DH and I got back from our honeymoon this afternoon so I can finally post about our wedding last Sunday. All in all it was a great day, but we were both very stressed until about 2:30 PM due to some time issues that I should have resolved or clarified the week before. Everything came together in the end, though, and we had an awesome time!
Ceremony/Reception Venue and Food -
Diamond Oaks Country Club = B+ : The events coordinator at DO, James, was always very quick to respond and very helpful throughout most of our dealings with him. Both the inside and outside of the club are gorgeous, and they recently renovated/remodeled several rooms. James was a little forgetful in the couple of weeks leading up to the wedding - we gave our final headcount and paid our balance, then I got emails twice more asking when we wanted to pay our final balance. The day of the wedding, James was not on-site until 2 PM, when all of our vendors except the cake were supposed to be there. This caused quite a few headaches as no one else in the building seemed to know where we were supposed to change, and we were missing a guest table in the ballroom. Once the few minor things were straightened out, the wedding and reception went off without a hitch. We had an assortment of hors d'oeuvres and options for the buffet, which were all delicious. Overall a very pleasant experience!
Day-of Coordination - Amy Lacey = A- : Amy was such a great help on our wedding day, (I wish I had told her to be at the venue earlier than I did, though). She helped solve the debacle with the missing guest table in the ballroom. I was able to enjoy the day so much more once she arrived, and she checked on DH and I throughout the night to make sure we had everything we needed. Since a good portion of our guests did not dance at all, Amy helped liven up the reception by dancing with us and getting my two brothers to dance too. I'd like to give her an A+, but there are some issues I had here as well - I emailed her several times both during the planning stages of everything and the month before the wedding, and had a hard time getting any response. I'm not sure if it's my email or her email, but it took a week or more at times to hear back from her. I also explained a couple of weeks before the wedding the general ideas I had for decorations, and she said it sounded like she would only need 2 - 3 hours to get everything to set up. When she arrived the day-of, (as far as I've been told) she didn't seem to grasp what my vision was. She had to enlist my dad and brothers to get the decorations for the ceremony set up, and my mom had to help explain what exactly I wanted even though I had run through it with her beforehand and even drawn out diagrams for all of the decorations. The whole reason we wanted a day-of coordinator was primarily so that we would not have to worry about us or our families having to set up decorations. I am glad everything worked out and got done, but it would have been nice if my family would have been able to relax more on our wedding day.
Photographer - Dakota Photography = B : Brandi is such a sweet, sweet woman. Her pictures are very pretty, but not altogether complex like McGowan or some other well-known photographers in the area. She is relatively budget-friendly, although I wish we had splurged a little more and gone with someone else. The turn around time for our engagement pictures was a lot longer than we were initially told. It was very difficult to get responses from her when I emailed her. I was ready to give a lower score for her, but she and her assistant were awesome on the day of wedding. They arrived right on time, and were super helpful. They found our dressing rooms, kept us up to date on all of the decorations and everything else that was going on, got us water while we were outside for our first look and photos, etc. DH and I probably won't work with her again for other picture sessions, but our experience could have been a whole lot worse from beginning to end.
Videographer - JChristopher/Splendor Films = A+++ : I can only echo what other brides have said about JChristopher, now Splendor Films. They are awesome. They take charge, and get things done the way they need to be done. They got to Diamond Oaks early (or earlier than everybody else) and had scouted out where they wanted to shoot my dress and jewerly before I even found out where my dressing room was. I don't have a preview yet, but knowing how great their work is, I am pretty confident it will be amazing!
DJ - Melody with Melodies and Memories = A+++ : Melody is so much fun and like Splendor Films, she knows what she's doing. We had such an easy time working with her. She was always quick to answer if I called or emailed her. We let her pick songs from Vitamin String Quartet for the prelude music, and had a couple more specific VSQ tracks for the processional/bride's entrance. The dancing portion of the reception was a little flat, as 3/4 of our guests (primarily family) don't seem to dance at all, to anything, ever. She tried everything she could to get more people on the dance floor. We had a blast with our guests that did get up and dance. Love her!
Cakes - Colleen's Cakes (Keller) = A : Colleen was the only cake tasting we had, and we were sold pertty quickly. She prepared something like 13 samples. We went with a three tiered wedding cake, each tier a different flavor, and then a groom's cake which was also a different flavor. On top of that, she made us a completely separate tier that we have frozen for our anniversary next year. I think both cakes ended up being around $3.50/slice, so right in the middle as far as price. We booked her during the tasting, and I didn't have to contact her again until a few weeks before the wedding just to confirm what time the ceremony started, and to see if she had a cake stand. The cake design was pretty simple, and exactly as we had discussed once it got to the venue. I had wired some sola flowers for Colleen to put on the cake once at Diamond Oaks, and we did our own cake toppers for her to put on as well. Said cake toppers were a bit top heavy, and took a tumble down the side of the cake, but I couldn't even tell when I finally saw it. There was quite a lot of icing on the wedding cake, but most everyone enjoyed it. We ended up with enough leftover to send some home with all of the guests, so everyone but us got to try at least two or three of the four flavors. We will definitely be ordering from her again!
Officate - Joe Zinser from Love Notes = A+ : Joe was very quick to respond anytime I had a question or concern. He is laid-back and understood exactly what we wanted our ceremony to be like. Setting up the ceremony was probably the easiest thing to do during the whole planning process.
Alterations - Becky Fowler = A+++ : Nothing but praise for Becky! She is so sweet and genuinely wants you to look your best without overcharging you or trying to sell you something you don't really need. She hemmed part of the inner tulle and a bit of the lining of my dress, and added a bustle (French, I think?) in the back for only $150. I had two fittings with her, and each time she assured me that I did not need to lose as much weight as I thought I did, and that I would not drastically lose or gain by the time the wedding came.
Hair/Makeup - Jennifer with Beene and Company Salon in Hurst = A+ : I checked out this salon as an alternative to getting an MUA like Angie Williams, as it was a lot closer to my house for the trial and a fair bit cheaper if it worked out. I only did a hair trial to start, and the style was simple, so Jennifer had no problems getting my hair to look the way I wanted it. She is personable and a lot of fun. A couple of weeks before the wedding I asked if I could add my mom to my appointment, and she was very accommodating. Our appointment on the wedding day was from 11 AM to 1:30 PM just for the two of us, and I think we got done an hour early. She airbrushed the foundation part of my makeup on, and it was so nice not to have to reapply anything all day!
Other small things worth mentioning -
- The only real flowers I did were for my bouquet. I picked up three bunches of tulips from Central Market in Southlake the day before the wedding, and then went with my mom to SIL's house to make the bouquet and toss bouquet. I am so, so glad that someone else talked about DIY floral just before, otherwise I probably would have ruined my bouquet; we put it in the fridge after making it, but did not put it in any water until the morning of the wedding at about 8:00, so half of the tulips were closed and the other half were a little wilty. I used sola flowers, preserved thistles, and fake silk leaves for the boutonnieres, and the remaining sola flowers went to cake decoration. I ordered succulents from an Etsy store to use for our ceremony and reception decorations.
- We rented a car from the airport for the day of the wedding, and drove it back the next morning since we and my brothers all had flights out around the same time. This ended up being probably cheaper than a car service, and we got a lot more use out of it.
- We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya in the Riviera Maya for our honeymoon. It is a beautiful all-inclusive resort with a very attentive staff. We got to see coatis, large guinea pig looking things, and tons of iguanas throughout our stay. If you are thinking of going to Cancun, stay at the Valentin!