We got married on May 28, 2011. An amazing day thanks to some and not to others! To preface, I am being very fair and included reviews from parents, guests and vendors.
- A+ Bridal Suite: Doubletree, doubled as the bridal suite and the babysitting room. Amazing!
- A+ Ceremony site:Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - Deacon Sandoval was amazing! We had a great FOCUS time and he is so warm and understanding of modern couples!
- A Limo - Lucky Boys, the stretch expedition I reserved was broken so they upgraded to the hummer. The driver was great!
- B Videographer - John Chavez, we booked him 3 days before the wedding and the video was ok but I think most of that was the set up of the altar not the videography
- A++++ Photography - Terry at Blue Rose, he is AMAZING! Just so nice, professional, and came earlier and stayed later than contracted!
- F! Reception Site - Rooftop of the Downtown Lofts, Francine is HORRIBLE to work with. She got into numerous arguements with us during planning and got into arguments with the DOC and my MOTHER right before the reception started. Also bitched about me and hubbie to my mom right as the reception was starting. She is rude and almost ruined a wonderful day. The rooftop itself is GORGEOUS! But I don't think it's worth dealing with Francine.
- FFFF-----!!!!! DOC - Sarah Nieto with A Family Affair, Sarah came off as completely capable but once the wind picked up she completely shut down. She couldn't handle any change what-so-ever, yelled at my mom, didn't folllow any directions I gave her, lied and said she had tried to get ahold of me but never did and complained about me and hubbie to our guests! She caused so much stress that hiring her will be the ONLY thing I will regret and have to deal with till I die. Email me if you want more information.
- A+ Catering - Cooperage, Everyone RAVED about the food! Jim is wonderful to work with, his staff is knowledgable and very nice! Good price for what we got! We spent $29.50 pp and here was out menu (we also paid tax and 18% service)
- passed apps: stuffed mushroom caps, meatballs, caprese skewers
- salsa, guacamole & queso with tri-colored chips station
Buffet:
green chile chicken enchiladas
red chile cheese enchiladas
black bean and corn salad
aranca salad (orange spinch salad from scarpas)
roasted red potatoes
pinto beans
flank steak carving station with mushroom glace or hot red chile
bread and butter
iced tea
water
cake cutting service with coffee - A++ Cake - ABC Cakes, they cake was beautiful and delicious plus we get a free top tier in a year! Yum-O!
- A+A+A+A+A+ DJ, ABQ DJ, Brian Billigham picked up and carried the complete reception when the DOC crumbled to nothing. He is amazing at making the perfect mix for the reception! The dinner music was wonderful and we even had a dance off! All our guests have RAVED about how wonderful the dancing was, I will thank him till I die!
- A+ Bartender --Quarters - they were great and very professional!
- A+ Photo Booth - NM Photo Booths was awesome, all the guest loved it and now we have a super cool photo booth book as a keepsake!
- A+ Dress - Brides by Demetrios - Megan actually pulled the dress I picked and got the trunck sale price for me. Dorothy was an awesome seamstress and made the dress mine! Love them so much!
- A+ Flowers - Melbas, Wow, I went in with my idea and worked with Melba and all I can say is WOW. The flowers were GORGEOUS better than I imagined and came in well below every other florists' quote!
- F-F-F-F- Shoes - Christian Loubitan - I paid $700 for a beautiful pair of shoes for the wedding. My shoes BROKE AT THE WEDDING! and we had to put them back in the bag and they were STOLEN. I am so upset and have not been able to get ahold of an actual person at CL to talk to. I ended up with a pair of Vince Camuto shoes that were 1/6 of the cost and did not break. I wish I had nevr bought those f-ing shoes!
- A+ Tuxes - Men's Warehouse, we bought hubbies tux and had a pretty complicated order with no problems what-so-ever
- A Bridesmaid Dresses - Bridesmaids.com, we ordered Alfred Sung 461 and all my ladies looked BEAUTIFUL! They were able to wear regular bras and looked so classy. The dresses were half the price from Demetrios!
- A+ Veil - Delicate Spirits (Ebay) I bought a beaded 2 tier cathedral length veil for $80. It is gorgeous and well made, came in about a week! Great buy!
- A Garter - prom-garters.com, got hubbie a CSU colored (used green bay colors) garter, came in about a week $35 for the regular and throw away.
- A+ Honeymoon Suite - Hotel Andaluz - Wonderful! The roomw as gorgeous and we got champagne and truffles waiting for us!
- A+ Rentals - Georgettes- she works really well with Jim at Cooperage and was a pleasure to work with!
- C - Engagement Ring Romero Jewelers - We got our ring for a good price but making changes, timing and general professionalism is lacking. Be sure you have LOTS of time if you work with Kay
- A+ Groom's band - Mark Diamonds, they were so great to work with and a lot less expensive for than any other store!
All in all we had a wonderful day, there was a lot of undue stress but I am so happy I married my husband and that happiness made the day so special.
The lesson I learned is to not scimp when it comes to the DOC. That person is in charge of showing all your work. I planned my wedding for almost 2 years with every detail covered. Sarah's incompetence was the reason about 90% of the details were never used and are now in a trash bag in my closet. BUT worst is the stress she caused me and my poor parents. They should have had the best experience of all and were stressed the whole reception and that is something I will never forgive her for. Hope this helps
