Jodi made save-the-dates custom to my wedding. Black and Ivory in color, Southern vintage, and had amazing paper to choose. She is very detailed and professional. Even allowed me to use her templates to continue on with the invitations, bookmarks, RSVPs, even poetry books for the guests!
Valet for 120 guests for both the ceremony and reception. Professional. Nice attire
This band was amazing. They played songs that were danceable and fun. They learned a few songs that I requested ahead of the wedding. They were very responsive to my guests, even played a guest request the band had never practiced and it came out amazing. Lundy is a very professional band. They showed up four hours before for set-up and rehearsal, then came back for the reception. I highly recommend!
Aberdeen catering company is run out of Camden, South Carolina by the exceptionally talented chef, Jack Brantley. They have a large array of upscale menu items including my favorites; beef tenderloin, quail, brie rounds and tortellini. If you have been to a black tie affair or the mayor's ball in South Carolina's capital, Columbia, then you have tasted Jack Brantley's catering. He's the best!
I hired an event planner to make sure the wedding day went smoothly. I planned all the details out and had the planner execute them the day of since I knew I'd be busy getting ready. I gave her envelopes with all the vendors payments for her to deliver the day of. I had all the decorations for the tables set aside and she put them on the tables. I tried my best to over-communicate details. The only glitch we had was the information to the photographer. I e-mailed her and the photographer all the planned photos that I wanted. Neither showed up with the list and I had no pockets in my dress. :) I suggest, over-communicating to everyone; bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, even friends outside of the wedding party, so that if there are hiccups in the details, someone may be able to cover it. Basically, your wedding, photos and reception all happen within around a 5 hour window and if there are details missing, there is not any extra time to fill them in. Her rate was $1000 for one day and she did not have an assistant to help execute any of the planning. So you brides may want to ask for the rate of an assistant to make sure the event planner has help.
Hope this is helpful to you brides out there.
I contacted Scott Jones of American Floral in Irmo, South Carolina. He was flexible on working with me from long distance. He was kind and approachable. I wanted simple flowers with not a lot of detail. They had many books to go through for me to pick out the florals that I had in mind. There were a few bits of miscommunication. During one of my visits in town, I sat down and talked to him about details. One of my main concerns was price. Once we talked about what I was looking for, he put together an estimate and got back with me later that day with the quote. Just a warning to all you brides out there. Supposedly, there are two prices. And the price he gave me was a "groom's rate"? I did not find out that I owed an additional $895 until a week before my wedding when he told me I needed to pay a remainder of my bill. Even when I gave my credit card information, never was there a mention of an additional charge until a week before the wedding. Which every bride will find out there is no time for additional last minute changes in florists or prices. I just wanted to mention this to you brides to make sure you ask for the "bride's rate" as well as the "groom's rate" when talking to a florist, so that there are no unexpected surprises.
My colors were ivory and black, so we went with Virginia Roses because they are mostly ivory in color. The vendor showed up to the site with the ivory flowers, but white ribbons were used to tie all the bouquets, bouteonniers, and corsages instead of my color ivory. I had to pull all the ribbons off the arrangements last minute in a wedding dress and go without ribbon detail.
The vendor offered to make a garland for the flower girls instead of the traditional rose petals. Also a floral collar for my dog. Both of these arrangements came out beautiful and were both unique unexpected ideas for a wedding. It was a sweet touch and a great idea from the vendor.
I hope this detail helps you brides in getting the best service from your florist.
Liza made a custom dress for me at an amazing price. I was able to bring in some pictures of the dress I wanted. I picked out the fabrics from over 50 swatches and had four fittings to tweak the details. The dress came out amazing. There were some issues that I had with last minute adjustments and she addressed them the following day and fixed all my concerns. I was so nervous about the process, not knowing what the result would be, Liza did an amazing job, the dress was incredible.
I had a custom ring made by Viachi. The detail was absolutely amazing. Very professional and flexible with my custom order. They were able to fit a family diamond and match the stone perfectly to the ring itself. Even made a detailed custom wedding band to match the ring. Viachi had an amazing attention to detail that I could not find in any other jewelers.