Venue: The Merion/Chapel and Empire Ballroom A+++++++
The Merion was amazing. I worked with Stephanie and she was so helpful. Anything I needed done throughout the planning process was taken care of as well as any questions I had. I used the Chapel for my ceremony. We had a Catholic/Jewish ceremony with about 125 people. We were able to accommodate anyone with disabilities since the Chapel had an elevator. There was a Matre D and Captain that helped my then fiance and I stay separated prior to the ceremony and also coordinated everything for us as far as the lineup of bridesmaids and groomsmen and how to walk in and where we should stand during the rehearsal.
The cocktail hour, from what I heard, was amazing. I really wished I could have attended but we were taking pictures. All my guests were telling me they thought that was dinner and stuffed themselves. There was a martini bar, Asian food station, groom station with mini cheese steaks, sausage/peppers, boneless wings and an ice sculpture with his football team logo. There was also a mashed potato bar plus over 40 different butlered hors d' ouevre. There was a top shelf open bar for the entire cocktail hour and reception.
The reception was held in The Empire Ballroom. It has beautiful crystal balls hanging from the ceiling and the windows surrounding the room change colors. It was very comfortable in there with the amount of people we had. The food was a sit down dinner and guests were able to order from a menu. When you are planning you get a +10 page menu with options to choose from. We chose Oscar chicken (chicken breast with crab imperial), Snapper (fish with a potato crust; a bit spicy but good) and Prime rib (which was as tender as a filet mignon) My husband chose the Surf and Turf since he always eats that and the lobster tail was a very nice size. The food was cooked perfectly and everyone was raving about how well prepared it was. All the servers were so nice and we had a personal attendant who never left our side and always had a fresh cup of whatever we were drinking waiting for us. We even were able to have our dinner boxed up so we could eat later at our hotel. They not only boxed the dinner but also filled two huge boxes of desserts for us. The wedding cake was provided by The Merion and we designed it with Diane. It was a 4 tier cake with butter cream frosting and flowers. The flavors were chocolate/vanilla with a raspberry filling. Tasted very moist and they gave us the top and bottom of it. During the dessert portion of the reception there was a cheesecake bar. That was heaven. There was also a huge chocolate fountain, tons of different pastries, tarts and fruit. There was even a Belgian waffle station. My niece and I went around sampling all the sweets and I think we had a sugar high for hours. It was just amazing.
Florist: In Full Bloom A++
I wasn't really sure about how all my flowers were going to look since Janene and I had talked several times about it but I just couldn't picture it. I did have a mock centerpiece and I liked it alot but after running into some non wedding related surprise expenses, we had to cut back. I couldn't have been happier with what she did. Originally we were going to have high and low centerpieces but to save $ we cut out the high ones. All the low ones had tall curly willow branches coming out of a base of hydrangeas, orchids, freesias and magenta looking flowers. It was beautiful and our bouquets were perfect. They had blue orchids in them with pink and white flowers (I think dahlias, roses, lilies, silver fern etc). They were so unique and ballet ties with ribbon and crystals. My flower girls has cute wands made out of flower balls with ribbon streamers and they loved them. The guys had bouts made of magenta stock and orchids with silver fern. She delivered them on time and even had rose petals covering the cake table, ceremony aisle and escort card table. She did my ceremony flowers and then moved some of the flowers to the reception to cut back on cost.
DJ: Steve and Company.Knight of Music/Chris DiNardo A+++
Chris D was very sweet and polite. He showed us how to use their website to choose songs and to listen to different types of music. He called us the week prior to the wedding and always was easy to reach. Everyone was dancing nonstop and that was exactly what I wanted to happen. If he has a question about something, like my dad wanting to sing a song to me even though I have no relationship with him, he asked me first and then politely handled the situation so I didn't have to. He did the ceremony music and his timing was perfect for everything. We also got 2 DJ, Chris and his assistant for a very good price.
Videographer: Andrew King Stomping Bread Productions A++
Andrew was so sweet and nice. He sat down with us prior to the wedding, like 4 months before, and we planned out how everything would go and what was important to us. He eve came to the bridal suite before the wedding , shot video and pictures there and went to the venue to shoot them setting up. I never knew he was there and he just blended in. We meet with him in Oct to review and pick up our videos. He was reasonably priced also.
Photographer: Christie Barrows A+++
Christie is from Dover, DE and traveled to NJ. She gave us a free engagement session and said if we were not happy with it then we would do it over until we were. She said that because we had just came back from a trip and were totally unprepared shoot pics. However they came out wonderful. She brought an assistant to the wedding and both of them shot a ton of pics before the wedding and even stayed later then agreed to get the last shots. Shad a a few sneak peeks up the next day and so far they all look great. She did an amazing job.
Officiants: Rabbi Josh Cantor and Deacon Pete Nellius B-/A+
Rabbi Josh has a congregation and was so nice. He was also very forgetful and we definitely had to constantly remind him of everything. Not what I wanted to do the week before my wedding, however, he personalized the ceremony and worked with the Deacon from my Church to make the ceremony beautiful. It was half Hebrew/English and was perfect. I couldn't have a Catholic Priest participate in the ceremony because I didn't really care for any at my local Parish but the Deacon, who I have known for over 10 years, co-officiated. Deacon Pete was so sweet and nice and it just made it that much more meaningful to have him there.
Accommodations: The Wyndham Mt Laurel D-
I was extremely disappointed in the Wyndham since I had read such great reviews on here and other sites. From the first contact we had with them, almost every person we dealt with was rude. The only person not rude but who really didn't do anything to help fix the situation was Stacy S. We reserved a hotel block for our guests in July and when we went to go look around the hotel, we had to wait 45 minutes before anyone came out. Then the lady who came out, Dawn, told us in a very nasty tone that we were "inconveniencing her because she was meeting with someone else and that we needed to be quick with our questions". Granted we did not have a meeting set up, all we asked the front desk was if we could see an empty hotel room. We never asked to speak with her and while we were waiting, we kept trying to ask if it was a bad time and the front desk lady ignored us. Then the day before our wedding we triple checked the time of the shuttle for our guests since a lot of people had booked with them so they would not have to drive. We were told every time that the shuttle would run continuously from 130pm to 330pm. Our ceremony was at 330. They ran the shuttle twice. At 130pm and 330pm and so half our guests had to drive over to the venue and since our Ceremony was only 30 minutes long and it takes 15 minutes to get there from The Wyndham without traffic, a lot of people missed it. To make things worse, the shuttle driver was extremely rude to my disabled grandfather. Then when my husband tried to talk to them to get the required tip back, we were brushed off and are still trying to get it straightened out. Also some of my family members were charged the regular room rate while others were given the discounted rate and I know that they booked their rooms as soon as they were informed of the block. I would never use The Wyndham even though the rooms were nice.
Accommodations: Residence Inn Cherry Hill NJ A++
I stayed in the Residence Inn the night prior to the wedding and then we stayed there on our wedding night. It was amazing. The room was actually a suite that was bi-level. It resembled a town house and was perfect for all my girls to get ready in. The staff was so nice and even gave me menus of all the delivery places around that area and offered to get me whatever I wanted whether it was from the restaurant or grocery store. The breakfast there was great and I would live there if I could! They let us check out later then the stated time for free since we had to pack everything up and woke up later then expected.
Beauty: Brianne from The New Jersey Makeup Artist/ Briannenora.com A++++++
Brianne traveled to my room and spent hours on all the girls and at least 2 hours on me. She was so sweet and kind and just amazing. Each girl had a specialized look and the makeup was perfect. They all loved it and kept raving about how good they looked. She did my face and I didn't even recognize myself! I looked amazing. I wanted to go for a Kim K look she nailed it. My fiancés jaw dropped when he saw me. The makeup stayed on all night, I never was too shiny or had smudged looked to it. I wish I could have her do my makeup every day. I do tend to wear makeup a lot and I decided to go with an "extreme glamorous" look as she called it. I had intense smoky eyes and a nude lip..I was so pleased with her and she was very reasonably priced.
Beauty: Jenna LaFermaine and Brittany Boring
These girls are from my hometown Dover, DE and travelled to NJ to do my hair. Jenna works at Rori and Company and has been doing my hair for about 4 years. She is so talented and just has a gift. She did the hair trial and day of hair for me and all my girls (5 of them plus 2 flower girls) for so cheap. I was surprised at her prices even though I see her all the time. Brittany works at Okemhas A Cut Above and is Jennas friend. Brittany did the flower girls hair and 2 of my bridesmaid and she does awesome curls. Not one curl fell out or looked bad. Hair stayed styles but felt nice all night.
Wedding Attire: Brides & Grooms Newark DE C+
My bridal dress was a Casablanca 1995 style. It was a lacy mermaid cut that hugged me in all the right places. It was gorgeous. The service at Brides and Grooms was not. The lady I worked with when I first tried on the dress was named Faith. She was the only one there that was helpful. The times I got the owner or his wife on the phone was awful. I ordered my dress in November of 2010 and it came early, a good thing because she had ordered the dress a size too small then told me to lose 10 lbs. I am glad I did but definitely didn't need that stress. They told me I had to have my bridesmaids order their dress by April, I get a phone call at the end of May from the female owner telling me I need to order them. I know all my girls placed their orders because I was there for it. She denied placing the order. SO finally they were ordered and in my early August. When they went to try them on, they had ordered them all a size too big so every single girl had to have them taken in. By that point I no longer wanted to do business with them and we had our alterations done by a local person who works with the Miss DE girls. Everything worked out in end and I'm glad my girls felt pretty in their dresses.
Wedding Attire: Mens Warehouse Dover Mall, DE A++
My husband picked out all the tux and never had a problem with the service or sizes. We actually got the tux 3 days earlier then expected and everything looked nice and fit well. The Best man even lost his suit jacket and somehow they only charged him $20 to replace it.
So here are some pictures taken by Christie and a random person of the flowers, hair, makeup and my girls and then my hubby and me.
