GRAND HYATT TAMPA BAY: A+ We did our ceremony on the waterfront by Oystercatchers and it was beautiful. We did the reception inside in one of the ballrooms. They have a shuttle service that can drive everyone back and forth. Everyone LOVED the food too. There tons of places on the grounds to take beautiful wedding pictures. Alexis, their events coordinator, is a delight to work with. Everyone at the reception was talking about how great the wait staff was. We had a lot of people coming from out of town, and it was very convenient staying there. They treated the entire bridal party like celebrities the whole weekend. The only bad thing about the rooms is that a standard room has no refrigerator. I am so glad we chose the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay as our wedding site!!
FISHHAWK FLORIST: F At my first consultation I was blown away by how nice FishHawk was. Then on my last consultation, Colleen was 30 min late for our final consultation and everything went downhill from there. They were late delivering the bouquets on the wedding day. We had a 6pm wedding, and they did not finish the wedding arch until 5:30 and did not finish the chair decorations until 5:52pm. Needless to say, this delayed my entire wedding. (Outdoor wedding on Memorial Day making all of my guests wait around outside watching them finish getting ready.) On top of this, they could not figure out how to attach the chair decorations to hotel's standard wedding chairs- my wedding coordinator had to show them how. My wedding coordinator also had to work with the hotel staff to fix the reception centerpieces too. After the wedding, I noticed that they charged us for vases that we didn't even use. They also promised to re-use my ceremony decorations in the reception hall and they didn't. When I made complaints about these issues, the owner of FishHawk called me a "BUDGET BRIDE." Even though they acknowledged that they overcharged me for the vases and said they would refund me, they have not yet issued a refund for this. And, they are going to deduct the cost of some of the vases I did use because they didn't get them back even though I tried to return them and they told me they didn't need them. Even after all of this, they never said they were sorry or acknowledged any regret for all of the problems they caused on my wedding day. Do not use this vendor!!! If you already have them on contract, you should tell them your wedding starts way earlier than it does and also check your invoice for overcharges!!!! As far as the flowers go, I really liked my bouquet, but the bridesmaids bouquets were wilting before the ceremony started. Don’t believe their reviews. They said that they don’t care if I give them a bad review that they will just pay to have it removed. (Not from this board, but from the overall site.) Apparently this is how they keep their review average so high! It’s very sad they’d rather pay $1500 to remove my bad review than to refund a portion of their $350 service fee… Says a lot!!
CHEF NELSON CAKES: B Chef Nelson was very nice to work with. The cake was delicious! His prices can't be beat, and you get a free 1 year anniversary cake top. The only complaint I have is that the top layer was the wrong flavor. My husband was in charge of the cake so I can't say for sure if it was 100% Chef Nelson's fault, but make sure you're clear about what you’re asking to avoid this happening to you.
WEDDING PAPER DIVAS: C Even though the proof I was sent was correct, they printed my RSVP cards incorrectly- wrong RSVP date and menu choices! Since we shipped these directly to our calligrapher, we didn't know this occurred until guests informed us. WPD was very apologetic and refunded our money. But, this was a huge hassle because we had to resend all our RSVP cards. The invitations were beautiful though!
DESTINY & LIGHT HAIR & MAKEUP: A Genecia and Sherry were the two stylists for my wedding. They were always on time and they made everyone look beautiful! They even stayed late to touch up my hair. We had 7 women and one kid and every single person loved their hair and make-up. It is so convenient that they come to your hotel so you don't have to go anywhere. Their prices are super reasonable, and I highly recommend the airbrush. I cried a lot and stayed out till 3am and my make up was perfect the whole time. The only thing that wares off is the lipstick.
GRANT HAMOND DJ & LIGHTING: A+ James King from Grant Hemond was fabulous! I had a lot of specific requests (do not play this, must play that) and he followed through on them all. He was very responsive and showed up ontime for the event. Our guests loved every song he played and the dance floor was jumping all night! The price was very reasonable too. He also did the sound for our ceremony as well as the lighting. The hit of the wedding was the Gator GOBO that they did for us. It was awesome. The uplighting was also great. I have no complaints or regrets for hiring James King- you should definitely see if he is available for your event.
ARTFUL EXECUTION (DAY-OF COORDINATOR): A+ Artful Execution did such an amazing job planning my bridal shower, that we hired them last minute to be my day-of wedding coordinator. I do not think we would have survived without them. Our coordinator, Dixie, was prepared for EVERYTHING. So many things went wrong and Dixie immediately stepped in a saved us from disaster. She has an emergency kit that has everything you could ever possibly need (and will need!). She helped put the finishing touches on everything and took over my cell phone so I didn't have to stress about anything. I can't say enough amazing things. Thank you so much Dixie for helping to make my wedding day so amazing!!!
SAM’S NOTARY OFFICIANT: A+ Truthfully we booked Sam because his prices were so low ($100 fee + mileage costs). He was very nice to work with, showed up on time, and didn't complain when our wedding started 20 min late. He also sent us a beautiful copy of the entire ceremony script after the wedding was over. Highly recommend!
WHISKEY JOES (rehearsal dinner): B+ The food was great, and they were easy to work with. The restaurant overlooks the Bay, which was beautiful. We did a ticket system for drinks and the waitresses didn't do the greatest job of limiting people to two drinks (or charging them for going over 2) so we paid a bit more than we wanted to.
IBEX/BELLA MUSICA (ceremony musician): A IBEX was very highly recommended by our venue, and now I know why. Brad, our guitarist arrived early and did not complain when our wedding started 20 minutes late. He played all of the songs we requested beautifully. I highly recommend!!
PURE EMOTIONS PHOTOGRAPHY: Grade pending We haven’t got our wedding pictures back yet, but we loved our engagement photos and the sneak peak photos are lovely! It was super bright outside/few clouds, which make quality outdoor photos difficult, but Alicia worked hard to accommodate my request for outdoor photos. We can’t wait to see our picturesJ
SNAPSHOOT PHOTOBOOTH: A+ The photobooth was super popular! You all should def do one at your wedding. Kris was our attendant, and he rocked. Everyone we spoke to at Snapshoot was really friendly and helpful. They have the best prices in town, and we will cherish the photobooth pictures forever!
GREAT ART & FRAME: A+++ We had our e-shoot photos matted and framed so people could sign them at the wedding. We bought the frame in Tampa, but had to get the matting done in NYC. We shipped it to Tampa for the wedding and it arrived all bent and ugly. We went to Great Art & Frame to have them re-do the mat for us. Then on the day of the wedding, the back of the frame fell off and all the glass shattered and the mat was again bent and ugly. So, on the day of the wedding they re-did all the matting (a lot of work) and replaced the glass FOR FREE!!!!!!!! I am so grateful for their kindness. Everyone was able to sign the matting, and it is one of my favorite wedding keepsakes.
Here are few pics, the first 2 are not professional. Enjoy:)
