Ceremony location: Huber Park, Shakopee, MN -- http://www.ci.shakopee.mn.us/huberrentals.cfm
A+ This is a beautiful park & amphitheater area in the historic downtown Shakopee area, with the MN River behind it! We worked with Brad Eller, the park board main contact and he was wonderful! He answered all of my (incessant) questions and put our minds at ease that everything would be great -- and it was! We didn't rent any extra seating, they have the built-in seating for concerts etc so we just used that and it seemed to work great! The park does have chairs for rent, and also speakers and a microphone (those we rented so ppl could hear the judge)
Officiant: Judge Tom Armstrong -- http://www.tgarmstrong.com/
A+ He was FANTASTIC!!! Very curteous, very prompt in email replies, and such a veteran at what he does that he just goes! We picked out our entire ceremony and had that all laid out months ago, and he did a great job! So happy we went with him, he was so nice and so effecient that we got our marriage certificate in the mail about 1 week after the ceremony!
Ceremony music: Des Cordes String Trio -- http://www.descordes.com/
A+ These 3 musicians are wonderful! My mom works with one of their cellists so that is how I found out about them, and what a talented and pleasant group of women! The music was beautiful, they played everything we wanted and filled in where we didn't have ideas, and it was so lovely to have live music at our ceremony....beautiful!
Rehearsal Dinner: Axel's Bonfire, Savage, MN -- http://www.axelsbonfire.com/home
A+ We worked with Melissa to plan our evening, and then since she was out on maternity leave on the actual evening we worked with Scott that night. What a wonderful group of people they have there -- friendly and helpful staff, FANTASTIC food, great atmosphere, and I think every person who went really enjoyed themselves! We had appetizers ready when we got there, a limited menu (which they printed for us!) for entrees, and did drink tickets for limited drink hosting (which they also provided). The servers explained/described all the food, were very attentive, and they cut our cake for free!
Rehearsal Dinner Cake: Byerly's, Chanhassen, MN -- http://www.lundsandbyerlys.com/
A The cake was delicious, and very pretty (the reason for no "+" is that the colors didn't match the photo online so weren't what we thought they'd be, but it was just one shade of green off so no big deal by any means). We ordered it online, had a friend pick it up, and it was so easy!
Reception Location: Turtle's 1890 Social Centre, Shakopee, MN -- www.tsc1890.com
A+ (and few more ++++++ too!) This was the find of a century!!!!!! We worked with the owner/coordinator/dude-extraordinaire Bryan for every planning meeting and he was there the night-of too! We had a Friday evening reception so there was no food/drink minimum, the room rental was only $500, we did hors d'oeuvres (7 different types), limited hosted bar (beer, wine, punch, pop), and it was FANTASTIC!!!! The space is beautiful, with exposed brick walls and a huge mahogany bar! They took care of everything we wanted and needed, it was so great (we can't rave enough about this place, the staff and physical location are equally amazing!) They cut and served the cake at no additional cost, he let us get our hair & make-up done in his upstairs office, we got dressed on-site, the tables and chairs were set up by 10 AM that morning and we had full access to the event space from that time on until we left when the party was over --- I could go on and on, you want more details just page me!
Hair & Make Up: Smart & Chic -- http://www.smartandchicbride.com/
A+ These artists/stylists live up to the recommendations on this board! We had Cathi, Julie, and Dee for our day and they all did a fab job! I brought in pictures of hair and make up that I liked and wanted to replicate for my look and Cathi pulled it off with (what appeared to be) no effort! It was beautiful/I was beautiful (if I do say so myself) and the hair held all night, and the make-up stuck with me through the next day too!
Rentals: Deckci Decor & Festivities -- http://www.deckci.com/ & http://festivitiesmn.com/
A+ for both! We got our chair covers & sashes through Deckci and vases through Festivities. Both were amazing for the price, quality, and ease of renting! We even had a last-minute 911 panic abt getting the covers & sashes into our cars so called Angie and she pulled through with delivery and pick-up for us!! Amazing people, amazing companies, and everything was perfect!!!!
Wedding Cake: Princess Cakes for All Occassions -- www.princesscakes.com
A (taste and appearance) B- (communication) First I just wanted to say that the cake was TERRIFIC! It tasted great and looked beautiful! My only nicks for her "grade" come from: very limited in design (she only does round or square cakes right now, and said she'd have to charge us for the pans if we wanted to stray from those....IMO new shapes & the pans that create them would be a business investment if it were my company, but whatever it's her choice!); also, I felt like she fell off the radar now and then, it would take multiple emails/calls/Facebook msgs to hear back and it got frustrating. Perhaps I was more needy of a bride than she is used to working with, so didn't know I would want a quick turnaround time on our communication, but it was frustrating in the moment to deal with. The flavor choices and price for them are pretty darn good based on the research we'd done, and we had a TON of leftovers! She doesn't do "show" cakes (faux tiered for pictures with sheets in the back) the entire cake is exactly what your guests get to eat -- which was important for us! We'd recommend her for sure, she executed our wishes to the T!
Dress & Veil: Wedding Shoppe (Bride) & David's Bridal (BMs and MOB) -- http://www.weddingshoppeinc.com/Default.aspx & www.davidsbridal.com
A+ and A- respectively My dress shopping & alterations experience at TWS was amazing. Worked with Angela for buying my dress, and Michelle for alterations -- both floored us with their customer service and skills! DB was fine, pushy associates and chaotic fitting room situation but the dresses came in quick, they were beautiful, they weren't that expensive, and that's all we wanted!
Photographer: Callie V Photography -- http://www.calliev.com/
A+ (and a few more +++++++++ for her too!) We LOVED LOVED LOVED working with Callie for our epics and our wedding! She is so fun, so talented, and makes the entire process pleasant and easy! We had a lot of ideas for photos we wanted, and she was more than accomodating and never once gave the impression that we were stiffling her creativity (she's such a doll!) We also had Heidi as our 2nd for the big day, and she just fit right in to the hectic day and was really nice too! We will be going to Callie for all our future photo session needs (hello pregnancy, newborns, family sessions.....hope she knows this now! We will be repeat customers! LOL)
Flowers: EiEi Rose -- http://www.eieirose.com/home.asp
A+ (again, more ++++++ !) The owner of this company is a friend of mine and former supervisor, it's a side business for her (but it should her main job, she's so great!!!!) The flowers turned out beautiful, and I heard about a snafu after the fact via my mom (the ones we ordered got delivered on the wrong day and died, so she had to order replacements that weren't the exact same type that we wanted) and while I would have loved to see what the original ones would have looked like, no one but me & her knew the difference and they were still beautiful! She's so nice too, just a sweetheart to work with! It was like 86 degrees on our day, and the bouquets showed it by the time the ceremony was done, but that is not her fault by any means that just comes with the territory!
Groom's attire: Macy's & Kohl's -- A+ Of course he looked gorgeous, handsome, beautiful! We got his classic Ralph Lauren black wool suit from Macy's on a phenomenal sale, his French cuff white shirt as well; his tie came from Kohl's and it was great too! He looked so good, my eyes were on him all night! :-)
DJ: Midwest Sound & Light -- http://www.midwestsound.com/
A+ (gotta throw some extra ++++++++ in, they were great!) We got a deal of a lifetime with this company too, everyone was great to work with and it was FANTASTIC!!!! Worked a lot with Hart in the office prior to the day, many emails back and forth and I got to meet him at a few of the wedding fairs too -- he was super nice and very very helpful, great service! Our DJ for the evening was Paul and he was assisted by intern/newbie Skylar (I believe that was his name.....) both were very professional, very friendly and easy to work with, and did an amazing job at our reception! Highly recommend them, great company with great people!
Videographer: True 2 Life -- http://true2lifemn.com/
A+ (communication, product, everything!) Michelle was so great to work with leading up to the day, and we absolutely LOVE our wedding video! I've cryed at least once every time I've watched it (which has been no less than 5 in the two months since our wedding) and it was the BEST MONEY WE SPENT ON THE ENTIRE WEDDING!
All things paper: Myself (design & assembly) VistaPrint (for the actual printing!) -- www.vistaprint.com
A+ Our STDs, invites, thank you cards, photo sharing cards, etc etc turned out to be everything we've dreamed of! They were all beautiful, printed really well, came quickly and were done right the first time every time, and were fantastic!!!! We used FedEx/Kinko's for our wrap-around labels and the copying of our map enclosure cards, and they turned out great too!
A+ This is a beautiful park & amphitheater area in the historic downtown Shakopee area, with the MN River behind it! We worked with Brad Eller, the park board main contact and he was wonderful! He answered all of my (incessant) questions and put our minds at ease that everything would be great -- and it was! We didn't rent any extra seating, they have the built-in seating for concerts etc so we just used that and it seemed to work great! The park does have chairs for rent, and also speakers and a microphone (those we rented so ppl could hear the judge)
Officiant: Judge Tom Armstrong -- http://www.tgarmstrong.com/
A+ He was FANTASTIC!!! Very curteous, very prompt in email replies, and such a veteran at what he does that he just goes! We picked out our entire ceremony and had that all laid out months ago, and he did a great job! So happy we went with him, he was so nice and so effecient that we got our marriage certificate in the mail about 1 week after the ceremony!
Ceremony music: Des Cordes String Trio -- http://www.descordes.com/
A+ These 3 musicians are wonderful! My mom works with one of their cellists so that is how I found out about them, and what a talented and pleasant group of women! The music was beautiful, they played everything we wanted and filled in where we didn't have ideas, and it was so lovely to have live music at our ceremony....beautiful!
Rehearsal Dinner: Axel's Bonfire, Savage, MN -- http://www.axelsbonfire.com/home
A+ We worked with Melissa to plan our evening, and then since she was out on maternity leave on the actual evening we worked with Scott that night. What a wonderful group of people they have there -- friendly and helpful staff, FANTASTIC food, great atmosphere, and I think every person who went really enjoyed themselves! We had appetizers ready when we got there, a limited menu (which they printed for us!) for entrees, and did drink tickets for limited drink hosting (which they also provided). The servers explained/described all the food, were very attentive, and they cut our cake for free!
Rehearsal Dinner Cake: Byerly's, Chanhassen, MN -- http://www.lundsandbyerlys.com/
A The cake was delicious, and very pretty (the reason for no "+" is that the colors didn't match the photo online so weren't what we thought they'd be, but it was just one shade of green off so no big deal by any means). We ordered it online, had a friend pick it up, and it was so easy!
Reception Location: Turtle's 1890 Social Centre, Shakopee, MN -- www.tsc1890.com
A+ (and few more ++++++ too!) This was the find of a century!!!!!! We worked with the owner/coordinator/dude-extraordinaire Bryan for every planning meeting and he was there the night-of too! We had a Friday evening reception so there was no food/drink minimum, the room rental was only $500, we did hors d'oeuvres (7 different types), limited hosted bar (beer, wine, punch, pop), and it was FANTASTIC!!!! The space is beautiful, with exposed brick walls and a huge mahogany bar! They took care of everything we wanted and needed, it was so great (we can't rave enough about this place, the staff and physical location are equally amazing!) They cut and served the cake at no additional cost, he let us get our hair & make-up done in his upstairs office, we got dressed on-site, the tables and chairs were set up by 10 AM that morning and we had full access to the event space from that time on until we left when the party was over --- I could go on and on, you want more details just page me!
Hair & Make Up: Smart & Chic -- http://www.smartandchicbride.com/
A+ These artists/stylists live up to the recommendations on this board! We had Cathi, Julie, and Dee for our day and they all did a fab job! I brought in pictures of hair and make up that I liked and wanted to replicate for my look and Cathi pulled it off with (what appeared to be) no effort! It was beautiful/I was beautiful (if I do say so myself) and the hair held all night, and the make-up stuck with me through the next day too!
Rentals: Deckci Decor & Festivities -- http://www.deckci.com/ & http://festivitiesmn.com/
A+ for both! We got our chair covers & sashes through Deckci and vases through Festivities. Both were amazing for the price, quality, and ease of renting! We even had a last-minute 911 panic abt getting the covers & sashes into our cars so called Angie and she pulled through with delivery and pick-up for us!! Amazing people, amazing companies, and everything was perfect!!!!
Wedding Cake: Princess Cakes for All Occassions -- www.princesscakes.com
A (taste and appearance) B- (communication) First I just wanted to say that the cake was TERRIFIC! It tasted great and looked beautiful! My only nicks for her "grade" come from: very limited in design (she only does round or square cakes right now, and said she'd have to charge us for the pans if we wanted to stray from those....IMO new shapes & the pans that create them would be a business investment if it were my company, but whatever it's her choice!); also, I felt like she fell off the radar now and then, it would take multiple emails/calls/Facebook msgs to hear back and it got frustrating. Perhaps I was more needy of a bride than she is used to working with, so didn't know I would want a quick turnaround time on our communication, but it was frustrating in the moment to deal with. The flavor choices and price for them are pretty darn good based on the research we'd done, and we had a TON of leftovers! She doesn't do "show" cakes (faux tiered for pictures with sheets in the back) the entire cake is exactly what your guests get to eat -- which was important for us! We'd recommend her for sure, she executed our wishes to the T!
Dress & Veil: Wedding Shoppe (Bride) & David's Bridal (BMs and MOB) -- http://www.weddingshoppeinc.com/Default.aspx & www.davidsbridal.com
A+ and A- respectively My dress shopping & alterations experience at TWS was amazing. Worked with Angela for buying my dress, and Michelle for alterations -- both floored us with their customer service and skills! DB was fine, pushy associates and chaotic fitting room situation but the dresses came in quick, they were beautiful, they weren't that expensive, and that's all we wanted!
Photographer: Callie V Photography -- http://www.calliev.com/
A+ (and a few more +++++++++ for her too!) We LOVED LOVED LOVED working with Callie for our epics and our wedding! She is so fun, so talented, and makes the entire process pleasant and easy! We had a lot of ideas for photos we wanted, and she was more than accomodating and never once gave the impression that we were stiffling her creativity (she's such a doll!) We also had Heidi as our 2nd for the big day, and she just fit right in to the hectic day and was really nice too! We will be going to Callie for all our future photo session needs (hello pregnancy, newborns, family sessions.....hope she knows this now! We will be repeat customers! LOL)
Flowers: EiEi Rose -- http://www.eieirose.com/home.asp
A+ (again, more ++++++ !) The owner of this company is a friend of mine and former supervisor, it's a side business for her (but it should her main job, she's so great!!!!) The flowers turned out beautiful, and I heard about a snafu after the fact via my mom (the ones we ordered got delivered on the wrong day and died, so she had to order replacements that weren't the exact same type that we wanted) and while I would have loved to see what the original ones would have looked like, no one but me & her knew the difference and they were still beautiful! She's so nice too, just a sweetheart to work with! It was like 86 degrees on our day, and the bouquets showed it by the time the ceremony was done, but that is not her fault by any means that just comes with the territory!
Groom's attire: Macy's & Kohl's -- A+ Of course he looked gorgeous, handsome, beautiful! We got his classic Ralph Lauren black wool suit from Macy's on a phenomenal sale, his French cuff white shirt as well; his tie came from Kohl's and it was great too! He looked so good, my eyes were on him all night! :-)
DJ: Midwest Sound & Light -- http://www.midwestsound.com/
A+ (gotta throw some extra ++++++++ in, they were great!) We got a deal of a lifetime with this company too, everyone was great to work with and it was FANTASTIC!!!! Worked a lot with Hart in the office prior to the day, many emails back and forth and I got to meet him at a few of the wedding fairs too -- he was super nice and very very helpful, great service! Our DJ for the evening was Paul and he was assisted by intern/newbie Skylar (I believe that was his name.....) both were very professional, very friendly and easy to work with, and did an amazing job at our reception! Highly recommend them, great company with great people!
Videographer: True 2 Life -- http://true2lifemn.com/
A+ (communication, product, everything!) Michelle was so great to work with leading up to the day, and we absolutely LOVE our wedding video! I've cryed at least once every time I've watched it (which has been no less than 5 in the two months since our wedding) and it was the BEST MONEY WE SPENT ON THE ENTIRE WEDDING!
All things paper: Myself (design & assembly) VistaPrint (for the actual printing!) -- www.vistaprint.com
A+ Our STDs, invites, thank you cards, photo sharing cards, etc etc turned out to be everything we've dreamed of! They were all beautiful, printed really well, came quickly and were done right the first time every time, and were fantastic!!!! We used FedEx/Kinko's for our wrap-around labels and the copying of our map enclosure cards, and they turned out great too!
