Venue - Elkin Creek Vineyard in Elkin, NC. $4000 + $900 for additional rentals (linens, golf cart, cabins)
Our venue was amazing - it has a rustic, mountain feel to it but has two creeks on the property, a vineyard, harvest barn, tasting room, and cabins available for rental. We rented two for two nights and had a “boys” and “girls” cabin for the night before and then we stayed in one the night of. It’s a smaller venue, family run - the owners are nothing short of professional, accommodating, and accessible. We had our ceremony down by the two creeks, with our guests facing the waterfalls and our reception at the harvest barn that overlooks the vineyards.
Officiant - Happy Thoughts by Aaron Woodrum $400
While our ceremony was beautiful - my husband and I had written every aspect of it together and met with the officiant several times to go over what we wanted. He ended up adding quite a few things that we didn’t want, and made a few jokes that missed the mark with us and our guests. It was a bummer because we spent a lot of time curating our ceremony and it was very special to us both.
Coordinator - Katharine Mann Events $860
Words cannot express what an asset Katharine was. She was thorough, professional, kind, engaging, timely, and thought of everything. Our cues went off without a hitch; and Katharine and her assistant did all of the setting up and breaking down.
Hair/Makeup - SMG Beauty $200 + $150 for trial
Hair was beautiful, makeup needed more contour, and my eyelash strip on one eye was halfway off by the end of the ceremony which was a HUGE bummer. She also arrived late - more on that later.
Photography - Karen Salinas Photography $2500
Karen is awesome - there were a few glitches (she was also late) so she missed all of me getting ready and just got a few of the guys, our first look was extremely rushed, both shooters shot MY face on the first look which is exactly what I asked them not to do; but overall her work is amazing, so I am excited to get all 650+ pictures back.
Food/Alcohol - Elkin Creek Vineyard $2400
The venue does wood fire pizzas and they’re amazing! We did a bacon/spinach/Brie, four cheese, and pepperoni as well as a salad with homemade honey mustard, pesto pasta salad, and charcuterie for the cocktail hour. We did red and white wine, tea and coffee service, and then a few different beers.
Cakes - Sweet Meg’s Bakery $365 for two separate two tier cakes
The cakes were beautiful, moist, and delicious. We opted for two cakes because they couldn’t deliver that day and they won’t allow client pick up for more than two tiers. We did Honey Bun flavor which was kind of cinnamon sugar and buttercream icing.
Flowers - Sam’s Club $563 Misc floral supplies Amazon $100
I did all of our flowers which included; one bout, one bridal bouquet, two wreaths, 6 ceremony jar decorations, and 10 centerpieces. Half of my flowers didn’t arrive the day they were guaranteed so I had to adjust my arrangements but we got a partial refund and the flowers turned out amazing!!! I can make a thread about them if anyone’s interested. Two bouquets are still going strong over 11 days later!
DJ - Fusion Sound Lighting $900
Our original DJ fell through so I contacted Rick five days before the wedding. He was awesome, super good energy, and had our guests sweating all night!
Ceremony Violins - Corda Entertainment $475
Suit - Men’s Warehouse by Calvin Klein $900
Dress - Allure Romance 3112 $1300 + $275 in alterations by Sew 4 U in Jamestown, NC.
Rentals - Rusted Root, Eventful NC, and LinenTableclothFactory $500
WEDDING TOTAL $18000
The BAD - It rained for two hours before our ceremony so that storm cause the photographer and HMUA to be late which put the entire day behind schedule and made us feel somewhat rushed and missed a lot of photography moments.
We didn’t have a bridal party so my friends who stayed with me were trying to get ready and I basically had to bed them to help me get in my dress and get me to the vineyard for the first look which was super annoying.
Poor hubs got a nosebleed during our reception due to being dehydrated.
The GOOD - the day was so much fun, everyone had an incredible time at the reception and cried at the ceremony. We are still hearing awesome feedback. The guests also loved the food!
