To paraphrase ahead of time a review that I can pretty much guarantee is going to be a long one,…read moreThe Wedding Authority was the single best thing that happened to us during the planning stages of our wedding.
We had already decided to get married in St. Augustine, a location that held some significance for us and as a bonus, just happens to have a historic downtown that is exquisitely beautiful. The Wedding Authority came up in our various searches for St. Augustine Weddings, and on our next trip out there we decided to stop by and see what they had to offer.
The initial consultation was extremely helpful and laid out a large number of options to mull over, including several suggested ceremony locations and reception locations based on our wedding budget. We were also given a folder filled with information and wedding "packages" that gave us an approximation of cost based on day, time of year, and number of guests. We initially met with Carla, who struck us as a friendly, fun and high-energy woman. She walked us all over the downtown area showing us ceremony and reception venues, and apparently knew just about everyone in St. Augustine based on how many happy faces we encountered that she knew on a first-name basis.
As a quick aside, while on this little romp through the town we ran across a married couple in the street that saw Carla and said hello, apparently she was their coordinator for their wedding ten years ago. They told us that we were, without caveat, making the right decision going through the Wedding Authority.
After looking at the venues and deciding on our favorites based on cost, size, atmosphere, etc. we went back to the office where we also met Carla's husband Bill, who she runs the company with. Bill is a minister that officiates many of the weddings, and his services are included in the prices that they quote. We immediately loved Bill as well, with his warm and affable demeanor and southern charm. One of the hardest parts of planning our wedding was making the decision to use another officiate because Bill, as a minister, could not do a secular ceremony for us. Luckily they knew exactly who to get for us, a man named Tim who met and exceeded all of our expectations. It was a great relief since after meeting Bill, we didn't think we'd ever be able to get someone as perfect as him, but we got the same great feeling from meeting Tim as we got from meeting Bill.
We chose to use the Lightner Museum courtyard [see photos] as our ceremony location. It's absolutely beautiful, and it's closed for the ceremony so that it's completely private -- just you and your guests. It's breathtaking on a normal day, but dressed up for the ceremony it's just unbelievable. For the reception we opted for the Bayview Room, which was large enough to handle our number of guests without costing an absolute fortune.
After our initial consultation, we worked entirely with Dawn, yet another wonderful personality at the Wedding Authority. Dawn was the woman that made everything happen for us. We got help setting up appointments with the florist, the DJ, and the bakery for our cake. She took care of the catering, we just circled which menu options we wanted. Her business recommendations were so good that we went with her first choice for all of them. She had the entire day mapped out for us in great detail, and she handled absolutely everything so that we wouldn't have to. She gave us her cell phone number to call her with any questions or problems that might pop up. Who knows how many weddings they are planning at any given time, it must be a LOT. But we always felt as if we were the only ones.
Dawn didn't miss a beat. She made sure everything was ready to go. Her leadership skills got the rehearsal rolling easily, and everybody knew what to do by the end of it. On the day of the wedding, we had nothing to worry about because she was handling it all. All we had to do before the wedding, literally was get dressed and pose for photos.
Dawn had chartered a sightseeing trolley for our guests for after the ceremony, giving them a short tour of the city while we got pictures with the photographer. The trolley dropped the guests off at the reception. When we arrived at the reception, she had my "regular" drink waiting for me (how did she know?!). She oversaw the timing of the entrance for us, and then sat on the sidelines throughout the reception, getting us anything we needed and making sure everything went off smoothly. It did. At the big exit, she got everyone in position and the horse-drawn carriage (that she set up for us) was waiting at the end.
I'm hitting the size limit for this review, so I'll say this: Everyone at home told us not to worry, that SOMETHING was bound to go wrong (it always does) and to just roll with it and have fun. With the Wedding Authority at the helm, absolutely nothing went wrong. In fact, it couldn't possibly have been better. An incredible experience working with them!
