Rhode Island

10.1.10 Wedding Reviews Part 1

Although we had our wedding in RI, we live in NYC and my family is in CT so reviews very helpful during planning as we are not from the immediate area .  Hopefully some of you will find this helpful.  Good luck with your planning!!

Venue

Ocean House (Westerly, RI) – A

There aren’t many negative things I could say about Ocean House.  The location and backdrop is breathtaking and the food is amazing.  We booked our wedding when they were still under construction so aside from the view and the drawings we saw, we didn’t know exactly what it would look like.  The ballroom is configured kind of weird but it worked for my 85 person event.  If you are looking to do a bigger party, you would probably need to do a tented function on the lawn.  They say the ballroom fits like 160 or something but there is no way that’s possible without putting people outside on the terrace.  I was very happy with the service and the food – the cocktail hour was amazing and dinner was wonderful.  The event manager there, Mary is delightful to work with and very calming.  She is spread a little thin though and it’s sometimes takes a while for her to respond.  I have no major complaints though – everything was fabulous.

 

Ceremony Location

Watch Hill Chapel (Westerly, RI) – B

The chapel is beautiful and they are flexible with who you bring in to officiate your ceremony so we were able to have a good friend who is a pastor marry us.  The only reason for the B is that on the day of the wedding no one opened the chapel for us.  When the florist got there to decorate, it was locked up tight.  Luckily the front desk of Ocean House made a call to have someone come open it up for us.  Was not a big deal but we gave a large donation to get married there and they could have made sure someone was there to open it up beforehand.

 

Ceremony/Cocktail Hour Music

Divina Strings (Connecticut) A

We had a string trio and to be totally honest, I can’t remember how they sounded.  I was so overwhelmed walking down the aisle it’s all a blur.  I spent a lot of my cocktail hour taking pictures so I wasn’t really around to hear them play.  Guests at the wedding did tell me they enjoyed the cocktail hour music – we had them play stuff like The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkle.  My dad said they sounded good and he’s very critical so I’m assuming they were good.  We had good communication with them from the start, very responsive and professional.  Danielle who we booked through was very accommodating and willing to do whatever we wanted.  They were also priced really well – a few hundred dollars below some other quotes we got.  I would highly recommend. 

 

Entertainment

LaBlanc Brothers Band (Westchester, NY) – A

I simply can not say enough great things about this band.  They were amazing and had the majority of my guests dancing the whole night long.  Their song selection was spot on and they sounded great.  They played everything from Bon Jovi and Journey to Katy Perry and Train.  People are still commenting to us how great they thought our band was.  The entertainment at a wedding can make or break it and they MADE our event.  Also, they are so professional and easy to deal with, I knew from the day we hired them that we were in good hands.  Highly, highly recommend.

 

Photographer

Kristin Spencer Photography (Providence, RI) – A (pending all photos)

I think Kristin must be the busiest photographer in Rhode Island and it is with good reason.  She’s a true artist and you can tell she has a strong passion for wedding photography.  I have only seen a few teaser photos from our wedding but so far they are amazing.  The weather the day we got married was dreadful and Kristin took advantage of the gray skies, huge waves from the storm and wet surfaces to give our photos and artistic look and feel (which is exactly what I wanted.)  I would highly recommend her.

 

Videography

David Bettencourt (Rhode Island) – A (pending video)

We hired Dave on the recommendation of Kristin Spencer.  Although I haven’t seen footage from him yet, I was really happy with him throughout the whole process.  He was very responsive and easy to work with.  I feel like although he was so unobtrusive, every time I caught a glimpse of him or his assistant they were running to get the shots they wanted.   He was so nice through the whole event and told me a few times that he was really excited about the footage he was getting.  I specifically remember him being around during all the key moments (important dances, cake cutting, etc) but he blends right in and some of my guests even asked why I didn’t have a videographer.  Excited to see the finished product!

 
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