That's right everyone - this is the list of the fantastic wedding vendors I worked with across my 4 wedding events. I've listed them here in order of when our wedding event happened with them. I was not familiar with any of these vendors prior to our events of 2022, the bulk of whom I found through a combination of Google searches, IG searches, and looking at lots of examples of work. Without further ado...
Event 1: The Legal One
Courthouse: Yolo County Clerk Recorder
Walk-in Services available M-F 8a-4p
Absolutely some of the sweetest government workers I've ever met. We had the fortune of being with 2 friends who were able to be not only our official witness but also our certified Official (we weren't even his first wedding!). No photos other than what we took on our cell phones and in all honesty we grabbed burgers after on our continued journey home from Seattle, WA that trip.
Event 2: The Upstate New York Event
Venue: Takk House
Troy, NY
Hours by appointment and event only
We opted for their Micro Wedding package - which has been updated for 2023 and the current offering is a smidge different than the one we bought so I'll give you the scoop on what the current one is instead.
40 guests + 5 hours celebration (ceremony & onsite reception, or all reception like we did) + Full service catering package + Bar package (beer & wine selections) + Day Of Coordination and design + Candles & greenery by their florist + small cutting cake = $8,500
We also added in a boutonnière for Larry and a wrist corsage for me and their photo booth package (prints and digital library of the images after)
Photographer: Angela Mia Photography
Angela was recommended to us by our coordinator at Taak House and she did an absolutely lovely job. We opted for prioritizing candid moments, especially since we did not do any version of ceremony for our event.
Event 3: The Oregon Event
Venue: Saint Irene's Event Venue
Tualatin, OR
So we absolutely fell in LOVE with not only this venue but with their whole team. This is another spot that is a great idea for family reunions, corporate parties, holiday business parties, social group fundraisers dinners, and more. Their building consists of 2 rooms: The High Dive & Venue Room and you can rent either individually or both together. Both have modern-industrial decor while still imparting a lush kind of vibe from the color palettes used. For weddings specifically they require both rooms to be used. Other perks included their onsite coordinator, ample free parking, free WiFi, Bose PA system, bluetooth enabled surround sound speakers, and a variety of table and linen options. You can see all their pricing options un "Pricing + Menus" on their website.
And now a paragraph just about their catering. It's fantastic y'all! We did their "Party Package" for starters and it included: prosciutto wrapped dates, Greek olive mix, chicken skewers, hummus & veggie platters, a cheeseboard, and more! We then opted for the "Let's Taco Bout It" taco bar package for a our late lunch/early dinner meal. Barbacoa beef, Tinga chicken, pulled pork, Spanish rice, black beans, corn & flour tortillas, cabbage slaw, cotija, pico de gallo, sour cream, and of we absolutely added guacamole to our options. Superb. I do wish there had been a sautéed veggies options (bell peppers and onions) just to round out for the vegetarians in our group but there were no complaints from our friends or family.
Photographer: KMT Photos
PNW (Pacific North West) and she travels!!!
I can not recommend Kali enough. Entirely seriously. None of our wedding/s making the news would have happened without Rock'N'Roll Bride discovering our photos of the Oregon event on Instagram. Part of what was super important to me in the photographer for this particular event included: being LGBTQIA friendly (I am not the only Queer member of my family) and being able to shoot all body sizes (I'm an outlier in being built like a Tolkien Elf). It's even better that she and her team are also BIPOC inclusive and put an emphasis on being All Skin Color and Body Size Welcome. Her portfolio shows this with abundance. Top it all of with Kali being super sweet and absolutely my speed around vision. Now Kali was already booked the day of our event - but that didn't stop us with working with her. We were able to work with one of her personally trained associates - Emily. Emily was FANTASTIC and everyone loved her. She was able to handle and capture the beautiful lively chaos that my family and friends can be when we gather in celebration. Don't be afraid to take the offer of working with an associate if the BIG name isn't available.
Add-on Photo Booth: Smirk Photo Booth Co.
Portland, OR
Believe it or not we had not originally planned or budget for a live photographer. In retrospect I'm really glad we went for it. Those photos are absolutely priceless. That said we wanted photos and our initial bookings for that were absolutely photo booths. Smirk has some really fun options for all kinds of events : baby showers, bridal parties, family reunions, company picnics or events, graduation parties, etc. We opted for their Portrait Booth option that included not only the whole booth setup, background, unlimited prints, fully customizable photo strips, and props... but also included an On-Site Smirk Concierge so we never had to worry about messing up the machine or if it ran into any errors throughout our party.
Event 4: The Las Vegas "Elvis" One
Venue & Photography: The Little Vegas Chapel
Las Vegas, NV
You bet your buttons we opted for the Viva Las Vegas package - now since we were already legally married we did an Elvis Vow Renewal - much to the chagrin of our Elvis impersonator.
Courtesy limo to and from the Chapel for 6 + Elvis performed out chapel renewal ceremony + he sang 3 of his greatest hits (of our choosing) + fresh 6 rose bouquet + fresh rose boutonniere + Professional photography (15 digital images included in the package) + Video recording of the ceremony + up to 18 guests in the chapel + camera phones allowed = $549 (don't forget to plan for $100 Elvis fee, $40 tip for the limo driver, & a tip for your photographer)
Now they have other options you can add on like catering, hair & make-up, or other floral options but in earnest we didn't even investigate those. The one add-on we did that was absolutely worth it was the Live Streaming. We had friends and family around not just the US but the world able to tune in and watch the BIG event. Heck we even had half our friends back in our suite at the Cosmopolitan watching from there as we had more guests than we could bring to the chapel with us.
And that's a wrap on our wedding vendors!