I’m a big fan of vendor reviews…heck, reviews in general. From Trip Advisor to Yelp, I often rely on the “wisdom of the masses”. So, to pay it forward, I will be reviewing our wedding vendors over the course of two posts. I have also put all of these reviews online, although in slightly different form (not as narrative).
I’ve also chosen to give a quick “rating” for each vendor to somewhat mirror the online starring systems (Weddingbee vendor reviews use 5 stars, for example). I came up with 4 ratings:
- Highly Recommend
- Recommend
- Recommend with Reservations
- Do Not Recommend
Before I jump in, want to mention that all these comments/thoughts are purely mine and Mr. Turkey’s, based on our experiences. For information on when we booked each of these vendors, you can reference my post here. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out.
HAIR: Bella Angel
*Recommend*
As I mentioned a while back, I found Bella Angel through online reviews and overall was very happy with our services from Jackie.
She did hair for me and all 5 bridesmaids in pretty much record time. I also felt as though she made some great adjustments to my hair after the trial was less than perfect.
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| Almost midnight on wedding night....and everyone's hair still looks great! (Image by Philip Gabriel Photography) |
Despite those little hiccups, everyone was very happy with their hair, so no serious complaints (just want to keep it real for you, Hive).
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MAKEUP: Cheekadee
*Highly Recommend*
Because I’m not big on makeup, it was important to me to have someone who could strike a balance. For both my engagement photos and wedding day, I worked with Nina. In both instances, I feel like she understood what I wanted and made me look amazing. All of the bridesmaids and my mom were also very happy with their makeup.
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| Image by Philip Gabriel Photography |
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| Image by Philip Gabriel Photography |
Nina also suggested I try fake eyelashes before the wedding because she thought it would make my eyes “pop” more. She didn’t try to up-sell me that day, but let me make the decision on my own (I did ultimately choose the fake lashes after trying them).
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| Image by Philip Gabriel Photography |
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WEDDING DRESS: Kleinfeld
*Highly Recommend*
You can read about my dress purchasing experience here, but I have to give Kleinfeld credit for creating a great environment. If you don’t want the “Say Yes to the Dress” experience with cameras around, you don’t get it.
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| Just having fun with my mom and friends |
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| Check out how sassy Lisa is! - with dress designer Edgardo Bonilla and Turkey Mom |
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| Oh, and I got to be dorky and take photos like this |
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*Recommend with Reservations*
You can read about our bridesmaid dress experience here and will likely understand why I recommend “with reservations”.
From no heads up that their studio was completely under construction to trying to rush us out…it wasn’t an overly pleasant experience. I’d be concerned to give a full recommendation in case someone has similar hiccups with their dress shopping experience.
However, that being said, the dresses came VERY quickly with no issues and everyone was happy with their choice. I can recommend Bella as a great option when you haven’t settled on a brand, as they have a lot of selection, and if you have bridesmaids all over, since there are multiple locations.
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*Recommend with Reservations*
This is another example of having a good end result, but not the best experience during the process.
We allowed the men to wear their own tuxes if they had one, but still had several of them rent through Jos A. Bank. We chose them over Men’s Wearhouse because of some poor experiences before and also because Mr. Turkey’s tuxedo was from there (easy to match).
The woman that we worked with in the Philadephia store was fabulous and SO helpful throughout the process. However, Jos A. Bank has fairly antiquated systems when it comes to rentals and it took multiple visits and calls (sometimes to individual stores elsewhere in the country) to get everything together. If I hadn't been "crazy" (as Mr. Turkey called it) about checking in, we could have had an issue.
In the end, all the men ended up with tuxedos and looked sharp, so I guess we won despite the system being against us!
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| Image by Philip Gabriel Photography |
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*Recommend with Reservations*
We chose trolleys for our wedding transportation – bridal party and guests – to add to the Philadelphia experience. Per Turkey Mom, the company was pleasant to work with – she started calling her contact her "BFF" because of all the calls.
However they did "mess up" a bit on the day of. It didn't end up being hugely catastrophic, but there were some hiccups and we ended up getting some money back.
I think if you have a relatively simple transportation schedule and there are alternatives if something goes wrong (e.g. cabs), they're fine, but we had a very detailed schedule drawn up for them (are you surprised?) and they couldn’t make it work.
Like with some of my other reviews, I would hate to give a full recommendation for them and have something go wrong for another bride!
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SPA SERVICES: Adolf Biecker Spa & Salon (Rittenhouse Hotel location)
*Recommend*
I am really happy that I was able to spend the Friday before the wedding with just my mom and bridesmaids. Adolf Biecker was very helpful as we scheduled 7 manicure and pedicure appointments, giving us access to a private room.
In addition, I don’t think I ever mentioned it, but I woke up on wedding day with smudged big toes on both my feet – despite hours in between, this was an “oops” from wearing closed toe shoes at the rehearsal and dinner. Although not a huge deal, I was wearing open toed shoes for the wedding.
So, I went downstairs to Adolf Biecker and they were kind enough to fix them…and they did the same for Turkey Mom who made the same mistake. They absolutely didn’t have to do that for us, but I really appreciate that they did!
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How were the vendors for your wedding?
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