Complete DIY 'Barn' Wedding in Ann Arbor - Vendors, Costs, etc...

VistaPrint.com    A

I designed all of our paper goods in photoshop and had them printed by Vistaprint. Everyone raved at how incredible they were and how expensive they looked. Our invitations cost us maybe 70 dollars total, as they were four postcards put together to be a little mini book.

A+ $1,600 (I believe) for a Saturday night at the end of September. Rates vary based on residency (we were able to just use a friend's address in Ann arbor), and month of wedding. This place books 18 months in advance, so we booked the location in March for our September wedding and it was the last Saturday available. The staff was super sweet and accommodating, they answered all my questions and set up the tables and chairs per your floor plans (these are included in the fee). They also have a wonderful kitchen for prep, a dumbwaiter for vendors to use, and an elevator for the elderly. Holds 220 without a dance floor, and 180 with a dance floor.

He let us tailor the wedding to what we wanted, and really let us customize our entire ceremony.

I purchased all my tablecloths from the website mentioned. We had some issues with the first order, but they refunded me the money and I got to keep the tablecloths. They have really good clearance tablecloths and I was able to purchase them for a decent price.

Action Rental - Ann Arbor, MI  C

So, the chairs were fine (actually I didnt even get to see them up close or anything), however the service was disappointing. I booked the chairs a bit in advance, paid my deposit and all was well... Until the Friday before the wedding when they called me to tell me they overbooked themselves and couldn't deliver the chairs on my wedding date any more. This became an issue because Cobblestone farm had another wedding on Friday, and having extra rental equipment there is a hassle for them and the other party renting the facility. After three days of freaking out, Cobblestone let us know that we could have the chairs delivered on Friday if that's what the company could do. I had to work all of this out myself and wasn't offered any sort of discount, or delivery fee reduction for my troubles. The chairs were $2.75 per chair for Padded Wedding White chairs, and there was a $75 dollar delivery fee

Ann Arbor Party Bus - Ann Arbor, MI   B-   $500 for 3 hours

The party bus was great, but again we had an issue with Service. When I agreed to the contract, I was explained that if we went over we would be charged an additional fee. OK no biggie. However when the bus driver got there he seems agitated and told us that he could NOT stay a minute past our scheduled time because he had another event to go to. This cut our picture time down, unfortunately as things were running behind. We were hoping to be able to have 30 more minutes with the bus, but learned we could not and had to rush back to the site so he could leave.

Mid-Michigan Entertainment & 321SayCheese   B-  $1379 for four hours of PhotoBooth (that HAD to start immediately following the ceremony, which meant no one got to use it for the first 1.5 hours because it was cocktail hour outside), 6 hours of DJ, and Ceremony hookup outside.

The photobooth was great. It was set up wonderfully, was HUGE, and had good props. I was given a USB and book with everyone's signatures at the end of the night. LOVED it. They also found people to encourage them to get in the booth (like the Bride and groom since we were too busy running around to remember to use the booth). The DJ was very good at being timely, however he would always call at 8 PM and talk for about an hour, to what seemed like the same things over and over. At the wedding while I was running around getting things going, he stopped me to tell me stories about other weddings. He assured me he had our first dance song (it was a very specific version that my husband and I wanted), but unfortunately when it was time for the first dance, we learned he did NOT have the right song. The timeline we went over four times wasn't followed (we were supposed to be introduced at the reception, begin dinner and do the toasts through dinner... but as soon as we were introduced, he made our party start their toasts. Additionally, we were excited that this DJ company allowed us make requests for songs that HAD to be played, but it only allowed 15 MUST plays, and 25 PLEASE plays. We put this on the RSVP cards so people could pick songs they wanted to hear, yet everyone I talked to said they did not hear their songs played. I double checked the list the DJ had from us, and they were on there, but he chose many of his own songs to play, it seems. It was unfortunate to disappoint people, especially when there were other songs in there we really wanted to hear.

Be Our Guests, LLC   A+  $500 for 10 hours day-of Coordination

Lindsay Winkler and her mother were INCREDIBLE for our day of coordination. We needed help setting up, making sure everything was put out when it needed to be, and everything was cleaned up to Cobblestones standards. $500 bucks, for 10 hours on the day of, and I never regret this decision.

Great Lakes Party Professionals  A+  $500 for 5 hours with 2 Bartenders and 2 Servers

This was a great addition for the wedding. The servers were avail to check on the buffet after setting it out, cut the cake, help with the candy table and make sure all food related items were on track. The Bartenders kept the drinks going throughout the night. All event staff were extremely nice and professional. Would definitely book again.

White Arbor Bridal  A+

I cannot say enough good things about Diana at White Arbor Bridal in Ann Arbor. They were so nice to me, even though I was a bigger girl. They had a good variation of sizes in their store so I didn't feel like I was trying to slip into a sardine can. I ended up purchasing a size 20 dress and it was PERFECT. My Jewelry was gorgeous, however the necklace had an issue at the wedding and Diana refunded me the money without question. LOVE this place.

The cake was great! the delivery was ahead of schedule and they even moved stuff around in the fridge to make room for it. Perfectly decorated, flavors were on point. Great value! We had a 3-tier cake that fed around 85 people. The cost above includes the travel fee to Ann Arbor.

Bridesmaid Beautiful - Macomb, MI   B-   $70 for Airbrush application, $40 travel fee

I hate to rate them a B- because I know this wasn't their fault. But I had my trial with a make up artist, who did an AMAZING job the first time. Everything was perfect, my make up was exactly what I wanted. However the day before my wedding, she apparently quit and another artist was sent for my big day. Unfortunately, the artist that was sent did not have photos of what my make up looked like, and when I tried to explain, it just wasn't happening. We had to wipe off my eye make up twice and I ended up having to do my own eyeliner because when she would do the "cat eye" eyeliner, it ponted down towards my jaw joint, and the point was not pointy. I had a small meltdown, but doing the eyeliner myself just made it work out I guess.

Salon Fraxure - Ann Arbor, MI  A+

Brittany at Salone Fraxure was AMAZING. she took my feedback from the trial and really went with it for the day of. Everyone looked gorgeous and it was all perfect. She even squeezed in two other people that requested their hair to be done.

Chipotle & Old Carolina BBQ - Ann Arbor, MI   A++++  TOTAL price, ~$1700

People are still raving about our food choices. We got Chipotle buffet for 45 people (Guac was even included!), and then 9 premade burritos. From Old carolina we purchased party packs with so much food, for 108 people. Madigan was the girl we were working with and she was incredible, and got the food delivered on time It was awesome. We also ran to Moes Southwest and grabbed a bunch of queso, so there was queso to go along with all the food, too! Best wedding food, ever!

So if you're a member of the St Julians wine club, they do a Case sale in September which gets you 25% off every case of wine you purchase. Needless to say, two weeks before the wedding we ran to the winery and purchased 9 cases of wine. We ended up with about 6 bottles remaining.

For the Kegs, we got one keg of Bud Light and one keg of Oberon. At the end of the evening we had maybe 1/4 of the oberon left, and 1/2 of the budlight left. We also had a specialty beer available in bottles at the bar.

Flourish Photography - Novi, MI  A+++++++  $2700 for 7 hours of shooting

I cannot say enough good things about Jessica at Flourish photography. Our Wedding hit an unfortunate crash 5 months before the big day when our photographer, who we had booked for about 13 months, told us he double booked himself and had to cancel our wedding. Thank heavens, though, because Jessica was really the right photographer for us and we are certain it all happened for a reason. She listened to us, was fun and fast, and got so many shots we really didn't think she had gotten. We've only seen 40 sneak peeks so far (Not even two weeks since the wedding) and we cannot believe what she's accomplished. She even had a surprise second shooter with her, which was awesome. She's a GREAT person and so much fun to work with. Book her, ASAP. She's incredible.

I think I hit on everything. Our wedding was absolutely perfect. My mom, aunt, and I did ALL of the decor, from centerpieces to favors and everything.  Its very possible I'm still forgetting something, but I still think I have "Wedding brain" where Im just forgetting things. The day goes by SO FAST, so having all the extra professional hands you can get really makes a difference. Feel free to ask questions, I just really like talking about my wedding hahah!