My fiancee and I looked into having our wedding ceremony and reception at the Renaissance Hotel in North Austin. They have just added a beautiful new ballroom so we were excited about the thought of getting married there. However, the entire experience was less than desirable. The wedding coordinator was very pushy and did not do a very good job of listening to what we envisioned. We asked her to put together a proposal for us, and we found that not only was the price outside of the budget we had given her, but she included many options that we had never discussed. She was not willing to negotiate with us on pricing, and a couple weeks later, she randomly told us that the food and minimum beverage had gone up $5,000 from where she originally told us. We were pretty dissatified with the service at the hotel and opted out of having our reception there, as beautiful as the ballroom was.

My fiancee and I designed and printed our Save the Dates through Vistaprint.com. We made very cute postcards with our photo on the front and back, and added our Save the Date information on one side. They turned out great!!! And even better, it was very cost efficient - for 200 post cards we spent about $43, including tax and shipping. We weren't planning on doing Save the Dates at all, but they were cute and cheap! We have received lots of compliments on them! I highly recommend this to any bride on a budget!

Many brides don't know but JCREW has a fantastic line of bridal/bridal party attire! We just ordered the cutest strapless dresses from the JCREW website. I would recommend ordering by phone - the associate was extremely helpful and also agreed to waive our shipping costs when I told her it was for a wedding. She also was helpful in choosing sizes and did not seem annoyed when I ordered 14 dresses to try on when I will only have 4 bridesmaids! JCREW also has a 60-day return policy and all items can be returned at the store. Just beware when you buy an item marked FINAL SALE - these items cannot be returned or exchanged!!!

I found the Austin Bridal Extravaganza to be more overwhelming and stressful than helpful. My fiancee and I went to the show shortly after getting engaged - we felt extremely stressed and lost the entire time we were there! I would recommend trying to go to a show when you are further along in your planning, so that you know exactly what you are looking for and exactly what you need. Wear your sneakers - there is aisle after aisle of showcases to see. Bring some water - lots of food and cake to taste! Finally, beware of all of your personal information you give out at the extravaganza - I received WAY too many spam calls and emails after entering into different drawings! I would advise against filling out anything except for maybe the tux rentals (for the discount)!

Skip at All About Honeymoons was fantastic to work with, and I highly recommend him to any bride and groom in need of some help planning their special trip! Skip was very very patient and very responsive to any calls or emails we sent his way. He was happy to research different resorts and compare prices for us. Skip has been to many of the resorts himself and has personal photo albums that he is more than happy to share with us. He also has very good connections in the industry so was able to get us some better deals that way. He did not mark up any prices or anything - we ended up getting a fantastic deal and cannot wait until we leave for our honeymoon!

I would not recommend Seredipity Bridal for any bride on a budget. The moment I walked into the store I knew I had made a mistake. Most of the gowns in the store, though beautiful, are in the thousands of dollars. There is a clearance rack however I have to say that most of the gowns I saw hanging there had rips and tears or were extremely dirty. Mariana is very sweet but also very pushy, and did not seem to take into consideration anything that I told her as far as my likes and dislikes.

Although I did not purchase my gown at David's Bridal, I do need to give props to Jenny, one of the consultants at the Gateway location in Austin. She was very very patient as I tried on essentially every dress in the store. She was also happy to stay late even when I was there past the store closing time. Never did I feel rushed or felt like a burden to her - she was always there and happy to help. Even after I told her I was not purchasing a dress from their store, she called just to check in on how I was doing. If any brides go to David's Bridal I highly recommend speaking with Jenny!

Alfred Angelo was one of my first stops on my wedding gown hunt and it was a horrific experience. My associate was rude and acted like she had better things to be doing than to help me find dresses and try them out. When I put on a gown that was slightly too small for me, she told me that I must have been a swimmer because I had a strangely shaped body. I am not a swimmer and don't appreciate her comments. Needless to say I did not purchase anything that day and do not plan on returning in the future. Stay away from there!

We met with DJ Aztec and are very excited to have him and his wife DJ our wedding in 09. They have a family-run DJ business and seem like a great couple. They seem to not only know what they are doing but also care about what they're doing, and care about making our wedding a fun and memorable experience. More to come after the wedding!

Nikki at Fullsnaps Photography took our engagement photos and they turned out great! She was very patient with us and took her time with every shot. We did not leave until she was confident she had a great bunch of photos for us. Nikki has a very creative eye and the end result was a set of fantastic photos that we can share with family and friends before and after the wedding! She is new to the photography industry and is just now getting her feet wet in the industry but I would recommend her work to any bride in the Austin area!