Vendors and Reviews
Ceremony Location-St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Ames: So far we have only met with Father once, and discussed the basics, now that we are past our one year mark, we will need to be talking to the wedding coordinator, taking pre cana classes and talking with the music director.
Reception Location-The Lodge at Seven Oaks, Boone: So far, Carol has been great to work with, she has been very accomodating, and willing to work with us, for what suits us best. She also agreed to wave the deposit, and hold our date with just a credit card number. She also locked in the 2008 prices for us, even though our wedding is not until 2009, because she knew the prices would be going up.
Cake-Cakes By Andrea, Nevada: So far, Andrea has been fantastic. She came to our house to do a tasting in March, which was so helpful with an eight month old, we didn't have to find someone to watch him or take him out in winter. Her cakes were great, and so far I have changed my mind once about the design, and she has been great about working with both of them. Her prices are also great! She was half of what I was quoted by another baker in the area.
Photography-Nuzum Photo, DSM: Well, we when first started planning, we booked a different photographer. I know he would still do a great job, and his prices are great, but my vision of my photos have changed, and I am now hoping for a few photojournalistic pictures as well as the usual formal shots. I think Nuzum will be perfect for this, and they have been great so far with adjusting the packages so that we can afford booking them, along with losing our deposit on our first photographer. I am very very excited to work with Nuzum and I think switcing photographers was one of the best wedding-related decisions I have made! http://myfrozenmoment.com/
Caterer-Grand Times Catering, Boxholm: This is probably by far the thing I am really excited about! We got a great deal on some fantastic food for the reception, and you can't beat that! Our menu will be Bar-B-Que Pulled Pork on a Bun, Baked Beans with Pork, Homemade Potato Salad and Cheesy Potato Casserole. Good ol' homemade picnic food, our favorite!! This will be costing us $7.85/pp. I can't wait!!
mypapershop.com- We used my paper shop for cake plates and cocktail napkins, and also the basket we are using for programs. Shipping was fast, and also free for orders over $40.
Paper Products-Assorted Vendors: All of our paper items will be DIY, designed by me with the help of my fantastic sister! The following are places I have ordered supplies from:
Envelopemall.com-I love envelopemall! The prices are the best around, and shipping was fast and reasonably priced for the amount of items that I got.
Staples-We are using Staples for printing and the linen paper, I haven't been dissapointed yet.
Favors-DIY: We are doing Pumpkin bar favors in small boxes, FMIL is making the bars. The boxes came from Uline.com. I was very happy with Uline, shipping only took 1-2 days, and the prices were great, much cheaper than other places I found online. The website is organized and has a tool which allows you to type in the box dimension you need and gives you all the available options, I found this to be helpful, instead of sorting through pages of different sizes to find what I need.
Flowers-Originals by Beck, Bondurant: I am very excited to be working with Becky! She was the last florist I met with, only because I was trying to find one closer to Ames. I couldn't believe when we got the quote from her, I almost thought that she had added it up wrong! She was almost $400 cheaper than the most expensive quote I had, and even $100 cheaper than my next cheapest quote. I love that Becky respects what you have in mind for your flowers, while also making helpful suggestions of her own. She offered to make Lincoln's bout out of silk flowers, since she said real flowers would look too big on his little body, something none of the other florist had thought about. She also rec. the Leonidas roses for the BM's which I had never seen before, but absolutley love! I can't say enough good things about Becky!
Jeweler-Josephs, DSM: We have loved working with Josephs! They have been very helpful and honest anytime we have talked to them. Andre got my e-ring from them, and we went back a few months later to pick out my band. We got a great deal on the band, 40% off, and for a self-proclaiming "no sales" store, it was a lucky find, I was able to get twice as nice a band as we had expected for the price. Andre didn't find a ring that he liked on sale, but the sales woman informed us that if you get your e-ring there, you get 20% off your wedding bands, no matter when you buy them. I thought that was great, considering they are one of the pricier stores. We have been really satisfied with both the service and quality at Josephs.
D.J - Jambox LLC, Bondurant: Our original plan was to use an Ipod and hook it up speakers that FI's brother owns. I pretty much chickened out of this budget friendly idea. I just kept thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and I was worried about who was going to announce all the important events. My FAB wedding coordinator was able to get me an amazing deal with Jambox, they offered to knock over $400 off thier regular pricing so that I could fit them into my budget. I haven't met with Nick yet, but I know that this will be a great choice that we won't regret one bit. http://www.jamboxllc.com/index.html
Photo-Inkubook.com: I was really happy with the quality of our photobook, and I would recommend using them over snapfish any day!
Rubber Stamps-LoongChai74, Ebay Vendor: A fellow knottie recommended Chris to me, I emailed him and recieved nothing but fast, personalized service, Chris is fantastic! I had made a design, and wanted Chris to make it into a rubber stamp, he immediatly recreated the design and sent me a proof to approve. I also ordered a Return address stamp, for both of them with shipping from Malaysia was $18, a steal for the personalized service!
