We got married a few months ago in September, and I am finally getting around to writing reviews! If you want any more info just send me a message!
VENUE: Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg
AMAZING! Absolutely love loved this venue. We rented the entire garden for our wedding, and we couldn't be happier. We received so many compliments, and our pictures turned out great with the amazing backdrop. Sarah is the events coordinator there, and was fantastic. She was super flexible and patient when I emailed her 6 million times about vendors and setup and the thousand other details. Especially since we were planning a destination wedding, she was so reassuring, and an amazing resource. The staff on the day of was super helpful, and even when the fire alarms went off because of the DJ's fog machine, they did a great job. I highly reccomend them.
Grade:A
PHOTOGRAPHER: Pure Emotions Photography
I cannot say enough good things about Alica and LaTanya!!! They did our engagement shoot, and the wedding and the pictures were out of this world!! Alicia is super attentive, and her eye for detail is amazing. We hired her for our two day wedding, and she was there ALL DAY. One of the great things is that you aren't dealing with a photographer who will cut out after the first dance, once you hire her, she's there from the beginning to the end. That was especially important to us, because we had two ceremonies and a reception all in one day. Other photographers wanted to charge ridiculous prices just because we needed extra time. Hiring Alicia was worth every penny. The enthusiasm she showed was remarkable- it felt like she was just as excited to photograph our wedding as we were about getting married! Her enthusiasm tranferred to the photos. When I first looked through our thousand images, I cried. They were amazing. There was not a single picture that I saw that I didn't love. And I was very nervous after seeing friends' pictures, which weren't very flattering, and my biggest fear is that I would hate my wedding pictures. Hiring Alicia was the best decision I made in planning my wedding. I wouldn't hesitate in recomending her to anyone, and am even trying to convince a friend to fly her up to NYC for her Fall wedding next year.
Grade: A+++++++++++
CATERING: Catering by the Family
Christina Vess at Catering by the Family made my life so much easier in planning our reception. We had a fusion Indian wedding, and wanted to serve Indian food at the reception. Catering by the Family has an Indian chef on staff, and the food was fantastic. All night our guests were raving about the food. They also did our bar and servers. The servers were fantastic, they even made little take-home boxes for me and my new husband- since we barely had time to eat! Their bar service was great, and a great price too. We got a lot more for the money with them than at several other places. The overasll price per person was fantastic, especially becasue it included dishes, flatware, napkins, glasses, the whole shebang.
Grade: A
CAKE: Custom Creations Cafe and Bakery, Tampa
Michelle was a savior when it came to our cake. It was absolutely the best wedding cake- or any kind of cake- I've ever had! We had a carrot cake and bavarian cream cake for the wedding cake, and it was just beautiful! I also had her do a grooms cake in the shape of a Yankees baseball hat- it was a HUGE hit! The only snafu was that the groom's cake was supposed to be carrot, but was chocolate instead. It ended up working out great, because all the kids at the wedding devoured it!!
Grade: A
DJ: DJ Firoz Dudha
DJ Firoz did a stand-out job as our DJ. He DJed for both our ceremonies and the reception. I'm not sure what we would have done without him. We had a Hindu ceremony inthe morning, and he was on the ball with great music selections for parts of the ceremony where we had no idea what to pick. All of our freinds were so impressed. And he really rocked the reception! He had people on the dance floor the ENTIRE night! Everyone LOVED him, and couldn't get enough! He did a great job of mixing Bollywood hits with Maerican songs, and even got my two 80 year old grandmothers to dance along to the bhangra!
GRADE: A++
HAIR/MAKE-UP: Kyle Lynn
Cari at Kyle Lynn did an amazing job! Even though our start time was at 6am, her and her team were chipper and ready to go! I loved my hair and make-up, and it really lasted!! I was outdoors in 85 degree weather for 4 hours, and the make-up still looked flawless! Couldn't have been any happier!
Grade: A