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.

Mayda<3lester's Review 05.16.09

VENUE

Coral Gables Courtyard Marriott – A (service prior to the Wedding)/ B (Day of the Wedding)
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/miagb-courtyard-miami-coral-gables/
I booked this Venue back in August 2008. It had recently been opened after they revamped the old hotel that used to be there and we looooved it the minute we walked in. The décor is very modern and stylish. The Ballroom was perfect for the small, intimate Wedding we wanted and since they only have one, we didn’t have to worry about running into another Wedding the same day.

Maggie, the Catering salesperson was very accommodating. We were the first ones to book a Contract for a Wedding once they opened as a Marriott. Their prices are very affordable being that is located in Coral Gables and the service is great! We did our tasting and changed a couple of things, so they scheduled another one for us to try the new Menu. Overall, the Cocktail Hour and Reception were perfect. The hor devours were delicious, they served Dinner on time, the waiters gave superb service to my guests and the food was great!

The only issue we had was on Wedding Day due to the weather. We really wanted the Ceremony to be Poolside in the Terrace but the forecast predicted rain for that Saturday so she called me on Friday to tell me that the Ceremony would not be outdoors as previously discussed in our meetings. The day of the Wedding the weather unexpectedly improved even though it was raining on and off. All we wanted was for her to give us the chance to wait a little longer to decide whether to move it or not but she was gave us a hard time and was not professional. Please contact me for further details…

My Ceremony was indoors but it was sooooo beautiful! (Even though, it didn’t rain outside in the end) We used our Chiavari chairs and they looked great! The Uplighting made it so romantic and we were very happy with how it turned out.



PHOTOGRAPHER

Devynn – DBImages A+++++++++++++++++++
http://www.dbimagesblog.wordpress.com/
http://www.dbimages.ca/
We were having issues with the photographer we had initially hired. Karla suggested to invest in a professional and reliable Photographer, and showed us Devynn’s wok. We fell in love right away! and hired her only 6 weeks before our Wedding. I am sooo glad she was still available for our date. Everything happens for a reason and even when you feel stressed, there’s something better out there. She was the BEST decision we made and we could not be happier with the end results.

Devynn was at the Hotel early to take some Getting-ready shots and even being pregnant, laid on the floor to get different angles. She and her crew were all over the place snapping shots of the night. She totally blew us away with the teasers only 2 days after our Wedding and captured our Beautiful Day perfectly. J I highly recommend Devynn to any bride looking for a Photographer, her work is awesome and she is a sweetheart!!!


VIDEO

Javier – My Treasure Videos A+++++++++
http://www.mytreasurevideos.com/
We contacted Javier right after we booked Devynn because my cancelled Contract with the other photographer included a video. I had seen his work and was crossing my fingers he was available so close to my Wedding date and he was!!!

We were very excited to have him on our Wedding Day. He is such a professional! plus he is very sweet. He was there early as well and started shooting our Pre-Ceremony pictures. We never really ‘felt’ him there because he did his job without being on everyone’s face. He even stayed over beyond the time contracted to get more footage and I can not thank him enough for being so generous. I totally recommend him!!!



UPLIGHTING

DJ Ubi A+++
http://www.ubismusic.com/
Ubi was our first option for DJ but he was booked for Our Wedding date already L. We hired him for Uplighting and he even went to walk-through our Venue to determine how many lights we needed. The end result was stunning! The room was glowing in pink and it gave such an ambiance! He also provided a GOBO and Pin-light for our Cake as a surprise to us from my sister. I highly recommend him!


MUSIC
JP Productions A++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.jpdisco.com/
Let me just say, JP had EVERYONE on the Dance floor all night long! He called me a couple of days prior to the Wedding to confirm our Play and Do not Play List. He followed everything to the T for all our Dances. We were going to provide him with a CD of music we wanted to play for our guests since it is very popular in our country but I was not able to get it. When he saw we didn’t have it, he downloaded the songs {very hard to find} into his laptop and played them for us!!! Our guests are very different to the usual Wedding crowd and he knew the in and outs of the music from our country which blew everyone away! We did the Crazy Hour and passed out masks and beads and he also did an amazing job with the Carnival Music.

This man went above and beyond our expectations and my guests are STILL talking about how good he was! At the end of the night, people were complimenting him as they left the party. I highly recommend!



LINENS & CHAIRS

ABCovers A+++++++++
http://www.abcoverdesigners.net/
I had a pleasant experience with Ana when I came in for my appointment. They have a great selection and she was very helpful when offering different options for Linens and Chairs. We came up with a Beautiful table set-up using my Wedding Colors, Lime Green and Pink.

I had rented some sashes for my Ceremony chairs but when we had to switch to plan B due to the rain, their crew came back to set-up those sashes on the white Chiavari Chairs we were using inside the Ballroom. It definitely looked even better than I had envisioned. Everything looked gorgeous on my Wedding Day!



FLORIST

Flowers by Gerardo- Final Product (A+++++++) Customer Service (Read below)
http://www.flowersbygerardo.com/
Gerardo came recommended by another bride who got married in November. She said he was affordable and her flowers were beautiful! When I came in for a consultation, he was not very helpful when it came to giving ideas (being the expert) but fortunately we knew exactly what we wanted. We just didn’t find his personality to be customer-friendly.

He gave us the quote right there and then, and when we saw the prices we knew we couldn’t get that somewhere else so we booked him on the spot! The fact that we were providing the Glass Cylinders helped us with pricing. When it was time to drop them off 2 weeks before my Wedding, I mistakenly took the wring vases to him. Once I realized that and took the right ones, we had an issue because he claimed not to know that they were that big but we had told him in advance.

In the end, he too blew us away with the Centerpieces, altar arrangements and my bouquet, oh so gorgeous!!! He even included a calla inside the vases, which he had told me wasn’t included so I appreciate that! Honestly, I just think his customer service can be improved but the quality and value for cost, it’s phenomenal! I highly recommend to all the brides on a budget just like me.



WEDDING CAKE

Rosie – Elegant Temptations A+++++++
http://www.eleganttemptations.com/
We met with Rosie to work on a custom design for my Cake. I wanted something that didn't look so common or copied out of a magazine. I told her that we were doing a Elegant Garden theme and she came up with a beautiful design that incorporated flowers, rhinestones and a gorgeous stand.

I was blown away when I saw my Wedding Cake. It was definitely a focal point in the Reception and my guests raved about the flavor and how original it was. I highly recommend Rosie if you want to have a delicious custom cake and great customer service.

I personally think that Edda's and Ana Paz are becoming too commercial and the service is not that good anymore. You feel like you are just another cake for the weekend and I prefer to pay a bit more for better service.


DOC

Karla – Stylish Events
http://www.stylishevents.net/
Karla designed our Wedding from scratch. We wanted a Garden-themed Wedding that was not overdone or tacky but Elegant and Classy. She took my vision and brought it to reality 100x more than I could have ever imagined! Our guests were WOWed with every detail throughout my Wedding, as it is I’m still getting calls to find out where I got this or how did I do that.

She designed and printed my paper goods (Programs, Placecards, Menus, Table Numbers and Signs). I wanted to have a Huppah for the Ceremony and Backdrop draping behind my Sweetheart Table but it was way out of my budget so she offered build it and it all came out perfect!. Karla also decorated the Cake stand to implement our theme and the result was stunning! I could go on and on talking about everything she did and it would still not be enough because it was all flawless!!!

I've been as impartially honest as possible and did not grade this review because besides being my DOC, she is also my sister and I'd like to avoid the validity of review being questioned.



Make Up

Jorge Pena - A+
786-306-5463
I had a trial with Jorge a few weeks before my Wedding and I loved how he did my make-up. That day, I had my Bachelorette party and the make-up looked weird (too white under my eyes) in the pictures so I brought this up to him the day of my Wedding and I showed him the pics. He worked on my make-up and then took pictures with my camera to make sure it was ok.

The make-up lasted all night and everyone told me how natural I looked which is what I really wanted. Jorge is really outgoing and clicks with you right away! I highly recommend him.



Hair

Alcira - A+
305-205-3579
I didn't have a trail with Alcira. I met with her in her house and showed her pictures of what I wanted my hair to look like. I simply wanted a loose updo that matched the natural make-up look I was going for.

She had done that Hair do for other brides as well and showed pictures of them. She arrived early the day of the Wedding and did my hair just as I had asked. It turned out perfect! After dancing all night, it started to undo a little bit but it was totally fixable. I was really pleased with Alcira and would recommed to other brides!


Alterations

Reina - A+
954-785-6222
I highly recommend Reina! She is not only very sweet but also does amazing work. She hemmed my dress and took in a couple inches. She steamed it for me and I was very pleased with the results! She is located in Pompano Beach but is worth the trip.


Tuxedo Rentals

Tommy's Tuxedos - A
http://www.tommystuxedos.com/
Best price in town. They are located on 87th Ave and SW 8th Street. Tommy takes care of his clients himself and the service is outstanding. They have tuxedos for $60.00 +tax and when you take the Bridal Party, the Groom gets his for free. I only had a Best Man and some family members but I think that is a great deal.


Vendor I do NOT recommend:

VARONA PHOTOGRAPHY- D
Do NOT use. Nestor Varona was the photographer I had initially hired and we canceled our Contract almost
6 weeks before the Wedding. Contact me for further details @ mayda.lester at gmail dot com

EliStar's Reviews 06.09.07

Venue
Parrot Jungle Island - A+++++++++++++++++++
I cannot say enough nice things about Parrot Jungle. Everyone on their staff is consistently attentive, the room was perfect, the drinks and food were superb, and they did everything I asked of them and more. My catering manager was Mercy Acosta, and she was just an absolute joy. Every time I called to ask a question, she patiently answered and explained any necessary details, and every time I called to make sure we were on the same page, she always was. They took care of all the materials for my signature drinks, they accommodated all of my requests, and they made sure my room looked beautiful. When I couldn’t get in touch with one of my vendors, Mercy personally called and sorted out details for me. If you are looking for a place that is reasonably priced at a beautiful location with wonderful service, I highly recommend Parrot Jungle Island.

Granada Presbyterian Church - B+
The church itself is beautiful and all of the staff is incredibly nice, but a bit irresponsible. Every time I called to check up on things, they had usually completely forgotten our last conversation, but the reason I gave them a high score is because they always did their best to catch up and make amends. I was also a bit upset about not being informed that my wedding coordinator at the church had been switched the week of the wedding, but fortunately I KNEW the coordinator that they replaced her with and she was very sweet and detailed. Also, they started the prelude music super late and messed up the processional music, which kinda peeved me, but it was not that big of a deal. Out pastor, Pastor Phil Binnie, is one of the nicest men I have ever met. He conducted our pre-marital courses, which were VERY helpful and I think My DH and I both gained a lot from them.

Richard Miller Photography, Maja Miller - A++++++++++++++++++++++ (If I could fill up a whole page with pluses, I would. )
I will preface this review with a very important fact - We have not received our wedding photos yet. But I am grading Maja on her absolutely wonderful demeanor and of course on the amazing engagement pictures she took of us. She was so easy to get along with and is so incredibly professional. DH and I had a BLAST with her and her staff, who were all cracking jokes and they made us feel completely comfortable. When Maja arrived at the hotel and started my bridal shoot, she whispered to me “ I can tell this is going to be one of the weddings where we take over a thousand pictures - there are just so many wonderful things to photograph!” And boy did she hold up to her side of the bargain. The woman did not stop shooting for one second!! She kept showing us the pictures while she was taking them, and my mouth dropped every time. I am so incredibly excited to see them.
Update - I got my wedding photos back and I am THRILLED. I knew they would be beautiful but she surpassed my expectations. I stand by my grade!


Live Band
Continental Brass - C
I was very disappointed with my band. They kept taking long breaks in between songs, they never appeared like they had it together, and both Jesus (the band leader) AND his son (the assistant band leader) disappeared ten minutes into the reception. Their DJ, DJ Billy kept mixing up songs, and the singing was not that great. I have been to several weddings where they’ve played and they were MUCH better, so I was definitely let down. Don’t get me wrong, there were people on the dance floor and everyone had a great time, but I can’t whole-heartedly recommend them.

Polynesian Show - A+
Marcee Rodriguez
What a blast! I think that the Hawaiian show was the highlight of the party - it was so much fun! Marcee put on such a great show, and the fire dancer just WOWed everyone! What was great is that they brought everyone up to learn how to hula, and the hunky fire dancer individually brought up some older ladies and taught them how to dance which was HILARIOUS. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in my life. I HIGHLY recommend them, you will NOT regret hiring them!

Petunia Flowers - A++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eduardo did a fantastic job on my flowers. I almost cried when I saw my bouquet and the reception room. The centerpieces were beautiful, the bouquets and boutonnieres were perfect, and even though he called to tell me that most of the ranunculus we had planned on using had died, he saved 8 of them for my bouquet and threw in a box of peonies for my centerpieces. On top of being extremely meticulous about my flowers, Eduardo is one of the most wonderful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I loved him the moment I met him, and knew I HAD to have him as my florist no matter what!! HIGHLY recommend!!!

Meilan Limousine - A+
They were responsible, on time, and the car was perfect. The AC was great, the car was beautiful. The driver was very polite and sweet, and personally made sure that no one saw me before the ceremony. He even told Anthony that he’d married “the prettiest of them all” in Spanish though, so I had to translate. LOL, it kind of lost the magic, but oh well! Highly recommend.

AB Cover Designers - D+/C
I am very upset with AB Covers. Every time I tried to get a hold of Ana I was put on hold and told she’d call me back. My mother and I must have called 20 times and we never got one single call back. The day before the wedding I had no idea whether I was going to get draping behind my sweetheart table. If my DOC and Mercy hadn’t called her to hound her about the draping, I WOULDN’T have gotten draping, although I had been personally reminding her about it at every one of the three meetings I had with Ana. What’s worse is that she had no recollection of me ever wanting draping behind the sweetheart table. On top of that mess, I paid almost $800 for draping, which included draping the entire air wall which separates the ball rooms. When I got to my reception, the HUGE air wall, which is maybe 300 feet long was not draped. Instead, they had draped behind the band, which was maybe a quarter of the size. I did not pay $800 for draping behind the band. Needless to say, I will be getting in contact with them about that. The only reason they did not get an F- is because the draping behind my SW table was gorgeous and everything else was perfect and in place. So, I only recommend them if you are willing to go through hell and back to get beautiful linens, and even then, still risk them fugging up what you want. Revision - When I got back from my HM, my mom told me that she had called Ana to complain about what happened and that she had apologized profusely and refunded a portion of the draping cost. I upgraded her to a C for her behavior AFTER the fact, but I stand by my D+ for prior to the wedding.

Invitations
Smashing Cards - A++++
I emailed Ashley from Smashing Cards the same day I came across their webpage. OMG. My invites were to die for. I got SO many compliments on them, I even had friends and family calling me and asking me to send another for their albums and scrapbooks.. It really was incredible. Cake, Favors, take home pastry boxes - A+++++++ times infiniti

Delicioso Bakery A++++++
My dad made my wedding cake. I almost cried when I saw it. Although the table they put it on was a little crooked, the cake was so beautiful that it took my breath away. It was EXACTLY what I wanted, I could tell my dad had broken his back to get it just perfect. It was six layers and DELISH. Thank you Daddy!! Oh and he also made my cookie favors, which unfortunately must have melted a bit during the transportation process, but they were still pretty!

Biltmore Hotel A+
Bridal prep, night of the wedding hotel, and day after brunch
WOW, is all I can say. We got the HM suite which was sooooooo awesome!! Anthony almost died when he saw our room and ginormous balcony. The bed and pillows were like cotton covered marshmallows. The service was impeccable and the hotel is gorgeous. We took many pictures around the hotel, and I can’t wait to see how they come out. Highly Recommend.

Seamstress for Bridesmaids gown - Sylvia - F-------
She made my life a living hell two weeks before my wedding date. Thank GOD I told her my wedding date was two weeks before the actual date, or some of my BMS would have gotten their dresses on the actual day of the wedding. The dresses were gorgeous, but I seriously think any seamstress could have made the dresses I picked out with the material I also picked out and went to BFE to buy just as nice or better. Several of my BMs had to get their dresses altered because they had problems with they way they fit. She was so incredibly rude to me and my BMs that I felt bad about even asking them to come for their final fittings. She dumped my FG dresses on another seamstress the “week of the wedding” who tried to charge me more than double than the price I had agreed on with Sylvia. Seriously, this was where Bridezilla Eli came out. If you’re going to have your dresses made FIND a RESPONSIBLE seamstress!!!

Rosa Fabrics - Material for BM dresses A
When I went to Ultra Fabrics on Bird Road they were selling the same green material I chose for my BM dresses for almost $8 a yard. I got it for $3 a yard at Rosa Fabrics and it was JUST AS NICE!!! Although it is in a kind of scary neighborhood if you go at the wrong time of day (My mom and I literally saw a lady getting mugged on our first trip there - although her posse chased down the mugger and beat him down with their own purses) it is still worth it to get such a great price on material. The service is great and HAGGLE with them. They will lower their price, especially if you are buying a lot.

My dress
Bridal City- A+
The women there were an absolute joy. They were so nice and helpful, every time I came they just gushed over me and went out of their way to make sure I felt comfortable in my dress. Although Anthony broke my bustle as we were walking into the reception, I kind of knew that was going to happen and just danced the night away holding my dress. I hear they are closing their location, but if they ever open up somewhere else, I highly recommend them.

Hair
Tania Fiandor - A+
Tania has been doing my hair since I was 13 years old. She is no longer just my regular hair stylist, but a very close friend of my family. She did FOUR trials to make sure my hair came out the way I wanted it. Although my waves did eventually fall out towards the end of the night, my hair was beautiful and she really did a wonderful job throughout the wh0ole process. I was very happy with her.

Makeup
Anna Noriega A+
She did a GREAT job on my makeup, JUST what I wanted!! It looked soo natural and pretty, and she was so nice and easy to get a long with. She also was willing to work with me until I was satisfied which was very important to me.

Gms and Anthony’s tuxes
Ace Tuxedos - B+
They were wonderful and the tuxedos were perfect and gorgeous, but they lost Anthony’s measurements and we didn’t find out until two days before the wedding. We had to rush over there to make sure they had the tux he had ordered in his size, which thankfully, they did. Other than that, the service was great and I recommend them.

Day of coordinator
Carmen Becerra - A++++
I hired Carmen two weeks before my wedding Day. Thank GOD I did. She was wonderful, professional, and knew I was a control freak so she cleared EVERYTHING with me first. I could not be more happy with her service. Alessandra recommended her to me after she had rented a seating chart from her. I needed an easel for the large engagement picture I had ordered, and so I met Carmen and hired her on the spot. She took EVERYTHING to Parrot Jungle for me and set up everything just the way I wanted. My candy buffet was soooo cute!! Carmen had made sure it came out like I had set it up in my brain, and she did a perfect job. I HIGHLY recommend her

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.

Melissainabq's Reviews 6.21.08

Ceremony and reception location: The Rusty Pelican
Planning review: A
I have been working with Betty, and she's been an absolute pleasure. She has been very accommodating and helpful, which has been a blessing since I'm not local and need all the help I can get.

Final review: A
The Rusty Pelican really came through for us. I cannot imagine a better, more perfect location. They were handing us water when we needed it, filling our glasses when we were thirsty and made sure that our every need was taken care of. There were a few hiccups along the way, which I think is expected with any big event. But when I turned the corner and saw the room all decorated, it truly took my breath away. Anyone who is wanting a smaller wedding (like 100 people or less) without spending the money for the upper ballrooms, I have no qualms about recommending the lower lounge. At no point did we feel like we were in a public portion of the restaurant. We both had people coming up to us and telling us how much they loved the food and were impressed with the venue. I especially recommend the chicken with spinach and pine nuts with the sundried tomato sauce – it was soooo yummy.

String Trio: Music for Anything
Planning review: A
Victoria has been great. This is one of the vendors I'm most excited about because I know they will add so much to our wedding ceremony and the cocktail hour.

Final review: A
They made the ceremony so beautiful. The music was perfect, and they were easy to deal with during the planning process. Guests from another wedding taking place at the Rusty Pelican even booked them on the spot to play for a bit.

DJ: DJ Ubi
Planning review: A
I really enjoyed my meeting with Ubi, and I look forward to working with him throughout the planning process as the wedding gets closer.

Final Review: A
This is going to sound awful, but I do not even know that I ever got the name of the DJ that worked our reception. He screwed up a few names during the introduction of the wedding party, but the music was great and he was easy to work with on the fly. I highly recommend Ubi and his company.

Photography: Melissa Powell Photography
Planning review: A+
I have really enjoyed my dealings with Melissa. She has a beautiful style, and her booking process was a breeze. She does everything online (which for a bride halfway across the country is a huge help), and she always responds to emails very promptly - sometimes within minutes. I look forward to working with her and seeing her images of our wedding. I know she is going to bring so much to our day.

Final review: A+ and more
The images we've seen so far say it all. Her work is breathtaking, and we have a hard time looking at them and not crying (well at least I do). We also look at them and almost can't believe that it's us and it's our wedding.

DOC: Leah Beth Events
Planning review: A+
Leah has been amazing. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty for a DOC by helping this out-of-town bride with a bunch of stuff, including info on a marriage license and scouting out florists, hairstylists etc. Even though we've only talked by phone and email, I've been amazed with her attention to detail and her help with things I hadn't even thought of. I highly recommend her to anyone who needs coordination assistance. I know she is going to make our wedding run smoother than I ever could have imagined.

Final review: How many + can you add to an A?
I do not even know where to begin to describe how blessed we were to have Leah handling our wedding. She went far beyond the role of a day of coordinator, which because I was so far away was a huge help. She was calm and patient with my crazy family and many people came up to me and told me how impressed they were with her work. She kept everything running very smoothly and made sure that we were always attended to. I have absolutely no doubt that our wedding would not have been the party it was without her. I was able to just relax and celebrate instead of focusing on what time the cake cutting was being done or when the first dance would happen.

Chair covers/linens: AB Cover Design
Planning review: C
This vendor has been difficult to work with. I requested swatches of the chair sashes, which took almost six weeks to arrive because they never managed to get them in the mail. Ana has been better to work with than the original person I contacted, but to be totally honest - if they weren't part of my package at TRP, I'd have found another vendor by now.

Final review: B-
The final product was beautiful. We only ended up getting chair sashes and covers from them. We just didn't have money in our budget for extra linens, and in the end we're glad we didn't. Everything was beautiful as it was and we didn't need to spend any money on extra stuff. The only reason I upgraded her rating is because the final result was beautiful. I still don't feel like they were too easy to deal with.

Hair: Angelica Fernandez
Review: A
Angleica was great. The trial went really well, and she did a superb job with everyone the day of. She was very patient with my really disorganized, overly stressed family, and she even jumped in and finished my makeup since we didn't hire someone. Her prices were very reasonable and she was worth the money and more.

Cake: Edible Creations
Planning review: A+
Ana Paz: F
Cakes by Edda: C
At first, the Rusty Pelican gave me two choices for cakes: Ana Paz and Cakes by Edda. Recently I found out they had added Edible Creations in Pembroke Pines to their package. In an effort to be helpful to others struggling to make a decsion, I have reviewed all 3 vendors here.

Ana Paz was exceptionally rude to me on the phone and completely unhelpful and wouldn't listen to me when I told them I was not local and had limited windows for a tasting.

Cakes by Edda: While the staff was extremely helpful on the phone when I was trying to fit a tasting into an already busy wedding weekend, the cake left a lot to be desired. I did my tasting at the Pembroke Pines location as they were the closest to my family's house. While the cakes were beautiful, they didn't have the rich flavor I prefer. I found the chocolate to be rather dense and tasteless, while the vanilla rum (their signature flavor) was overly rum-tasting.

Edible Creations (954-433-3445): Wow - that is the only word that comes to mind. From my first conversation with Lily, she has been a pleasure to work with. My mom did the tasting for me since I wasn't in town, and she seconded my great feelings about Lily. She said that Lily sat with her and explained everything - down to the thickness of each layer. She also said the cake was incredibly flavorful and that she that in her eyes, choosing Lily was a "no brainer."

Just for reference, I thought I'd include one more review here. While sending my mom on a whirlwind three-tastings-in-one-day adventure, she also visited Elegant Temptations in Hialeah Gardens. Rosie was a joy to deal with by phone and email, and my mom said the chocolate cake with chocolate chip cheesecake filling and the banana cake were just amazing. Her work is beautiful, and the main reason we went with Edible Creations was that they are part of the package and that Rosie's cakes were a little beyond our budget. However, I have no problems recommending her to others because of the taste and outstanding customer service both me and my mom experienced.

Final review for Edible Creations - Speechless
I didn't do the tasting. I never met Lily, and she is one of my new favorite people. She came through with flying colors. The cake looked amazing and tasted amazing too. In fact, it was so beautiful that it stopped me in my tracks when walking to the ceremony. I shouted "look at the cake" without realizing everyone was looking in the windows waiting for me to walk down the aisle. My coordinator was sitting there waving "come on" at me and I was just mesmorized by the cake.

Flowers: Flowers by Gerardo
Planning review: A+
Gerardo has been great to work with so far, and he is working with our very small floral budget. I look forward to seeing the final product.

Final review: A+
This is another vendor I never got to meet and someone I'd love to give a big hug. The flowers were simply gorgeous. When they were delivered, the room literally fell silent. All the girls just stood there staring at them in amazement. I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful result. He quote me based on a picture and stuck with the design and the quote. I highly recommend them.


David’s Bridal – Miracle Mile
Review – F
This location truly was awful to deal with from start to finish. We took my dress there a week before the wedding for a light steaming. It was supposed to be free but they charged my dad. Then on the day before the wedding, when I called to confirm my pickup appointment, they could not find the dress. The woman even said “don’t worry – we’ll just get you another one.” When I told her the wedding was the next day, she said “ooh – maybe not.” I gave them my name and my father’s name, and they never bothered to look under his. So for 45 minutes they kept me in a total panic (we were on our way to the rehearsal so this is what I was stressing over as we got ready). When they found it, they had not even started steaming it. A few hours later, when I went to pick it up, they did not even acknowledge what had happened earlier. Plus, it was storming like I had never seen, and the water in front of the store came up to just below my knees. I had to run into the store barefoot, and that was all they could focus on. I asked if they had a back door with better drainage since we had to go and were going to have to run through the rain in the dress, and they very begrudgingly said yes. They led me back there, and no one even bothered to help me carry the dress through the store. They glared at me and talked about me in Spanish (and I understood the nasty things they were saying) while I waited for my mom to drive around to the back of the store. There was not one friendly person there, and if that was the experience I’d had when looking for a dress, I would never have purchased from David’s.

David’s Bridal – Albuquerque, NM
Review – C
I have very mixed feelings about this store. I had a few bumps with their staff, but I loved my dress. I also had a few glitches with the alterations, but I was happy with the final outcome. They shipped my dress perfectly and it actually didn’t require much touch-up steaming.

Tuxedos: Mr. Tux in Albuquerque
Planning review: A
These guys have been great. We had visited the Men's Wearhouse on the west side, and walked out almost immediately because they were so rude and because we didn't want to pick our tuxes from a book. Mr. Tux (Eubank Blvd Location) is giving us a great deal and we can take the tuxes with us to Florida. They aren't even charging us extra for the extended rentals. I feel so much better knowing that we will be able to closely check the tuxes before we leave and that they can make any last-minute changes if necessary.

Final review: B-
The servie we got during our planning definitely was not what we got during pickup. Shirts were dirty. Stuff didn't fit. And we didn't notice until we got to Florida that they gave us a long tie instead of a bow tie for our ring bearer. The guys looked great, though, so in the end I wasn't too disappointed.

Invitations: Elva Marie's Fine Papers
Final review: A+ and more
I struggled choosing invitations. I must have ordered 20 samples from various catalogs, but none of the samples looked like "my" invite. Then I stumbled across a brochure from Elva that I had picked up a while ago at a bridal show and shoved away when I made the decision to have my wedding in Florida instead of New Mexico. I am so thankful I found that brochure because Elva is bring my thoughts to life. She brought a designed sample to our first meeting after I sent her some ideas. And she has been so patient with my many changes. I am really excited to see my final product. Plus I'm getting custom-designed invites with an RSVP card and additional insert, plus printed envelopes for about $3 per invite. Yay!
3/28 update: I picked up my invites today and I'm so happy. I just wish we had more to do because working with Elva has been a true delight.

Bridesmaids' Jewlery: Etsy.com seller Handmade by Diana
Final review: A+
Diana was very easy to work with during the ordering process. Her store had pictures of the necklace on a jewelry form, and I had trouble determining how they'd look on a person. I asked for pictures, and she sent them within 24 hours. Seeing them on a person (she took a pic of herself wearing it) sealed the deal, and I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Card Box, Photo Guest Book and Cake Topper: Etsy.com seller SheaChicDesigns
Final review: A+ and more
Amanda has been simply amazing to work with. We have easily exchanged 100+ emails over the last 8 weeks and I can not rave about her enough. The cake topper isn't done just yet, but I can't wait to see it. If it's even half as gorgeous as the card box and guest book, we'll be thrilled to no end. I highly suggest her for any projects you just don't have the time or energy to DIY.
Update: I didn't see most of the pieces until I walked into the reception, and Amanda really came through. Everything was just beautiful and worth the time and investment.

Garter: Etsy.com seller GartersbyKristi
Final review: B+
They aren't quite the color I had in mind (a little more turquoise than I pictured) but the work is nice and the shipping was very fast.

Ring Pillow: Etsy.com seller regianna
Final review: A
I haven't seen the pillow yet because like many other things, it was shipped directly to the wedding destination. However, her responses were always very quick and it arrived in under a week. I have a feeling it'll be more gorgeous in person than it is in pictures.

Update: The pillow was gorgeous and just what I wanted.

Candles: http://www.candlesjustonline.com
Review: A
Fast shipping. Good prices. And they looked great!

Group accommodations: Marriott Residence Inn, Coconut Grove
Planning review: C+
These people have been horrible to deal with. They act as though they are doing you a favor by hosting your group. I know for a fact that they are very empty during my timeframe (because a friend works for Marriott and looked up their occupancy for my wedding weekend), yet I can not get them to do anything - like return messages or emails. If the hotel wasn't so convenient to my wedding I'd find another one. As such, I'm just stuck for now. But I will be following up with Marriott when the wedding is done.

Final Review - B
As I said above, I had a pretty miserable experience with them in the months leading up to the wedding. But all of the people I dealt with had been fired by the time our wedding rolled around. My biggest complaint about our stay was that they had a list with all our group room names, and they still put us all at opposite ends of the hotel. Plus, my contract specified that we had half-price parking and no one there had any of the info. So I still have to follow up with them in order to get the extra money refunded to all of my guests. But the location of the hotel, the breakfast and the manager’s reception all were really nicely done and overall it was a good value for the money.

Bridal/wedding night hotel: Sonesta at Coconut Grove
Final review: A
The one bedroom suite with the bay view was gorgeous. The servie was also fantastic. No complaints! Plus the suite had a jacuzzi tub, which I didn't know about until I arrived.

Travel: Carnival Cruise Lines, Kenneth Hagen
1-800-819-3902, 85904
Review to-date: A+
Kenneth has been so wonderful to work with. He has been very friendly and never seems upset when I send him 20 questions in any given email. He called to let us know they were having a double upgrade sale, and no one has been able to meet or beat that price since we put our deposit down back in November. I highly recommend using Kenneth if you're considering Carnival. If you do talk with him, let him know Melissa sent you.