I learned early on that if you buy things that are specifically for weddings or are from a wedding vendor they’ll be more expensive just because they know you’re getting married! Where possible I’d buy the same items from a regular vendor. It saved me lots of money.

Hobby Lobby has lots of neat wedding things for a good price. My favorite find was little silver metal tags that said “Happily Ever After.” 
 
 


I wanted to have special bouquets that my bridesmaids and I could keep. It was one of my gifts to them. Sooo I bought wooden roses from the Rose Gypsies at the Paseo Arts Festival. These flowers are pretty and come in all different colors and a few different shapes. Because I bought wooden roses I was also able to take my time to arrange our bouquets. I supplemented the bouquets with floral arrangement things and peacock feathers from Hobby Lobby. The bouquets were beautiful. Mine is still mounted on my wall. 
 
 


This vendor was friendly, fast, and extremely cost-efficient for our budget. She stayed in contact with us as we designed our custom invitations and sent us a pdf file to show us what it would look like. Our invitations arrived quickly and looked great. We couldn’t have asked for better. I truly believe that we got a great product for a fraction of the expected cost – we couldn’t have had invitations that were so nice and unique without their help!


Rafael custom-made our wedding rings. They came out just like we imagined, and on time. We both love them. Staff here is friendly. 
 


They were very helpful in trying to get me just what I wanted for the wedding. They provided me with good alternate ideas that I hadn’t even thought about as well, which I appreciated since I’m not good with that sort of thing. I was very pleased with the service and the Tuxedo’s rented from them. Our best man told me that his tuxedo didn’t quite fit properly though, but it was only slightly off – not enough to show. So all-in-all a very good experience.

Our officiant was helpful and excited about our wedding and became our friend over the course of working together. We had some specific and tricky needs for our ceremony and he helped us find a graceful solution for everything. He understood our needs very well and when he showed up on our wedding day he brought items that we had forgotten to bring! “Rev Kev” is one of those rare officiants who can open-mindedly and respectfully perform ceremonies from a variety of religions (or none at all) and truly enjoys his role as an officiant. We chose him because of his knowledge of different cultures and theologies and his ability to seamlessly and inoffensively weave together different traditions.

While we chose to only use candids from friends at our wedding, we had onsite portraits made for our parents by Sight Key Studios a week after the wedding. Robert Henry is extremely friendly and easy to work with and had a good understanding of how to utilize the location we chose. We took both outdoor and indoor photos and all looked excellent – my mother loved them, and that was what was most important to me! I’m not a fan of traditional portraits but Robert has a creative edge that adds extra interest to his work, so in the end, he even pleased me. He did excellently and I’m certain I could not have gotten the same results from anyone else. 
 
 


The one thing that I chose to splurge on for my bridal outfit was a circlet from medievalbridalfashions.com. I looked all over the place and nowhere else could I find such well-crafted headwear. The pieces here are custom-made in the metal of your choice and with the stones of your choice, and when you receive them in the mail they look exactly like the pictures. It is comfortable and fits well. Our wedding had an elven/fairytale flair with a traditional overtone and the ivy circlet I bought from this vendor fit the theme perfectly and, to me, was the highlight of my wedding ensemble. Service was quick and friendly, and I received email updates as to the status of my piece as it was being made. As far as internet customer service goes, this is easily one of my best experiences. 
 


This was the perfect site for our wedding. All of our guests said so. Even the children had fun exploring the grounds during the reception. If you are looking for an outdoor venue, go visit and you’ll understand why. The grounds are beautiful. It is a wooded lot with a fish pond, fountain, winding walkways, and a romantic lighted wedding gazebo. Even though the event is outdoors, the food is set up nearby indoors so you don’t have to worry about bugs or climate control. Grounds rental comes with a 1-night rental of two nearby suites with hot tubs and breakfast the next morning. Suite rental means that you have a spare room you can give to out-of-town relatives and it also means that guests have an indoor place to escape to if they need it. The staff at Whispering Pines is always friendly and helpful. And all of this even though at the time we priced venues, this place was near the bottom price range for the locations we were considering. I can’t give them enough praise; they made my wedding very beautiful and romantic. There was a glitch involving the new sound system, but if I know them, I’m sure it was fixed by the time the next couple was married there.


Another great thing about Whispering Pines is the convenience of being able to have your ceremony and reception in the same spot. Because of this, all guests were able to stay for the reception. The logistics of moving furniture in between the ceremony and reception while everyone is waiting sounds awkward, but the staff at Whispering Pines has done it so many times that it works out seamlessly. So if you’re worried about this – don’t be. They have the timing on everything down-pat and will not be in anyone’s way. Another great plus is that they have all the chairs and tables – you don’t need to rent them. In fact, if you use Whispering Pines, you can have everything taken care of for you.
 


When we spoke with the staff at whispering pines we were told that we didn’t need a wedding planner because they would take care of everything for us. They were right. They did. The way they ran the event really did make it so that we didn’t need anyone else to coordinate, and that gave us one less thing to worry about.
 
 
 


The food provided by Whispering Pines was good and decently priced. We were able to choose from a handful of food items to accompany fruit and veggie platters so that there was something good for each of our guests. It tasted good, it came out on time, everyone liked it. The staff at Whispering Pines is always fabulous. They cleaned up for us and provided dishes. My only issue with the food is that we were not able to keep left-overs, but we also didn’t think to ask about them, so maybe if you ask you get to keep it! 


This location was too expensive for most of our out-of-town guests, but we didn’t have many out-of-towners and also were not in charge of their lodging so it wasn’t an issue for us. The ones who did stay here loved it, and at least one of them came back for their anniversary later that year. 
 


The suite we stayed at in Whispering Pines was roomy, comfortable, and romantic. Just go visit and imagine staying there. We had a nice couch and table to lounge on that evening while we opened gifts and read cards, then spent some romantic time in the hot tub (candles and bubble bath were provided!), had a night in a comfortable bed, and received a delicious breakfast in the morning. We had ordered the breakfast the evening before, so it came without our call the next day. We have great memories here and hope to enjoy a return trip on some special anniversary.