kissyo's reviews

Vault is a fantastic place - trendy enough to suit our tastes and with the perfect atmosphere for a bunch of ladies out to have a good time. We were served quickly and the staff really played up the energy that we brought to the place. Our antics were encouraged, but it wasn't a shady environment that catered to anything sketchy. Vault was the perfect find because it met that balance between classy and fun, without erring too much on one side or the other. And of course, the drinks were great! We all knocked back a couple, and some of the girls had pizza, which was super good too.

FANTASTIC VENUE! We chose Kruger's because of word-of-mouth: some friends had married there the year before, and while we hadn't attended, we'd heard it was a beautiful site. The selling point for me was a 100 year old oak tree under which the ceremonies usually took place. It was beautiful. The farm holds weddings all summer and ours was the first of the season, so any time I went out to visit the site, everyone knew me and called out to me because mine was the wedding they were getting ready for! The folks were so easy to work with and the cost (I think $1500) was reasonable for the location.

The hotel was cozy, not luxurious, but perfect for us. We loved the independence offered by the full kitchen and ended up spending plenty of time just lounging around, cooking our own food, and enjoying the view of Whistler. Unfortunately, our whole stay was cloudy, so we never got to enjoy the full Whistler experience. The village is charming and beautiful, and was accessible with just a day's road trip from Portland. It wasn't ski season, but that was alright with us since we preferred to just take it easy and do the touristy things around town. The only complaint (aside from the weather, which couldn't be helped) was that we were on the top floor of the hotel, and at night the heat from all of the rooms below rose and practically smoked us out. We were SO HOT until we opened all the windows and froze the rest of the night. From then on, we had the AC on every night.

Our room was beautiful and had a great view, but was so stinkin expensive. It's clear through these reviews so far that we were very mindful of budgeting throughout the whole wedding-planning process, but this was one place in which we felt free to be extravagant - it was, after all, our only wedding night. We loved the view of the Willamette River and the luxurious service of staying in a nice place. We had breakfast the next morning at the grill in the hotel - so delicious. One frustration was that we would've parked our own car without any problem, but when the valet offered to take care of it, we didn't realize it was a $26 charge.

I've never liked favors that just sit around collecting dust, so I knew we had to go with something that was either useful or was a tasty, transient treat. When I heard about Wrapped Hersheys, I knew it had to be the latter option for us. The process online was so easy and convenient, and the delivery was prompt. Most importantly, everything was spelled correctly! Everyone got to enjoy a couple of little chocolates adorable wrapped in blue or green (our colors) with brown polka dots, and on the top were our names the date. On the reverse was a cute little message: Thank you for sharing in our special day! It was the perfect favor: fun, playful, cute, personal.

Aside from Kate, our photographer, this was the best find of the whole process. We stumbled on G.G.'s after facing huge discouragement and disappointment with other caterers we'd pursued. Everyone was way out of our budget range (my total wedding budget was $12,000) and made us feel like paupers. Then we found G.G.'s through a simple Google search. My mom was in town, so we went there in person and scoped out the place by eating lunch at the restaurant. The food was delicious and the place was so cute, but we were doubtful about whether they could handle such a large event (250+ guests). They absolutely handled it, and beautifully so. They receive a 4 from me because, though the food was exceptional and the service FLAWLESS, the total ended up being a bit more than was originally quoted.

You can't really go wrong for a budget-friendly venue that can feed the size of our crowd. We chose a few menu options and everything worked out pretty easily: we had a huge banquet room to ourselves, laughed as loudly as we wanted, and had a great time. Service was prompt and easy, the location was really accessible from the freeway, and everyone was able to just relax and enjoy the time to be together. The "Spag Fac" as we call it has been a good fallback of ours for a cheap date night, and worked well for a cheap, but still classy, rehearsal dinner venue.

I loved the idea of a cupcake tower instead of a cake, especially because there were so many children invited to our wedding. My husband's favorite part of the process was the sampling appointment, where we tried out about a dozen mini-cupcakes. St. Cupcake was easy to work with, more or less affordable, and the cupcakes were not only tasty but made everyone smile to see. I also bought a stand and was provided with a photo book of ideas for how to decorate the simple cardboard stand. I ended up spray-painting it with our colors (blue and green) and lining the edges with ribbon. One of my favorite photos is one of a little girl's hand reaching out to sneak an extra cupcake from the tower!

The Party Place had worked with Kruger's Farm before, so it was really easy to set up the connections for drop off and pickup. We needed lots of tables and chairs as well as a few large tents for the day, since our reception was outside at the farm. One of the best things about working with the Party Place was their understanding: in order to plan an outdoor wedding in May in Portland, we had to be prepared for any kind of weather. Though the weekend ended up being a heat wave, we were ready for it to be stormy. Party Place had large tents on hold for us in case we needed them for the ceremony, and did not charge us anything when we didn't need to opt for them after all.

I would give her a 6 if I could. Kate was the best of all the services provided to us. Her photography is just stellar - I can't say enough about her way with the camera and the clients. She captured all of the important things of the day: laughter, playfulness, intimacy, faith. Because we didn't have a budget for a videographer AND a photographer, I knew that we needed to find the best photographer we possibly could, and we absolutely found it with Kate. I've looked at my wedding photos dozens of times! She and her whole crew were professional, prompt with the finished product, and of the highest quality. I've recommended her to friends and family and have successfully nabbed a few into going with her, too.