Well it's been a little while since my wedding on March 23 but I am finally getting around to posting. I had a wonderful wedding and would be glad to answer any questions. Good luck future brides enjoy every stressful moment. It passes so quickly. I hope this is helpful:
Dress shop:
I loved my dress. The place I bought it though had nothing really to do with that. My maid of honor found it on the racks. I got it 30% off for buying that same dress. The shop itself is small an the people are kind of helpful. The carpets are gross and need to be cleaned. We also got bridesmaids dresses here and they gave us 20% off since I bought my dress there. I got my dress altered here. Overall I thought it was over prices at just over $300 worth of alterations, but it was convenient as an out of town bride to get it all done at the same place.
Venue: Maison and Jardin
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Brittany and the staff at Maison and Jardin. Most site have them listed in the higher price range but I would disagree. They do not charge for tables, nice chairs, basic linen and they set up the room (center pieces, guest table, etc) exactly how you tell them. They just have a minimum that you have to meet based on the room you use and it is VERY reasonable. The food at our tasting was phenomenal. It was really close to it at our event too. We did a per consumption bar and came out $23 under the suggested limit we set. My husband and I didn't even visit the bar though because we had a personal butler, Maurice, for the night. We was waiting our arrival when we got there and attended to us the whole night with drinks , food, whatever we needed. He even helped us with how to cut the cake! Maison should be on everyone's list to check out even for a rehearsal dinner they would be great.
Polasek sculpture garden:
We ha our wedding ceremony here in the side garden. It was the perfect place because I wanted to get married in the lakes in winter park and the beautiful garden was shaded and relaxed. They have a very specific list of vendors that you can use because of the insurance involved with working around their art. The event manager changed three times since I put my deposit down. I felt like they had strict rules but no one knew what they were and essentially let us break them. I was not crazy about their service. Their ever person, Kim, was supposed to be there the day of the wedding but she wasn't. She sent her friend in here place. There isn't much of a staging area for the bride. They told me I could just wait by the bathrooms. Luckily one of the volunteers went to high school with a bridesmaid and let us sit in the chapel but reminded us that he would probably get in trouble for it a few times. Overall I was not satisfied with the service but loved the location.
Chairs:
We had to rent chairs for the ceremony. We rented from---. I thought they were over priced charging overtime for their delivery and set up costs. We rented one if their most basic chairs to save some money. I wasn't impressed but I had not choice who I could rent through based of the venues rules
Valet:
We had to valet cars due to the limited space at the ceremony. We used One Way Valet and they were probably the easiest company to work with! Affordable, fast, and easy.
Rehearsal dinner:
We rented a room at -- in altamonte for the rehearsal dinner. We had a larger party with the out if town guests and I would not suggest this place unless you are going to have at least 55 people attending. Their minimum charge was very high. The food was great. They did a large buffet of appetizers and there was plenty of food for dinner. The staff was very attentive to fill drinks. They have TVs in the room Andy MOH made a slide show we were able to play. We had the room all night and people stayed to visit and party late.
Cake:
I used Dimples Delites. Lindsey is a very talented baker. The wedding cake was amazing. It was so moist it was soaking through the Togo boxes we had it in the next morning! It was for sure the bet wedding cake I have tasted in town.
I also had her do a grooms cookie cake and brownies for the rehearsal and they were dry. I don't know if the restaurant stored them wrong or what. Overall the price was extremely adorable and the cake was the best.
Flowers: peddles by viki
We had a rough start with Vicki when she forgot our appointment. She assured me that that wasn't normal for her and we met up the next day. We really clicked and I knew I could trust her vision. She is very affordable and did a great job on our flowers. They were beautiful and smelt great.
Photographer: Brian pepper photography
Nelson was our photographer and did a great job! We told him we didn't want to know he was there most of the time and we really didn't. He was great on instructing us what would look best with out being pushy. He took whatever photos we asked even if they were goofy. I was very happy with the photos. We had a preview on their blog about a week after the wedding then the full photos to view. I have had issues with the front office portion of the business though. It was difficult to make payments and I am still trying to get back the sales tax I was charged when I shouldn't have.
Dj: Soundwave Entertainment
We worked with DJ Phil and had a great party. Soundwave knows what they are doing and we splurged on this vendor because we wanted the best party. They had a 10 page 'homework' assignment which doesn't sound fun but let's them know exactly what we wanted. I felt like I never had to worry about the dj. They were AWESOME!