Vendors


The “How” of Weddings

It’s just not possible without your vendors. B and I have been fortunate enough to find a slew of the best in Kansas City, and we’re ready to share with you.

Flowers

The Flower Girl will be creating the bouquets, boutonnieres, and floral arrangements for our special day. I was drawn to her bright, modern colors and designs. With colors like pink and orange, we certainly didn’t want to go too stuffy and formal. The Flower Girl has been very receptive to our concerns and ideas, and is willing to provide everything we envisioned while sticking to our price point.

Photography

RVR Photography is a husband/wife photography team. Check out the photo in the banner for an example of their work! We were instantly taken after meeting with them for the first time, as they’re so personable, yet professional. RVR truly understands what a couple is looking for in their wedding photographer; I’m impressed with their time commitment, their openness to questions and suggestions, and their unbeatable prices. They make it easy to order prints online, and offer wonderful products at great prices as part of their wedding packages. You can also visit their blog here.  

Ceremony Music

Choosing ceremony music was a no-brainer, as a close friend and extremely talented musician coordinates chamber music ensembles in the Kansas City area. Serenade has string quartets, trio options, and duo options, each of which has an extensive repertoire. Their musicianship and professionalism sets the tone for an elegant ceremony.

Reception Music

With all of our family and friends together to celebrate, we’re ready to party! Pro DJ KC was a clear choice for us. We knew we wanted our reception to be full of energy and, most of all, our favorite dancin’ tunes. With their user-friendly website, including an online proposal, planner, and payment center, as well as their complete music library, Pro DJ KC earned our trust. Visit their blog here

Cake

Our cake choice might be considered a little, well, untraditional. Neither B or I are huge fans of cake. And when we found the product of $2.50 times our 250 guests—well, cake doesn’t taste that good. We are, however, huge fans of Dairy Queen ice cream cake. And we’ve been lucky enough to find a local Dairy Queen with an exceptional general manager who has already taken the time to sit down and discuss with us exactly what we are looking for. Did you know that DQ has catalogs upon catalogs of possibilities for cakes, including tiered wedding-style cakes with toppers, ribbons, and flowers? Neither did we! B and I went into our meeting with DQ expecting to order a slew of sheet cakes, but were surprised to be able to choose pink and orange ribbons, Gerbera daisies, and cake toppers—all for a fraction of the price.

Transportation

My type-A personality makes it hard for me to delegate. However, with a job as big as planning a wedding, I’ve found it to be necessary. One of the jobs I assigned to B was to find our limo for the day. He did a fabulous job! Thanks to his hard work and price negotiating, we’ve hired Pech Limousine to pick us up after the ceremony, and chaffeur our wedding party around KC scoping out optimal picture sites, then delivering us to the reception. We were happy to find a limo large enough for our wedding party (12 people) and in our price range.

Rehearsal Dinner Venue

After a few sketchy conversations with restaurants that expected us to show up the night of the dinner—“no reservation necessary”—we decided on holding the rehearsal dinner at the Doubletree Overland Park Hotel. The staff at the Doubletree has been friendly and incredibly accommodating. They’ve even customized their menu, serving an item not usually offered banquet-style (we had our hearts set on flatbread pizza!). We’ve also put a hold on a large block of rooms at a fabulous group rate, making the location extremely convenient for out-of-town guests.

Reception Venue

St. Andrews Golf Club was the first venue we toured, and ended up being our favorite. We were drawn to the beautiful Highlands Room, the terrace with the outdoor bar overlooking the golf course, and the large variety of menu options. The on-site chef also negated the need for an outside catering service (and all of the coordinating required!), which in turn will lead to a much more peaceful and organized wedding day—at least, I hope!

Hair and Make-Up

My hair stylist and friend Molly McPheter will be doing hair and make-up for the bridal party. She travels on-site for a minimal fee, and is willing to commit her time and talents for an extremely reasonable price. Not to mention that Molly’s fun and relaxed personality will be valuable the morning of the wedding.

Bridesmaids Dresses and Tuxedo Rentals

For our bridesmaids dresses and tuxedo rentals, we stuck with the ever-reliable David’s Bridal. Their nationwide locations, huge selection, and professionalism made it easy for each member of our bridal party to find something they’re comfortable wearing. In addition, I instantly fell in love with their watermelon and tangerine color choices, which soon became the theme of our fun, summer wedding.

Favors

Sugar cookies as favors was a decision we made early in the process. At first, we were adventurous enough to claim we'd make them all ourselves. But now, we've decided to trust Smart Cookies Bakery with baking our heart-shaped, pink-glazed sugar cookies (you should also check out her Facebook page--it's got all kinds of great pictures of her work). She's even going to individually bag each and every cookie, tying them off with ribbons in our wedding colors. And the price turned out to be less than it'd cost us to make them ourselves--according to our calculations, and if you were to charge money for our precious time.