Country Carriages was a great way for us to leave our wedding. The carriage was on time and in the correct location. Our driver was very knowledgeable about St. Augustine and was able to answer any questions that we asked. Country Carriages is the most reasonably priced service for wedding carriage rides in St. Augustine. The carriage ride was a relaxing way to end our fabulous evening!
Many Jane Ballou provided the ceremony music with her beautiful harp playing. Even though I was never able to meet with her or talk to her prior to the wedding, she kept in contact with me via e-mail. Mary Jane helped me with the music selection process. She did a fabulous job the day of the wedding! Her music sounded wonderful!
Rev. Young was the officiant for our wedding. I wanted our ceremony to reflect the love that my husband and I have for each other. Rev. Young did an outstanding job! He kept the flow of the ceremony going. He infused all of the characteristics that we wanted in our ceremony. After the wedding, everyone was complementing us on how touching the ceremony was.
Jerry Favorite photography was amazing. Jerry did a wonderful job on our engagement pictures and after our engagement session we knew that our wedding pictures would be great! The day of the wedding, Jerry was a little sick, but he did not let that get in the way of capturing our memories. For photographers in St. Augustine, Jerry Favorite Photography gives you the most for your money. I gave Jerry a "must shoot" list prior to the wedding, and he made sure to take all of the pictures that I wanted.
I bought my dress in my hometown, Tallahassee, at The Studio. The store did not have the dress that I wanted, so they took my measurements. They suggested that even though my measurements fit a certain dress size, that I order it one size bigger because "that is what you need." I trusted them because they are supposed to be the professionals and I have never purchased a wedding dress before. They also advised that I purchase a crinoline or otherwise my dress would be too long and they couldn't hem it. Again, I trusted them and ordered the crinoline. When my dress came in, I had to get it altered, of course, and the manager tried to make it seem like I had lost a lot of weight since I had ordered the dress. They wound up having to alter the dress down to a size lower, which was the size that my measurements corresponded with when I ordered the dress. To top it off, I did not need the crinoline because the dress was not too long, and they refused to take it back or to even help us find another bride that could have used it. Very unprofessional people; they want your money and they will lie to you in order to get it. I wished that I could have purchased my dress at a different store, it would have saved me over $300.00.
Y Entertainment sent a professional, experienced DJ for our wedding. He was on time, dressed appropriately, and stayed in contact with my husband and me all night to ensure that everything transitioned smoothly. He listened to my ideas for music, but he never made me feel as though he were forcing his ideas onto me. This vendor is great for couples getting married out of their hometown because everything can be accomplished via internet or phone.
For our wedding, we used Defore's for our wedding cake and the groom's cake. Both cakes were delicious, and there were a variety of flavors and fillings to choose from. The bakery was very open to my ideas and they did their best to create my vision.
I was very worried about the flowers for my wedding. From Sally's roses, we set up a contract for a bride's bouquet, 6 bridesmaid's bouquets, 7 corsages, rose petals for the flower girl, and a toss bouquet. Since I wasn't going to have flowers as decorations, I purchased vases for my bridesmaids to put their bouquets in during the reception. I brought a vase to the florist and asked her to make sure that the stems would not be too long; I did not want the bouquets to lean inside the vase. When I went to pick up the flowers the morning of my wedding, I noticed that there were only 5 bridesmaid's bouquets. The florist acted surprised and then said she did not have enough flowers to make another bridesmaid bouquet. Her suggestion was to have a bridesmaid carry the toss bouquet and then she made a rather inferior toss bouquet, which did not have the same flowers as the other bouquets. The florist said she would get in touch with me to refund me since she had already been paid in full. I am still waiting for her call. The bridesmaid's bouquets were nice, a little smaller than I would have expected based on the price. The stems were not cut as I had wished, in fact all of the bouquets had different length stems??? My bouquet looked lopsided from several angles. The rose petals looked old and the edges of them had already turned brown. I was not pleased with the quality of her products or services. I did not want to have to spend the morning of my wedding cutting the stems on the bridesmaid's bouquets because the florist said she would take care of it.
We used Rexcraft for our invitations, thank you notes and programs. The reason that I chose this company was because they had coordinating invitations and programs, and I like everything to match. The invitations and thank you notes came through perfectly. We got everything we ordered. When it came time to order the programs, however, the coordinating program did not work on their website. In the end, we had to go with a more expensive program. When we got the programs, we ordered white paper with a sheer white top layer, and I think we got an ivory top layer. We didn't have time to send them back, so we just made do with what they sent me.