I don’t post too much here, but vendor reviews were the most
helpful for me in planning my wedding, so I wanted to provide a review for
others. This will be pretty lengthy, so bear with me! Now, all of the vendors
reviewed here are getting good reviews. I am crediting part of this to my
philosophy while booking vendors: If it was hard to get in touch with them or they
seemed complicated/uptight, I refused to book them. I flat out refused to book
with anyone who took more than 3 days to back in touch with me. Wedding
planning is hard enough, there is no sense in having it be even more
complicated when you can’t get a hold of people!
Phipps Conservatory (Ceremony): A
We were able to book our wedding while Phipps was still
hosting its Winter Light show. We were married in the Broderie Room, which was
absolutely gorgeous. I did speak with a Phipps employee who said after we
booked our wedding, they decided to not book more weddings during the Light
Show (we booked over a year out), so we got really lucky! Anytime I had a
question, there was a quick reply. The employees were always friendly and
helpful. There were chairs & water and cups for our guests, plus we were
able to use a microphone and a podium. I originally wanted a spring wedding, so
to be able to use Phipps was so nice.
Embassy Suites (Reception): A+
My husband and I are both originally from other states, so
98% of our guests had to travel to PGH for the wedding. Because of all of the
out of town guests, we decided to hold our reception at a hotel. The staff at
the Embassy Suites is SO friendly and incredibly helpful with anything we
needed. Most of our guests arrived on Friday and it was a weekend away for
everyone, so it was fantastic to have such a great place for them to stay (Free
manager’s reception with alcoholic beverages and snacks in the evening, free
continental breakfast which rocked, and a nice bar and restaurant). The wedding
coordinator, Linda, is so nice and answered all of my rather numerous
questions. The food was great and plentiful, the room looked exactly how I
envisioned it, and any need I had-the staff was on top of it. Plus, it is so
pretty inside that my husband and I were able to take some pics at the hotel.
The Botanical Emporium: A+
The centerpieces were included in our reception package and
we chose to go with Elizabeth at the Botanical. Elizabeth is an eccentric
character, but she knows her flowers. I explained to her the basic idea of what
I was looking for in centerpieces (lit tree branches) and she was able to go
off that idea and come up with something gorgeous. We also decided to do the
other wedding flowers through her and my bouquet was drop dead gorgeous. The
flowers held up lovely throughout the day/evening.
Cakes By Tammy: A+
Our cake was also provided through our reception package.
Seriously, Tammy is the nicest person. I am pretty picky about food (I used to
work at a bakery) and I was so pleased with her. Normally, I feel like wedding
cakes taste dry/overly sweet and just plain gross. Our cake tasted amazing! We were
able to do different flavors for the different tiers at no additional cost and
the sample cake sizes are pretty large. I am also in love with her buttercream
frosting. We will be ordering our anniversary cake through Tammy next January!
Curt’s Photography/Entertainment Tonight
(Photographer/DJ/Photobooth): A+
In all honesty, I sent my husband to a bridal show alone
while I had a trip scheduled out of town. (Head’s up: vendors don’t harass men
walking around by themselves) and it was he who discovered Curt and Tracy, the
DJ. They are brothers who work together, but also do events separately. They
have been working as photographers/DJ’s for YEARS in Pittsburgh and know what
is up. They were always prompt and professional, and most importantly, I was
comfortable with both of them. I Hate being photographed, so this was
important to me. Curt was respectful of the photos I specifically wanted (He
kept my shot list with him during the day and made sure to get everything I
wanted), but mostly we followed his direction because he knows what he is
doing. He was also speedy and kept us on time throughout the day! Tracy
listened to our wants for the wedding music (Fun, but nothing too risqué) and
played appropriate and non-boring wedding music. Truly, I feel like it is a
fine line to walk and he did great! He played all of the songs we wanted
throughout the reception and I enjoyed every minute of it. We also booked a
photobooth through Curt and the photobooth is SO nice. Our guests loved it. The
photos just looked nice and clear and we have a photo album of all of the pics.
The company also offers a discount for off-season weddings!
Tortorice Limo: A+
Another vendor that my husband found. We went through review
after review, spoke to a few companies, and booked Tortorice. The car was clean
and our driver was super friendly. Not only was there champagne and cold water,
the driver made sure to have tissues and even brought TWO umbrellas (It was a
raining in the am). He knew his was around Pittsburgh and there was no
crazy-scary driving. It made our day so much easier.
Other vendors:
ShearConvenience (Updo): A+. Kay is so nice and easy to chat
with while getting ready. My hair looked great and stayed up the whole night.
Clarissa Boutique (alterations): A
Oakmont Bakery (cookie favors) A+
NashvilleWraps.com: A. If you have a company, you can order
through NashvilleWraps. We used them to order bags for favors/out of town bags.
Made in the USA and they use recycled material!
Zazzle.com: Our save the dates were personalized Pittsburgh
postcards. Loved doing this!
From Etsy:
RunkPockStudios (Wedding Invitations): A+. We had a small
wedding and didn’t need to order 100 invitations and I also didn’t want a lot
of frills, so it made life a little complicated. Rozena has some gorgeous
designs and the speed in which she replies to questions/comments is crazy! I
loved our invitations.
RSVPPaperie (Monogrammed PDF cards for Thank You Notes) A.
OneSwellStudio (Invitations/Thank you cards for my bridal
shower) A+. Gorgeous. Also, the shop owner lives near PGH, which I love!
TwoPoochPaperie (Personalized Recipe Cards) We used these at
various showers to have guests bring me their favorite recipes and I loved
them!
SarahMorganBridal (Veil): A+. I wanted a veil with an
antique look to it and found it through this shop. Super reasonable prices and
I loved my veil.
Just a head’s up for out of town bags: If you contact
VisitPittsburgh, they provide free visitor guides for the bags, you just have
to go pick them up. We were able to get 25.
Hope this helps the newly engaged!