Married/Vendor Reviews

acbutcher

Hey Knotties, I haven't been around on this board much since early this year because I moved to Michigan as I was planning the wedding, but I got married on Sanibel Island on Oct 24th and our day was absolutely amazing!  I found the knot SUPER helpful when planning and so I wanted to post some reviews to hopefully help someone else.

Rehearsal Dinner:
Location: Sanibel Community House B+
We used the North room, the space is really nice and super inexpensive.  I think we spent about $200 including the linens.  It easily fit the 70 people we had there (since everyone was from out of town we went with a welcome dinner in lieu of a true rehearsal dinner) They got marked down for causing my sister some anxiety due to a mix up with setting up tables and chairs and renting said linens, but everything worked out great in the end.

Food: Holy Smoke BBQ (Captiva) A-
Food was sooo good I was afraid it would upstage the wedding day food! Pretty reasonably priced, I think it was about $480 for food for 70.  They get marked down for being 30 minutes late when my husband went to pick it up.

Wedding Venue:
Island Inn Sanibel: A -
We had our ceremony on the beach at the hotel and the reception inside in the dining room.  The hotel was great, the rooms were nice and comfortable, the staff was amazing and super helpful.  They really tried to accomodate our group whenever possible.  We all loved that it was a smaller hotel and our group pretty much took over the whole place. There were probably only about 10 other guests there who were not part of the wedding.  That aspect really lent a great level of intimacy and comraderie to the whole weekend.  Pricing - they charge you $500 to set up the room and you need to ensure 20 room-nights booked by your group.  My only complaint regarding the venue was the event coordinator who really just didn't seem to be with it at times...my husband swears that she was drunk most of the time!  But most of the dealings with her were prior to us getting to FL. www.islandinnsanibel.com

Wedding Caterers:
Catering by Jack and Michael Elias: A
Food was excellent (from what i've heard). We had to inhale some food and get back outside for sunset pictures.  But everyone commented that the food was really yummy.  We had a pasta station, beef tenderloin, grouper, veggies, etc. We also had several hot and cold appetizers.  They were also really personable and fun to interact with.  www.swflcatering.com

Band:
Steve Farst Trio: A+
We had so much fun dancing to the band! Everyone commented on how great they were.  The music appealed from everyone to my grandparents to my drunk friends!  Steve was so much fun to work with and was really professional throughout the process.  He also played acoustic guitar during the ceremony and cocktail hour.  They brought lighting with them as well which really helped to transform the room.

DOC:
Heather Boterf: A+++
Heather is just getting started in the wedding business, but she was on top of her game at every moment.  She went WAY above and beyond the call every single moment.  She got there on Thursday and worked her little butt off the whole weekend.  She was so organized and anticipated my needs before I even knew about them.  By far the best money spent on the wedding.  She lives in Largo FL so if you are thinking about a DOC please consider emailing her.  hboterf25@hotmail.com

Flowers:
Floral Artistry: A+
The flowers were beautiful, exactly what I wanted. They were also willing to help with an emergency request and deliver a beautiful and unique chuppah with only about 1 weeks notice.

Officiant:
Marci Vitkus: A+
Marci was such a great help during the planning and she created a wonderfully unique service for us.  She has kind of developed a niche specializing in interfaith weddings which she does a fantastic job with.

Photography:
Impressions Photo: A? (Pending photos)
Krista and Emily were great!  I felt really comfortable with them and I am confident that we will get some great photos....I JUST CANT WAIT TO ACTUALLY SEE THEM!  Can you tell i've pretty much been stalking the blog?


Please let me know if you have any questions and/or want more information about any of the vendors.
acbutcher at gmail dot com

maryaccardi

My daughter's wedding was July 14, 2012.  She had her wedding on the beach at The Island Inn in Sanibel, FL.  The officiate, Patricia Slater, recommended by the restaurant, performed a beautiful ceremony.  The reception was at Traditions on the Beach, the restaurant at the hotel.  So many people told us that it was the best wedding they had ever been to.  The owners of the restaurant, Sheila and Andrea, are so great to work with and really make your wedding a personalized experience.  The food was OUTSTANDING!!! We could tell that everything was prepared fresh and was absolutely delicious.  We had a choice of fillet, chicken divan, or grouper for our guests and all of the food got rave reviews.  The hot appetizers on the table were also great!  I definitely would recommend this as a superb wedding venue.  We had 114 guests.  Our DJ Jim (A DJ With Class) was also outstanding!  He had everyone on the dance floor with the great music he played.  I was really nervous planning this "destination wedding" with my daughter, but we were thrilled with the way everything turned out!