Dating for 3 years. Pestering to get engaged. Ring shopping. Getting engaged. Planning a wedding. Moving the wedding up a year. Having the wedding. Wedding withdrawal. Those were the steps I passed through on the road to and after my husband Brett and my nuptials on September 5, 2010. During the planning process I met and worked with so many great people who made our wedding the best it could be, and I have been meaning to write something for quite a while.
Life got in the way, but I finally sat down to put my thoughts into words. Here is a breakdown of all of our different vendors and our experience working with them. I am hoping this can be of use to anyone planning a wedding in Northwest Indiana or for those who know someone planning a wedding.
DJ/Entertainment
Wade Breitzke of Twenty7 Entertainment | www.twenty7entertainment.com
I found 27 Entertainment and Wade Breitzke through our reception hall in Chesterton, and I couldn’t have been happier with our decision to go with his company. From the first time I spoke with him over the phone, he was a joy to work with and he made sure we were completely happy with our decisions regarding the music we chose and what music we wanted to avoid.
We met with him once, and immediately paid the deposit that day to lock in our wedding date, and thank goodness we did. We got to work on our music lists and Wade made sure he had all the music we requested before the big day. We bought the package that included uplighting, and he was a great help in deciding what colors would look best and what should be done, and he was right with everything he suggested. Everything looked fantastic.
As for the reception itself, I have never had more fun at a wedding, party, or concert (although, I might be biased). The dance floor was packed the entire night and he got out on the floor with us a couple of times to get in on the fun. Everyone at the reception commented on how remarkable he was, and how they had an absolutely great time. Brett’s cousin even got in contact with Wade to work her wedding a year away, showing how fantastic he was. I cannot overstate how much fun we had working with Wade, how much fun we had at the reception, and how thankful I am that I found him. He also had a videographer come with him to the reception and take video and he gladly gave us digital copies of everything he shot.
He was so great that during our reception, Chris Mahlmann asked him to provide the music for Business in the Backyard, where he played our wedding song and dedicated it to the newlyweds-- very thoughtful and I appreciated it. The only regret I have about the entire day is that the reception wasn’t long enough!
Husband’s Take: Wade was awesome and didn’t play the Black Eyed Peas once, as he promised.
Photographer
Jessie Josleyn of Josleyn Photography | www.josleynphotography.com
Brett and I were engaged on January 16 (a Saturday), and I proceeded to dive head first into wedding planning (like most brides do I am sure). The following Sunday my grandma and I were at our first bridal show where we met and talked with Jesse Josleyn of Josleyn Photography. We spoke to him once, went around the room, and I just had a feeling that I needed to speak with him again. (It could be because he was running a special for the month, and I can be quite the penny pincher).
That following Tuesday Brett and I went to meet with him. By the time the meeting was over, we had booked our photographer. Jesse was a joy to work with, and I felt entirely comfortable with him. We could tell he had a lot of experience and accolades (go to his studio or website and take in the number of awards he has received). He explained all of his packages and told us repeatedly that above all, he would do everything and anything to make the bride and groom happy. I was so happy with our decision, and was content that we still had a year and a half until the big day.
Well, things within my immediate family happened health-wise, and we ended up moving up the wedding forward an entire year. I got in touch with Jesse and prayed that he would still be able to work our wedding. He actually moved an engagement session around in order to be available, and that just solidified how great he is in my mind.
We had scheduled an engagement session, but the weather got in the way two different times (remember how strange August was?), and on the spur of the moment (on an 85 degree day) I called him and asked if he would be able to meet us in two hours to take the engagement pictures. He agreed without hesitation. As for the wedding day, he had another photographer (John) with him the entire day and did whatever was asked of him. We had pictures taken at the house before the wedding, at Ogden Gardens, the church, the ceremony, the reception, and even outside the reception. At the end of the day we ended up with well over 5,000 pictures, and were able to keep the digital copies of each and every one of them.
It was a pleasure to work with Jesse and the pictures we ended up with were unbelievable. I have recommended him to everyone I know, and my recommendation does not come easily. When it comes to a wedding day, I am sure every bride wants to document every minute of the day (picking pictures for the albums was the hardest thing I had done in months), and Jesse did a great job of capturing everything. I could not have been happier with any other photographer.
Husband’s Take: I hate taking photos, but Jessie and John made it much more tolerable —probably as comfortable as I’ll be on a photo shoot.
Dress
Dress from Kleinfeld’s through Brides Against Breast Cancer | www.bridesagainstbreastcancer.org
I did not go your ‘typical’ route for a dress; I actually bought mine through a charity called Brides Against Breast Cancer. My grandma was diagnosed with cancer within months of us announcing our engagement (the reason for moving our wedding up a year), and I felt that I should buy my dress somewhere and have the money go towards a good cause. She had seen a segment about BABC on the news and relayed the information to me.
BABC uses the money they get from selling used and sample dresses in order to grant wishes for terminally ill cancer patients (same premise as Make a Wish Foundation).I felt a strong connection with the charity, and made sure we were able to get to their show in Indianapolis in early summer considering they wouldn’t be back in the area until mid-2011.
Luckily I was able to find a dress that I fell in love with and bought that same day. It was a sample dress from Kleinfeld’s in New York, and I got it for under $1,000! Total bargain. The people who worked the show were great, and I can be proud that I helped support a great charity. I also donated my dress back to BABC, in the hope that someone else can enjoy the dress as much as I did.
Husbands Take: *jaw still on the floor*
Reception -
Trinity Hall at St. Patrick’s Church | www.stpatsparish.org/trinity-hall-info
Catering – Papolano’s Restaurant | www.popolanosrestaurant.com
We chose Trinity Hall because they work with Popolanos in Chesterton, and my aunt and I worked there at the time of the wedding. Trinity Hall is located on St. Patrick’s grounds, and usually when it is a church hall people don’t expect much. However, downstairs the hall is beautiful.
It has a full dance floor, pillars, full bar, and a gorgeous campus including gazebo. I worked closely with Fran and together we managed to pull a wedding together in three months (it was June when we decided to move the wedding up to September). She was extremely helpful and answered all of my questions and made the process much easier for me. Popolanos catered the event, and the food was great. The people (Especially Fred) at Popolanos were great to work with, and I knew I was in good hands. They made picking out the food and deciding which package very easy. In the end, the hall was beautiful and I am very happy with went with Trinity Hall and Popolanos.
Husband’s Take: Mmmmm…. Fried ravioli…
Florist
None!
We did not have a florist and we did not have any flowers at the event. Instead I opted to make my own bouquets out of peacock and colored feathers. They turned out great, and I got many compliments on them. I think that that is my penny pinching side of me coming out in full force. I spent about $80.00 on my bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, a boutonniere for Brett, and also had enough to make a couple of centerpieces out of the feathers.
I fully recommend making your own bouquets, it is worth the savings. And believe me, I am not a creative or crafty person! Plus, I was able to re-sell the feathers via theknot.com and get almost all of my money back!
Husband's Take: My wallet and I both loved this decision!
A Few Tips
For future brides, there are a couple of tips I got while planning and there were some I came up with myself.
- Don’t let people make you feel bad for planning ahead (if you couldn’t tell, I basically had all of my vendors within the first month of getting engaged!) It took the stress off of me knowing that I had at least a couple of details nailed down. And since we did move the wedding up, Brett and I were both grateful that I did have the vendors set, you never know what can happen.
- If you go for a cake, ask about putting Styrofoam layers underneath the top and have sheet cakes in the back. No one will know, and it will save a bundle. I opted for cupcakes and there were over half of them left in the end (I ended up giving them to the hotel staff the following morning), you’d be surprised how many people do not eat cake.
- If you are in any way computer savvy, print your own invitations. I bought mine for 50% off at a craft store and printed them on my home computer, then stuck self-adhesive pearls on them to personalize them, they looked professional and I was very happy with the end product.
- Don’t let anyone pressure you into anything just because “it is only one day”. You only get one wedding day! It is your day, and you should do what you want. So if you don’t want flowers or if you don’t want to buy a new pair of shoes, don’t get them! I wore a pair of beautiful silver heels I already had; I wore flip flops a majority of the day. Believe me, I got a lot of “feathers? You’re making your bouquets from feathers? Why?!” However, that does not mean do not appreciate or take anyone’s advice. Past brides have a lot of good tips that you may never have thought of (myself included :-)).
- Enjoy the day, try not to be stressed. While planning, I heard this many times, and I thought that I would enjoy it to its fullest and try not to get angry about a small detail not going as well as I thought it should. But trust me, the day goes by far too quickly, you may not get to talk to everyone, and there may be some small missteps throughout the day. All in all, take it in, pay attention to everything you can because the day does indeed go by far too quickly, and the only things you can take are memories and a lot of pictures.
Finally after its all over, if you go through some wedding withdrawal, know that you are not the only one. Me? I wanted to cut my hair off and move to a big city. Luckily I did neither.
Happy planning!