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We got married in May 2014 in Devon and I thought it would be useful to share my thoughts on local suppliers to other Devon brides as I found it really hard to find reviews of wedding suppliers when I was looking. If you have any queries or questions about any of the suppliers please do let me know and I will do my best to help you out. We also use Burtons suit hire, H Samuel for wedding rings and Loveday photography who were all excellent; however I have not reviewed them yet. If you need any more info please just ask. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Rosetti Brides, Torquay
I initially brought a wedding dress and veil from Rosetti Brides at a wedding dress sale at Exeter Racecourse. At the time I brought the dress I understood it was non-refundable as it was in the sale, however when I got the dress home I was really not sure it was right for me. I explained the situation to Julie at Rosetti and she very kindly agreed to let me exchange the dress for another in her shop.
We visited the shop several times and tried on a huge variety of dresses in all different shades and styles. The ladies who help you are very kind and helpful and the shop (which is attached to Julie’s house) is really nice and spacious inside with big full length mirrors. After narrowing down my choices I took my mum and sister to look at my final few selections. On that morning one of the ladies said a new dress had come in (an Alexia dress) which she thought I would like but it was strapless (which I always said I didn’t want), I agreed to try it on and loved it. The shop then suggested adding straps to the dress. The straps included a lace panel at the back of the dress and little straps at the front, this addition really finished the dress off nicely. I exchanged this new dress for the old dress and got measured for the dress to be made for me in my size. The dress took about 3-4 months to arrive from the USA (I think) and I went back to the shop to try it on. I loved it and I also chose a beautiful tiara from the shop whilst I was there. The shop also sells shrugs, shoes and accessories.
I also hired a hoop (£15) for my wedding day to ensure the dress had the desired effect. They have several different hoops you can hire. It was nice to receive a wedding card from the shop in the post J
I would highly recommend Julie and her team, who are very patient, practical and kind. The selection of dresses in the shop is large and they regularly have new stock. They had a sale rail too. They also hire men’s suits but I didn’t use this service. I would highly recommend all Devon brides paying Julie a visit.
Coast
We got our bridesmaids dresses from Coast (Renatta Cobalt Blue). They were well made and beautiful. Coast were very helpful sourcing our dresses from several different shops.
Debenhams gift list
We set up a Debenhams gift list as we wanted guests to have the option to contribute towards our honeymoon booked through Virgin Holidays.
About 8 weeks before the wedding we went around the Debenhams store with a scanner and scanned all the items we wanted on our gift list. We were also able to edit our list online and add items . The online facility made it easy to monitor the gifts that were bought and the messages left by our guests. There were only 2 items out of approx 50 which were unavailable and the money paid for these gifts was transferred onto our gift card. Once our guests spent over £250 on our gift list Debenhams gave us an additional £50 gift card.
The items were delivered when expected and were very well packed, each item had a note stuck to it which stated who the item was from and their message. Also when the items were delivered we had a note of all the messages which guests had left when they had purchased a gift card. We had one item which was delivered which was incorrect but we easily swapped this in store. We transferred the whole gift card amount back to our bank accounts to ‘pay us back’ for the honeymoon which is a very useful feature of the Debenhams gift list. Julie in the Exeter store was particularly helpful.
Virgin Holidays
After slight difficulties in getting the flights we wanted we were able to negotiate a good price for our 2 week honeymoon in Mauritius with a few freebies thrown in by Virgin. The internet Virgin Holidays portal was very useful and we were able to get flight details so we could book plane seats online in advance. The transfer Virgin arranged was through White Sand Tours who met us in the arrival lounge at the airport and we had a seamless transfer to the hotel. The Virgin rep in our hotel met us the day after we arrived and was very helpful and informative throughout our holiday. Would recommend.
Celebration Vintage Cars, Brixham
Changing Faces, Nr Exeter
I first met Julie and her team at the Westpoint wedding fair where I was impressed with their professionalism and style of make-up. I emailed Julie for a quote and was pleased with her reasonable prices compared to other local professional make-up artists. Julie was always quick to answer emails and deal with my silly questions!
My mum and myself had a make-up trial at mum’s house where we discussed ideas and tried out a few looks. My sister (who wasn’t booked in) even had a chance to try out a quick look whilst Julie was there.
Julie was happy to work in the hair salon in the morning of the wedding so we could have our hair and make-up done in rotation. The maid of honour, bride, bride’s mother and another bridesmaid all had their make-up completed. Julie was quick, a perfectionist and very professional. She changed the bride’s makeup at the last minute which was quite different from the make-up worn at the trial and was very accommodating. I would recommend.
Hollyhocks, Newton Abbot
We loved the flowers provided by Hollyhocks. We first met Holly at the Westpoint wedding fair and subsequently went to meet her at her shop. I had an idea of what I wanted the bridesmaids flowers to look like (yellow roses) and Holly talked me through my options regarding colour, size and how I wanted the bouquets bound. I also had approx 12 buttonholes of yellow roses and gypsophila for the girls and yellow roses for the boys. The ladies button holes had a little bow on them and were secured by magnet to avoid damaging their dresses. I thought I wanted yellow roses and gypsophila only in my bouquet, however Holly suggested adding a few other pink roses which I hadn’t thought of. When she put together a practice bouquet in the shop I loved the colours together and ordered her idea. I also ordered gypsophila on slides to go in the bridesmaids hair. Holly was very accommodating with deliveries and delivered the hair slides to the hairdressers and the buttonholes to 2 different addresses on time. The flowers were beautifully displayed and looked absolutely wonderful. I would highly recommend Holly for her friendly service, good prices and excellent flowers.
Crème de la crème - Photobooth
They turned up on time and the photobooth was a real hit with our evening guests. They brought loads of props with them which our guests loved! It was really good that guests got a photo copy straight away which they could take away (in a format we chose and with our names and wedding date on) and we are also due to get all the images on a CD. The images were also loaded onto facebook very quickly. We would definitely recommend.
Sarah Wants - stationary
We ordered invitations and menu cards for our wedding, after receiving a free sample. We really liked the design and were able to customise things as required; Sarah was very helpful in this regard. The invitations arrived fairly quickly and were beautifully wrapped and of a high quality. Several guests commented how lovely they were. Would highly recommend.
Gemini Exeuctuive Cars - Bridesmaids car
We booked a Jaguar XF through Gemini Executive cars to take our bridesmaids and mother of the bride to the ceremony. It was very easy to book the car through Steve Screech and he answered emails promptly. Unfortunately the Jaguar had mechanical problems near the wedding date and had to be taken to the garage, which we were advised of. The company ensured we would still have a car to use on the day and reserved the Mercedes Benz E-Class for us in case the Jaguar did not return from the garage in time. In the end the Mercedes was used. It was a very nice car decorated with ribbons and got the bridesmaids and MOB to the ceremony in style. The driver even waited around after he had completed his drop off in case the bride’s vehicle broke down on the way! Would recommend.
Kelli Memory– The Alterations Seamstress
I took my wedding dress to Kelli to alter. She shortened the dress by about an inch which was a difficult job as several layers had to be altered and the detail on the bottom had to be taken off and then put back on again. I also had a bridesmaids dress taken in. Kelli’s studio is really lovely and she was professional and gave me the impression she really knew what she was doing. My alterations were completed very quickly and were perfect. I would highly recommend.
Daisy Cakes, Torquay
We had an initial free tasting session at Daisy Cakes. Kate had made us 3 types of cake which were all delicious. We were impressed with the taste and the way they were beautifully decorated. We chose chocolate chip, cream team (sponge with cream and jam in the middle), blueberry and coffee as the flavours for our cupcakes and had a large cupcake on the top of the stand which we cut. Kate made sample cakes in our flavours to take away to check we liked them which we did. We hired the stand from Daisy Cakes which showed the cakes off nicely. The cakes were delivered on time on the day and looked amazing (dusted with the glitter we had asked for). We would highly recommend Daisy Cakes to make your wedding cake and we hope to go back and visit Kate in her shop soon.
Flhair, teignmouth
Flhair styled my hair for 2 x hair trials before the wedding and styled my hair, mother of the bride’s hair and 3 bridesmaids hair on the day. They suggested a lovely 60s style updated ponytail for the bridesmaids which was just the modern look I wanted. After changing my mind several times, on the day they styled my hair into a half up, half down style which incorporated my tiara and veil. When I arrived on the wedding day they had decorated the salon and provided snacks which were lovely. I would highly recommend.
I hope this is helpful for someone :-)