Ceremony Location: Lafayette Park, St. Louis, MO
City of St. Louis- Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry
Rating = A

Dealing with St. Louis' Department of Parks and Recreation wasn't too terrible, but they certainly are not the most friendly or helpful people around!  In order to have our wedding ceremony in Lafayette Park, we had to obtain a permit so the person I dealt with in this department was the permit manager, Jo Ann.  I had some trouble reaching her by phone, and when I did talk to her she was definitely not very forthcoming with information (she answers everything with one-word answers).  So we came up with a list of questions for anything and everything we could think of, and I just went down the list rattling off our questions to find out what we needed to know about the location.  Once we had our permit in place though, we didn't have any other issues.  We were a little concerned about what the park would look like on the day-of (in the permit you are agreeing to the venue "as-is" on the day-of.  Thankfully we hired a DOC and she was able to brush aside all leaves and debris (and any other unsightly things) before the ceremony.  I would say the only really negative about our ceremony venue was the timing- you are only allowed 4 hours, including set up and tear down of chairs, etc.  That made it a little tricky finding a rental company that would work with us on that, but other than that factor we were completely happy with our ceremony location.  It ended up being quiet, peaceful, and beautiful- just what we wanted!

Reception Location & Catering: Morgan Street Brewery, St. Louis, MO
Rating = B+

We came across Morgan Street by accident (we were familiar with their restaurant/brewery/bar but didn't know they had banquet facilities) and once we took a tour of their Golden Pilsner room and looked at their banquet menus and pricing, we were completely sold.  We did have some problems working with them in the beginning, however, I believe it had a lot to do with the banquet coordinator there at the time.  We first met with her one year out from the wedding, and we let her know right away that we were very interested in the venue and wanted to sign a contract and put down a deposit for our date.  We had some communication issues with her and some of the things she told us did not match the venue's printed materials.  We set up a date to come in and sign a contract (a couple weeks away) and then just a few days later she emailed us saying another couple was ready to pay a deposit for that room on our date, and that if we wanted the space we needed to pay the deposit ASAP.  So we paid the deposit over the phone and a few weeks later had a tasting to decide on our menu items.  It was still several months before the wedding, so we were told that she would remain in contact via email and to think over our food selections.  Several times she acted like we were "rushing" things, and kept assuring us that we had plenty of time, so we didn't contact her for awhile and worked on planning our other wedding day details.  Then a few months later when we were trying to work out our rental items (we had to rent a dance floor for the banquet room) we found out the banquet coordinator was no longer there.  I found out NOT because they contacted me- but because I had been trying to email the previous coordinator (we always communicated via email) and was getting no response.  So a couple months before the wedding we had to start all over with new banquet management.  The new banquet coordinator seemed disorganized and it turned out that we didn't actually have a contract on file with them.  She also left early on the day we came in to discuss our event details!  At the eight week mark, this was something that was really stressful!  After that we ended up working with Samantha, the banquet manager, and she was awesome.

Between the 4-8 week mark we went through a bit of a scramble to get everything in order with the reception location, and that was pretty stressful to both of us.  However, Samantha (the banquet manager) was super nice and easy to work with and on the day of the wedding we had no problems with Morgan Street at all.  They ended up being fantastic!  Everything ran smoothly and they were really accommodating to us the day of the wedding.  Samantha consulted with us on everything throughout the reception (mostly related to timing- when we wanted the cake cut, when to serve dinner because John and I were running late to the reception, etc.).  Also, when we approached the time that our reception was originally scheduled to end, we were having so much fun dancing that we found Samantha and talked about extending it another half hour, and that wasn't a problem at all.  We got countless compliments about how delicious the food was, and I also heard a lot of compliments about the servers (the wait staff was always there when you needed something, but not obtrusive).  Morgan Street is a less conventional and often overlooked reception venue in St. Louis, but I think now that their banquet department is under new management I would highly recommend them.  If you are having a more intimate wedding and want a unique space with great food, book them!

Photographer: Kelly Park Photography, St. Louis, MO
Rating = A+

Kelly Park was, by far, our favorite vendor to work with and hiring her was one of the best wedding-related decisions that we made.  Not only does she produce exceptional photographs that capture the emotion of your wedding day, but she's also a positive, friendly, and comforting person to have by your side on such an emotional day.  Both she and her second photographer, Jen Henneberry, somehow managed to capture every moment of our day without all of us noticing that they were doing it.  I thought that I would be really self-conscious on our wedding day (I'm not exactly a limelight loving girl) but it wasn't even a problem- most of the time I didn't even realize they were there.  My mother said it best while raving to me about Kelly after the wedding: "I felt so comfortable with them!  It's not even like they were the photographers. It felt like they were just a part of the wedding party!"  The photography was our main splurge (along with the food lol) and we are SO glad that we did decide to splurge on Kelly's photography.  Every time I look at our wedding photos I relive that day all over again : D  Here is the link to her blog post about our wedding, with a slide show at the bottom.

Cake: Lubeley's Bakery & Deli, St. Louis, MO
Rating = A

Lubeley's did an outstanding job creating our cake!  We decided to go with this bakery because they have gorgeous photos on their website, have a large selection of flavors, and come really highly rated.  Our cake tasted great and they decorated it exactly as we discussed- it was absolutely beautiful!  We had taken some inspiration photos with us to our consultation, and our cake was based on those photos plus some of our own changes to the design.  Our cake came out beautifully and we LOVED it!  My only problem with Lubeley's were some customer service related experiences.  The wedding cake/cake decorating side of their business does not have a separate section from their deli/bakery counter which can be really frustrating.  If you want to speak with someone about wedding cakes you have to have an appointment, otherwise you will stand at the deli/bakery counter forever because those workers can't help you (you have to talk to Carol or Helen).  Other than some frustration due to that fact and some general rudeness, they were great to work with. 

DOC (Day Of Coordinator): Cate Ingles of Making A Scene Events, House Springs, MO, 314-650-4061
Rating = A+

We never had any intentions of hiring an event planner or day-of coordinator until about three months prior to the wedding.  After booking all of our rental items and trying to figure out the logistics of the day, we realized there just wasn't really anyone we could ask to help set things up (mostly at the ceremony site but also at the reception).  Our families were willing to help out (and they did help out a little bit) but we really did not want them working their butts off on our wedding day!  So a little bit last minute I found Cate on Weddingwire and John and I met with her to discuss our wedding and our DOC needs.  Right away we were struck by her professionalism and calm demeanor.  We were also excited that she advertised herself as an "alternative" event planner and we were planning an indie, not-cookie-cutter wedding.  We decided to hire Cate as our DOC and were SO glad that we did!  She coordinated our wedding rehearsal (since our officiant was a friend that got ordained online), set up both our ceremony and reception spaces on the day of, and coordinated the timing of the ceremony.  She did an outstanding job!  Cate is a natural at event planning, is very thorough, and pays great attention to detail!  We were so happy that we hired her as our DOC, and looking back at our wedding day I'm not sure we would have made it without her!