Vendor Reviews 11-06-2010
The wedding was amazing! Everything really went perfectly and we could not have asked for a better day! We had a “cold snap” with a high of 70 but the day turned out beautiful and sunny. We had a terrific team of vendors and I hope these reviews can help some people out.
Venue: The Resort at Marina Village, Cape Coral, FL- A+ Such an amazing resort! It is an absolutely beautiful venue with stunning water views. The hotel rooms themselves are fantastic condo style suites with full kitchens and 1 to 3 bedrooms which was great for our guests. We got married on a lawn area directly on the water in the evening and had the cocktail hour on a rooftop terrace. The reception was in one of their ballrooms. We had Italian themed stations for dinner. The food was great and people seemed to really enjoy it. Overall the hotel staff was extremely nice and helpful, especially the resort’s in-house coordinator, Tosha. They also have a great restaurant and pool bar area which all our guests took advantage of! Cannot recommend this venue enough!
Planner: Kelly McWilliams with Weddings by Socialites- A+ Kelly and her team went above and beyond! They were incredibly helpful during the planning process and made sure the entire wedding day and rehearsal ran smoothly. She was able to give great vendor recommendations and gave me some great budget friendly ideas. She is also the one who recommended our amazing venue! She saved me a ton of stress and I was able to sit back, relax and actually really enjoy the wedding weekend. Hiring Kelly as a planner was worth every penny and was definitely one of the best decisions we made while planning.
Wedding Cake: Mason’s Bakery - C First of all, the cake was beautiful and looked perfect. We went with Mason’s because of their reputation for beautiful cakes. We were disappointed however because we paid extra for an upgraded filling which we did not receive. The filling was just the standard buttercream.
Groom’s Cake and sheet cakes: Extreme Cakes- A+ Such yummy cake! I ordered a surprise groom’s cake for the rehearsal which was a Miami Dolphins football helmet (fondant). It turned out even better than the picture they showed me! I was really impressed. I also ordered sheet cakes to supplement the wedding cake (buttercream). Both cakes were absolutely delicious and their prices were the best I found.
Officiant and DJ: Rob Sword with Sword Sounds- A+ I hired Rob due to all the great recommendations from this board and he did not disappoint. He did a very nice job with our ceremony and kept the dance floor packed all night. We even extended the party by 30 mins because people were having such a great time. My grandma even hit the dance floor! We just gave him a list of the songs we liked and let him use his judgment as to what to play and when. He did not play anything on our “do not play” list which was important to us. It was a great party!
Florist: Sue Bain with Signature Florals- A+ The flowers were absolutely beautiful!!! Sue was so nice at our consultation. For my bouquet I just described the shape and size I wanted and said “white flowers.” She asked what flowers I liked and didn’t like. I just let her run with it and I am so glad I did. It was beautiful and she even threw in some peonies which I love and we didn’t even originally discuss because I figured they would be way too expensive. She also did eight bridesmaids bouquets and flowers for the moms as well as all the table flowers. I found her prices to be extremely reasonable and she was easy to work with. She was also able to give me more budget friendly alternatives to some of my ideas if I chose to go that route which made it nice to have some options. Highly recommended!
Make-up artist: Hope Henderson- A+ Beautiful make up!! Hope did my make up and the moms make up. She did a fabulous job. Hope uses airbrush or regular foundation. She did a trial with me a few months prior. She is super sweet and very professional. Her prices were also very reasonable and competitive for what I found in the area. Highly recommended!
Make-up artist: Kate Taylor- A+ More beautiful make up!! Kate did make up for several of the bridesmaids and did my make up for the rehearsal. She is a friend out of the Boston area. Also highly recommended!
Photography: Heather Harris- A+ Amazing! Heather is super sweet and easy to work with. She makes you feel relaxed. She met with me at the resort a few months prior just to go over the flow of the day and possible picture locations since she had not done a wedding shoot there before. She was very fast and organized getting multiple group pictures done with our large wedding parties and large families. We also had a great engagement pictures session with her. She does such beautiful work and I’ll try to post some pics.
Videogrpahy: Elite Weddings -B We did a very small package with Elite. It was nice that they were willing to work with us on a smaller package on a Saturday in November which is a “peak” time for them. Beth was very pleasant to work with. I had a little trouble getting a hold of them just prior to the wedding ad after the wedding which I assume is due to the busy time of year. They showed up on time and were very professional and unobtrusive (which is what we wanted).
Ceremony and Cocktail Music: Mark Kobie- A+ Mark played guitar w/ vocals for both our ceremony and cocktail hour. He did a fantastic job with both! We originally heard Mark play at local bar/restaurant. We really enjoyed his music and many people commented on how much they liked him at the wedding. He was very nice and easy to contact. Another amazing highly recommended vendor!
Alterations- A+ I used a lady who works out of her home. She has done many of my friend’s wedding dresses and she does a fantastic job at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended! If anyone wants her name and contact info, email me peanutlmf@aol.com
Envelope addressing- My mom!! She has beautiful handwriting J
Invitations- We designed them ourselves and bought the paper/envelopes online. Then we had them printed (thermography) at a local print shop called Kwik Kopy. They did a great job!