Florida-Central Florida

Vendor Reviews!

srlavinsrlavin member
First Comment
edited July 2013 in Florida-Central Florida

I very much appreicated when others posted their Central Florida vendor reviews, so I wanted to be sure to share ours!  Best of luck!

Ceremony and reception venue: Leu Gardens A-

We were very happy with the location- the Rose Garden was a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony and the Camellia Room was perfect for our group (80 people).  The wedding contact person (Debbie) was very responsive to our emails and phone calls.  We were lucky to book an evening wedding in May less than a year in advance, as there was a cancellation.  Call early!  The only downside is the lack of flexibility with the timing and length of the reception.  So we had an afterparty at the hotel (with snacks/subs and the leftover alcohol) which was well attended.

 

Caterer: Arthur’s A

Easily the best food and service we found in the Orlando region.  We splurged on food as it was a top priority—we wanted to avoid the bland chicken buffet we all know and despise.  We did hors d’oeurvres and then 3 stations which fit our style of continuous eating, dancing, mingling, etc.  Delicious, high quality food and impeccable service.  Hayli was our contact person and was personable and helpful.  Would use Arthur’s again in a heartbeat.

 

Flowers: Vicki from Peddles A

Flowers were not on our high priority list, so we went with a budget choice.  Surprisingly, the flowers did not look low budget AT ALL.  Vicki did a tremendous job selecting beautiful flowers that fit our style and budget. 

 

Cake: Publix A

We ordered the specialty cupcake tiers with a couple of layers of cake on the top tier for us to cut at the wedding.  We didn’t taste the cake unfortunately (no time!), but based on previous Publix cake experiences, we trusted it turned out fine.

We had tasted some of the higher end cupcake places in the area before booking Publix, but none impressed us more than Publix cakes!  The baker at our local Publix  was very friendly and helpful.

 

Photographer: Jessica Leigh A+

Jessica provided us with around 900 edited photos on 3 DVDs and all of them look terrific!  She is very professional and has a great eye for composition and works with many different cameras and lenses to get the best shots.  She was very flexible and worked well with directing everyone for our family shots.  We are so glad we selected her for our special day!

 

DJ: White Rose B

We had some communication issues when coordinating what we wanted for the reception flow.  We wanted very little party interruptions (e.g., no bouquet toss, etc) and found some resistance initially from White Rose to do this.  You need to be very persistent with them if you do not want to go the traditional wedding reception route and tell them exactly how you want it instead.  Even just getting them to not announce us in a formal fashion (we were a part of the cocktail hour and wanted to welcome our guests ourselves) was a challenge. 

That being said, the DJ played the songs we wanted, was good at keeping the dancing going, and kept us on schedule.

 

DOC: Kristy Rapp A

Best advice we received about wedding planning: if you can’t afford a wedding planner, get a day of coordinator.  YES.  There were so many details Kristy thought of during our initial meetings that we would have easily missed without her.  The day of our wedding we didn’t worry about a thing—she had EVERY detail covered and more.   Everything went seamlessly thanks to Kristy and her assistant.

 

Officiant: Renee Silverman (A Lovely Ceremony) A

We had a hard time finding an officiant initially as we were not pleased with the styles offered by the rabbis in the area.  Our family found Renee and we were so happy with her- she was refreshing.  Renee is very flexible with what you might want to include in the service.  She will provide lots of options so you can customize your ceremony to your liking.  Renee is also very warm and felt like a member of our family.  Her service was loving, light, and perfect. 

 

Hair/Makeup: Meghann Davis A

Meghann was AWESOME.  She went above and beyond with major attention to every detail.  Everyone looked gorgeous.  Meghann also helped to personalize the bridal gown by adding elegant beadwork to the halter part.  She is super creative and has an eye of what will look good.  Meghann knows what she is doing and does it well.

 

Guest accommodations/afterparty venue: DoubleTree Downtown Orlando C

We had a big issue with the reservations.  After filling 15 rooms, they wouldn’t open up another block of rooms despite their promising that they would.  Thankfully we had an email saying as much, but they made us make all the remaining reservations within 6 hours that same day including providing credit card numbers, nights of stay, etc with no changes allowed to the reservations.  It was a massive pain and stressor but thankfully, it was the only negative part of the whole planning process. 

The hotel was sufficiently nice and somewhat convenient of a location- close to Leu Gardens but not walking distance to anything interesting.  The train goes right by the hotel so if you are a light sleeper, you will have a hard time there. 

Also, security kept bothering us during the afterparty (we booked a parlor suite for this).  Once we told them that we had about 30 rooms and we were in a parlor suite- meant for parties- they left us alone.

If you have a choice, go with another hotel.

 

Transportation: VIP Transportation Group B

On time and professional, but the driver got lost between Leu Gardens and the hotel which was 2 miles away.  All the turning and backtracking made one of us very carsick.

 

 

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