at them she said they were the best ones she had ever worked with, that a lot of time the lashes fall out and look uneven. Emilee did an amazing job and I am so thankful for my talented friend!
Design Wedding and Event Studio - A+++
A friend of mine came across a groupon-type website called Shelaroo and an amazing deal for flowers. I felt nervous about buying a deal online for my wedding flowers, but when I spoke to Don on the phone he put me to ease. I planned my wedding from California, so I set up a number of appointment with him when I was in town and he was very outgoing, fun to chat with and listened to my vision and budget concerns.
For the sake of full disclosure I should mention that I know NOTHING about flowers and I had no idea what I wanted or what types of flowers were called – absolutely nothing! I just know I wanted something unique and that had some natural elements like twigs, moss, etc. Don was perfect for me because he was very creative and I just let him run with all his interesting ideas. On my wedding day I was overjoyed with my flowers – they were so beautiful and unique (so much so that there were more pictures of my flower on facebook than of me! ). People could NOT believe that I got such an amazing deal!
In my opinion, I would say that Don/DW&ES is perfect for someone who wants to entrust an expert to take care of their flowers and not to have to worry about it. If you have a dream of using specific flowers/design, if you want to see samples of his ideas or if you want to be updated on every detail this may not be the vendor for you. Don is an incredibly talented and creative ARTIST – if you want to trust an expert with your flowers that takes care of the details for you then go with Design Wedding and Event Studio!!
HyVee Bakery Prairie Village- Jessica Foster – A+++
We always knew we wanted cupcakes because they are adorable and no cake cutting fee! We looked around at different options and were surprised at how expensive others were – like $2-3 a piece! I contacted Hy-Vee in Prairie Village and spoke to Jessica and she explained the pricing – about $9 a dozen!! I had a friend go try the cupcakes and she was impressed, so we decided to go with it. Jessica was great to work with and was flexible when I wanted to add cup cake liners and little flags (we assembled them and her and her team added them). I was beyond impressed with how they looked and tasted! No one could believe they were from Hy-Vee, they assumed they were from Baby Cakes or Sweet Tooth! Overall I highly suggest going with Hy-Vee for cupcakes, you will not be disappointed!!
Jacob’s Well Church & Eric Reynolds – A+++
We spent a lot of time trying to find the right location for our ceremony and Jacobs Well was the perfect spot! We loved that it is nondenominational and that it had a good central location. Also, the church is absolutely beautiful!! On the big day it looked so stunning and was the perfect backdrop to our amazing ceremony!
The church coordinator put us in contact with Eric to be our efficient and we could not be more pleased with our ceremony! The efficient was tough for us because we really wanted a personalize ceremony, but since we lived out of town we did not know anyone to do it. Eric ended up being the perfect decision! He understood our concerns and took the time to get to know us. We even met him and his family for lunch one day and attended a church service when we were in town. He had us write letters to each other and then incorporated them into our ceremony. This made the ceremony so special and unique to us. We had multiple people tell us how much they enjoyed our ceremony and we also enjoyed it very much. We had the perfect ceremony of our dreams!
Jeff Sullivan - Memory Maker Productions – A+++
We really wanted a band but did not end up having enough space, but after looking at DJs in Kansas city we were shocked how much good DJs cost! Our friend, who is originally from St. Joe, suggested her old high school who also DJs on the side – Jeff Sullivan. We were a little nervous about it, but she insisted that all her friends in St. Joe use him and he was awesome…. and SO affordable!
We were so impressed with Jeff Sullivan, he was an amazing DJ and kept the crowd super engaged and entertained. He had a great selection of music and was a terrific MC (just perfect, not annoying or cheesey)! We had so many people ask us who is was and mentioning how great he was. We were beyond impressed and highly recommend him if you are looking for someone amazing and affordable!
Melissa Lin Ellis Photography – A+++
I cannot say enough good things about Melissa Lin Ellis – she is an amazing photographer! Melissa is super creative and had a ton of great ideas for fun shots around the city. She understood our vision and I felt like she took pictures that really reflected our personality. We have not had a chance to see the pictures yet, but I am confident that they will turn out great and be exactly what we hoped for.
Also, Melissa and her assistant were really friendly and flexible with our group. She even showed up early and stayed late to get some extra shots that were not on schedule (like getting ready, first dance, cake cutting, etc). Melissa’s prices are really competitive for the quality and we were so thankful to find a talented photographer for such a great price!
Nouvelle Productions – A+++
My amazing sister hired Shawn for our videographer for our wedding gift and we could not be more pleased with the work. He put together a fun teaser video that was perfect for sending to friends, family and co-workers who could not make it. He has a real talent for catching special moments on camera and putting together in a way that really reflects the couple. So many people told me that our video made them feel a part of our wedding and some even cried. He did a great job and is very competitively priced for videographer.
Here is our video! http://vimeo.com/44147418
Pech Limousine, Inc. – A+++
They showed up on time and had very friendly and prompt service! Definitely recommend!
River Market Event Place – A+++
My husband and I were pretty open minded about a lot of things during the wedding planning process, but the one thing we really really wanted was a unique venue in a cool downtown-ish location. We wanted a place that felt modern and urban and spent many hours researching online and flew into town a couple times trying to find the perfect place. When we visited the RMEP and walked up the driveway I instantly knew that this was the place! The venue is beautiful, super unique and the perfect size for groups under 150!
I mainly worked with Rebekah throughout the year of planning and she was great. She was good about answering questions and giving ideas, which we needed since we lived out of town. My mom had some very specific ideas about decorating and sometimes stopped by the event space without making an appointment and Rebekah and her team were so nice and always made her feel welcome and comfortable asking questions.
On our wedding day the event space far exceeded our already high expectations – it was absolutely stunning!! It was everything we wanted and more and our guests were impressed and excited about being someplace different and interesting. It was a hot 95+ degree day, but the fans did a good job at keeping it pretty mild until the sun went down. Rebekah helped us with the layout (we wanted long tables) and there was plenty of room for dancing and sitting for 150 people (although it was a bit tight, one less table would have been perfect). At night we were able to open the garage doors and people loved going outside to cool off from dancing. We had a very nice security guard that the venue scheduled and the people on staff that night were awesome to work with.
This is the perfect spot if you want a hip, fun and unique location for your wedding reception. I would say that 140-150 was the max amount of people unless you are able to seat people outside. Also, if doing a summer wedding be cautious that it can get a little warm, but nothing that I didn’t expect from a venue with big windows/garage doors making up a full wall (keep in mind that the sun sets on the opposite side of the building). All in all, we were SO happy to have our reception here, we loved it!!
Secrets Maroma – A++++++++++
Go there, I am serious, it is unbelievable and the food and drinks are amazing! When I die, I hope heaven is like Secrets Maroma – need I say more?
Vaughn Events - A+++++++++++++++++++++
Stephanie was a LIFESAVER at our wedding, my husband and I joke that she was the glue that kept our wedding together! Let me first give you some context, we planned our wedding from California, we both have complex family situations (cough*drama*cough) and we both work very demanding and time consuming jobs – even through all this Stephanie worked so well with us and put all our concerns to ease on a schedule that worked for us (i.e. late nights for her because of the time difference).
One of the reasons we went with Stephanie over other wedding coordinators was because of her kind yet in-charge demeanor. She was able to make sure everything flowed well while still being nice and respectful to our squirrely and sometimes unpredictable family and friends. Her prices are great and she is super flexible about helping with whatever your specific needs are. We did not originally plan on hiring a wedding coordinator, and now we think hiring her was one of the best decisions we made during our wedding planning process.
Also, something fun to note, she was so great at our wedding that at the end of the night two couples, who are close friends and engaged, hired her to be their wedding coordinator in their November and December weddings! We cannot think her enough for doing such a great job!!
Bridal Design & More – D-
Out of all our wedding vendors this was the most disappointing experience of all, it is really hard to write about this, because frankly it still makes me upset to talk about. I had worked pretty hard to get in shape in a healthy way during the months leading up to the wedding and felt pretty comfortable about my body and how I looked. However, because of my alterations experience I was put in a very bad situation where I was basically forced to lose more weight inorder to breath in my wedding dress. Because I live out of town, they decided to do the majority of the alterations the week of the wedding (because they made a mistake 2 months earlier in not marking my waist and chest with pens). They refitted my sample dress for my waist and chest (straps and hem were done earlier) on a Friday and when I came back on Monday and there was a big gapping in the chest area and the dress was so tight that I could hardly breath. I tried complaining about the chest first and they said they would have to completely take apart the dress to fix the chest, but they finally agreed to fix it (but had to make it much more lowcut, which I was not happy about). As for the tightness, they kept telling me it wasn’t too tight and that it was supposed to fit that way and basically refused to fix it. The owner and assistant were very aggressive and since I was alone I felt very overpowered by them. In complete distress I started researching ways to lose weight and debloat and ended up having to lose about 5 pounds so it would fit (I tried it on one another time during the week and had to keep losing)…. I had to turn down dinners with family and friends, who I had not seen in months, just to try and keep the pounds off… it was heartbreaking.
When I finally went to pick up the dress it was not ready and I had to drive to the dry cleaning place myself (which they partner with) and get it. Once I tried it on the dress satin looked wavy and wrinkly from the pressing. When I complained they reluctantly agreed to steam it for free (umm I was NOT going to pay for that botch job). They would not give me any discount for the awful job they did, and like I said they were very aggressive… I felt backed into a corner with these people.
On my wedding day the dress looked great, but once I ate I was in serious pain. About half way through the reception someone gave me a big hug and the dress snapped… which ended up actually being a blessing because I could finally breathe and dance normally. Luckily the zipper stayed up and the broken hook and beading wasn’t super noticeable in the evening light. I would not recommend these people, as I would never want this to happen to anyone else!!
Men’s Warehouse - D
Terrible. We had to use them because we are out of town, and so was some of our wedding party. We had some good coupons and they charged every groomsman a different price and all had some different excuse as to why. Also, just about every person had an ill-fitting tux and my poor grandpa had to go back 4 times just to finally get a tux that fit. Keep in mind that all together our guys used about 5-8 different locations across the country and they were ALL AWFUL!! If you can go somewhere else please do!!
Diamond Girls Bartending – A-
We got a great deal for bartending from the Diamond Girls from Wedding Channel and they were amazing! Their prices are just unbeatable and they were super flexible with what we wanted. I was very impressed when Maria, the owner, wrote me to tell me that she had tested our signature cocktail (a recipe I had found online because I wanted a purple cocktail) out at another party and shared the feedback from the other guests. She made some suggestions on alternative options to make sure we were satisfied with the final product. We were very thankful that she took the time and initiative to make sure we were satisfied with the drinks at our wedding.
The only issue we had was that we went with the unlimited option and we ended up running out of alcohol twice. I must be clear that our family and friends are big drinkers and it was a very hot day. There ended up being a little lag in service, but they went out of their way to go and get more alcohol and keep the party going. All in all we are really happy with the Diamond Girls service and would recommend them!
75th Street Brewery (rehearsal dinner) – B+
The food and drinks were great, but the space (family room) was pretty noisy and tight for our group. We were not able to see the space in advance or we would have been aware of these issues in advance and may have checked out a different part of the facility. Also, we wanted to show our slideshow and because the room was so open everyone in the restaurant could see it, which was sort of uncomfortable for us. Also, because it was so loud, no one could hear the music. Overall, the food and drinks at 75th Street is always amazing, but for a rehearsal dinner I wish the area was a little better.
Intercontinental - A+++
We stayed here for our wedding night and it was great! We stayed on the Concierge level and got a delicious breakfast. This is a great place for your first night as man and wife! Also, my girls and I stayed here for my bachelorette party in a suite and it was such a blast! This place is a perfect spot near a lot of great hot spots.
Marriott – A+++
We got ready here and the staff and facilities were amazing! I was worried about where we would do our first look at, so we stopped in earlier that week and spoke to the manager (Micheal I think his name was) and was more than happy to show us around and helped us find the perfect location for our first look! There is a beautiful old fashion lobby that was so beautiful and made our first look very special!