I know this is a dead board, but as a public service to any new brides that shuffle over here expecting to see something, I'm going to do a vendor review. None of my vendors were TK special approved vendors (mostly because they give you like 3 choices that are all insanely expensive and might not even work in your area of the state). My husband and I got married September 7th, 2013 in Tulsa, OK.
Ceremony Venue: We went with St. Mary's Catholic church. Our officiant was Fr. Jack Gleason. Even though he suffered some injuries a month before our wedding, he was great to work with and the venue was fairly accommodating. The real gem was their music director (Lyndon Meyer) who played the organ. I got many compliments from different guests on the quality of the music. He was very responsive to questions and communication via e-mail. He had only started with the church right before our wedding so I was very impressed with him.
Reception Venue: We had our reception at the Campbell Hotel which is a funky restored hotel right across from University of Tulsa and Bama Pies. Each of the hotel rooms is decorated independently and the effect is pretty awesome. The reception was in their Event Center which was a nice, open room with gorgeous chandeliers. We found them at a wedding show and followed up at their open house (where they gather a couple of their preferred vendors together so you can see what an event could look like.) They took us on a tour of their hotel rooms and talked about the space and we fell in love with it. They gave us a pretty good rate considering the event center is rated for 200.
I did not like their Banquet Manager. She had an e-mail address but refused to use it and would call me back while I was at work and ask me to call her back (since I couldn't answer). By the time I got home, she was usually not answering her phone and most of my questions were yes or no. Very easy to respond to via e-mail. It was an aggravation I did not need leading up to my wedding. Also, pretty much any information I did convey to her she either lost in her disorganized pile of notes or understood incorrectly. Right before the wedding I double checked with her and she had put me down for a cash bar (um, NO way in HELL do I want one of those, thank you) and had my linen order backwards. This would be the one major downside of this venue, completely honestly. I ended up having a little bit of contact with the Bar Manager (who runs the restaurant they just opened) who was nice. I had my hair and makeup done in their spa along with my MOH and 1 bridesmaid, MIL, SIL and mother. The effect was alright but they seemed to have some issues dealing with such a "large" group and I thought the prices were a bit insane.
Catering: I used Michael's Catering (this was before the restaurant opened so they had to allow outside catering). He was great to work with. We went with a Pasta Bar which was generally pleasing to our guests and tasted very nice. (Consistent with sample at tasting.) The only weird thing was meeting at a bookstore coffee shop rather than a more professional location. But overall, very pleased with the food and the service from the company.
Dress: I bought my dress from David's Bridal. I tried on dresses there once before the appointment I found my dress at. My consultant was pleasant and friendly but I didn't find quite what I was looking for. The second time I was given another consultant who was at best apathetic but my friend and I ended up finding the dress on the discontinued rack and I knew it was right. The dress was $350 (fabulous deal, HUGE train, beads and lace). Alterations had a hiccup because someone who spoke English with a VERY strong accent answered the phone when I set it up and put me down for the week following the one I was asking about. Luckily, when I got to the salon they had someone to help me and we got the bustle fixed up and the halter strap shortened and the dress slightly let out (I ended up buying the dress pretty far in advance...over a year). The alterations were reasonable to me considering I really didn't spend close to what my dress was worth after all was said and done. We got the bridesmaids' dresses there and that was easy since they have many locations and we got a nice dress for a price they could both afford. My bridesmaids lived in two different states and I was living in OK (a third state) so this was the easiest solution to coordinate the dress purchases.
Rings: He went to Jarrod's. *bwahahaha* Decent prices, GREAT customer service. Husband doesn't really dress like someone with money to spend (even though this was an area he let himself do that) and he was still very well taken care of. He shopped around a few other places first but didn't like how he was being treated. We were able to get the e ring, his ring and my wedding band all for fairly good prices and they are lovely. Would recommend them to anyone.
DJ: We had Banks Entertainment DJ the wedding reception. The company was good to work with. We found them at the same wedding show as the Campbell and ended up going with them because the other DJ booth was obnoxious. My actual DJ was meh but showed up on time and didn't mess up so I'd recommend the company but perhaps a different DJ than DJ Trevor.
Tux Rental: Al's Formal Wear in Norman (we moved) was where we ended up going for our tux rental. This was a great company for us because you can have your consultation and measurement at one location, order your pick up at any location and return to any location at all. We had a great customer service experience at our location and it was handy to be able to have the traveling groomsmen pick theirs up in Tulsa. One of the men in our group had pants that didn't match his jacket very well and he was able to get a new pair of pants overnighted to him so everything worked out. If you go with their shoes, you might want to have a backup pair of black shoes because there was a wide range of satisfaction with that amongst the men. I thought they had a good rate and were easy to deal with.
Cake: Ann's Bakery. Go here for your cake. It was AMAZING and the guests all commented on it. The cake was moist and delicious and the raspberry filling and cream cheese filling, white cake and buttercream frosting all tasted great. It looked like we paid too much money for it, but we didn't. This place has been in business a long time and have obviously learned all the secrets of cake.
Cake Topper: Went with an Etsy.com store artsinhand. Pictures looked great. Customization was awesome. Shipped quickly with no hassles. Price was too good to be true. Groom's foot fell off when pulled out of bubble wrap for the first time and the bride's flower fell off later. Both were re-applied with super glue but still managed to look cute.
Flowers: Generation Flowers and Gifts did a good job. They understood I was a bride on a budget and allowed to me to pay for only what I needed. Flowers looked fabulous and lasted well past the wedding date. I had white hydrangeas with purple lisianthus and I would recommend that flower combo again for someone wanting something clean but slightly purple.