Hi to all you bride-to-be's, my wedding was this past Saturday and here are my vendor reviews. Not trying to go on forever, just trying to paint a good enough picture to help you the best I can:
Venue-Hilton Garden Inn in Riverview:
PRO'S: Very easy going staff...very eager to work with you and help in anyway possible. They even let us use their "display" table with linens because I wanted a round sweetheart table for our head table last minute. Reasonable prices for food and no room minimums for weekend weddings. Even discounted rooms for out of towners at a great price and bride n groom suite was complimentary the night of the wedding. Would highly recommend them.
CON'S: The day after our wedding they mixed up our leftover wedding cake with a birthday cake and served our cake to the birthday party. How they did that is beyond me...but that was fixed real quick.
Cake-Alessi Bakery in Tampa:
PRO's: Great selection of icings and fillings. They are a little pricey but are definitely willing to work within your budget. They have a variety of different sizes to fit your budget and number of people at your wedding. They also provided a hand made peacock topper to fit our peacock themed wedding.
CON's: They almost delivered our cake to the wrong Hilton. Good thing we verified the day before the wedding. Make sure to specify many times where your venue is no matter how much they tell you they know where it is and how many times they have worked with that venue. Also, our custard/strawberry/banana filling was to be on the outside trim of the cake so our guests could taste it...they put it in the center of the cake and guests didnt get to try it...the cake however was great and the guests loved it.
DJ-Tim from the Jeff Staples Group:
PRO'S: They will work within your budget without a doubt! After calling numerous dj's and getting OUTRAGEOUS quotes of $700-$800, they were able to meet our budget by about HALF of the other dj's prices. Willing to stay extra for you...and played all requested songs...and made the wedding fun during the garter toss.
CON'S: I specifically said on numerous occasions that I DID NOT want any vulgar music played at my wedding. All was good until he played "Hot in Here" and "Get Low".
Dress-David's Bridal in Tampa:
PRO'S: I have to say the only pro I can think of is that I got my beautiful dress for only $99.
CON'S: Had a problem finding me in the system everytime I went in there for BM dresses. Was told to call two weeks before my wedding to steam my dress...when I called they told me they couldn't get me in. Just a bad experience overall...wouldn't recommend.
Bussle-Han's Tailor Shop in Brandon: HIGHLY recommend this place. I forgot to have my dress bussled and this place got me in two days before the wedding and had it ready the next day. Charged me $32.50 for 1 bussle. They were so friendly and quick and cheap.
Linens-Kate Ryan Linen's in Tampa: HIGHLY recommend. Kristin(owner) was great...so friendly and threw in runners for me at no additional cost. Taught me and BM's how to tie sashes so I didn't have to pay an extra $250 for setup. The linens were gorgeous and great price. She even let me send payment a few days late. No need to look any further for linens
Hope this helps you on your journey to finding the perfect vendors for your perfect day!!