I got married on June 4, 2011 at Knowles Memorial Chapel at Rollins College. I just wanted to share my vendor reviews with you in the hopes that they help you find the perfect vendors for your big day! Look out, it's long!
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· Dress: Alfred Angelo, Altamonte Springs – A+
o I purchased my dress after only two days of shopping. It was completely not what I was looking for but ended up being the one. After buying my dress, my mom started working for the salon as a bridal consultant. So, my experiences there might be a bit biased! My dress came in quickly and was true to measurement. It had no flaws or imperfections. I had my first dress fitting in March with Mariana, their in store seamstress, who is fabulous! She’s a third generation wedding seamstress so she really knows her stuff. She made sure everything was perfect and that I was pleased with it all. My second fitting was a little hairy because I gained a little weight and the dress was a bit tight. Mariana assured me that she could always let it out if need be the week before the wedding.
o Got our bridesmaid’s dresses there as well. They were really pretty and each girl was measured perfectly. Only one person needed any alterations other than a hem and that’s because she’s pregnant!
o Everyone at the store was professional, friendly, and helpful. I would definitely recommend going there again. And I’d request Cary (my mom!) if you can. She’s great!
· Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Demetrios, Altamonte Springs– Nikkita get’s an A+
o We didn’t get our dresses there but if you’re looking for a fabulous sales consultant with endless patience and willingness to serve this is your girl. Book an appointment with Nikkita. I can’t say enough about how wonderful she was. I live in MD and when my sister went in to try on dresses she forgot her camera. Nikkita texted pictures to me so I could see what was what. She really went above and beyond each time we were there.
· Venue: The University Club of Orlando C+
o We knew we were going to potentially have a huge wedding (230 guests) so we needed a very large venue with everything included for $10k. We searched and searched around Orlando for the longest time before finally finding the University Club. It’s a private club right across the street from the History Center and library downtown. One of our guests was a member so we had the non-member fee waived. The pricing was good, the décor was pretty, and the consultant we had was great! We worked with Justin, who has since been promoted.
o However on wedding day, our coordinator didn’t show up at the venue until 12pm. Which wouldn’t have been an issue except our vendors were told they could get in at 8am. Very annoying. Overall things looked nice, but there were little things that I had issues with. We did a coke float station and instead of making it look nice with a person making each individual float as I requested they just had a table with a bunch pre-made on it. Which, again, wouldn’t have been that big of a deal but they served them in plastic cups! Seriously?! Plastic cups?! This and many other things really disappointed me in the end. They get a C+ from me.
· Photographer: Sandra Johnson A+ Pending Pictures
o I found Sandra from a recommendation made on the Knot. I had phone interviewed about 6-7 photographers before speaking with Sandra. She was the easiest to chat with, the most interested in details, and the most willing to adapt to the style I liked. She even encouraged me to send her photos from other photographers that I liked so she could do her best to capture that same shot/feel for me. Her pricing was a bit high, so we decided to do just the photos on a disc and will probably do an album on our 1st year anniversary. We booked Sandra and her husband, Chris, for the unlimited/all-day package.
o They showed up on time and started work immediately! Sandra and Chris could not have possibly been more kind, considerate, and professional the day of. Sandra had a way of corralling everyone quickly and politely even with our very chaotic 24 person bridal party. I loved them that day and I can’t wait to see our pictures!
· DJ: Fun Factory Entertainment A+
o Darrin is great to work with, even if he does talk 1000 miles per minute! He was the most enthusiastic and realistic DJ I spoke with. I had been seriously considering another company in Orlando prior to getting the recommendation from my father (banquet manager at the Westin Lake Mary) to call him. The other company had flat out lied to me and told me that they were the only company in town that offered the LED up-lights I wanted and several other pieces of equipment. Turns out, that’s not at all accurate. I’m glad I went with Darrin at DJ Fun Factory instead.
o The up-lights were great and the party was fantastic. We had a great time and the dance floor was full most of the night.
· Cake: Sweet! Waterford Lakes A+
o I booked this vendor WAY too early. I ended up doing an assortment of cupcakes for my wedding instead of the traditional cake. I am not sorry I chose them, but I do wish I had shopped around a bit more before making my choice. I also ordered way too many cupcakes because I was anticipating far more guests than actually RSVP’d.
o The cake was great and everyone loved it. The cupcakes were very flavorful and were a big hit!
· Flowers: Marge’s Flowers, Clearwater, FL A-
o The son of the owner/florist was one of our groomsmen, so deciding on a florist was very easy for us. We set a firm budget of $2000 and they came in under on what we needed. Granted, I’m pretty sure we got a “friend” discount!
o The flowers were great the day of and we’re so thankful for their discounted price.
· Favors: Cookie Cousins B+ (only because of price)
o Expensive!! I would not recommend doing cookie favors there. They were very expensive for a large wedding; we’re talking $4 each cookie. I ended up with a very simple design for $2.25 each cookie and am very sorry I didn’t just cancel the whole thing!
· Favors: Upper Crust Deserts – F
o I contacted this company early on in the planning process. They were very affordable, by far the cheapest cookies I could find anywhere. However, during the negotiations on design, I got an email from the owner saying that she was closing her shop due to an illness she had and that she’d have to cancel my order. Yeah. That’s a lie. The shop is still up and running and making sweets. So, best guess, she cancelled on me because she realized she really low-balled my pricing and that they wouldn’t make money on my order. Which is fine, mistakes happen. I just wish she’d contacted me and we could have discussed the real issue here like adults.
· Officiant: Reverend Glynn Ferguson A+
o Found Rev. Glynn online and contacted him right away. I interviewed many officiants and he was by far the best fit for us. Pricing was fair.
o We had a small issue the day of the wedding but he was very professional and really helped calm me down and made sure I got what I wanted from our ceremony.
· Hotel Blocks: A+
o Embassy Suites Orlando – Fabulous! Great rates, really accommodating, and very willing to help out.
o Courtyard Marriot Orlando – Also great, a little far away from the reception for most guests but a much cheaper option than then Embassy Suites.
· Flower Girl Dress: David’s Bridal Altamonte Springs– C
o This place is a disaster area. I have never felt more harried, rushed, and confused while shopping anywhere. They are the most unorganized people and the store was so dirty! Thank goodness I only bought a flower girl dress and not my actual wedding dress. The flower girl dress was adorable though and fit pretty much perfectly.
· Tuxes: Jos. A. Bank – D
o Choosing a tux was difficult due in part to a sales person who had no idea what he was doing. However, I made the decision pretty fast. It was the pricing that was crazy! $175 for a tuxedo?! Groom’s tux was free (thank goodness!), and the groomsmen’s tuxes were 20% off because we had such a large party. However, it was just way too much to ask people to spend. They cost more than the bridesmaid’s dresses did! On top of this, out of the 14 tuxes we rented from them, half were messed up. The guys were rushing around two days before the wedding getting fitted and picking up new jackets, pants, vets, etc. Completely unprofessional and stressful. However, they did get everyone’s tuxes in on time and they did fit for the wedding, thank goodness!
· Make-Up & Hair: Meghann Davis A-
o Meghann is a very personable and friendly person who is a fabulous make-up artist! I found her on the Knot and am so glad she did my make-up. I only had one make-up trial and it was perfect the first go around, which I love. I do wish I had gone to a salon for my hair though. She does advertise that she does hair and if you’re going for something with curls it’ll look great. But, what I wanted she really couldn’t do. I ended up having three hair trials before the big day, the last one the week of the wedding. My hair ended up looking fabulous but I would have liked getting it right the first time.
· Church: Knowles Memorial Chapel, Winter Park A-
o You have to be an alumni of Rollins or be directly related to someone who is in order to use this chapel. Luckily, my grandparents are both alumni so we were able to reserve it. However, plan to reserve it 7-8 months in advance in order to get the time you want on the day you want. They only do Saturday weddings and only at 1:00, 3:30, and 6pm. They were not cheap either, roughly $800 plus the cost of the organist $200 (you have to use theirs). They also had a ton of rules that were kind of a pain to follow. In February, I got a letter from the chapel stating that the room they use for the bride to get ready in was going to be going through renovations and would not be available for me to use. Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed that they waited till after I booked to let me know this small piece of information. They had us get ready in a classroom across the street, instead. The coordinators at the church were also not very professional. They were condescending and sometimes flat out rude. However, the church itself is completely worth it.
· Limo: Rent the Party Bus, Amber A+
o We had a quite large wedding party so we had to get a party bus to transport everyone. The price was great, $700 for 5 hours. I really didn’t like that I had to pay a deposit on my credit card but had to pay the balance in cash. I mean, who wants to carry around $500 in cash the day of their wedding. Seems like there should be a better system for that. Otherwise, the day of the wedding the limo was early and was right where we needed it the entire day as well as knew exactly where to go without needing directions at all that day. Really nice!
· Registries: Crate and Barrel and Macy’s A+
o Crate and Barrel was fabulous. I had no issues with them at all. Everything arrived in perfect condition and was true to the descriptions on the web and in the store. I did have one platter arrive cracked in three pieces. When I called customer service about it, they probably apologized 10 times. And they shipped a new one out to me free of charge and didn’t require me to send the broken one back! I loved how easy it was!
o Macy’s was great as well. They’re a bit pricey, so I do wish I had done another registry at BB&B because a lot of the things we liked we could have easily just gotten there.