Registry + 2 days, 5 vendors- Part 2

Before I continue with this, in somewhat exciting news, Matt and I got to register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond yesterday. Some of the pickins' were pretty slim, especially being the one located in a large college town, so we'll be finishing it up tomorrow in Houston. But, we did get a lot of items and random cool, things. Here are some pictures to prove that we, too, can work a scan-gun thing.

Don't worry, we did NOT register for pink towels. That would be cruel.

And moving on...

Where were we? Oh yes, we had just finished our first tasting at Kiss the Cook Cakes and admired there amazing pastry skills. OK, so then we went to lunch, numero uno mistake. So not hungry. I think I ate a third of my salad at McAlisters, though my family and Matt somehow ate most of their lunch. Not sure why or how, because shortly thereafter, we had tasting two at Bakery B, mistake numero dos, which I'll explain later.


So we arrive at this bakery, are seated at a table, and then taste a chocolate, almond, vanilla, and amaretto flavors. They were definitely good, though not as good as the first one in all of our opinions. Also, her estimate was a decent bit cheaper than our Bakery A, and the quality of her gallery showed it. In addition, when I wanted suggestions as to the design of the cake, she said that we didn't need to decide on that today, though I had LOVED that Bakery A had taken the time to do that. However, I really liked her, though, as a person. She was very sweet and I was not looking forward to sending her the rejection email, but I guess that's part of the deal.

Following being stuffed with excessive sugar [we couldn't even finish all the samples!], we left and went to meet with Florist B, LZ Floral. Florist B was unfamiliar with the church we're getting married at, so we met her at the church. AND I was able to take sanctuary pictures for y'all:

Ahh, the beautiful windows that look out into the trees. So pretty...

I really liked Florist B. We actually sat down and talked about the flowers we wanted, and she had a lot of examples of her previous work. Florist A had already 'decided' on flowers, though I'm sure we could have changed it. I just did not know what Florist A's flowers would look like all put together, so it was a lot harder for me to imagine than with Florist B. Also, Florist B really got along well with my family, especially when my brother and Matt started brainstorming crazy ideas for the wedding, such as kilts and zip-off skirts. What's better is that Florist B was able to get us a quote a couple of hours after we left, so yay for quick service! In addition, her quote was competitive with Florist A, which is something we were worried about.

And so that finishes the meeting with 5 vendors. I think you could guess, but the choices we went with were Florist B, LZ Floral, and then Bakery A, Kiss the Cook. I'm so excited to see what they do with the flowers and cake, respectively. It makes it so much more real, being able to envision all of those components of the wedding, in addition to really liking the photographer.

But here are some suggestions from me to any prospective bride that's reading this:
1) Do NOT schedule cake tasting back to back. I would suggest giving yourself SEVERAL hours between each, if you have to do them on the same day. Otherwise you're still full from the last one, and you cannot really enjoy the cake fully.

2) I really liked only having 2 bakeries to choose from. I could not imagine having more than that to pick from, because I would think the tastings would run together. "Wait, chocolate A, B, C, or D?" It just would get mixed up...

3) Come with ideas for both. I brought some swatches of my bridesmaids' dresses, along with pictures of bouquets, centerpieces, and cakes that I/we had liked. But also be open to going a different direction, in case your flower of choice is not available in the month of the wedding, for instance.