Vendor Reviews
So I think you guys all have a gist of what we thought of our vendors (probably why people do vendor reviews before the recap versus at the end huh?) but I'll summarize anyway. I do want to preface that I went into wedding planning with the mentality that all of our vendors do this for a living; they literally know best. I wouldn't go tell my accountant how to do my taxes, or my mechanic how to fix my car, so I wouldn't want to tell any of my vendors how to do their job on my wedding day, since I have no experience with the field. Coming from a control freak who hates letting go of the reins (trust me), I highly recommend this approach to wedding planning! I also did 99.99999% of my planning via e-mail, so anything regarding communication in these reviews is purely e-mail based.
Kristie Pederson, Wishes DFTW Planner - 5/5: Kristie is probably the best planner in DFTW, in my totally biased and no-experience-with-any-other-planner opinion. She is practical without being cold or withholding, and mindful of your budget and priority list at all times. She was always available for us by e-mail, and while I did communicate with her assistant often (never, ever e-mail just your planner guys - ALWAYS CC the assistant. Trust me on this.) I definitely heard from Kristie more, which I wasn't expecting going in. I never felt like she was trying to push us in a direction that might have worked better for Disney at the expense of our budget, and she truly had our best interests at heart from day one. On the day of she kept everything running like clockwork, seemed to anticipate our needs and problems before we even realized them ourselves and was ready with the solution before we could blink. At the time we were assigned her, she had just returned to DFTW after several years in other departments at Disney, and there were no reviews of her and I panicked a bit, so let me tell any of you in the same situation who have been assigned Kristie P. - you're in good hands.
Petals by Design (personal floral only) - 4/5: Tracy was great to work with and very responsive. She didn't seem to mind that I basically said outright flowers were my lowest priority, and was very flexible when I e-mailed changes at the last minute (like added an extra bout for the ring bearer and then my grandma's corsage less than a week out). Her prices were tied for the lowest outside florist I contacted (the other was Greenery Productions) and over half of Disney's prices. I don't award full marks because she would not deliver to our room on the morning of for liability reasons (inconvenient but not the end of the world) and the blue ribbon used on the bridesmaid's bouquets didn't match our blue, which bothers me in photos now (and I did specify cobalt! I made sure to check before docking points!)
Heather Sparby, DFTW Floral Planner - 5/5: I don't have much to say about Heather - we didn't meet her at our PS because she was on maternity leave, so she was only ever an e-mail presence to me. She made my vision come true (especially the ceremony, which was PERFECT) and was great with communication and sending me swatches by mail when I added overlays late. In my opinion, the centerpieces weren't quite what our BEO stated (the stones at the bottom were supposed to match the color of the water and they just look like regular pavement stones to me) but it's not worth griping about and centerpieces weren't high enough on our priority list for me to make a fuss.
Carolyn Allen's - 5/5: I don't have much to say about them - they came, they steamed, they left. I don't know if it was because my girls' dresses were short and I didn't have a massive ballgown, but they were done in half they time allotted, so points for that! I didn't use their shipping or post-wedding cleaning services so no comment there.
Patricia LeJeune - 5/5: I can't say enough about Patricia. Everyone was enthralled with their looks from the day (which was huge because only I had a trial and only I had an idea of what I wanted before the wedding day - everyone else's looks were made up on the spot). Additionally, everything lasted from 3:00am-10:00pm, and if that's not longevity in wedding hair and makeup I don't know what is. Yes, my hair curls did fall out, but as I said in the beginning I blame myself on this for not asking for tighter curls, and really it was 75-80 degrees with 95% humidity during our ceremony - there was no hope for those curls. I still would have kept a half up half down look though, and I don't regret that. Also did I mention they were done 45 minutes early? Yes, it threw a wrench in the photography timeline in that I have no photos of hair and make-up but I'll take that over running late any day. Patricia's husband Randy (who as of my wedding at least) does all of her communication via e-mail definitely leaves something to be desired in tone and correspondence, but don't let that fool you or scare you away if it bothers you
DJ Chuck Johnson - 5/5: I have to be honest - I think if we had done the traditional route and interviewed DJs ourselves, we might not have picked Chuck. That being said, he did exactly what his job was and he did it well. He ran our reception and was incredibly attentive to the mood of our guests and what was getting them on the dance floor and what wasn't, while still keeping in mind our must-play list, even though said-list drove people OFF the dance floor. For a morning wedding, this was critical and he got his job done.
Trinity Wedding Cinema - *5/5: I added the asterisk because I don't have my final video yet (and don't expect to have it for another two months) and so I don't feel right giving a final, definite review without part of the product we paid for. Based on our sneak peek video however, I don't imagine my review changing much. David has some lightning fast e-mail skills which are a sight to behold in themselves, and definitely put you at ease while planning. On the day of David and Kristina were literally ghosts, only redirecting the flow of the day twice that I can remember to request a particular shot or a re-do of something that had just happened; otherwise they might as well have been invisible. Not to mention our sneak peek video is better than we ever could have dreamed, it has be so excited to see our final product and I fall in love again every time I rewatch it. I do feel the need to mention that we booked Trinity during a short window of time when they were offering raw footage, which was a deal breaker for me and is something they no longer offer. As much as I loved David & Kristina and as much as I have adored their work, I would not have considered them had we not been able to purchase raw footage. This is just a personal preference of mine though (I'm a home video junkie!)
Root Photography - 10/5: I've saved the best for last. I've said in multiple occasions that using Nate & Jensey was the only thing I was unwilling to compromise on - I would have given up a DFTW if it had come down to it. Those are lofty words but trust me when I say they earned them. Our guests can't stop talking about them, not only their work but their personalities and demeanor on the day of. They ran our day whenever Kristie was occupied and I could not, would not imagine the day without them. Our photos are stunning (if you can't tell by the fact that I posted most of them) and I have a hard time imagining getting photos taken by anyone else. They are professional, they are kind, they are truly there to make sure you have the best lasting memories of your wedding day. in short: they are worth it. They are so so worth it.
Honorable Mention - Candice DeVane, Room Block Coordinator: I don't know if anyone has different room block coordinators (I've heard there's only the one for Wishes weddings but that seems like an enormous task for one person), but I need to give a special shout out to Candice, who is a fantastic cast member and deserves to be mentioned in her own right. Not only did she coordinate our block (which was fairly simple and uneventful), but she somehow became a point of contact for my father and his myriad of questions at one point or another due to a forwarded e-mail chain. Because of this, she was able to somehow get my grandmother a ground floor handicap accessible room when she decided to come less than a week before the wedding day, when the hotel was (as far we we're aware) totally sold out. She also assisted my dad in scheduling her Magical Express and basically took care of all her trip details from start to finish, which was a huge weight off my dad's shoulders not to have to worry about the Disney side of her trip where he already was concerned with her flights and travel, not to mention the fact that his first child was getting married in less than a week. In my opinion, she is the epitome of what a cast member should be and that deserves to be mentioned.
Getting to go up on the balcony in Italy was one of the (many, many, MANY) highlights of the day.
And yes, fondant is hard to cut through once it's set! It's not so hard once it's still soft and pliable, but my god. We just finished our wedding cakes in my class and so many people forgot to wrap theirs properly, so they were fighting to cut it so they could roll it out.
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Your dessert party menu sounds so delicious! I hadn't thought about a nacho bar.
I can't wait to move on to the honeymoon!
