Venue - Hawthorne House A++

They were amazing to work with! Della definitely knows what she's doing and so does Donna, the coordinator. Everything went smoothly and absolutely nothing went wrong. Everyone loved the food too. We used their in house DJ, Wendy, and she was amazing as well. She played practically every song I gave her and didn't play anything I wouldn't have approved of. I'll admit I asked to play a Glee song and she played it - lol We brought in some candles ourselves and they lit them all for us which I thought was great. I'm so glad we had the wedding here! Everything was beautiful. :) 

Flowers - Amy from Victorian Gardens A++

Amy has been one of my favorite people to work with. She's really one of the nicest people I have met. I changed my mind about a million times (that's what I get for planning for 18 months haha) and she just worked with me, developing my ideas. She took what I wanted with our budget and made it happen, giving me lots of ideas. She even replicated what I had in my mind, she did beyond what I thought she would. Multiple people went up to my Mom to ask who did the flowers. I loved our flowers, I wanted to take all them home. Plus, for her prices, you can't do any better for the quality! 


The 1st pic is my bouquet, 2nd is our Flower Girl basket, 3rd is one of our short CP's and the 4th is a close-up of our tall CP.

Cake - Rebekah Foster A++

The most delicious cake ever. I choose Rebekah because of not only what she can do with cakes but also the variety of flavors that were available. She had a more unique variety than I saw with other bakers. We got 5 flavors - Vanilla with Raspberry filling, Spice cake with Buttercream filling, Carrot cake with Cream Cheese filling, Lemon cake with Cream Cheese filling and Vanilla with Mocha filling. Plus when I tasted other bakers cakes, they tasted either more like butter or sugar. Her's were so moist without being an overload on the sugar - perfect IMO. We had quite a bit leftover and I only wish we still did (it's been 2 weeks) but it all got eaten! haha

Photography - Sara Tafoya Photography A++

Sara does fantastic work, she definitely knows what she's doing. For our engagement pictures, it took less than an hour and I thought it was a little short on time but when we got the pics back, I had no reason to doubt her. We got a lot of great pics and she's also very good at directing how to pose (very helpful for a husband who doesn't know what he's doing! haha) We haven't gotten our wedding pics back but I am so so excited to get them! She was wonderful, especially if you love the photojournalistic approach.
The only thing I can "complain" about with her is that it takes a while to get your pictures back, at least if it's during her busy season but I know they'll be worth it.

Bridal/Bridesmaid Attire - Emily Hart (was an) A++, now an F

The (was an) A+ is for my dress shopping experience. I had a wonderful time shopping for my dress there. They are so so friendly and made you feel very welcome. We went over the time they normally close and never made a complaint or rushed us. 

The F is for my bridesmaid dresses. We ordered them from here and they placed the order in May. The dresses didn't come in until September - less than 4 weeks from the wedding and I had 3/5 girls who needed to get alterations. Apparently they have had problems with the designer before (Alexia) but have failed to mention this to me when we ordered. Plus they came in the WRONG color (was the designers fault since the order slip said the right color) but still, the fact that they were late as it was didn't make it a good situation. They got the designer to ship the right color fabric and their alterationist, Diana Ross - who is amazing, made the dresses the right color in 1.5 weeks. A couple girls still needed alterations and Diana came in the morning before the wedding to do them and said they would be done by 5pm (before they close). Diana calls my MOH at SIX and the owner yelled at my MOH to get down to the store to pick up the dresses in half an hour or she'll leave them outside. We were at our rehearsal in NKC, an hour away. Needless to say, my Bridesmaids are NOT happy and I am obviously not either. After this, I have no intention on promoting that store.

Transportation - Girls Night Out Limo A++

We loved the limo. We got a 14 passenger Escalade and they were great to work with. They were a little late (ten mins at most) but we were running a little behind so it was no big deal. They took us where we wanted and we even went over our allotted time but we weren't charged for it. The guy who drove was great too - wish I knew his name - he did a great job helping us get in and opening/closing the door. He helped me multiple times since I was always the last in and first out. There are also no complaints about the actual limo, it was clean and working perfectly. Glad we got ours from here. :)

Salon - Naturally Salon A++

This salon is located in Crown Center and it's an Aveda Salon. We got married on a Sunday and they normally open at 12pm but we needed to be done by 11am. They were willing to work with us and open early at 8am for me and a couple BM's to get our hair done which was amazing. We tried to do that with another salon but they wouldn't open early for us. I had my trials there and loved both my hair and makeup, there was no need for any sort of change. Come wedding day, I loved my hair and makeup more than the trials. haha My hair held up ALL night, I don't think a hair came out of place. My makeup lasted most of the evening as well with the exception of some shininess. Leslie did my hair and Lakisha did my makeup - they were soo great to work with. I have every intention of going back! :)

The 1st pic is from my trial and the 2nd is the best one I had from the wedding day so far.