Vendor Reviews
We had a lot of really awesome vendors for our wedding. All did as expected and several blew me away!!!
Ceremony & Reception Site ~ The Mermaid
Recommended
From the very first interaction, I was very impressed. I mostly dealt with just Natallia and she was very good. Prompt to respond to any questions I had via e-mail or phone. She would always clarify everything and never assumed a thing.
They gave us girls the hospitality suite to get ready in for a measly $25 clean-up fee!! The room was large enough for me, my 3 BM’s and my mom to get ready in, get our hair and make-up done in. It worked very well!
They gave Russ and I a BEAUTIFUL bridal suite for FREE for the night of the reception. It was huge and gorgeous and had a fireplace and Jacuzzi tub.
The food was delicious and we received many compliments on the meal…especially from parents whose children ate the delicious kids meals consisting of chicken fingers, french fries and apple sauce. The hors d’ oeuvres we selected were rampaged, so they must have been good (didn’t even get a chance to try them).
A LOT of people asked us on multiple occasions how we stumbled upon this venue because they loved it. Several people even mentioned loved ones that they knew were getting married and how they were going to recommend the Mermaid to them.
We also hosted our rehearsal dinner here. There was no room rental or minimum for the RD, which was nice. We took the opportunity to do something a little more fun and got their “Stadium Buffet” which was grilled chicken breasts, brats and hamburgers. It also came with potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, all the fixings for the burgers, coffee, tea and cookies. It was wonderful! The meal was very “us”.
Dresses (My dress, BM dress, FG dress, MOB dress) ~ North Country Bridal
I HIGHLY recommend North Country Bridal in Forest Lake. Barb, the owner is fantastic. She’s so personable and quickly grows attached to all her brides and their family. She takes things personally and if somebody is unhappy, she’s quick to remedy the situation. Every single interaction I’ve had with this store (both in person and on the phone) have been superb!
Tuxes ~ Savvi Formalwear in Maplewood
Recommended
I really liked this location. All of the staff were very friendly and I felt important as soon as I walked in the door. They were very accommodating despite me having to go in to change the colors around a bit (which I’m soooo glad I did) and one of my GM did not get fitted until the Monday before the wedding (literally only 5 days before the wedding) and his tux fit and looked great!!! All the guys, especially DH looked amazing in their tuxes!
Winter Bridal Cape ~ Capes by June
Highly Recommended
I knew I wanted some sort of cape to do outdoor pictures. I stumbled upon this e-bay seller who custom makes the capes to each person’s specifications. She was very helpful in helping me to get the correct measurements. She would update me frequently via e-mail as to where she was in the process. Once it arrived at my door, I was more than thrilled with the final product. It was soooo beautiful.
I had been concerned that I’d gone overboard with purchasing a full size cape instead of just a wrap, but our wedding day turned out to be a VERY cold day…high temp of only 3 degrees. The cape truly did keep me warm. The only part of me that was cold was my cheeks and my hands when I had them out of the cape. It turned out spectacular in the photos and was a great decision.
Save The Date Magnets ~ www.myweddingreceptionideas.com
Recommended
We purchased magnets from this website and I’m so glad we did! The were good quality for not a lot of price. There was a slight mix-up, somebody else was mailed my order and I got mailed their order. We each contacted the company and they immediately re-printed and upgraded the shipping at no cost. The customer service for this site was wonderful and despite the mix-up with shipping, I would recommend this site to anyone because of their prompt willingness to right a wrong.
Invitations ~ Invitations By Dawn
Recommended
Found gorgeous invitations here that were more expensive on every other website. So, got a good deal and the invitations arrived as scheduled and as expected. I was very pleased with my interactions with this website for purchasing of my invitations and response cards. We received many compliments on how pretty and unique our invites were.
Unity Sand Ceremony ~ www.moonglowcandles.com
Recommended
I got both colors of sand as well as the containers from this website. I was EXTREMELY pleased with the product we received. The color of the sand was exactly as pictured on the website. GORGEOUS colors. The containers are great as well and are great quality.
Miscellaneous wedding stuff ~ www.bridalpeople.com
Recommended
I got a LOT from this website and I'm sooo glad I did. I got the following; personalized cake cutter, personalized champagne flutes, ring bearer pillow, garter, snowflake hair comb, my shoes.
All were fantastic quality and I'm so happy with my interactions with this website. They have a lot of other really cute/fun stuff that could be used for non wedding related stuff...so I may be purchasing more from them in the future.
Programs ~ Etsy Seller Sargegrl
Highly Recommended
I decided only about 5 weeks prior to the wedding that I did, in fact, want to do programs. This etsy seller came highly recommended from another knottie. I LOVED my experience with her. I e-mailed her with the request and gave her a link to my planning bio so she could see the colors, and inspirations that were tied to the rest of the wedding. She pulled together a fantastic design and was quick to re-do anything I wanted to change. They were only $1 a piece and that included design, printing, folding and shipping (shipping only included if you purchase 100 or more). I was ecstatic when I saw these in person.
Bridal necklace and BM jewelry ~ NikBead Creations
Highly Recommended
This woman came recommended to me from a friend of mine from high school. After meeting with her once, I was sold! She was so sweet and excited to be able to make jewelry for me and my BM’s for the wedding. I brought in several examples of jewelry that I’d found online (all of which was too expensive to purchase). She used those for inspiration and worked up a couple of samples. After approving the samples, she quickly got to work making a necklace and matching earrings for each of my 3 BM’s and modifying the sample necklace she’d made for me. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the final product and will definitely find an excuse to wear the necklace again. All three girls were in love with their jewelry as well. AND…the price was right!! Very reasonable.
Cake ~ Strawberry Hill Confections
Highly Recommended
"I highly recommend Melissa. My cake was beautiful and beyond my imagination! She and I had many, many, many conversations as to what I wanted for my cake. I never really had a vision for my cake, but Melissa was so great at helping me tunnel into what little vision I did have. She brought many ideas to the table and any ideas I had she worked hard to incorporate them. In the end, I got an amazing cake that was more beautiful than I had dreamed of!!
Melissa also made my snowflake shaped sugar cookies that we put out at the place settings as favors. These were a huge hit, especially with all the little ones that were present at the wedding. Along with those she made my snowflake shaped, cheesecake flavored suckers that we passed out to everyone later in the evening. Everything turned out amazing and I feel blessed to have had Melissa as my baker."
DJ ~ Instant Request (Ryan Kulka)
Highly Recommended
I am soooo glad I chose this DJ company. I’d heard great things about them, but they were really great to work with. I used them for both ceremony and reception and everything was seamless. He arrived two hours prior to ceremony to set up, which made me so comfortable not having to worry right before the ceremony as to whether or not my DJ would show up. All ceremony songs were played perfectly and with great timing.
For reception, he played soft music during the cocktail hour and dinner. He kept the volume low enough so that people could converse and enjoy each other…but loud enough that the music could be heard. He was very polite and friendly. He interacted with the crowd when necessary and only when necessary, which was exactly the level of interaction I’d wanted.
He was really well balanced. He payed attention to what was keeping people on the dance floor and would keep playing that stuff, but at the same time was able to mix it up and not play too much of one style. We had lots of compliments on our DJ!
They were very easy to work with regarding two songs that weren’t in their library. I just provided them on cd and they were played without issue.
Hair ~ Colleen Hawkins
Highly Recommended
I’ve been going to Colleen for many, many years now. There was no doubt that I wanted her there that day to do my hair as well as my mom’s, the three BM’s and the FG. She did amazing work on all of us. Our hairstyles held all day (and all night) and we looked gorgeous!!! She was able to work with each person and what they requested for their hair and delivered an end product that each woman was happy with.
Make-up ~ Julie from Smart & Chic Bride
Very Highly Recommended
Great decision to go with Smart & Chic! I loved Julie from the moment I met her. She was so sweet, outgoing, friendly, chatty and I loved being around her. She did my make-up and each of my three BM’s make-up and we all looked stunning!! I could never say enough good things about Julie!! LOVED her!!!
Day of Coordinator ~ Kirsten Hegarty (Fab.you.lous Events)
VERY, very highly recommended
Aside from my photographer, easily my favorite vendor! Early in the planning I wouldn’t even consider the idea of a DOC, but as the day got closer and I got more stressed…it became easier to see the value. After reading several great reviews on her, I met with her and instantly clicked with her. She is so sweet, bubbly, friendly and easy-going. One of the things she said to me in our first meet was something that stuck with me to the very end…that she’d never sent a bride down the aisle late. This was a BIG deal to me. Our ceremony started at 2pm, but we only had that room until 3pm. So, the ceremony HAD to start on time, get done on time and everything needed to be cleared out of there on time. All of that went perfectly. She was such a huge help to Jenny, who was doing all the decorations for the ceremony, reception and doing my bouquets…and that’s not even her day job! Kirsten helped her set up the reception room the night before. She helped offered some help to my Officiant during the rehearsal. She was a HUGE asset on the day itself. She kept constant tabs on all set up, making sure things were where they were supposed to be. She was always checking in with me, making sure that I was going well. She even went to pick up the Subway Party Subs that I’d ordered to feed everybody while getting ready. She kept me calm because every time I asked her about something, she was already on top of it or it was already done.
After the ceremony, she was a HUGE help. We had planned to head to a nearby park with our photographer, but she did not have any room in her van. So Kirsten grabbed the keys to my car and escorted Russ and I to the park. She was such a huge help to poor DH as well, because his rental shoes had him slipping all over the ice/snow. She helped us stay on task for the rest of the night…when to cut cake, when to start toasts, when to do first dance. Otherwise I would have just stood around and chatted with people all night. At the end of the night after we’d had our last dance, she told Russ to grab me and head up to our room. When we arrived, we found the front room of the suite lit with candles with the fireplace going. When we walked into the bedroom area, there were rose petals in the shape of a heart on the bed and leading across the floor to the Jacuzzi which she had run for us. She’d set up my iPod stereo to play soft music and had run and gotten us a card, treats and bottles of water. All were things that we needed so badly at the end of a wonderful but long day.
Now that I’ve gone on and on about her, I think you should be able to guess that I would HIGHLY recommend Kirsten!! Russ, my mom, all my bridesmaids and many guests all thought that she was fantastic. Russ and I at the end of the day decided she was definitely money well spent!!!
Photographer ~ Jessica from JM Photography
VERY, very highly recommended
SOOOOO happy! I had previously already booked another photographer. After an engagement session with that photographer, I knew things weren’t going to work. I immediately began the hunt for somebody else. I found Jessica! After meeting her and seeing samples of her work from other Knotties, I knew I had to have her! We booked her right away and it was a decision that I am so grateful for making. After our engagement session with her back in July, my decision in her was solidified. DH is one of those guys that hates having his picture taken. In our entire 9 ½ year relationship, I’d only managed to get a handful of photos of him. But, he was so comfortable in our e-pic session with Jessica.
The week before the wedding, she told me that the 2nd shooter for my wedding would be Laura Ivanova and I was floored! I’d seen Laura’s work and couldn’t believe my luck that I would have two amazing photographers on the day of my wedding.
On the day of, I was sooo happy when I saw Jessica walk in the door. As soon as I saw her, it really got me thinking that all of this was happening. She immediately got to work because I was in the middle of getting my hair done when she arrived. She captured some getting ready shots and then went off to find the bouquets. She was gone a little longer than I expected and when she came back she was expressing how beautiful everything was. I asked her if she’d seen the reception room and she told me that was why she was gone so long. She said that it was gorgeous and there were so many things to get pictures of down there! She was just as excited about my decorations as I was!!
Following the ceremony, Russ and I were taken to a nearby park for outdoor pictures. It was FRICKIN’ cold out, but both Jessica and Laura were amazing. The stuck it out for as long as we were willing to stick it out. You know it is cold though when your photographers keep telling you to hold your breath because that’s all they could see in some of the photos…was our breath! But we got some amazing photos out of it!!!
I have LOVED my teaser photos so far and can’t wait to see the rest of the photos. I’m sure that I will LOVE those as well. I will have a hard time figuring out which ones to print…that will be a difficult process. But definitely a fun process!
All Decor (bouquets, ceremony, centerpieces, head table....)
My good, dear friend and co-worker Jenny
VERY, Very highly recommended
She did so much more for me than I could have ever asked of her. I approached her early in the process, but was still meeting with florists. As soon as I got an astronomical quote from a florist for JUST centerpieces, I approached her again. She was eager to help me make my day just what I’d always wanted.
I had an idea of what I wanted, but that was just it…an idea. I showed her an enormous amount of photos of bouquets, centerpieces, and other décor and showed her the parts that I liked and the parts I didn’t like. She was able to pull out the perfect design from that. She did all bouquets, centerpieces, head table design, escort card design, cake table design, and all ceremony items. I walked into the reception room after the night before after she’d been working in there all day and I cried. She made my winter wonderland dreams come true…more so than I could have imagined. Again, I almost cried when I saw my bouquet. She knew my vision better than I did!!!
I received soooooo many compliments on all of the décor and how beautiful everything looked. I will never be able to thank her enough for it all.
