Working as a DJ isn’t Tim’s primary job, but you’d never know the difference! Tim is extremely friendly and laid back -he’s able to connect with anyone he meets. He accommodated all of our suggestions (i.e. long playlist) and made every announcement, plus some, we asked for. He had all the proper equipment and was very flexible with our schedule changes.
Our only suggestion would be for Tim to build and maintain a website and professional (versus personal) email account if he wishes to attract more customers.
Amanda is absolutely amazing at doing ALL types of hair, especially my fine hair! I called her frantic because I need a new hair stylist for my wedding (see other reviews), and she graciously offered to come into the salon, even though it was closed on Sundays, to do my hair. She made sure my hair was exactly what I wanted. I continue to drive over an hour every month to have my hair done by her.
NOTE: if needed, she does beautiful makeup for special occasions as well; however, I had already purchased makeup for the big day.
Kyle and I contacted Ryan Griswold (owner) less than two weeks before the wedding as we had just fired our other videographer (see other review). We were shocked to find they still had availability, but that was due to the fact that their company staffs more than 1 worker.
Ryan was unable to meet us for a consultation, but we met his wife who was very friendly and professional. Ryan was great at answering all of our questions via email in a timely fashion. Their prices were phenomenal considering the length of time he spent at our wedding (1:45pm-10:00pm approximately). They also offered extras such as a highlight video and copies of the DVD at a very fair price. Other vendors charge hundreds of dollars. AND they only required a modest deposit up front, and the final balance was due AFTER the videos were given to us. That instilled a lot of trust in their company! Ryan was very quiet, but friendly. He maintained distance so that we didn’t know he was recording our every move. That made us all feel much more comfortable. We received our finalized wedding DVDs 9 weeks after the wedding -a little longer than expected because they said 1-2 months. Considering the VERY affordable cost though, we were absolutely thrilled with the final product!!
Our only suggestions would be for him to update his website and pricing sheet to be a bit more user friendly and professional looking to attract more customers. We also hope that as his business grows, he still maintains modest prices so that all couples can afford beautiful videography, no matter their budget.
Beautiful jewelry at an affordable price. AMAZING customer service at all locations. Excellent care package. My husband and I won't buy jewelry anywhere else now!
First let me say, we ended up not working with Brian from Dynamic Reflections Videography. In fact, we fired him a 2 weeks before the big day. As a "super-planner," that was a very difficult choice for me, but let me explain why:
We originally chose Brian to be our videographer because he seemed very talented and affordable. But as the months went by, I realized we made a poor decision.
First, he does not meet with couples in person. I found that, and still do, to be very odd. He books clients over the phone. In lieu of meeting, I requested a sample DVD to show his style of videography. He never mailed me one. Also, a few months after booking him, he raised his prices. He told me it was because he didn't want to "appear too cheap" and deter prospective customers.
Two times during our year of planning, Brian asked us to front him the entire balance of our contract (several hundred dollars). Based on contract terms, the money was not due until much closer to the wedding. We felt very uncomfortable him asking us TWICE. The first time we could understand, but a second time seemed unnecessary. When we told him we could not, he didn't even say "It's ok, but thank you anyway." He just ignored our email. Even through all this, I put Brian's name out there. I even entered and won a Facebook contest he started for promoting his business. My prize was a photo montage. He told me to have the photos to him 2 weeks before the wedding. So two weeks before, I emailed him our photos. He wrote back with a nasty response telling me that I would need to purchase a jump drive or burn the photos on a disc and mail them to him in the order I wanted them presented, along with our choice of music. We live 10 minutes from one another, but he flat refused to meet in person to exchange the photos. Now I'm no video magician, but I know the basics of making a photo montage. What sort of prize was I being given if I had to do all the leg work? By this point, we were feeling uncomfortable and annoyed with Brian, but here's the BIG reason we fired him:
A few weeks before the wedding, I chat with Brian on Facebook. I wanted to discuss our vision as a couple for the video. Brian continually interrupted me and basically told me he was the professional and knew how to do his job. As a client, I felt as if it was perfectly OKAY to discuss our concerns and what we wanted for our video. We were paying him several hundred dollars. He actually told us on Sept 23, and I quote "I can't promise I will shoot it exactly the way you want it."
I later sent him an email going over final details, as I did with all vendors, requesting a response back. And here's where the story gets funny. A day later I posted a Facebook status COMPLETELY unrelated to him, but he seemed to think it was directed towards him personally. And here's the Facebook message I received:
Subject line: wtf
"First of all, I don't appreciate your little comment. I'm not an idiot, I know it was directed at me. You can get an attitude and be pissy with me all you want, but your email has been low on my priority list today. I have been in and out most of the day, taking care of paperwork for my new job, helping a sick relative, running errands and picking my kids up. I told you I would send you a reply today. It's still today. I got home a couple hours ago. And I sent you your reply a little bit ago.
Second, and I have asked you this before. If you want to ask me questions that are wedding related, please use my email. I don't mix the two.
Now, havning said that, it would be best that I remove you from Facebook. "
Now let's look at this closely. 1) He basically cussed at me (we all know what wtf means), a CLIENT, and told me I had an attitude and was being pissy; 2) He asked me not to mix facebook and email regarding his business, yet he FACEBOOK messaged me this. 3) He removed me from Facebook. HOW OLD ARE WE?!
I found Brian to be VERY childish, unprofessional, inflexible with clients, and made me very, very uncomfortable. I admit, I am a very detailed bride and I ask a TON of questions, sometimes the same question if I've forgotten the answer. But I feel like that's OKAY since this is an important event and we're paying him a lot of money. I never once was rude with him, so when he said those things to me, I decided that it would be best to no longer work with him. I sent him an email telling him how I didn't appreciate the way he treated me and that I would not longer be in need of his services. His response was no more professional than his 'wtf Facebook message.'
Needless to say, my husband and I are 110% glad we did not work with him. We ended up finding a much better videographer and were THRILLED with the outcome. See my other reviews for more info.
My husband and I chose to indulge in a couple's massage the day before our wedding to help us relax. There were several more affordable options in town (I've been to many massage places), but we chose La Vita Bella based on their reviews -and I'm glad we did! The salon is beautiful and luxurious feeling -definitely well kept. The therapists are well-trained and friendly. After our massage we were even given cheesecake and goblets of ice cold water! We were so pleased with the experience that we booked another couple's massage a week ago and this time we were given a free cheese/fruit/cracker plate with our massage.
The only downfall is the price -definitely high, but worth the money for an occasional splurge.
My husband and I didn't want to make the invitations/programs ourselves (time, ink, etc); unfortunately, most professional stationary companies are pricey and charge for changes. Cari's services are very affordable and she offers a wide variety of products most people have never seen before. She answered all of my dozens of emails and put up with my nit-picky changes :) A nice touch: Cari provided a sealing stick (not sure of the actual name) to seal all of our envelopes -free of charge. I thought that was nice. The only thing that bothered me was I sometimes had to remind Cari of changes that were previously made, but like I said.. I made a lot of them.
TIP: Cari runs the business out of her home, so book early -she fills up quickly!
My husband and I and most of our guests stayed here while in town for the wedding. Just to clarify, we DID NOT have our actual wedding here, we only spent the night and got ready here.
PROS:
-Very friendly/attentive staff (even gave me a free tube of toothpaste when I forgot mine, haha)
-Good amenities (i.e. indoor heated pool)
-Very close to food and shopping
-Very clean, decorative rooms. Doesn't look like your standard hotel. Lots of different types of rooms to choose from. We chose a theme suite and LOVED it -perfect size for all the girls to get ready, along with the photographers and videographer
CONS:
-Limited availability due to the large numbers of weddings held at the actual hotel
-Mix up with wedding party reservation, but quickly fixed the problem
We couldn't have been happier with our catering services! We found a lot of caterers in St. Joseph and Kansas City, but they were all so overpriced. We found Bluffs Catering Co in Rock Port, MO and fell in love! They offered the down-home style food we wanted *we received a free tasting (wedding menu: BBQ brisket, smoked chicken, green beans, mac n cheese, dinner rolls, salad, etc) for an extremely fair price. Furthermore, they only charged an additional $50 for traveling 1 hour away and didn't impose a set gratuity -we got to choose that based on their level of service the night of the event. On the day of the wedding, all the food was hot, fresh, and presented very nicely on the buffet line. The staff was friendly, attentive, and dressed professionally. The staff even walked around and cleaned up the dishes even though we rented them from the actual venue.
Kyle and I first met Lynn in fall of 2009. I was immediately taken by her laid back personality as I’m a pretty high strung person, haha! She had offered us a “summer special,” a few months prior, but at the time we didn’t take her up on the offer. We emailed her a few months later and she still honored the special. Looking at the quality of her work and comparable photographers now, the package we got was VERY fair!! She was very flexible when we had to change the date of our engagement photo session due to work issues. Throughout the next year of planning, Lynn maintained contact and encouraged we share suggestions and concerns. On the day of the wedding, her and her mother showed up on time ready to work. They took a large variety of photos and listened to our direction and suggestions. Even though Lynn lost her voice the day of the wedding, she stuck it out without complaint. Also, everyone loved the unique guest book album she provided as part of our package, although I wished it had been given to us sooner than an hour before the ceremony.
The only thing that was hard to swallow at times was the cost –it was our largest expense for our small wedding. We understand a lot of time, effort, and creativity goes into photography (and you get what you pay for), but the average couple probably couldn’t hire her. That’s not to say she wasn’t worth EVERY penny!
We received a preview of photos within a few days while on our honeymoon in Maui and received all of our final edited photos on CD within about 6 weeks. And I must say, WOW! She did a fantastic job :) All the photos you see here on my profile she took. In fact, we were so pleased with her work that we bought another special she had going for a 1 year anniversary photo shoot.