
The venue itself was unreal - A++. It is beautiful and spacious. The hardwood floors make for an amazing dancefloor. The only reason I gave it an A- is because the person who rents the room can be a bit difficult. You pay a lot of money to rent the room, zero is included, and then she is not particularly helpful and seems annoyed every time you ask questions. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Tex, the guy who works the day of the actual event, is fabulous though and everything worked out really well.
All the Right Grooves: A+
Jill was amazing! She started the music and the dance floor was immediately packed. She adjusted to fit the needs of the night, followed my timeline as well as possible, and really made the night a ton of fun. People were still crowding the dance floor at the last minute of our 5-hour reception. The CDs with all the songs played on our day was also a very nice touch. Highly recommend!
Rev. Robin Renteria: A+
I can't say enough good things about Rev. Renteria. We were very nervous about finding a minister to officiate our interfaith ceremony, but Robin wove our traditions together seamlessly. The ceremony was personal, thoughtful, and heartfelt and we had total control over what was said. She was available to us whenever we needed her and was happy to provide alternative readings and wordings for things that didn't quite fit. She also helped organize our giant bridal party during the rehearsal, which is no small feat. I highly, highly recommend Robin!
Durham Catering Co.: A
Our food was soooo good!!! We got many compliments (and several of them were from serious foodies). The service was good and we had plenty of food on the buffet. I would definitely recommend Durham Catering,
Ashley Cakes: A
Our cake was so yummy! It was very moist and a lot of it got eaten (almost a whole 150-person cake and we only had 130 guests). Ashley's sketch of our cake was spot on, so we got exactly what we wanted. Her prices were pretty reasonable at $3.50 a slice too. Recommend.
Wedding Paper Divas: A
We ordered our invites from Wedding Paper Divas. The quality was great, they looked good, and they arrived very quickly after we ordered them. Wedding Paper Divas has really good customer service and even corrected a grammar mistake in one of our proofs. You can always live chat with their service representatives if you need help. Recommend,
The English Garden Raleigh: A
Cydney was fabulous! She can be a bit hard to get in touch with at times, but the flowers were flawless and her prices were SO reasonable. I was planning to do all my flowers myself because of the cost, but Cydney was able to do the same thing, a million times prettier, for barely any more cash. I also really appreciated that she scheduled a final consultation to review everything a week before. She is very generous about little extras (ie, a toss bouquet) and was just an all around nice person to work with. Recommend!
David's Bridal South Pointe: A
I know some people hate David's Bridal, but I had a really good experience. I had a really sweet consultant who wasn't pushy. I also brought my dress back 6 months after I bought it and begged them to let me exchange it for a smaller one (I lost 18 pounds) and they did, despite their absolutely no returns policy.
Olga: A+
Olga is everything people say she is! Fabulous! She did a bustle, took in the bust, added cups, added elastic to keep my dress up, and let me borrow a smaller crinoline that didn't make me look like a cupcake. The dress was flawless and the price was very reasonable. Recommend!
Mori Lee (B) and Pearl's Place (A)
The girls' dresses were so pretty! People loved them. The B is because their size chart is on CRACK! The dress did not fit a single person without alterations, which was a bit of a pain.
The good news is that we ordered them for Pearl's Place, which meant that we saved $40 per dress ordering them. The money they didn't spend on their dresses all got spent on alterations.
Mez: A+
Mez has a private room upstairs with its own bathrooms and it's own bar and a balcony. It was super nice, spacious and comfortable. We had a buffet of Mexican food and also pasta and salad. The food was DELICIOUS! Mez includes all your AV needs, so we were able to do toasts and a slide show no problem. Highly recommend!
Durham Marriott Convention Center: C
The good: The rooms were really nice. They had all been updated, the rooms were comfy, etc. They ran a free shuttle to the venue, which was money in the bank for our guests!
The bad: The customer service was such a pain! They gave away part of our block, they were super picky about letting only the person whose name as on the reservation to get a key to the room (even significant others had trouble getting keys), and worst of all, they screwed up my poor photographer's reservation to the point that they would not let her in her room after a 12-hour work day!
At the end of the day I would probably use the same hotel for the convenience of the location, but I do feel like you should be aware that there were a number of problems with this hotel.
The Franklin: A+
If you are looking for a splurge for your wedding night, I highly recommend the Franklin! The rooms are SO nice and incredibly relaxing. We LOVED this place!
Melissa Cherry
Our pictures from Melissa are amazing! She worked her tail off and got us the best photojournalistic pictures I could have hoped for. Her style is unobtrusive and she truly captured the day so we can relive it over and over again through the photos.
Margo Williams: A
Margo was awesome! The girls all looked smokin' and I felt really beautiful, which I definitely don't always. On top of this she as professional, showed up on time, worked in an extra girl at the last minute, and was awesome about keeping us on schedule. Her prices were so reasonable and she was just an all around fabulous person to work with. I highly recommend her to other brides.
Sandals Halcyon: A++++
St. Lucia
Best. Vacation. Ever. If you are thinking of going and want to know more just page me.