My wedding was July 14th and it was spectacular..everything I ever dreamed of. My vendor reviews are below:
Venue and Catering: Riverdale Manor
Rating: A
The Riverdale was a dream come true. We were married in the beautiful outdoor wooden pavilion. The reception took place inside the renovated barn with hardwood floors. The location is right on the Conestoga River with beautiful well kept grounds. My wedding day was stress free! My coordinator, Troy, took care of everything. He set up all my quirky details perfectly. My guests loved the venue. Troy kept the evening moving at a good pace. The food was great. We had a lot of choices for our guests since we choose buffet stations. Our guests loved the food and it was excellent.
http://www.riverdalemanor.com/
Photographer: Chris Hayes Photography
Rating: A-
Chris Hayes was a joy to work with. He has a fun personality that makes you feel at ease with him. We were thrilled with our engagement pics. At the time of the wedding, he was prompt and on time just as he was for all of our meetings. He took tons of pictures all day at our special day. The reason I gave an A- was that I wanted more shots of my dress. I did ask for mostly candid photos which he delivered however I do not have many formal shots of my full dress. I would suggest making a shot list to help. I am very happy with the photos..I received 3 CDS and got over 900 photographs.
http://www.chrishayesphotography.com/
Florist: Floral Designs of Mount Joy
Rating: A+
I was extremely thrilled with Floral Designs of Mount Joy. Jill, the owner, did a fantastic job. She pulled all of my ideas together and absolutely blew me away. Her designs actually showed my personality and my husband’s as well. Her ideas were so original. They weren’t just flowers, they were works of art.
http://www.floraldesignsofmountjoy.com/
Dress: In White
Rating: A
My dress was perfect. I loved the fit, the way it felt, everything. In White was great. Hazel pulled “the dress” for me and insisted I try it on. She really knew what would look best on my body. Shari, the owner, made sure I was happy at every visit and that the dress was the way I wanted it. They run a great business. The dress shop is very chic and they make you very comfortable at every visit.
http://www.inwhite.com/
Suit: Express
Rating: A
My husband wanted to buy a suit rather than rent a tux. He is very slim and wanted t a European suit. We had no luck at traditional suit shops like Men’s Wearhouse. Express was exactly what he was looking for and the fit was perfect for him.
http://www.express.com/home.jsp
Table Cloths: Special Occasions
Rating: A+
Special Occasions was great. The owner was super cheerful and helpful with pulling my colors together.
http://www.specialo.com/
Videographer: Foundation Video
Rating: A
Drew at Foundation Video was excellent. He did a teaser video that our friends and family loved. The video was so artistic it really surprised me. I am happy to have that video for our families to watch for years to come.
http://www.foundationvideography.com/ (our wedding is in the video section: Steph & Jeff)
DJ: Adam McCallister from Bird’s Nest Productions
Rating: B-
Adam was very personable. He did get the guests moving and enjoying the day. The lighting that I paid a little extra for was well worth it. The purple light made the evening glow. The reason I did not give him an A is that I felt he was a little unorganized. I sent him my play list of songs we liked, songs we didn’t want played, and our list for the special times (like cake cutting). He seemed to not read the list every time we met. I had to send it to him 2 times. At the day of the wedding, the ceremony music had a slight skip which I could overlook, however, he played several songs that were on our “do not play” list, and hardly any of our play list during the reception. He did do our special songs for the cake cutting and what not but he didn’t play the whole song, it was chopped off by another song when the cutting was finished. This happened with the garter and bouquet toss as well. During the line-up into the reception, he didn’t have the names of the bridal party which I wrote on the song list as well. He did make the guests dance and we enjoyed our dancing, however I was disappointed with the organization.
http://www.birdsnestprodj.com/
Cake: House of Clarendon
Rating: A
Martine and the House of Clarendon did a fantastic job. The cake pulled together our décor and guests didn’t even think the cake was real because it was that beautiful. The cake tasted amazing as it did on the day that I sat with Martine to taste it.
http://www.houseofclarendon.com/
Officiant: Pam Brehm
Rating: A+
Reverent Pam was a joy to work with. She took the stress out of planning the ceremony. We did mostly everything through email which made it very easy. She helped me to put together a ceremony that was our personalities. She is a sweet lady!
http://www.reverendpamela.com/
Invitations: Invitations by Chrissy
Rating: B
Chrissy did a good job. I am a graphic designer that had no time to put together her own design so I might be bias. The invitations were decent and professional. She edited it and made the changes that I asked for every time. The only thing I was a little bummed about was the printing which wasn’t really Chrissy’s fault since she doesn’t do the printing herself. The colors seemed muted and dull. I wanted bright red and it almost printed a pink color. Other than that, she was easy to work with.
Hair/Make-Up: Melissa McHugh
Rating: B
Melissa is a very sweet person. She overall did a nice job on my bridesmaids and me. Melissa did a good job on my trial run. At the day of the wedding, she was very prompt to arriving. She did my mother’s make up and two bridesmaids before me. She was a little slow with getting everyone ready. I sat around waiting to get done. I was supposed to have 2 hours designated for me at the end to get my hair/make up done. She wasn’t watching her time and seemed to rush through my hair/make up so I could make my transportation on time. I wasn’t overly thrilled about my hair, it was frizzy of course it was a hot July day. The photograph turned out pretty good despite my nit picky things.
Hotel: Courtyard by Marriott (Greenfield Exit)
Rating: A+
The hotel was great! They took care of all of our little details- meal tickets for guests and bags for the guests to get at check in. The shuttle bus worked out great for our guests and our room was beautiful. The guests joined us for breakfast in the lobby afterwards which was a great place for us to say our goodbyes and thank yous.
Photobooth: DJ Freez
Rating: A
The photo booth was well worth the money. Guests loved it. We got a CD afterwards that we loved. The pictures will be cherished and were hilarious.