After looking for invitations Travis and I decided that they were all A)overpriced and B) Fugly. We wanted a very simple design that would incorporate nature and represent us. I decided to design the invitations myself. I uploaded the Aspen leaf picture to the make your own invitation design on 123print and then used their fonts. I was able to incorporate the Aspen leaf into every piece of our invitations. I got the invite, envelopes (with return address printed), RSVP cards with envelopes pre-addressed to us, and hotel enclosures all for less than $1 an invite. Even though you must approve your proof before ordering 123print called me to tell me that a black line was showing up on my invitations. They canceled my order without charging a fee and I fixed the problem and re-ordered. They went above and beyond. I loved how they turned out and would use them again in a heartbeat.
Matt was also so much fun to have around on our wedding day. He was right on time and ready to go. He flowed with the day and captured everything without being intrusive or in the way. He was very polite to everyone as well. I had asked him about setting about a camera behind the chuppah ahead of time and he did not disappoint. The camera was in the perfect spot and I have no doubt he captured every bit of our wedding day. We recently received a wedding clip preview and we were blown away! It is absolutely amazing. It is on the Capture Studios site if you would like to see it. After receiving our final product we are extremely happy with Capture Studios and would highly recommend them.
With so many out of towners we decided to have a bus from the hotel to the synagogue and then back to the hotel for the reception immediately after the ceremony. This worked out so well. I needed some people to be early for family pictures and others to come just for the ceremony. These guys were awesome. They made two trips from hotel to synagogue for the specified times I needed people there. Then they brought everyone back to the hotel after the ceremony and then the bridal party took a little ride before going to the hotel. The driver was super nice and made a few stops so that we could take pictures. He didn't even care when we got chased off of General Mills property by securtiy. He was a great sport. 2 days before the wedding they called me to confirm, gave me the drivers' cell phone # and got my important numbers to make sure everything went as planned. Would use them again in a heartbeat.
Cathi & Julie both showed up on time and ready to go. They moved through 4 bridesmaids, 2 moms and me very efficiently and everyone looked beautiful. They were very accommodating as well. Cathi had nearly finished my moms makeup when my mom said she wanted it airbrushed. This meant Cathi had to remove all of her makeup and start over and she was so sweet about it. My sister didn't love her first hairstyle so Julie happily fixed it until it was perfect for her. They were so fun and nice and made everyone feel very relaxed throughout the whole morning. We ended up finishing early. I loved my hair and it held up through all of my abuse throughout the day. I highly recommend them. Julie also did my hair and makeup for a budoir photo shoot and she did an amazing job!
I had my dress and 2 of the bridesmaids dresses altered by Louise after hearing such rave reviews on the knot. Honestly, I was disappointed. Since I was planning from out of town I dropped off my dress in August. She did some pinning on my dress and then we discussed the bridesmaids dresses. The girls wanted to shorten them and add straps so we discussed the length and strap size and she pinned theirs all up. The girls were also worried about bra straps showing so she said she would put a hook in the back to hold the bra straps down. We were pleased and excited. My next fitting was the Saturday a week before my wedding. She hadn't done anything to my dress, which was fine because it ended up needing to be taken in more. My sister came with me to pick up her dress and though it had been shortened, there were no straps. We asked Louise about it and she had apparently made the straps but had forgotten to put them on. She said no problem and that my sister should come back with me and we made a new appointment for Tuesday. Tuesday the hem and bustle were perfect I was a little surprised to see that the bra cups still had not been sewn in, and though she had taken my dress in, it still needed to be taken in a pinch more. My sisters dress had the straps, but not the bra strap holder that we had discussed in August. Next appointment Friday (do you see a trend?). Friday morning we went in and I couldn't get the dress zipped up. This is 3 days before my wedding. I almost lost it. She had taken it in way too much. She couldn't fix it immediately because her power was out for some unknown reason. She called me later that day and I again raced across town to try it on. Still too tight. She tried to approach the fit of the dress another way and when I came back on Saturday afternoon it fit. One day before my wedding. I was a nervous wreck. Not only did all this stress me out, but it severely cut into the time that I needed to get many other wedding preparations completed. In the end, the dress fit pretty well. I'd give the actual fit a B+, for how much work we put into it, it still didn't stay up properly. Also, though it wasn't noticeable to anyone but me, after the amount of sewing and seam ripping that went on, I could see that the side seams were pretty worn and beat up, which made me sad considering I hadn't worn the dress yet. A point on the bustle broke really early which meant a million people wanting to help by sticking pins in my dress and the overlay is now destroyed. All in all, Louise did a pretty good job. The dress looked great, the bridesmaids dresses looked great and the pocket squares that she made for the guys from the dress fabric looked great, but I think she is getting really scatter-brained and it made things more stressful than they needed to be. Put simply, as my sister said, she needs to start writing things down.
I grew up at Beth-El and went through all of my life-cycle events there. My parents were also married there so it only felt right that we are married there as well. We wanted to make sure that though we are having a religious ceremony that we, as a couple, and our personalities, did not get lost in the ceremony. Rabbi Olitzky did an incredible job. We incorporated all of the religious aspects while still feeling like the ceremony was very personal and relevant to our relationship. As usual, Audrey's voice was amazing and got me teary more than once throughout the ceremony. Immediately after the ceremony Travis remarked that ours was the best wedding he had ever been too. Many of our non-Jewish friends were so touched that they made mention of incorporating Jewish traditions into their own weddings.
Our wedding bands had to be plain with no precious gems because we had a Jewish wedding. Who knew it would be so hard to find plain wedding bands! Everywhere we went we were told that if I wanted a plain wedding band that it would be flimsy and cheap looking (they kept trying to sell me something that came out of a gumball machine). We went to Jared on a whim and bingo! I got exactly what I wanted. Their customer service is outstanding and we are so happy we purchased our rings there.
Spencer was so much fun to have around on our wedding day. He took so many creative pictures and we cannot wait to see how they turn out. Our friends and family commented on how much they liked him too. We both really liked our engagement pictures, but we were a little disappointed with the lack of editing out some zits and we didn't love the huge amount of kissy pictures. BUT, knowing that, we went into our wedding day with more realistic expectations for editing as well as a better idea of what we do and do not like. (this is why I recommend engagement pictures with your wedding photographer). The only reason he gets 4 starts instead of 5 is for a few minor reasons. Sometimes he was very slow to respond to e-mails (which can make a bride crazy), and I was a little bummed that he left the reception before the end. We booked him for all day and though he asked Travis if he was OK to go I feel like he may have missed some really great shots of dancing and the tosses (if he had asked me I would have had him stay a little longer). He also got engaged after we hired him and got married a few weeks after us. Of course I don't expect every vendor's life to stand still for our wedding, but I would have appreciated knowing that our pictures would be delayed due to his wedding and honeymoon. When I asked him about pictures after the wedding he did offer a free print to make up for the time delay (and that's when I was informed of it). I just would have appreciated a little more of a heads up about it, I feel it would have been more professional. Other than that, we loved him and would highly recommend him...can't WAIT to see images. Something tells me after I see pictures he'll be moved up to 5 stars.
UPDATE: Unfortunately after seeing the pictures I have revised the rating to 3 stars. Overall we have some very nice photos from our wedding, but I am very disappointed. Many many many pictures are not as sharp as they should be. In the formal family photos we are in focus and as you move further from teh center of the photos the faces become more blurry. It is kind of upsetting that we don't have a single formal shot of just the 2 of us and the formal family pictures are not great. Overall we have wonderful pictures and since nothing can be done about it now I am trying not to care. I wouldn't use him again.
After dealing with musicianzilla and having to fire him 3 weeks before our wedding I got ahold of Nanette with the LSQ. I signed a contract and selected music 1 week before the wedding. She was so patient in my music selection process and they even learned a special song that we requested and did a pretty great job with it. There was a little miscommunication about the music changing when I entered the sanctuary during the ceremony, but it was no biggie. The music was beautiful (though lets be honest, I didn't hear a majority of it...)
Love these guys! Mike was so easy to work with. They sent us a list of their songs and we crossed out ones we hated and made some requests. Travis and I had a medley of songs for our surprise first dance and I e-mailed it to Mike about 2 days before the wedding. He leveled out a few sound problems I had and then played it for us, it was perfect. They also learned a special request song and they were super energetic and even had some of the horns bring their instruments on to the dance floor to get the crowd going. Overall I really really loved them and the variety of great tunes they played. We got a lot of compliments on them. The only complaint and the reason for the A- is that we wanted to do the bouqet/garter tosses a little earlier in the night so that there were still plenty of people there. They emceed it perfectly, but then they immediately took a break. They did announce that is was just a break and that they would be back but people don't really listen. I was worried that people would think the night was over and start clearing out (which some did). Overall, not that big of a deal and it ended up being fine, but that is my one complaint.