Vendor Review

The day was as happy and wonderful as we ever could have hoped. When Luke and I got back to our hotel room after the wedding we ran through the whole day, relishing over every detail. We tried to think of things that had gone wrong or that could have gone better and we honestly couldn't think of a single thing. It was the best wedding ever!! On with the vendor review . . . All of our vendors went above and beyond what I expected and I would recommend any of them to you without hesitating. They all deserve A+++++++++'s unless otherwise noted!

Ceremony/Reception Site - The Gale Mansion
The Gale Mansion was fantastic to work with from the begining. Kelly gladly answered all of my questions, and she was such a big part of making the day run smoothly. All of our guests really enjoyed the mansion, and all night everyone kept telling me how beautiful the place was. The food was amazing, especially the pork with bourbon cream sauce. Everyone raved about the food, and the service was excellent.

Officiant - Rev Patricia Drury from Rites of the Heart
We demanded a lot from Patricia because we wanted a really personal and interesting ceremony. She wrote the most beautiful ceremony, and I remember nearly every moment of it. The ceremony was very much a reflection of who Luke and I are. One of the things we challenged her with was to write a short ceremony that took place after the bride and groom recessional and before the guest recessional. There really wasn't a template for it out there, and she did such a nice job. It was an affirmation ceremony for our guests, and she invited them to affirm their own vows or love that they had for the people in their lives. She was very sensitive in her wording, knowing that not everyone in attendance was able to legally make the vows that we had and that not everyone was in a serious relationship at the time. After the wedding she gave us a nice folder with a keepsake copy of the whole ceremony and our vows, really sweet. As much as people commented on the food, and the mansion, the flowers and everything else the thing that we recevied the most compliments on was the ceremony.

Photographer - Coppersmith Photography
Amy was amazing!! She was so fun to work with, so professional, and she went above and beyond her job as a photographer. She really helped keep the day flowing, and I can't wait to see our photos!

Florist - Martha’s Gardens
I almost cried when I saw my flowers. They were better than I ever could have imagined. Martha completely understood the look and feel I was going for, and without me having to spell it out to her delivered the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. Seeing my bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets for the first time was one of the best little moments of the whole day.

Guest hotel and our wedding night hotel - The Grand Hotel
The Grand Hotel was amazing from start to finish. Their sales manager, Kara, was a joy to work with, and her attention to detail was impressive. My bridesmaids and I stayed at the Grand on Friday evening, and got ready there on Saturday morning. They gave us a very expensive suite for our room block price ($415 list price, $129 block rate) and I am so glad we stayed there. We all had our hair done at the aveda salon that is located in the hotel and then had our makeup done by stephsbigday in the room. The room they gave Luke and I for our wedding night was very romantic. When we walked in there was a bucket of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us, compliments of the Grand Hotel. Some of Luke's parents friends had flowers delivered to the room as well, and it was such a nice sweet ending to a great day. We rented a room in their restaurant for brunch on Sunday. We didn't host the brunch, but invited all the guests to join us before they left town. We paid $50 for the room, and then everyone just paid for their own brunch.

Hair - Lifespa at the Grand Hotel
They were really nice and did a great job. They did my hair and all the bridesmaids. My hair started to fall after about an hour of dancing, but at that point I didn't really care. We loved the fact that the salon was in the hotel, and it definitely made the morning less hectic because we just had to roll out of bed and walk downstairs.

Make-up - Steph Tabaka (aka stephsbigday)
Steph is so sweet and she did a fabulous job. My make up stayed perfect all night, and she covered my stress-induced blemishes perfectly. She came to us at the hotel, and she did my make-up, plus my four bridesmaids, and my MIL for $75. She is awesome!!

Guest Hotel The Crowne Plaza
C - Never got the same personalized service from the Crowne as we did from the Grand. They release their room blocks a month in advance, which was really early. Only four of our guests stayed there, though, and they said they had a fine experience. From my perspective though I would have just skipped the Crowne and done only the Grand.

Centerpieces - M|Bellish
The centerpieces were perfect!! Even the Gale's coordinator commented on them. So pretty, and perfect for the setting. For $50 MBellish delivered them and had them picked up after the wedding. So easy.

Invites - friend designed/Walker Art Center print shop for printing
The invites were one of my favorite things, and the matching programs and thank you notes turned out great as well. I'm so glad we went this route and I'm so pleased with how they turned out. If you have graphic designer friends who would be willing to work with you I say go for it, you'll get something truly unique.

Transportation - Limo Coach from Eclipse Limo
They showed up on time, took us to where we needed to go, and all in the comfort of a limo coach.

Rehearsal Dinner - Christo's Greek Restaurant Minneapolis
The food was excellent, and Gus was very easy to work with. It was a really nice place to have a rehearsal dinner.

Groom's Family Dinner - Morton's Steakhouse Minneapolis
This was a last minute dinner that we decided to plan for Friday night since the RD was Thursday. Luke's father has a large family and they were all going to be in town, so about three weeks before the wedding I got put in charge of finding a restaurant in downtown Mpls on a Friday night where we could have dinner for less than $50 a person and that was within walking distance of the hotel. Whew, not an easy task. But I found Diane at Morton's steakhouse and we made it all work. We did half portions of their 20 oz steak and their chicken dish, half portions of caesar salads and desserts, and family style side dishes. Doing it that way the price was $22 or $30 per person, and the food was awesome! The portions were pleanty big, no one could believe they were half sizes. We got a private room for no fee, and there was no food or drink minimum. If you're looking for a groom's dinner site downtown I highly recommend this place.

Cake - Queen of Cakes
The cake tasted awesome, though I didn't get to taste any until Sunday. The carrot cake was a huge hit, everyone thought it was really great. The chocolate cake with raspberry filling was yummy too, and her prices can't be beat. The cake was beautiful, just liked we talked about.

DIY Photobooth and Photo Guestbook
This was a HUGE hit. Our best man wrote a computer program that allowed people to sit in front of a laptop with a camera on it, type in their name and email address, and then the computer took four photos just like a photobooth. I don't know if that makes any sense but it was a lot of fun and people really enjoyed it. To see the photos go to Photobooth Photos

DJ - DIY with itunes on a laptop
It turned out amazing! The dance floor was packed most of the night, and we received a lot of compliments on the music. I danced all night because they were my favorite songs! A few times throughout the evening one of the groomsmen would go over and tweak the playlist, and our best man was our emcee. He was hilarious, and many people said they liked that it was a member of the wedding party and not some DJ who wasn't involved in the wedding at all. He made the obligatory announcements, and he emceed the anniversary dance.

Chocolates - Custom Chocolates
I called them about two weeks before the wedding and they had my order ready in four days. We ordered foil hearts and foil initials for the favor boxes/place cards and then we ordered chocolate MN's for the OOT bags. We got a lot of comments on the chocolate MN's, they were a big hit and they came wrapped in plastic with a little gold ribbon. Very cute.

Coasters - foryourparty.com
They have a great website and our coasters made all our friends laugh. It was a fun little extra.

Veil - Che Bella
My veil was beautiful, a little poofier then I had envisioned but it looks nice in the photos. If you go to Che Bella I would ask to meet with the woman who makes the veils, I didn't meet with her until I picked the veil up and I think that I would have gotten exactly what I wanted had I worked with her.

Seamstress #1 - Heidi Kern
F minus - She nearly ruined my wedding dress. She is not a qualified seamstress, despite her accreditation as a custom clothier.

Seamstress #2 - Elaine Kegley
Elaine saved my wedding dress from near disaster and made it fit as perfectly as was humanly possible. She also gave me a beautiful french bustle, and did all of this within two weeks of the wedding. She was a joy to work with, and deserves all of the praise she is given on the knot. Wish that I would have listened to my fellow knotties and gone to her in the first place.