Ali23453's reviews

After contacting several people who told me they could not make my wedding cake in just two months I found Nicole at A Slice of Heaven, LLC. She was very friendly and willing to create my wedding cake on VERY short notice.

We ordered a three-tier white fondant cake to feed 75 people. I told Nicole I wanted something that wasn't exactly traditional - so no red velvet or anything of that nature - I wanted my guests to say my cake was something they'd never had before. She was very helpful and sent me a list of different flavors that she had invented and could make. We chose three to try and met with her to taste them.

She had made us three tiny wedding cakes! She decorated them to look just like our wedding cakes would look - so we could see and taste them. All three were absolutely delicious and any of them would've been amazing. We tried Strawberry Lemonade - Orange Chocolate - and Neapolitan.

The Neapolitan was AMAZING - the homemade marshmallow fondant was the best I'd ever had! We quickly made our choice and settled on the Neapolitan.

The day of our wedding Nicole was not only on time - she was a little early. The cake looked very similar to the picture I had shown her as what I wanted - it wasn't exact - but it was close enough that I was very happy and it tasted so good that no one cared at all what it looked like.

Overall I'm very happy with our choice to go with A Slice of Heaven and would certainly buy from her again - we got a coupon for a small tier of our wedding cake on our one year anniversary and cannot wait to eat this yummy cake again - if we can't wait that long we're considering ordering some birthday cakes from her around December.

Cindy Rice, at Blumen Haus Floral Designs is AMAZING.

I had spoken to several florists and had a VERY particular idea of what I wanted. White hydrangeas and nothing else. I had found a photo of a beautiful wedding bouquet that I wanted online and I wanted it to be EXACTLY like the picture - no exceptions. (What a bridezilla right?)

After speaking to a few florists who had indicated they would "try" to give me what I wanted and that they "might" have to substitute flowers - I was at my wits end. Spending $1000 on flowers and hearing someone will "try" is not what you want to hear.

When I met with Cindy she was prepared, she had printed out ALL the pictures I had emailed to her and gotten REAL flowers to show me as examples. She sat down with my mother, myself, my mother-in-law and my husband to discuss what we wanted for the day and didn't rush us at all. She offered great suggestions and coffee and was extremely pleasant - even my husband didn't mind being there - and that's saying something.

She immediately made me feel at ease because she assured me that my flowers were in season and that my bouquet would look exactly like whatever I told her I wanted - nothing less.

She let us "borrow/rent" the stands for our alter arrangements and the large glass vases so we didn't have to pay for them - just return them after the event.

She answered emails promptly and didn't even charge my card until AFTER she delivered the flowers and asked if I loved them.

The day of my wedding she was right on time - (early actually) and so excited. She was more enthusiastic about the flowers than I was! Her friendliness and excitement made her a joy to work with and words can't even describe the flowers she brought me.

They were EXACTLY what we discussed at our meeting and my bouquet looked like it had been taken right out of the picture I sent her. I hadn't even remembered to order a toss bouquet but she made me one and said it was her gift to me and to enjoy my day. What a relief! It's been over a week since my wedding and my bouquet is STILL alive in water downstairs.

She's brilliant - and she made my day special - I would not even think twice about sending someone to Blumen Haus Dove Floral Designs in Roanoke, they can't be beat.

Our tux rental went smoothly. My husband was fitted and picked out his tux in less than an hour - because we were getting married 4 hours away - we arranged to have the tux picked up at the local Men's Warehouse Tux mall location, not the place where we originally paid and placed the order.

I have to admit, I was slightly worried that it wouldn't work out and the tux would be wrong or not there at all when we went to pick it up - but when the day came to pick it up - everything was as we ordered it and it fit him perfectly.

All-in-all - for the $94.00 we paid to rent the tux for our wedding - you can't beat the price - my husband looked great and everything was ready right on time and exactly how we ordered it.

I couldn't be happier.

I bought my Private Label by Giza wedding gown at Le Star Bridal off Virginia Beach Blvd. in March of 2009.

Initially I went to the shop to try on a dress I had found online - only to discover that the dress was old and they did not have it in stock - instead they found 3 more dresses somewhat like the picture in the color I wanted (ivory) made by the same designer (Private Label by G) for me to try on.

One of those dresses was even better than the picture I had brought and as SOON as I tried it on I knew I was going to buy it - although it was nearly 3x my original wedding gown budget!!!

Because I was getting married in 2 months and didn't have time to order - I bought my dress off the rack and had it altered to fit me by Miss Lee, who I believe is the owner of the shop.

I came back for 4 fittings altogether - my dress had very intricate beading along the entire bottom hem and about 1-2 inches had to come off because I was only wearing 2 inch heels. Miss Lee was VERY thorough with her alterations and they were excellent. You couldn't even tell when looking at the hem that it had been taken off and sewn back on. She sewed cups in the bosom of the gown for me and was very friendly each time I came to try my dress on. She didn't stop altering the gown until she was sure it was going to fit me perfectly - so it was well worth the price for alterations after all the things she ended up doing aside from just sewing cups in, hemming it and bustling it.

You certainly get what you pay for as each time I came back for my fitting appointment (you get an appointment card) they knew exactly who I was and already had my beautiful dress hanging up in a changing room ready for me to put on and see what needed to be done to it. (Vastly different from how I was treated at David's Bridal when I was told to stand to the side until someone could help me - and waited nearly 30 minutes to get a "bridal consultant" who was also helping SEVERAL other people at the same time as me.)

When I went to pick up my dress before the wedding it had been cleaned and pressed and was placed into a very nice garment bag to protect it.

All-in-all - it was a great experience and I would certainly recommend this shop to friends - as long as they are willing to spend top dollar.

We used Schaal's catering for our May 30th wedding in Fincastle, Va. We chose to both get married and have our reception at the historic Kyle House on Main Street.

The venue was beautiful and vintage - with lots of character. Original woodwork and hardwood floors throughout. The upstairs "ballroom" is fabulous - the paint is very lovely and because the venue already is set up with tables and chairs and tablecloths it's very reasonable to rent - as you don't have to pay to rent those things as extra - they came included with the venue rental price.

Because we were planning our wedding from afar - and in only two months - I had to take much of what was happening on faith - as there were several things which were being done to the venue in preparation for our wedding in the back barn area (the garden, trellis, pond, painting, some decoration etc.) still needed to be completed.

I was happy that I was able to get ready there, rehearse there and decorate the night before, and bring my dog so that he could be in wedding photos.

The only complaints I have are these:

1- Some of the food we had - we chose finger foods as a cocktail hour in lieu of sit down dinner - probably should've been warm - i.e. - fried green tomatoes and stuffed mushrooms - as they were cold, nasty, and soggy. If they couldn't be kept warm - they should've been replaced with something else. Overall though - the food was good and everyone loved it - particularly the large shrimp and the delicious spinach dip.
2- Some of the decor was not fitting for a wedding - though I know that is not all the area is used for - we had to move a bunch of really tacky bird decoration out of the room I was getting ready in because I didn't want stuffed bright blue birds in my wedding photos.
3- Being herded for the sake of the almighty $$$. What I mean by this is - our wedding was on a Saturday and I was informed SEVERAL times by several people that there was another wedding there the following day - basically they were trying to get me to change as little as possible in order to make it easier on them I felt - so I got some resistance on some things I didn't like that I wanted to change. There was an issue with an arch and I didn't like what had been done to it - SINCE the last time I had seen it - which was pretty dramatic and not suited to all tastes. No worries, I fixed it with relative ease - but was told that I was "only one of 6 events" and I had to understand that. I didn't like that, although my meager $2000 wedding spend may not have been considered grand - it was still my wedding and I didn't ask for that much - I just didn't like something that had been changed after I'd initially seen it.

Overall however, I was very pleased. They were able to squeeze my wedding in in only 2 months - worked with me on several issues - did manage to change the small things I wanted although I felt they didn't want me to - in the end, when I pushed for it - I got what I wanted, and they transformed the barn and garden into a BEAUTIFUL venue in only 2 months. I was very impressed with how beautiful the pond and garden area looked and you could tell they had put A LOT of work into it and done it well.

Also - their staff were very nice and friendly - they packed us a "to go" plate for the ride down the road to our honeymoon B&B - put some water in the car for me - and loved my dog. They also moved things around when I asked and were very helpful.

I would recommend them to friends - only not the cold mushrooms and friend green tomatoes...eww. :)

I knew I wanted to work with DeAnna from the moment I met her.

She's very personable and friendly - she showed me some options of items I could purchase after the wedding in her studio and I was impressed with the selection and also the fairly reasonable prices for most of her items. I like that she offers various coffee table albums and wedding albums with different price ranges - for those who may want one but not choose to spend an extra $1000 on one.

Because DeAnna is from Norfolk, Va and we chose to get married where we're from, Fincastle, Va (4 hours away) we paid for travel/lodging/food for DeAnna to photograph our event - even with this included she was one of the most reasonable photographers I found whose work I liked enough to consider for my wedding.

She created an itinerary for the wedding a few weeks prior and had it approved by me, had me fill out paperwork (with names and numbers in case she got lost) and showed up right on time the day of my wedding. Because she was so thorough I wasn't at all worried or stressed out because I knew she would have everything under control.

She easily fit in at our wedding with all my family and friends and everyone loved her. Although all of my pictures are not posted yet (it's only been a week) those she posted as a teaser on her blog are fantastic and I couldn't be happier with our choice. I cannot wait to see the rest of my pictures and will recommend DeAnna to anyone in the area needing a photographer and not hesitate to use her services again myself in the future if need be.

She was prompt with email and very professional while not being stuffy, just what we needed with our wedding party.

Thanks DeAnna!

I made my own wedding programs so I went to A C Moore to pick out some paper to print them on.

I found some specialty parchment that had a nice texture to it and was about $.25 a sheet - I could make 2 per sheet - so only needing 100 that wasn't a bad price.

The only problem was I wanted it in cream/ivory and they only had about 10 sheets. I asked for help and the young lady helping me did everything she could to find what I needed - she scanned the items and looked them up in her inventory - checked the back and even phoned a nearby store to see if they had more in stock. Eventually we were able to make it work and I left with enough to make my wedding programs.

I also made small tissue paper decorations and found the items I needed at AC Moore.

The wedding section had cute ideas and some Martha Stewart items as well as some other small wedding accessories that I used for both ideas and inspiration.

Because the store is near our house - less than a mile - I would often go and walk around to get ideas for decor or to see how much it would cost to make something myself instead of buying it for our wedding day.

All in all - happy with my purchases and customer service experience in the store in Virginia Beach, Landstown Shopping Area.

I bought all my wedding jewelry and bridesmaid jewelry on Etsy.com

I love that I can customize what I want by working directly with the seller/creator of items.

I purchased my small pearl earrings, necklace and three matching small pearl necklaces for my bridesmaids from a seller called "Jeweledblossoms". They arrived in beautiful little purple gift boxes tied with a bow with little glittery white flowers on the box - it was perfect because I didn't even have to gift wrap them! Shipping was very fast, the seller was very friendly and helpful - and I got it all for about $150.00

I also purchased my wedding veil on Etsy.com - for $20 - I got an ivory veil - customized for me - with small crystals sprinkled along the back of the veil - it also came with the attached hair comb. A price that can't be beat considering at bridal shops they tend to run anywhere from $100-500 depending how elaborate you want them.

My favorite Esty.com wedding purchase was my small, freshwater pearl custom bracelet from sTuckintheCoop. It has variously sized (but all similar) freshwater pearls and two silver charms - one is stamped with mine and my husband's initials and the other is a small heart stamped with the date of our wedding - 5.30.2009. It is absolutely adorable and I love it - I wear it EVERY day.

Etsy is and has been a favorite of mine for a few months now - I will continue to use it to buy jewelry and other assorted goodies but HIGHLY recommend it to brides as you can find nearly anything you want on Etsy and can work with the seller to have it customized just for you if you so choose.

We ordered our wedding invitations in white from wedding consultants.com and our wedding favors.

I had found seeded paper invitations that can be planted on another website and loved the idea - but at about $400-600 for 100 invitations - were well out of my price range.

I was delighted when I found seeded heart wedding favors on the invitation consultants website and was able to purchase 100 of them for about $100 - they were printed with our names and the date of our wedding and had an adorable little heart graphic with instructions and "let love bloom" printed on them.

Our wedding invitations were simple and white - with a small inlaid design on the right-hand side, but still very beautiful and I loved them. I ordered the lined pink envelopes and everything arrived just as ordered and in good condition about 2 weeks after my order (as you have to approve the drafts they send you before they print the actual invitations).

My only issue was that I did not get enough of the seeded hearts to go with my favors (they had to be attached with ribbon - that did not come with it but I was aware of that). I had been shorted by about 20 of them (there are 2 for each favor).

I called customer service - waited for only a moment - and was helped by a very friendly young woman who apologized and advised me they would ship more out to me immediately - and I got them a few days later.

All-in-all - a GREAT product at a good price and good customer service - very happy.

I found the dresses I wanted my bridesmaids to wear on BestBridalPrices.com

Because we were getting married quickly - in only two months - I had to look at the quick ship dresses and find one in the color I wanted, light pink, and in enough sizes to fit the range I needed for my girls.

I found the dress I wanted and was told it would ship in 4-6 weeks. My girls ordered their dresses and we waited.

Although each of them had to call to make sure the dress had been shipped because only one of them was sent tracking information - the dresses did arrive about 6 weeks later - and all were the color and size ordered.

They didn't look exactly like the picture - they were close - but it was clear it was not exactly the same.

All in all however, the dresses arrived when promised, in the sizes and colors ordered, and looked beautiful on my girls on the day of my wedding so I am pleased with the transaction and the service I received and would probably recommend this site to a friend in need of a bridesmaid or wedding dress.