Cristy0583's Reviews 08.30.09

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions! cristy0583@gmail.com
Planning bio: www.cristinaandaian.weebly.com

Ceremony and Reception Venue - Douglas Entrance: A
http://douglasentrance.com/
I had my wedding ceremony and reception at the Douglas Entrance and I had an excellent experience. Raul was a pleasure to work with and was very responsive. I went there after looking at several other venues and I stopped looking once I saw it. It is a spectacular venue and was perfect for our wedding. I absolutely loved it!

Caterer and DOC - A Fancy Fiesta Productions: A
http://afancyfiesta.com/
I had the catering for the wedding done by A Fancy Fiesta Productions. Everything went great with them. I keep getting raves about the food and the service from guests. The food was delicious and they served the meal super quick. Marggie (with a Fancy Fiesta) was my DOC and she did a great job, everything flowed perfectly.

Flowers and Up-lighting - Petal Productions: B
http://petalproductions.com/
All of the flowers for the wedding were done by Petal Productions. They were included in the package I chose with Fancy Fiesta. The flowers looked beautiful; however, they were not exactly what I asked for. I wanted all of the flowers to be white and have some pale pink but some of the arrangements had bright pink. I was also not happy with the bridesmaid’s bouquets. They were made up of hydrangea and roses and I was expecting the roses to be open/full, but they were tight rose buds and were sticking out. The reception flowers looked amazing, and I am overall happy with their work.

Petal Productions also did up- lighting which really added a great look and feel to the reception.

Photographer - NB Photographix: A
http://www.nbphotographix.com/
(Pending photos) They have been so great to work with! We had our engagement session at the Grove and although it was super hot and we were sweating we had a wonderful time and the pictures look amazing. Bryan does a very good job of capturing nice shots and I was amazed by his creativity as he transformed one of our pictures right before our eyes.

On the wedding day I feel they did very well getting great shots. I have not received all of the pictures yet but the teasers are incredible!

Link to wedding teasers: http://tinyurl.com/mxwdp3
Link to engagement session teasers: http://tinyurl.com/lbhphz

Cake - Divine Delicacies: C

I also booked Divine Delicacies(DD) through my caterer. I went to them months before the wedding to show them the cake I wanted. I asked the girl that was helping me if it was included in the package and she takes out a list with the caterers they work with to verify. She told me that according to the list the cake I wanted was included. The week of the wedding I went to meet with Marggie(Caterer/DOC) and she was on the phone with Ileana (I think she is the owner) from DD who is telling her that the cake I wanted would cost much more and that I knew that and had told them that I would cover whatever the extra costs were!! They said the cake I wanted would cost an extra $4 per person! So I said that I will just change it. Marggie took the time to show me cakes that they had done for her before and I saw one that I liked and she printed it out for me. The cake had a fondant bow and the girl told me that would cost extra… We kept going back and forth about the cake and the girl kept going to the back to speak to Ileana, who did not have the decency to come out and speak to me herself after the mix up and the continued mix up. I ended up being so confused… For whatever reason the cake was an extra $10 so I just paid it. Marggie had told me to call her if there was any issues but I had a lot of other things to do so I just wanted to get out of there quick. In the end, the cake did look nice and tasted good.

Gown - Leggenda Bridal: A
I bought my wedding gown at Leggenda Bridal, it was a sample sale and I got it at a good price. They also did the alterations. The dress fit me perfectly and was clean and ironed when I picked it up.

DJ UBI: A
UBI did the music for the ceremony and reception. Everything flowed very smoothly and he kept everyone on the dance floor!

FAVORS - Gifts and Romantic Wedding D
I bought 80 little trinket boxes for my wedding favors here. First, I thought it was odd that they charged me for the shipping costs, I don’t know if that is common practice. They told me the order would arrive in 2 weeks and they arrived in 3 weeks. My mom went to pick them up and they each came in individual boxes. We didn’t open them until a couple of weeks later and we noticed that many of them were damaged. We separated 26 of the ones that were very damaged and the store agreed to order replacements. When we went to pick up the replacements we began to open them in the store to inspect them and found that many of them had damages. The lady in the store also made a point to state the vendor they ordered them from told her that they accepted replacing the damaged ones once but would not do so again. We ended up taking the ones that were in best shape, but by no means perfect, because the wedding was in a couple of days and there was no time to find alternate favors. We were not offered any type of reimbursement or credit despite the trouble we went through and ending up with damaged favors.

Hair and Make-up - Noel: A
Noel did my hair and make-up. He did a wonderful job, I was very happy with how I looked. He was great to work with and he made my time with him fun and relaxing. I highly recommend him!

Chiavari Chairs - Hitched: A
I rented the white wood padded chairs for the ceremony and gold chiavari chairs for the reception from Hitched and I had a very good experience. I also asked about specialty linens and he had them for a very good price. I did not get the linens because I was already over my budget, but they had the lowest prices that I found.

Linens - AB Cover Designers: B
I booked them through my caterer and was originally using them for chivaris and linens before I found the chairs much cheaper through Hitched. I met with them months before the wedding to chose the linens. I told them I had the basic package and that I wanted ivory linens. The man who was helping showed me beautiful ivory crinkled linen. I asked him if he was sure that those were included in the basic package and he said yes. Of course in the end I found out that they were not included and that is why they get a B!

DIY Invitations
Paperandmore.com: A
I bought all of the paper and envelopes for my invitations on this site and the paper quality was very good.

Staples: F-
I printed my invitations at home with a color laser printer so I only needed to have them cut to the exact measurements. I had a thick card stock for the backing and the text cardstock for the top layer with the crop marks. I took them to staples to get cut. I went to pick them up and as soon as I looked at them I knew they were off… I layered them to see how bad it was… It was terrible! Not only were they off in the measurements, they were also slanted. . I was devastated! I spoke to the manager and he tells me that it is not possible for them to cut to exact measurements and the employee should not have taken the job. Luckily I had bought extra paper and I reprinted them and took them to be cut at SirSpeedy.

SirSpeedy: B
They did a good job at cutting the paper. They do not get an A because one of the sides was a tiny bit longer and I had to trim them myself.

Mmburns' Reviews 05.09.09

Caterer/DOC ~
Caribbean Catering
http://www.islamoradaweddings.com/ A+++++++++++
Debbie Pierog was the absolute reason our wedding went without a hitch. She catered both our rehearsal dinner and reception dinner. At the rehearsal we did a tapas style dinner with cocktail servers walking around with trays(Her staff was superfriendly and went out of their way to make sure my guests were happy and full). The food was delicious. We actually ran out of some of the appetizers so she added them to the cocktail hour after the wedding since they were such a hit! ( for free I might add) Everyone loved the food and kept asking for more! On the wedding day, her bartender came up with a signature drink and passed it at the cocktail hour without me even asking. They were delicious and I had two! We did a buffet for the reception and the food was again wonderful. There was something for everyone.

For the wedding day, she acts as a DOC as part of her catering services. Debbie made sure that we started on time for the ceremony and made sure that everything flowed according to the timeline we had discussed. She made sure Matt and I remembered to eat and that we always had a drink in our hand. I truthfully feel blessed because we were actually able to enjoy our own wedding and never worried about a thing! Debbie went above and beyond what we hired her to do! We got nothing but compliments about everything she did.

Officiant
Reverend Eddie Rodriguez ~ A++++++++
http://www.eddierodriguez.com/
Eddie is a true professional. He travelled from Miami to perform our ceremony in Islamorada and we couldn't be happier. He completely understood us and our ceremony reflected that. He put us both and ease and laughed along side of us when the small plane decided to circle overhead during one of our readings! He even made sure to match his tie to our wedding colors! Our only regret is that he had to head back right after the ceremony and we didn't get a picture with him.

DJ
Effects Entertainment, Inc. 786.229.8737 ~A++++++++++++++++
Jorge Navarro was fantastic and kept our party going! He followed our playlist perfectly and mixed the music so well that my 78 yr old grandma was the hit of the dance floor! He was priced well and gave way more than he charged. There was a wedding next door and Jorge was so good that they were requesting music from him!

Hair and makeup
Shannon Biondoletti A++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shannon came to my wedding site and did makeup for myself and my bridesmaids. I had a trial with her in February where she wowed me with the updo she came up with. Her vision the day of the wedding was AWESOME and I got tons of compliments on it. I was worried that with the heat and humidity that appeared for my wedding that my hair was going to be a mess. However, Shannon did such a fanstastic job that it stayed put until the very end of the reception when the humidity and my curly hair overtook the updo. I had done makeup trials with her as well and my only comment after the trial was that my makeup was too heavy. On the morning of my wedding, I had a fellow knottie's photo in hand and told Shannon that I wanted to switch gears and look just like the picture! She took it in full swing and created exactly the look I wanted. Shannon is easygoing and listens to exactly what her client wants. I loved her!

Photographer
Belinda Serata ~ A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.bserata.com/
Belinda and her husband Bob were all that Matt and I could have asked for in a photographer. Not only did she capture every detail of our wedding day but she managed to make my camera shy husband actually enjoy having his picture taken. That to me is a miracle in its self. Belinda's goal was to chronicle our wedding day while actually letting us enjoy our day. She took all the "must have" photos I requested so quickly I don't think our families realized she had taken so many great photos! She also made sure to take tons of pictures of our wedding guests as well. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves! She set up a last minute shot that I thought I had discussed with her but had actually just talked about with the caterer without missing a beat. We had fireworks before the dancing began and she took AWESOME photos of those too. She had our wedding website up within two days of the wedding and when we returned from our honeymoon we had a box with all of photos on cd waiting for our review!

BM Dresses
www.ariadress.com A+++++++
I was a little hesitant to order dresses online without a store for my girls to try the dress on and see a sample of the work. However, my experience was fantastic. My bridesmaids used their online sizing chart to determine which size to order and then we called customer service to confirm. I was a little worried because the turn around time was 4 months and it was January with my wedding in May, so when the dresses showed up in March, I was ecstatic. The color and quality of the dresses was great and the sizes were perfect. Only one of the girls needed a small alteration in the top. Aria Dress will send you fabric swatches so that you can view them prior to ordering and for a small fee they will mail you a sample dress in the size of your choice ( I believe that you have to ship it back at your cost but we didn't do that so I am not sure). All in all, both my of bridesmaids were happy with the dresses and so was I.

Wedding Dress
Brides Against Breast Cancer ~A+++++++
This organization gets an A ++++++ in my book mainly because they are a fantastic charity. My husband's mom passed away from breast cancer so it was a great way for me to include her in my day! They had a huge selection and lots of sizes for great prices. They even had designer gowns for low prices. They have a separate section for the designer/couture gowns which was nice because if you were looking for a specific designer, they would be easy to find. Unfortunately for me, they only had a much larger size than I needed in the dress I loved but I bought it and had it altered and was supremely happy! I went a year in advance and bought my dress that day. I never even looked in the bridal stores.

Alterations
Belissima Bridal ~ B-/C+
The work that they did on my dress was very good, however I give them a lesser grade because of the experience I had. First of all, I did not buy my dress at the store so the alterations were super expensive ( almost as much as the dress, however my dress was lace and had a beautiful hem I wanted put back on) but I knew other people who had alterations done there and were happy so I bit the bullet. The first fitting went well but I had to sign a waiver because I wanted the dress to be above the recommended length. I got married outside and was worried about the bottom dragging in the grass/dirt if it rained. Also, they kept trying to insist that the top needed to be very tight as I wouldn't want the dress to fall down. Well, I have a fuller bust and the dress falling down was not going to be an issue. I just wanted to be comfortable and be able to breathe as I was going to wear the dress all night. When I went back for the 2nd fitting, I brought one of my bridesmaids to make sure that I was being clear on what I wanted. After the first fitting, they were only working on the length as I was still losing weight and I didn't want to pay for a 2nd alteration if I lost too much weight. There was a month in between fittings so I expected the length to be done when I went back for the 2nd fitting. It was but not to the length I signed the waiver for...they decided I might change my mind (????) and it would be better to leave it longer and do a second alteration. So again, I had to fight over the length and insist that I didn't want the top to be too tight. I left feeling a little uncertain and I shouldn't have so I take responsibility for that part. However, the day I was to pick up my dress was a nightmare. They had doublebooked the appointments and because the other bride was buying her dress through the store, I felt like I wasn't a top priority. They hustled me into the dressing room where the dress was shoved on my body as quickly as possible. Instantly I knew the top was too tight even though they had loosened it and taken measurements at the 2nd fitting. They took a few stitches out and assured me that I had just GAINED WEIGHT and had a week and a half to lose it...WHAT???? According to them, most brides lose weight before the wedding because of the stress...that may be true but what a inconsiderate thing to say to a bride a week before. I also indicated that the length seemed like it hadn't been shortened since the 2nd fitting. I was assured that it was but it definitely wasn't. The manager even looked at the receipt and said that it was exactly what I asked for. BUT IT WAS NOT. The seamstress then whipped the dress over my head, threw it in the dress bag and handed it to me and I was ushered out. At this point, I should have marched back in and demanded that they fix my dress but I was so overwhelmed and distraught about the experience that I didn't want them doing anything else to the dress. One of my bridesmaids was able to loosen the top and although the length was too long at the reception even with the bustle, the dress was beautiful and I loved it nonetheless. I just felt like the customer service experience could have been better especially during the most stressful last weeks of the wedding planning process!

Save the Dates
Weddingpaperdivas.com. A+++++++ The website was super easy to use and the order was processed very quickly. The STD's came out beautiful. The only catch was the extra postage but they do tell you that upfront...I just didn't realize it was going to cost $1.17 per STD to mail!

Cake A++++++++++
My aunt Denise flew down for the wedding and made our wedding cake as a gift to us. It WAS DELICIOUS! We told her that she should quit her job, move to Florida and make cakes full time. People had two pieces....Other than the piece that my dear husband smashed in my face....I don't think we even got cake!!! And there was tons of cake...it just was a huge hit!

Flowers~ A++++++
In order to make room in our budget for other things that were important to us, we decided not to hire a florist. We made it a DIY project as the setting for our wedding didn't require much decoration. I went to the warehouse district near MIA and ordered flowers from Art Flowers Corp on NW 72 Ave They were fantastic. The woman there made great suggestions and I ended spending $80 on 125 gerbara daises that we used to make the bridal bouquet and bridesmaids bouquet. We then floated flowers in water on the tables. It was perfect for our wedding and I would recommend this company to anyone interested in ordering wholesale flowers.

jlr557's Reviews 04.18.09

Jacaranda Country Club A+: I don't know if some of the older knotties will remember but I did not want my wedding here at all. My Dad has played golf here for years and I've been to numerous affairs here and was just not feeling Jacaranda. My Dad basically said if you want a wedding from me its here, so with that being said we had a venue! Let me tell you.........they totally outdid themselves. The service was amazing, the drinks were fantastic, our martini bar was packed, the food was really really good which I always remember it being not so great. My MIL is gluten free, the caterer made her a special meal and assured her it was 100% gluten free. They even made her homemade gluten free brownies. They were just so wonderful, we had our own personal server who was just standing near the band waiting to get us anything we needed. Besides having the bar and bartenders they had servers walking around to get people drinks which I loved. Honestly, I am so glad my Dad forced us to have it here. Wow!

Rabbi Kaplan and Father Anderson A+: These 2 are a great pair, the ceremony was beautiful. It was sentimental and funny, sincere and politically correct you could say. It was not overly Jewish or Christian, they found a nice happy medium. My MIL walked up to the Rabbi afterwards to thank him and tell him how great everything was. They were fantastic!

Augustine from MAC A: This man rocks!!!!!! Great personality and does a fabulous job, I was sooooo happy with my make up. He would have gotten an A+ from me except that 4 days before my wedding I called him to make sure everything was on track and he threw me a curve ball. He was going to go into work late on my wedding day so he can come and do my makeup at our hotel, he now told me that he couldn't go in late anymore and needed to start doing our makeup at 11:00 at the hotel, it was only an hour before he was supposed to be there but dude 4 days before my wedding! I tried to push back a little but saw it wasn't an option, I had 4 trials before I found him and I was not losing my buddy from MAC to make me beautiful. He showed up on time, like exactly on time which was the best thing ever. He still decided once he got there that he'd take his time and go into work late. He hung out, did one of my BM's and myself. My cousin wants to be a makeup artist so he gave her some tips as well. I love him. He was so close to an A+.

My Treasure Videos A+: I love this man! From the moment I booked him his communication was on point. He always responded so quickly and I love that in a vendor. I checked my email when we were on our HM and saw that he emailed me the recap, it was more beautiful than I could have imagined. I cant wait to see the whole thing. One concern I had was that there would be a huge camera in our face all night, i don't think I even noticed him once. He does a fantastic job at not being noticed. If you're thinking of booking him do it!

Cindy Karp: Communication is A+, page me for details

Uplyte A+: This was one of the best additions I had, we added lighting just a month or so ago and I'm so glad we did. What a change in the room lighting makes, it had a soft romantic feel and everyones skin color looked great! We went with amber lighting and I just loved it. Dan and Alex (husband and wife) from uplyte were fantastic to work with, absolutely wonderful!

Dalsimer A-/B+ ish, keep flip flopping: This review is a little hard, I started writing this review in my head a while back and now am finally getting to put it down on paper (or the knot, you know what I mean). Dalsimer was one of my first vendors we chose, my Mom had tons of people that used them through the years so I decided to meet with them. My Dad and I hit it off with Jimmy from the second we sat down. I narrowed it down to Flowers by Tony and Dalsimer. The quotes were the same so it was really hard to choose, Dalsimer said he'd throw in an orchid bloom for each folded napkin at no charge. SOLD! I was ecstatic, I showed him a picture of what I wanted and we were good to go. I had my trial and wanted it fuller and with darker sticks, I had him axe the votives and confirmed that the orchid I wanted was a white cymbidium. He now tells me that I'm not getting a cymbidium, he never said that I was going to have that. He said they were too expensive and he would have never agreed to that. He said he is giving me a dendrobium, we battled for a few minutes, I brought up the picture I gave him that clearly shows a cymbidium on a napkin. He wasn't budging, the contract says orchid bloom (get them to be more specific in your contract cause I was pissed) We got a quote on 12-15 centerpieces, I ended up with 12 so thought my price would be lower. When I brought this up Jimmy told me that the quote was really on 12 centerpieces and he was throwing in the 3 extra centerpieces for free. What!!!!!! Give me a break, are you serious. That's bull, I was so annoyed. This was a week before my wedding so I didn't want to stress, I had my Dad call him and still got nowhere. My Dad said its okay, maybe Jimmy was right an the 3 would be free. I think that's a load of crap. Then he throws in a $100 charge to move the Chuppah over the cake. This is something that he forgot to mention until a week before my wedding. I really felt like we were nicked and dimmed. Overall besides me feeling like I was taken advantage of the flowers were gorgeous, better than the trial. My bouquet was beautiful, the chuppah was more than I ever thought it would be. Soooooooo, happy with the flowers 100%. Being screwed around, not cool! I would still recommend Dalsimer but please go through your contract with a fine tooth comb and be as specific as you can be, even if its something minor and you think its dumb. Put it in there!!!!!!!!!

Lovechild A+++++++: This band is not your typical wedding band. This was a huge must for me, my parents couldn't afford it so I saved and saved and threw in some money to make this happen. It was well worth it. Everyone kept telling us how amazing they were, my friend had Libido Band a few years ago and I knew from the moment I heard them I had to have them. I got a whopping $12,000 quote and almost threw up in my mouth. 12k for a band, omg not going to happen. I found out that Lovechild is there sister band and even uses some of the same band members at times. We negotiated back and forth for months and finally made it happen. You have to see this band in person, wow! Their under tropics entertainment.

Hitched Events Rentals A: Luis is a great guy, he was always on top of his communication. Like within 15 minutes I'd get a response always. The past few months I would have to follow up with a second email which kind of bothered me. I guess this can be normal but I was spoiled in the beginning. His staff showed up on time, our linens and chairs looked great, everything worked out very well. He didn't get an A+ for the lack of communication the past few months and a conversation we had the week of my wedding. I wanted to rent the glass chargers with the little beaded edges, he said he could do them for $3.00 a piece. I told Luis that I had heard he was negotiating the prices of his chairs and linens, and even throwing in the cushion covers which I was paying for. I told him that it was not my style to ask him to knock off some money the week before my wedding even though I know he has been doing some major negotiating with other brides, what I did ask was for him to throw in the chargers as a courtesy. He said that he would have but his Dad/Partner wont let him, blah blah blah. He said he'd ask his dad and call me the next day by 12:00pm. No call! I called him and said whats the deal, he said it wouldn't work. I told him look, I understand, if you can do the chargers for $1 a piece I can do it. You're already coming out to my venue so if you want to make and extra easy $130 bucks cash we can make that happen. Didn't happen, oh well. I tried! I used jacarandas ivory chargers and it looked fine. I really wanted those glass freaking charges though!!!!!

A piece of cake by Elena A+: Yum, that's all I can say. Beautiful and yum! Godiva marble liquor cake is delicious!

Music for Anything B: B is being nice. The communication is horrible, like horrible horrible. The music was great and that's what you pay for, I got a trio for $250 which is the best I had found. They were on time which was something I was nervous about when reading other peoples reviews. Good luck with these people!

LMG Events A++++++: Letty is the best!!!!! She was my DOC and made my life so easy during my planning. She would always call and check on me since the day I booked her, she always wanted to help but I had nothing for her to help me with (i have control issues). She definitely would have done more than what a DOC is supposed to do. My ceremony musicians fell off the face of the earth and Letty tracked them down, she said she would show up at there place of business if she hadn't heard back from them. She was on point, made sure everyone was where they needed to be, followed up with all my vendors, set up my menus, candle holders, broke everything down at the end of the night, made sure I was happy, I mean this girl rocks!!!!!!!!!! If you're thinking of a DOC hire Letty, it was the best thing I did. She is the reason i think i was so calm the week of the wedding and even the day of. Hire her, call her now!!!!!!

Honeymoon at Excellence Playa Mujeres A+++++: This resort is gorgeous, the service is the best I've seen. We used to travel when we were first together and we've been to some nice places, this is up there. Absolutely breathtaking. 2 story room on the beach with our own person pool on the rooftop. Gorgeous!

Terese with Hibiscus Travel A+: Best travel agent ever. I drilled her with millions of questions about everything before we even decided to book with her. Shes responsive, honest, and knows her stuff. I have a travel agent for life!

Belissimma Bridal Deerfield A: Kate and Tanya were great, they know what they are doing for sure! The only reason they didn't get an A+ was because my alterations were almost $500, wtf, $500??? But overall I was extremely happy!

Unique Bridal in Deerfield C: The best quote for my BM's dresses but they were so unorganized. They called my BM's a million times, told one of them they forgot to order her dress but that was a lie (weird), they told another BM that they couldn't show her my wedding gown (my wedding gown wasn't there because I got it at Belissimma, another weird), they threatened that if my BM's didn't p/u their dresses they would charge them storage fees when I was told by the owner that no fees were involved, they were just a mess. My girls would have rather spent the extra $30 and gone somewhere else. Be careful!