Wedding vendors

In my last wedding post, I posted a glimpse of my vendors.  Now I will post a longer more in-depth version.

Our wedding was everything we imagined and more.  Honestly, we were never stressed about anything. Both of our families were there for us as well as our friends.  We could not have done it with out the professionalism of our vendors and the help of our family.

We currently live in NJ, but got married in my hometown area of Hampton Roads, VA.  As much as we LOVE New Jersey (at least I really do), neither Tim or I have family here.  It didn’t make sense to have a wedding around here.

While being engaged, we visited VA four times.  Each visit we hit the wedding planning hard.  We had back to back meetings but got everything done.  It wasn’t nearly as scary as we both had anticipated.  I think that the majority of the no stress was because our wedding planner, Hannah, was so helpful.

My philosophy of weddings is it’s one giant party.  That is how we treated it the entire time..

Previous wedding posts:

Engagement

Engagement Photos

Rejected Wedding Ideas

Wedding Preview

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The Wedding

With the exception of the venue, we booked the first vender we met with in every category.  I was happy with each person and company so we thought it was silly to continue looking.  Wedding planning is like playing the slot machines, you quit while we were ahead.

First, I’ll start with my wedding planner: Hannah Hiladabrandt.  Hannah helped through most of the wedding process.  I found her in August and she helped until our wedding April 12.  She is truly an incredible women and I am so glad to have found her!

After emailing a few people, she made me the most comfortable and she was the most laid back.

• She helped put us in contact with our venue as well as the DJ, and makeup.
• She also gave ideas along the way and put together a timeline the month before of the wedding
• She also gave a lot of ideas of things I never thought about.  There were so many little things that piled up the last month!
• At the wedding she made sure everything went smoothly and our only job was to have fun.  This was the most important and having her allowed us to truly enjoy the day.

I cannot stress how much having someone else in charge made the day much easier.

All I did at the wedding was drink booze, talk to family and friends and dance.

Neither Tim nor I worried about a single thing.  Hannah and her staff were there to help, coordinate and make sure the timeline went as anticipated.  She was great and I 100% recommend her.

Venue

We got married at the Half Moone Cruise Center in Norfolk, VA.   About a month after we got married, it reopened and has a few different cruises that dock there.  I loved the center because of the massive windows and how modern it was.   It’s not normally a wedding venue but Hannah was able to get into contact with them.

Photographers:

Justice Images have done a lot of photos for myself and my family and friends.  The Justice’s are family friends as well as professional photographers. If you ever need any sort of photography done I would recommend them.

Sometimes people fear wedding photographers are intrusive but we never felt that way. I will always book the Justices for any photos I need.

Caterer

For food and alcohol, we used Omar’s Carriage House in Norfolk, VA.

My bridesmaid, Theresa,  recommended them and after trying them once I knew Omar’s was perfect.  We had a steak, seafood and vegetarian option.  We chose buffet style because you never know what someone wants portion size.  Everyone wants a different amount of food and it’s nice to pick and choose.  We had more than enough food and I was happy to have some for breakfast too.

I think my favorite part of the wedding was when the caterer says: “You know, most brides don’t eat but you are already up here for round two…”

One thing I can’t stop raving about was Omar’s “Delux” Coffee Station. Obviously an important and necessary part of the wedding was a coffee bar.  Tim and I’s wedding had a coffee bar with coffee syrup, whipped cream, and all the things you put in coffee.

My mug was filled 50% kaluha and 50%, 20% coffee and 30% whipped cream.

Cake

My cake was done by Diana’s Sweet Tooth  Honestly, it turned out beautifully and it was the best cake I have eaten. I’m definitely a cake snob too.  In fact the only thing that upset me during the evening was the cake didn’t come home with us.  I wanted midnight cake!

Our favorite type of cake is red velvet.  Since our colors were navy and white, red totally clashed (haha!).  Diana dyed the inside so the cake was “blue velvet”.  The cake was dense and had the perfect frosting.  The top tier is still sitting in my freezer haunting me.

DJ

With the recommendation from Hannah, we went with Astro DJ.  I was really happy because shortly after we booked Astro, I found out one of my personal friends was a DJ. It was truly incredible to have a personal friend and famous local runner, Jon, as our DJ. He was great and we danced the entire night.  He is extremely friendly and I don’t think we ever stopped dancing.

Dancing and having fun was the important part of the wedding to me.  I can guarantee we did that!  In fact I think I was upset when I couldn’t dance.

Hair:

The same women who cut my chlorine filled hair in middle school, styled my hair for the wedding. It was perfect and I loved everything about the style. Tiffany is truly incredible and I think she did so well with everyone’s hair.  I honestly couldn’t think of anyone else I wanted there for my big day.

Makeup:

My makeup was done by Blush Tones. Hannah recommended her when I had absolutely no idea where to go.

Before the wedding, I hadn’t ever tried airbrush makeup.  I kept telling the woman, it’s like you are putting on a whole new face! If you are one the fence about getting your makeup done for your wedding, I recommend it. It was such a fun experience and I loved it.

Flowers: 

My flowers were done by personal friend Kyle.  We grew up and swam together.  He worked at a florist so was able to really help us out.

Flowers were also something I had no idea what I wanted or even needed.  We wanted flowers to enhance the wedding but didn’t know anything about different types, centerpieces and arrangements.  I told Kyle “I know nothing about flowers please help me and I trust you“.  He did such a wonderful job and we could not be happier.

Theme and Decorations:

The Half Moone is a beautiful venue to begin with and that made decorating much easier.  We used a few flowers as well as plane related decorations.  We went with a traditional navy blue and yellow theme with cute plane designs (since T is a pilot…). I wanted old running shoe center pieces but that just isn’t as cute.

We kept it simple.

Limo: 

We had a last minute issue with transportation so luckily another personal friend Chasity was able to give me a connection to a limo service where she manages.  I would highly recommend them for any weddings, proms or times you want to rent a limo.

Thoughts: 

As you can see everything with my vendors went extremely smoothly.  If there is anyone getting married locally, I would  recommend any of my vendors to work with with. I was never stressed and everything was perfect.  They were all professional, friendly, and more on top of their game than I certainly was.

It will take me a bit longer to write up the last couple of posts with more photos and final thoughts.  In cliff notes, my wedding was everything I hoped for.

About four months ago I got married.  I wanted to wait until I received wedding photos to write a post.  To keep from typing 1000 words I plan to have several posts.

This is just a brief wedding post, mostly consisting of photos, but if you are interested in a longer post with more detail it’s here. 

We truly had the greatest day of our lives.  Our family, our friends and loved ones were all there to support us and I could not have asked for a better day.

Date: April 12, 2015

The Venue: Half Moone Cruise Center Norfolk, VA
Wedding Planner: Hannah Hildebrandt
Flowers: Personal friend, Kyle L
Dress: Maya Couture
Photographers: Justice Images
Caterer: Omar’s Carriage House
DJ: Astro DJ and personal friend Jon L
Hair: Tiffany
Makeup: Blush tones
Cake: Diane’s Sweet Tooth