As our wedding was on a small budget, we opted for fake flowers instead of real (plus, I wanted to keep my bouquet). None of us knew how to assemble our our arrangements, so we decided to have the Idea Center of Michael's Crafts do the work for us! The employee was very quick at putting everything together; however, the price was a tad high considering how simple the arrangements were. Also, the cake topper was cheaply constructed and flowers fell out a few times (we ended up not using it). We also had to tweak the arrangements ourselves to make them more appealing. If we had a bigger budget, we would had probably chosen a florist, but all in all, everything turned out fine.
My husband and I have a mixed review regarding our wedding cake experience. The best way I know how to rate our experience is using pros/cons:
PROS:
-Free tasting
-Extremely skilled at fondant designs (see the photo of our groom's cake)
-Flexible with designs. Allowed us to design whatever we liked
-Worked with us on a pick-up time
CONS:
-Does not deliver to St. Joseph
-*Horrible transportation method. Considering she does not deliver to St. Joe, we were very displeased with the flimsy boxes (with no dividers) that we were given to transport our cupcakes. Even driving very slow, several of our cupcakes got smooshed
-Hydrangea flowers on the cupcakes looked nothing like the actual flower. Everyone thought they were daisies. The berries also did not look like berries.
-Many of my guests said the buttercream was yummy, but that the cake tasted like it came out of a box. This was a major disappointment because the cake we tasted at the tasking was so moist and rich
-Sometimes takes a few days to respond to emails
-A tad pricey, especially for cupcakes
Overall, we felt so-so about our experiences with this vendor. Unfortunately, we did not have many options for wedding cupcakes. In the end though, everything turned out fine.
I found Satin Stitches through a google search. Satin Stitches is based out of Robin's home, but don't let that deter you. Robin is VERY skilled, professional, very affordable, and fast. My dress fit like a glove! In addition to our wedding attire, we also had Robin alter a t-shirt for my bachelorette party, a cotton dress, table runners, and a pant suit for my mom (which require drastic alterations). I'll continue using Robin for all of my alterations needs!
My husband and I didn't want to give out traditional favors. We also wanted something active for our guests to do during the downtime of the reception. We initially considered a photo booth, but they're much too pricey. I remembered how fun getting a caricature was at carnivals and amusement parks. Luckily, The Fine Tooners employs a number of artists, so we were able to book one artist for 2 hours for our wedding of 50 people. The price was fair considering how expensive individual caricatures normally are, but we ended up not needing the caricature artist for the entire time, but still had to pay the entire cost. Our artist was very flexible and began early as we were ahead of "schedule." All of our guests had a lot of fun! Even some of our vendors got their drawing done!
Our only complaint was that the owner told us we would receive protective sleeves for our drawings, but we did not. They would have been useful as guests were worried about ruining their drawings.
From the start, Kyle and I knew we wanted a non-traditional officiant. We found Bonnie through weddingwire.com and were initially struck by her willingness to accommodate ANY style wedding. She encouraged us to share our ideas and didn’t push any of her preferences on us. She went over every single detail of the ceremony with us. She is amazingly fast at answering all emails! She was very flexible the day of the wedding when we had to have the rehearsal at 8:00am and the ceremony at 5:30pm, especially considering the venue was an hour away from her home. Her price was also very affordable. We loved how passionate and clear she spoke during the ceremony. She really made us feel like our day was special and not just another wedding ceremony.
One suggestion to Bonnie: we realize there’s a lot of details to keep track of for each couple and since Bonnie is so popular, we think Bonnie could develop more efficient method of keeping track of all the details and changes.