Friday, November 9, 2007

Vendor review: Mega-Mix Sound Systems

www.fwmegamix.com

Jason and I knew that we wanted a DJ, as opposed to a wedding singer or a band. We knew that we'd want a wide range of music and the best way to get that was to hire someone who had access to all sorts of music.

Juan and Gil are brothers-in-law who both have other jobs. They DJ in their spare time for fun more than for profit. They had also previously worked at the Abbey, which was a big selling point for us because they knew the environment, as well as how to find the place!

This was the only DJ company we met with. The price was right, we got along great with them, and that was really all that mattered to us. I went a little control crazy and wound up pretty much dictating to them all the songs I wanted played and not played. If they had followed the list I gave them, they wouldn't have had to do anything except show up and load a playlist. After I realized that I wanted something more than an iPod could give me, I emailed them saying that they were free to disregard my list (except for the special dance songs) and make decisions based on how the crowd was responding.

These guys did a terrific job! They encouraged everyone to dance without harassing them. They did an amazing job reading the crowd - if people sat down when one song ended and another one came on, they had no problem changing it 10 seconds in if it meant the new song got people up again. We actually ended the reception early, but I didn't mind in the least because it was due to everyone having so much fun dancing that they wore themselves out really fast.

For the ceremony, I made a CD of all the songs I wanted to have played, including the classical music that played the 30 minutes before the processional started. Then I wrote a list of each song and it special instructions (fade when bridal party is at altar, only play from :54 to 1:28, etc.) and passed that on as well. That was all they needed to run the music for the ceremony, and because our DJ was able to take care of it, we didn't have to hire someone for a 30 minute time frame (of 10 minutes of actual work.) There was a small incident when a song played at the wrong moment, but our pastor fixed it by saying loudly "Let us pray," and the music was quickly turned off. Honestly, I didn't even mind, and I still don't. A story for the kids, I suppose.

Juan and Gil were so amazing, they even kept an eye on time the whole evening, updating me and Jason on how things were going (according to the master schedule I had sent everyone.) Because of this I didn't have to hire a coordinator, which saved me even more money. Don't be afraid to ask your vendors to take on additional tasks - providing they are capable of doing so, and you feel comfortable passing it off on them (if you are going to be more worried about it being done right than you are going to be relieved someone else is taking care of it, spend the money. No amount of budget friendliness will make up for stressing about jobs you've passed off to others.)

A++ for Juan and Gil and Mega-Mix Sound Systems!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Vendor review: Hot Chocolates Bakery

www.hotchocolates.net

Typically, brides agonize over every decision, second guessing themselves and exploring a million different avenues. If there's an option, they'll consider it.

While that was the case when picking a design, when it came to Jason and I choosing a baker it really was a piece of cake! (har har) We only met with two bakeries, and we had two very different experiences. First, we went to Hot Chocolates in Hurst. For this, we set up a private appointment where we got to sample different cakes, fillings and icings. We got the undivided attention of Becky, one of the co-owners, and she really talked to us about the wedding and what we wanted. She showed us books of different cakes that they had done before and we talked about what it was that we wanted, what they were capable of doing, etc. I even kicked Jason out of the room so I could talk to her about an idea I had for the groom's cake. Since I don't like strawberries, but love the little bride/groom chocolate dipped idea, I asked her if it would be possible to use Oreos instead. I thought it more fitting since that's Jason's favorite cookie :) Becky said it would be no problem. We left the meeting with assurance that we were all on the same page and were all happy.

The other bakery we went to was Creative Memories, also in Hurst. This company runs things differently in that they don't do private appointments. Once a month, they host an open house where they bake up a storm of different cakes and whoever wants to talk to them is welcome to swing by some time during the day to sample cake and discuss their vision. While the cake was good, the service was not so hot. Jason and I went in and got some cake (assembly line style) and then asked if we could speak to someone about our wedding. It took them awhile, but finally someone made themselves not busy and we discussed our ideas. I kicked Jason out again to ask about the Oreo idea, and after the lady I talked to had to talk to someone else, I was told that they wouldn't be able to do it. Honestly, I was shocked. I wasn't asking them to do anything absurd - it's not like dipping Oreos is that different from dipping strawberries! The fact that I was flat out told no didn't sit well with me. To top it off, when I got home I did a price comparison between the two companies, taking into account the design, how many people it would serve, and what my money would get me. Hot Chocolates turned out to be the better deal, even with the added cost of the Oreos!

So back to Hot Chocolates we went. I knew I wanted a vanilla bride's cake and a chocolate groom's cake, so it really was a matter of picking which combinations went best together. We wound up with yellow cake/vanilla cream filling/buttercream icing for the bride's cake, and devil's food cake/fudge icing for the groom's cake. I sent them pictures of what I wanted for each design, dropped off our cake topper, and let them do their thing. And I could not have been happier with how everything turned out.

On top of providing two amazing cakes, they also gave us boxes, one for each cake tier, just in case there was some left over (there was, but not anymore!) They also left an instruction sheet on how to cut and serve the cake (our caterers were the ones who did that) and how to save our top tier so it keeps and doesn't get freezer burned so we can enjoy it on our first anniversary.

I give Hot Chocolates an A+ rating. The only thing I would have changed is the vanilla cream filling - it tasted fabulous, but I would have liked it to be a thicker layer in between cake tiers. I was thinking it would be kind of its own mini layer, but it was more like just enough to hold the layers together. Something that could easily be taken care of by being more specific, and it's really not that big of a deal - in fact, I keep looking for a reason to order another cake from them because what they made for us was so amazing!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Vendor review: The Country Abbey

www.thecountryabbey.com

I knew that I wanted an all-in-one wedding venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception. Jason's sister got married at a place like this last summer, and I saw how much easier it was compared to other weddings I'd been to where you go one place for the ceremony and then have to travel elsewhere for the reception. I think by keeping it in one location it really unifies the ceremony and the reception into one grand event instead of two separate ones.

The first thing we did after getting engaged was make a rough guest list. This way we could know when talking to venues what size room we would need. We only visited a handful of places, because there really aren't that many all-in-ones around here (more on that later) and we narrowed it down to a few. In the end, The Country Abbey won out because of a combination of staff, services and pricing.

I can not say enough about how wonderful the Abbey staff is. I worked mostly with Elaine and Naomi, who is the owner. The phone number for the Abbey is Naomi's cell phone, so even if she wasn't at the Abbey when I called, she would still answer the phone. The best part about the Abbey is that we got to hire all of our own vendors. Some people might find this to be too much work to take on having to meet, hire and keep track of so many vendors. To this I say it really wasn't that bad. We were able to find the vendors that worked best for the vision we had for the wedding, at the prices we were comfortable paying. It turned out to be only five vendors - the catering, the cakes, the DJ, the flowers, and the officiant. We got to choose exactly what foods we wanted, exactly how we wanted our cake to look, what kind of musical vibe we were going for, the flowers that we liked, and the person who got to marry us.

Oftentimes, venues partner with certain vendors and require their brides to use them. For example, Danielle's venue, The Mediterranean Villa, required the use of their in-house catering. That meant all the food, bar and cake decisions were made based on what the Villa already offered. Be careful about venues that require you to use a vendor, because it can really limit your wedding to the talents already on staff. I've heard stories of other brides loving a venue, but being eh about the food or the bakers to choose from. Some venues offer you only one choice, usually an in-house company that works exclusively for that venue. Others give you a list of vendors to choose from, which could wind up only being a handful of each type (usually the venue is getting a kick back for referring you so that's why they force you to use their lists.) If you do come across a venue that has a vendor list, you should be free to see the list and talk to the vendors before making any type of a decision. Jason and I went to one place who wouldn't let you contact the vendors until you'd put down a deposit for their venue. Needless to say, that was the last time we've spoked to that venue!

The Country Abbey wound up being exactly what we wanted. At first, I was a little nervous about the size of the guest list, but in the end it was perfect. We were free to decorate how we wanted. We were able to use some of their decorations free of charge. For brides who need a little more help, they also offer coordinator services as well as different decorating packages. Naomi is always available by phone or by email. She's very helpful, and very knowledgeable about the wedding industry and how to really help brides out. She's creative, but she'll let you do your own thing if you have something in mind.

I give The Country Abbey a solid A. [The only reason I took off the + is because there was a scheduling issue that came to light two weeks before the wedding. Luckily, we were able to resolve it, and Naomi threw in extra time free of charge to make up for it. Everything worked out, but it was unnecessary added stress. I'm just glad we were flexible enough to work around the issue or it might have been a lot worse.]

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Vendor review: Jerod Foster Photography

www.jerodfosterphotography.com

After getting engaged in December, we decided that we would have the wedding in DFW. As much as I wanted to get married in Houston, we knew it would just be too hard to plan long-distance, especially if I was also in the process of looking for a job. I knew that toward the end of the planning I'd be commuting to Houston every weekend, and we quickly realized how expensive that could get. So we setlled on DFW and began looking into doing engagement pictures. We thought about where we would like to have them taken since we knew location was a big part of any photo shoot. We had moved to DFW in the beginning of the year and I really didn't feel like it meant anything to me, or to our relationship. Of course the logical choice was the Tech campus, because that's really where our relationship was formed and nurtured. So we began talking to wedding photographers to see what we could come up with. Initially, we were thinking that we would do engagement pictures in Lubbock, my bridal portraits in Houston (since we were living so close to Jason's family, I wanted to involve my family in as much of the planning as possible) and then the wedding in DFW. We talked to a few DFW photographers who had packages that included all three shoots, but everyone we talked to threw out pretty hefty traveling charges (one guy flat out refused to travel, which is totally understandable since it would essentially mean 18 hours of round-trip travel for maybe 4 hours of shooting time.)

So we contacted some photographers in Lubbock about doing just our engagement shoot. While the pricing was mostly decent, it still seemed pretty high for an hour or two on campus plus a disc of images. Honestly, photographers make the most money on their packaged deals, so to do just a single shoot for us, it really wasn't economic unless they upped their prices.

Then I got the idea to talk to Tech professors. I contacted a few photo profs, as well as some people in the Mass Comm college who taught photocommunications, to see if any of them did photo on the side as a hobby/small business. I also emailed a few students studying PhotoComm, thinking maybe they'd want to offer a good deal in exchange for using our pictures in their portfolios. I talked to the guy who does most of the photo work for Tech - I'd actually met him while working at the campus computer store because he was friends with my boss. He suggested one of his students, a guy who is somewhat an assistant to him in teaching some of the classes. I got in contact with Jerod, and we had plans to meet on the Tech campus one Saturday in March to play around and take some photos.

I was so impressed with the results! For $200 we got Jerod for about three hours, and he wound up taking over 400 shots. We showed up in formal wear (the red and black) took some photos, changed into nice casual (the purple) took some shots, then changed into our Tech shirts and took some in and around the stadium. Jerod was great with posing us, but also he let us try some things that we had in mind too. It was kind of anything goes. A few weeks later, we received a CD in the mail of the 64 best shots that he had taken, and they were all in high-resolution. They turned out really well thanks to his fabulous camera. We took the disc to Walmart to get prints done, and they were so cheap! We definitely saved money this way, as opposed to having to buy copies from a third party.

I highly recommend that anyone in Lubbock who needs photos done (of any kind) talk to Jerod. If we hadn't already booked a wedding photographer when we hired him, we would have asked him to do it because he was that good. If you're not in Lubbock or if you can't get in touch with Jerod for some reason, I encourage you to check out your own local resources. College kids, especially those in their junior and senior years, really do have a lot of skill in the area they're studying, and will definitely be cheaper than professionals with lots of experience, often with just as much talent. You may even be able to work out a deal of some sort where you exchange something other than money for services (trading trades, if you will.)

All in all, I give Jerod an A+ because the whole experience was so wonderful. It took him a little time to get back to us, even after leaving him several messages, but it all got figured out (just remember he's a teacher/student, so if he's off in the middle of nowhere on an assignment, he may not have cell phone signal to get back to you right away!)