I have officially finished selecting my vendors for my wedding and I could not be happier about it. This wedding is going to be ten million times more elaborate than I envisioned, but I do have a lot of confidence in the caliber of vendors that we have decided to go with. Below, I’m going to walk you through all the vendors I have booked, as well as other key companies I’ve purchased from for the big day. Grab a cup of coffee, y’all. This is a long one.
Starting with our photographer, we went with Austin and April of Massei Photography. I originally asked my Facebook friends about who they could recommend for my wedding pictures and a couple of people recommended April & Austin. April was the first of the recommended people to comment on the post, so I thought Hey, you know, first come, first served! April and Austin are a husband and wife team. We have already done an engagement shoot with them, and had a very relaxed time being photographed by them. Not to mention, they’re very good at what they do. Clearly.
For hair and makeup, I have decided to go with Bombshell. I have neither met my stylists nor had my trials yet, but I am definitely looking forward to my experience with them. I have my makeup trial on August 2nd, and my hair trial on August 17th, so I will keep you posted on how those go. I am thinking a voluminous half-up-half-down look and a gold-brown smokey eye currently.
When it came to food for my event, I had my heart set on fajitas. We were given a list of vendors to choose from for our venue, and my fiance and I initially decided we wanted to go with a local Mexican restaurant that caterers. We had a pretty average experience at their physical location, so we continued our search. My mom set up a meeting and tasting with Marie at Mosaic, and I knew we were dealing with the professionals. It was a pretty luxurious experience, honestly. We are indeed going to serve fajitas, so that’s a win.
We only booked a florist this past weekend and went with Vogue Flower Market in Richmond. We met with Lauren and she made the process of selecting flowers and getting an estimate so incredibly easy. I will be going with white, seasonal flowers, with touches of eucalyptus and Queen Anne’s lace. I will have a cascading bouquet, and my bridesmaids will have more traditional bouquets.
I believe I’ve previously shared on this blog that I got my dress from Bridal Elegance in Glen Allen. It was early on and it was pretty unexpected, but this dress is a winner for sure. I won’t disclose a ton of info pre-wedding about my gown, however, I will say – there is beading and it is form fitting. Thank God for good shapewear.
I have used VistaPrint for a few things for this wedding. My experience has been very positive. I first ordered an Unplugged Wedding sign that I am framing, and it came out looking beautiful. This was purchased very early on, as I knew from the get go that it was important to me that people not take pictures during our ceremony. Next, I ordered very simple save-the-date postcards. One trick I want to pass along is to not just click the “wedding” tabs on websites like this. Build your own of whatever you need. The word “wedding” almost always makes your purchase cost more. Finally, we ordered wedding invitations. I was able to easily design an invitation that featured my colors and came with all the necessary other things.
There was a lot of pressure (coming from me) to find a DJ that was not only a really cool guy or girl, but was smart about his profession and reading a room. We met with two companies. One of which, was honestly the biggest joke of a DJ company I have ever seen. We met with the owner and a very new DJ. The owner was condescending and disrespectful. He also came empty-handed with nothing to show us other than his bow tie. The DJ we ultimately went with is Pete from Bunn DJ Company. Pete showed up to our meeting at our venue, was respectful and professional, observed the space, and walked through some options for lighting and sound. He then showed us a program that his company uses for events and song planning. As a Music Director, this organization really had me sold right away.
For cocktail music, we went with my high school chorus teacher and friend Natan Berenshteyn, who is a piano genius.
The officiant we selected was actually our first decision we made about our wedding. We went with our friend, mentor, and previous co-worker. He’s already done a little bit of pre-marital counseling with us and we can’t wait to have him officiate our wedding.
For dessert at the wedding, we knew we didn’t want the traditional cake option for our guests. We did want the experience of cutting the cake at our wedding, however. For our cutting cake, we asked my fiance’s aunt to make us a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. We have had her cakes before and they are to die for. For our guests, we decided to go with an assortment of cookies. First, we had a tasting with Morsel’s. Their cookies were great, but we were looking for some options with a little more oompf and with more traditional flavors. This led us to Red Eye Cookie Co in downtown Richmond. We got an assorted sampler box, and it was clear that this was the way to go. So, so good.
For day-of coordination, I decided to ask someone who has played an important role in mine and my fiance’s story. I asked one of my volunteers at work. Her name is Jennifer and she approached me a year and a half ago about moving into her father-in-law’s guest house. I said I didn’t have any pressing need to move out at the moment, but my boyfriend did. Without this house, we would probably not be getting married at this point in time. Fast forward to today, and my fiance has been her neighbor for just over a year. She’s my friend, she is very organized, and will soon be my neighbor. I can’t wait to have her running the show.
It looks like that will be all! Stay tuned for a post on post-wedding things. I’ll be sharing where we are staying the night of the wedding, as well as some honeymoon details. 68 more days!
SARAH HARPER 