OUR WEDDING: THE PLANNING & OUR VENDORS

How we Chose our Dream Team

After we got engaged, we knew that we wanted to get married right away, so we picked a date in the middle of June that had special meaning to us, June 13th. The reason this date was special to us was because we knew we wanted to have a Spring wedding which we landed on June and we chose the 13th because DJ’s father and step-mother were married on December 13th, DJ’s father’s birthday is December 13th, my father and step-mother were married on August 13th and my grandparents were married on March 13th, so the 13th seemed to be a good luck charm for our family despite the “unlucky 13” reputation that it has.

Prior to booking anything, we narrowed down our “must haves” for our wedding. I knew the most important vendors to me were photography/videography, wedding planner and venue, so I booked those first!

1. Wedding Coordinator: Sarah Duckworth Events

The first vendor that I booked was our wedding planner. Sarah from Sarah Duckworth Events coordinated our event for us. We just booked her for a partial planning package since I knew that I could handle planning our wedding, so Sarah answered our questions throughout the process and served us on our actual wedding day. YES, even wedding planners need a coordinator on their big day! You absolutely cannot plan and coordinate your own wedding! There are just too many moving parts and you want to be able to enjoy the day and not have to worry about making sure everyone is doing exactly what they are supposed to and setting up and tearing down everything yourself. After going through this process myself, I believe this even more than I did before.

2. Photographer: Amanda Eloise Photography

I went in to choosing a photographer honestly with no budget in mind. This was the *most important* vendor on my list, so I was willing to spend whatever it took to make sure it was perfect. I found Amanda from Amanda Eloise Photography on TheKnot.com and WOW did we hit the jackpot. She is the sweetest, most down to earth and did I mention TALENTED photographer ever! She totally captured our style, and we will cherish the photos that she’s taken of us for the rest of our lives. Our process for choosing a photographer was to find someone whose style was light and bright like ours and someone who we really felt like was a friend. You spend so much time with your photo/video team on your wedding day that having someone you genuinely like and can laugh with is SO important. If you are in the Columbus, Ohio area, you need Amanda in your life (if you’re not, she loves to travel!)

3. Venue: Summerfield Farms

As I tell my brides, we knew that by actually choosing a date rather than just a season, we were prepared for our venue search to be limited. Lucky for us, our dream venue had only one Saturday in June available, and it happened to be June 13th! I knew I loved Summerfield Farms in Summerfield, NC from the moment we got engaged. I had driven by the property and followed them on Instagram for SO LONG dreaming about the day that we could have our wedding there. We went for a tour and instantly fell in love. Summerfield Farms was honestly out of our budget, so we also toured several other venues to try and find something cheaper that we loved just as much, but nothing came even remotely close to Summerfield Farms. We just knew our wedding was meant to be there under the Little Tree. So, we rearranged our budget to accommodate! That meant for us that we would reduce our catering budget and ask our bridal party to pay for their hair and makeup and attire. Since we haven such amazing friends and family, they were happy to.

After we chose our three most important vendors, we really were able to get the ball rolling. We had our date solidified, our engagement photos taken and our guest list drafted. We started choosing the rest of our vendors based off of recommendations from our venue and by using TheKnot.com for reviews. Here is the rest of our vendor team:

4. Videography: Point200

We are absolutely and totally obsessed with our video from Point200. This was hands down the best money we spent. We almost had to cut videography from our budget because we splurged on the venue, but I am eternally grateful that we held strong and knew how important this was going to be for us. We have already watched our sneak peek an embarrassing number of times and can’t wait to share with you the full video as soon as we get our hands on it! If you’re getting married any time soon, you HAVE TO HAVE a videographer capture the day for you. Nothing compares to this.

5. Catering: Above & Beyond

We are so happy with our catering choice! Everyone knows that wedding food is delicious and Above & Beyond are SO easy to work with! They are incredibly budget friendly and probably the sole reason we were able to splurge on our venue. All of our guests were obsessed with our spinach + artichoke dip with pita and bacon and cheese stuffed mushrooms for cocktail hour the most!

6. Hair + Makeup: Blush & Bobby’s

WOW these girls nailed it. Laura and Katie are sisters who own separate businesses but combine on wedding days to create the most amazing dream team for your glam squad. All of my bridesmaids LOVED their hair and makeup – almost to the point of not wanting to take it off! I can honestly say that I have never had a hair and makeup team that can take a photo and make you look exactly like the photo, but these girls can! Seriously, they are the best hair and makeup team in the Triad area.

7. Florist: Sedgefield Florist

Mickey might be my favorite vendor that we had. He went so far above and beyond what we expected to make sure that our flowers are absolutely perfect. He was a dream to work with, so incredibly knowledgable about florals, and everything him and his daughters created turned out so beautifully! When we had to postpone our wedding (more on that later), he created me a beautiful bouquet for our mini-mony that was absolutely gorgeous and when we postponed into fall and those blush pink florals aren’t really in season anymore, he picked us some from his very own garden! He was determined to give us exactly what we wanted, and we were amazed at how perfectly it all came together.

8. Wedding Gown Boutique: Laced with Grace

Jaclyn from Laced with Grace helped me find the perfect wedding gown! I loved her small shop in Mocksville that I had all to myself when choosing my gown. I actually found my wedding dress on Pinterest without any recollection on how I would actually get this dress. I just knew the photo I found online was my wedding dress. After several hours of scouring the internet, I finally discovered that the gown I wanted was at Laced with Grace. She was a delight to work with, and I loved my gown! Since I bought my dress, she has moved to a much larger store with way more pretty gowns, so I definitely recommend checking her out if you’re looking for a wedding gown!

9. DJ: K2 Productions

We had a great time with Jason from K2 Productions as our DJ! He was so much fun to be around and even though a lot of our guests weren’t really the dancing crew, he kept the dance floor moving! Jason also served as our EMCEE for the night, and he rocked it! Guests knew exactly what to do and when and we had a great experience with him! Everyone in the Greensboro, NC area knows of K2 Productions, and there’s a reason for that! They have great DJs!

10. Rentals: Party Makers

We only rented our glassware, flatware and plates from Party Makers since we chose to save money by purchasing our own linens (OMG this was a ton of work to save $600), but as always, Party Makers had great communication, they were on time and we loved the products!

As you can see, there are several vendors that go into creating your wedding day. As your wedding planner, it is my job to make sure that you are properly taken care of and that each of these people are doing their job to the best of their ability!

Overall, we really feel like we had the best vendor team possible. We loved each and every one of our vendors and the role they had in our day! We are so thankful for their support during a crazy time for weddings, and I can’t wait to work with them again soon! If you’re planning a wedding, send me an email HERE to get some further insight into our vendor choices and assistance choosing your perfect vendors!