Overall the day was fantastic, although there were a few let downs, the day came off really well. The weather was absolutely fantastic, and it didn’t even seem like it was an August summer day, thanks to the cloud coverage we had.
Vendor Reviews:
Boulder Springs, New Braunfels, TX- The venue itself sells itself. It is beautiful, so there is little that you have to do to make this place work for you. We loved that about it. You can rent the hall from 8am to 12am, so you know you have plenty of time to make your wedding day happen. All my vendors loved this venue and the guests kept complimenting how pretty everything was. They loved the ceremony site. My only dislikes about the venue were having to set up the chairs (my bm’s did not want to help) and that they have tours that happen until 12 pm on Saturdays. There were people walking into the dressing room until 1 pm or so, and I finally had to put my foot down when they did. After that, all was well. Anita was great to contact, and they put up a fence, so that the costruction for the 2nd hall is well hid from the ceremony. Advice to any bride getting married there—careful over the wood bridge. My dress snagged several times from the splinters sticking out.. so go very carefully. Overall – A+
Dress- Mayfair Bridal- San Antonio – Everyone LOVED my dress. I was complimented on it all night long. Mayfair was able to custom make the back into a corset and made the train shorter for me. They did all the alterations for $250, and did not go a dime over it. Plus they held my dress for me until the wedding date which was over a year. My only concern is that when I ordered the dress, I had an unusually short backing in the corset (the flap to cover my skin), so they made a longer one for me. I paid $30 dollars for that. I only did one formal fitting, and the backing was perfect. However, when I put my dress on at the venue, it was apparent that the extended backing was somehow left out of the dress bag. I almost did not fit into my dress because of this. This should have been something I checked before I left the shop, so the blame is really on me. Overall- A+
Videographer and lighting- Altared Weddings – Ryan Guthrie and team – Austin – Ryan and his team were amazing to work with. Although the video won’t be here for a couple of months, it was awesome to work with them. The lighting was amazing in the venue. It really brought it to life, and we couldn’t stop dancing in the Gobo. Highly recommend them for lighting, as they made the cake look so beautiful. They were extremely nice and very helpful during the wedding. Based off of just working with them, we give them A+ for being prompt, accommodating, patient and willing to please. Will post the video when it comes.
Wedding Coordinator- Kristi Treadwell – Joyful Details- Austin – If I could give Kristi an A++++++ I would. Both my husband and I could not stop talking about how much of a help Kristi was at our wedding. She was the calm of the storm, and the little go getter that we needed during the uneven times. She brought an assistant, and they both waited on every request we had with shining stars. Kristi helped sew part of my dress that my BM’s ripped trying to get the corset on, and she made the venue come to life with my vision. She was amazing in every single way, and if there is one thing that our budget was well worth splurging on, it was her. (She was reasonably priced as well!) I love Kristi so very much!
Wedding Photography- AL Collective- Austin TX- We have not seen any pictures from our wedding, as they are editing them, but I love Laura and Ashley. We got 3 photographers for the price of 2, so I am sure we will have plenty of pictures from them. Personality wise, these two ladies were a absolute joy to work with. They were patient when my dress mishap happened, and were willing to roll with the punches. They provided humorous relief when needed, and they were total opposite of the photographers that we fired from our engagement pics. Will post another review after the pics—but based off personality and professionalism –Overall - A++
Cakes- Creations Cakes- Pleasonton- Susie Martinez- Our cakes were the best! They were pretty, and detailed and tasted moist and yummy. My guests were taking it to go because they loved it so much. I was thrilled with her work and by far it is one of the best cakes that I have ever had. Well worth the drive out there to do a tasting!! Overall – A++
Catering- Southeren’s Fine Dining- Chef Steve – Austin TX – Chef Steve alone is a great addition to our wedding. His personality lit up the room, but it is his food that did the talking. The guests and vendors raved about his food all night and they loved that we did a BBQ/Mexican menu. All the food was yummy and hot, and I loved having him there. The best part of the night was when he took the Groom out for a joyride in his Raptor truck. My husband loved being able to sneak away for a few moments to do that, and who could blame him.. it was an awesome truck. I would highly recommend Chef Steve and his crew. They did a fantastic job! Overall – A++
Makeup and Hair- Alyssa Garcia – San Antonio – Alyssa made me look AMAZING! Everyone told me I look beautiful and that they loved my hair. She did all of my girls, and one of my BM’s came in with some hair that was super tough to work with. She made them all look like models. I couldn’t get over how beautiful we all looked that night, and I wish I could work with her every day. She does make up for the Real Housewives of OC, so it made me feel extra special that she did my wedding. She is a tough cookie to get a hold of, so if you really want her, trust that she will reply eventually and that she will make you look amazing. Overall- A+
Linens—Marquee Rental- Austin TX- We got our linens in a half off sale that Marquee does every so often. We paid about 13 dollars a table, for copper crush linens. They were SO BEAUTIFUL in the venue. My wedding coordinator picked them up and returned them for us, so it worked out great. Overall- A
Rentals- Comal Rentals in New Braunfels, TX – Comal Rentals is a steal to rent your plates, silver and glasses from, but due to the fact that the guy basically called me a liar the night before my wedding, this grade will be lower. Originally when I made my order, he charged my card for the full amount. I asked to only pay the deposit, and he returned the rest of the money to my card. 2 months later I returned and paid in full. He called the night before my wedding, telling me that I owed him the remainder, because no one saved the receipt or marked my file as paid. Thankfully I held on to the receipt, and was able to prove that I did indeed pay. Everything was delivered as promised, but I did not like being accused as lying about paying. Overall- B
DJ- Altared Weddings-Austin TX -Christian- This review is hard, because we love Altared Weddings and Ryan the owner. Originally we booked Ryan to be the DJ, and he called 2 weeks out asking if Chris could be substituted in. I agreed because Chris had really awesome reviews on Weddingwire. We told Chris that we wanted to recreate the dancehall theme of where we met. We wanted primarily new country, with some top 40 dance songs every now and then. What we got was a bunch of old country, with some old top 40 in there. They had a song questionnaire that I spent months working on, and every song I asked to be played during the dancing, was played during dinner. I was really disappointed with that. Also, Chris played my last song, in the middle of the reception, and I was beyond done at that point. He did get our ceremony, 1st song, and songs with our parents right, so that is why we are giving Chris better grade than failing. I just wish he had done what we asked, because no one really enjoyed the music. Christian apologized at the end of the night for playing the last song, but you can’t get memories back… I appreciated his professionalism. Overall- C+
Mens Warehouse- Tuxes- San Antonio – All I can say about this place is make sure you check your tuxes a couple of days before the wedding. My husband had an issue with his tux, and they were able to fix it in time, so they get a pretty good grade because we planned enough time. All the other tuxes were good and the guys loved the brown vests we put them in. Overall- A
Flowers-Eden’s Echo- San Antonio – The flowers were my biggest upset of the night and brought me to tears before the ceremony started. Erin had contacted me the Tuesday before the wedding with pictures of these beautiful flowers that I thought were just the proto type of my flowers. (see post below) However, what I did not know is that she was making the flowers for my wedding almost a week ahead of my wedding. Well, this showed when her assistant Mary showed up with them. Erin had told me a couple weeks in advance that she had to go out of town, but not to worry as my flowers would be AMAZING! I trusted her, and felt really let down. My bouquet looked like a BM’s one because the flowers were wilted and shriveled. All the flowers in my arrangements were falling apart and looked disgustingly old. I was so heartbroken about them because of the pics I saw on Tuesday showed me what they should have looked like. I had to tell my Dad to leave the venue to go to HEB, to buy fresh roses, to put in my bouquet. The next day Erin wrote me and email apologizing for them, and when I addressed how they looked, and that my father bought more roses to supplement, she never replied again. I paid 2000 dollars for flowers that looked like 500 flowers. The arrangements would have been beautiful, had the flowers upheld.. but they just didn’t. My guests were even commenting that the arrangement on the gazebo was falling apart while the ceremony was waiting to start. It is hard to tell in the photos that I have but the sunflowers should have been open, and you can clearly see that they are closing from wilting. Very sad. Overall grade- F
Rehearsal Dinner- Gruene River Grill- Gruene TX- AMAZING!!! Food was great, the private room was perfect and the service was awesome. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!!!! Overall- A ++++