mwalch's reviews

Once we had decided on our venue, we were instructed that they only used one caterer. I was a little hesitant at first, but once we went to the food tasting - I was THRILLED! When we arrived for the tasting, I thought we had stumbled into an actual wedding reception. The set up was beautiful with table linens, china, food displays and flower centerpieces. The food was delicious. They had the different types of options – plated, passed and buffet style. I really had my heart set on a plated dinner but once I saw the buffet style carving stations with the London broil and herbed chicken, I made up my mind. It was delicious. We were stuffed at the end of the tasting! The day of our wedding- everyone raved about the food. Everything was set up beautifully and most of our guests went up for seconds or thirds for the creamy basil mashed potatoes. It was great. The only grumble is that the woman at the carving station didn't speak or understand English very well. Other than that, we were catered to by our own personal server who took our plates to the table (awesome, so I don't get anything on my dress) and she even saved us some of the hors d'oeuvres that we missed while taking pictures. It was AWESOME!

I was extremely happy with Solutions Bridal. I did not purchase my wedding dress from here but I did try on many dresses. Meg was a great consultant and helped ease my nerves. Wedding dress shopping wasn't as fun as I had hoped it would be and she could tell I was under a lot of pressure. I tried on a bunch of gorgeous dresses but ultimately went somewhere else for my dress. I did purchase my jewelry, veil and bra from here. I have nothing but good things to say about this store. Friendly and nice to everyone! Thank you! :D

I was overall pleased with the services provided by BBA. I had a few issues that were unforeseeable, but it was still a little stressful. I had scheduled my makeup and hair trial and it went well. I liked my hair and makeup and decided to sign with them. A few months later - I received an email that I would need to come in for another make up trial (Free of charge) because the makeup artist was no longer with the company. No big... except I live in Florida and my wedding is in Virginia. Luckily, I was able to make a trip to VA before the wedding and have an even better experience with makeup artist Kira. I really loved what she did and was excited. Day of my wedding - I receive a phone call from Kira that she is ill and unable to make it. PANICKED a little- luckily Suzanne was able to fill in for her. I completely understood that Kira was ill and unable to do my makeup and I really appreciated her taking the time to call me personally even though she sounded terrible. Angela and Suzanne did a great job and I'm very pleased. Everyone complimented my makeup and my hair especially. It was just a little hard since I lived out of state - not their fault.

Our officiant was GREAT! It was important to us to have someone marry us that was special... and Kenneth is special. We met with two officiants and as soon as we sat down and talked with Kenneth for 2 minutes - I knew he would be the one to marry us. His words were so heartfelt and charming. I didn't want a 5 minute ceremony and I didn't want an hour long ceremony. I wanted it to be intimate and romantic. Kenneth did just that. EVERYONE at the wedding commented on how sweet his words were and everyone kept saying they felt like he really knew my husband and me as a couple. He made our day all the more special and we will always cherish it. Our photographer even asked for his contact information because she said it was one of the best weddings she had been to! :)

I had a HORRIBLE experience with Papeterie. It was such a huge headache and it should not have been. I spent a lot of money on these invitations and it took 3 shipments for me to finally receive the correct wedding invitations. The invitations were not printed in the correct colors the first time. The second time, the colors were correct but the grammatical changes as stipulated in the proofing process were not correct. I had to call multiple times to check on my order. I dealt with Kim through the proofing process so when I received the second shipment wrong again, I e-mailed her immediately and called the store. I received no return phone call - but an email simply stating: “I will have these resent out tomorrow. You should receive them on Saturday.” No, I’m sorry for the confusion or I apologize for the inconvenience. I was livid at this point and called the store and asked to speak to a manager or owner. I was STUNNED to find out that Kim in fact was the owner. Talk about poor customer service. You are the owner and that is how you handle a complaint? I asked to speak to someone different because I couldn’t believe her customer service skills, so I was transferred to her husband! He was somewhat helpful. At least he over-nighted the correct invitations and finally – I received them. I was not offered an apology for the confusion or partial refund. I am extremely disappointed and have made it known on wedding blogs not to use Papeterie!

I'm so thrilled that we chose Bluemont for our wedding venue. My husband and I were visiting my parents in Fairfax during the Thanksgiving holiday and he proposed to me. So, the next day we went to Bluemont to celebrate and drink wine with the family. I asked the girl behind the counter if they had weddings and she said of course. We looked around and toured the place and looked at photos of past weddings. I looked to him and said - what do you think? He replied, I give it a 9 out of 10. I said - Ok, we will get married here. I didn't look at any other wedding venues and I am not impulsive! It was PERFECT!! The staff was so helpful and accommodating. Beth and Emily were extremely responsive to my many e-mails :) Planning a long distance wedding is hard - but they were so helpful. 99% of the wedding attendees were from out of town and everyone kept raving about the beautiful location and the venue. It was great for a fall wedding! The fall foliage was an awesome back drop for our day! Perfect day! Perfect everything!

This was by far the second best thing about planning our wedding! We had 3 cake appointments and each had their pros and cons... except for the last place. She did an AMAZING cake tasting. Cakes by Megan in Auburndale, VA...First of all, she had 6 PAGES OF FLAVORS... ranging from strawberry Grand Marnier to chocolate chip. She told us to pick out 3 flavors and there would be a small fee for any extra tasting flavors. I wanted a full spectrum so I chose 5. My husband CHOSE 1 FLAVOR OUT OF ALL OF THEM... and it was chocolate chip. I could have smacked him (Breathe in, breathe out) but I let it go. So, we show up at the location and it is at her house. Her wonderful mom answered the door and showed us in to the sitting room. She was running a little behind, so my mom, dad, husband, and I sat chatting for about 10 minutes. Megan was in the kitchen tinkering away... and I thought to myself, what could she be doing? It's just going to be 5 pieces of cake.
OH NO! She walked out carrying two top tiers of a wedding cake! And went back in the kitchen and came out with 2 more! And then another! OMG. She gives you a top tier of the wedding cake to try and you get to take the rest home with you! Her flavors were fabulous and she is so friendly. I couldn't wait to see our our wedding cake. We even took the leftover cakes with us to Florida and had his parents try some too!


The only grumble was that in the contract it states that we wanted dark purple grapes cascading down the cake and when it arrived - they were green and light purple. No big! Cake was delicious and I would highly recommend her services.

I could write pages and pages of good things about Julie. I couldn't be happier with our photos (engagement and wedding). She is AMAZING! She is super friendly and a great photographer. She has such a great eye. My parents and everyone raved on and on about how great of a job she did! At first, I was nervous because there are a lot of photographers in the DC area and I had meetings with 2 of them - and it was a waste of time. I found Julie by chance through the preferred vendors list from our venue - and had a phone interview with her since we were planning our wedding from Florida. I went on her website and was blown away by her galleries. We decided to contract her services immediately. We are thrilled! I HIGHLY recommend her services. She was a part of our special day and caught the most tender moments. She mingled with the guests and wedding party easily and was not obtrusive. I kept looking through the photos saying – where was she? How did she capture that moment? I had no problems getting in touch with her via phone or e-mail. Nothing but great things to say about her work!! :)

I loved my flowers the day of my wedding. Beautiful and very close to what I had in mind. I kept flip flopping back and forth on how I wanted the flowers to be displayed and Morgan was accommodating. On our wedding day, she set all of the flowers up and even stayed to help set up some of the wedding decorations. Very sweet! Everyone raved about the flowers and the color scheme.

Love my engagement and wedding rings! Beautiful! I love going into Jared's. Almost everytime I go in this store, I come out with a new piece of jewelry. The quality is superior and I love getting my rings cleaned whenever I want (included on our service plan). My wedding gift from my hubby was a key necklace and it's gorgeous! I also got a Pandora's bracelet at my bridal shower form Jared's. AMAZING!!