Penny Baker Follow

Ever striving to be helpful and useful, not only am I posting reviews of my wedding vendors on WeddingWire, I'd like to talk about them here in case anyone is Googling Hampton Roads, Norfolk or Virginia Beach wedding vendors. (Also, read our wedding recap for tons more pictures and notes from the day!) Last wedding post, I swear! Here we go! Catering: Gourmet Gang – This is probably where you'll spend the most money, so let's start with catering first. The Gourmet Gang did an absolutely top notch job catering our wedding. Lucy, the event manager was terrific to work with, very responsive to every request and helped me put together a creative menu that met our specifications. We thought we'd have a hard time finding a caterer since we wanted an all-vegetarian (mostly vegan) menu, and we definitely wanted our guests to be impressed with the food (for some this would be a first impression of vegan food). Plus we weren't having alcohol so the food and drink had to make up for that as well. Gourmet Gang wowed all of us. We got so many compliments on the food, not one person asked "where's the meat?", the food was top notch. They created a sumptuous menu of hors d'oeuvres: everything from crabless crab cakes with garlic aioli to tomato corn salsa to vegan sushi. The bruschetta bar was an impressive array of dips and spreads with assorted pitas and crostinis. In lieu of cocktails they created a signature drink for us: raspberry lemonade with fresh lemons, raspberries and mint leaves. YUM! The presentation was gorgeous, the staff was courteous. The wedding was held outdoors in 101 degree heat, and the staff coped with it flawlessly, brought the food inside the building and no one was ever the wiser that it should have been set up otherwise. The staff also set up all our tables, chairs and rentals and when an invoice came back from the rental company for some broken items, Lucy took care of it immediately. I would very highly recommend Gourmet Gang for any event you have. They cater everything from small meetings to huge events, plus their deli locations have delicious lunch options as well. I visit the downtown one frequently. 5 stars. Contact: events@gourmetgang.com Wedding Cake: Gourmet Bake Shoppe – Everyone loves cake! My sister Heidi had her cake made by Chef Emily De Long of Gourmet Bake Shoppe and I followed suit. Chef Emily De Long truly is a cake artist. Besides her gorgeous sugar artistry which more than rivals anything you'll see in Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes, she was able to accommodate my special requests for the cake as well. I am vegan (don't eat dairy or eggs), which to many people would be a challenge when baking a wedding cake. Not Chef De Long! She got right to work making a vegan version of the delicious almond Chambord cake with buttercream icing. Our top tier and small cutting cake were vegan and the most delicious cake I have ever eaten. Seriously! My vegan guests raved about the cake (we usually are stuck eating nothing when wedding cake is served) and so many guests commented on how lovely it was AND how tasty. I was so pleased. She made my vision for the cake a reality and made something delicious I could enjoy on my wedding day despite my dietary choices. She also helped us save money by making a small cake for display then a larger sheet cake for serving to guests (rather than one huge cake). 5 stars. Contact: info@gourmetbakeshoppe.com Flowers: Norfolk Wholesale Floral – Nearly everyone I know who's been married in Hampton Roads has gotten their flowers from Norfolk Wholesale. They pack a lot of bang for a little buck. I shopped around and the quotes I got were vastly, vastly different depending on where I went. Not only did Norfolk Wholesale come out to be the least expensive, they also came up with the quote on the spot, I didn’t have to wait a week or wonder if what I was dreaming about flowerwise was going to match up with what I was willing to allot to flowers budgetwise. I was able to say, I don’t want to spend more than $30 on each bridesmaid, and Sandy told me what my options were in that price range. She designed a gorgeous bouquet for me and I was very pleased overall. Sandy also helped me take my vision for the centerpieces to a finished product by suggesting branches and silk flowers that would look great together. I was able to make centerpieces very cheaply by using recycled glass bottles, curly willow tips, two types of silk flowers and some hot glue. A night with the brideslaves and some friends (thanks Tasha & Deva!) and I had all my centerpieces for under $5 each. Norfolk Wholesale Floral made wonderful bouquets, boutonnières and corsages for everyone, the flowers were ready on time and the order was 100% correct. I would highly recommend this vendor. 5 stars. Contact: 757-625-0901 or 1-866-340-3431. DJ/Entertainment: Daley DJs – All I have to say is WOW! Daley DJs far surpassed my expectations. Working with Liz was wonderful. She was the consummate professional, responded quickly to all my requests and went far above and beyond the norm to make sure my wedding was exactly what I wanted and more! Some of you might know that Jimmy and I are both involved in the local music scene, he is in a band, music is very important to us. I met with her at her beautiful Williamsburg home to discuss music for the reception and she provided extremely helpful feedback on how to fit the songs we loved into the party so it would flow well. We also worked together on a grand entrance, and it was SO FUN. I highly recommend doing this if you book with Daley DJs. We selected a short clip of music for each person in the wedding party, everything from "I'm Too Sexy" to George Thoroughgood. Each song was hand picked for each person in the wedding party (some meant to be funny, some were just awesomely suited to the personality of the person). I didn't tell anyone in the wedding party about it so it would be a surprise and when each person marched out to their own tune, there was huge applause and roaring laughter the whole time. Jimmy and I entered to ACDC's Back in Black. I could NOT have been more pleased with how it turned out. Peter was our DJ on the big day (Liz was booked and they only book one event per day) and he was awesome. Extremely professional, wore a tux in 101 degree heat and made it look good too! Everything went smashingly. We had a wonderful time and I would recommend this vendor to everyone. Five stars. Contact: liz@daleydjs.com Rentals: Distinctive Event Rentals – Distinctive did a great job. They got what we wanted and they got it there on time. Would highly recommend. 4.5 stars. Contact: (757) 420-7000 Beauty: Wink Salon – I've talked about Wink Salon before, I get my hair done there on a regular basis, so it was a natural choice for our hairdos on the big day. Everyone on The Other Side books up fast, especially Matt and Megan, so be sure to book several months in advance. Matt, Megan and Tori were our stylists for the day, each of them did two of us. We had a great time, relaxed and listened to music and my girl Genevieve and I did everyone's makeup in between hairdos. I was completely thrilled with mine (and everyone's). My hair was the perfect mixture of vintage and unusual that I was looking for. All my bridesmaids and my mom loved their hair as well, and those are some picky women! Big smooches to everyone at Wink. 5 stars. Contact: 757-425-WINK Wedding Dress: Eda's Sewing Shop – I had my dress custom-made, which is what I recommend to everyone who wears a larger size or just wants an awesome dress buying experience. Interested? Please see my post on getting your dress custom-made for some tips on finding a dressmaker. Eda is a godsend. I take all my alterations to her, everything from hems to completely redoing jackets to fit my weirdly shaped body (narrow shoulders, big short arms, medium bust, smallish waist, huge hips). Her prices are more than reasonable, she has a quick turnaround and everything fits afterward. I had noted on multiple occasions the myriad of custom dresses I'd see in her shop when I went in, everything from prom dresses to gowns for a drag queen pageant (no lie!), so I knew she could probably handle anything I threw at her. I brought in dress pictures to show my ideas, she took my measurements and sent me fabric shopping. The dress was ready for the first fitting in less than two months (if you order a dress from a bridal shop you are looking at at least six months turnaround time). I went in for three fittings and at the end, had a dress that was perfectly my vision. The price was more than reasonable, probably 1/3 of what I'd pay if I ordered the dress from a store, plus it was custom fit to my body and my exact specifications. I felt awesome on my wedding day. 5 stars. Contact: 757-480-0042 Wedding Party Attire: Men's Wearhouse – Jimmy, all the groomsmen and my dad got their tuxes from Men's Wearhouse. It was convenient, everything looked great and the price was reasonable. It ended up being around $100 per person and the groom's tux was free. 5 stars. Finda a store Wedding Party Attire: Various – My girls and my mom got to wear whatever they wanted (I asked the girls to keep it knee length and within a color range). They ended up at Dillards, Nordstrom, Jessica McClintock and Macys. All good experiences and everyone got to wear something that they felt great in, looked great in, that they would wear again and that complimented their body. I have never been to a wedding where all the bridesmaids with their vastly different body types have ever looked good in the same dress. Let them pick their own, you will have much more cheerful bridesmaids. Invitations, Decor & Favors: Friends! – I love having crafty friends. They are always so generous with their time and skillz. Cassie did pretty much all the graphic design work for our wedding. From art-directing our save the date cards to designing our invites to laying out all the signs and menus to the awesome program fans, she made our whole wedding look pulled together and classy. I got so many compliments on the design work, and it really did take things up a notch presentation-wise. Amanda did our favors, which were adorable bags of strawberries (hand picked, local and in-season) adorned with ribbon and baker's twine. Everyone loved these! Deva and Tasha (and Grace and Maegan but they're brideslaves so they are forced) helped out with centerpiece assembly and poofball boot camp. Mary helped soothe the treehugger in me and brought a recycling bin and hauled off the bottles and cans! My friends are the best! Photographer: Nicole Michael – Ahhh Nicole. I feel bad because you're probably going to get a flood of Flickr mail once people see this. My wedding was Nicole's first (and probably last, ha ha) wedding shoot. I think she must have made clones of herself because no matter where I was, I saw her there taking pictures of what was happening, but then she showed me photos that were taken in places I wasn't even hanging out during the wedding! I knew she'd be awesome and I'm so glad she agreed to do this. She's a terrifically creative photographer and a master of Photoshop as well. Oh and not only is Nicole the one to thank for the completely amazing photos of the day, she's also the one who is responsible for our moves on the dance floor. She met with us for months before the wedding and taught us to swing dance. And no she doesn't give those lessons either. I found a real gem when I ran into Nicole. :) 5 stars but you can't have her. Ceremony & Reception Venue: Fred Heutte Center – I have thought long and hard about what to write regarding our venue, and have decided to be really honest about it. (If you've read our wedding recap, you probably heard some of this already, but I'm reposting it in case someone lands here looking for vendors and doesn't catch the other post). First the good stuff. The Fred Heutte Center is an absolutely gorgeous garden in the middle of one of Norfolk's nicer neighborhoods. It is lovingly tended by Norfolk's master gardeners, and is charming in every way from the heirloom vegetable garden to the lathe house surrounded by camellias. They have a building on site which is normally used for gardening classes, yoga classes, community meetings, that sort of thing. The price is extremely reasonable. All other outdoor garden venues in the area were thousands for just a few hours, and fraught with rules about what caterer to use, what rental company, etc. We got the entire grounds of the Heutte center for $375 from 6am to midnight and we were able to use any vendors we wanted. The grounds were gorgeous and in pristine condition. No complaints there. My difficulty came in dealing with Bill, the contact person at the venue. When we booked (many months in advance) he was very courteous and helpful over the phone. He was certainly happy to take our security deposit and hold date fee. The problems started when I needed to nail down a time for the rental company to deliver our tent and rentals. I experienced a very upsetting phone call where he was rude to me, spoke (yelled) over me and was very uncooperative, just because I wanted to nail down a date (could they deliver Friday or did it have to be Saturday?) and he had the possibility that someone might want to rent the venue for a wedding on Friday. He did not have this person's name or phone number to be able to confirm with them whether or not they wanted the venue, but could not give me (who had booked months in advance and paid for that privilege) a time to have the tent delivered since there was a possibility they might call back. I ended the call extremely frustrated and somehow Shayna, our wedding coordinator was able to nail down a date with him over the phone later. The other problems came the day before the wedding. I had spoken to him on Thursday when I got the keys and told him we'd be bringing by some decorations and things to set up on Friday. There was no event booked and he said that would be fine. We showed up Friday around 1 and he told us we could set a few things up as long as we didn't turn on the air conditioner. We were fine with that, and brought some things in. About twenty minutes later he came into the room and just stood there, staring at us for several long moments. Finally someone looked at him and said, "Yes?" He angrily said that he had to go to the bank, and that someone needed to lock up when we were finished. We said okay and he left. He had not returned by the time we left a half an hour or so later. We were scheduled to hold the rehearsal outside in the garden that evening at five, which was already cleared with him. Everyone arrived and when my father needed to use the bathroom, I went to the door and began to unlock it. The door swung open and suddenly his face was about six inches from mine. "What do you want?!" I took a step back, startled. "My father needed to[...]