Well, to say the day was perfect is an understatement! H and I had the best day of our lives! We keep hearing from people how amazing the day was, how it was the best wedding they have ever been to, and how beautiful everything was! It was a lot of hard work to get to Friday prior to the wedding day, but it was completely worth it.
Some advice that I have for future brides would be…
a. Be organized! Friday afternoon I asked people to be at the reception hall at 3:30pm to help set everything up and I had maps and directions on how everything needed to be set up and it was a BREEZE! I put things out clarified a few things and then was able to leave so I could shower and get ready for the rehearsal!
b. Take moments for both sets of your parents and yourself! I had an entire limo ride with my in laws and parents and we chatted, cried and just had an amazing time together. It was VERY special for us to have those moments and worth every penny we spent
c. Pick your bridal party carefully and think about what YOU want. We choose only our best friends and then family members and it was fabulous! We also chose to have our nieces and nephews and his youngest cousins in the wedding and some people were scared Friday night about all of the kids, and made a few comments to me regarding it and truly hurt my feelings. I of course approached those people Saturday morning and got over it.
d. Take a moment (if you see each other prior to the wedding) prior to walking down the aisle to share a moment together. H & I spent 5 minutes behind closed doors crying, chatting and finally laughing about the day thus far! We were able to reflect on the day and express our love to each other prior to walking down the aisle. It made the walk down so special with H’s voice whispering in my ear how beautiful I was, etc. etc.
Okay, now onto the vendor reviews!
Photographer – DnK Photography A+++++++
We were searching for a photographer who was artistic, clicked with us and had amazing reviews! What I can tell you is that Dan and Karin exceeded our expectations! I truly feel blessed that we were able to have Dan & Karin be a part of our day. From the first time we met up with them, I knew hands down I wanted these two people to be there when I said “I do” – at first their prices were scary to me, but we worked it out and in the end they were worth EVERY penny we spent! Karin and I had gotten close prior to the wedding, and so it made it even better to have her in the room as I got ready for the day. Dan headed down to be with the guys and from what I have heard, they had a great time together! Karin was with all of us girls as things got CRAZY in the hotel room. She even stated to me that this was the most crazy organized room she had ever seen! The two of them provided us with some awesome moments, and truly captured the day and the moments for us! I LOVE the photos we received! Karin and Dan are incredible! I cannot wait to get them printed and hanging up in our house now!
Videography – Hands on Video Productions (Bob Eikoff) A+ (pending final product)
Bob and Kathy have been great since before meeting them! Kathy joined us girls in the hotel room and began capturing the moments of the day. She captured the emotions that everyone was having especially me! At one point when I was finished getting my hair and make-up done and was about to get into my dress, she had me sit down and interviewed me for some voice over! I became a bawling MESS when she asked me questions about my now husband and she was able to truly capture my feelings for Grant. Bob was downstairs with the boys while they got ready and from what I understand there is some hilarious footage of the boys – and especially the littlest boys (cousins of Grant) who gave us marital advice… knowing this kiddo I cannot wait to see how Bob brings that into our video! Bob and Kathy were with us pretty much all day long. They had 3 or 4 cameras set up at the ceremony and even miced Grant to catch all of the words we had to say to each other… even when we both started to giggle during the Lord’s Prayer because half the congregation was Catholic the other’s Lutheran and it became REALLY quiet in the church when we got to the last part… I am so excited to see what Bob and Kathy have for us when all is said and done. From what I have seen thus far, it will be worth everything that we spent on these two people.
Day of Coordinator – Heather Yunke (and Assistants) A+++++++++++
OH-MY-GOODNESS these girls are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Prior to the wedding Heather had contacted me periodically regarding things just to check in and also provide any advice they had. On Friday Heather came up to St Cloud to check in and make sure everything was wonderful for us! She saw how the reception hall needed to be set up and finished up. She asked me a bunch of questions and I felt completely at ease allowing her the opportunity to set everything up, and I cannot tell you how thankful I am for that! On Saturday, Heather, Danielle & Jamie all came up to help set everything up and run the day for us! I never got to see the cocktail hour in person, and I am okay with that but the pictures that I see are AMAZING and incredible! The whole day was stress free for the most part because Heather, Danielle & Jamie all took it upon themselves to figure things out for us. They went far beyond the call of duty by running to Target to pick up boxes for the cake (more about that later), picking up our flowers from our florist and driving them to St Cloud, staying way later than we had previously discussed because of some of the things that other vendors did, providing us with a memory card of wedding photos they took during the two days, and also setting up our room in a very romantic way. Knowing what Heather and the ladies would provide, I would have paid 3xs as much as I did. They were incredible. I know I keep saying those words but there are really no other ways to express how thankful I am that we hired Heather as our day of coordinator. All I kept hearing from everyone at the wedding was how helpful those girls were and I can say that without them I don’t know what I would have done… I would have been crazy and things would NOT have looked as amazing as they did! I would HIGHLY recommend Heather to any bride who is getting married.
Florist – Lisa Boener Forget me Not Floral A+++++++++++++++++++++++
If pictures could tell the story I would just post the photos, but in the end you want to hear from me what Lisa is like…. We found Lisa thanks to another bride on theknot message boards and I could have not been happier with everything! She is just starting her business out and at first I was hesitant, but I am SO happy we ended up going with Lisa. She saw the vision we wanted and completely ran with it. Our flowers were INCREDIBLE! My brother who is a florist in New York saw the flowers and just stare at their beauty! We paid $495 for all of the flowers we had which was all of the bouquets, bouts, corsages, altar flowers, and extra flowers. She made a couple extra bouts for the guys, but also had another bout for the groom made up and in a bag because she knew that with all of the hugs and what not his flower would look rough by the time of the ceremony – the flowers held up and was not needed but it is still sitting in my fridge and it looks just as perfect as the day we received it. My bouquet is still holding up and just incredible. I am so impressed by Lisa’s products and again would recommend her services to any bride. I know in the future we will be going to Lisa for any floral needs!
Dress – 1st David’s Bridal Maple Grove F 2nd David’s Bridal Roseville A++
I can tell you at first I was really scared to step into David’s Bridal just because of the reviews that I had heard. I first started at the Maple Grove location and it was a horrible experience. You would have thought that we were there to inconvience everyone in the store, even though we had an appointment. The dress I really wanted to try on was in stock at the Roseville location and my mom and I decided to try it out. I called my mother in law and invited her to come with us, when we arrived everyone was amazing, helpful and very concerned about the service we received at the Maple Grove store. They pulled the dresses again for us and had no problem with any requests we had! I walked out in a dress only to see my mother and (at that time) future mother in law’s faces, they both began to tear up and I knew instantly this would be my dress! The whole experience was fabulous when we went to Roseville. I would recommend if you are wanting to try out David’s Bridal, make an appointment and drive out to Roseville. You won’t be disappointed.
Ceiling Draping/Decorator – Arch Angels (Mary Regan) A++
Arch Angels, Mary Regan, specifically was an amazing vendor to work with. From the first time we met with her to the day of our wedding, Mary was nothing but helpful and quite insightful. It was nice knowing that she had worked with our venue previously (The Kelly Inn, St. Cloud) but I also knew that if we had not chosen the Kelly Inn I still would have chosen Mary to put the ceiling draping and backdrop up. Her work is incredible and I can honestly say that I would recommend her and her associates to anyone who is looking for an amazing transformation of a room. The ceiling draping and head table backdrop created such a beautiful ambiance to our room! When we were searching for someone to do ceiling draping, I did not know what a fair price would have been. I sought a few quotes and then went back to Mary and was informing her that we would have to go with someone else due to the price difference and she was more than willing to drop her prices to match and exceed the value that we would have received elsewhere! She wanted to make sure that what we received was within our budget but also everything that we could imagine and more! The day before the wedding Mary had not asked if we were doing white or ivory table covers, she called me and even though I wasn’t able to respond to her right away, she was able to put up the ivory colored draping. She has been incredible to work with and was totally worth every penny we spent to have the ceiling draped and the head table backdrop. The night before my wedding, at 12am I had to get into the reception room to look for something for our ceremony, the manager was able to let us in but my best friend told me not to go in just yet. She turned off all of the overhead lights, and turned on the draping, when I came in my breath was literally taken away at the beauty of the room! I walked up to the head table and looked out into my decorated room with only the lights on from Arch Angels and I can honestly say that the whole room looked amazing, there is no doubt in my mind that what Mary did helped to make that room look incredible! I am still hearing from friends & family members about how amazing it looked!
Alterations – Dori (St. Cloud) A+++
Dori did a great job! I needed to have 9 inches taken off of my dress because I had lost weight and she had no problem doing any of it! The only problem I had was with my bustle and it was because people would kick it and then it would fall. I don’t blame it entirely on Dori, but I wish it would have been a bit different. By the end of the night Heather and I just safety pinned it with what seemed like 30 pins, but then it stayed!
Bridesmaids Dresses – Carrie Johnson Bridal (St. Cloud) A+++
Super easy to work with. All of the girls were able to try on the dress at their convenience. They were even accommodating when one of our flower girls threw up in their shop. They kept telling all of us that this happens all the time and not to worry about it. They gave the girls a discount for paying in full when they ordered the dresses. When the dresses came in they called me to let me know and then I just simply picked the dresses up and got them the girls. They were helpful when we all needed alterations and provided us with a great reference!
Engagement Photos – Ben Berndt Photography A+++++++++++
Ben was one of our front runners for wedding photography. I ended up going with DnK because of how Karin and I bonded (and I believe it was truly fate that we ended up going with them!)! We asked Ben to take another session of engagement photos for us just so that we could have more photos to use throughout our planning process but also because we didn’t have too many photos of Grant and I and I just simply wanted more! Ben did an awesome job and we love them! We are asking him to do our Christmas photos this year! If you’re looking for an awesome photographer I would HIGHLY recommend Ben!
DJ – Midwest Sound & Lights (DJ Jim) A++++++
I was skeptical at first when we booked with Midwest Sound just because it’s one of those “large” companies that you don’t get to know your DJ until the week prior to your wedding…. What I can tell you is that I am more than THRILLED that we had the privilege to have Midwest Sound at our wedding! Jim called me the week prior to the wedding just to chat about a few things and at first I thought “oh crap I forgot about…” but I was able to email him that night and honestly everything was PERFECT! People are still raving about our DJ and how the dance floor was literally packed all night long! We gave him some of the songs that our guests had requested and he had a fabulous mix! I loved our reception dance! We got a great deal and I would suggest you look for them at one of the wedding fairs in the area, we did and it was really worth every penny!
Reception Hall – Kelly Inn (St Cloud) B
As a whole I love the Kelly Inn and Sterling catering. There are things that happened that I wasn’t exactly happy about. Including the fact that we had some vegetarian meals (we didn’t do a meal choice, but did have the options for vegitarians!) and I was told prior to the week of our wedding that I didn’t need to give the staff any information as to where they would be sitting. The night of my wedding as I’m eating and trying to enjoy my meal, the wait staff continued to come up to me and ask me where these people were located. It just annoyed me and still annoys me thinking about it, but really it was just something small. Other than that, the only things that bothered me was that their catering manager (Sue T) quit back in July and it wasn’t until I was trying to contact her (because she hadn’t emailed me back in over a month and a half) that someone said something to me about it. I realize that they aren’t going to call all of their clients and tell them that their manager quit, but I wish we would have received a heads up of a new manager as I would have started to email her regarding our issues. I do have to say the food that we had (Turkey Dinner, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Stuffing) was DELCIOUS! I hear it at least 5 times a week of people telling me how outstanding the food was. They had never been to a wedding that had such delicious and HOT food! When we looked out at people eating their meals, all you saw were people blowing on their food because it was so hot, and I LOVED that! They had wait staff come to the head table to make sure that we all had drinks during dinner which was greatly appreciated because we were not around for the cocktail hour! All in all they did a great job and we were very happy with everything that we had to deal with!
We did stay at the Kelly Inn for the night before and 2 nights after our wedding and the service from the front desk was incredible! I would stay at the Kelly Inn any day of the week if I were able to work with the front desk staff! Throughout the entire wedding planning process they were so helpful and had no problem doing anything we had requested!
Ceremony – Love of Christ Lutheran Church (St Cloud) A+
It’s my hometown church, and it was perfect for what we needed and wanted. My best friend officiated our marriage! We had a coordinator at the church who was there all day long and never got in the way. It was really perfect!
All in all it was the most perfect day of my life! I know things happened and some things went wrong, but in the end I cannot help but sit back, smile and fall even more in love with my HUSBAND because of the memories of that day! I am so thankful for all of our vendors and would highly recommend each and every one of them to any bride!
Some advice that I have for future brides would be…
a. Be organized! Friday afternoon I asked people to be at the reception hall at 3:30pm to help set everything up and I had maps and directions on how everything needed to be set up and it was a BREEZE! I put things out clarified a few things and then was able to leave so I could shower and get ready for the rehearsal!
b. Take moments for both sets of your parents and yourself! I had an entire limo ride with my in laws and parents and we chatted, cried and just had an amazing time together. It was VERY special for us to have those moments and worth every penny we spent
c. Pick your bridal party carefully and think about what YOU want. We choose only our best friends and then family members and it was fabulous! We also chose to have our nieces and nephews and his youngest cousins in the wedding and some people were scared Friday night about all of the kids, and made a few comments to me regarding it and truly hurt my feelings. I of course approached those people Saturday morning and got over it.
d. Take a moment (if you see each other prior to the wedding) prior to walking down the aisle to share a moment together. H & I spent 5 minutes behind closed doors crying, chatting and finally laughing about the day thus far! We were able to reflect on the day and express our love to each other prior to walking down the aisle. It made the walk down so special with H’s voice whispering in my ear how beautiful I was, etc. etc.
Okay, now onto the vendor reviews!
Photographer – DnK Photography A+++++++
We were searching for a photographer who was artistic, clicked with us and had amazing reviews! What I can tell you is that Dan and Karin exceeded our expectations! I truly feel blessed that we were able to have Dan & Karin be a part of our day. From the first time we met up with them, I knew hands down I wanted these two people to be there when I said “I do” – at first their prices were scary to me, but we worked it out and in the end they were worth EVERY penny we spent! Karin and I had gotten close prior to the wedding, and so it made it even better to have her in the room as I got ready for the day. Dan headed down to be with the guys and from what I have heard, they had a great time together! Karin was with all of us girls as things got CRAZY in the hotel room. She even stated to me that this was the most crazy organized room she had ever seen! The two of them provided us with some awesome moments, and truly captured the day and the moments for us! I LOVE the photos we received! Karin and Dan are incredible! I cannot wait to get them printed and hanging up in our house now!
Videography – Hands on Video Productions (Bob Eikoff) A+ (pending final product)
Bob and Kathy have been great since before meeting them! Kathy joined us girls in the hotel room and began capturing the moments of the day. She captured the emotions that everyone was having especially me! At one point when I was finished getting my hair and make-up done and was about to get into my dress, she had me sit down and interviewed me for some voice over! I became a bawling MESS when she asked me questions about my now husband and she was able to truly capture my feelings for Grant. Bob was downstairs with the boys while they got ready and from what I understand there is some hilarious footage of the boys – and especially the littlest boys (cousins of Grant) who gave us marital advice… knowing this kiddo I cannot wait to see how Bob brings that into our video! Bob and Kathy were with us pretty much all day long. They had 3 or 4 cameras set up at the ceremony and even miced Grant to catch all of the words we had to say to each other… even when we both started to giggle during the Lord’s Prayer because half the congregation was Catholic the other’s Lutheran and it became REALLY quiet in the church when we got to the last part… I am so excited to see what Bob and Kathy have for us when all is said and done. From what I have seen thus far, it will be worth everything that we spent on these two people.
Day of Coordinator – Heather Yunke (and Assistants) A+++++++++++
OH-MY-GOODNESS these girls are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Prior to the wedding Heather had contacted me periodically regarding things just to check in and also provide any advice they had. On Friday Heather came up to St Cloud to check in and make sure everything was wonderful for us! She saw how the reception hall needed to be set up and finished up. She asked me a bunch of questions and I felt completely at ease allowing her the opportunity to set everything up, and I cannot tell you how thankful I am for that! On Saturday, Heather, Danielle & Jamie all came up to help set everything up and run the day for us! I never got to see the cocktail hour in person, and I am okay with that but the pictures that I see are AMAZING and incredible! The whole day was stress free for the most part because Heather, Danielle & Jamie all took it upon themselves to figure things out for us. They went far beyond the call of duty by running to Target to pick up boxes for the cake (more about that later), picking up our flowers from our florist and driving them to St Cloud, staying way later than we had previously discussed because of some of the things that other vendors did, providing us with a memory card of wedding photos they took during the two days, and also setting up our room in a very romantic way. Knowing what Heather and the ladies would provide, I would have paid 3xs as much as I did. They were incredible. I know I keep saying those words but there are really no other ways to express how thankful I am that we hired Heather as our day of coordinator. All I kept hearing from everyone at the wedding was how helpful those girls were and I can say that without them I don’t know what I would have done… I would have been crazy and things would NOT have looked as amazing as they did! I would HIGHLY recommend Heather to any bride who is getting married.
Florist – Lisa Boener Forget me Not Floral A+++++++++++++++++++++++
If pictures could tell the story I would just post the photos, but in the end you want to hear from me what Lisa is like…. We found Lisa thanks to another bride on theknot message boards and I could have not been happier with everything! She is just starting her business out and at first I was hesitant, but I am SO happy we ended up going with Lisa. She saw the vision we wanted and completely ran with it. Our flowers were INCREDIBLE! My brother who is a florist in New York saw the flowers and just stare at their beauty! We paid $495 for all of the flowers we had which was all of the bouquets, bouts, corsages, altar flowers, and extra flowers. She made a couple extra bouts for the guys, but also had another bout for the groom made up and in a bag because she knew that with all of the hugs and what not his flower would look rough by the time of the ceremony – the flowers held up and was not needed but it is still sitting in my fridge and it looks just as perfect as the day we received it. My bouquet is still holding up and just incredible. I am so impressed by Lisa’s products and again would recommend her services to any bride. I know in the future we will be going to Lisa for any floral needs!
Dress – 1st David’s Bridal Maple Grove F 2nd David’s Bridal Roseville A++
I can tell you at first I was really scared to step into David’s Bridal just because of the reviews that I had heard. I first started at the Maple Grove location and it was a horrible experience. You would have thought that we were there to inconvience everyone in the store, even though we had an appointment. The dress I really wanted to try on was in stock at the Roseville location and my mom and I decided to try it out. I called my mother in law and invited her to come with us, when we arrived everyone was amazing, helpful and very concerned about the service we received at the Maple Grove store. They pulled the dresses again for us and had no problem with any requests we had! I walked out in a dress only to see my mother and (at that time) future mother in law’s faces, they both began to tear up and I knew instantly this would be my dress! The whole experience was fabulous when we went to Roseville. I would recommend if you are wanting to try out David’s Bridal, make an appointment and drive out to Roseville. You won’t be disappointed.
Ceiling Draping/Decorator – Arch Angels (Mary Regan) A++
Arch Angels, Mary Regan, specifically was an amazing vendor to work with. From the first time we met with her to the day of our wedding, Mary was nothing but helpful and quite insightful. It was nice knowing that she had worked with our venue previously (The Kelly Inn, St. Cloud) but I also knew that if we had not chosen the Kelly Inn I still would have chosen Mary to put the ceiling draping and backdrop up. Her work is incredible and I can honestly say that I would recommend her and her associates to anyone who is looking for an amazing transformation of a room. The ceiling draping and head table backdrop created such a beautiful ambiance to our room! When we were searching for someone to do ceiling draping, I did not know what a fair price would have been. I sought a few quotes and then went back to Mary and was informing her that we would have to go with someone else due to the price difference and she was more than willing to drop her prices to match and exceed the value that we would have received elsewhere! She wanted to make sure that what we received was within our budget but also everything that we could imagine and more! The day before the wedding Mary had not asked if we were doing white or ivory table covers, she called me and even though I wasn’t able to respond to her right away, she was able to put up the ivory colored draping. She has been incredible to work with and was totally worth every penny we spent to have the ceiling draped and the head table backdrop. The night before my wedding, at 12am I had to get into the reception room to look for something for our ceremony, the manager was able to let us in but my best friend told me not to go in just yet. She turned off all of the overhead lights, and turned on the draping, when I came in my breath was literally taken away at the beauty of the room! I walked up to the head table and looked out into my decorated room with only the lights on from Arch Angels and I can honestly say that the whole room looked amazing, there is no doubt in my mind that what Mary did helped to make that room look incredible! I am still hearing from friends & family members about how amazing it looked!
Alterations – Dori (St. Cloud) A+++
Dori did a great job! I needed to have 9 inches taken off of my dress because I had lost weight and she had no problem doing any of it! The only problem I had was with my bustle and it was because people would kick it and then it would fall. I don’t blame it entirely on Dori, but I wish it would have been a bit different. By the end of the night Heather and I just safety pinned it with what seemed like 30 pins, but then it stayed!
Bridesmaids Dresses – Carrie Johnson Bridal (St. Cloud) A+++
Super easy to work with. All of the girls were able to try on the dress at their convenience. They were even accommodating when one of our flower girls threw up in their shop. They kept telling all of us that this happens all the time and not to worry about it. They gave the girls a discount for paying in full when they ordered the dresses. When the dresses came in they called me to let me know and then I just simply picked the dresses up and got them the girls. They were helpful when we all needed alterations and provided us with a great reference!
Engagement Photos – Ben Berndt Photography A+++++++++++
Ben was one of our front runners for wedding photography. I ended up going with DnK because of how Karin and I bonded (and I believe it was truly fate that we ended up going with them!)! We asked Ben to take another session of engagement photos for us just so that we could have more photos to use throughout our planning process but also because we didn’t have too many photos of Grant and I and I just simply wanted more! Ben did an awesome job and we love them! We are asking him to do our Christmas photos this year! If you’re looking for an awesome photographer I would HIGHLY recommend Ben!
DJ – Midwest Sound & Lights (DJ Jim) A++++++
I was skeptical at first when we booked with Midwest Sound just because it’s one of those “large” companies that you don’t get to know your DJ until the week prior to your wedding…. What I can tell you is that I am more than THRILLED that we had the privilege to have Midwest Sound at our wedding! Jim called me the week prior to the wedding just to chat about a few things and at first I thought “oh crap I forgot about…” but I was able to email him that night and honestly everything was PERFECT! People are still raving about our DJ and how the dance floor was literally packed all night long! We gave him some of the songs that our guests had requested and he had a fabulous mix! I loved our reception dance! We got a great deal and I would suggest you look for them at one of the wedding fairs in the area, we did and it was really worth every penny!
Reception Hall – Kelly Inn (St Cloud) B
As a whole I love the Kelly Inn and Sterling catering. There are things that happened that I wasn’t exactly happy about. Including the fact that we had some vegetarian meals (we didn’t do a meal choice, but did have the options for vegitarians!) and I was told prior to the week of our wedding that I didn’t need to give the staff any information as to where they would be sitting. The night of my wedding as I’m eating and trying to enjoy my meal, the wait staff continued to come up to me and ask me where these people were located. It just annoyed me and still annoys me thinking about it, but really it was just something small. Other than that, the only things that bothered me was that their catering manager (Sue T) quit back in July and it wasn’t until I was trying to contact her (because she hadn’t emailed me back in over a month and a half) that someone said something to me about it. I realize that they aren’t going to call all of their clients and tell them that their manager quit, but I wish we would have received a heads up of a new manager as I would have started to email her regarding our issues. I do have to say the food that we had (Turkey Dinner, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Stuffing) was DELCIOUS! I hear it at least 5 times a week of people telling me how outstanding the food was. They had never been to a wedding that had such delicious and HOT food! When we looked out at people eating their meals, all you saw were people blowing on their food because it was so hot, and I LOVED that! They had wait staff come to the head table to make sure that we all had drinks during dinner which was greatly appreciated because we were not around for the cocktail hour! All in all they did a great job and we were very happy with everything that we had to deal with!
We did stay at the Kelly Inn for the night before and 2 nights after our wedding and the service from the front desk was incredible! I would stay at the Kelly Inn any day of the week if I were able to work with the front desk staff! Throughout the entire wedding planning process they were so helpful and had no problem doing anything we had requested!
Ceremony – Love of Christ Lutheran Church (St Cloud) A+
It’s my hometown church, and it was perfect for what we needed and wanted. My best friend officiated our marriage! We had a coordinator at the church who was there all day long and never got in the way. It was really perfect!
All in all it was the most perfect day of my life! I know things happened and some things went wrong, but in the end I cannot help but sit back, smile and fall even more in love with my HUSBAND because of the memories of that day! I am so thankful for all of our vendors and would highly recommend each and every one of them to any bride!