Corey Talks: Choosing Vendors
My amazing bouquet from Blooms by Design!
After I had the venue and the dress… I needed people to make the wedding happen!
The first wedding vendor that I booked may surprise you, it was my florist. I have always been absolutely crazy over flowers so it really isn’t too surprising for those that know me but it is for those that know me as a photographer. I booked Renee Landry of Blooms Design Studio in Duck, NC. Go and look at her site. She’s seriously just simply amazing. From the first look I was in heaven. Everything she had images of I just loved. I never had a “theme” for my wedding but the images that Renee had of her weddings she’d styled were exactly what I had in mind – nothing with a great big BAM IN YOUR FACE theme but all very elegantly done. I knew I wanted sea shells and possibly sea oats as part of the wedding but that’s all. No set color. No set shell. Just casual beach and beachy colors. She did SUCH an amazing job. I seriously cannot rave more about the amazing job she did. I honestly never even LOOKED at another florist. I also chose well as she was recently a runner up to be the official White House Florist!! She made it to the final 3!!!!
Next up was naturally my photographer. I actually had someone else in mind first that I liked when I looked at their website but then a different search online brought me to Brooke Mayo. As with Renee, I was sold as soon as I saw her site. When we started emailing I was completely and utterly in love. She’s seriously the cutest person and those that know and have met her in person know what I mean. She is just the most adorable thing EVER. In all that southern sweetness is an amazingly talented photographer that I am SO lucky to have chosen for the day of the wedding. She was a BREEZE to work with. We did almost everything online and via mail and I never questioned not meeting her before booking her. What was even better was the fact that she was getting married a couple months after me and she was able to refer me to some of her vendors and saved me lots of online searching. In the past 2 years she’s made a serious name for herself! She’s one of the top photographers in the world with the AGWPJA and also has a book of her portraits of Diving Doggies (it’s a great gift for that dog lover!!). I can’t wait to share my pictures with you guys… they still make me all warm and fuzzy inside!
Next up was a Day of Wedding coordinator. I had most of the things done that were major and knew that I didn’t need much help planning but I knew without a doubt that I would want someone the day-of. In came the lifesaver of my wedding, Nannette of The Proper Setting thanks to Brooke’s recommendation. Nannette was amazing with everything leading up to and the day of the wedding. When I found out that the home we’d rented wouldn’t allow us to have a reception, she was able to find a suitable backup location that ended up being perfection. She also dealt with numerous snafus the day of the wedding including a lot of broken rental items. I literally couldn’t have enjoyed my wedding without her.
Other vendors that I hired was Argyle’s for the cake (still one of the best cakes I’ve had!), The Delectable Dish for catering (now out of business), The Saltaire for the reception and Dr. Dave as the officiant. All were fantastic but not the “big” ones people worry about. Pictures and a more in depth review to come 😉
Corey’s Lessons: 1) Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from other vendors, often they know the best of what is around! It is also VERY helpful when planning from elsewhere! 2) Make sure your reception venue can hold the amount of people you are planning for. I never imagined that 40 people would be too much for the McMansion we rented but it was. 3) HIRE A DOC! Seriously. LIFESAVERS! They even will pull you out of the hot tub (well attempt to, Chris reached me first) when you fall in and hit your head under the water and are laughing too hard to come out on your own. Poor Nannette. I think she’s still recovering from that scare!
