Blessed Trinity Catholic Church - A+
We had a little trouble booking our date when we first got engaged because the Pastor was on vacation and they wouldn't write us in the calendar officially until we had met with him. However, since my cousin works there, she penciled us in and set up the appointment so we could sit down with him upon his return. This was easy and painless. We met with the Deacon and his wife to take our FOCCUS test and then went to the Marriage Retreat on a Saturday in November. They allowed us to bring in our own priest because he is a good friend and it was important to us to have a priest that was bilingual so Ray's mom and my dad (and some other guests) could understand the ceremony. On the day of, everything went perfectly and since my cousin works there, we were not rushed during our pictures.
Contact Information - (305)871-5780
Ceremony Music - A+
Our organist was Sal Rendina. He is the Church's organist so he was easy to reach. He does work at other venues.
Contact Information - (305)652-7282
Our vocalist was Sara Andreu (my cousin). She also works at the Church so this was a no brainer. Her voice gives us chills and we worked directly with her to choose all of our music. She does sing at other Churches/venues as well.
Contact Information - syandreu@hotmail.com
Jungle Island - A+++
Our contact person there was Jannette Alix. She was easy to work with and made us feel like we were her only event. She remembered details from previous conversations and her years of experience made us feel at ease. Unfortunately, she no longer works there. Their packages were the best we could find anywhere and included lots of extras. We used the Prime Card and received a 25% discount on our food and beverage bill. On the day of, we were assigned our own staff member from the moment we arrived. They prepared and served us a tray with all the yummy food from the cocktail hour and brought us drinks right away. Our guests raved about the variety of food during the cocktail hour and most were so stuffed that they couldn't finish their entrees. That was music to our ears! We also heard a lot of good things in relation to the staff and our guests liked that they could park their own cars and didn't have to wait (and pay) for valet. Believe it or not, that was a factor in our decision to begin with. Our guests also loved the parrots that visited during the cocktail hour. We would recommend JI for any event.
Contact Information - (305)400-7239
Video - Digital Video Concepts - A
We booked them before I knew about the knot and didn't meet with any other vendors because I felt very comfortable around Luciano and Jesus. They do the filming of many of the events at my school and although they are a small company, I felt I could trust them. We had 2 cameras and the footage is wonderful. He was great at working with us after the wedding as we chose our songs and did the final editing. He understood my desire to have the whole Mass be a part of the video - I didn't want any of it cut out. Ray felt his work was a little cheesy and I can see that but it's a WEDDING video. They're all cheesy, aren't they?? Anyway, now that I know the variety of videographers and styles that exist, I might have made a different decision but I love our video nonetheless.
Contact Information - (305)207-0722
Photography - Gort & Sandor - D
Where do I begin??? We hired Sandor Glez of Gort & Sandor nearly 10 months out because we liked his style and clicked with him. We knew of a couple of people who had used him for other events. His album designs were done by his wife, Martha, and we really liked her work. She even sat and let us watch her work on someone else's album so we could see different options, etc. We were scheduled to take our first engagement pictures a few days after Thanksgiving. We received an email a few days prior to the shoot saying that Sandor would not be able to shoot our pictures but that another photographer would be there. She included his name (Polo) and number. We thought this was weird but went along with it (see review below). That same night there was a link in my email to the online gallery and we were very happy. Ray and I chose the picture we wanted to enlarge and emailed and called Martha multiple times. Days and days went by with no response. We eventually got a reply telling us that Polo would be handling our package from now on. We really liked working with Polo but that's not who we hired. I was miserable!! We met with Polo and he explained that Martha and Sandor were actually moving in a new direction career-wise. We were also told that apparently Sandor never backed up the high-resolution images from our engagement pictures so we would need to re-shoot them. At this point, we chose to move forward with Polo because we were only 4 months away from our wedding. Polo helped us out by making sure that Sandor compensated us - he paid for the Vizcaya fee the second time, the framing for our enlargement, etc. This is the only reason he gets a D and not an F.
Photography - Polo Sivori - A+++
So Polo was the photographer we never actually hired but ended up working with. We LOVE him to pieces! It's extremely funny how life twists and turns things on you and in the end, it's all okay. He is extremely laid back but full of energy. He isn't afraid to lay down on the floor or climb some rocks to get the right shot. He shot our engagement pictures both times and we met with him so many times before the wedding that we were already convinced he was like family by the time the wedding day came. As a result of everything that happened with our first engagement pictures, he agreed to give us the high-resolution images right away. So after leaving the 2nd shoot for our e-pics, we went to his office and downloaded all the images onto a portable drive. We had a friend do this for us with the wedding pictures while we were on our honeymoon and the day after the Bridal Portraits, I was at his office again. He wanted us to feel confident that it wouldn't happen again. We were compensated in a few other ways as well because Polo stuck his neck out for us and made sure Sandor took care of us (read above). He was incredibly good at keeping me calm (which takes a lot) and helping both of us relax in front of the camera. He even called me the day of the wedding to check on me. Seriously, he is our photographer for life!!! When we eventually chose all the pictures for our album, he and another designer worked on our album design. He then called us in to review it and make changes before sending it off to print. He kept telling us that he just wanted us to be happy and we definitely are.
Contact Information - email me for his phone #
DOC - Justine of Fabulous Fetes & Events - A+++
I never knew what a DOC was but as we got closer and closer to the wedding, I kept wondering who would pick things up after the Ceremony and Reception, etc. I didn't want my mom to worry about all of this on the day of so I suggested a DOC to Ray and my mom. They both thought it was worth looking into. My mom and I met with Justine about a month before the wedding and my only regret was not having hired her sooner in the process. After signing with her, I literally felt 500 pounds lighter. She called me the morning of and a few other times throughout the day to be sure I was okay and give me updates. She set everything up perfectly and packed things up for my mom to take home as well. She was on top of things yet very calm. She even helped me go to the bathroom. LOL I'm convinced my mom enjoyed the reception as much as she did because she knew Justine would take care of everything. I have to mention that we asked her to pack up a slice of wedding cake for my aunt who was hospitalized the week of the wedding and couldn't make it at the last minute - she even brought a little container from home. And to top it all off, my guests accidentally started a fire during our sparkler send-off and her husband, Alexis, put out the fire right away. We thought it was hilarious but he had a bucket of water ready to go and kept things under control. She is great at communication and I'd recommend her with my eyes closed.
Contact Information - info@fabulousfetesandevents.com
DJ - The Party Players - A+
Again, another vendor I went straight to and booked without looking elsewhere. They had DJd events for my school in the past and the parties they worked had always been the best ones. I called, went in to meet, signed the contract and wrote a check. Our MC was Johnny Caride and our DJ was Andy. They even brought a third guy on the day of. Their online system for song selection was easy to use. They were VERY responsive to emails and phone calls. We chose songs for introductions, first dance, garter removal, etc. and then left a lot of the music selection to them. We asked for a few songs but asked them to read the crowd for the most part. They did a great job at keeping everyone dancing all night!
Contact Information - (305)225-5267
Transportation - Meilan - A+
They seem to be the go-to company and now we know why. They were easy to work with before the wedding and excellent on the day of. We hired a Town Car to take Ray's mom to the ceremony and back home, the Rolls Royce Phantom for my dad and I to go to the Church and for us to go to the reception, and another Town Car to take us to our hotel after the reception. Humberto was our driver in the Phantom and he was wonderful. He helped me with my dress and was very sweet.
Contact Information - (305)665-7284
Flowers - Lazarus Flowers - A+++
Benny was awesome to work with!! When I first told him I was thinking of going "tropical," he was in heaven. He told me that sometimes brides forget to take their venue into consideration. I think he was excited to do something a little different. I even called him the day after the wedding and left hm a message thanking him for my beautiful flowers. He took my ideas and went 100 times beyond. I was sold on using Benny when I saw his wrought iron bases for our centerpieces and the columns that coordinated with them. We used those behind the cake and sweetheart tables. He was also able to bring in the areca palms to liven up the ballroom. All the flowers were very fresh and lasted for days after the wedding. I'd use him again without hesitation!!
Contact Information - (305)860-4203
Linens - Leyani Linens - A+
I kept things pretty simple as far as linens. I used JI's tablecloths for the guest tables but used Leyani for chair covers/sashes, brown napkins for the guests, brown linens for the cake and sweetheart tables, and ivory napkins for us. As far as I know, everything was on time and ready to go.
Contact Information - (305)668-0208
Espresso Station - Aroma Espresso - A+
Ray wanted to add this after seeing another wedding set up at JI. Their station looked great (others we saw looked kind of cheap) and they gave us a great deal. They were easy to book and showed up according to plan on the day of. The guests loved it!
Contact Information - (786)546-8173
Cake - Artistic Cakes - B+
We went to meet with Cilly because they were the only cake vendor on the JI list that included fondant. I wanted the clean look of fondant and a fairly simple design. We chose the orange flavored cake. On the day of, the cake was great but not exactly what we had designed with her. The piece we ate on the wedding day tasted great to us but when we ate it again on our 1st anniversary, not so good. Oh well.
Contact Information - (305)229-1005 or (305)262-5273
Invitations - Stylish Invitation Designs - A+
A friend of mine that has worked with Chantal and Aledia in the past sent us their way. My mom and I first got quoted on pocketfolds and they added up to more than we wanted to spend. I called them and they suggested we come up with a different design. They worked very diligently to come up with something simple and elegant. I was in love with the final product - they were awesome to work with!!
Contact Information - (954)237-7694
Suits - Manny's Formalwear - A-
We went with Manny's because they had the brown suits we wanted and we would be the first to wear them. He was also able to get the orange ties I wanted for the boys and Best Man. He let me come in a few times and play with different shirt and tie combinations without complaining. I also appreciated the fact that their store is very clean and everything seems much more organized than other places I went. They get an A- because two of the boys didn't fit very well into their jackets on the day of despite having been fitted. One of the boys' mom's called the shop a few hours before the wedding and they scrambled and got him a new jacket in time. The other mom didn't call but I'm sure if she had, they would have resolved the issue for him as well. We've already been back to get tuxes for Ray for other events.
Contact Information - (305)264-5516
Dress - Alfred Angelo - A
We had been to the shop in the Gables but there was a specific dress I wanted to see and since they didn't have it, we went to the store in Deerfield. The service was excellent from the moment we got there. They found the dress I wanted to see but when I tried it on, I was not happy. They kept pulling dresses and we found the one - my mom and godmother both started crying so that's it, decision made. We left the deposit and expected to get a call in a few months but I got a call 3 days later. They were about to ship the dress to another store when my order came in. We headed back up to Deerfield the next weekend and took the dress home. We took it to the Gables store for alterations because it was a lot closer for us. Thankfully, I didn't need many and the process was easy. They had the dress ready to go when promised and steamed it (and the veil) really well. I also purchased my head piece and veil from them.
Contact Information - (305)529-5822
Hair & Make-Up - Dina Acle - A+++
After a trial with someone else, Dina was an angel! Dina is the sweetest person I've ever met. She did my hair and make-up and also did my mom's make-up. She had a wonderfully calm demeanor. She came to my home for my trial, the day of the wedding, and the day of my Bridal Portraits. She was on time each time. She was very patient and listened to my concerns. My hair lasted all night looking great and so did my make-up despite all the dancing. I felt like a princess thanks to her. If I ever need professional hair/make-up again, I'd call her in an instant.
Contact Information - (786)514-1678
Wedding Rings - Rotunda Jewelers (mine) - A+ . . . and Sam's Club (Ray's) - A+
Ray had my engagement ring and wedding band custom made by Dana at Rotunda. Flawless work!!
Contact Information - (305)255-6162
I shopped around for Ray's ring with him and he finally decided that he wanted Tungsten. We had a problem finding a place that could order his ring in his size (he's a big guy - LOL). My mom spotted a Tungsten ring at Sam's Club (of all places) so we went to check it out. They had exactly what he had wanted and could order it. The best part was that if it didn't fit properly, we wouldn't have to take it. They called about 2 weeks later, it fit perfectly, and was a great price.
Parent gifts - My Publisher - A+
We ordered books with our engagement pictures to give to our parents at the RD. The books came out awesome and were a huge hit. I found the software easy to use. Although I don't remember exactly what we paid, I know we found coupon codes online. After the wedding, we used My Publisher again to create books with our wedding pictures while waiting for our real album to be ready. All of my aunts and uncles even ordered a copy for themselves.
Fabric for Bridesmaid Dresses - Rex Fabrics - A
Since we couldn't find dresses we liked, we opted to have them made. We bought the raw silk for the dresses at Rex Fabrics. Their selection is like none other and their service was good but they aren't cheap. The FG dress was made by her great-aunt who only sews for family. The MOH and Jr. BM dresses were made by a lady my MOH had used before (I don't have her information) but this time around, she was a total disaster so I could never recommend her.
Contact Information for Rex Fabrics - (305)448-7651
Registry - Bed, Bath & Beyond - A+
We only set up one registry and found it to be enough variety. I felt that they had a lot to choose from and liked the idea that the guests could use coupons. They also wrap the gifts for free. On our first day setting up the registry in the store, one of the associates walked through the store with us and made some suggestions. We went back another day to finish up and then did the rest of the changes from home. Their website was very easy to use. They were WONDERFUL about shipping gifts for those who chose that option. We did opt to take some things back when we realized what we really needed and had space for. They didn't give us a hard time about it. When you return items from your registry, you get cash. Overall, a great experience.
Signature Platter - Say Anything Ceramics - A+
I REALLY wanted a platter as our guestbook but couldn't find what I wanted locally. I searched the Internet and compared prices, options, etc. I called Say Anything a couple of times with questions and they were very responsive. It wasn't cheap but we loved the end result.
Contact Information - www.sayanythingceramics.com
Showing posts with label Fabulous Fetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fabulous Fetes. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Jessie720's Reviews 05.23.09
The weather suuuucked and it poured for the only moment in time I wanted it to be clear- getting out of the limo and to church. I had a team of men come and get me with umbrellas and they got soaked and my hair lost its curl. Also I would recommend tucking a hankie into your cleavage or something; I couldn’t stop crying through the whole ceremony and had a snot rocket type situation going on when we exchanged rings. Not pretty. However, I loved how my wedding turned out overall and I am so happy to be married!
Ceremony: St. Hugh Catholic Church- B
First off, I LOVE Maria, who is the church coordinator. She is so sweet and super helpful. Father Garcia also delivered a wonderful ceremony for us. There were a few things that did disappoint me. I was told that Father will not be happy if you are late to your rehearsal because he does them all in one day, so I drilled it in to my bridal party to be there super early. Our rehearsal was scheduled for 5 PM and we were there at 4:30, except for my in laws who arrived around 5:10. Anyway, we started the rehearsal around 4:50 with a few people missing, and when they showed up at 5:10, he refused to go over the order of things again, even though we were scheduled to have rehearsal till 5:30. This wasn’t a huge deal. The day of the wedding, Ollie and his crew of men showed up at the church at 3 PM, which is when the second photog was going to be there to get some shots. Well some guy that works for the church refused to open the gate for them. He didn't want anyone in the church before 3:30. They didn't want to go into the sanctuary, the just wanted to park thier cars and take some pics out front. At this time there were about 10 cars clogging up the road, trying to get in for my ceremony (invites said 3:30, it started at 4.) Ollie threatened to call the archdiocese of Miami and magically the gates opened. I was mostly disappointed that during the ceremony, the readings were not placed on the stand for the lectors to read them. Luckily my one reader printed it out and brought it with her to the stand. My second reader, poor girl was only 11, just stood there for a minute like a dear in headlights. Luckily, I had made programs with the readings in there, and my MOH finally ran up to her with the reading. Since then, I have become an advocate for programs! Also my cousins went up to bring the gifts to the priest, and there was no bread or wine for them to bring up. What REALLY upset me was we only had 10 minutes to take pictures at the altar. Just when our grandmas were lining up to take pics with us, we got kicked out and we never did get to take a picture with them. They are all still upset over this, as am I.
Ceremony Vocalist: Cecilia Witkowski from St. Hugh- A
I was really surprised that people even paid attention to the songs at the ceremony, but they kept coming up to me all night commenting on how amazing she made the ceremony. Her communication was great and she gave an excellent performance.
Reception Venue: The Rusty Pelican- B
I was working with Betty originally, and then I was assigned to Edward. I will say that this place did give me some headaches early on, and what annoyed me the most was when they informed me I couldn’t bring my wedding items to the venue until the morning of the reception. This was just not possible for me logistically. When I signed our contract, they said we could bring in all of our stuff when we gave the final payment, which is 4 days before. Needless to say, I argued until they let me bring the stuff Friday afternoon, but I was still super peeved. I ended up buying a ton of things to bring to the reception, and if I had known about this rule when it changed, I wouldn’t have accumulated so much stuff. Also, because we opted to have a buffet set up, we were invited to the Sunday brunch as our tasting, but none of the food was the same as what we could select, so we really didn’t have a tasting. At our cocktail hour, which was scheduled from 6-7 PM, they told our guests the bar will not open till 7, which was an error because I paid for them to begin serving liquor at 6. They did fix it but I had some unhappy guests for awhile. During our planning meetings, they kept telling me not to stress about the timeline. If guests arrive for cocktail hour early, they will serve everything early and just move up the timeline. My guests arrived at 5:30, and food and liquor was not served until 6, after the minor mishap of when to open the bar. I would have much preferred everything moved up a half hour like they said they would. Sometime towards the end of the reception while I was dancing, a server came up to me to give me a comment card to fill out. Ummm I was kinda busy and did not need to be bothered with that. I told them to leave it on the sweetheart table and I have no idea what happened to it. Overall I am still thrilled to have had my wedding there, because the ballroom, the view, and the food are still being raved about.
A little story about their valet drivers- while we were partying at the Rusty Pelican, one of the valet drivers ran a customer’s car into the limo my in laws had. The police came to do the report, and it was discovered the valet did not have a license. He went to jail that night. 2 other valet drivers were found to either have no license, or a suspended license. Not sure if they went to jail or were fired or whatever. Craziness that valet companies don’t check to see if people have valid licenses! And the clientele of that restaurant have expensive cars.
Fabulous Fetes, Justine- A
She was VERY helpful prior to the wedding day, printed my programs free of charge and also did my menus and printed them free of charge for me. I spoke with her when I was having doubts with my vendors and she was a good sounding board. She offered to meet with vendors when I had meetings with them, but I didn’t really need her to do that. She dropped off my menus at AB Covers for me and finalized all of my vendor contracts. She attended our rehearsal and took all the directions from the priest. Everything was set up the day of the way I wanted it to, and came out beautifully. I tried to keep my guests out of the ballroom until my photogs got there, but my mom told her to open the doors so I got overruled. I spoke with her several times during the night to have her do something for me and it was never a problem. Everything was packed up nicely at the end of the night. Overall I thought she did a good job.
Photography: DB Images- A (pending pictures)
Based on how my e-pics and shower pics came out, and my incredible wedding teasers, I am super happy with my decision to have used Devynn. I spoke with her constantly during the planning process and she always got back to me, it really feels like we have become friends. She is also shooting my cousin’s wedding so I know we will be in touch for a long time to come.
Photography: Joseph Keith Photography- A (pending pictures)
I really wanted a second photographer, and Devynn hired Joseph for me. I had no prior contact with him before the wedding. He brought along a ton of lighting gear, and I love a lot of the ideas he had for posing us and setting up shots. He went to the church to photograph the guys before I got there, and they thought he was super cool and they loved working with him. Ollie couldn’t stop raving about him on our honeymoon lol. I have yet to see any of his final photos though, but based on his professionalism that day, I am super excited to see his shots. I have heard he is relatively inexpensive, so check him out if you don’t have a large budget for photos.
Video: My Treasure Videos- A+!! (pending final video)
I had not even met Javier in person until my wedding day, so I really didn’t focus too much on our video. After the drama I experienced with another video company, I felt I could trust him 100% to do his thing and he did. He gave us a ton of upgrades just because he really wanted us to have certain things. Our video recap is so beautiful and I barely noticed Javier at all that night, even in our cramped hotel room getting ready. I really cannot get over how nice he is and how he couldn’t wait to do our recap, it was ready the next day!
Video: Dreammaker Events- no grade, just do NOT use them!
I feel entitled to review them since for a long time I was a client of theirs. This review is based on my actual experience with them, ALL CRAZY KNOT DRAMA ASIDE. I can say that Rob always returned messages, however I had a lot of concerns based on the experiences of other brides. When I brought the concerns to his attention, he basically said everyone was lying and his company would never do these things. When I originally booked with them, I was told you had to have the blu ray package, they didn’t shoot in standard definition anymore. Of course when I told him he was no longer worth the 2 grand I was contracted for, he told he would let me change my package to a smaller one, without blu ray. Where was this package when I originally asked for it? He refused to do anything to make me happy, and was saying that all I wanted was a discount. Not completely true, I just felt he was no longer worth the money and that I wouldn’t receive what I was paying for. I ultimately went elsewhere and could not have been happier.
DJ: Liquid DJs- A
Shannon sent us DJ L.A. and the dance floor was busy all night, which is really the only thing I cared about. Communication with Shannon was great leading up to the wedding. We wanted to be announced into the ballroom and then go straight into our first dance, and I don’t know why there was a delay, but after we were announced, the DJ played some dance music and told everyone to join us on the dance floor, then 30 seconds later they all sat down when our first dance song came on. Kinda awkward, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Uplighting: Ubi- A
Ubi tried to get me a DJ a few weeks before my wedding, but he was all booked up. He offered to try and hunt one down for me with another company, but I ended up finding Liquid DJs so it was fine. The lighting looked awesome and as far as I know it was there on time and set up properly.
Cocktail hour violinist: Music for Anything- A
I had heard stories about how bad their communication is but I actually had an awesome experience in that regard. I only hired them about 2 weeks before and it was constant communication. I didn’t hear the music at all, and nobody really told me about the performance, but I know they did their job and were prompt.
Cake: Lily with Edible Creations- A
This woman is as sweet as her cakes. It was delicious and the design was exactly what I requested. The red velvet was a the biggest hit with our guests.
Florist: Gil Sosa- A
What can I say that already hasn’t been said about this man. His communication definitely improves when your wedding nears (but you have to be super close, like a week out.) 4 days before the wedding, he offered me a new idea for my centerpieces that sounded really awesome. It was to use the floralytes like on one of the weddings on Justine’s blog, with opaque white vases. He said it would blow my mind and it probably would have, but I opted to keep my original design because my flowers and linens were white, so I just felt like white vases would have been too much white. My flowers turned out beautifully. My sign in table was my favorite thing. I will be nitpicky for a second and say that a few things were different from my contract. The BM bouquets were supposed to be only calla lilies, but they ended up having several types of white flowers with the little green berries. This was fine, they looked good. I wish my cake had flowers on the very top tier though; I am not sure why that part was left out. Lastly, my centerpieces were surrounded by cylinders with floating orchids, as opposed to the candle holders that were originally used during my trial. It still looked nice, but I would have preferred the candle holders with different heights.
Linens: AB Covers- A
I love Ana, she did several different set ups for me and didn’t pressure me into upgrading. The only linens I upgraded were the napkins, I wanted them to be teal. She offered to take my extra damask fabric and make napkin ties. This came out so fabulous and she didn’t charge me anything for it, even though sewing the edges on all those ties must have taken a lot of work and time.
Limos: A-1 Limos out of Boyton Beach
We had 2 limos and a towncar the whole night. They were on time and very professional. They tried as hard as they could to get me close to the front doors of the church, the parking area of St. Hugh is quite awkward. My FIL booked the limos so I do not know how their prices were or their customer service prior to that day. I do know my FIL told me we would be getting an 8 passenger limo, and we got a huge SUV limo that could have fit 15.
Flower preservation: Forever Flowers: A (pending final product)
They picked up my flowers at the reception venue on time, I still need to pick out how I want my display to look.
Wedding Gown: bestbridalprices.com- A
Although they no longer sell Maggie Sottero gowns, I was able to get mine from there before they stopped. The dress was perfect and came a few weeks early. I agonized over this decision, since buying a wedding gown online is not ideal for a nervous bride. It was probably one of the better decisions I made during the planning process.
Alterations: Reina- C
This review disappoints me so much. I loved the way my dress fit, don’t get me wrong. Reina did a fabulous job with it and had to do a significant amount of alterations. However, my mom and I tried on our dresses for the last time, and then we waited over an hour for her to steam and press them and then took everything home. Imagine my surprise when I take my dress out of the bag on my wedding day to find it is NOT pressed or steamed at all! I had to call the Biltmore and they sent a steam machine up to my room, so my aunt and I were steaming my dress. I only had enough time to do the front, which looked awesome. You can see how wrinkled the back of the dress was though in a black and white photo on Devynn's blog. I was so upset by this, it was my biggest disappointment. I still love her and would recommend her to anyone for alterations; I just don't understand how my dress wasn’t pressed when I was sitting there while they worked on it. It didn’t occur to me to take the dress out of the bag to check and make sure it was steamed. My dress really needed it because I ordered online and it was packed up in a box for a while.
Hair: Dina Acle- A
What a sweetheart! She did my hair, my mom’s, my grandma’s, 2 of my bridesmaid’s, and my flower girl’s. Everyone looked great. My hair did lose some of it’s curl throughout the night but only because it downpoured on me. I can’t blame her for that, I still insisted on having my hair down regardless of the weather. I am still happy I decided to have it down, because it still looked decent in pictures. She also did my eyebrows for me a week before the wedding, and she will send you lots of pictures of her work.
MAC Makeup: Jorge Pena- A
This guy is a trip and half and kept up the entertainment factor while doing my cousin’s makeup, my mom’s, and myself. My mom looked so awesome, she never wears makeup. Same with my cousin, she usually wears none and she looked great that night. I loved my own makeup and it help up all night. Great communication with him as well.
Bridesmaids Dresses: Patricia South- A
The dresses were fabulous and all the guests loved them and the girls looked smokin. They came in on time and were the best price I found besides online ordering.
Groomsman Tuxes: MW Tux Aventura- C
I don’t know too many details because everyone hid the problems from Bridezilla, but I do know that our long distance groomsman had their tuxes delivered to their local tux places instead of here in Aventura. A bunch of them had to get refitted, and one groomsman did not have his tux delivered to him until 1 PM on our wedding day (ceremony started at 4 PM!)
Hotel block: Biltmore Hotel- A
LOVE this hotel, it is a great backdrop for photos. I recommend staying here because they allow you take photos for free as a guest on their gorgeous grounds, instead of paying the $200 fee or whatever it is. They had a few weddings going on that day, so they asked us to leave those areas, but that is understandable. Those brides are paying an exorbitant amount of cash and deserve priority. They also dropped our room rates by 70 bucks a night a week prior our stay, for no reason that we know of. Super grateful for that! When I needed my wedding dress steamed, they sent a commercial steamer up to me right away to take care of my dress. That was lifesaving right there.
Rehearsal Dinner: Los Ranchos Cocowalk- A
I had never been there before, but their food was amazing. The steak I had with tons of chimichurri was a lifechanging experience. Service was great and prices seemed reasonable, although I know we had a large bill due to the alcohol we consumed. I cannot wait to go back there and have more steak. Everyone had a great time and the families got to know each other better. My in laws did all of the arrangements, so I cannot comment on that experience but I am guessing it went smoothly.
Honeymoon: Sandals Regency in St. Lucia- A
We used Nancy Finn as our travel agent and she was a pleasure to work with. We were orginially booked at the Sandals Grande, but we decided to switch over to the Regency to save money. The amount was saved was significant, and we think the Regency was the resort for us anyway, after visiting all of the other Sandals on St. Lucia. Our room was super cute and we had a phenomenal view. The food is okay, and the bartenders are very liberal with the alcohol. The only thing that is odd is that you can't eat lunch past 2:30 or dinner past 9:30, and a few times were were later than that so we got stuck eating at the burger grill that is open all the time. I would highly recommend the zipligning excursion, as well as Simon Says tours. He is independent from Sandals but gives you a local tour of the entire island, and he even brings you back to his house and his wife cooks you some awesome carribbean food. Money well spent, and we definitely needed the time to relax after the wedding planning.
Ceremony: St. Hugh Catholic Church- B
First off, I LOVE Maria, who is the church coordinator. She is so sweet and super helpful. Father Garcia also delivered a wonderful ceremony for us. There were a few things that did disappoint me. I was told that Father will not be happy if you are late to your rehearsal because he does them all in one day, so I drilled it in to my bridal party to be there super early. Our rehearsal was scheduled for 5 PM and we were there at 4:30, except for my in laws who arrived around 5:10. Anyway, we started the rehearsal around 4:50 with a few people missing, and when they showed up at 5:10, he refused to go over the order of things again, even though we were scheduled to have rehearsal till 5:30. This wasn’t a huge deal. The day of the wedding, Ollie and his crew of men showed up at the church at 3 PM, which is when the second photog was going to be there to get some shots. Well some guy that works for the church refused to open the gate for them. He didn't want anyone in the church before 3:30. They didn't want to go into the sanctuary, the just wanted to park thier cars and take some pics out front. At this time there were about 10 cars clogging up the road, trying to get in for my ceremony (invites said 3:30, it started at 4.) Ollie threatened to call the archdiocese of Miami and magically the gates opened. I was mostly disappointed that during the ceremony, the readings were not placed on the stand for the lectors to read them. Luckily my one reader printed it out and brought it with her to the stand. My second reader, poor girl was only 11, just stood there for a minute like a dear in headlights. Luckily, I had made programs with the readings in there, and my MOH finally ran up to her with the reading. Since then, I have become an advocate for programs! Also my cousins went up to bring the gifts to the priest, and there was no bread or wine for them to bring up. What REALLY upset me was we only had 10 minutes to take pictures at the altar. Just when our grandmas were lining up to take pics with us, we got kicked out and we never did get to take a picture with them. They are all still upset over this, as am I.
Ceremony Vocalist: Cecilia Witkowski from St. Hugh- A
I was really surprised that people even paid attention to the songs at the ceremony, but they kept coming up to me all night commenting on how amazing she made the ceremony. Her communication was great and she gave an excellent performance.
Reception Venue: The Rusty Pelican- B
I was working with Betty originally, and then I was assigned to Edward. I will say that this place did give me some headaches early on, and what annoyed me the most was when they informed me I couldn’t bring my wedding items to the venue until the morning of the reception. This was just not possible for me logistically. When I signed our contract, they said we could bring in all of our stuff when we gave the final payment, which is 4 days before. Needless to say, I argued until they let me bring the stuff Friday afternoon, but I was still super peeved. I ended up buying a ton of things to bring to the reception, and if I had known about this rule when it changed, I wouldn’t have accumulated so much stuff. Also, because we opted to have a buffet set up, we were invited to the Sunday brunch as our tasting, but none of the food was the same as what we could select, so we really didn’t have a tasting. At our cocktail hour, which was scheduled from 6-7 PM, they told our guests the bar will not open till 7, which was an error because I paid for them to begin serving liquor at 6. They did fix it but I had some unhappy guests for awhile. During our planning meetings, they kept telling me not to stress about the timeline. If guests arrive for cocktail hour early, they will serve everything early and just move up the timeline. My guests arrived at 5:30, and food and liquor was not served until 6, after the minor mishap of when to open the bar. I would have much preferred everything moved up a half hour like they said they would. Sometime towards the end of the reception while I was dancing, a server came up to me to give me a comment card to fill out. Ummm I was kinda busy and did not need to be bothered with that. I told them to leave it on the sweetheart table and I have no idea what happened to it. Overall I am still thrilled to have had my wedding there, because the ballroom, the view, and the food are still being raved about.
A little story about their valet drivers- while we were partying at the Rusty Pelican, one of the valet drivers ran a customer’s car into the limo my in laws had. The police came to do the report, and it was discovered the valet did not have a license. He went to jail that night. 2 other valet drivers were found to either have no license, or a suspended license. Not sure if they went to jail or were fired or whatever. Craziness that valet companies don’t check to see if people have valid licenses! And the clientele of that restaurant have expensive cars.
Fabulous Fetes, Justine- A
She was VERY helpful prior to the wedding day, printed my programs free of charge and also did my menus and printed them free of charge for me. I spoke with her when I was having doubts with my vendors and she was a good sounding board. She offered to meet with vendors when I had meetings with them, but I didn’t really need her to do that. She dropped off my menus at AB Covers for me and finalized all of my vendor contracts. She attended our rehearsal and took all the directions from the priest. Everything was set up the day of the way I wanted it to, and came out beautifully. I tried to keep my guests out of the ballroom until my photogs got there, but my mom told her to open the doors so I got overruled. I spoke with her several times during the night to have her do something for me and it was never a problem. Everything was packed up nicely at the end of the night. Overall I thought she did a good job.
Photography: DB Images- A (pending pictures)
Based on how my e-pics and shower pics came out, and my incredible wedding teasers, I am super happy with my decision to have used Devynn. I spoke with her constantly during the planning process and she always got back to me, it really feels like we have become friends. She is also shooting my cousin’s wedding so I know we will be in touch for a long time to come.
Photography: Joseph Keith Photography- A (pending pictures)
I really wanted a second photographer, and Devynn hired Joseph for me. I had no prior contact with him before the wedding. He brought along a ton of lighting gear, and I love a lot of the ideas he had for posing us and setting up shots. He went to the church to photograph the guys before I got there, and they thought he was super cool and they loved working with him. Ollie couldn’t stop raving about him on our honeymoon lol. I have yet to see any of his final photos though, but based on his professionalism that day, I am super excited to see his shots. I have heard he is relatively inexpensive, so check him out if you don’t have a large budget for photos.
Video: My Treasure Videos- A+!! (pending final video)
I had not even met Javier in person until my wedding day, so I really didn’t focus too much on our video. After the drama I experienced with another video company, I felt I could trust him 100% to do his thing and he did. He gave us a ton of upgrades just because he really wanted us to have certain things. Our video recap is so beautiful and I barely noticed Javier at all that night, even in our cramped hotel room getting ready. I really cannot get over how nice he is and how he couldn’t wait to do our recap, it was ready the next day!
Video: Dreammaker Events- no grade, just do NOT use them!
I feel entitled to review them since for a long time I was a client of theirs. This review is based on my actual experience with them, ALL CRAZY KNOT DRAMA ASIDE. I can say that Rob always returned messages, however I had a lot of concerns based on the experiences of other brides. When I brought the concerns to his attention, he basically said everyone was lying and his company would never do these things. When I originally booked with them, I was told you had to have the blu ray package, they didn’t shoot in standard definition anymore. Of course when I told him he was no longer worth the 2 grand I was contracted for, he told he would let me change my package to a smaller one, without blu ray. Where was this package when I originally asked for it? He refused to do anything to make me happy, and was saying that all I wanted was a discount. Not completely true, I just felt he was no longer worth the money and that I wouldn’t receive what I was paying for. I ultimately went elsewhere and could not have been happier.
DJ: Liquid DJs- A
Shannon sent us DJ L.A. and the dance floor was busy all night, which is really the only thing I cared about. Communication with Shannon was great leading up to the wedding. We wanted to be announced into the ballroom and then go straight into our first dance, and I don’t know why there was a delay, but after we were announced, the DJ played some dance music and told everyone to join us on the dance floor, then 30 seconds later they all sat down when our first dance song came on. Kinda awkward, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Uplighting: Ubi- A
Ubi tried to get me a DJ a few weeks before my wedding, but he was all booked up. He offered to try and hunt one down for me with another company, but I ended up finding Liquid DJs so it was fine. The lighting looked awesome and as far as I know it was there on time and set up properly.
Cocktail hour violinist: Music for Anything- A
I had heard stories about how bad their communication is but I actually had an awesome experience in that regard. I only hired them about 2 weeks before and it was constant communication. I didn’t hear the music at all, and nobody really told me about the performance, but I know they did their job and were prompt.
Cake: Lily with Edible Creations- A
This woman is as sweet as her cakes. It was delicious and the design was exactly what I requested. The red velvet was a the biggest hit with our guests.
Florist: Gil Sosa- A
What can I say that already hasn’t been said about this man. His communication definitely improves when your wedding nears (but you have to be super close, like a week out.) 4 days before the wedding, he offered me a new idea for my centerpieces that sounded really awesome. It was to use the floralytes like on one of the weddings on Justine’s blog, with opaque white vases. He said it would blow my mind and it probably would have, but I opted to keep my original design because my flowers and linens were white, so I just felt like white vases would have been too much white. My flowers turned out beautifully. My sign in table was my favorite thing. I will be nitpicky for a second and say that a few things were different from my contract. The BM bouquets were supposed to be only calla lilies, but they ended up having several types of white flowers with the little green berries. This was fine, they looked good. I wish my cake had flowers on the very top tier though; I am not sure why that part was left out. Lastly, my centerpieces were surrounded by cylinders with floating orchids, as opposed to the candle holders that were originally used during my trial. It still looked nice, but I would have preferred the candle holders with different heights.
Linens: AB Covers- A
I love Ana, she did several different set ups for me and didn’t pressure me into upgrading. The only linens I upgraded were the napkins, I wanted them to be teal. She offered to take my extra damask fabric and make napkin ties. This came out so fabulous and she didn’t charge me anything for it, even though sewing the edges on all those ties must have taken a lot of work and time.
Limos: A-1 Limos out of Boyton Beach
We had 2 limos and a towncar the whole night. They were on time and very professional. They tried as hard as they could to get me close to the front doors of the church, the parking area of St. Hugh is quite awkward. My FIL booked the limos so I do not know how their prices were or their customer service prior to that day. I do know my FIL told me we would be getting an 8 passenger limo, and we got a huge SUV limo that could have fit 15.
Flower preservation: Forever Flowers: A (pending final product)
They picked up my flowers at the reception venue on time, I still need to pick out how I want my display to look.
Wedding Gown: bestbridalprices.com- A
Although they no longer sell Maggie Sottero gowns, I was able to get mine from there before they stopped. The dress was perfect and came a few weeks early. I agonized over this decision, since buying a wedding gown online is not ideal for a nervous bride. It was probably one of the better decisions I made during the planning process.
Alterations: Reina- C
This review disappoints me so much. I loved the way my dress fit, don’t get me wrong. Reina did a fabulous job with it and had to do a significant amount of alterations. However, my mom and I tried on our dresses for the last time, and then we waited over an hour for her to steam and press them and then took everything home. Imagine my surprise when I take my dress out of the bag on my wedding day to find it is NOT pressed or steamed at all! I had to call the Biltmore and they sent a steam machine up to my room, so my aunt and I were steaming my dress. I only had enough time to do the front, which looked awesome. You can see how wrinkled the back of the dress was though in a black and white photo on Devynn's blog. I was so upset by this, it was my biggest disappointment. I still love her and would recommend her to anyone for alterations; I just don't understand how my dress wasn’t pressed when I was sitting there while they worked on it. It didn’t occur to me to take the dress out of the bag to check and make sure it was steamed. My dress really needed it because I ordered online and it was packed up in a box for a while.
Hair: Dina Acle- A
What a sweetheart! She did my hair, my mom’s, my grandma’s, 2 of my bridesmaid’s, and my flower girl’s. Everyone looked great. My hair did lose some of it’s curl throughout the night but only because it downpoured on me. I can’t blame her for that, I still insisted on having my hair down regardless of the weather. I am still happy I decided to have it down, because it still looked decent in pictures. She also did my eyebrows for me a week before the wedding, and she will send you lots of pictures of her work.
MAC Makeup: Jorge Pena- A
This guy is a trip and half and kept up the entertainment factor while doing my cousin’s makeup, my mom’s, and myself. My mom looked so awesome, she never wears makeup. Same with my cousin, she usually wears none and she looked great that night. I loved my own makeup and it help up all night. Great communication with him as well.
Bridesmaids Dresses: Patricia South- A
The dresses were fabulous and all the guests loved them and the girls looked smokin. They came in on time and were the best price I found besides online ordering.
Groomsman Tuxes: MW Tux Aventura- C
I don’t know too many details because everyone hid the problems from Bridezilla, but I do know that our long distance groomsman had their tuxes delivered to their local tux places instead of here in Aventura. A bunch of them had to get refitted, and one groomsman did not have his tux delivered to him until 1 PM on our wedding day (ceremony started at 4 PM!)
Hotel block: Biltmore Hotel- A
LOVE this hotel, it is a great backdrop for photos. I recommend staying here because they allow you take photos for free as a guest on their gorgeous grounds, instead of paying the $200 fee or whatever it is. They had a few weddings going on that day, so they asked us to leave those areas, but that is understandable. Those brides are paying an exorbitant amount of cash and deserve priority. They also dropped our room rates by 70 bucks a night a week prior our stay, for no reason that we know of. Super grateful for that! When I needed my wedding dress steamed, they sent a commercial steamer up to me right away to take care of my dress. That was lifesaving right there.
Rehearsal Dinner: Los Ranchos Cocowalk- A
I had never been there before, but their food was amazing. The steak I had with tons of chimichurri was a lifechanging experience. Service was great and prices seemed reasonable, although I know we had a large bill due to the alcohol we consumed. I cannot wait to go back there and have more steak. Everyone had a great time and the families got to know each other better. My in laws did all of the arrangements, so I cannot comment on that experience but I am guessing it went smoothly.
Honeymoon: Sandals Regency in St. Lucia- A
We used Nancy Finn as our travel agent and she was a pleasure to work with. We were orginially booked at the Sandals Grande, but we decided to switch over to the Regency to save money. The amount was saved was significant, and we think the Regency was the resort for us anyway, after visiting all of the other Sandals on St. Lucia. Our room was super cute and we had a phenomenal view. The food is okay, and the bartenders are very liberal with the alcohol. The only thing that is odd is that you can't eat lunch past 2:30 or dinner past 9:30, and a few times were were later than that so we got stuck eating at the burger grill that is open all the time. I would highly recommend the zipligning excursion, as well as Simon Says tours. He is independent from Sandals but gives you a local tour of the entire island, and he even brings you back to his house and his wife cooks you some awesome carribbean food. Money well spent, and we definitely needed the time to relax after the wedding planning.
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