Bomb-diggity Detroit Wedding Vendors

I'm going to crank out a list, if you want more info just email me (sara.heuvelman@gmail.com) and I will get you the specific contacts we worked with.  Please note I won't think you're a weird stalker because this is the best way to find a good vendor!  If you reach out to anyone PLEASE let them know I sent you--thx!

Dress:  Birmingham Bridal
Everyone here was beyond helpful and the selection was great.  Pricing was in my range and the alterations were decent (though mine weren't major).

Hair/Makeup: Todd's Room
Jan did my hair, it stayed all night and I thought it was the perfect mix of modern and elegant.  Loved how it turned out, we only did a minor tweak from the test run.  Marisa does my eyebrows and did my wedding makeup, again we just switched to black eyeliner and added lipstick under the gloss.  My face stayed on the whole day and I was amazed at how gorgeous I could look with the right makeup!!  Hand's down go see either or both of them.

Accessories: Nordstrom, Todd's Room, One in a Million & Simple Beauty
My cute Cole-Haan metallic gray shoes were from my old standby Nordy.  The flashy, dangly earrings were from Todd's Room:  stunning clear crystals and some smaller gray crystals--beautiful and less than $40.  Brooch was from One in a Million, the owners are absolutely lovely and BEYOND helpful.  My piece was actually a hair comb that they took to a jeweler and converted for me.  I had about 10 people ask me if my veil was passed down from a family member, I loved the simple lace detail at the bottom and it had a wonderful vintage look.  But nope, I got it for less than $60 from Simple Beauty on Etsy.

Flower Girl Dresses:  My Angelic Kids
There is such a creepy pagaent world out there!  But if you dig enough you can find very reasonably priced gowns for your little ladies.  This site had lots of options and we jazzed them up with poufy slips and yellow fabric rosettes.  Plus, Mark's mom made the pomanders they all carried by using these directions.

Bridesmaid Dresses: Miss Kate's Maids
Kate has an amazing collection of dresses.  Specifically the collections of Melissa Sweet, Vineyard & Priscilla of Boston--which is what I chose.  She has unusual hours and I would wager she works another job but she was super helpful and had great selections.  We had a mix up and she fixed it immediately and humbly.

Tuxedo:  Men's Warehouse, various locations
Everyone's worked out just fine. Enough said.

Stationary:  Various
Invites were ordered through Lasting Impressions, huge selection and they are very helpful.  We did our programs ourselves on Vistaprint.  Word to the wise: have your entire bridal party proof and then take it to 12 other people because it's not easy to proof online.  Place cards were from Papeterie, which is pricey but I found a great online deal.

Flowers: Westborn Market, Berkley
Nicole is a delight to work with and I thought my flowers were stunning.  Plus they were exactly what I wanted!  Westborn put together my amazing bouquet and all the girls.  The men's bouts came from there as well.  We ordered the stems and Mark's mom put the arrangements together for the reception.  There was a nasty snafu with that and Westborn graciously stepped in to assist.

Chiavari Chairs:  A Moment Forever
OK, I randomly found this vendor after search FOREVER to find a good price on these designer chairs.  Stacy is a sweetheart and you can tell she loves working with brides.  Plus they have beautiful chairs and a price you cannot beat in Michigan.

DJ: Mike Staff Productions
A wedding staple in Metro Detroit, we worked with Matt Candela and the dance floor was bumping even before Mark and I did the first dance.  It stayed jam packed the entire night.

Cake: Sugar's
Raquel recently left corporate life to run her own cake shop.  Thank goodness she did!  Hands down the most delicious cake ever. And I don't even like cake!  We had a lemon-lime cake with raspberry filling and chocolate raspberry cake with raspberry filling.  Both were topped with cream cheese frosting.  Mmmm. 

Limo: Grosse Pointe Coach
They have one stretch limo that worked perfectly for our small bridal party and Mark and I used a car to transport ourselves from reception to the Book Cadillac. Both drivers were prompt, knew where they were going and were SO NICE!  Plus it was the best deal we found in the area.  We were so pleased we added them to our day.



Reception Venue:  Grosse Pointe War Memorial
Gorgeous ballroom of a historic mansion.  Lots of rules and a few small extra costs but overall a reasonable price for an exquisite setting.  Cheryl is super helpful and the day of captain helps keep everything running smoothly.  It is a bit tricky to get a date if you're not from the GP but it's not impossible!

Church:  Fort Street Presbyterian
Another stunning historic place.  You do not have to become a member to have your ceremony there.  In all honesty the church is so beautiful but the only hiccups of the day were around the ceremony...which is sad because before we began the wedding process there we really enjoyed attending the services...

Rehearsal Dinner:  Vince's Italian Restaurant
Eat here.  It's the best food of all time.  The end.

And now MY TWO FAVORITE VENDORS!!!  Well in fairness to all my other helpful vendors I did spend the most time with these two :)

Coordinator:  Details by Laura
Laura, Laura, Laura...she seamlessly made the entire day perfect!  She was so organized, is an undercover comedienne and made herself available to me prior to the wedding to ensure we had all the i's dotted and t's crossed.  The day had scissors, bobby pins, straws for the drinks, appetizers waiting, stain remover for the dress and anything else you could possibly think of (those are examples of things I never thought of and definitely used!).  Her two assistants were hardworking and the reception venue looked beautiful.  I am so glad that I took the advice to hire a day of coordinator.  And like many brides, I truly wish I had worked with her from day one!

Photographer:  The Shooting Gallery
Yin and Yang. Cole and Haan.  Dionne and Joe.  Peanut Butter and Honey.  Some things just go together so perfectly.  Seriously, these two phenoms gave us minimal direction (well, we are practically models) and just went with the mood of the day.  They had scoped a couple of great locations and put together some very unique backdrops around Detroit.  Plus, it was fun.  Super fun.  I hate having my picture taken but I actually started to forget that was the purpose of the afternoon--I was too busy laughing and cracking jokes and nuzzling my beau while they worked around everyone.  From a few days before I met with Dionne to this day I stalk the blog and Dionne's Facebook on a regular basis.  Her work is breathtaking and so emotive. Actually, I'm a little in awe of her so maybe that's why I feel like a nerdy freshman and she's the cool senior with a bitchin' Sunfire convertible.  

Wedded bliss

I honestly cannot even begin to say how wonderful our wedding day was.  From the little details to the big ones, to all the family and friends who came in, to the dancing, to the laughing, to the tears.  It was perfection.  I grabbed some photos my friends/family had taken and am posting here for your viewing pleasure:

(credit: S.Hartman)

(credit: ??)

(credit: A. Bowles)

(credit: A.Bowles)

(credit: G.Patterson)

(credit: G. Patterson)

Various dating of the ups

I feel organized!  Go us :)

Mark booked us a room for the wedding night and we will also use it to get ready before the wedding.  Who exactly gets to use it is up in the air.  I vote me because I'm the girl.  Sounds totally fair to me.

I also met with our florist (aka Mark's mom) and went over what sort of flowers I like and the look and feel.  I am 100% confident they will be great!!

Invite proofs will arrive this week, then hopefully we have the actual invites by the end of this month. Then time to address and mail.

What else, what else?!?!

Did I tell you about the honeymoon...?  If not, the hotel is amazing, breath-taking and I want to go right now!  Belize.  We're staying here, I almost can't believe how awesome it is!!  Mark spends many moments looking on You Tube for videos people have posted of their vacation to that hotel.  And it looks like we will find that perfect mix of beach/pool time and adventure.

In case you were of the myth that Belize was an island, see below.  The heart is where we are staying, Ambergeis Caye, a Belizean island east of the mainland and south of Mexico, or is it actually an isthmus?

stolen ideas!

Over the weekend I got some sort of bridal magazine delivered so in order to stave off complete boredom I cozied up on the couch to flip through it on Sunday.  I about fell off the couch when I got to the page about using grey and yellow wedding colors!!  And the best part was they featured the same necklace I have been coveting!!!  Total copy cats.  Just saying.

Mark's mom is now going to do our flowers, yay!  Super helpful and (I imagine anyway) a cost savings.  We narrowed down the rehearsal dinner spots (Pizzapapalis or Fishbones, both in Greektown) and I found some invites I like that just need a color tweak and they'd be ideal.  I think I'm going to hire a graphic designer here to help tweak them and then find somewhere to have them produced.  Plus this way we can use the same design in table numbers, thank you notes and place cards, etc...right?  Good plan?! 

I seriously have ZERO CLUE on how these things all work out.  I just searched my old emails for the "ridiculous" timelines my recently married friend's sent to me and now I am frantically trying to adjust them around my wedding.  No longer do they seem ridiculous :)

I (sort of) accomplished a wedding task!

Just the other day I emailed a flower vendor!  Woo-hoo go me!  I also asked for another reference and I also have another one in my head that I will contact.  Awhile earlier today I took a few, ahem, minutes online to find some yellow floral arrangements that I dig for reference.  Let me try to post something I like for you to reflect upon now:

I like the nosegay approach for bridesmaids.

And perhaps another to sustain you:

Simple and bright, I like the "stuffed" look.  Am just now wondering if these are dandelions because that would probably be a huge money saver...hmm...

That's really all.  Maybe it wasn't quite a noteworthy accomplishment.  HA!

time for another list

So we decided that we'd been making decent progress without a planner and nixed the idea. My heart starts palpitating (is that a word?) when I say this out loud but we can use that cash towards something fun now. I need a list to slow down the heartbeat. Next up we need to work on the following:

1. invitations
2. finalizing the people participating in our ceremony
3. research florists

Side note, I am kind of a boring blogger. My bad. I will use pictures in the next post for excitement.