Hi Knotties,
I had a lovely wedding on February 12 in Tampa. I loved using "the knot" to ask other brides about vendors, get ideas, and share experiences with other brides planning a wonderful & special day in our lives and our family's lives. One of the most helpful posts for me was vendor reviews. I want to share my experience with you regarding my vendors too to give back to you who are all in the planning stage. I am sorry this is so late, but after our honeymoon, our house wasn't finished and we just moved in at the end of March. The house is still full of boxes! Anyway, better late than never I hope. Here it goes....
Flowers: Events in Bloom A
Jana was great to work with in keeping within our budget. My husband and I felt Jana was easy to talk to, helped us visualize our reception decor, and was responsive to changes I made. On our wedding day, Jana was on time, the flowers were fresh, and the centerpieces were beautiful, full, and had great color. We received many compliments at the reception for our centerpieces. Our guests took all the arrangements home! We would recommend her services.
Limousine: Crown Royal Limousine A
Our driver was kind, courteous and on time. The limo was clean, spacious, and well maintained. We would recommend their services.
Videography: Movie Magic Productions: A++++
Ian was the most responsive and communicative vendor we had. This was interesting to us because we didn't initially want a videographer due to cost and fear of a cheesy video. My husbandand I admit that after seeing our video, it was some of the best money we spent. Our video is professional, creative, and something we can enjoy for years to come. Some of the reasons we enjoyed our video is because photographs can't capture coversations we will always treasure, the entire ceremony, and so many other special moments that happened on our wedding day. Professionally, Ian answered my e-mails immediately. Ian was actually early arriving to the hotel on our wedding day and was the last vendor to leave. He was sweet to the children and adults alike. He was professional and curteous to our photographer. We would use his services again without hesitation.
Reception: Embassy Suites Downtown Tampa Convention Center A
Lee Rodriguez was amazing to work with during the planning process. I had SO many questions and she was always kind and helpful. The hotel is only 4 years old. Its gorgeous and its in a great location. Our only complaint is our food wasn't the same quality we experienced at our tasting. We understand its hard to make food for a large amount of people, but its how we felt. On the contrary, the hor' dourves were super yummy. We overlooked this detail because we felt all of the staff took great care of us on our wedding weekend. Everyone was available, responsive, and on time. We would recommend this reception location.
Wedding Cake: A Better Cheescake A++
Carolyn did an amazing job with our cake. She really worked with us to obtain the flavor and look we wanted. She made a Tiffany blue ribbon style cake with buttercream icing (we aren't fans of fondant). The cake was gorgeous and she did it off of a picture. The color was exactly correct. We also received many compliments on the flavor and taste of our cake. We saw it as a win win situation. It tasted great and looked great. We would use her services again.
Wedding Hair and Makeup: Cari Collingsworth A++
Cari was very sweet to me. She really worked with me to get the wedding hair and makeup look I was after. She is easy to talk to, responsive to my e-mails, and professional. On the wedding day my make-up looked (even in the photos) and my hair was secure the entire night. Cari arrived on time to start hair and make-up and she finished with time to spare. I would recommend her services.
Photography: Dawn Haas
This is the most difficult review to write. First, I would like to say that my husband and I love our wedding photos, however, we had some serious concerns with our choice of photographer. So much so that we looked to change our photographer. Dawn was on time, sweet and curteous at both my bridal shoot and on our wedding day, however (and this was big to us), she is otherwise unreliable. She didn't e-mail us back frequently and we had no other way to communicate with her. We were frustruated with her lack of professionalism. We had a meeting with her to discuss our concerns. She explained she is a wife and a busy mom, she designates two days a week to respond to e-mails, and prefers phone calls. She didn't respond to e-mails twice a week, trust me. I decided to call and text her since that was her preference. It was better I will admit, but she still was unreliable. We spoke to two other couples who used her and had similar experiences. Bottom line do we like our pictures? Yes. Would we use her again? No.
In regards to our band, ceremony location, priest, etc... my husband and I are both Greek, so if you are interested in our Greek recommendations, or if you have any other questions, please feel free to e-mail me froussos@hotmail.com
Happy planning!