bhankin2's reviews

I had a beach wedding, so I wanted a beach themed favor. We ordered sand dollar shaped cookies that came in sleeves of 13. We order a case of 312 cookies for $72, which we were able to give away in groups of 3. We ordered the lemon flavored cookies, and they were really tasty. They were cute too. We wrapped them in clear bags and tied it with blue ribbon to match the table settings.
You can also order the cookies with icing on one side. They look really good too.

This was the all inclusive resort we went to in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It was a fabulous vacation, and everything was included. Because the Dominican Republic is an up and coming travel destination, the prices are awesome. We paid $2600 for 5 nights, all of the food and drinks we could ask for, nightly performances, round trip flights, and rides to and from the airport. This is a 4 1/2 star resort, and I could not believe the price. I have traveled a lot in the past, and this was fabulous. I never want to go to a non-all inclusive resort again. We highly recommend this resort.
The only negative we found was the long drive from the airport to the resort. They have the worst roads I have ever seen. Do not rent a car.

I chose Ann Taylor to get the bridesmaid dresses. I like that you can choose a color, but the girls can choose their own style in that color. It worked out really well. We ended up getting them all on sale for $130 a piece. Good deal for a cute dress.

We decided to have our rehearsal dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant because they offered a separate party room away from the rest of the restaurant. They made us a small menu of 4 entrees. The choices were good. The food was good, but not fantastic. The staff was good as well, but not great.

La Renaissance is a small boutique salon with several different rooms. I had my hair and makeup done there by one woman. I was a little worried at first, but she did such a great job. My makeup seems really heavy while she was working, but that is just because I don't wear a lot on a daily basis. I really loved my hair and makeup when she finished. I felt truly beautiful!

We used this rental company for our beach arbor, tables, chairs, linens, and place settings. They had everything at the beachhouse on time, ready to set up. They kept our wedding coordinator current on any changes to the bill. H&M Party Rentals was very dependable.

I only used music for our beach ceremony. We had a guy named Hunter Dawson play acoustic guitar, and he was fantastic. He plays classical, modern, and everything in between. He really kept in touch through phone and email. He could play pretty much anything that fit our personalities. Everything from Canon in D to Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. He even sang our exit song, "Better Together" by Jack Johnson. I didn't get to hear him much, but our guests said he was great!

This bakery had very good reviews from the locals in Destin. My mom and I had heard that they made some of the best cakes around. That was true. I had a small cake, 3 square tiers total, that would serve about 50 people. We kept the top tier. The carrot cake was to die for. Yum!!!
However, they were the absolute worst about getting back in touch with us. We had gone in person to speak with them about 9 months before teh wedding, and we spoke with the bakers assistant. She wrote all of our wants down and said that she would give it to her boss. I don't think that ever happened though. Our new initials are BRA, for Brooke and Anthony Robertson. Now, you would think that we wouldn't have to tell them not to write that on our cake, even though we did tell them to put ARB instead. Our cake showed up on the wedding day and said BRA. Really? Who would want that on a wedding cake? Someone was not using common sense. And, the letters looked like something I could make. The cake tasted delicious, but the looks of it were very disappointing.

Ryan and Gina were so awesome, and Ryan's wife Erica kept in touch with me constantly. She is their assistant. They were all amazing! They took fabulous photographs, and they were so great to work with. They make you feel so beautiful throughout the whole day. I couldn't have asked for better photographers. They are so enthusiastic about what they do. Ryan and Gina want to get the best possible shot every time.
I came across the Pure 7 website while searching for photographers. I loved their pictures, and the prices weren't completely outrageous if you didn't want them to be. I got a fairly small package, and paid $2500. My package included 4 hours, about 30 edited pictures for an album, a canvas, and the edited CD on our first anniversary. They do this because the CD is $500 alone. You can pay extra to get it earlier.

I had order my invitations online, but I was disappointed. So my mom and I went to Shara's Paperie, in Memphis, TN. She sat down with us for an hour and got our ideas. She helped us narrow things down and come up with great colors. Shara designed 3 different styles of starfish, because I was having a beach wedding. She sent all of the proofs through email, and everything was easy. They turned out beautiful, and just what I was looking for. I order 60 of them for $450.