Our wedding day magic makers!
Ceremony & Reception Venue
Lionscrest Manor ~
So far LCM has been pretty accomodating. They worked with us on our payment timeline which was an enormous help. They are also really good at responding to e-mails quickley. I've heard from other brides that they are very pleasant to work with on the wedding day and weeks leading up to it. I can't wait to see the place decked out for our wedding!
~ ok post wedding ~ Every thing went very smoothly. You might read in my blog that my DOC forgot about me during the rehearsal. At the time I was annoyed. Now, I'm not lol, but if this happens to you...YELL lol just loud enough that someone says..."Was that the bride?" "OH YEAH! oops"
Other than that LCM was really nice. The place was decorated pretty darn close to what I asked for. There were a few things that weren't how I wanted them, minor decorating stuff, but nothing unforgivable. One downside that I STILL regret was no one came to get me to see the place before everything happened. I was told that my DOC would come get me, I would be able to take a look around and take in all the beauty before the day started. This is also meant to give you a chance to correct anything that isn't right and really see ALL that you put together.
Because I was never brought out for this I never saw our gift table, candy buffet (which I worked VERY hard on) and a few other things. Please try to keep track of the time and ask someone to clear the boys out of the way so you can look around.
On another note, this venu is PRICEY! You might think 4 hours is enough but believe me it's not. You really are paying for the view. If you are on any tight budget I would reconsider falling in love with this place. I do believe that is my only true complaint. I found out my family was VERY rushed at the end to get every thing out right away. Of course my parents and Inlaws were paying for this place and thought they should have more than half an hour to clean up and a little more help. (Given the huge price tag) I will say an A for the beauty and professianlism, however a C- for the price to time ratio.
www.lionscrestmanor.com
Caterer
A Spice of Life ~
We are working with Kathy Vaughn at Spice. She has been amazing to work with. Kathy has been a wedding planner for quite a while and has worked closely with both LCM and Spice for a very long time. She now works at Spice with brides who are getting married at Lionscrest. (she is still a wedding planner). We have a very strict budget and she has worked with it wonderfuly. We are going to have a great menu and we have Kathy to thank for it! I deffinantly give Kathy an A for all that she has done so far.
www.aspiceoflife.com
www.abeautifulmemory.com (again I'm not using her as a planner, thats not something we can fit in the budget but I've heard great things about her from other vendors. Deffinantly worth checking out her website)
~ Post wedding ~ Let me start of by saying that Kathy was incredible. She was on top of every thing and I can never thank her enough. Spice of Life was very wonderful too. I believe Tara was working with Kathy and she was just as sweet and accommodating. Every thing was as I was told it would be. They worked SO with all of our guests. I heard nothing but wonderful things all night and after the wedding. The food was great as well. (Sadly I had a horrible stomach ache and could barely eat a thing, but they packed us a basket of food and I ate that night in the hotel, it was GREAT!) I give them an A. They worked with our budget so much more than I thought they would or even could. And of course Kathy and Tara get an A+
Photographer
Porchlight Images ~
We are so happy we found these two. They were recommended to me by a couple girls on The Knot and I am so thankful for that! Our photographers are an engaged couple Ryan and Stacy (soon to be married). They are incredibly nice and accomodating. They always respond to e-mails very fast and have given us recommendations for vendors we still need. We took our engagement pictures on the 16th of March and should get them back on the 1st of April. We had such a good time, and I'm so happy they will be our photographers for our wedding.
Engagement Pics ~ A+, we haven't seen the pictures yet but I give them an A+ for the process of taking the pictures and how great they were that day!
April 5th update ~ we have recieved the engagement pics and they are so wonderful! Deffinantly an A+
~ Post Wedding ~ we cannot thank Porchlight Images enough. They were so fantastic at the wedding, I heard more complimants about these two photographers than any other vendor there. I am STILL hearing this from guests that attended the wedding. Not only do they take amazing photos, but they are SO professional, friendly, courteous, and fun! We have reccommended Stacy and Ryan to EVERYONE looking for a photographer, and some of those people are now using them as well. Our pictures came out so beautifully. We got our pictures before they said we would, all the pictures I asked for were there and our guests loved being able to see the pictures on the website they set up. They are very knowledgeable and helped with any indecisiveness I/we had. They really captured the feelings from the entire day and for that we will be forever grateful.
A++
p.s. I'll get some pictures up of the wedding.
www.porchlightimages.com
Swept Away Bridal Boutique
Swept Away was one of many dress shops I went to. I tried on so many dresses I can't even remember them all. I didn't find THE dress, I found MANY "THE" dresses lol. I did finally pick one I knew I couldn't live without. They ladies at Swept Away were so wonderful. I did have a little issue with the sizing of the dress that was ordered (in my blog) for that I give them a B/C. They have however re-ordered my dress and have rush ordered it. I will let you know when it gets here how every thing went. I do have to say they were very gracious with re-ordering it so quickly. I did have a little issue with one of the owners telling my mother it was my own problem and they wouldn't re-order it. The other owner was fantastic and helped me out and that is where the B comes from.
www.sweptawaybridal.com
Jan DeVille
Jan was every thing we were looking for in an officiant. She was so easy going and willing to do any thing we asked of her. She helped tremendously! Dustin and I had a lot of things we did/didn't want in the ceremony and she accommodated them all. She wrote a wonderful ceremony for us, let us edit any thing we wanted (which wasn't much at all) and was so patient. We met a few times before the wedding, exchanged a few e-mails and every thing went very smoothly. The ceremony was beautiful and every one loved it. She even gave us a very pretty typed out copy of our ceremony.
A for Jan!
Well at the time of our planning she was with Heartlight Ceremonies, I'm not sure if she still is but it looks like this is still her e-mail [email protected].
Premier Music ~ Steve E.
I don't have a lot to say about this. The music was ok. During the planning you are assigned a website where you pick must plays, try to play, and don't play. That being said, that was about what we got. I was under the impression (my own fault) that a stereo system, speakers, the whole shebang would be set up. What I wasn't expecting was a lap top. In all honesty I could have done that. A lot of girls said to skip the DJ but I just couldn't have that myself. There was alight package that came with the music, it was ok. Our DJ made no attempt to get people up and moving. Not to mention he seemed a little out of it, not really there with us. I don't really have anything to complain about, it was just very under-whelming. I don't even know how to grade this. The music was good because I spent hours picking it out. The songs were played and played when they were meant to be sooooo C/B?
