VENDORS
Ceremony Venue: Nazareth Chapel
Pre-Wedding: Our ceremony will be at the absolutely stunning Nazareth Chapel on Northwestern Campus in St. Paul. The chapel is simply breathtaking and I couldn't be more excited to be getting married there! The only thing that I'm not super thrilled about is that they schedule up to three weddings every Saturday, so timelines are very strict and there's some overlap on wedding parties being in the space.
Post-Wedding Grade: A-
This ceremony venue is gorgeous. There is no doubt about it. We got about a thousand compliments on how amazing the space was. My only negatives were 1) They really pack you in on the day…we had a ceremony before us who’s reception was going on during our ceremony and some of the noise disrupted us during our ceremony, and then there was a ceremony immediately following us so there were people all over when we were trying to do our receiving line. They also had a reception going on during our rehearsal so people from the reception were wandering through our rehearsal the whole time. I also had a lady from the reception going on during our ceremony trying to talk to me right before I walked down the aisle. Not cool. 2) They have an event coordinator there but she was really super quite and seemed really put off by the fact I had hired a DOC. She was very much not a take-charge-personality, however, so if you’re looking for someone to run stuff I wouldn’t rely on their coordinator. 3) There is no air conditioning so it can get very warm. Our day wasn’t even super hot (upper 70s) and I felt like I was going to pass out during pictures. In the end, however, I have no regrets going with this venue. It was breathtaking.
Post-Wedding Grade: A-
This ceremony venue is gorgeous. There is no doubt about it. We got about a thousand compliments on how amazing the space was. My only negatives were 1) They really pack you in on the day…we had a ceremony before us who’s reception was going on during our ceremony and some of the noise disrupted us during our ceremony, and then there was a ceremony immediately following us so there were people all over when we were trying to do our receiving line. They also had a reception going on during our rehearsal so people from the reception were wandering through our rehearsal the whole time. I also had a lady from the reception going on during our ceremony trying to talk to me right before I walked down the aisle. Not cool. 2) They have an event coordinator there but she was really super quite and seemed really put off by the fact I had hired a DOC. She was very much not a take-charge-personality, however, so if you’re looking for someone to run stuff I wouldn’t rely on their coordinator. 3) There is no air conditioning so it can get very warm. Our day wasn’t even super hot (upper 70s) and I felt like I was going to pass out during pictures. In the end, however, I have no regrets going with this venue. It was breathtaking.
Reception Venue: Profile Event Center
Pre-Wedding: We are holding our reception at the Profile Event Center in Minneapolis. It's by far the best deal we have found, and definitely the most unique! Heather, the event coordinator, has been awesome to work with so far. I booked with her over two years out from my wedding and she always has been professional and quick to respond and has never made me feel bad for all of my endless questions and obsessing! They've also renovated and completely improved the space in the time we've been booked so our wedding is going to be even more amazing then I could have imagined and we're getting it all at the reduced, original price!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++++++
I have absolutely nothing but wonderful things to say. EVERYONE at the PEC was fantastic. The staff were all great and Heather had tabs on us and our needs from the second we got there. The food was fantastic, everything ran smoothly, and all the guests raved about how cool the venue was.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++++++
I have absolutely nothing but wonderful things to say. EVERYONE at the PEC was fantastic. The staff were all great and Heather had tabs on us and our needs from the second we got there. The food was fantastic, everything ran smoothly, and all the guests raved about how cool the venue was.
Photographer: Render Photography
Pre-Wedding: Britt is FABULOUS! After meeting with countless photographers, Jon and I felt we clicked with her the most out of everyone we met with and that was our biggest thing as I'm super uncomfortable in front of a camera. She's fun to talk to and confident in her ability. Plus, her work is amazing and BONUS: her prices were unbelievable when we booked with her (though within a week after booking with her, her prices had already gone up and now the package we booked is over $1,100 more then what we are paying for it! At 15 months out from our wedding, the package we got was now almost double the cost we paid. We are extremely lucky that we got her at the price we did!). She worked with La Vie Photography as an associate photographer but she was just starting her own company when we booked with her so the price we are paying makes my budget extremely happy. We went with her biggest package and are still well under our photography budget! Our engagement pictures also turned out super fantastic and she put us right at ease during shooting so I have total confidence we will love our wedding pictures.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++ (pending photographs)
Britt is amazing. She’s great with communication, loves her job, and is great at it. Everything you want in a wedding vendor. She was so calming and relaxed throughout the day but super organized in making sure we got all the pictures I wanted. LOVE HER! Her assistant Travis was fantastic as well, very fun and laid back.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++ (pending photographs)
Britt is amazing. She’s great with communication, loves her job, and is great at it. Everything you want in a wedding vendor. She was so calming and relaxed throughout the day but super organized in making sure we got all the pictures I wanted. LOVE HER! Her assistant Travis was fantastic as well, very fun and laid back.
Videographer: Capture Studios
Pre-Wedding: Matt is just amazing. Easily my favorite vendor so far. Look at the clips on his blog, it’s self-explanatory. He does things with wedding videography that I’ve never seen done before. Jon doesn’t even get bored watching other people’s wedding clips that Matt has shot, and that’s really saying something! We met with a couple of videographers after Matt and felt a little silly even going to the appointments. We quite easily (maybe a little TOO easily) decided to go with him. I'm BEYOND thrilled with our decision! We originally were having a tough time fitting his price into our budget. After we met with him, if there was any doubt in our minds he was worth it, it went out the window! He was so great and easy to talk to that our consultation went on for over an hour and felt like 10 minutes. Unfortunately, he gave us his updated pricing list that ended up being over $1000 more then we were originally quoted and although this made my budget cry, after much stressing and discussing, Jon and I decided it was still completely worth the added cost!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++ (pending video)
Matt’s great! Him and his assistant were all over the place with what seemed like a hundred cameras, but were never obtrusive. They were really great at making sure to catch all the secret moments that I didn’t even know they were there for until the moment was done and I turned around and a camera was there. SO excited to see our video!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+++ (pending video)
Matt’s great! Him and his assistant were all over the place with what seemed like a hundred cameras, but were never obtrusive. They were really great at making sure to catch all the secret moments that I didn’t even know they were there for until the moment was done and I turned around and a camera was there. SO excited to see our video!
Day of Coordinator: Fab.You.Lous Events
Pre-Wedding: After a lot of thinking and trying to plan through how our wedding day would go, I realized how important it was to me to not have myself, Jon, or any of our family and friends slaving away during the morning of (or even worse, at 1:30am as our reception is ending) setting up and taking down all our decorations. I decided that I had to find a way to set money aside in the budget to hire a professional I could trust to take care of everything on the day of so that Jon and I and all of our guest could enjoy the two and a half years of planning that went into it. Jon was not so convinced. I got him to agree to at least go have a consultation with a few coordinators so that we could talk with them in person to see exactly what their packages would include. We met with three coordinators, Kirsten being the last, and she sealed the deal for Jon. After talking with her he was completely convinced that a DOC would be worth investing in and that she was the one for us. Her prices are extremely reasonable for everything she offers and I’m super excited to work with her!
Post-Wedding Grade: B/B-
This one is tough for me because I was so excited to work with Kirsten and she has such amazing reviews. However, I was really disappointed with the service we received compared to the price we paid. First of all, a lot of the setup and takedown stuff we asked her to take care of we kind of were given the impression that we were putting her out by asking her to do them. I felt guilty about it at first but later was upset I was made to feel like that when that was what we were paying her to take charge of. She got snippy with several of my bridesmaids throughout the day when I’d either send them to ask her a question or when they would try and help (for example, one of my bridesmaids got really upset that she felt Kirsten had yelled at her when she had tried to help pin on the boutonnieres when Kirsten was in a panic to get them all on). Secondly, while I feel a DOC’s job is to try and keep the stress level for the bride and groom at a minimum, Kirsten brought me issues that I don’t feel I needed to know about. I talked DH into hiring a DOC because after all the work we put into planning, we didn’t want to have to worry about everything on the actual day. However, there were several instances where something I wasn’t upset about Kirsten came to me and re-hashed issues that I didn’t need to worry about. She interrupted our pictures in a panic asking where our flowers were, why didn’t we have our flowers, don’t we want our flowers. When I told her they weren’t ready when we came out for pictures so I just didn’t worry about them, she stormed off. Then later she brought out the flowers and proceeded to complain to me about how the florist should have made sure we had them and how they had discussed repeatedly what time things should be places and etc. etc. etc. It really put me off 1) because it seemed really unprofessional to be bad mouthing one of my vendors in front of me on my wedding day and 2) that she was more worried about saving her face then about keeping the day lighthearted and stress free for me. It really gave a bad energy to the picture time only a couple of hours before my ceremony. Lastly, we had specifically worked out that Kirsten would be in charge of take down and that she would take all of the stuff home with her and then bring it back to the hotel to be transferred to our cars the next day so none of our family and friends would have to wait for it. We ended up allowing tear down to start early since most of the guests had left by 12am and Jon and I headed out around this time, too. We found out the next day that she asked DH’s parents and brother to stay during the entire take-down so that she could load stuff in their van instead of having to bring it the next day. I was not super happy that my IL’s got put out and ended up helping with all the take-down so they could go home faster. There was also a mix-up with the guestbook getting transferred from the ceremony site to the reception venue (she had told us to find someone to take it over so I designated DH’s aunt, told Kirsten who would be in charge of it, and then day of his aunt was told by Kirsten that she should leave it and that Kirsten had it on her own list to take care of. The guestbook ended up getting left at the ceremony site and when I asked Kirsten about it later that night since it was never out on the reception table, she claimed to know nothing about it. I don't know exactly what happened and may never know why it got left, but there was a discrepancy in stories). In the end, the day ran fairly smoothly with only a few hiccups, everything got setup and taken-down, and I had a good time. But I probably would have hired a different coordinator if I had to do it again.
Post-Wedding Grade: B/B-
This one is tough for me because I was so excited to work with Kirsten and she has such amazing reviews. However, I was really disappointed with the service we received compared to the price we paid. First of all, a lot of the setup and takedown stuff we asked her to take care of we kind of were given the impression that we were putting her out by asking her to do them. I felt guilty about it at first but later was upset I was made to feel like that when that was what we were paying her to take charge of. She got snippy with several of my bridesmaids throughout the day when I’d either send them to ask her a question or when they would try and help (for example, one of my bridesmaids got really upset that she felt Kirsten had yelled at her when she had tried to help pin on the boutonnieres when Kirsten was in a panic to get them all on). Secondly, while I feel a DOC’s job is to try and keep the stress level for the bride and groom at a minimum, Kirsten brought me issues that I don’t feel I needed to know about. I talked DH into hiring a DOC because after all the work we put into planning, we didn’t want to have to worry about everything on the actual day. However, there were several instances where something I wasn’t upset about Kirsten came to me and re-hashed issues that I didn’t need to worry about. She interrupted our pictures in a panic asking where our flowers were, why didn’t we have our flowers, don’t we want our flowers. When I told her they weren’t ready when we came out for pictures so I just didn’t worry about them, she stormed off. Then later she brought out the flowers and proceeded to complain to me about how the florist should have made sure we had them and how they had discussed repeatedly what time things should be places and etc. etc. etc. It really put me off 1) because it seemed really unprofessional to be bad mouthing one of my vendors in front of me on my wedding day and 2) that she was more worried about saving her face then about keeping the day lighthearted and stress free for me. It really gave a bad energy to the picture time only a couple of hours before my ceremony. Lastly, we had specifically worked out that Kirsten would be in charge of take down and that she would take all of the stuff home with her and then bring it back to the hotel to be transferred to our cars the next day so none of our family and friends would have to wait for it. We ended up allowing tear down to start early since most of the guests had left by 12am and Jon and I headed out around this time, too. We found out the next day that she asked DH’s parents and brother to stay during the entire take-down so that she could load stuff in their van instead of having to bring it the next day. I was not super happy that my IL’s got put out and ended up helping with all the take-down so they could go home faster. There was also a mix-up with the guestbook getting transferred from the ceremony site to the reception venue (she had told us to find someone to take it over so I designated DH’s aunt, told Kirsten who would be in charge of it, and then day of his aunt was told by Kirsten that she should leave it and that Kirsten had it on her own list to take care of. The guestbook ended up getting left at the ceremony site and when I asked Kirsten about it later that night since it was never out on the reception table, she claimed to know nothing about it. I don't know exactly what happened and may never know why it got left, but there was a discrepancy in stories). In the end, the day ran fairly smoothly with only a few hiccups, everything got setup and taken-down, and I had a good time. But I probably would have hired a different coordinator if I had to do it again.
Cake: Penny Steele Custom Cakes
Pre-Wedding: Um….delicious!!! I’m not really that into cake but Penny Steele’s made me excited for the cake at our wedding! We chose caramel apple and peanut butter fudge for our flavors and I know our guests will be blown away. Penny's pretty rough with communication (she's almost impossible to get ahold of and when you finally do get ahold of her she doesn't remember anything that you have already discussed/decided), so that's my one complaint because I am a big stickler for communication. When I'm paying almost $1000 for a cake I don't think that asking you to return a phone call or email once in awhile is too much to ask.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
The cake was beautiful and everything I hoped it would be and everyone raved about how it was the best cake they’d ever had. A little lacking on communication but I won’t even dock her for it because she exceeded my expectations on the day. FANTASTIC!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
The cake was beautiful and everything I hoped it would be and everyone raved about how it was the best cake they’d ever had. A little lacking on communication but I won’t even dock her for it because she exceeded my expectations on the day. FANTASTIC!
Flowers: Intuitive Blooms
Pre-Wedding: Lacey is spectacular! She really got the design concept I was going for even though I'm terrible at explaining it and was really great and creative about trying to find ways to get me closer down to my budget (since I kind of insisted on some more expensive flowers :-/ )! All of her work is creative and unique, she told me how she hates seeing bouquet replicas and wants every bride to have her OWN standout flowers. I'm fully trusting that our flowers will be fabulous! Another vendor that's a little difficult to get ahold of sometimes, but when you do reach her she is super attentive and thorough so I'll forgive it :-)
Post-Wedding Grade: B+/A-
Ok, the flowers were gorgeous. Everything I imagined and Lacey was very patient with me when I changed my mind about a hundred times. However, there are a few reasons for the dock in my review score. She’s not super great with communication, it usually takes at least 2 or 3 emails over the course of a few weeks to get a hold of her. Some of the things we discussed, such as a special wrap on my bouquet, didn’t happen with no explanation as to why. I paid double the price of a pin on corsage for wrist corsages for both sets of grandmothers and mothers because my mom and grandma had INSISTED that they have wrist corsages last minute. Only 2 wrist corsages showed up so both grandmas ended up wearing pin-ons. And she showed up late delivering the flowers so I didn’t have my bouquet and FI didn’t have his boutonniere in a lot of the pictures, and she also didn’t stick around to pin on boutonnieres as her and my DOC had discussed. Not the end of the world by any means but it caused some drama with my DOC. Overall, I would recommend her and I was only slightly disappointed on the day.
Post-Wedding Grade: B+/A-
Ok, the flowers were gorgeous. Everything I imagined and Lacey was very patient with me when I changed my mind about a hundred times. However, there are a few reasons for the dock in my review score. She’s not super great with communication, it usually takes at least 2 or 3 emails over the course of a few weeks to get a hold of her. Some of the things we discussed, such as a special wrap on my bouquet, didn’t happen with no explanation as to why. I paid double the price of a pin on corsage for wrist corsages for both sets of grandmothers and mothers because my mom and grandma had INSISTED that they have wrist corsages last minute. Only 2 wrist corsages showed up so both grandmas ended up wearing pin-ons. And she showed up late delivering the flowers so I didn’t have my bouquet and FI didn’t have his boutonniere in a lot of the pictures, and she also didn’t stick around to pin on boutonnieres as her and my DOC had discussed. Not the end of the world by any means but it caused some drama with my DOC. Overall, I would recommend her and I was only slightly disappointed on the day.
Dress: The Wedding Shoppe
Wedding Dress: So far nothing but great things to say about this place! So much more professional and attentive then the other places I went to. My consultant, Kristina, was absolutely fantastic and I felt like I was the only girl in the store. I got it narrowed down to three dresses I was absolutely in love with and had all of the other consultants coming over giving me their vote and opinions on which one they liked best. I was still torn so they told me to go to lunch and come back later that afternoon. Once I got back it was a lot busier and Kristin was with another girl. I had a different consultant pull the dresses for me, I tried one on, but was itching to get back in the lace gown that Kristina had pulled for me. The second I put it on with a veil I started crying. My mom overheard all of the consultants behind the counter commenting to themselves how it was made for me. Kristina paused her other appointment to come help me order and told me I could come try the sample on again anytime I wanted. I couldn't be more excited for my own to come in!
Bridesmaid Dress Shopping: Bridesmaid dress shopping was a little more of an ordeal. While they definitely have the best selection of dresses of places we went to, the service down in the bridesmaid section is less then ideal. Our consultant kept leaving us to help other groups (that had their own consultants) and was quite rude to us when we realized the dress that we had fallen in love with didn't come in anything close to my colors. She also was very pushy in trying to get us to order that day which, as I explained to her several times, wasn't going to happen because two of my bridesmaids weren't there and I wanted them to try on the dress before we put in an order. I was very unimpressed to say the least. And it was even worse when we went back to pick out junior bridesmaid dresses and have my sisters get measured. The consultant kept snapping at my mom to come help her because she didn't know how to figure out what size dress to order based on their measurements. Um...isn't that your job?! However, they do have a great selection and they sell all of their bridesmaid dresses at the "cash and carry" price instead of suggested retail so we're getting our Jasmine Bridal dresses cheaper then we found anywhere else.
Bridesmaid Dress Shopping: Bridesmaid dress shopping was a little more of an ordeal. While they definitely have the best selection of dresses of places we went to, the service down in the bridesmaid section is less then ideal. Our consultant kept leaving us to help other groups (that had their own consultants) and was quite rude to us when we realized the dress that we had fallen in love with didn't come in anything close to my colors. She also was very pushy in trying to get us to order that day which, as I explained to her several times, wasn't going to happen because two of my bridesmaids weren't there and I wanted them to try on the dress before we put in an order. I was very unimpressed to say the least. And it was even worse when we went back to pick out junior bridesmaid dresses and have my sisters get measured. The consultant kept snapping at my mom to come help her because she didn't know how to figure out what size dress to order based on their measurements. Um...isn't that your job?! However, they do have a great selection and they sell all of their bridesmaid dresses at the "cash and carry" price instead of suggested retail so we're getting our Jasmine Bridal dresses cheaper then we found anywhere else.
Officiant: Jim Albani
Pre-Wedding: After finding out that our venue required we be married by a registered minister, Jon and I became extremely nervous we wouldn't find anyone that fit this qualification that would be able to give us the type of ceremony we wanted. Jim was the first (and last) minister we met with and we knew instantly that he was perfect for us. Not only is he willing to perform a non-religious ceremony (since neither of us are very religious people and I don't belong to a religion at all) but he is also super laid back and not at all the stuffy minister that we feared. He also talked a lot about how the ceremony is the most personal part of the wedding and how it should be between us, not a show for the rest of the people attending which is a perspective we really liked. Jim also provides a great e-book on his site when you book with him to help you put together your own unique ceremony that reflects you as a couple.
Post-Wedding Grade: A
Jim did a great job. We put pretty much the entire ceremony together ourselves and he delivered it wonderfully. We had tons of comments on how you could really feel the love throughout the ceremony. The only reason he’s not getting an A+ is because there was a slight hiccup during the unity candle where he stopped twice and tried to tell us to start walking while he was talking about the unity candle even though we had previously told him we wouldn’t be walking until the song started after he was finished talking. He also said during the ceremony that Jon and I had gone to high school together when we are actually 7 years apart, but we laughed it off. The ceremony was all I wanted it to be and Jim did an overall good job.
Post-Wedding Grade: A
Jim did a great job. We put pretty much the entire ceremony together ourselves and he delivered it wonderfully. We had tons of comments on how you could really feel the love throughout the ceremony. The only reason he’s not getting an A+ is because there was a slight hiccup during the unity candle where he stopped twice and tried to tell us to start walking while he was talking about the unity candle even though we had previously told him we wouldn’t be walking until the song started after he was finished talking. He also said during the ceremony that Jon and I had gone to high school together when we are actually 7 years apart, but we laughed it off. The ceremony was all I wanted it to be and Jim did an overall good job.
Limo: Sonic Limousine
Pre-Wedding: Love this! This is the one thing that Jon really wanted to splurge on so I did all the research, gathered prices and pictures, and let him decide. We're going with the 22 passenger Cadillac Escalade limo for our 14 person bridal party. He's just ecstatic about this and I was happy to let him be in charge of the decision. Sonic has been great to work with so far!
Post-Wedding Grade: A
The limo was awesome and the driver was courteous and got us where we needed to be. Not much else to say :-)
Post-Wedding Grade: A
The limo was awesome and the driver was courteous and got us where we needed to be. Not much else to say :-)
Guest Shuttle Service: ITN Car Services
Pre-Wedding: We had been planning on using the PEC's shuttle service to shuttle guests back and forth between the event center and the hotel since almost the beginning of our planning. We were going to be utilizing it from 10pm to 2pm (the Radisson provides a shuttle service for guests until 10pm) at a rate of $50/hr. A couple of months before the wedding we found out that the PEC no longer offered the shuttle service and Jon had to start calling around to find a comparable rate. Everywhere else we looked we'd be paying almost double the initial $200 we had planned on. ITN offers a car service for $44 an hour so we ended up getting an even better deal. Jon's been taking care of all of the communication with them, but so far he's said they've been very helpful and courteous.
Post-Wedding Grade: A
We hired a shuttle car to go back and forth between the hotel and reception between 10pm and 2am to bring guests back to the hotel. The driver was very sweet and did a good job.
Post-Wedding Grade: A
We hired a shuttle car to go back and forth between the hotel and reception between 10pm and 2am to bring guests back to the hotel. The driver was very sweet and did a good job.
Hair and Make-up: Smart & Chic
Pre-Wedding: Fabulous! I did my trial with Amber B on August 6th and she was super amazing and accomodating! She was even nice enough to take down my up-do when she was done and style it for my bachelorette party that night!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
Smart and Chic was great to work with. I know other people have had issues with their communication but I never had trouble getting a hold of them. I loved my hair and make-up and I loved all of my bridesmaids’ and jr bridesmaids’ hair, as well. Melissa was sent as Amber’s assistant and they both were great. They even were nice enough to send Cathi and Annie, two stylists for another wedding, over before they started the other wedding party to do two of my bridesmaids’ hair so that we didn’t have to start hair at 7:00am. They were super fun and professional. My one piece of advice is to keep in mind before the day that all stylists have to be paid separately. I had only brought my checkbook (no cash) and stupid me only had one check left and I was paying for my hair and make-up, my sisters and nieces, and a portion of all my other bridesmaids, so last second I had to send one of my bridesmaids over to DH’s room and have him write out the checks instead. Totally my fault but just a heads up!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
Smart and Chic was great to work with. I know other people have had issues with their communication but I never had trouble getting a hold of them. I loved my hair and make-up and I loved all of my bridesmaids’ and jr bridesmaids’ hair, as well. Melissa was sent as Amber’s assistant and they both were great. They even were nice enough to send Cathi and Annie, two stylists for another wedding, over before they started the other wedding party to do two of my bridesmaids’ hair so that we didn’t have to start hair at 7:00am. They were super fun and professional. My one piece of advice is to keep in mind before the day that all stylists have to be paid separately. I had only brought my checkbook (no cash) and stupid me only had one check left and I was paying for my hair and make-up, my sisters and nieces, and a portion of all my other bridesmaids, so last second I had to send one of my bridesmaids over to DH’s room and have him write out the checks instead. Totally my fault but just a heads up!
DJ: Neon Express
Pre-Wedding: The Neon Express guys are wonderful! Originally, we were so ecstatic when we found out our venue provided an in-house DJ at what we had thought to be a ridiculously low price, but were a little concerned about using him without any reviews. When I heard the ladies on The Knot raving about Neon Express, I thought it'd be worth checking out and boy am I glad I did! Not only do they have rave reviews, but for around 8 1/2 hours of dinner and dancing music, they are charging half of what the in-house DJ would charge for 5 hours! Also, because I'm an obsessive bride, I contacted Neon Express almost 2 years out from my wedding before booking to address my concerns about whether they would be willing to work with my venue's sound system that was already set up as well as cram any of their equipment into the tiny DJ booth above the dance floor. Within a week, Dave had set up an appointment and gone to my reception venue to see what he could do to make it work for him and for us. How willing he was to go out of his way to put me at ease this early on without even a deposit from me says a lot I think!
Post-Wedding Grade: A/A-
Dave was great. He was super energetic and kept a good flow of music throughout the night. The only complaints were 1) that we had specifically told him that we had our first dance choreographed and to make sure to wait until we were out on the floor and ready before we started. He did this, but then started the song about 3 lines in which started us quite far into the dance and really threw DH off so he screwed up a few of the moves 2) The music was REALLY loud and staid REALLY loud despite us sending people up to ask him to turn it down a bit. Again, nothing that ruined the night and I’d definitely recommend him for the price that we paid.
Post-Wedding Grade: A/A-
Dave was great. He was super energetic and kept a good flow of music throughout the night. The only complaints were 1) that we had specifically told him that we had our first dance choreographed and to make sure to wait until we were out on the floor and ready before we started. He did this, but then started the song about 3 lines in which started us quite far into the dance and really threw DH off so he screwed up a few of the moves 2) The music was REALLY loud and staid REALLY loud despite us sending people up to ask him to turn it down a bit. Again, nothing that ruined the night and I’d definitely recommend him for the price that we paid.
Alterations: Louise Kegley
Pre-Wedding: Louise is fantastic! Super friendly and nice and she really makes you feel like the most beautiful bride in the world. She's also been super awesome about letting me make as many appointments as I want to make sure the dress fits perfect, and never makes me feel like I'm taking up too much of her time (which I'm sure I am :-/ ). I know a lot of girls have said its too hard to get ahold of her to set up an appointment, but I called her and 8:40am on a Friday and got her on my first time on the 2nd ring and had an appointment set up within 30 seconds.
Post-Wedding Grade:A
Louise is super sweet and her prices can’t be beat. My dress turned out beautifully, however the bustle ended up being a lot longer than we had discussed which annoyed me a lot throughout the night as I kept getting tripped up on it and the bustle broke about an hour into the dance, the only real reason for her lack of an A+
Post-Wedding Grade:A
Louise is super sweet and her prices can’t be beat. My dress turned out beautifully, however the bustle ended up being a lot longer than we had discussed which annoyed me a lot throughout the night as I kept getting tripped up on it and the bustle broke about an hour into the dance, the only real reason for her lack of an A+
Linens: Deckci Decor
Pre-Wedding: I’ve been working with Angie and I have nothing but great things to say! Their prices are fantastic and they are just a wonderful company to work with. When we were forced to back out of a contract and lose our deposit with another linen company due to questionable business practices, Angie was super nice and helpful and offered to give us 10% off our chair covers and sashes in order to help with the added expense of losing out on money from our last vendor. At 15 months out from my wedding, she sent us swatches of sash colors within 24 hours of me asking what the colors looked like. After just getting out of a stressful situation with an unreliable vendor, Angie was a breath of fresh air!
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
The chair covers and sashes were exactly as we wanted. No complaints :-)
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
The chair covers and sashes were exactly as we wanted. No complaints :-)
Hotel Block: Radisson University/University Hotel Minneapolis
Pre- Wedding: This one was kind of an obvious pick for us since it's only a few block from the event center. So far they've been ok to work with. They weren't really willing to bend on the room rate or to include parking or anything else in our block (which I guess I understand since it is Labor Day weekend) and will only let us reserve 30 rooms with no promise we'll get the same rate for any additional rooms after 30 even if they still have vaccancies. Melissa Rolf is the person I've been communicating with and she's been pretty patient with my thousands of questions, however, she doesn't seem to be in often and anyone else you contact doesn't really ever seem to know much about their policies. We are getting a discount on the presidential suite, though, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Post-Wedding Grade: A-
The hotel was very convienant due to its close location to the reception. They also provided us a complimentary shuttle until 10pm. However, the entire road in front of the hotel was shut down due to construction so it was a big pain to get to and the hotel was bought out (hence the name change from Radisson to The University Hotel) a couple of weeks before the wedding. Obviously not within their control, but no one notified us about this so we could tell our guests. Luckily we did a test run before the day and saw the construction and I constantly checked the hotel website so I figured out the name change (after going to the Radisson site and being told the hotel no longer existed….SCARY!) so it was taken care of, it just would have been nice to be given a heads up about these things. There were also a few people that weren’t given their OOT bags I had made and dropped off days earlier and I was disappointed with that since I spent a good chunk of change on those.
Post-Wedding Grade: A-
The hotel was very convienant due to its close location to the reception. They also provided us a complimentary shuttle until 10pm. However, the entire road in front of the hotel was shut down due to construction so it was a big pain to get to and the hotel was bought out (hence the name change from Radisson to The University Hotel) a couple of weeks before the wedding. Obviously not within their control, but no one notified us about this so we could tell our guests. Luckily we did a test run before the day and saw the construction and I constantly checked the hotel website so I figured out the name change (after going to the Radisson site and being told the hotel no longer existed….SCARY!) so it was taken care of, it just would have been nice to be given a heads up about these things. There were also a few people that weren’t given their OOT bags I had made and dropped off days earlier and I was disappointed with that since I spent a good chunk of change on those.
Honeymoon: El Dorado Casitas Royale
Obviously no complaints thus far. The place looks amazing and I CAN'T wait!!!!!! Plus they sent us a gift bag about 5 months out and a letter saying they'd upgraded us to a swim-up suite at no additional charge since it is our honeymoon! Yes please!
Honeymoon Travel Agent: Carol Anderson at Bursch Travel Agency
Carol gets a so-so vote. She was very nice but a little wishy washing and not all there. The first time Jon went in to meet with her back in September she said she had been to both the resorts we were considering and they were both great. When we went back to book in March she said she had never been to El Dorado (the place we were booking) despite having claimed before that she had. She also almost booked us at the wrong part of the hotel, which I don't know if she would have even caught without me pointing out that she was offering us rooms at the El Dorado Royale, not the El Dorado Casitas Royale, which I quickly recognized by the suite names from my research. When she came back with a quote for the room with a round trip flight on Delta Airline of $6800 I almost threw up. However when she got us an almost identical flight on American Airline the quote was $1200 less, leading me to believe that she screwed up on some part of the entry the first time around. But she saved us a substantial amount of money, based on the fact that I went home and tried to make the same reservation later that afternoon on my own and it was quite a bit more then we're paying, so as long as the reservation turns out as planned I can't complain too much.
Rehearsal Dinner: The Old Spaghetti Factory
Pre-Wedding: Great food, awesome space, only a few blocks from our hotel, and unbeatable prices. They've also been really cool about letting us bring in our own dessert (a surprise for Jon) and letting us come in early to decorate.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
They were super great to work with and the food was delicious. They were very accommodating with me brining in my own dessert and decorations, as well. The service was a little slow as they only gave us two wait staff for 41 people, but we weren’t in a hurry so it wasn’t too big a deal.
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
They were super great to work with and the food was delicious. They were very accommodating with me brining in my own dessert and decorations, as well. The service was a little slow as they only gave us two wait staff for 41 people, but we weren’t in a hurry so it wasn’t too big a deal.
Bartenders: Minnesota School of Bartending
Post-Wedding Grade: A+
The guys that Minnesota School of Bartending sent were GREAT! Not only did they have my and DH’s drink order memorized immediately and constantly were coming to find us to see if we needed refills, I had multiple guests tell me that the bartenders would start making the drink that they knew the guest would order before the guest even got all the way up to the bar! They were on the ball all night and were such a great deal since we were at the PEC. Big kudos to them!
The guys that Minnesota School of Bartending sent were GREAT! Not only did they have my and DH’s drink order memorized immediately and constantly were coming to find us to see if we needed refills, I had multiple guests tell me that the bartenders would start making the drink that they knew the guest would order before the guest even got all the way up to the bar! They were on the ball all night and were such a great deal since we were at the PEC. Big kudos to them!
Groom's Cake: Key's Cafe
Post-Wedding Grade: - A
I had them make a lemon cake in the shape of a super Nintendo console to surprise DH at the rehearsal dinner. The cake was SO delicious, I wanted about 8 more pieces! The design was cute, DH loved it, though it wasn’t exactly like the picture I gave them. Definitely no regrets on this one, though!
I had them make a lemon cake in the shape of a super Nintendo console to surprise DH at the rehearsal dinner. The cake was SO delicious, I wanted about 8 more pieces! The design was cute, DH loved it, though it wasn’t exactly like the picture I gave them. Definitely no regrets on this one, though!
Registeries: Crate & Barrel and Target
Crate & Barrel = awesome. All their stuff is beautiful and fun and the registery events they do are fantastic. No issues so far with the registery system, everything has been very easy to manage. However, almost no one has bought anything off this registery :-(
Target = awful. We spent two hours there registering and we got home and checked it at least 5 of the things we registered for weren't on the list, 3 things we had deleted still were on the list, and one of the things we registered for (a digital picture frame) the registery list said was a nonexistent item. Most of their inventory in store you can't look at online, and about 90% of their stuff online is unavailable in stores so there is no convienant way to manage your register. Unfortunately it's just such a great, cheap, convienant option and almost all of our gifts have used this registery. We're down to about 15 things out of our 58 that haven't been purchased.
Target = awful. We spent two hours there registering and we got home and checked it at least 5 of the things we registered for weren't on the list, 3 things we had deleted still were on the list, and one of the things we registered for (a digital picture frame) the registery list said was a nonexistent item. Most of their inventory in store you can't look at online, and about 90% of their stuff online is unavailable in stores so there is no convienant way to manage your register. Unfortunately it's just such a great, cheap, convienant option and almost all of our gifts have used this registery. We're down to about 15 things out of our 58 that haven't been purchased.
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