Hi Everyone - Just wanted to post vendors reviews from our wedding on July 4th at Whitehall Manor.Also, I wanted to thank everyone on the board for being so helpful over the last year. I don't know what I would have done without all the advice I received on here.I just added some non-pro pictures to my planning bio. You can also contact me by e-mail at niamhaine at hotmail dot com if you want any more information about vendors! I didn't want to make this too long by adding all the online and Etsy vendors I used :-) Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Whitehall Manor: A+Douglas Armstrong and everyone else at Whitehall Manor were fantastic to work with. Doug is very organized and responsive and made it very clear to us what information he needed when. Whitehall is a beautiful venue with character and charm and your guests will feel like they’ve been transported back in time. Celebrations Catering: A You are required to use Celebrations at Whitehall, which we factored into our decision to use the venue. We were very impressed with the food at the private and public tastings and on the day of the wedding. We got lots of compliments on the food from family and friends too. If you’re doing a plated dinner, they allow you to serve as many entrees as you like without extra cost. My parents were adamant about having beef, chicken, and fish as options and we also provided vegan and kids. There are all sorts of ways to tweak the menu to get into the price range you’re looking to be within. Fusions Catering (Yummy Pig BBQ Division): B+ We used Fusions Catering for our Rehearsal Dinner, which we held at my parents’ house. When we saw the Yummy Pig menu offerings, we knew it was exactly what we were looking for. If I was rating simply on the food and the service on the day of the event, Fusions would get at A+. The food was delicious, unique, and fun. The cost was about $30 a head, which was more than reasonable considering the amount and variety of food that was served. The two ladies who prepared and served went above and beyond what they needed to do assisting my Mom and family with all sorts of other things. They were truly a delight to work with. The B+ is because I did encounter some issues with responsiveness and communication during the planning process. Nothing serious, just longer turn-around times, me answering the same questions several times, and some fuss the week of regarding equipment drop-off and collection that could have been taken care of weeks before. Allison Britton Photography: A+ We can’t say enough good things about Allison and her work! She’s super easy to get in touch with and has a really fun and vibrant personality. Her pictures speak for themselves – she does a great job of catching special moments and details in a way that’s modern and creative. She’s all about trying new things and exploring, which made for many fabulous engagement and wedding pictures. We really liked the fact that her package included a second photographer – a few weeks before the wedding she also asked if she could bring another assistant which was great for us because the more pictures the merrier. Growing Wild Floral Company: A Barbara immediately understood our vision for our wedding flowers – multicolored botanical, English garden sort of look (i.e. not just two colors). She’s a great artist and we were more than content to give her some parameters and let her work her magic. It’s great that she incorporates flowers and fresh herbs from her garden into the arrangements. All of the bouquets and centerpieces were whimsical and elegant. She was readily willing to answer questions during the planning process related to linens, candles, moms’ outfits. Market Salamander: A Jason Reeves did a fabulous job on our wedding cake. Our whole experience at Market Salamander was positive, including brainstorming, tasting, and the final product. Jason’s cake is the polar opposite from the normal sickly sugary wedding cake that we knew we didn’t want. We ended up going with a devil’s food, chocolate ganache, and caramel fleur du sel layer and a vanilla chiffon, cassis and passion fruit layer. He worked with photos and stationary that we gave him to create a cake design that was modern and went with our botanical, English garden theme. The sugar flowers and butterflies that he created were whimsical and unique. MyDeeJay.com (Anthony Simpson): A Anthony was easy to get in touch with, genuine, showed up on time, played the sort of music we wanted played, helped keep the reception moving along, and great to work with. The Reel Piper: B+ Bob Mitchell played the bagpipes for our wedding at Whitehall Manor. He was punctual and played before and after our ceremony including into the cocktail hour. We worked with him to pick songs that were well-suited to the different parts of our ceremony. Got lots of compliments from guests on how unique and fun it was to have him present! The B+ is because he didn’t respond to any of my e-mails (phone was fine) which made it tricky to iron out the song selections before doing the programs. Say I Do Your Way: A+ Choosing Bill Cochran as our officiant was one of the best decisions we made in the planning process. My fiancé and I have very different religious backgrounds and it was very clear after speaking with Bill on the phone that he would be able to work with us to create a ceremony that was a reflection of us and our beliefs. We worked with him to design a ceremony that incorporated all of the elements that were important to us – his guidance concerning vows, readings, blessings, etc. was very helpful. On the day of our wedding, we were surprised and excited to hear Bill’s homily, assembled from material we provided him about our courtship and feelings for one another. He did a fabulous job making us feel comfortable and calm during the rehearsal and the real deal. Our diverse assortment of guests were all equally thrilled with how genuine and meaningful our ceremony was. KC Felton/The Elegant Artisan: A KC was great. She did hair for myself and my four bridesmaids on my wedding day. All of us ended up looking natural and elegant, and she did a wonderful job of listening to everyone’s style likes and dislikes. I got so many compliments on how classic and romantic my hairstyle was. She was very easy to get in touch with prior to booking, for the trial, and for the wedding day. It was really convenient having her come out to my house for the trial and the hotel where we got ready on the day of the event. She was fun to hang out and chat with! Jan Scott/Professional Makeup Artist: A+ Jan did an amazing job on my wedding day makeup and my mother’s makeup. I have never received so many compliments in my entire life – people said I looked stunning and it was mostly thanks to her skills! She was very responsive to all my e-mails and phone calls and was kind enough to send me product samples in the mail when I had some concerns about the foundation we used for the trial. She was great working with my mother and making sure she looked elegant and age-appropriate. She traveled to the hotel where we got ready and it was great having her be a part of our preparations! Reston Limousine: A We hired a towncar and van from Reston Limousine. From what I could tell they showed up on time, did what they needed to do, etc. We got a discount through our planner, so they seemed fairly affordable…but we didn’t really shop around. Hotel Sierra: A+ Clean, modern, close to the airport. They e-mailed four months after we made the room block to notify us that the room rate was being discounted by $30. Our guests ended up paying $69 for enormous rooms with full kitchens. Comfort Suites Leesburg: B Guests thought the hotel was OK. Beware making assumptions about the “shuttle service” that they provide for transporting guests to and from your wedding, however. We should have asked for more details about this when making the room block. When it got to a few months before the event and we had 20 rooms booked, we were informed that they were giving us one 14 passenger van that would run once before the wedding and once at the end of the wedding. By this point we had already notified guests that there would be a shuttle going to and from the hotel. So we ended up reserving a private shuttle for $500 to ensure that guests weren’t inconvenienced after choosing to stay there based on the shuttle service. Simply Chic Events: A Jamie was great to work with during the wedding planning process. She’s very calm and reassuring and did a great job interfacing with vendors and family. She is very organized and always follows through with the things she says she'll do. She is easily reachable via phone and e-mail and you do somewhat get the sense that you are her only bride. She also has a very modern sense of style.
