I loved reading vendor reviews when I was wedding planning. I thought they were the most helpful so I'll post mine.
Venue/Catering: Route 46 Entertainment District. (Sanford, FL)-
A We loved Route 46! We wanted a very unique and non-traditional venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception in one place. This place was everything we wanted. They handled all the food/drinks and also provided cake service (just the cutting/serving). We used their linens, chairs, silverware, and glassware. There is no rental fee for this venue.....just the cost of food/drinks but you must meet a minimum. We easily met it with just under 100 guests. The event coordinator was pretty good too. Very friendly and didn't take too long to respond to calls/emails.
Coordinator: Kristy Rapp-
A+ Kristy is fantastic!!! I cannot say enough nice things about her. She made everything so stress free, and she made our wedding so incredibly beautiful. I know I would not have been able to pull everything off without her. She did a great job, and communicated with me the whole way through the process. She coordinated all my vendors and provided a wedding day timeline that helped keep everyone on track. She did mostly "day of" coordinating but it was a HUGE help. She was worth every penny....and she is reasonably priced!
Gown: Alfred Angelo-
A+ I had a great shopping experience at Alfred Angelo. I did not want to spend a huge amount of money, and my consultant did a great job of finding exactly what I was looking for, without going over budget. My dress came in way sooner than expected ( it took just a little over 2 weeks!), and my bridesmaids dresses came in right on time.
Alterations: Jeanine-
A+ Jeanine is fabulous. She is super friendly, and came to my house to alter my gown. I had 3 fittings total, and she did a great job. My dress fit like a glove, and cost me WAY less than if I'd gone to the bridal shop.
Cake: Cut the Cake (Longwood)
A+ Wow. Our cake was beyond delicous. It looked even better than I imagined. I think they are so reasonably priced as well. For what we wanted, they were even cheaper than Publix. I would definitely use them again for other occasions!
Flowers: Flowers by Lesley
A+ Lesley is a dream to work with. I didn't know much about flowers, but I showed her the color of my bridesmaids dress and she helped come up with some ideas. She even used seasonal wildflowers instead of expensive types of flowers to save me money. I really didn't know how they would turn out but on the day of the wedding, they were exquisite!! I loved her work!!
DJ: White Rose Entertainment (Dan Benoit)
A+ What can I say about White Rose? They are the best DJ's I have ever seen. You will be amazed at the amount of planning that they put into a wedding reception. I have never seen anything like it. We were beyond impressed from the moment we had our first meeting with them, until the last song played at our wedding. Eveyone commented how great the music was. They handled all our ceremony music, as well as the reception. Dan was absolutely fantastic! We had an unexpected medical emergency happen at our reception, and Dan really helped get our reception back on track.
Hair: Dolce Vita Salon (downtown Orlando) stylist Danielle Watkins:
A+ Danielle is my regular stylist, so of course I love her! But I had never seen any of her updos or formal hair styles before my wedding day. We didn't even do a hair trial because she knows me and knows my hair. I just trust her that much. My hair turned out so much better than I could have imagined. She did an amazing job.
Officiant: Jason McKinney (A personal wedding)
A+ Jason was referred to us by our coordinator. We don't attend church so we had no idea who to use. I met with Jason once and knew he was a great fit for us. He's very friendly, welcoming, and laid back. He does all types of ceremonies, and helped us pick some custom vows so that they were still different but yet traditional. He did a wonderful job!
Favors: custom truffles by Truffle Trolley:
A I loved our favors. I ordered everything online, and they were delivered a few days before the wedding packed on ice packs. They came already boxed, with ribbon and a personalized message. So easy. You can choose from a 2, 3, 4, or more truffle box. We chose the box with just 2 truffles inside and it was perfect. You can chose from a ton of different flavors and fillings. They were delicious!
Photography: Joanie Smith Photography:
A+ Joanie is the mother of one of our very good friends. She is a teacher during the week, but does photography on the side because she loves it. She is still a professional though! She takes very beautiful pictures! She was easy to work with and made us feel so at ease.
Videography: Kurt Howland
A - Kurt did a great job on our video. We just wanted something very basic. Raw footage plus a little editing. He did exactly what we wanted for an extremely reasonable price. There were a few moments when the sound wasn't great due to wind at our reception, but that was not in his control. He captured all the important stuff and made it look great!
Invitations: We ordered through Staples online, but it has all the same designs as Vistaprint. It was the cheapest we found
A- Invitations were beautiful!! They were delivered quickly and were exactly what we wanted!
Rehearsal dinner: Liam Fitzpatrick's Irish Pub and Restaurant (Lake Mary)
A+ We had such a great rehearsal dinner. The food was SO freaking good. We worked with the manager to make a custom menu. They will help you pick a menu according to your budget. We had a few traditonal Irish dishes (Shepard's pie, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips)....but we also got chicken and pasta. They have a nice private room if you have around 20 people or so. They extended happy hour pricing for us as well. It was delicous!
Hope this helps some future brides. I think I wrote a novel!