Elisabeth Morray - Day of Coordinator
She did WAY more than a day of coordinator and really made the day much easier on me and my mom. She was everywhere it seems. Very organized and knows her job very well. I could not have spent my money any better than hiring Elisabeth. By far and away the best vendor I had and I had some very very good ones. If I had it all to do again, I would have hired Elisabeth earlier and have her help me even more. It would have helped with the stress.
Melody Parsons Better Batter Bakery - Cakes
Extremely yummy cakes. Bride's cake was lemon with lemon curd filling, mexican vanilla icing, sugar paste flowers, and fondant bows. Groom's cake was spice with sweet cream filling and mexican vanilla frosting. The groom's cake was by far the cuter one but it helped it was not traditionally designed and as a creative person myself, I know how it is to be inspired and the inspiration helps you do wonders. Both were equally delicious and my mom had to swoop in to grab a little of both cakes for us to take that night for dinner. We did make sure to save the top of the bride's cake for our anniversary. I think you may want to order more of Melody's cakes than the normal serving amount as they are so good people want more. Her pricing is incredibly good. She only takes 2 weddings a weekend so book her early.
Ryan Green Photography - Photography
Both Ryan and Lindsey were everywhere and have a great sense of humor. This helped ease the tension of being the center of attention. I HATE my picture being taken and they did a wonderful job of getting the photos without being intrusive. I am still waiting on the final picture results so cannot say much about the actual pictures but will post once I have them. Very good pricing and they now take Paypal so you can use a credit card if you need to.
Tina Prive Prive Florist - Flowers
Tina is so sweet and offered to help with anything I needed even above the flowers. She knew I was stressed and I chose her fairly last minute. I had little idea what to do with flowers especially since I bought a colorful dress and the original flower colors I wanted (and everything I liked) were too bright and would detract from my dress. So she came to the rescue to help me decide what flowers I liked and what I did not like and to make suggestions. She also knew I liked fragrance. From what I hear, she came to decorate with the flowers and was cutting up lemons at the last minute to add to the arrangements. Everyone loved the smell and the flowers were beautiful. I only needed 2 arrangements, my flowers, 3 small bouquets, 1 flower girl basket bouquet, 3 corsages, and I think 10 bouts. I bought my rose petals for throwing and my table decorations separately. Total price was reasonably low. I spent less than 600 for all flowers, delivery and setup, and pinning the bouts on the guys. Definitely a good idea to leave the design in Tina's hands as she did a wonderful job.
Primizie Catering - Food and non-alcoholic drinks
I wanted Italian for the food and did not have much to spend. I originally planned on light hors d'oeuvres. I ended up with a full meal. We had chicken, vegetable, and mushroom penne pasta, two types of bread and two types of dip (one was spinach artichoke and I do not know what the other one was), fruit display with cantaloupe, watermelon, grapes, and plums, and three types of cubed cheese. We did have some food left over but we did get married in the middle of the afternoon and people left room for the cake and ice cream. Primizie furnished the ice cream. They also furnished the non alcoholic drinks and had a bartender there to serve the Sangria we made and the beer we brought. We bought too much beer and Sangria. We sent much of it home with the wedding party and they were very happy with that idea. Many compliments from my guest about the food. The servers were awesome as well.
Ricky Bromley Express Mobile DJ Services - DJ
I hired Ricky without ever even meeting him. I was already tired of interviewing vendors and Ricky had a very good price. He sent me a form to fill out with my preferences and what music to play when. I filled it out and gave him suggestions of the type of music we liked. Ricky did a wonderful job with what little information we gave to him. He gave us a CD with the music we selected for the wedding. We finally met him towards the end of the reception when he introduced himself. We did not ask too much of him as we did not do a bouquet toss or a garter toss. We did do a cake cutting and a short toast (the guys wimped out on us). The ceremony was easy as well since it was just a simple ceremony. We only needed music for the bridesmaids and the bride and a recessional. I think he did a wonderful job for someone that we pretty much gave free reign to and never met. He knows what he is doing and obviously has done this many times.
Jef Ray - Officiant
Very easy to work with. We did not have anyone on either side that had someone in mind to marry us so we had to go look. We are not especially religious and needed someone informal (or someone that could be if needed). Jef has a perfect sense of humor and a good mix of reverence to the task. He fit with our personalities. The rehearsal was included in his pricing. By far less expensive than everyone else that we priced. My sister interviewed at least 8 people via the telephone and decided that Jef was our best candidate. We met with him and agreed he would be perfect. Jef is internet ordained and has done at least 10 weddings now. He decided to get ordained after he was asked to do it for a friend's wedding and did not take them up on it only to regret it later. He then became ordained at a second friend's request. He has since done the rest of the weddings via word of mouth. He does the weddings because he loves to do them. He even makes sure to tell the bride and groom that if they do need someone to talk to in the future that he will continue to be there for them. If you do not have anyone in mind currently for an officiant, I would heartily recommend Jef.
Rochelle Rae - Hair and Makeup
Very good at doing hair but my hair did not really end up like the picture I brought her. Its ok as my hair turned out great and I am surprised someone was able to keep my hair in place since it normally never works for me and the day was SUPER humid which usually is even more of a challenge. My only regret is not giving her any guidance in how I would like my makeup. I had not a chance to do anything about researching what I'd like. I just told her I did not like lipstick much as I chew it off and that I normally focus on my eyes. My makeup stayed on very well considering the humidity and the heat. It seemed over done for me. I think it was just because I do not wear too much makeup except the eyes at times and that is always a dark brown. I prefer warmer tones on me and warm pinks and ended up with silver eyes and pink lips. I think she would have done perfectly had I guided her to what I liked though. I did not do ANY hair or makeup trials as it would have gotten too expensive. Probably would have helped there too. She is a very nice person and did bring an assistant to get my sister and mom's hair done. I am the only one that got makeup done.
Bridesmart - Dress
Lots of help finding a dress and the girl that helped me actually was the one that suggested the dress I bought. She kept bringing dresses to me and taking dresses I wanted to look at as well. I must have tried on 15 dresses that morning. Even she knew which one I'd pick. I cannot remember her name but she was thin with reddish blond long straight hair. Anyway I only went to 3 stores before I bought the dress. I did end up getting the dress I wanted for less than the price on the tag. You can talk them down some. Price is negotiable. The dress I got was a knockoff of a Oleg Cassni (David's Bridal) dress. Since I am plus size the dress would have cost me $1450 at David's. Ended up spending about $740 including the petticoat. Bridesmart was selling it for $899. Thus I did get a good price by asking.
Carol Redman Bridal Arena - Alterations
She lives in Cedar Park. WONDERFUL for those of us living way north. Very sweet lady and talented. Beautiful bustle creation. Made my dress fit so well. I only wish I had pulled it up so it fit on the wedding day. I struggled with the waist not laying down and the length being too long. I do think I remember her telling me to pull it up at least once when I had it on for alterations. It fit beautifully on my final fitting. I actually have the dress back at her house to be repaired from me stepping on the front embroidery layer and ripping it. After it is repaired, I plan on selling it though I might play around and put it on at least one more time. It is the most expensive outfit I have ever owned and likely ever will. That and it was altered especially for me and made to fit so well. For the bust being pulled in, waist let out, length shortened, and a custom bustle, I spent about $384. She worked around the elaborate embroidery and even with all these alterations, it looked perfect.
The Bridesmaid Store - Bridesmaid dresses
This one I am torn between giving them a thumbs down and a thumbs up. It was easy to order from them but one dress came in and they called us to tell us all 3 had come in. One of my bridesmaids (and mom of the JR bridesmaid) went in about a week before the wedding to pick hers up. Well the other 2 had not come in yet. The owner of the store claimed it was partly our fault that the dresses were not in. That would be incorrect since they told us they were in and we had ordered in plenty of time. So the store owner evidently rush ordered the dresses and they came in Friday before the Sunday wedding. 5 days to get the dresses. Luckily the bridesmaid that was waiting on her dress and her daughter's dress has a family member that can make the alterations and they were done that night. I was prepared on Friday to go shopping and buy something off the rack. Thus my panic attack right before the wedding. Thumbs down for not checking her inventory properly and letting us know incorrectly that the dresses had come in. Thumbs up for rushing the order through and managing to make them arrive in the nick of time. Personally, I could have skipped the added stress so if I were to use them for something again, I would order 6 months ahead and hound them til they came in.
Miller Crockett House - Ceremony and Reception
Beautiful spot. Works very well for an outdoor wedding provided there is not inclement weather as there is no indoor alternative. Problem is the owner. She is very dingy. She failed to discuss with me the tight schedule between the wedding the day before me and their check out time on Sunday and the time my wedding was to start. I found out 1 ¸ weeks before the wedding that I would not be able to get dressed at the Miller Crockett House. The guests that had stayed there the night before would not be checking out until 1pm that Sunday, My wedding was to start at 2pm. Thus I had to find (very quickly) a place to get dressed that was nearby. UT home game that weekend and every hotel in town had a minimum stay of 2 nights or more. I finally found a place that would let me come in that morning to get dressed. I was expecting to pay a full night when I arrived. The lady charged me less than half. The Lazy Oak Bed and Breakfast is beautiful. I would steer people there to stay if it was not recently sold to a family that intends on raising their children there and closing the BnB. The problems with Miller Crockett did not end with the time frame issue. Kathleen told Elisabeth (the coordinator) that I had not paid the Miller Crockett House in full. I had to make a copy of the contract and research my bank statements to give Kathleen all of the check amounts and the days they cleared my bank. Elisabeth also had to ask Kathleen to send back my security deposit. I could not post this vendor review until that deposit came back because I was afraid she would keep it. She was by far the worst vendor I had to deal with though the location in the hands of someone else would have been perfect.
All in all, the only things that really went wrong in the end were that I did not pull my dress up enough and I kept stepping on it. This happens with strapless dresses. And I forgot to wear my veil. It was in a closet that accidentally got shut and we all forgot. I am most disappointed about that since it is the only time in your life you wear a veil.
Thank you to all of the knoties on the Austin board for helping me plan for my wedding. I wish all of you still in the planning stages the best of luck with your weddings. Kiss your hubbies to be and remember why you are doing all of this work. It is to celebrate the happiest day of your life!
Sherri Wyche Fleming
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