I have to give a heads up that our day was pretty amazing - better then I ever expected. Of course there was a few little bumps in the road - but every vendor we found went above and beyond for us. Planning my wedding in Rehoboth from Florida I relied on reviews so when I say that they are fabulous - they truly were.
Ceremony/Reception -
Salero at the Henlopen Hotel - A++++ What an unbelieveable experience. From day 1 Dawn (the owner) treated us like we were the only wedding she had going on this summer. She answered any and every question we had, helped us find other vendors, and went out of her way to make sure that we were having the time of our lives and were stress free. The ceremony was on the beach infront of the hotel - they set up all of the chairs/flags/tables we needed. During coctail hour she set aside some food for my DH and I to munch on alone before we were bombarded with guests. We had a Dean Martin impersonator that was coming on during dinner - she even sent a plate of food to his room. All night she made sure we had drink in our hand and were having a blast. The food was OUTSTANDING. Guests were still talking a week later about how great it was. The servers were friendly and the bartender remembered what everyone ordered which really impressed my guests.
Also - if you're thinking about having a wedding at Salero Dawn started a facebook group for her brides -Salero Brides and Grooms Past Present and Future - so we can all swap ideas with each other.
DJ Mike Harrell Salero's House DJ Also - awesome. Played every song we wanted (and didn't play a single one we didn't) We had a few last minute changes and he just went with the flow. He really kept the party going until the very last song - almost all of the guests stayed until the end. We had a blast!!
Photography Rob Korb www.robkorbphotography.com I've given a few recommendations on here already for him - he is just fantastic. First - he flew down to Orlando just to do our engagement pics - they turned out beautiful and we received so many compliments onhow different they were. Then during the reception while we had our first dance/mother daughter dance/ mother son dance he did a surprise slide show of pictures from that day. Ones of us getting ready/the ceremony/the toasts.... it was just the icing on the cake of an amazing day. Our guests loved it, we loved it and the whole place was in tears. We haven't gotten our pictures back yet but the the ones during the slideshow were awesome. Plus he is really laid back and so easy to work with. Highly recommend him.
Florist South Pacific Florist A friend of mine found South Pacific online for me. Planning from Floridia made in person consulatations impossible. Through a few phone calls and emails Robert was able to get the idea of what I wanted. I'm not that into flowers- just told him that I wanted bright yellow. He walked me through the different flowers and different options I had. Everything turned out beautiful. We doubled the bridesmaids bouquets as centerpeices for my big tables (6 of them) and had floating orchids for the remainder of the tables. It seemed a little pricey - about $1200 all together but you really get what you pay for. I loved my bouquet so much I am having it turned into jewelry.
Cake Daria Horn of Sweet Art Another thing I wasn't too obsessed about was the design of my cake. I just knew I wanted a clean, modern look that tasted great. I sent Daria a few pics of cakes that I liked and she put together a beautiful cake with yellow and grey ribbons - and a few orchids she coordinated with my florist on getting. It was delicious - the portions were big and we even had enough for breakfast the next day
Also - she mentioned she liked to jazz up the cake table and asked us to leave any extra decorations we had - so we did and the table looked so pretty!
Beauty Made Ya Look Salon We had a blast here. The wedding coordinater - Jen organized mani/pedis and hair appointments for 9 of us over a two day time period. We chose to have their mimosas/muffins/fruit/cookies for everyone and they set up a great spread for us at the salon. Jen kept checking with everyone to make sure they had a drink in their hand and that we were having a good time. All of the girls that worked there were so sweet and fun. Everyones hair turned out beautiful and stayed in all night.
Officiant Rev.Robert Haggett He let us pick and choose our own ceremony and walked us through it step by step. We met with him and his wife Liz on Skype before we booked him and then we're able to have breakfast with them when we got into town. He delivered a heartfelt and personalized ceremony. So wonderful.
Transportation Jolley Trolley Easy to work with - shuttled the girls to the ceremony then went back and did a pick up for guests that weren't staying at Henlopen.
Rehersal Dinner Fins Bar and Grille The food was awesome. The servers were attentive and so sweet. My MIL did most of the coordinating with them and she said they were really cooperative and flexible.
Entertainment Bob Morelli www.dinomorelli.com My DH is Italian and loves the Rat Pack - so for our gift his brother suprised my DH with a Dean Martin impersonator. Bob was awesome - the guests loved it. He sang during dinner and we had our first dance while he sang his last song. He really played the part well and was really flexible to our timeline that changed a few times. DH is still talking about how good he was.
Accomodations The Henlopen Hotel This was the only part of the wedding that wasn't awesome. We had multiple complaints from guests on how rude the front desk staff was - being in the lobby I heard them a few times and was really disappointed in how they handled certain situations. I had made welcome bags for guests staying there and took them over, organized by which day the guests were arriving and with the names on each bag. They didn't give any guests that arrived the first day their bags. Once I found out, I called the front desk and they immediately took them to their rooms - but still, I was dissapointed and concerned that the remainder of my guests wouldn't receive theirs. It was frusterating that my guests had to have a bad taste in their mouth about my wedding because of hotel clerks that had nothing to do with the actual day.
The Atlantic Inn The guests that stayed here had no problems at all - the front desk was prompt to hand out their bags and were friendly and more then willing to help.