Ceremony
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church - A+
Our ceremony was held at our church, which we are members of, Our Saviour's in St. Paul, MN and officiated by Rev. Brian Scoles. They allowed us to decorate ahead of time, which saved us some valuable time Saturday morning. They were very flexible with music selection, decorations, vows, photography, and audio recording (we opted not to have a videographer). Their music director Megan Stoner was our pianist, and she did a fantastic job picking pre-ceremony music and learning the selections we had made. Another nice perk was that we didn't have to have everything cleared out immediately. As long as the church was ready for service the next day, we were okay. Some of the decorations were stowed in the getting ready rooms until we were able to pick them up later in the week. We also received many compliments on the service itself for it's personalization, brevity, and humor.
More info under Details - Ceremony.
www.oursaviourslutheran.org
Reception Hall
Summit Manor - A+
The reception was held at Summit Manor, a beautiful early 1900s mansion. Justin and I both love the classic look and deep character of this building: hardwood flooring, big window casings, and glass chandeliers. The owner, David McLaughlin, was great to work with and very accommodating to whatever special requests we had. One of the biggest advantages of going with Summit Manor was that they took care of so many details for us and so much was included. They took care of most of the set-up and clean-up, and other than packing our things into our car, we didn't have do any work. The food was fantastic. They allowed us to bring in our own cake (from a licensed baker) and even accomodated me when I asked them to use a special recipe for the turkey. We had some odd "extras" for the reception like 150 canned jars of goodies for favors, a popcorn bar, and an interactive photo wall. They were wonderful about setting things out when they needed to go out. Many guests complimented us on the venue choice and loved looking around the three floors and exploring all the different rooms.
www.summitmanor.com
Rehearsal Dinner
The rehearsal dinner was held at Pinz, a local bowling alley. Pinz offers a large menu (including pizza and a taco bar!), two bowling areas, an arcade, a sit-down restaurant, and laser tag. We reserved four lanes in 10-Pin Alley, the swankier of the two bowling areas. It has two jumbo tv screens over the lanes, music, lights, and a cozy club-like atmosphere. No stuffy sit-down dinner for us, oh no. We' started our celebration off a day early. About 35 people ended coming to the dinner, as we invited the wedding party and out of town guests. The food was a little slow coming out, but it tasted great, so no one really cared. There was a small hiccup with the guests getting their bowling shoes right away, but the alley was quick to give us some additional bowling time to make up for it. A group of us got together later in the night to play a game of laser tag, and they even let our photographer join us and take pictures inside the laser room. Guests stayed for up to three hours and commented on how nice it was to be able to mix and mingle with everyone before the actual wedding day.
www.pinz.com
Photography
Ben Berndt Photography - A+ (so far, waiting for final product)
Our photographer is Ben of Ben Berndt Photography. Justin and I immediately fell in love with Ben's photojournalistic style where he strives to capture all of the little moments that happen throughout the day, almost creating a photo-storybook of sorts. On his website, he uploads slideshows from the weddings that he has shot. I was impressed that he didn't just have two or three good pictures from fifty different weddings, but rather a hundred great shots from each one! As you watch the slideshows, it really feels like you were a guest at the wedding and seeing all of the best parts from the best seat in the house. After our first meeting with Ben, Justin and I both walked out to the car, looked at each other, and just said, "Wow." We pretty much knew right then that we had to have him for our big day.
Our package included both engagment pictures and all-day coverage the day of the wedding. For our e-pics, we went to Mill City Museum and the Stone Arch Bridge. Ben shot us for at least three hours and mailed us disk with over one hundred photos, retouched. He was able to get us a great variety of backgrounds and looks, which was really helpful when putting together our photo guest book. The day-of, he and his assistant Evan Uribe (www.lumen-photography.com) were all over the place getting different shots, but they never seemed intrusive. At one point, I slipped out to sit on the porch with a girl friend to get some air and told me to put my feet up on her lap and kick back. Right then, Ben poked his head out the door and said, "I thought a photo op might be happening." It was uncanny how he was always around when something was happening. The week after the wedding, he sent us a few teaser pictures (under Pro-Pics), and I LOVE how they turned out. I'm very anxiously waiting to see how the rest turned out. His communication has been great. I feel that he tried really hard to understand what kind of shots we wanted and what vision we had for the wedding. On top of top of that, he's just a great guy to have around: personable, passionate about his work, reliable, and thorough. One of our favorite vendors by far.
www.benberndtphotography.com
Dana Schoppe - A (so far, waiting for final product)
Dana Schoppe is a Twin Cities-based photographer who, up until recently, specialized in sports photography. She is now branching out into wedding photography, and has a photojournalistic style. We met with Dana on the recommendation of another photographer and felt an instant connection. She has a bright personality and took the time to really understand our vision of the wedding and how she could translate that to film (well, the digital version of film, that is!). Although we ultimately decided to go with Ben Berndt Photography, Dana was a very close second. So close, in fact, that we asked if she would be willing to shoot our rehearsal. We wanted a few photos of everyone together looking a little more relaxed (and with me, sans the big, poofy white dress). Luckily, she agreed!
I'm looking forward to seeing these pictures, as Dana was pretty adventurous at the bowling alley. She climbed out onto the maintenance aisle of the bowling lane to get some shots, followed us into the nearly pitch-black laser tag room, and jumped on a chair in the arcade to get different vantage points. At the church, she helped to set up the dressing rooms from a photographer's point of view, captured some great moments of when we gave gifts to the helpers, and really contributed to a fun, up-beat atmosphere. Her great photos aside, one of Dana's best attributes is her infectious personality. You just can't help but have a good time with her, which is exactly what you want if you're going to spending your whole wedding day with someone.
dschoppe.smugmug.com
Music
PM Enterprises - B-
Choosing entertainment for the evening was perhaps our most difficult decision to make. We knew that we wanted a DJ and not a live band. We liked the versatility of a DJ, and to be honest, the dance floor at Summit Manor is small enough that having five guys plus drums, amps, and other gear would have made things a little cramped, not to mention the poofy dress I'll be sporting.
We were having a rather disatisfying experience looking for DJs until we ran into Ryan from PM Enterprises at the Wedding Fair in Minneapolis. We liked his out-going personality and that PM was a family-run business. We set up and appointment to see him at his office with high hopes. PM is located a little north of Minneapolis at the owner's home. They have a room set-up with a soundsystem and lights, so we got to see what everything would look and sound like the day of the wedding. Ryan also took a lot of care in asking us what kind of music we wanted to hear and how we pictured the evening would go. Again, we let our smiling faces make this decision.
A week before the wedding, they set us up with their DJ Jon, who had 15 years of experience. Justin spoke with him and went over a few things that Jon needed to be aware of, such as our choreographed first dance and the skit we had come up with for the garter retrieval. He was on-board with everything and had a good feel for the type of music we wanted played from our play and do-not play lists (despite the website crashing on Justin two times, losing the lists each time). The day of the wedding Jon showed up on time and in a nice suit. He had his gear set up right away and while the dance floor wasn't packed all night, I have to admit that Summit Manor isn't the best location for a DJ. They don't allow special lighting and there are three floors with the bar in the basement, so people tend to spread out a lot. These would have been big contributing factors to low dance numbers, as well as a fairly elderly guest list.
Another reason for the lower grade is that he didn't seem to reallly understand our "special" dances. For the garter retrieval, we came up with a skit of sorts where I would pretend to not want to do it and the song "The Stripper" would play. The bridesmaids would drag me out onto the floor and Justin would try to go under my skirt. An alarm would sound. Then he would back up and turned it off with his car key remote. Then the song would change to the Mission Impossible Theme and he would pull out various items like caution tape and a do not enter sign. We had all the songs in order on a cd so the DJ just had to click to the next track when Justin cued him. To begin, he announced the garter retrieval and didn't start playing music until I was on the dance floor, sort of ruining the effect. Then he delayed going to the alarm track too long and stopped the music part way through Mission Impossible. Maybe funny during a standard retrieval, but we had the timing all worked out for the skit, and that was a bit annoying. Then during the bouquet toss, he played music and they spun me around and after I stopped spinning, I tossed the bouquet (when I'm all dizzy, right?). Just as I tossed, the DJ started counting down from 5. I had already tossed it, so he got it back from the girl who caught it and had me re-toss it after counting from 5 to 1. A different girl ended up catching it, and it just all seemed odd. Later in the night, he asked for Justin's parents to come out for a special request song. They came right away, but he didn't play the request song until four songs later. Overall, he did a good job and played the important songs. Still, when all of my other vendors went above and beyond my expectations, this one was a little disappointing.
www.twincitiesdj.com
Bridal Attire
The Wedding Shoppe - A-
I found my gown at the Wedding Shoppe on Grand in St. Paul. The service was curtious and helpful if not enthusiasic, and they let me store my dress there until I have to get my alterations done. On top of that, my dress was the sample dress from a discontiued line, so I got it at a fantastic price. Gorgeous dress + great price = One happy bride! They were less helpful when it came to the bridesmaid dresses, and we ended up going with netbride.com, even though the Wedding Shoppe carried them. www.weddingshoppeinc.com
Alterations
Louise has been wonderful to work with on my dress alterations. She comes extremely well-recommended by fellow brides on The Knot message boads and doesn't disappoint. She's friendly, approachable, reasonably priced, and best of all, makes you feel like a princess in your dress. I once commented that she's as excited about your wedding as you'd want your bridesmaids to be, and that held throughout the process. She even offered to fix any problems if I found them the day of the wedding. Of course, the dress fit perfectly, so there was no need for that! My only complaint would be that she's not terribly good with email yet. It's best to reach her by phone.
www.LouiseMarieWeddings.com
Bridesmaid Dresses
Da Vinci, Netbride.com, and CTM/Amazon.com - A
We ordered the Da Vinci bridesmaid dresses from www.netbride.com, and they did a wonderful job. After the girls tried the dress on at local bridal shops (they all live in different states), we placed one order through this online company and received our order in less than a month. The sizes were all correct, there were no material defects, and the ordering process was easy. I ordered ivory pashmina shawls to go with the dresses through CTM on www.amazon.com. The shawls came within a week and were a better quality than I expected. They are dressy enough for formal occassions, yet casual enough to wear with jeans and a good weight for summer or early fall.
www.davincibridal.com
www.netbride.com
www.amazon.com
Flowers
Friend - A
My wonderful friend Ramona has agreed to be my florist. She does flowers for weddings as a side business, and she came made exactly what I wanted. They smelled wonderful and lasted for over a week in a vase once I brought them home.
Rings
Knox Jewlers - A
Justin surprised me with a beautiful, custom designed ring from Knox Jewlers. After many frustrating attempts to find a ring that he thought I would love, he decided to just design his own. Ryan Knox sealed the deal when Justin asked him "Can you do this...," and Ryan responded, "We can do anything." We also got both of our wedding bands through them. www.knoxjewelers.biz
Hair and Make-up
Shear Genius Salon- A
I found Kim Welch when she worked at JCPenny's Salon and loved the way she always managed to give me a fun, yet professional haircut. When she got her management license, she decided to open her own shop just north of St. Paul. Right after Justin proposed, I knew that I would be showing off my ring to all of my family and friends and wanted my nails to look their best. I called Kim, and when she heard the good news, she immediately squeezed me in for a manicure and some much needed celebratory giggling and admiring of my newly-acquired shiny ring. We pretty much started my hair care/grow out plan right that day. I brought in a few pictures to my trial and she suggested a few changes that she thought would look better. On both my trial day and the wedding day, my hair stayed put all day, even after taking out the veil.
651-490-2922
Mariah's Beauty Marks- A-
Mariah has been a professional make-up artist for 3 years. She started as a freelance artist for Estee Lauder providing make-up styling at fashion shows, trend shows and exclusive beauty events. Following her wedding in September of 2007, she fell in love with the process of planning a wedding and all the romance and passion involved with it. She then created Mariah's Beauty Marks offering make-up services for brides, fashion shows and photoshoots. She has a wonderful eye for applying make-up that enhances the natural beauty of the bride, rather than covering it up. My trial make up and wedding make up lasted all day without budging and didn't need any touch ups. My only disappointment, if you can call it that, is that we didn't have a wonderful repoir. She's very nice, but we just didn't click as well as I did with some of my other vendors.
www.mariahsbeautymarks.com
Leaf Brooches
Etsy Seller Jeunebugs - A
Jeune was wonderful to work with and great with communicating. She makes these really beautiful pieces of jewelry out of real leaves. First, she hand selects the leaf, then, using a chemical process, she strips the leaf of all but the veins. Then she dips it copper and again in another metal like gold, silver, or irridescent copper. She attaches a clip, and the piece can be worn as a brooch or as necklace. We're planning on using these in place of corsages, and I will also be clipping one to the ribbon on my bouquet. Jeune told me that she has worked with other brides who use them as cake decorations or to add a little extra special touch to bridesmaid and hostess gifts.
www.jeunebugs.etsy.com
Garters
The GarterLady makes really beautiful, hand-crafted garters, and I had a very hard time choosing which one I wanted. I selected this one as my keepsake garter, because they beadwork matched my dress and she agreed to make it out of white instead of ivory fabric. I'm also getting a white satin toss garter to go with it. www.garterlady.etsy.com
Alcohol
We had a really great experience working with Leo Hoye's, a little liquor store down the road from us in St. Paul. They've always been great at helping me with all my alcohol-cooking adventures, so when we compared their prices to other local stores and found them to be the cheapest, we were thrilled. They had a great selection, helped us come up with a list, and even let us return any unopened bottles.
(651) 774-7500
Dance Lessons
Justin and I could barely do the back and forth junior high type dancing before we met with Bonnie at Dancers Studio. We asked her to teach us a choreographed Waltz to Dark Waltz by Hayley Westerna. First she showed us some basic dance steps and then helped us put it altogether. We took four lessons total and practiced a bit on our own. Somehow, we managed to keep it completely secret from our guests, and they were really surprised with the dance.
