Vendors!
I decided to make a page that lists out all of the vendors that I will be using, and I will come back after the wedding to give them reviews. Hopefully this will help some other brides in the area find great vendors for their own special day :-]
Reception Hall - Legacy Hall - Omaha, NE
The reception hall was by far the hardest decision I had to make in picking out vendors. I wanted quality, enough space for 250 people, the ability to bring in my own food (preferably), and a decent price. Legacy was the only hall I was able to find that met all of my expectations and more. For $1300 we are able to rent out their space (which holds up to 400 people), bring in our own food AND alcohol, and decorate the hall with (practically) no limits. The hall has it's own warming kitchen, bar, dance floor, spotlights for your cake (or whatever else you would like to spotlight), a beautiful foyer, and so much more. I definitely hit the jackpot for reception halls.
http://www.legacyhall.com/
http://www.legacyhall.com/
Catering - Schierbrock's Catering - Neola, IA
We decided to use Schierbrocks catering for 3 reasons: 1) Dad knows the owner as he grew up in Neola, 2) My parents had their food at a previous wedding and thought it was awesome, and 3) his prices are unbeatable.
We are currently having a buffet style meal with the following options: Roast Beef, Ham, Baked Beans, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Garden Salad, Coleslaw, & Rolls with Butter. Schierbrocks also includes Tea, plates, napkins, silverware, people to set-up, man the buffet, and tear down the buffet after...for $9.00 per person. This was EASILY the best deal I'd found around the Omaha area.
The food was amazing at the wedding. I had nothing but compliments from all of my guests, and all of the workers were dressed very nice and were very professional. Everything was all set up and ready to go when I got to my reception, everyone got their food, and then while we were cutting the cake they cleaned up their buffet in no time. I could not have been more pleased. They don't currently have a website, but this is their contact info:
209 Front Street Neola, IA 51559-3102
(712) 485-2181
We are currently having a buffet style meal with the following options: Roast Beef, Ham, Baked Beans, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Garden Salad, Coleslaw, & Rolls with Butter. Schierbrocks also includes Tea, plates, napkins, silverware, people to set-up, man the buffet, and tear down the buffet after...for $9.00 per person. This was EASILY the best deal I'd found around the Omaha area.
The food was amazing at the wedding. I had nothing but compliments from all of my guests, and all of the workers were dressed very nice and were very professional. Everything was all set up and ready to go when I got to my reception, everyone got their food, and then while we were cutting the cake they cleaned up their buffet in no time. I could not have been more pleased. They don't currently have a website, but this is their contact info:
209 Front Street Neola, IA 51559-3102
(712) 485-2181
Photographer - Christine Burright McGuigan - Omaha, NE
From the first time I saw Christine's website, I knew I wanted her for my wedding photographer. The only problem, was that her package price was out of my price range. We are doing this wedding on a fairly tight budget, so I needed to keep my photographer under $1000. I emailed Christine and she was so wonderful in helping to accommodate my budget. We built a package to fit my needs and the price came in at $975 for 8 hours of photography and all of our pictures on a disc with copyright release.
Day of, Christine was very professional and managed to capture everything I wanted! My pictures turned out amazing and it only took her about a month to get all of my pictures back to me. I would highly recommend Christine to any bride!
Here is a link to her website so you can see some of her work: http://www.christinemcguigan.com/
Day of, Christine was very professional and managed to capture everything I wanted! My pictures turned out amazing and it only took her about a month to get all of my pictures back to me. I would highly recommend Christine to any bride!
Here is a link to her website so you can see some of her work: http://www.christinemcguigan.com/
DJ - Showtime Music - Omaha, NE
I thought Showtime was going to do a great job at my wedding, however they were one of my biggest let downs. Where to start...First of all, I had called and asked to set up a meeting with the DJ that would be at our wedding (I only had to call 3 times to get a return call) so that we could talk about the details of the day. We went and had the meeting, it went fine, the guy seemed great, and then the day of my wedding it was a completely different guy...I was a bit frustrated, but I figured as long as he did a good job then it didn't matter. My husband and I had spent at least a couple hours putting together a list of songs for the DJ to use as they had suggested we do. He hardly played anything on the list. I would be fine with that if he would have played music to keep people on the dance floor with his own music choices...but he didn't. He probably should have stuck with our list because his taste in music was terrible. We had specifically said we would not be having a garter toss, the DJ was pretty much trying to force me to do it, he even brought a chair out on the dance floor after I told him no and told me I "just need to do it" (I wasn't even wearing a garter!), and it wasn't until I carried the chair off the dance floor myself and slammed it on the ground that he stopped (I told him 5 or 6 times on the dance floor no and he was still trying to tell me I needed to do it). He spent maybe 50% of the night at his DJ table. The rest of the night he would put 5 or 6 songs on a playlist and walk away to talk to the security guards or flirt with my Maid of Honor (...not kidding. He came up to me at the end of the night to tell me all about their flirting and how he had a wife at home but that she didn't have to know and how hot he thought my MOH was...) All in all this company was completely unprofessional and not worth of the money that I spent at all. The DJ is one of the only vendors I regret hiring that day. If I had the DJ I had actually met at our meeting, I have a feeling it would have gone better, but the DJ I had was awful. Oh, and I sent them an email after my wedding giving them a review of their services (I wasn't expecting to get money back or anything like that, and I even told them that, I just wanted to talk to them about their service) and they have never contacted me back, and I don't really expect them to.
So be warned...go with someone else.
http://www.showtime-music.com/
So be warned...go with someone else.
http://www.showtime-music.com/
Florist - Fleur De Lis Concepts - Eagle, NE
Flowers was easily my biggest struggle in trying to stay within my budget. We didn't have much of a budget (if one at all) for flowers, and had planned on using fake flowers. When planning the wedding I decided that I REALLY wanted to get real flowers, so I started emailing around to different florists in the area. I sent out around 30 emails asking for quotes on 1 Bridal bouquet with 24 roses, 6 BM bouquets with 12 roses, 10 bouts and 5 corsages, and every single vendor that got back to me was giving me quotes for $700+. Most were over $1000! I was about to give up hope and try to get used to the idea of using fake flowers, when Brandie from Fleur De Lis Concepts emailed me back and saved the day. Brandie is fairly new to the business (only been open a couple years) and is currently running her business out of her home (which helps to keep costs low), so her prices were UNBEATABLE. For everything that I asked for, Brandie quoted me a price of $305 after tax. DEAL!
Day of...my flowers were AMAZING. They were even better then I expected. She even put floral jewelry in my bouquet as a surprise after I had forgotten to send her ones I had bought on my own, and she did this free of charge. I could not be more happy with Brandie, and I HIGHLY recommend her to everyone!
http://www.fleurdelisconcepts.com/
Day of...my flowers were AMAZING. They were even better then I expected. She even put floral jewelry in my bouquet as a surprise after I had forgotten to send her ones I had bought on my own, and she did this free of charge. I could not be more happy with Brandie, and I HIGHLY recommend her to everyone!
http://www.fleurdelisconcepts.com/
Uplighting Services - TMS Omaha - Omaha, NE
After many nights spent discussing decorations for the hall, we decided that we would splurge a bit and just pay to get uplighting done in the hall. I started researching lighting companies and came across TMS. What really caught my eye about TMS is that not only is their work AMAZING, but they had already done a wedding at my hall! How perfect! I called and talked to Patrick (who was super awesome and friendly) and we worked out a price of $750 to light the entire room. If you have ever looked at lighting prices...you know that this is a STEAL. We decided this would be the best option for us. I cannot wait to see how the hall will turn out after these guys do their magic!
Day of, the uplighting was more amazing then I could have imagined. They had everything set up when we got there, and the hall allowed them to come back the next morning to pick everything up (which was super awesome of Legacy, as I was just ready to GO at the end of the night haha). I would definitely recommend TMS to any bride in Omaha looking for uplighting. The uplighting really helped fill the room and pull everything together.
http://tmsomaha.com/
http://tmsomaha.com/gallery2/v/weddings_001/jimenez/ -
(here is the wedding they did previously at my reception hall)
Day of, the uplighting was more amazing then I could have imagined. They had everything set up when we got there, and the hall allowed them to come back the next morning to pick everything up (which was super awesome of Legacy, as I was just ready to GO at the end of the night haha). I would definitely recommend TMS to any bride in Omaha looking for uplighting. The uplighting really helped fill the room and pull everything together.
http://tmsomaha.com/
http://tmsomaha.com/gallery2/v/weddings_001/jimenez/ -
(here is the wedding they did previously at my reception hall)
Engagement Pictures - Amy Shaffer Photography - Omaha, NE
When building our photography package with our wedding photographer (see paragraph above) we did not include an engagement session for monetary reasons. After seeing some other couples' engagement pictures though, Ryan and I REALLY wanted to get them done. I met Amy through a friend of mine that got her E-Pics done with her, and man oh man am I glad that I did. Amy did an AMAZING job! She was currently building up her portfolio so she did the shoot for free and gave us a CD of pictures with copyright release (See Pictures link at the top of this page to see some of the shots from our shoot). Anyone looking for amazing pictures at a decent price needs to check out Amy!
http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Shaffer-Photography/343559029911
http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Shaffer-Photography/343559029911
Wedding Dress - Nebraska Bridal Outlet - Wahoo, NE
I first heard about the Nebraska Bridal Outlet through one of my co-workers. She told me that all of the dresses in the store were under $350, and that I HAD to check it out. I looked them up online and found their website, and I didn't have high expectations walking in. The website is pretty dated (although I just checked the website and it looks like it's been updated. If you go under the "Links" tab on their webpage and click on "Forever Yours Bridal Catalog" you will find the designer of the dress I purchased. She designs a lot of the dresses in the store), and from the outside, the store looks pretty tiny....
But then I walked through the front door. This place is HUGE. As soon as you walk in you get greeted by some of the friendliest ladies around and they explain exactly how the store works. All the dresses are sorted by size. All of the dresses are $350 or less. There are dressing rooms throughout the store. If the store isn't busy, the ladies working can help you in and out of the dresses, but if it is busy, then you have to do it yourself (this is one way to keep costs low, so this didn't bother me at all). They had accessories up front that you are welcome to try on. All of the dresses can either be bought off the rack, or you can order it in. They come in either White, Ivory or Champagne. Pretty straight-forward.
My mom and I walked back to the section with my size and just started pulling dresses. They had a huge selection of dresses. They had classic dresses, modern dresses, long dresses, short dresses. You name it, they had it. I tried on about 10 dresses that day, and I ended up buying the very first one I tried on, which was a lace up ball-gown with pickups (See a picture under Attire at the top of the page). I ordered the dress in Ivory, and they told me it could take up to 3 months to get in. 1 month later I got the call that my dress was in. I went and picked it up and it was better then expected. The color was perfect, the dress now had a crinoline built in so I didn't have to buy one seperately, the details were amazing. I am very happy with my purchase and I recommend this store to every bride I talk to now. Total paid for my dress: $346.00
http://nebraskabridal.com/
But then I walked through the front door. This place is HUGE. As soon as you walk in you get greeted by some of the friendliest ladies around and they explain exactly how the store works. All the dresses are sorted by size. All of the dresses are $350 or less. There are dressing rooms throughout the store. If the store isn't busy, the ladies working can help you in and out of the dresses, but if it is busy, then you have to do it yourself (this is one way to keep costs low, so this didn't bother me at all). They had accessories up front that you are welcome to try on. All of the dresses can either be bought off the rack, or you can order it in. They come in either White, Ivory or Champagne. Pretty straight-forward.
My mom and I walked back to the section with my size and just started pulling dresses. They had a huge selection of dresses. They had classic dresses, modern dresses, long dresses, short dresses. You name it, they had it. I tried on about 10 dresses that day, and I ended up buying the very first one I tried on, which was a lace up ball-gown with pickups (See a picture under Attire at the top of the page). I ordered the dress in Ivory, and they told me it could take up to 3 months to get in. 1 month later I got the call that my dress was in. I went and picked it up and it was better then expected. The color was perfect, the dress now had a crinoline built in so I didn't have to buy one seperately, the details were amazing. I am very happy with my purchase and I recommend this store to every bride I talk to now. Total paid for my dress: $346.00
http://nebraskabridal.com/
Invitations - Michaels - Bellevue, NE
After countless hours of searching online for invitations that fit my style and taste...and most importantly my budget...I just couldn't find anything that I liked. But then I was walking around Michaels one day and saw a Print Your Own Invites kit that I absolutely LOVED. I waited until Michael's had a 40% off coupon in their ad, and then Ryan, Mom and I each took a coupon and went in and bought 1 box each. They were originally $40 per box of 30 invites, but we got them for $22 with our coupon. Total for 90 invitations = $66. That price is unbeatable.
Here is a link to the invites we picked out: http://www.michaels.com/BRIDES%C2%AE-Black-and-White-Premium-Invitations%2C-30-Count/wd0355,default,pd.html?&cgid=products-wedding-bridesexclusive
Here is a link to the invites we picked out: http://www.michaels.com/BRIDES%C2%AE-Black-and-White-Premium-Invitations%2C-30-Count/wd0355,default,pd.html?&cgid=products-wedding-bridesexclusive
Save The Dates, Bridesmaids Gifts, Other Paper Products - Vistaprint.com
It wasn't until I started planning my wedding that I discovered Vistaprint...but now I am addicted. You have to learn the tricks of the trade a bit, but after a lot of trial and error (and the help of some ladies on TheKnot) I got TONS of stuff for my wedding...virtually free. All I had to pay was shipping. My list of free stuff includes:
-Save The Date Postcards
-Registry Information Insert cards (for invited)
-Bridal Shower Invites
-Photo Sharing Cards
-Escort Cards
-Parking Signs (for ceremony)
-Personalized Stationary Sets (Notebook, Notepad, Sticky Notes & Pens) for BM/Moms/Attendants Gifts
-Personalized Tote Bags for the girls to use the day of the wedding
-Personalized T-Shirt for Ryan to wear the day of the wedding
-And tons more...
Go to Vistaprint.com and sign up for their mailing list. They will send you emails with free stuff ALL the time, and you can start taking advantage of their offers as well.
http://www.vistaprint.com/
For more help on how to use Vistaprint, check out this website made by a fellow Knottie. She is now known as The Vistaprint Goddess because of her amazing ability to get virtually all paper products (and other products) at her wedding free by using Vistaprint.
http://vistaprint-goddess.weebly.com/
-Save The Date Postcards
-Registry Information Insert cards (for invited)
-Bridal Shower Invites
-Photo Sharing Cards
-Escort Cards
-Parking Signs (for ceremony)
-Personalized Stationary Sets (Notebook, Notepad, Sticky Notes & Pens) for BM/Moms/Attendants Gifts
-Personalized Tote Bags for the girls to use the day of the wedding
-Personalized T-Shirt for Ryan to wear the day of the wedding
-And tons more...
Go to Vistaprint.com and sign up for their mailing list. They will send you emails with free stuff ALL the time, and you can start taking advantage of their offers as well.
http://www.vistaprint.com/
For more help on how to use Vistaprint, check out this website made by a fellow Knottie. She is now known as The Vistaprint Goddess because of her amazing ability to get virtually all paper products (and other products) at her wedding free by using Vistaprint.
http://vistaprint-goddess.weebly.com/
Wedding Bands - Brodkeys - Council Bluffs, IA
Ryan had bought my Engagement ring at Brodkeys in Mall of the Bluffs, so we decided to try there first for our wedding bands. The ladies there were all wonderful and super helpful in finding rings that looked awesome, but fit our price range. I've been to so many other ring places that just try to upsell you to the most expensive ring they can find to get the commission, but the girls at Brodkeys weren't like that at all. I told them I liked simplicity and that's exactly what they found. We ended up getting Ryan and my ring for right at $500, and I couldn't be happier.
more coming soon....