We booked outside vendors for everything, but prices are pretty comparable for many things. We decided to book our own photographer, at $1200 for 4 hours. This is in the ballpark of what the package runs, but we know who we are working with- which is not the case with the package. With floral we found out he is the same florist that is the 'package vendor' after we booked him- so we may be saving any middle man fees. His prices are comparable to what I have seen in other budgets in the least - $250 for peony & rose bouquet. The major benefit to going the route we choose was that we get to know our vendors, all of whom work with Disney and Swan brides. Some of them, our florist and photographer, offered paid in full discounts of 10% after we signed our contracts at some point. Our harpist was a bit cheaper to book directly- $300.Hello first time poster and swan bride December 2015!Interested in sharing budgets, information, questions, and excitement!! I have put a deposit in and am still considering outside vendors vs. packages for the dolphin, and just began exploring the idea of receptions! Any advice information? Working on a small budget and appreciate any tips!
Lindsey gave us the Dove Suite to get ready in February. Don't go into it thinking it's a nice suite. There was a large round folding table with chairs. A rack to hang clothes and a bathroom. There were also a ton I pens and markers for meetings I suppose. The room was terribly ugly. This is the room they use for brides. They didn't give us menus to order any kind of food for my wedding party. It was fine to get ready in.
That's really nice that they told you in advance. We weren't notified till the day before the wedding. I think this was in part due to the fact that after Diana pushed us off onto Amanda and Jennifer Haskell no one cared about our wedding at all. It was a strange situation, but I'll go into that more in my review.
I'm sure everything will be perfect. The reason why some of our details went wrong is because I didn't have them until 1 month before my wedding. They weren't vested in us and I'm sure they had so many other brides on their case load already that they had gotten to know really well. Amanda is a very sweet girl by the way.
I want to start, I'm just not sure if I should just write them in here or am I supposed to do it in the Wedding trip review section. I've never done a review here but I would like to. I was on here a lot, usually just lurking! I got so much helpful information. I had mainly positive experiences and some not. I think it's important to have different perspectives when planning a wedding. For instance, my photographer which everyone raves about was horrible. It was my fault for not allowing my dad to help me pick the photographer. My dad is a graphic artist and worked with fashion photographers for many years. In hindsight, this was super ridiculous on my part, now my dad has to correct every photo. All I hear from him is this guy didn't pick his own fstops, ISO's, he had a beautiful day and my pics are horrible. This man is super nice and we even had us for dinner with all of us at Shula's. He owns his own business and I kind of feel terrible writing the review in the first place. At the same time, I want to warn other brides. It's my opinion I suppose. Although everyone agrees the photos are terrible. Don't go for who is cheapest. I wish I would have just paid for a really good photographer, like the Roots. So after that long rant, where should I do my reviews!
Good to know ahead of time! We had thought of maybe doing some pictures at this site, but time with the photgrapher is precious. Thanks for the heads up!
I hope everything is going going well, and congratulations! No matter what- this is your weekend!
Yes, We had Randy. My dad is going to write him an email explaining different elements of photography, as I'm not well versed in that. Luckily my Dad has been able to salvage some of the shots. Centering us, lightning up some very dark pics, putting my husbands teeth in where they had been blown out. A lot of pics were blurry. I don't think this is just my pics. If I just went through and looked really quick, most of it wouldn't have bothered me. Going through them with a professional is a different story. I invited him to dinner and maybe I shouldn't have. I joked that maybe he was hungry! I hope others will fare better.
Thank you Mrs. Duck! I think it's important to hear all opinions good and bad. I think if others would have spoken out I would have had more to go on. It seems no one wants to say anything negative and it's an injustice to future brides.Not surprised about Randy... his style is not as elegant as many other photographers and his work is lackluster in comparison. So sorry you're disappointed.
