We got married on 9.8.12 and had such an amazing day that I wanted to share all of our vendors with other potential brides! I checked these message boards often while I was planning and always found the vendor reviews very helpful! The cake was my only "complaint" of our whole wedding -- everything else was really just perfect. I kept waiting for something to go wrong, and with the sloppy cake being the biggest issue, we were so lucky!
Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid Dresses:
Bridals by Jodi - This was the first dress store we went to and I immediately felt comfortable and at home. Betsy was fantastic and held my hand through the whole process. She even came to my final dress fitting to show my mother how to tie the ribbon sash and do the bustle. She went above and beyond! I went to several other salons/boutiques and I didn't feel as comfortable anywhere else as I did at Bridals by Jodi. We also ordered bridesmaid dresses here, and while there were no issues with the
store, the dresses we ordered (Bill Levkoff 587) ended up being so much trouble. The sizing on the dresses was so odd, and the dresses fit my girls well, except that the bust was about 4 sizes too big for each of them. I have a pretty well-proportioned group of friends, but they all had issues with the dresses. Most of the dresses had the lining hanging out at the bottom and all of the girls had difficulty getting them altered. In
hindsight, I would have ordered from another line of dresses, but I didn't know of the sizing issues with Bill Levkoff at the time.
Alterations:
A Stitch Witch
This was the shop recommended by Bridals by Jodi, and I was nervous going there after reading several terrible reviews about the women there being rude. I went for 3 dress fittings and never had a bad experience. They were always very accommodating for my schedule and did an excellent job altering my lace dress.
Tuxes:
Berlins
My husband and all of his groomsmen got their tuxes at Berlin's on King Street. Most of the guys were out of town and had to have their measurements taken elsewhere, and there were only a few of the guys that had to have minor alterations done on the wedding weekend. They have a tailor on site, and will also pick up all of the tuxes at local hotels the day after the wedding so the guys didn't have to worry about returning them to the store.
Bridal Luncheon:
Cru Cafe
We worked with Nate in scheduling and setting up my bridal luncheon and he was great. The food there was really wonderful, and we were in our own private room on the second floor. For the 13 women I hosted, the price was really reasonable.
Hair:
Alayna Sullivan at Serendipity Salon (54 1/2 Broad Street)
Alayna has a really cute salon and boutique tucked into a courtyard off of Broad Street. She did my hair for my portraits, and then did the hair for me, my bridesmaids, and my mother on the day of the wedding. She did a fantastic job of making each of my bridesmaids hair look different but still cohesive. Her salon was a perfect place to get ready and we took over the space on the morning of the wedding. She will also come to your location if you need her to. Alayna's husband is also a chef, so he catered some appetizers for all of us while we were getting ready. It was the perfect set up!
Makeup:
Elina at Bellelina Studio (278 Meeting Street)
Elina came to Serendipity Salon and airbrushed my makeup before I had my hair done. She wasn't available to do my makeup for my bridal portraits, but had a colleague named Sabra do it. She was also fantastic, and Elina was able to recreate the look from my portraits perfectly and it was exactly what I wanted.
Photographer:
Evan Laettner was fantastic and exactly what we wanted in a photographer. He did my bridal portraits and they were stunning. He has a great eye and a really easygoing personality. On our wedding day, he was calm and collected and was so encouraging all day. He was willing to walk with us from our ceremony to the reception and took pictures the whole way. It was so fun and we got some awesome pictures. During the reception, you would have never known he was there, but we have so many great action shots from the night. We loved the way he wasn't in your face, but all of our pictures from the day were exactly what we wanted.
Florist:
Diane Thrower
Diane does flowers out of her home in Summerville. I showed her my Pinterest wedding board and told her the look and feel I wanted at my wedding, and she suggested the perfect flowers and arrangements. She executed my ideas perfectly and the bouquets and centerpieces at the reception were better than I could have imagined. She was really wonderful to work with our budget and to suggest flowers that were in season or a little bit less expensive. When we got to the reception, there were so many more flowers than we had expected; Diane said that she had a lot of leftover flowers and put them into centerpieces for us even though it was not a part of the contract. Her prices were very reasonable and I think she is able to keep them low since she only works out of her home and does not have a storefront.
Ceremony:
Grace Episcopal/Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul
Our wedding was originally supposed to be held at Grace, but due to a delay in repairs from earthquake damage, our ceremony was moved to the Cathedral about 6 weeks before our wedding. Grace handled everything in the transition and it was so much less stressful than it could have been. The priest from Grace performed our ceremony, and the Cathedral was gorgeous. We couldn't have been more blessed with how everything turned out.
Reception:
Charleston Visitor Center
We wanted a venue that felt like Charleston and could accommodate 150 guests for a buffet/stations dinner, with seating for everyone. It was a bit tricky to find a place that had character (loved the Rice Mill) but could hold our guests. The Visitor Center ended up being a great venue, though a little tricky with coordination there. It is really inexpensive to rent and had what we were looking for --- an outdoor space, character (exposed brick, old wood floors, high ceilings with wood rafters exposed), plenty of parking. They have an event coordinator who is employed by the city. This position changed about halfway through our wedding planning, but honestly, the woman there now is so much better and easier to work with. Because they are open to the public until 5:30, our vendors were not able to compeltely set up before that time. Our reception started at 6:30, so there was a major setting up and decoration rush in that hour to make sure that the venue was ready for us. There were some challenges with the layout and the design --- a large desk/computer area that we had to have draped, brochure areas draped, lights hung from the rafters and uplights used -- due to the fact that we didn't want it to look the same at night as it did during the day when it was open to the public. The acoustics were really good for the band, and though it was still a little cramped with all of our tables, it ended up being a great venue. The location also can't be beat, and all of our guests stayed at the Hampton Inn next door or at the Francis Marion around the corner.
Bands:
Blue Plantation Band (bluegrass for cocktail hour)
The Vistas (cover band for reception)
We really wanted to have a band for the wedding but wasn't sure it was going to be in the budget. We searched around and just happened to stumble upon The Vistas. Their quote was not that much more than many of the DJ's that we had spoken to. Just based on samples on their website, we booked them. It was a huge leap of faith to book them without actually hearing or seeing them live, but they were one of the best parts of our wedding. They were great to interact with prior to the wedding, and were nothing but professional. They kept the party going all night and we had so many compliments about the band and they music. They were incredible and I would hire them for an event again in a heartbeat.
My husband and I also wanted to have a bluegrass band for the cocktail hour, just for a little something different. We hired the Blue Plantation Band to play acoustic for an hour, and they were also fantastic. Easy to work with, and our guests loved the little surprise when they got to the cocktail hour.
Caterer/Event Design:
Duvall
We worked with Jean Fisk at Duvall. She is the epitome of professionalism and was excellent to work with. We wanted our wedding food to be excellent and Duvall definitely made that happen. Our guests talked about how good our food was all night, and we are still getting compliments. We went over budget with our food --- by a lot. The setup, service, food, bar, and event design (uplighting, lights from the rafters, draping) was all done by Duvall and was exceptional, but it was all very expensive. It was worth it in the end because they definitely pushed the reception from good to amazing. You definitely get what you pay for with Duvall, but just be prepared to spend a lot for it.
Cake:
Publix at North Point, Mt Pleasant
We aren't huge cake lovers, and had dessert catered by Duvall during the reception. We wanted a small wedding cake for pictures and the tradition, but didn't want to spend tons of money. We picked a relatively simple 3-tier ivory cake with a sweetgrass basket design on the bottom of each layer like a ribbon. Each tier had a different flavor and filling and tasted fantastic. My only disappointment for my only wedding is that the cake wasn't as pretty as I had hoped it would be. I provided a picture of what I wanted to look like, but it just wasn't up the same level as a professional bakery would have provided. No one else seemed to notice and we did get many compliments about how good the cake tasted, but I just wish it were a prettier cake. It just looked sloppy and rushed. Their price was really reasonable, but I would recommended a very simple design if you use Publix for your wedding cake to avoid any disappointment.
Day of Coordinator:
Shine Charleston, Kristina Diedrick
We weren't able to use our own coordinator at the church, but Kristina acted as the reception coordinator. She was fantastic. She met with us a few times prior to the wedding so we could share how we wanted the day to flow, the room to be set up, etc. She gave us so many great suggestions and was just a dream to work with. The reception was seamless and we have Kristina to thank for that. She coordinated all of the vendors, and since there was a limited time to get everything set up and ready, we were so thankful to have her there.
Pedicab:
Charleston Rickshaw
We left our reception in a pedicab and had no issues. I worked with Sean to schedule the pickup, and the driver was there on time and very nice. It was a great farewell!