Working with Menna from Down-to-Earth Paperworks was a dream! Not only was our wedding stationary one-of-a-kind, beautiful, personalized, and completely "us", we got the added bonus of feeling great about supporting a talented, passionate, and creative business. What more could you ask for?

We placed our order for our wedding stationary (invites, thank you cards, ceremony programs, escort cards, and table numbers) right as Down-to-Earth Paperworks was just getting their website and ordering up and running. I believe we were one of the first orders that were placed, but you would have never known that based on the level of professionalism that this business operates at. Menna was always incredibly fast at responding to all of our inquiries and the whole process of creating our wedding stationary was extremely quick.

Menna sent us a packet of samples and color swatches, and we discussed via email the look and feel we had envisioned for our wedding. In what seemed like no time at all, Menna had worked up several mock-up designs which she created just for us. She hit the nail perfectly on the head regarding the aesthetic we were hoping for! She definitely has an eye for design and is very attune to what her customers are asking for. She was always extremely flexible, excited about our ideas and sharing her own with us, and her enthusiasm made the design process stress-free and fun. Menna was also a great resource regarding our general questions about wedding etiquette and how to plan for quantities of each item etc., and we really appreciated her honest input.

Our stationary was completed and mailed to us, and we received it exactly as described. Aside from all the other qualities that you might expect from a wedding vendor (reliability, responsiveness, and a good product), we saw as soon as we opened the box of our stationary that Menna came through for us above and beyond our expectations. It was very apparent how much care, attention to detail, and love went into the creation of our invitations. We couldn't have asked for more!

Additionally, even after all was said and done and the invitations were sent out, Menna was available and willing to help at a moment's notice. When we encountered a "minor disaster" with the addressing of our escort cards two weeks before our wedding (completely our printer's fault, not Menna's), I emailed Menna and she was willing to make more on the spot in order to have them ready in time for the wedding. Thankfully, the issue was resolved without needing to print any extras, but it was extremely reassuring to know that Menna was there for us!

We got so many great complements from our guests regarding our invitations. So many of them said they had never seen an invitation design like ours before, and they were very impressed. We felt that our stationary completely encapsulated the "feel" of our wedding day, and we actually used the designs that Menna created for us as inspiration for some of the other elements in the wedding, such as our cake. Everything came together perfectly, and we really felt it was an accurate representation of our style.

We would work with Down-to-Earth Paperworks again and again! We recommend them highly!

Leanna at Bella Blooms did a fantastic job on the floral arrangements for our wedding! When we met with her, I had very specific color and flower types in mind, and Leanna completely jumped on board with my ideas. She immediately understood what my priorities were (boldness and lots of rich vibrant colors). Not only was Leanna extremely enthusiastic about my ideas, she understood that I was okay with a little bit of "edginess", and she suggested several ideas that I would have never thought of. As it turned out, everything she suggested ended up completely complementing and enhancing the overall finished product, and they ended up being some of my favorite elements in the designs.

Picking out floral arrangements was a unique experience because in our case we were picking out arrangements for our August wedding in NOVEMBER of the previous year (what can I say, we were excited! AND! Being "on-the-ball" about booking vendors early allowed us the opportunity to work with Bella Blooms...it's pretty clear that they are an in-demand operation! They are SO affordable!). Although I completely trusted Leanna's vision and commitment to the ideas we discussed, months and months passed after we had made those decisions, and it wouldn't be until the very day of the wedding that we saw the finished product.

On the day of the wedding, seeing the bridal party flowers for the first time was amazing. They were beautiful, fresh, and exactly as described on our invoice down to the smallest detail. When I look back now at the "inspiration photos" that I brought to Leanna so long ago, she completely captured the vision, far beyond my expectations, and also at the same time created such unique arrangements for us.

Leanna made bridal party personal flower arrangements for us, and some larger arrangements to decorate our ceremony site and aisle. Although our order was on the small side and we did not have any reception flowers, Leanna NEVER pressured us to add more to our order and never made us feel like our order wasn't a high priority for her. She was clear from the get-go that she wanted us to be satisfied but kept cost and efficiency in mind (i.e. reusing the ceremony flowers to decorate the cake and guestbook tables) and we really appreciated that. Leanna definitely had our best interests in mind.

I have never been one of those girls to hang on to flower arrangements for a long time. I was never about "preserving" or saving my bouquet...I figured...hey, they're just flowers! They'll be pretty, and then they'll die! Oh WELL! After I seeing my bouquet from Bella Blooms, I GET it now. I didn't save my bouquet, but I was so in love with it, and I wish I could have enjoyed it for longer than just a day!

We knew early on that we wanted the Blackmarket Bakery to make our wedding cake. We loved their made-from-scratch philosophy and had ordered a cake previously from them for our engagement party, which was delicious. Although we wanted a visually pleasing cake for our wedding, our main priority was that we wanted a tasty, yummy cake. We felt the Blackmarket Bakery had the yummy factor completely covered.

When we initially called them to put in the order for our wedding cake we were met with some slight hesitation on their part about committing to our order. To their credit, on their website, they EXPLICITLY say that they DO NOT make wedding cakes. I was a bit confused by that, but not deterred, and when I talked to Traci on the phone, things became a little more clear. The Blackmarket Bakery does not make "wedding cakes" in the sense that they don't want to make you a cake that looks EXACTLY like the ornately decorated cake in BRIDE magazine that you may be in love with. Apparently they have had issues in the past with these kind of expectations.

However, our experience with the Blackmarket Bakery was NOTHING but positive. I assured Traci that our priority was taste and flavor, and that we were wanting a very basic, simple design for our three tiered cake. We discussed teal and creme fondant alternating teirs, with a criss-crossing ribbon design, for which we provided the ribbon. Although she told me that they don't do exact replicas, based on the ideas we came up with and the example photos I brought to the bakery, our cake not only tasted amazing, but also looked EXACTLY how I envisioned it. The decoration and color was perfect, and the overall look of the cake was extremely sleek and modern, which was exactly what we were going for. On top of all that it was soooo great tasting. We froze our top layer (Banana Split!!) and I don't think we will make it a full year before we're dying to unthaw that baby!

Overall, we were pleased with the Blackmarket Bakery and I'm glad were weren't so easily deterred by their "no wedding cake" policy. I would say that if your priority is a great tasting cake then I would completely recommend Blackmarket!