Opening Statement: The flowers from Roxanne's were just gorgeous!!! My Husband & I met in Pittsburgh, where his parents still live -- they were the flower delivery service. We knew we wanted to include some Pittsburgh in our wedding. Going to the strip and specifically Roxanne's was one of my favorite things to do in Pittsburgh. Roxanne's was the perfect wedding flower choice! Our wedding was in Detroit -- so most of the communication was via email or phone. Thommy & Betsy were great at communicating with me. I sent Thommy an email with a bunch of pictures (links) I'd found of what I was looking for before we came to the store -- lavender, wild flowers, whimsical dried flower bouquets that did NOT come off a country/rustic. We went into Pittsburgh to put a down a down payment and do a formal consultation. Thommy had samples, flowers & ribbons to show us --he totally got what I wanted. I could sleep sound at night. We had a fairly large wedding party and we asked to keep cost low. Keeping cost low was easier with our flower & ribbon choices. We did change the number of boutonnieres/corsages once --- they were very flexible. And at the last minute (2 weeks before the wedding) I decided I wanted very simple table flowers. Thommy set aside the same flowers that were in our bouquets/ boutonnieres for us. We ended up making our own flower arrangements for the tables from the supplies -- it was a really fun & cost effective project! In all we got several bundles of dried flowers for the tables, 19 boutonnieres/corsages, & 7 bouquets (total project budget $981.18). I did want to note that the boutonnieres & corsages are pin on (not tie to the wrist). The boutonnieres & corsages looked wonderful on the gentlemen and ladies. We were very happy with Roxanne's flowers for our wedding & strongly suggest dried flowers. My bouquet still looks stunning weeks after the wedding. Thank you Thommy & Betsy & everyone at Roxanne's!
I made a list of dresses of the David’s Bridal website that I was interested in. Went to the John R location.
Regarding buying the dress: While I felt like my sales lady (Stacey? Stephanie?) was a little pushy on the up-sell (veil, petticoat, etc), she was GREAT for trying on dresses with. She could tell I really liked the 1st one, while it wasn't anyone in my parties favorite and helped me feel confident to buy it! Thank you so much.
Regarding alterations: Alterations turned out fine and almost cost more than the original dress. I was concerned that they were not making it short enough and in the end I do think my dress was still a little too long when I tried to dance in it.
The photo booth was so much fun! We got lots of compliments on it. The attendant was nice and professional. She also kept an eye on a calendar we were having people sign on their birthday, so helpful. She gave us a 10 minute warning when the booth was about to close. We went with the scrapbook option and highly suggest it! My Aunt Carol just wanted to sign the guest book, but the attendant encouraged her to use the booth. The attendant put together a beautiful scrap book. We are really happy about our scrapbook; we will laugh about it for years to come. We had the photo booth for 4 hours -- open during cocktail hour, closed during dinner (used idle hours), and open again once dancing got started. We think 4 hours was enough time for our 200 guests.
We choose Music Box for our DJ services (ceremony, cocktail hour, & reception music). Fletcher (our DJ) & the office were extremely nice to work with throughout the planning process. We had loads of compliments on the Motown music theme from our friends and members of my parent's generation too. Fletcher did a really good job listening to the type of music we wanted. Some guest complained (to my parents) their song requests were not taken (not sure if their requests were lame or what happened there). My cousin did request a Black Eye Peas song that had already been played and Fletcher asked if he could play it again. I think we were all so excited we could have danced to that same song all night. The dance floor and the bar were slammed all night. Fletcher didn't really have to interact with the guest/ encourage them to dance because our guests are dancers. He did make some announcements we requested. My groom & I were very happy with the music we heard & the service we received.
The photo booth was so much fun! We got lots of compliments on it. The attendant was nice and professional. She also kept an eye on a calendar we were having people sign on their birthday, so helpful. She gave us a 10 minute warning when the booth was about to close. We went with the scrapbook option and highly suggest it! My Aunt Carol just wanted to sign the guest book, but the attendant encouraged her to use the booth. The attendant put together a beautiful scrap book. We are really happy about our scrapbook; we will laugh about it for years to come. We had the photo booth for 4 hours -- open during cocktail hour, closed during dinner (used idle hours), and open again once dancing got started. We think 4 hours was enough time for our 200 guests.
Me (the bride), the bridesmaids, and the moms got their makeup done by the ladies at Rogue. I didn't price out/ try out any other option because I knew I wanted organic makeup. I feel 100% confident that I made the right choice and I hope you do too. Travel expense was 20%. They don't offer touch up kits, unless you buy the makeup -- you don't need a touch up kit. The makeup lasted all day through the sweat and tears. I paid for the girls to have a lip gloss ($16), which happens to be the best feeling lip gloss I've ever had... not too oily/ sticky, just perfect feel and color. Miranda & Cheryl were amazingly professional... they even brought lighting! Service was very personalized towards the girl’s individual styles/ coloring, yet we all looked beautiful together and individually. Miranda & Cheryl are also a pleasure to be around. I felt so beautiful and true to myself (someone who doesn't usually wear much makeup). PS Miranda will make your eye brows look good.
For the tasting they special made cupcakes for us not typically made into minis & they also made vegan banana nut for us. My groom is a vegan. They also served us coffee- for Free. We were very impressed with the tasting. We ordered 7 varieties for the wedding. We specially ordered a Vegan Mexican Hot Cocoa cupcake, which we hadn't samples - wasn't even on the menu! Our 7 varieties were Vegan Mexican Hot Cocoa, Vegan Banana Nut, Bump-a-licious, Pineapple Delight, Carmel Celebration, Dark Chocolate Somoa, and Lemon Coconut. Cupcake Station provided the tiers and setup. It looked wonderful. However we have 2 complaints: (1) we got Coconut Blitz cupcakes when we ordered Lemon Coconut and (2) the Carmel Celebration cake was dry. The Coconut Blitz were yummy cupcakes, however not what we ordered. The Vegan Mexican Hot Cocoa were amazing tasting -- they should add them to the everyday menu. The Bump-a-licious was the most popular with the guest. Mistakes into account... we would use cupcake station again.