I have to preface this by saying that honestly, we did not have anything go wrong on the wedding day and I was more than thrilled with every single one of my vendors. I am not kidding! I was prepared for the worst, but nothing went awry. Really, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter either! :) My vendors were awesome. I would recommend all of them! So...I am not grading them. I’m just writing about how fabulous they really were :)
Email me if you have any further questions or need contact info - moe3302@yahoo.com
Church: St. Paul on the Lake
I think it’s difficult to “review” a church, but our location and views were phenomenal. It was my hubby’s childhood church, so this choice was a no-brainer.
Reception: GPYC
Joyce, the coordinator, was fabulous! Everything worked out perfectly. She did exactly what I wanted and I had to send my hubby to the “final meeting” with her before the wedding - I am now in full-time grad school - and everything was just perfect. The service there was, and always has been, awesome. Our guests that hadn’t been there before were very impressed! It is a private club, so you either have to be a member or sponsored by a member to have an event there.
Flowers: Deborah Wilson of Clinton Township
Deborah was by far one of my favorite vendors. I found out about her from one of my BMs that had seen her work at 2 of her friends’ weddings. We immediately clicked on the phone, and I knew I was going to love her - her idea of having mint in my BMs’ bouquets was what sold me! I loved all of our flowers and our guests even took some of the CPs home - they were in faux silver revere bowls. She also did all the candles for the reception, and went above and BEYOND what I had imagined or what we talked about. There were flowers everywhere. I HIGHLY recommend Deborah. Email me if you want her info; she works out of her home and only does a few weddings.
My dress: I do, too! of Plymouth
The girls there were awesome - so patient and really helpful.
My flower for my dress: handle&spout of NY
Blake and Corinne were awesome. I sent them the non-used strap from my dress for them to color-match, told them via email what I wanted, sent an “inspirational” picture, and I was very pleased with the final product. It came in a very cute box with a cute note too. Loved their final touch!
My shoes: Kate Spade from bluefly.com
Easy, simple transaction. They definitely showed their wear by the end of the night from walking in grass, etc., but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Super comfy, never even thought about changing my shoes all day or night!
My veil: My mom’s...with a little help of some scissors!
My jewelry: whiteaisle.com
I was in love with Erica’s (fellow knottie and blogger) earrings and had to have them. I had previously bought another earring/bracelet set, but I just wasn’t happy with them after awhile (I think I bought them too early - and was able to see them too much and got sick of them!)...I purchased my earrings and bracelet from the website. They arrived packaged well and super sparkly! Very happy with the quality (and price!).
Bridesmaid dresses: J.Crew (national chain)
No one had trouble ordering dresses. They also received them quickly! The color was exactly the same as the swatch I was sent before they ordered.
Groom & Groomsmen suits: Brooks Brothers (national chain)
Dale, manager at Brooks Brothers in GP, was fabulous to work with. We opened up a BB charge to order all of our GMs’ suits at a discounted rate (they later paid us back - we didn’t buy them for them!) and Dale had them sent where we wanted and ordered from stores together so we didn’t have to pay for shipping. We loved how they looked! So, they were able to buy the suits and have them instead of paying more for rented tuxes. My hubby also got his tie from BB.
Groomsmen ties: paulfredrick.com
When we saw the inspiration board that we actually used for our big day, the tie was on it. I linked it back and we decided that we had to have that tie! We got lucky when we logged on and found a great deal on the ties - they were on sale. Then I googled for coupon codes (duh!) and found an additional coupon that was applicable. We basically stole those ties. They were awesome quality and arrived in their own personal boxes.
Photographer: JK Photography of Grand Rapids
Jen did our e-session, my boudoir, and obviously captured our wedding day. She was more than awesome. Super fun to be around, a lot of energy, and captured some really great shots. I highly recommend her!
Videographer: Captured Productions
I can’t say anything more about Aaron other than his work speaks for itself. He was so easy to work with and we barely knew he was there - in a good way! I can’t wait to see a sneak peek from him! He is a little pricey, but his work is phenomenal and more than worth its cost.
Linens: AECC of Troy
Colleen & Crystal were easy to work with and responded to emails literally within the hour almost always. I was only bummed about ONE thing: originally I had decided to do chair covers and sashes. So we put down a deposit on them (a separate contract from the linens). Then we decided we wanted chivaris. I asked the girls if the deposit from the chair covers could be moved over to the linen balance. They said no, that we had to forfeit the amount, which I thought was silly since it is the same company. They did offer sashes for my bridal shower instead. Overall, I was happy with the quality of the product and the service. I would recommend them because I felt that they were professional and I had NO doubt in my mind that they would deliver. They made me feel very comfortable!
Chivari chairs: Candelite Chair Covers & Linens of ?
Rita was by far the vendor I was “worried” about the most. Her emails were quick, but they usually contained misspelled words. Overall, yes, I was happy with the final product. However, she called the THE MORNING OF the wedding telling/asking me to send her pictures after the wedding of the room because of how beautiful she thought it looked. It didn’t bother me then - and I believe it was a sweet gesture, but looking back, I thought... “Really? You had to call me the day of the wedding and ask me that? You couldn’t just email me?!” Also, she forgot to send the sashes that were supposed to go on the bridal party’s chairs. Did I care/notice? No. I actually don’t even think I would have liked them, looking back, but it’s the principle. Regardless, Rita’s prices cannot be beat and she was easy to work with.
Limo: Allstar VIP of Royal Oak
More than impressed with this company. I did my research (mostly on BBB and on the WDIV “Best of” contest) the most for the limo. I had heard so many horror stories! They received fab reviews on the “Best of” website and all of their emails/phone calls were professional. The “party bus” showed up on time and was spotless. My MOH also booked them for my Bachelorette party, which we also had a great experience with. They were a little on the higher side...I think we paid $1,000 for 6 hours of the party bus for the wedding. In my opinion, totally worth it after hearing all the things that could go wrong!
Rehearsal Dinner: Antonio’s in Grosse Pointe Park
Brian, the manager, was great to work with and everyone loved the food and ambience. This was always one of our “date night” locations, so we knew the food was going to rock, but it was good to hear from others that they loved it, too.
Hair: “David, the Salon” of Grosse Pointe
Liza, my long-time stylist, did my hair and brought along an assistant (Barbara) for the morning of at my house. She was awesome and I always recommend her!
Makeup: Posh Brides by Kari of Milford
I hired Jazmine for makeup for everyone day-of. I had a trial done (conveniently on the same day as my boudoir), was super happy, and didn’t change a thing for the big day. Posh was easy to work with and Kari threw in lip glosses for each girl.
Invitations/paper products: Jenny Daniel of Ferndale
We were referred to Jenny by some friends that had her do their paper products for their wedding. We met with her once and knew she was our girl! I was more than happy with our paper products, and we got a lot of compliments on our invites and day-of products. Jenny also does this part-time, so please contact me if you want her information.
Cake: Josef’s Pastry Shoppe of Grosse Pointe
Amazing. One word. We gave Anthony, the owner, a picture of the cake we wanted to replicate and he did it perfectly. The head chef at the GPYC commented on how it was the best buttercream cake he had ever seen - the buttercream looked like fondant it was so smooth. OH, and not to mention, the cake itself was AH!mazing. My husband’s family has always gone to Josef’s, so we knew the quality was going to be awesome. We had Anthony make us some sample cakes (which were huge and inexpensive, by the way) and we were sold. He was so easy to work with, and gives you that homemade Italian vibe - which my hubby loved of course because he is Italian! We ended up choosing half carrot cake and half chocolate cake with fresh raspberry preserve filling mixed with chocolate mousse filling. Delicious. (On a side note, we did go to Elite Sweets bakery for a consultation after going to a friend’s wedding and loving her cake - the Dynasty flavor. We made an “appointment” which was really a joke because we barely got any customer service when we were there. The lady we “met” with was busy getting other orders off in between talking to us. We loved the cake, though, so we didn’t know what to do. That’s when we went to Josef’s and asked him if he could make a cake similar to what was in the Dynasty cake. It was even better!) I also highly recommend Josef’s because he actually makes his own batter every day. Most bakeries use a pre-made mix.
Candy bar: Bulk Foods of Dearborn (mostly), Candywarehouse.com
My MOH bought our candy bar for us as a gift to us. It was AWESOME and our guests LOVED it! We went together and bought most of the candy from Bulk Foods, and they gave us a 10% discount. She spent well over $500...it was a crazy amount of candy.
Guest book: Blurb.com
Awesome product, easy to do. I received a ton of compliments on it!
Jewelry: Harris Jems of Royal Oak
Jim Harris is a private, independent jeweler who was referred to us by friends. He works on a referral basis and he is awesome. Apparently, my hubby literally drew what he wanted my engagement ring to look like and Jim created it. Everything Jim has is hand-made. We will be going to him for all of our future jewelry purchases!
I guess my biggest piece of advice is...don’t always go with the “biggest” name out there. Oftentimes, these places don’t have the best customer service. They think that they can just get by with their great services, which sometimes they can. My hubby and I were/are really big into supporting local companies and finding vendors that really cared about what they are doing.
I think I got all of our main vendors...but I’m sure I forgot something! If you have any more questions, please let me know! I will post more pics when I get them :)
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