Hi ladies!
Since I was very lucky to have some great connections to my vendors (my one aunt is a florist, another is a baker, and I work on a regular basis with my photographer and DJ) the only true vendor I have to review is Water’s Edge.
As an overall grade, I would give Water’s Edge an A-. Starting from the beginning, when we were experiencing a lot of inflexibility and bait-and-switch while trying to chose a venue, I was impressed with how straightforward Water’s Edge was. We had one per person price which included not only amazing hors d’oeuvres/dinner options and open bar all night, but also a wedding coordinator, hotel room for the night, free valet, and a free massage or facial. It was what it was, there were no add-ons except if we would’ve wanted to get chair covers, rose petals down the aisle, etc (which we didn’t).
So the biggest negative came when we found out about the construction at Water’s Edge (as I’m sure many of you have probably heard about). They do have a clause in the contract that we signed saying that they reserve the right to make changes to the property, erect buildings, etc. So the problem was not so much that they were constructing a huge building that obstructed the water view, but more so because they didn’t inform us about it. Anyway, our coordinator did work with us and waived the ceremony fee as well as the hotel suite the girls and I were staying in the night before, so that was okay.
The other negative actually came up when we were dealing with the hotel rooms. First of all, there was some confusion with our block of rooms. Our guests would call and be told that the whole block was booked and I would call to add more rooms and they would say there were still rooms left. Second, I was under the impression that the girls and I would be able to get ready for the wedding in the hotel suite we were staying in the night before the wedding, and found out only 3-4 weeks beforehand that this was not the case. Thank goodness my amazing MOH booked a room to help me out, and we mostly got ready there, then moved up to H and I’s room, which we upgraded to a larger size, to take photos.
So on to the really good stuff! The coordinators I worked with were absolutely amazing! I was communicating with Cindy Sanchez (now Lark) for most of the time, and she was extremely helpful! She recently got married and is moving out of state so I worked with Maggie Bascom for the remainder of my wedding and she was just as fantastic! Extremely responsive, sweet and helpful! I can’t say enough good things about these ladies.
Now for the wedding day ~ it was really amazing! We did have our hair and makeup done at Salon Massimo, which I would give an A+. Nicole did hair/makeup for my MOH and she is *wonderful*!!! I would totally request her if you can! While we were at the salon and throughout the day Maggie was taking care of vendors, family, wedding party, and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. We lucked out and the weather opened up and was really beautiful for the ceremony (which we moved from the lower gazebo to the upper lattice work gazebo, because of the construction). Everything went so smoothly with the ceremony set-up, moving guests to cocktail hour and then to dinner, and we were just able to enjoy our day!
The food at Water’s Edge is amazing!!! Everyone was raving about it! We had filet mignon with lobster, Tuscan roasted chicken, baked stuffed shrimp, and eggplant and everything was phenomenal! The open bar was flowing, our guests were happy, and we were in 7th heaven! We had one waiter who was assigned to us all night and he made sure I always had champagne in my glass and H always had Sam Adams in his J He also quickly helped when I realized the back of my dress was getting dirty during photos – he was there with club soda, helping my MOH to get the dirt out. When H and I got back to our room, they had slices of cake and chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting for us in our room – what a wonderful way to end the night!
Overall, we had a great experience at Water’s Edge – they were very flexible, straightforward, and they really worked with us to give us the day we wanted!
August 2011 Challenge: Honeymoon ~ Favorite E-Pics!
