Vendor Review - Tuxes: Gentry Ltd.

We decided to use Gentry for the guys' tuxes after seeing them at a bridal fair (and because one of David's friends works there). They were offering a deal for everything (including shoes) for $64 each and a free groom's tux with the purchase of 6 or more rentals for a wedding party. They're one of the nicest men's clothing stores in town, so that was a nice surprise! David paid for all of the guys' tuxes, and it was really reasonable.They had a huge selection of colors for vests and ties, and the tux options were perfect for what we wanted.

They looked really good together, and I was happy with the tuxes overall. We did different colored pocket squares for the two best men to make them stand out a little, and I really liked how the three different patterns (white for David, solid pink for the best men, and pink striped for the groomsmen) coordinated.

My only complaints are that they forgot to order the pocket squares when they put in the original order and that our junior groomsman's sleeves weren't the right length. They fixed the issue with the pocket squares and had them delivered the day before the wedding, and the sleeve issue wasn't entirely their fault since they didn't measure that particular guy. I do wish they would've done more to fix it when he tried it on in the store, though.

I was happy with the service and really happy with how the guys looked. I'd recommend them, but I'd also recommend that you double check your order and make sure they've got it down if you're adding something (like pocket squares). And if at all possible, I'd suggest having them measure all of the groomsmen. It just wasn't feasible with two of the guys living far away, and it ended up working out, but I think the results are better when you leave it up to them.

My rating: A-

Vendor Review - Caterer: Syl's Restaurant & Catering

I didn't blog much about what we were doing for food, mainly because it was sort of up in the air until about 2 months before the wedding. My dad is from a big German family from a small town, and they've always cooked for family weddings. The only thing is, my grandma had always been around to organize the whole thing. Since she's no longer with us, my grandma's best friend volunteered herself and my grandpa to do it. I was really excited about - It's delicious food and it would add a special touch to our reception. 

Well, just over 3 months before the wedding my grandpa made a comment about how he really would feel more comfortable if we had the meal catered. Logicstically, it was going to be difficult for them to either cook the food and then transport it here (3 hours away) or to find somewhere big enough to cook here. While disappointed, I totally understood where he was coming from. Luckily, my SIL has family that owns a restaurant and catering business just outside of Wichita. She and David's brother used them for their reception last July and all of the food was wonderful. We called them just over 2 months before the wedding hoping that they'd still be able to do a large catering order with such short notice. They said they could, and that we just needed to call back with a head count and our meal choices a week before the wedding. It couldn't have been any easier!

All of their food tastes exactly like a home cooked meal. I was SO happy with all of the dishes we chose. We did a buffet style dinner and served two meat options - BBQ beef and seasoned pork loin, a tossed salad, corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, and bread. The meal was the first thing I'd eaten all day (I feel sick when I'm nervous/anxious) and it was soo good! I wish I had some pictures, but we still haven't seen any of our pro pics. We got compliments on it from everyone!

One of the best parts of using Syl's Restaurant & Catering? We paid $6.25/person for all of that! And we had enough left over to feed all of our family that came over to open gifts with us on Sunday. There are very few good caterers in Wichita, let alone reasonably priced ones, but Syl's is absolutely wonderful! I'd recommend them to anyone!

My rating: A

*I've only got a few more vendor reviews, one of our tux rental place and one of our photographers. I'll post the tux rental place review tomorrow, but I'm going to hold off on the photographers until I get the pictures and can incorporate them into the posts. I'm hoping to start on the DIY projects that I didn't get around to blogging about before the wedding next week, so the posts will be a little more exciting! Thanks for sticking with me through these!*

Vendor Review - DJ; Another Dimension Mobile DJ Service

I loved our DJ. We booked Another Dimension nearly a year ago at a bridal show we went to where they had their equipment set up and were 'working' like they would at a wedding. We loved how upbeat and fun they were without being overwhelming. I cannot stand DJs who try to make the night about them.

He did a great job with the uplighting, which was pretty much left up to him and he was awesome at getting our guests dancing and having fun without ever being pushy. He would come find either David or me before ever making an announcement that we'd be doing something (i.e. cutting the cake, bouquet toss, first dances, etc.) so he knew we were ready. And he even got out there and did the electric slide with us!

He was training another new DJ, but it was never noticeable and we were totally fine with it. He got tons of ladies out on the dance floor for the bouquet toss, but he wasn't obnoxious and didn't drag anyone out there like I've seen done. He was excited, it showed, and it made everyone else excited. We had a great time, and the dance floor was full most of the night! I would definitely recommend the company to any bride looking for  DJ in Wichita!

My rating: A

Vendor Review - Hair: Suzy at Hair Connection

I was fairly picky about how I wanted my hair. When I did my trial, I bought in a collage of pictures of hairstyles I liked and let Suzy kind of interpret the look I was going for. 

for sources see this post

I thought she did ok with my trial, but it definitely wasn't what I asked for. One thing that all of the pictures had in common was loose, side swept bangs. She pinned mine back and sprayed them down. After I got home and fixed my bangs, it looked like this:

So when I went in the morning of the wedding I took only one style for my inspiration picture. I told her to basically give me this girl's hair: 

source for both

I think she got semi-close to the look I was going for. She made the curls tighter to start out with because she knew they'd fall as the day went on, which was good. They were closer to what I wanted for pictures and the ceremony.

The morning of the wedding, she was pretty friendly and easy to work with, which was nice because she had kind of rubbed me the wrong way during the trial. I think it's just her personality and she's not an overly friendly or outgoing person. 

Overall I think she did an ok job, but it didn't really look like my trial or exactly like my inspiration picture. Maybe she decided to kind of meet in the middle of the two. I wish it would've been closer to my inspiration picture, but I was content with it and it really wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of the things. I'd probably recommend her, but I'd encourage other brides to try other stylists in Wichita too before booking her.

My rating: B

Vendor Review - Cake: Cakes by Carrie

David and I aren't big cake people. There was no way we wanted to spend several hundred dollars on a wedding cake when we weren't sure if we'd even eat it. (It turns out that neither of us had a full piece at the wedding, although we have plenty left.) Last summer I started looking around for smaller bakeries or people who worked out of their home. I came across Cakes by Carrie through one of the smaller bridal shows I attended and loved her cake and her prices. David and I set up a tasting with her for a couple weeks later.

Carrie makes cakes out of her house and we loved her from the minute we met her. She was super accommodating, really friendly, and someone who truly loves what she does. We (I) had pretty much decided that we wanted an all white cake, so she gave us some pictures to look through and we picked what we wanted within half an hour or so. 

She did a fabulous job carrying out my vision, and I was so happy with how everything turned out! The cake and the hot pink cream cheese mints were both delicious, and we got compliments from everyone who tried them! The cake looked perfect with our topper!

Carrie was incredibly easy to work with and exceeded all of my expectations! I'd definitely recommend her!

My rating: A

You can find other examples of Carrie's work on her website - She's very talented!

source for all

Vendor Review - Venue: Boulevard Banquet Hall

I figured if I'm starting with vendor reviews, I should probably start with the most 'exciting.' Like I mentioned before, there are several of you who follow me on Twitter that have heard parts of my story about our venue. And I've promised a long detailed post to fill in the rest of the details, but really this post is more for any brides who landed on this blog because they were considering using Boulevard Banquet Hall as their wedding reception venue. Even if you don't read any further, please just don't make the same mistake I did by choosing to hold our reception here. 

If you've been following along for awhile you heard about finding the venue. It started out great because the owner was super accommodating and friendly and was even friends with David's cousins. He (Blake) was really laid back and was open to my decorating ideas. It was a perfect fit for a DIY bride like myself. He would basically provide the building, table, and chairs, and I could figure out the rest. This was exactly what we were looking for in a venue. We'd already chosen a couple of our other vendors and I knew I wanted to do a lot of stuff myself - details, decorating, etc. 

A few months after signing the contract, we found out that Blake hired a 'coordinator' to help out. It turns out she wanted to start offering (and I use that term loosely) package deals which would include other vendors and her planning, decorating, and coordinating services. Obviously we weren't going to be very interested. We'd put down a deposit on our photographer, we'd already met with our cake lady, and we'd just signed a contract with our DJ. We also knew what we were doing for food, so there really weren't any vendors that we still needed. Since she was just starting to offer these packages, the vendors weren't anyone well-known or high quality and they weren't giving her very good discounts. Had we went with one of her packages we would've been settling wth vendors we didn't really like and paying more than we were for the vendors we wanted. As soon as we (quite nicely) said we weren't interested in her package deals after meeting with her for almost an hour one day (and over our lunch breaks even) she didn't want much to do with us. There was obvious tension, and even more so when she later decided that we'd have to pay her to use the decorations that I'd already spoken with Blake about even though she wasn't even in the picture when we signed our contract.

We basically decided to just figure it out closer to the wedding. Closer as in the week of the wedding. David called to talk to Blake the Monday before our wedding and didn't get an answer. Instead he got a call back a few days later from one of the vendors connected with the venue. The guy thought David was calling because he was interested in booking the hall for an event until he realized that we were holding our reception there that weekend. It turns out that the vendors were now all co-owners of the venue and Blake is no longer in the picture. We never received a phone call or even an email telling us about the change in management. That's exactly what you want to find out 3 days before your wedding.

When we arrived at the venue to decorate on Friday it was insanely hot in the building. It had been upper 90's for several days, but when we asked why the AC wasn't on they told us that 'since we hadn't paid for Friday the AC wouldn't be turned on until Saturday'. They told us that it would only take about 10 minutes (?!?) to cool down the room that would be holding our 275 guests. The whole time we were decorating we got glares from the owners. No one helped us or even really talked to us until we were having an issue with the projector that we were going to use to play slideshows during the father-daughter and mother-son dances. They had to have Blake come over and figure it out, and that was the only time we saw him the whole weekend. The ladder (that was a liability issue even though we'd already signed a contract with a liability clause) was sitting out, so MOH A's boyfriend used it to hang my paper lanterns and none of them said a word. (Although I guess David's little sister heard the 'coordinator' threaten to tell him to get down.. She never did.) We asked again that they turn on the AC earlier than 5 minutes before the reception started, and we set up a time for my dad and SIL to bring some stuff (ice, last minute stuff, etc) over on Saturday.

When my dad and SIL got to the venue on Saturday at 1:30 (less than 4 hours before the reception was scheduled to start) the AC was still not turned on. When David and I arrived at the venue it was insanely hot in there. We were both sweating and so was everyone else. My SIL went to look at the thermostat and it was at 87 degrees. We later found out they had turned on the AC, it blew a breaker, and it shut off. It was over 95 degrees outside. Our guests were hot, my friend had to leave with her little boy because he was so restless due to the heat, and I'm sure there were plenty of other people that didn't stay as long as they would have because of the lack of AC. When we went around the tables and talked to our guests almost every single one of them said something about how hot it was. 

I pretty much ignored everything going on and enjoyed my reception. I had the time of my life and my family and friends did SUCH a good job of not telling me if anything went wrong. It turns out that two of the 'owners' were walking around in tshirts and shorts, eating our food and drinking our alcohol. Now I wouldn't have an issue with them fixing plates for themselves since they were there 'working' as security (making sure the parking lot was fine, not letting kids play outside, etc). However, they obviously made enough of a scene that people were concerned - David's brother/best man told us later that more than one person asked who they were. At the end of the night, 2 whole PANS of extra food from the refridgerator were missing. That's is simply inexcusable.

But you know, I could still get over everything up until this point. It wasn't a good experience, but it wasn't enough to send me over the edge (to writing a novel of a review like this and posting our terrible experience on every website possible). It was what happened after the reception that really did it for me. The two 'owners' were there while my family was cleaning up afterward. Our families were tired so the two guys made a deal with David's brother to finish cleaning up for $100. They tore down some of the paper lanterns and then told David's brother that he needed to get up on the ladder and cut down the fishing wire that was holding them. His brother said he'd take the money back then if he was still going to be the one cleaning up. I guess the guys blew up when he said that yelling about how my family had been complaining all night (uhh, with good reason!). Long story short, one of the guys yelled/cussed at my MOM, in front of children no less, and asked David's brother if he wanted to 'take it outside' to deal with the issue. He honestly wanted to physically fight him outside. A (drunk) business owner who wants to fight one of his customers. Really? It's so ridiculous it's almost unbelievable, but it's all true. 

The 'customer service' that we received from the employees of Boulevard Banquet Hall was absolutely awful. No one should be treated like that, ESPECIALLY your customers. None of them know anything about running a business, which was made very clear by their actions. I would not recommend them to anyone, and I'll discourage every bride I meet from booking them for their reception. I don't care if they usually provide decent service to brides who are willing to hand over their wedding day to them. If they provided this type of service to us, it's bound to happen again.

My rating: F

If you made it this far, thanks!! (Now you ladies know why I couldn't tell the whole story through tweets!) I promise none of my other vendor reviews will be this long. Had to get this one out of the way while it was all still fresh in my mind!

Anyone else have a terrible experience with their venue?

I'm Alive!

I did, in fact, make it back from Cancun alive, but I just haven't quite gotten around to blogging. We jumped right back into the swing of things when we got home Sunday night - David went back to work Monday and I've been trying to unpack the house and I had an interview yesterday morning! Married life is absolutely fabulous so far! Even better than I'd imagined. Here's a glimpse of our life in Cancun for a week:

Our photographer said she'd have a sneak peek ready for us by the time we got back from our honeymoon, but I haven't seen any pictures yet. I have, however, seen quite a few pictures on facebook and two people have uploaded their pictures (over 100 of them!) to our photo sharing site so I have those. Our 2nd photographer/friendor that took over at the reception after our photog left has given us a sneak peek as well, so I've at least got something to share with you! :) I apologize that I didn't include any pictures of us in this post - I was so excited about all of our details! Prepare yourself for picture overload! You'll probably be sick of pictures of us when you finish this post! (In case you're not, these are all tagged of me on facebook if you want to see the rest of them!)

Getting my hair done and texting my future hubby - We texted all morning! :) 

Picture from BM S

Opening my present from David - A gorgeous necklace!

Picture from BM S :)

BM S! I never would've made it through the weekend without her!

Picture from her 

My bff/MOH A - She helped SO much the week before the wedding. There are so many projects that wouldn't have gotten finished without her and her wonderful boyfriend's help!

Picture from BM S

My beautiful bridesmaids and flower girls!!
Picture from my momma

One of the cutest flower girls ever

Picture from BM S

The only picture I have so far of our first kiss as husband and wife! I love how proud our officiant looks!

Picture from guest

Leaving the ceremony - You can't really see the bubbles in this one, but they were there!

Picture from guest

Leaving in our awesome getaway car!

Picture from BM S

Our cake!

Picture from Stamp of Life Photography

First dance :)

Picture from Stamp of Life Photography

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Picture from family member

Feeding each other cake - Nicely :)

Picture from my momma

This picture and the next two are three of my very favorites from the night! It was the last dance of the evening, to 'Then' by Brad Paisley, and David was singing to me

Pictures from BM S

Well, I'd say that's one heck of a sneak peek! :) I can't wait to share more with you guys. I think I'll start by doing vendor reviews because they're so fresh in my mind (and for those of you that follow me on Twitter, I know you're looking forward to hearing the whole story of our AWFUL reception venue). Next will definitely be a honeymoon recap! And after that I'll go through the projects that we finished up during the week leading up to the wedding and post some tutorials and then I'll start recaps of the events leading up to the wedding. By that time I should hopefully have our professional pictures to start recaps!

Thanks again for all of your love and support! I've missed you guys and can't wait to get back to blogging!