The Fountain of Life Center: Burlington A+
I've grown up in this church and have been an active member for years. We knew from the start we wanted a church ceremony. They were so accommodating and great to work with. Diane the wedding coordinator made things so easy on us and the ceremony was more than we could have imagined.
The Renault Winery: Galloway/Egg Harbor City A++
We are so happy we decided on the winery! We looked at so many different places and as soon as we saw the winery we knew it was the one. The staff was very helpful. Val was great to work with and made the planning process go very smoothly. They went above and beyond to make sure our wedding was a success. The food was amazing, the service was impeccable, and our guests have not stopped complimenting us on how beautiful it was.
The Tuscany House (hotel at the winery): C
I hate to do this since everything went so well with the reception in itself but the hotel that is on the grounds of the winery needs some help. It was nothing to interfere with our wedding but we did not approve of some of the things that happened. We pushed from the start to get a contract established with them for our room block and they continue to tell us they have never done a contract for the room block. That in itself sounded odd and we were afraid of having problems. We had 25 rooms blocked off all of which were reserved by our guests. After asking from the start what the going room rate was they told us it was $149 a night. Then when guests went to go book they were told $234 not including tax! We pitched a fit because this was absurd. They told us the $149 was only their fall/winter rate. Well knowing that our wedding was in the spring the professional thing to do would be to tell us the correct rate. We fought it and agreed on a roomrate of $188 including tax and because of our situation they have now put a contract in place for the future.
Knowing that guests talk to each other some brought up the price of their room and several guests found out they were over charged. When checking in they were told $209 not the agreed on $188. We did get the general manager Paul Verdi involved and from what we understand anyone over charged has been credited. We also had welcome bags made up for all of our guests staying over under our block. When leaving the hotel the next morning we saw 2 other couples who did not attend our wedding leave with our welcome bags. We asked them where they got them from and said they were set up in their rooms when they checked in. They should have paid more attention to what rooms were under our block and what rooms weren't.
AlimarioPhoto (Terence Alimario): Wenonah A+++
Hands down T was our favorite vendor to work with! From the start he was so easy going, made us feel so comfortable, and we knew we made the right decision by going with him. As I'm sure some of you have seen from my posts he takes amazing pictures! His turn around time was amazing. We haven't even been married 2 weeks and we are already able to see our pictures and start picking our album. I would highly highly recommend him!
Center Stage Entertainment (DJ Sean McCaffrey): Lindenwold A
Sean definitely kept our guests dancing all night and made sure that my husband and I were having a great time. The only thing I was a tad bit disappointed on was we had a must play list for him. Some of the traditional wedding songs like Shout! That everyone loves and our grandparents really enjoy he did not play. It was on our must play list. Aside from the older classic weddings songs we had on that list he did play everything else we asked. We didn't even think to pick slower songs to be played but some of his choices were a little out dated and corny. I know you need to appeal to everyone but Eric and I looked at each other and shook our head when some of the slow songs came on. It all ended up working out great and we got a lot of compliments about him.
Alberts Limo: Mt. Laurel A-
The only reason why they are getting an A- is because the air was not working in the Rolls Royce! We made the best of it and put the windows down. We understand its an older car and doesn't have the best cooling unit but we got blessed with a nice humid day and some working air would have been great. Other than that they were outstanding. The bridal party played musical limos after switching from the church to the winery and the drivers took everyone's bags got them set in the Hummer and none of the bridal party had to worry about a thing.
Weparty (linen rental): Pennsuaken A+
We are so happy we decided to go with the linens and chair covers. It really transformed our room and everyone raved about how classy it looked. We had no problems with them dropping them off at the winery and picking them up. Bette Saunders was great to work with!
SteinFlorist-Burlington (Church and Bouquets): A+
Stein did an amazing job with all of our flowers for the church, boutonniere, and bouquet's. They were very professional and understood what we were looking for. We are still getting compliments on how great our flowers turned out.
Lilies Florist-Galloway (Reception and Centerpieces): A+
Lilies was included with our package at the winery. They were great to work with and coordinated with our other florist to make sure we were on the same page. We knew we wanted tall centerpieces but nothing to obstruct the guests view. Lilies made sure they weren't too over the top and just what we had in mind. They also provided additional arrangements for the Piano at our cocktail hour, around our sweetheart table, and the cake table.
Priscilla of Boston-Short Hills (My dress): A+
I was very blessed to find the dress of my dreams on a sample sale and saved a tone of money. Not to mention it was from Priscilla. They sent it out to be cleaned for me and made sure the sample was as close to new as possible. Looking at my dress no one would ever believe it was ordered and fit to my size.
Fashion Stitch (Alterations): Mt. Laurel A++
Yeon was wonderful to work with! She made my dress look amazing. It was 2 sizes too big and by the end it fit like a glove. The train on my dress also needed a custom bustle since it went off to the side and not to the back. It held the whole night and I had no problems dancing the night away. I also had things added to my dress, the side flower, and the swavorski buttons down the back. She made everything come together so perfectly!
Tranquility Salon: Hainesport A+
I had such a dilemma a week before my wedding. The lady I had booked to come to my moms and do 9 ladies hair canceled on me! It was a legitimate reason and no hard feelings but I had to move into plan B and fast. Tranquility was so accommodating they were able to get all of us in with no problem. They had all of us out by 11:30am the latest. I had no time for a trial with my stylist Megan so we just winged it that day and it turned out great!
Mademoiselle D Makeup Design (Dora Crownson): Bridgewater A+
My makeup turned out great! It held up the whole day even in the humidity. She listened to a few last minute changes I wanted to make (tone it down a little bit, we can always add more etc) She is also a family friend and came to the reception. She took the time to touch me up before our entrance into the reception and in between pictures. I was very happy with how it came out!
I hope this helps some of you in your planning process. I plan to continue to post on the board and hopefully some insight from a married girl can be of some use to others. If anyone has any specific questions about any of the vendors just let me know.