Venue: The Renault Winery A+ - We had a 74 guest wedding in the vintage room. It was simple beautiful with the half wine barrels, white lights, and vine all around the ceiling. The dark wood was beautiful too. It felt like we stepped back in time to a more classic and elegant time period. Our wedding planner was Amy. She was so-so during the process, but was WONDERFUL the night of the wedding. She went above and beyond to make sure all my needs and wants were taken care of. The food was delicious. The cocktail hour had plenty of food and everyone raved at how good it was. The main course was the Tuscan Chicken. It was breaded chicken stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto. We had a lot of compliments on it. All the meals were served at almost the same time. That was great! They had a water pitcher on each table, which was another plus. We only had beer and wine served but they made wine cocktails out of their wine and no one seemed disappointed there was no hard liquor. Amy (the wedding planner) boxed up the meals of the guests that were no-shows, and also 7 boxes of our cocktail hour food since we missed it. We were so happy with Renault!
Tesi Bridal Boutique- A- I got my Casablanca dress from Tesi Bridal in Ventnor (near Atlantic City). Tesi was great but she ended up having a baby during my process but I must say the girls that ran the shop were great. I loved Crystal. I got my dress off the rack and got it altered to fit me. The seamstress was wonderful. She let out the sides and added fabric from the bottom! You couldn't even tell. She also added lace sleeves. I also got my veil there and I loved it so much!!!! It matched my dress perfectly. I got all the bridesmaids and flower girl dresses there too. They were wonderful! Everything matched so well. Their selection is the best around!
The only reason why I am not giving them an A+ is because of the tuxes that we rented from them; two had sleeves that were too long and one had pants that were too short. Tesi, herself, ended up fixing the sleeves the night before the wedding, which was very nice of her. The pants were tried on right before the wedding due to my father-in-law living out of town, so nothing could be done about it then. I do have to say that Tesi uses a company for the tuxes so it's not her fault. Overall, I am very happy I chose Tesi's.
Band- The Verdict A- We wanted a really upbeat band that could get everyone off their feet and that's what we got with The Verdict. They are a reggae/calypso band that have been together for over 15 years. (They play in Belmar and also in Somers Point in the summers.) They played all the songs we requested and did a lot of other great hits. They didn't sound too reggae-ish. Everyone enjoyed them! Our guests kept telling us how amazing they were! The reason I am not giving them an A+ is because they cut our first dance songs short. We only danced one verse of our dance, my dance with my father, and his dance with his mother. The band faded them out. I am disappointed because they didn't ask us ahead of time if this was what we wanted. We picked shorter versions of our songs and wanted to dance the entire song. Another reason why they didn't deserve the A+ is because they were a bit casual with us during our planning and they always seemed to take a day or two to get back to us. But overall, they were an amazing band and I highly recommend them! We had a blast and so did all of our guests!
Photographer Paul Dempsey Photography- A- Paul is a very nice man and he had wonderful customer service. From the first time we met with him, we knew he was the photographer for us. He put together a wonderful custom package which included a beach shoot for the day after our wedding in instead of engagement pictures. He also came down on his price a little since we explained how tight our budget was. The day of the wedding he arrived on time and had already started taking detail pictures before I arrived back from the hair salon. He got all the shots I wanted during the course of the day (even thought I had to be a bit demanding, at times). Also I must say his second shooter (Lynda Berry) was AMAZING! She had some wonderful ideas.
Our photos arrived 2 weeks and six days after our wedding. I was very happy with how fast they arrived. Paul's photos were great and Lynda's photos were really unique and had more of the photojournalistic style we were looking for. Paul put together a video slideshow, which I love. (You can see it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xkxa9bisd4&feature=colike). I was very happy overall with Paul Dempsey and also very glad he chose Lynda Berry as his second shooter!
Videographer- Alliance Video Productions- A+- I used Alliance as my videographer. Tom was amazing from the start. He understood how low my budget was and he was willing to put a package together for me that I could afford. He was so nice and professional. I loved how friendly he was from the start. Even my guests told me how friendly he was to them. I am anxiously awaiting my video (I just got married 3 weeks ago) but he promised it would be done by this week and I have no doubt it will be. I know he got amazing footage and I can't wait to see it! He did not have a big annoying camera with a bright light and that was important to me and my husband. We did not want an "annoying" video guy stalking our guests! And that's definitely not what we got. People barely even knew he was there. I am so happy I chose Alliance Video Productions!
Lilies Florist- B- -I loved Jennifer (the owner's) service. She was great with me from the start. I loved working with her. Every time I called with a question she was super friendly and accommodating. I am giving Lilies a B- because I wasn't happy with the size of my bouquet or the bridesmaids bouquet. I asked for them to be tight, but I didn't realize how that would make them smaller. She should have mentioned this to me. The boutineers also did not hold up throughout the day. The flower fell off or died. I must say, the centerpieces were lovely (just what I asked for) and so were the arrangements she made for the church, which we also used in the reception room.
Aaron's Bayside Limousine B- Aaron's limousine was a lot cheaper than all the other limo companies. I was quoted from one company $820, and he came in at $250! I guess you get what you pay for though because the driver was not very friendly and he asked one of my groomsmen for an extra $35 since we went over our time by 20 minutes. Not sure why he didn't ask me or my husband for the money. Maybe he got confused and thought the man he asked was the groom. The groomsman told us and we forked over the money, but I wasn't very happy with it. The owner should have sent me a bill in the mail.
401 West Salon-A+ 401 West was a great choice for my hair and makeup. I went to them because they are close to Renault Winery, where I was having my wedding. I am so glad I chose them! Janet did my hair and she did an amazing job. I went for a trial two weeks before the wedding and she gave me the exact hairstyle I wanted. On the day of the wedding, again she did an amazing job! My curls stayed in all day long! My makeup was great too. I got airbrush and it felt great and looked so natural. I felt like a million bucks on my wedding day! Thanks 401 West!
Classic Cakes- B+- We loved our cake! It was delicious, and the design was all we had hoped for! However, since we had dark blue buttercreme icing, it turned people's teeth and tounges blue! We were not happy with this, but kinda thought it was pretty funny.