Vendor
Review and photos
I know I already posted my review, but this time I'm posting
with some of my pros.
Ceremony: Divine Infant Parish (Orleans) 7/10
My high school was right next door and I grew up going to
this church with my classmates so it just seemed right to
have it here. The secretary was very nice but they lose points
in that the marriage course was very bible thumping (we even
had to get up and hold hands in a circle singing Halleluiah!)
and the Deacon took 3 weeks to return our call to meet with
him. We basically had to keep calling until he finally picked
up b/c I guess he didn’t know how to check his answering machine!!!!
But in the end, the Deacon was excellent. He kept me calm
through the whole ceremony and cracking jokes.
Reception Hall: Tudor Hall 10/10
They did an excellent job with everything. The food was really
good except I barely ate though b/c I had no appetite, probably
with all the excitement of the day. They also allowed us to
keep partying until 1:30am when the DJ shut off the music.
I was so happy!
BMs & Bride’s Dresses: Sinders (Carleton Place) 11/10!!!
www.sinders.com
I want to thank all the brides on this site who rated Sinders
so highly. It’s the first store I went to and I had amazing
service. The ladies there were extremely helpful. I give them
one extra point for putting up with my 15 min bridezilla freak-out
the first day I showed up LOL. They never rushed me and they
catered to all my needs. Best customer service at any bridal
store I’ve been to. My BMs also got great service at this
store.
Mother of Bride gown: Alliance Bridal (Moose Creek) 9/10
My mom didn’t find anything she liked at Sinders that’s why
we went to Alliance. Everything was going wonderful until
the day of her first fitting; this is where they lose a point.
They gave her an appointment for noon which is an hour after
they open. Well, they spent 30 mins scurrying between the
salesladies trying to figure out WHERE my mom’s gown was.
I found them very unprofessional and disorganized to not have
the dresses that were needed for that day, out and ready.
I was quickly losing my patience. BUT the alterations were
very affordable and were well done. The service besides that
was wonderful.
Decorator #1: Tudor Hall’s in-house decorator (also the
owner) 10/10
www.tudorhall.net
I hired the Tudor in-house decorator after having seen the
amazing ceiling décor she did for a couple of weddings. My
jaw dropped when I saw what she did, it was absolutely gorgeous.
Everyone had nothing but positive things to say about it.
I was so happy we opted in for that type of décor. Highly
recommend it.
Decorator #2: Nancy Tremblay from Wedecor (Orleans) 10/10
www.wedecor.ca
Nancy was the fourth and last decorator I met with while doing
my research. She had me sold right from the minute I walked
into her studio. She has her office/studio in her parents
converted garage. It’s amazing. Every time I mentioned something
that I was hoping to have at the wedding, she would get up
and run across the garage and come back with a sample saying
“like this?”. She’s very professional, young, hip, friendly
and talented. She has a background in graphic design and floral
design so she was the perfect choice. She’s an event planner
but I only hired her to do most of my décor (both floral and
non floral), my seating chart, my menus, the backdrop for
the head table and my favours. I loved working with her so
much that DH and I are considering hiring her for other events
we may throw in the future (baby showers etc). You can see
my bouquet in previous photos. It was huge and beautiful.
Chair covers: Barbara Martin from Simply Covered 10/10
Simply_covered@rogers.com
Her prices were next to impossible to beat. She’s been nothing
but a doll through this whole planning stage. She’s been extremely
kind emailing me photos of weddings she’s done at my venue
along with colours of sashes that she’s used. She came for
the consul to my house along with a chair and various covers
and sashes and demonstrated for us. She did an amazing job.
The chairs looked great.
Cake design: Jessica Murphy from Fabulous Cakes 11/10
www.fabcakes.ca
I showed her an inspirational photo and she told me she had
never made a cake like that but was up for the challenge.
Well let me tell you, our guests are still approaching me
about the amazing cake she made. She made it even NICER looking
than the inspirational photo b/c of the different type of
design she put on the cake it was beautiful and tasted amazing.
I wouldn’t think twice about hiring her again to make a cake
for any occasion.
Invitations: DirectBuy 5/10
DH and I are members of DirectBuy and we found out that they
carried lots of wedding invitations so we thought we’d give
it a go. You have to make an appointment with their in-house
décor specialist and she’s a total idiot. Honestly, the whole
process with her was awful. Not only did she keep forgetting
to send in our order and let us know the proofs arrived to
check them out, but she kept screwing up the wording and kept
lying and trying to blame someone else. The only reason we
stuck it out and didn’t cancel the whole thing with DB was
b/c as members, we could pick from hundreds of styles of invites
and the price was 60% less than what was advertised so it
was a killer savings. Plus I was in love with the invites
we picked. If you want to buy your invites through them, just
keep in mind that the lady who MUST go through is an idiot
so keep in top of her. She’s also a know-it-all and screws
everything up so check EVERYTHING before signing!!
Transportation: TIP Limousines 10/10
The owner Thomas is a total sweetheart!! This is the main
reason I booked him, plus his fleet is really nice and he
was the most affordable I could find for what he offered.
The limo arrived right on time and the driver (Jerry) was
very polite and helpful.
Photographer: Andrew Geddes 10/10
www.andrewgeddes.com
We lucked out when we booked with him b/c his price skyrocketed
3 months after!! And that new price was way over our budget!!
We fell in love with his artistic style. He
was sooo sweet! He told us we had him all day, as early and
late as we wanted and he LISTENED to us when we asked him
for specific photos to take. He never got in the way and we
barely noticed him taking photos all day. He was even polite
enough to come to me at the end of the night and ask if it
was alright if he left or if I wanted him to stick around
longer. He even offered to bring his own boxed lunch (so cute)
but I declined and told him to not worry that we’d feed him.
Since posting a few of our pros to facebook, I've had 4 complete
strangers send me personal messages asking for our photographer's
contact!!
DJ: Jem Castañeda 10/10
I had seen Jem DJ at 2 of my friends’ weddings. One in 2005
and another one in 2007. We asked for his card at the 2007
wedding when we realized it was the same guy. He knows how
to read the crowd REALLY well and he played exactly what we
were looking for. Early 90s music. All the stuff we grew up
on!. Of course he would throw in the typical wedding stuff
as well. His price was also hard to beat. He plays both CDs
and records. We were even able to give him a CD with mp3s
of must play songs and our special medley mix we made which
needed to be played during our first dance. He even threw
in some scratching sounds with the record it was awesome
Surprise
First Dance
Make-up artist #1: Hina Mugal 12/10
Hina_mu@hotmail.com
I decided to hire her based on reviews on WB. They were all
positive and I lucked out by booking her after my trial. She
was totally punctual and came to my house to do everyone’s
makeup. I can’t even describe how amazing the make up was.
I looked like a total princess. I couldn’t stop staring at
myself b/c I looked so hot LOL she did an amazing job. One
of my BMs doesn’t trust anyone doing her makeup and when she
saw mine, she jumped at the chance to have it done and she
was so happy with the results.
Make-up artist #2: Jen (don’t know last name) from Carte
Blanche Salon (Orleans) 10/10
Since we were 10 girls in and out of my house (aunts, cousins
and BMs) having hair and makeup done, I had to hire a second
make up artist to assist my first b/c there would be no way
that the one artist would get 10 girls’ make up done in time
for the ceremony. She was a total sweetheart and was able
to take over where Hina was not able to.
Hairstylist : Germaine (Orleans) 10/10
Desiredhair@hotmail.com
/ 613-424-0649
Germaine has been my stylist for almost 2 yrs now. She has
a small salon in her basement and she accepts cash only. She’s
very affordable and she did 2 of my girlfriends’ hair on their
wedding day and after seeing their hairdos, I booked her.
She came to my house the day of with her 2 assistants and
took care of my mom, my hair and my 2 BMs along with a few
other aunts and cousins. She nailed my hairdo exactly like
I wanted it. She even came 2 hours early to make sure we had
it all under control.
Wedding gown alterations: Rose’s (Carleton Place) 10/10
www.rosecustomsewing.ca
I was a bit worried going to see her b/c all the brides on
here said she was excellent at what she did but she was expensive.
She was very punctual and friendly and gave us great ideas
on things we weren’t sure how to get altered. On my second
fitting I was worried either the dress wouldn’t fit, or she
would have forgotten something but alas, the dress was perfectly
altered. She did an amazing job on it and I was lucky that
my mom paid the hefty alterations fee. I would tell any bride
to go see her!! Totally worth the money spent!
Tuxes: Moores (Orleans) 10/10
Jimmy had nothing but positive things to say about them. No
complaints!
Ceremony Music: Lisa-Marie Massey (Orleans) 10/10
lmassey@sympatico.ca
The church provided us with a list of possible singers for
the ceremony in case we couldn’t find someone ourselves. I
contacted a few and they didn’t have the voice I was looking
to walk down the aisle to. I finally decided to meet with
LM and she sang for me and I started to cry and so did my
mom!! It was perfect! We booked her on the spot. She’s a total
sweetheart and very bubbly. She also knows her music and can
sing in both Italian and Latin!! She has the voice of an angel!
Wedding Band: Taing Jewelers 10/10
DH bought his ring online can’t remember the company while
I went through Taing. My mom knows the owner so we were lucky
enough that he gave us a really good cash price for such a
good ring. I was able to pay it in installments and picked
it up the week of the wedding cleaned and ready to go! Great
service!
Wedding Registry: Marlin Travel 10/10
(Louise Shane) louise.shane@marlintravel.ca
We decided to register for our wedding at a travel agency
where guests could donate money towards our honeymoon. Everyone
told us what a splendid idea it was. It went so well that
our entire honeymoon was paid off by our guests! I'm so happy!
Our agent was wonderful from the get go and very helpful up
until the last day we were with her.
Bridal Shower Registry: The Bay 7/10
It's such a hassle signing up with them that I almost bailed
out of the whole thing. They sit you down through a "consultation"
and basically treat you like it's your first time shopping
for home things or first time moving out. Just give me the
damn gun for crying out loud. I hated the whole experience
and only enjoyed it when I was finally given the gun 40 mins
later!
Bridal Registry: Linens-N-Things 10/10
Super easy, you sign up, they give you a gun and off you go!
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