Hey everyone! So it's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. 4 days before the wedding, H got a job offer in Maryland which he accepted. So we got married that Saturday, left for our HM on Monday, returned the following Monday, went to Maryland for a few days to find a house to rent, found one on Thursday, found out we were accepted Friday, packed up all of our things and moved on Saturday (yep, 1 day), and H started his job this past Monday. So yeah, it's been insane.
Anyway, the wedding itself was AMAZING. The only thing that went wrong was we were never provided a microphone for the ceremony, so most people had trouble hearing it. I also noticed after the fact that my flower arrangements for the gazebo were wrong and my runners for the reception tables never got put on, but those were minor things. Our reception ended at 10 and it easily could have lasted another hour, if not longer. One of my biggest fears was that no one would be on the dance floor, and at the end of the night we had trouble getting people OFF the floor!
I'll do a quick vendor recap:
Venue: Spring Mill Manor - A
SMM was great to work with from the very beginning. I worked with Joan, the banquet manager. Joan was very easy to get along with and was always prompt with answering any questions or concerns I had. She threw in a lot of perks for us and was super accommodating. Everyone RAVED about the food. I have yet to hear a single complaint about the food at SMM, even from other people's weddings. H and I had our own personal attendant the entire night bringing us food and drinks which was awesome.
Photographer: m2 Photography - A+++++
H and I knew right away when we looked at their portfolio online that m2 HAD to be our photographers. They are a husband and wife team, and they are AMAZING. They're a little pricey but totally worth every penny. Seriously. They are some of the most down to earth people I've ever met. You can tell that this is their passion. They did our e-pics a year ago and those were fantastic as well.
Here's the link to the sneak peek they posted 3 days after the wedding: (
click)
DJ & Lighting: East Coast Event Group - A
East Coast does a lot of things, but we just booked them for DJ & lighting. Our DJ was Mike who is actually one of the owners. He came dressed professionally and didn't have his company's logo plastered all over his equipment, which I've seen other people do and I hate it. We used red LED uplights throughout the ballroom and they looked awesome. We also had our names & the date projected onto the dance floor. Mike knew just how to work the crowd and get people dancing without being obnoxious about it. He's been in the business a long time and you can definitely see that.
Cake: Lochel's Bakery - B+
SMM works directly with Lochel's, so we didn't need to shop around for a bakery. I was a little put off at our consult with them. Their store is TINY and we were seated right by the door where customers were constantly going in and out. The consult was rushed and the cake we tasted wasn't very good, so I had some reservations about how our cake was going to turn out. The design didn't turn out quite like how I envisioned it, but it tasted delicious on our wedding day and that's all I really cared about.
Florist: Precious Petals - A
SMM works directly with Domenic Graziano, but after my consult with them I was so completely turned off that I knew I had to find a different florist. I'm so glad I found Darlene. This woman is incredible. At our consult, I would start describing a vision I had in my head and before I was even finished, Darlene would turn around, pull out a random book, and flip right to a page with a picture of what I was describing. For my bouquet, I had brought her a picture I had found on Pinterest hoping she could recreate it. Let me tell you something, my bouquet was a work of art haha. I wanted to put it in a shadowbox and keep it forever. Darlene was also very accommodating when it came to working within my budget but still doing the tall centerpieces I wanted.
Bridal Salon: David's Bridal - A
Surprised? I know a lot of people on here hate DB with a passion, but I got both my dress and my BM's dresses from them and never had any issues. In fact, one of my BMs waited until THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING to get her dress altered. She dropped it off first thing that morning and it was done by the time they closed. I will say that my bustle didn't really hold up but I know that's a common issue no matter where you go when you have a ton of people stepping on your dress all night.
Tuxes: Men's Wearhouse - A-
Only one of our GM had an issue with his tux. The salesperson kept insisting that everything fit correctly when the GM knew it didn't. He went back the next day to speak with someone else who fixed everything for him. Also, a piece of advice: if your guys get tuxes with suspenders, make sure they are wearing the suspenders when the tailor is hemming/cuffing the pants. Otherwise, the pants will end up too short.
STDs & Invitations: Vistaprint - A
I wanted something that was going to look nice and formal without breaking the bank. VP was definitely the place to order from, especially because if you sign up for their emails, they constantly send you coupons. And there is usually a Groupon for them as well. It was very easy to customize my order and get exactly what I wanted. Their turnaround time is nice and short as well.
Photobooth: ShutterBooth - A
Our photobooth was definitely the hit of the night (well, besides my FG lol). There were constantly people in line for it. H and I had gone to the dollar store and Party City and bought our own props since SB was going to charge an arm and a leg to rent theirs. The pictures served as our favors, and H and I got a CD with all of the pictures about a week after the wedding.
I think that's it for now. My brain is fried and this is long enough already :-P
EDIT: Gaaah I can't believe I forgot my incredible H & MUA!
Hair & Makeup: Daneene Jensen - A
I didn't use Daneene herself, I used one of her associates Brittany. Brittany was awesome! I had my trial with her back in April and honestly wasn't too impressed. I explained my reservations to her and on my wedding day she definitely delivered. She did H & MU for me, my mom, and my bridesmaids and everyone looked fantastic.