- How did you meet?
We were introduced by a mutual friend. He kept telling me about this friend he would like me to meet and it went on for a few years and for some reason I just finally broke down and gave my number. Once we started talking that was it. God must have wanted this for us all along and we have definitely seen Him thorough the whole journey.
- How did he propose?
Our proposal was interesting since we were doing all this long distance. He gave me a ring as a gift and said we will talk more about it once I got back here. Since we knew where our relationship was headed we agreed to move to the next step. He did finally get on one knee three days before our wedding and asked me to marry him. He said he had to do it so I can say he formally did it. It was such a surprise that he had this planned the whole time. I was like I already said yes anyway so no way I can say no.
- Wedding vendors
My husband did all the work as to sourcing for the vendors. He went to the wedding show looked at magazines and all I did is give input in what we wanted versus what they offered. I did a lot of research especially from this blog I checked each vendors review.
- Tents /Décor/Flowers - Classic Functions – 722519974
Catherine was great and her people did a great job since she could not be there that day but delivered as promised. The only complaint I have is the long vases I asked for center pieces were short to me compared to what I’m used to and the pictures I sent her. For the brides bouquet I had a very off color ribbon (looked purple) to me which I would rather she had not used. Other than that she got the color right which I was soo nervous about the whole time. Especially working with blue which you had already commented about.
It took a while going back and forth with her on what I wanted. I removed a lot of the décor on what she had quoted which is the standard decor. I don’t think a wedding is beautiful because you are using tons of flowers. She had a hard time at first with that because she wanted to do what she is used to but it all worked out in the end and everyone loved it.
Overall the tents were clean but I could see some rusted metal stands so you can give it 80%.
- Catering – Merit Caterers
Jane – 722828280
The food was good and she provided it in plenty. The major issue we had with her is after we paid the balance the week before the wedding she informed us that she had her sister’s wedding on the same day as our wedding but would make sure it did not affect us. One thing, it was too late to change and of course there was no way her sister’s wedding was a last minute decision so she knew all along and still booked us. That is not being honest.
- Videography and Photography – Versatile – 20 217 3355
Great people to work with and very professional. I enjoyed working with them and we had fun shooting everything. I gave them samples of what poses I wanted and they did that and more.
- Venue – Jockey Club
Too many functions going on at the same time so the noise was getting to me but everything else was good.
- Executive Limos for the brides cars -722563088
Executive driver was very good and was with us all day until he dropped us to the suite at the end of the day. He did not complain or even act as if he was in a hurry. Waited for us to finish everything we were doing. Great service.
Bridal Party – Will not even give the number it was a waste of time. I made a big mistake on this one because I made my husband book services from a brother of a friend who is out here with me and they ended up messing us up. They were not professional at all. ( see vendor rating below). This is no no for anyone planning a wedding don’t do friends for services you are paying for.
- Entertainment
Kayamba including the MC and he was great. Kept everyone entertained and everyone keeps saying how good he was. ( Kayamba 0720598523)(MC Erick 0720377429) I was very afraid for an MC because I didn’t want anyone cracking funky jokes and rude stuff but he kept it clean.
- Home Boyz DJ
My husband said their services at the office were horrible. The DJ was alright though. Not worth the number.
- Cake
An upcoming friend and she did a great job. Ann Nyakio -721774148
- Any advice for brides planning their wedding from far away?
My advice to diaspora brides is to have someone you trust on the ground so that they can do the work. Also someone who can deal with the people back home because they do things a little different than we are used to. Example: when you talk to a vendor here what you see is what you get and the price quoted is what you will pay which in Kenya you have to negotiate and people can take you for a ride. I’m sure even here you can negotiate but the prices are not quoted as steep as they would in Kenya. You also need to know what you want and do a lot of homework on your vendors.
For the day of coordination, we used our cousin who has experience doing wedding planning so she was great. I asked her for her review of vendors and this is what she gave.
Here is the overall review from our coordinator:
The vendors:
1. Decor – A++ Exceptional service, were on time, polite and willing to take direction. Flowers were fresh, tents and drapery were clean.
2. Caterer – C (at best) We had agreed she’d be setup by twelve, food got to the venue at two, to her credit though, there was plenty of everything and it was good food. She was rude on the phone as I inquired as to the whereabouts of the food. Also, she didn’t have enough waiters.
3. Cake – Polite, On time, knew her way around. My only issue was the packaging of the take-away cakes. But that’s most Kenyan bakers, they use flimsy cardboard boxes that are barely ever sufficient.
4. Cars – Bride and grooms driver was on point like a compass, the rest were argumentative and at some point disappeared with no notice. I would not recommend anyone use them in future coz they trumped up charges at the last minute despite the existence of a contract.
5. Venue – Beautiful save for the Nightclub right next it was perfect. Also, they had too many events going on at the same place and time.
