Vendors
Ceremony and Reception
Washington County Historic Courthouse in Stillwater - B
http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_residents/parks_division/historic_courthouse/
I love the Courthouse. They spent so much time the week before the wedding going over a seating chart with me and answering all of my questions. They even took the time to measure a wall for me when they didn't have the measurements on hand, seriously! I was able to stop in there just about any time they were open, and if I wanted to see the reception hall "one more time" they would either take me up there or let me take a quick peek. They were wonderful to work with before the wedding.
I want to give them an A, but we had a few issues the day of. First, the A/C was broken. Upstairs in the reception room it was fine with the windows open but downstairs it was pretty hot. Maybe that was just me, and honestly it ended up not being a huge deal, but I feel like there should have been some sort of compensation for that.
Also, we were told repeatedly that we would have a cordless mic to use during the ceremony. I'm not really sure what happened, because people tend to keep the bride out of the loop on the wedding day (which is probably good), but we got up to the ceremony spot, and there was a mic with a cord. Our readers didn't have a mic they could use so they had to shout, and IMO, it looked kind of tacky. But it is what it is.
Lastly, just a note. The place says you can do a reception inside and a ceremony outside for 200 people. We had 150 people, and I think that was the perfect amount. It would have been uncomfortably cramped in the reception hall if we had tried to fit 50 more people. Also, I don't see how there is enough room for 200 chairs outside on the brick. For our numbers, the size of the hall was excellent, but it makes me thankful we had so many no's.
Caterer
Brasa Rotisserie - A+
http://www.brasa.us/
Brasa was beyond amazing! The catering coordinator there, Ash, is so great to work with. She really goes above and beyond to make sure that you not only have great food but also a great experience.
Our food may not have been "traditional" wedding food, but I guarantee it was some of the best wedding food our guests have had. Most brides say they couldn't eat a thing at their wedding. I certainly didn't have that problem. The food was awesome! If you're going to have Brasa cater, however, I highly recommend having them do the work (unless it's a small event with like 30 people or fewer). You do have the option for them to just drop off the food and you take care of setting it up and serving it to save a few bucks, but I think the staff was totally worth every cent! They set it everything for dinner up and took it all down smoothly and quickly.
I do have one small complaint, though. We purchased a few vegetarian friendly entrees since our meal had a lot of meat aspects to it. We were reassured that the staff kept an eye out for vegetarians, and they'd pull them aside and give them one of the veggie entrees if they saw that they were avoiding meat. Later in the night we found out that didn't happen, so we were disappointed. In hindsight, I wish I had specifically let our guests know beforehand that we've set aside another meal for them, and the kitchen staff would have it.
DJ
First Choice DJ Service - A+
http://www.firstchoicedjservice.com/
I am SO picky about DJ's. The first thing I complain about when I go to a wedding is that I don't like the DJ, so I knew my quest for a DJ was going to be a difficult one. Or not. The moment I met Matt, I knew he was the DJ for us. I met him at a wedding faire, and I felt very at ease talking to him, and even had an opportunity to talk to another bride that had used him for her wedding. I knew I wanted to book him before I left that day.
On the wedding day he checked with us to make sure he pronounced everyone's names right for the grand entrance (something I don't see DJ's do very often). He also was just the right amount of hands-on during the reception. For the most part he stayed away from the mic, but he had quite the talent at getting the dance floor up and running again if it was beginning to empty. I don't think it was ever completely empty at any point during the night. If a song was playing that no one was interested in, he wouldn't wait until it ended, he would switch it to a song that people actually wanted to dance to.
I seriously cannot recommend Matt and First Choice enough. He exceeded my expectations, and since the wedding I have had several family members voice how much they enjoyed our DJ.
Flowers
Simply Stated Elegance - A
http://www.simplystatedelegance.com/index.html
Jeni did SUCH an amazing job on the flowers. They were exactly what I was hoping for and better than I had envisioned. When we initially met, we started by going to a floral supplier and actually picking out flowers to go in my bouquet. When I saw the final product, it had all the flowers I picked, but they were put together so wonderfully! There was even one type of flower (plant?) I hadn't picked out that she had put in the bouquet. It fit perfectly with the look of the bouquet, and it made me so happy that she had taken the time to find that one extra one that would add a lot.
After that initial meeting and signing of the contract, we pretty much didn't talk until the week of the wedding. I emailed her once, and she never responded. When I called a couple days later, we figured out the email went into her spam folder, and she was very apologetic for missing it. I didn't even get to see her on the wedding day to tell her how much I loved the flowers, but I was so excited when I saw them. Simply Stated Elegance is definitely one of the best in the business, especially for the price.
Cake
Wuollet Bakery - A-
http://www.wuollet.com/
I was pleased with our wedding cake for the most part. The cake tasted amazing and it looked great! They really designed it well, and it looked very similar to the inspiration picture I wanted them to mimic. It wasn't as "smooth" as my inspiration picture, but that was because I got cream cheese icing and not fondant. My biggest complaint about the cake itself is that the gumpaste flower they created to put on it wasn't all that impressive. I feel like it could have been more "flower" like instead of a perfect sugary circle. It's a small complaint.
What bothered me is that when Josh and I went in for our tasting we were pretty much ready to book on the spot. The lady that was taking care of us told us we should wait and book about a month before the wedding. I thought that seemed odd, but I waited. When I called to place the order they told me I could have booked when we were there and they didn't want to place an order over the phone. I wasn't going to drive the 45 minutes to go place the order, so I insisted that it was happening over the phone. It was frustrating with the miscommunication and them wanting me to drive back to place the order, but it all worked out in the end without me having to go down there.
DOC
Until It Looks Right - A+
http://untilitlooksright.com/
Heather and her assistant Jamie were awesome! They went above and beyond. They arrived and helped set up the reception hall, cued everyone when to walk in for the ceremony, made sure things went smoothly during the reception, and set up the late night snack. Those are the big things I know about at least. To be honest, I barely saw Heather on the wedding day, but I know she was running around taking care of stuff. It was wonderful to have her there orchestrating everything so that my family and I could just relax and have a great time!
Initially Josh didn't understand what she'd be doing or why we even hired her, but after we all had a meeting together he left saying he didn't know how we could do the wedding without her!
One extra special thing that she did was have her assistant Jamie running around taking some pictures on the wedding day. When we left that evening, Jamie pulled us aside and handed us a memory card with our very first wedding pictures on it. She got a few fun pictures of us as well as some nice details of the reception hall, tables, and cake. It was so fun having those instant pictures to look at the very next day.
Photographer
Imagen International - B+ (so far)
http://www.imageninternational.com/
I was very satisfied with Imagen. We had Alix shooting our wedding with his assistant Jessica. I didn't give them a higher rating because I haven't seen any pictures yet. I know we were running super late with pictures on the wedding day (not Alix's fault), so I'm hoping we got all the shots I wanted. I know we got all the family groups I wanted because he had the written list with him and went right through that. I don't know yet if we got a lot of nice detail shots like cake, tables, dress, bouquet, etc. I also know we didn't get too terribly creative with poses, but Josh isn't a fan of "artsy" wedding photography, so I'm not really disappointed with that. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the candid shots, though. There's bound to be a few awesome candids.
Lastly, they were marked down because our engagement pictures were a few weeks late. They had a good excuse (death in the family), so I was understanding, but instead of telling us they would be late, I had to contact them after not getting them in the mail. The engagement pictures themselves were fantastic. I'm hoping we'll get our wedding photos in a timely fashion, but we weren't given a prospective date, so we'll see. Regardless, unless our photos turn out terrible (which I don't anticipate), I still believe Imagen is one of the best values in wedding photography. All of my experience with them they have been very professional and easy to work with.
Videographer
Limelight Videography - A+
Andrea is actually quasi-related to us, so she gave us our videography as a wedding present. Prior to the wedding she even made a fun "how we met" video with a growing up slideshow on it. I love watching it, and she did such an awesome job on that video. The sound quality wasn't superb, but she got new sound equipment for the wedding. I'm excited to see how the wedding video turned out, but I know it'll be great! While she was recording, I know she was around, but she was unobtrusive. This was such a special gift, especially since we didn't have money in our budget for a videographer. Her website is currently under construction, but as soon as it's up and running, I'll post that on here as well.
Rental Items
Midway Party Rental - A
http://www.midwaypartyrental.com/
Not much to say here. The stuff looked good. We picked it up and dropped it off and had no problems. Meeting with Ly and deciding on how I wanted the tables to look was easy and fun. I didn't get anything too extravagant.
Tuxes
Men's Warehouse - B-
http://www.menswearhouse.com/
The tuxes we rented were one of the more expensive styles. They were very lightweight, but what was important was they had slim cut tux. Josh looks too boxy in regular tuxes, so the slim cut was a must. The tuxes themselves looked very nice on the guys, and I didn't hear any complaints, so I'm guessing there weren't any. There weren't really problems with picking up the tuxes other than with Josh's we had to wait an hour, but I heard from a couple of guys that they were given attitude when they went in to get measured. That made me pretty unhappy. But on the bright side, since we had 10 guys renting tuxes, we ended up getting a free tux rental and a free suit for Josh when all was said and done. Plus we had a coupon for $40 off of each tux.
Bridesmaid Dresses
The Wedding Shoppe, Inc. - A
http://www.weddingshoppeinc.com/
Bridesmaid dress shopping was so quick and easy at The Wedding Shoppe. After having checked out 2 other shops, I was beginning to think we wouldn't find what I was looking for, but I was so happy when we came to this store. They had a fairly wide selection, especially in the color we were looking for (Pewter gray). I was very pleased with the service, and when I decided to go back and have a friend try on the dress again before making the final decision, they were just as welcoming as when we first came to the shop. The only downside is that some of the sample sizes aren't going to fit bigger girls, but you're going to find this situation at just about any locally owned bridal shop. We ended up going with a Bill Levkoff design which was reduced in price by $20 the day that we decided to order. Awesome. Also, The Wedding Shoppe has all of the girls order their dresses on their website. The dresses are actually then ordered from the store and shipped there from the designer. The website ordering made it pretty easy for all of my out-of-town girl to order and receive their dresses. I have absolutely no complaints about The Wedding Shoppe, Inc.
Wedding Dress
House of Hilton - Closed
This isn't really a plug for House of Hilton since it's been closed down for many years, but I figured people would maybe want to know where I got my dress. It was a great little bridal shop in Toledo, OH. Sad that it's closed.
Cake Topper
Raven's Glass - A+
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ravens-Glass/286778164433
Raven made us an awesome custom glass cake topper. I was looking for a glass chess queen and king, and I wasn't finding anything I liked at all. When Josh and I were at the MN Renaissance Festival we ran into Raven who had a glass chess set on display. We talked to him and asked if he'd be willing to make us a just the two pieces, and he was more than excited to do so. He took the time to talk through design and colors with us at the Festival, then about a week and a half later we received two awesome glass chess pieces. They were perfect looking on our cake, and they're a great keepsake for the future.
Invites
Wedding Paper Divas - A-
http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/
I loved our invites from Wedding Paper Divas. They were exactly what I was looking for. Originally I wanted to DIY invites, but circumstances didn't allow for that, so we had to buy online and do so quickly. The invite I found on there went perfectly with my vision for the wedding. The colors were great, but I wanted to slightly change one of them, so I called customer service to ask about it. They were more than happy to help at customer service, and I was able to slightly customize the invitations in a few different ways. They couldn't do anything over the phone because I had to put the notes on the website when I was ordering, but they answered all of my questions very well. Some of the best customer service I've dealt with, actually.
The biggest downside to the invitations was font size and type. Many of the font types were awesome looking, but they didn't fit in the box. I don't know why they didn't fit, but they didn't fit, so I would have to choose a different font. Also, I had to use the largest font size. The reviews on the website said that the fonts were very small, so I went with the largest they would allow. I'm thankful that I did because even that was on the small size. It would have been easier to read had it been 1 or 2 pts larger. I hope that's something they fix in the near future. Otherwise I was very happy with the invites. They came on beautiful, heavyweight card stock, and the design was very classy.
Mrs. Sweater
Etsy Shop - ArtisticEmbroidery11 - A+
All of my bridesmaids are married, so I ordered 8 Mrs. Lastname Est: Weddingdate sweaters from Brenda for my bridesmaids, my mom, and me. I sadly waiting until only a month before the wedding to order the sweaters cause I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the girls. When I was searching Etsy, Brenda had one of the best prices on the website and it looked like she made a quality product. I definitely wanted embroidery and not rhinestones, so I decided to order from her. She knew I was in a time crunch, so she got the sweaters done quickly and sent out to me.
The sweaters themselves seem to be a nice quality. They are lightweight but warm and very soft. They're ladies' sweaters, so they're fitted. If you're between sizes, I would probably err on the larger size. The embroidery looked very nice and was heavy stitching. Over all, I was very pleased, and I would recommend her shop to anyone who is looking for an embroidered sweater like that.
Cake Stand
Etsy Shop - BezInnovations - A
The cake stand was nice. It was about the same cost as renting one, and this one I get to keep. It's not something you could use many times, but it certainly could be used a few times for wedding cakes, etc. It looked nice and it held the cake, even though it's super light weight. I also didn't order this until about 2 weeks before the wedding, and he shipped it out the day after it was ordered because he knew I was in a rush.
Guest Book
Picaboo - A
http://www.picaboo.com/
I got a Living Social deal for a 20 page photo book from Picaboo for $20. Shipping cost another $9. I created a guest book with pictures, lines for guests' names, as well as pages with fun questions for them to answer. The website was fairly easy to use. I wasn't thrilled with how some of the pictures would crop in the frames, but it all turned out quite nice looking. All-in-all, I think it was totally worth the $29 spent. It's an awesome guest book to have and look at in the future. The book is gigantic, though. I got the 11x14, and I certainly didn't need a book that big; but I suppose on the plus side it was hard to miss! I don't know if I would use Picaboo again, not because I was dissatisfied, but because I've never used any other photo book websites before. I don't know how good or not good it is compared to others.
http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_residents/parks_division/historic_courthouse/
I love the Courthouse. They spent so much time the week before the wedding going over a seating chart with me and answering all of my questions. They even took the time to measure a wall for me when they didn't have the measurements on hand, seriously! I was able to stop in there just about any time they were open, and if I wanted to see the reception hall "one more time" they would either take me up there or let me take a quick peek. They were wonderful to work with before the wedding.
I want to give them an A, but we had a few issues the day of. First, the A/C was broken. Upstairs in the reception room it was fine with the windows open but downstairs it was pretty hot. Maybe that was just me, and honestly it ended up not being a huge deal, but I feel like there should have been some sort of compensation for that.
Also, we were told repeatedly that we would have a cordless mic to use during the ceremony. I'm not really sure what happened, because people tend to keep the bride out of the loop on the wedding day (which is probably good), but we got up to the ceremony spot, and there was a mic with a cord. Our readers didn't have a mic they could use so they had to shout, and IMO, it looked kind of tacky. But it is what it is.
Lastly, just a note. The place says you can do a reception inside and a ceremony outside for 200 people. We had 150 people, and I think that was the perfect amount. It would have been uncomfortably cramped in the reception hall if we had tried to fit 50 more people. Also, I don't see how there is enough room for 200 chairs outside on the brick. For our numbers, the size of the hall was excellent, but it makes me thankful we had so many no's.
Caterer
Brasa Rotisserie - A+
http://www.brasa.us/
Brasa was beyond amazing! The catering coordinator there, Ash, is so great to work with. She really goes above and beyond to make sure that you not only have great food but also a great experience.
Our food may not have been "traditional" wedding food, but I guarantee it was some of the best wedding food our guests have had. Most brides say they couldn't eat a thing at their wedding. I certainly didn't have that problem. The food was awesome! If you're going to have Brasa cater, however, I highly recommend having them do the work (unless it's a small event with like 30 people or fewer). You do have the option for them to just drop off the food and you take care of setting it up and serving it to save a few bucks, but I think the staff was totally worth every cent! They set it everything for dinner up and took it all down smoothly and quickly.
I do have one small complaint, though. We purchased a few vegetarian friendly entrees since our meal had a lot of meat aspects to it. We were reassured that the staff kept an eye out for vegetarians, and they'd pull them aside and give them one of the veggie entrees if they saw that they were avoiding meat. Later in the night we found out that didn't happen, so we were disappointed. In hindsight, I wish I had specifically let our guests know beforehand that we've set aside another meal for them, and the kitchen staff would have it.
DJ
First Choice DJ Service - A+
http://www.firstchoicedjservice.com/
I am SO picky about DJ's. The first thing I complain about when I go to a wedding is that I don't like the DJ, so I knew my quest for a DJ was going to be a difficult one. Or not. The moment I met Matt, I knew he was the DJ for us. I met him at a wedding faire, and I felt very at ease talking to him, and even had an opportunity to talk to another bride that had used him for her wedding. I knew I wanted to book him before I left that day.
On the wedding day he checked with us to make sure he pronounced everyone's names right for the grand entrance (something I don't see DJ's do very often). He also was just the right amount of hands-on during the reception. For the most part he stayed away from the mic, but he had quite the talent at getting the dance floor up and running again if it was beginning to empty. I don't think it was ever completely empty at any point during the night. If a song was playing that no one was interested in, he wouldn't wait until it ended, he would switch it to a song that people actually wanted to dance to.
I seriously cannot recommend Matt and First Choice enough. He exceeded my expectations, and since the wedding I have had several family members voice how much they enjoyed our DJ.
Flowers
Simply Stated Elegance - A
http://www.simplystatedelegance.com/index.html
Jeni did SUCH an amazing job on the flowers. They were exactly what I was hoping for and better than I had envisioned. When we initially met, we started by going to a floral supplier and actually picking out flowers to go in my bouquet. When I saw the final product, it had all the flowers I picked, but they were put together so wonderfully! There was even one type of flower (plant?) I hadn't picked out that she had put in the bouquet. It fit perfectly with the look of the bouquet, and it made me so happy that she had taken the time to find that one extra one that would add a lot.
After that initial meeting and signing of the contract, we pretty much didn't talk until the week of the wedding. I emailed her once, and she never responded. When I called a couple days later, we figured out the email went into her spam folder, and she was very apologetic for missing it. I didn't even get to see her on the wedding day to tell her how much I loved the flowers, but I was so excited when I saw them. Simply Stated Elegance is definitely one of the best in the business, especially for the price.
Cake
Wuollet Bakery - A-
http://www.wuollet.com/
I was pleased with our wedding cake for the most part. The cake tasted amazing and it looked great! They really designed it well, and it looked very similar to the inspiration picture I wanted them to mimic. It wasn't as "smooth" as my inspiration picture, but that was because I got cream cheese icing and not fondant. My biggest complaint about the cake itself is that the gumpaste flower they created to put on it wasn't all that impressive. I feel like it could have been more "flower" like instead of a perfect sugary circle. It's a small complaint.
What bothered me is that when Josh and I went in for our tasting we were pretty much ready to book on the spot. The lady that was taking care of us told us we should wait and book about a month before the wedding. I thought that seemed odd, but I waited. When I called to place the order they told me I could have booked when we were there and they didn't want to place an order over the phone. I wasn't going to drive the 45 minutes to go place the order, so I insisted that it was happening over the phone. It was frustrating with the miscommunication and them wanting me to drive back to place the order, but it all worked out in the end without me having to go down there.
DOC
Until It Looks Right - A+
http://untilitlooksright.com/
Heather and her assistant Jamie were awesome! They went above and beyond. They arrived and helped set up the reception hall, cued everyone when to walk in for the ceremony, made sure things went smoothly during the reception, and set up the late night snack. Those are the big things I know about at least. To be honest, I barely saw Heather on the wedding day, but I know she was running around taking care of stuff. It was wonderful to have her there orchestrating everything so that my family and I could just relax and have a great time!
Initially Josh didn't understand what she'd be doing or why we even hired her, but after we all had a meeting together he left saying he didn't know how we could do the wedding without her!
One extra special thing that she did was have her assistant Jamie running around taking some pictures on the wedding day. When we left that evening, Jamie pulled us aside and handed us a memory card with our very first wedding pictures on it. She got a few fun pictures of us as well as some nice details of the reception hall, tables, and cake. It was so fun having those instant pictures to look at the very next day.
Photographer
Imagen International - B+ (so far)
http://www.imageninternational.com/
I was very satisfied with Imagen. We had Alix shooting our wedding with his assistant Jessica. I didn't give them a higher rating because I haven't seen any pictures yet. I know we were running super late with pictures on the wedding day (not Alix's fault), so I'm hoping we got all the shots I wanted. I know we got all the family groups I wanted because he had the written list with him and went right through that. I don't know yet if we got a lot of nice detail shots like cake, tables, dress, bouquet, etc. I also know we didn't get too terribly creative with poses, but Josh isn't a fan of "artsy" wedding photography, so I'm not really disappointed with that. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the candid shots, though. There's bound to be a few awesome candids.
Lastly, they were marked down because our engagement pictures were a few weeks late. They had a good excuse (death in the family), so I was understanding, but instead of telling us they would be late, I had to contact them after not getting them in the mail. The engagement pictures themselves were fantastic. I'm hoping we'll get our wedding photos in a timely fashion, but we weren't given a prospective date, so we'll see. Regardless, unless our photos turn out terrible (which I don't anticipate), I still believe Imagen is one of the best values in wedding photography. All of my experience with them they have been very professional and easy to work with.
Videographer
Limelight Videography - A+
Andrea is actually quasi-related to us, so she gave us our videography as a wedding present. Prior to the wedding she even made a fun "how we met" video with a growing up slideshow on it. I love watching it, and she did such an awesome job on that video. The sound quality wasn't superb, but she got new sound equipment for the wedding. I'm excited to see how the wedding video turned out, but I know it'll be great! While she was recording, I know she was around, but she was unobtrusive. This was such a special gift, especially since we didn't have money in our budget for a videographer. Her website is currently under construction, but as soon as it's up and running, I'll post that on here as well.
Rental Items
Midway Party Rental - A
http://www.midwaypartyrental.com/
Not much to say here. The stuff looked good. We picked it up and dropped it off and had no problems. Meeting with Ly and deciding on how I wanted the tables to look was easy and fun. I didn't get anything too extravagant.
Tuxes
Men's Warehouse - B-
http://www.menswearhouse.com/
The tuxes we rented were one of the more expensive styles. They were very lightweight, but what was important was they had slim cut tux. Josh looks too boxy in regular tuxes, so the slim cut was a must. The tuxes themselves looked very nice on the guys, and I didn't hear any complaints, so I'm guessing there weren't any. There weren't really problems with picking up the tuxes other than with Josh's we had to wait an hour, but I heard from a couple of guys that they were given attitude when they went in to get measured. That made me pretty unhappy. But on the bright side, since we had 10 guys renting tuxes, we ended up getting a free tux rental and a free suit for Josh when all was said and done. Plus we had a coupon for $40 off of each tux.
Bridesmaid Dresses
The Wedding Shoppe, Inc. - A
http://www.weddingshoppeinc.com/
Bridesmaid dress shopping was so quick and easy at The Wedding Shoppe. After having checked out 2 other shops, I was beginning to think we wouldn't find what I was looking for, but I was so happy when we came to this store. They had a fairly wide selection, especially in the color we were looking for (Pewter gray). I was very pleased with the service, and when I decided to go back and have a friend try on the dress again before making the final decision, they were just as welcoming as when we first came to the shop. The only downside is that some of the sample sizes aren't going to fit bigger girls, but you're going to find this situation at just about any locally owned bridal shop. We ended up going with a Bill Levkoff design which was reduced in price by $20 the day that we decided to order. Awesome. Also, The Wedding Shoppe has all of the girls order their dresses on their website. The dresses are actually then ordered from the store and shipped there from the designer. The website ordering made it pretty easy for all of my out-of-town girl to order and receive their dresses. I have absolutely no complaints about The Wedding Shoppe, Inc.
Wedding Dress
House of Hilton - Closed
This isn't really a plug for House of Hilton since it's been closed down for many years, but I figured people would maybe want to know where I got my dress. It was a great little bridal shop in Toledo, OH. Sad that it's closed.
Cake Topper
Raven's Glass - A+
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ravens-Glass/286778164433
Raven made us an awesome custom glass cake topper. I was looking for a glass chess queen and king, and I wasn't finding anything I liked at all. When Josh and I were at the MN Renaissance Festival we ran into Raven who had a glass chess set on display. We talked to him and asked if he'd be willing to make us a just the two pieces, and he was more than excited to do so. He took the time to talk through design and colors with us at the Festival, then about a week and a half later we received two awesome glass chess pieces. They were perfect looking on our cake, and they're a great keepsake for the future.
Invites
Wedding Paper Divas - A-
http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/
I loved our invites from Wedding Paper Divas. They were exactly what I was looking for. Originally I wanted to DIY invites, but circumstances didn't allow for that, so we had to buy online and do so quickly. The invite I found on there went perfectly with my vision for the wedding. The colors were great, but I wanted to slightly change one of them, so I called customer service to ask about it. They were more than happy to help at customer service, and I was able to slightly customize the invitations in a few different ways. They couldn't do anything over the phone because I had to put the notes on the website when I was ordering, but they answered all of my questions very well. Some of the best customer service I've dealt with, actually.
The biggest downside to the invitations was font size and type. Many of the font types were awesome looking, but they didn't fit in the box. I don't know why they didn't fit, but they didn't fit, so I would have to choose a different font. Also, I had to use the largest font size. The reviews on the website said that the fonts were very small, so I went with the largest they would allow. I'm thankful that I did because even that was on the small size. It would have been easier to read had it been 1 or 2 pts larger. I hope that's something they fix in the near future. Otherwise I was very happy with the invites. They came on beautiful, heavyweight card stock, and the design was very classy.
Mrs. Sweater
Etsy Shop - ArtisticEmbroidery11 - A+
All of my bridesmaids are married, so I ordered 8 Mrs. Lastname Est: Weddingdate sweaters from Brenda for my bridesmaids, my mom, and me. I sadly waiting until only a month before the wedding to order the sweaters cause I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the girls. When I was searching Etsy, Brenda had one of the best prices on the website and it looked like she made a quality product. I definitely wanted embroidery and not rhinestones, so I decided to order from her. She knew I was in a time crunch, so she got the sweaters done quickly and sent out to me.
The sweaters themselves seem to be a nice quality. They are lightweight but warm and very soft. They're ladies' sweaters, so they're fitted. If you're between sizes, I would probably err on the larger size. The embroidery looked very nice and was heavy stitching. Over all, I was very pleased, and I would recommend her shop to anyone who is looking for an embroidered sweater like that.
Cake Stand
Etsy Shop - BezInnovations - A
The cake stand was nice. It was about the same cost as renting one, and this one I get to keep. It's not something you could use many times, but it certainly could be used a few times for wedding cakes, etc. It looked nice and it held the cake, even though it's super light weight. I also didn't order this until about 2 weeks before the wedding, and he shipped it out the day after it was ordered because he knew I was in a rush.
Guest Book
Picaboo - A
http://www.picaboo.com/
I got a Living Social deal for a 20 page photo book from Picaboo for $20. Shipping cost another $9. I created a guest book with pictures, lines for guests' names, as well as pages with fun questions for them to answer. The website was fairly easy to use. I wasn't thrilled with how some of the pictures would crop in the frames, but it all turned out quite nice looking. All-in-all, I think it was totally worth the $29 spent. It's an awesome guest book to have and look at in the future. The book is gigantic, though. I got the 11x14, and I certainly didn't need a book that big; but I suppose on the plus side it was hard to miss! I don't know if I would use Picaboo again, not because I was dissatisfied, but because I've never used any other photo book websites before. I don't know how good or not good it is compared to others.