The wedding was Saturday, we had people in town beginning the Tuesday before, and finally got rid of everyone on Sunday.
There were some things that went really well, and some things that made me want to light things on fire.
If anyone who reads this blog and are in St. Louis and planning a wedding, I these are the places that we had a great experience with:
1. Our photographer. We used Guillermo Gomez from St. Louis Color. He had 2 assistants with him, made fantastic recommendations for locations for photos before the wedding, as well as some great ideas for the photos themselves. He essentially dismantled the chapel's pews to get the shots that he wanted, and must have taken 4000 frames. Seriously. And his prices are reasonable (remember, I used to be a wedding photographer, I know what this shit costs). He also will still do the "old style" leather albums for you, even though EVERYONE else has moved to the "coffee table" style books with the pages printed digitally.
Photographing at City Museum:
Photographing at the Chapel:
2. Photo locations. We went to the City Museum. And while they did charge us all to get in (Guillermo said that is the first time that has happened with him. But hey, we get it. Times are tough all over), they did not place any restrictions on what we could do and where we could go, even essentially blocking the main staircase for a while. There was another wedding party there just before us, and you essentially become a part of the attraction. We opened up velvet ropes and went wherever we wanted to. We climbed on the exhibits. Sat on window sills. And no one said a word. Same thing at Union Station. We blocked the stairs to the Grand Hall, the main entrance so we could use the lighted floor...and no one said a word.
More at City Museum:
At Union Station:
3. Restaurants and Bars. We had our rehearsal dinner at Blueberry Hill, and since we had so many people in town we also hosted a dinner at Momo's and also a brunch at Sasha's. I can't say ENOUGH about how great the staff was at all the locations. Our party ended up larger than expected at Blueberry Hill and they totally took it in stride. Momo's gave us a room to ourselves, and our waiter was amazing. They put up with all KINDS of noise and didn't say a word. And talk about putting up with a raft of shit...Sasha's. We have gone there every time "the girls" are in town and every time they put up with noise, rowdiness, to much wine drinking, and still don't have our photos on the wall as "perma-banned." After the rehearsal dinner, we went as a group to the Pin Up Bowl. They didn't really know that they were hosting a wedding party, so I can't speak to that, but I can say that they are a consistently fun place to go, the prices are reasonable, and everyone always has a good time. We also showed up completely unannounced for lunch at India Palace, and they pulled together a huge table for us in record time. Not to mention they have the most awesome food of all time. I could eat there every week. Oh, wait, I DO eat there every week!!!
At Sashas:
Delicious Dreamsicle Martinis at the Pin Up Bowl:
At Momo's:
At Blueberry Hill:
4. Salon on the Avenue. We went there to get the bridesmaid's hair done on the morning of the wedding. They had coffee and snacks ready for us, they did the hair in record time, and didn't even flinch when we went next door to Straub's for wine and food.
5. The reception hall. We had a fantastic experience with The Franklin Room. They were amenable to most of the craziness that we wanted (including letting us bring in our own hurricanes provided they were served from their bar). They are super-reasonable. The only drawback would be for smaller wedding parties....while their price per person is fantastic, and includes the open bar, they do have a 200-person minimum. We nearly made it. All but three tables were occupied, and it was set up for 200. The food was good, although a limited menu. But that is the trade-off for such a reasonable price. They had fantastic servers, they kept everything on schedule, and let us in the Thursday before to decorate and set out favors on the tables. I can't say enough about how great the Franklin Room folks were.
Decorating at the Franklin Room:
At the reception:
6. The dresses. Since 5 of the 6 bridesmaids were from out of town, we used David's Bridal...because they couldn't have gotten into town to try dresses on anywhere else. It had to be a chain. We also bought my dress there, as well as my mother's and grandmother's dress. They put up with me trying on basically every dress in the store (two times) and the alterations department at the Sunset Hills location is amazing. You couldn't even tell where the dresses had been altered. And they were altered A LOT.
7. The florist. I used Hollyhock's in Overland. They did a beautiful job and at an incredibly reasonable price. They were actually my second call. The first florist basically told me to go fuck myself when I said the wedding was on Valentine's Day. I won't name names, but you know who you are, large, well-known florist at the intersection of Clayton and Big Bend. Next to the Greek grocery. They claimed that they "don't do" weddings on Valentine's Day. I asked "Really? Really. For money and everything? You don't do it?" They told me that no florist would do a wedding on Valentine's Day. Well, not only did Hollyhock's do it, they told me that the Valentine's Day thing was a load of bullshit, because when V-Day falls on a Saturday, the busy day is actually the Friday before....because everyone wants the flowers delivered to the office, so they can show off.
The list of things that I am less than pleased about is considerably shorter, but most of it is just that their services pale in comparison to how awesome the other places were.
1. The cake. I won't complain too hard here because I asked for something odd and specific, and what I wanted would have been better done in fondant, and I hate fondant, so I hobbled myself there. On the plus side, the cake was delicious. It was red velvet, with cream cheese filling. It was not dry in the least bit. On the other hand, it was smaller than I expected. That is because when you go into their shop, all the sample cakes are GIGANTIC. What they don't tell you is those cakes serve 350-450 people. I ordered a cake for 160 and it looked MINIATURE in comparison. OK, I get it, that is my problem. But, what isn't my problem is the fact that they didn't match the icing to the swatches that I took them, and they slapped some cheap mardi gras beads on them rather than doing it in frosting LIKE I ASKED. The fleur de lis' on the sides were also supposed to be white, but hey, I guess they had to be purple and green since they didn't do ANYTHING ELSE on the cake like I asked them to. It wasn't exactly ugly. It just wasn't what I wanted. So I won't recommend them. I also won't tell you who the bakers are, because they did great jobs for other friends of mine.
The "Meh" Cake:
2. The chapel. While the chapel was gorgeous and the rehearsal and ceremony went smoothly, we suffered from a complete lack of communication from the Event Services Office at Wash U. OK, so they had a change in staff. I get that. They moved to a new building. OK, I understand that, too. But we paid $300.00 an hour to use that place. The least they could have done was not force me to chase them down for information 2 days before the wedding. A call, even a week before, would have been nice. On the other hand, the chapel is gorgeous, and they let us do whatever the hell we pleased in the time that we were there.
The Chapel:
3. The Shoes. David's Bridal gets to be on both the good and the bad lists. Those were the most uncomfortable shoes I have EVER worn. I think they may have been made out of cardboard and thumbtacks. And maybe some wire and staples. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE SHOES. Never buy the shoes at David's Bridal. I don't CARE if they dye them to match. Just wear silver shoes or go get something from Macy's.
The thing that made me REALLY want to set something on fire was actually rectified. Four days before the wedding the band called J. and told him they wouldn't be able to learn our choice of music for the first dance, so they were going to play a recording. My response was "Aw HELLZ naw!" Only louder and with more curse words. And then my whole head burst into flames.
Needless to say, they learned the song.
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