Connecticut

6/30 Vendor Reviews (Very long)

I can honestly say that our day was absolutely perfect and just about everyone deserves an A+  I will give those reviews first, then the very few that didn’t receive that rating at the end.

Woodwinds (venue): Everything was wonderful from beginning to end.  If I had any questions throughout my planning process (which was quite often over the 18 months), JoAnna and Sarah were very quick to respond.  They also don’t do menu tastings so they give you a voucher for a free meal to Café Allegre.  Scott is also everything everyone says he is.  He told us exactly what to do at the rehearsal since we didn’t have our JOP there and was right by our side throughout the entire ceremony and reception.  He kept us on track, made sure we ate each course, told us when would be a good time to mingle, let us know when we would be doing cake, etc.  Antonella was also taking care of us and was always checking to see if we needed anything else.  I would definitely recommend Woodwinds without hesitation!

Cafe Allegre (Rehearsal Dinner):  When we booked with Woodwinds we got a paper that gave us a discounted rate if we had our rehearsal dinner at Café Allegre.  My MIL was in charge of the RD and during that time the contact person changed.  About 5 days before the dinner, they called MIL saying they needed a head count with meal choice and we had 2 days to gather that info.  The day the count was due, MIL explained that she didn’t have enough time to get in touch with everyone and if she had known that she needed to do that with adequate time then she would be able to, but it just wasn’t possible.  They told her it was no problem and set the room for the amount of people that we estimated and said it was okay that we didn’t know what everyone was eating.  MIL told us the wrong choice so my husband got really excited about having chicken parm and they made it for him and my father even though it wasn’t a given choice.  When dessert came out I wasn’t a fan of it.  I was full, but the waiter insisted that he will get me something I like so I got chocolate cake.  The kids were also able to get ice cream instead of the dessert.  Everything was delicious and they were so accommodating.

Mariella's (dresses):  I’ve gone to Mariella’s when I was a BM two times before.  Also, my cousins and friends had gotten their wedding dresses at Mariella’s so I knew for a fact that I wanted to buy my dress there.  It was also a great middle point in terms of distance for the girls in my wedding.  My MOH had a baby in September so they took that into consideration when doing her measurements in October to order the dresses.  Another BM was 7 months pregnant at the time of measuring and Mariella also handled that very well.  She also let her wait until the week of the wedding to get alterations since she is still nursing.  Another BM lives in California so they also had no problem with having her dress altered the week of the wedding.  My mom also bought her dress there.  Everything was great from beginning to end.

Men's Warehouse - Manchester (suits and tux): We decided to have the GM’s wear their own black suit.  DH’s stepdad didn’t have one and DH needed a new one so around Easter time they took advantage of the buy one get one free at the Manchester store near Target.  Like a typical salesman they tried to have one of them buy an expensive suit, and the other get the cheapest but we weren’t falling for it and we wanted the suits to be as equal in price as possible.  The salesman got the idea that we were about to walk out when he lowered the price of my DH’s suit to be the same price as his stepdad’s so that we were getting the most for our money.  When they came in everything was tailored perfectly.  DH was the only one wearing a tux so he rented it from the MW in Buckland Mall.  It was in more than a week ahead of time and they gave him an extra day to return it after the wedding.  We had a great experience there, but not all Men’s Warehouses are the same.  Look below for a review of another location.

Studio1923-Jerome Braga (photographer):  I could write a novel about Jerome.  I’ve known for 4 years that I wanted to use him for my wedding when the day came (even though I didn’t know DH at that point).  He photographed my cousin’s wedding and she continues to use him for family pictures and for her children.  Going into our initial meeting DH was hesitant because of his price.  After meeting with Jerome and Jen DH walked out saying he wanted to book him because his work is amazing and his package includes a lot (another “I told you so” moment).  We had our e-pics done the Monday after Irene hit and even though they didn’t have power, Jerome found a place to charge his cameras and although we were open to rescheduling they didn’t want to.  Jen was always very responsive to e-mails and we had one last phone meeting a few days before the wedding.  Jerome’s assistant was Amanda the day of our wedding and she is just like Jerome….taking pictures of everything, changing angles according to light, laying down on the ground, great personality, etc.  We cannot wait to see the pictures.   My brother has also booked him for his wedding next year.


DJae Melee (DJ): 
We had met with 2 other DJ’s and we put a hold on one of them but weren’t entirely sure so we set up a meeting with Jae based on his reviews and price.  As soon as we walked out of his office, we both looked at each other and “we found our DJ”.  By the time we got home we already had an e-mail from him thanking us for coming and hoped he would get to work with us.  We immediately responded asking him to hold our date and that we would bring him the deposit in a few days since we were going to the casino.  At times he was difficult to get in touch with but in the 3-4 months leading up to our wedding he was very responsive.  We didn’t worry too much about him not contacting us because we figured he was probably focused on his upcoming weddings and ours wasn’t really on his “to do” list at this point in time.  As I said, as time got closer, he was very responsive, and I was even texting him the day of our wedding because at our rehearsal we added a few extra people to our introductions so we were trying to straighten that out.  Jae did it with no hesitation.  Throughout the night he checked in with us and played songs that were requested.  Normally at my family weddings people are hanging out at the bar….not at ours!  People got their drinks and headed back to the dance floor.  At one point DH and I looked around the room and only saw about 5 of our 190 guests sitting down.  At the end of the night we found out that friends of ours already talked to Jae about booking him for their wedding in December.  At our BBQ yesterday everyone was talking about how their feet hurt from dancing so much.  DH doesn’t dance and even he was on the dance floor all night!

Naomi's Salon (hair and makeup):  I’ve had experience with Naomi’s in the past so I knew I wanted to book them.  Again, my cousin used them for her wedding and Candice did their makeup.  I wanted to request her, but before I even got a chance she had contacted me.  She is truly amazing at what she does.  We used Tonya for hair and she was also amazing.  She showed up early and got started on my MOH right away.  We thought we might go over our contracted time since some girls hit traffic and were late, but luckily we ended just in time.  Everyone’s hair looked amazing and DH loved mine.  I kept him in the dark about wearing it half up since all along I was insistent that I was wearing it up.  Both ladies were wonderful to work with and we had so much fun with them.


Just for You (florist): As everyone says, Jane is amazing.
  My flowers looked exactly as I had envisioned.  We did fake gerbera centerpieces so we didn’t meet her $1000 minimum for delivery.  Since she is about 10 mins away in the next town over from my parents and my brother and I went to school with her kids, she delivered our flowers for free.  We wouldn’t have had a problem having someone go pick them up, but being the sweet lady she is, Jane offered to deliver.

J-Cakes (cake): 
Our cake was included in our Woodwinds package and we just paid for extras (ribbon and flowers).  We had 3 bakeries to choose from and chose J-Cakes because it had the best taste and was very moist.  We went with Vanilla cake with oreo mousse filling and buttercream frosting.  Delicious!  We will be keeping them in mind if we need to get cakes for other occassions.

Holiday Inn (Branford):  I didn’t personally deal with the room-block, MIL did.  She had good experiences with Holiday Inn and in the week leading up to the wedding she was able to get a room for her nephew at the room block cost (even though it ended) and switching her niece to a king bed instead of 2 doubles.  Unfortunately I don’t have any more feedback

Baymont Inn and Suites - Branford
  Holiday Inn was booked so DH’s dad’s side of the family booked a room block there.  I don’t have any reviews for them either, but as far as I know everything was fine.

123print.com (Invitations): We bought all of our stationary here.  We got our invitations, address labels, thank you postcards, and my mom ordered shower postcards as well from here.  Very reasonably priced and quality was great. 

Below are two reviews that do not receive the A+ rating:

Men's Warehouse- Meriden (suits) My brother and dad also needed to buy new suits so they went to the Meriden store since it was closest to them during their buy one get one free sale.  The salesmen talked them into my dad getting an expensive suit and my brother getting the cheapest (not even close to equal value).  They left spending over $800 after adding it shirts, ties, shoes, etc.  Then when they went to pick them up, my brother had to go back 2x because the tailoring was wrong and my dad had to go back 3x.  One of those times, he was told to come back in fifteen minutes 3 times.  So basically it took them SIX times to get my dad’s suit right.  They were about to return everything and contact corporate about going to Manchester and getting the same deal where DH had a better experience.

Sunset Limousines: I wasn’t going to do a limo but met them at Woodwinds bridal show in February and they were very affordable.  I looked into it since it would be easier for my girls so that they could get dropped off at my parents’ house and their husbands/boyfriends could drive to the wedding to avoid having 2 cars.  We were told that they would have 2 brand new limos arriving in April.  They still hadn’t arrived so about a month before we were told that we would be using one of the older ones with a slightly discounted rate.  On our trip to Woodwinds I put up the divider for a minute to take a picture without a glare and the driver put it back down saying that the AC wasn’t working properly so he had to keep it down.  No wonder we were hot!  After the 20 minute drive to Woodwinds we were sweating.  I e-mailed the company last night expressing my disappointment on a 90 degree day.  I got a prompt response saying that they weren’t aware of the situation until after my wedding and it has since been fixed but that my credit card wouldn’t be charged.  Although we didn’t have a comfortable ride because we were hot, I would recommend them because of their quick response and not charging us.

I always found reviews helpful so I hope you will too.  I can't believe my 18 months of planning is all over!  Now onto Hawaii next week!

Edit to include cake review

Re: 6/30 Vendor Reviews (Very long)

  • Congratulations!! I was checking out Jerome's facebook to see if he posted any pictures yet, but no dice. I'm glad you had a great day!
  • He posted the shoe drinking one....yup, that's my crazy family
  • Sounds like a fantastic day!! Make sure you let us know when pics are up. And enjoy Hawaii!!!
  • OH! Haha that's awesome. How did that tradition start? 
  • Vanessa630Vanessa630 member
    1000 Comments Fourth Anniversary
    edited July 2012
    In Response to <a href="http://connecticut.weddings.com/Sites/weddings/Pages/main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_connecticut_630-vendor-reviews-very-long?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:65Discussion:755915ae-6f5c-4528-ad79-ce867847bc87Post:d908b783-7a6c-4d76-b7e6-f0d147d510fa">Re: 6/30 Vendor Reviews (Very long)</a>:
    [QUOTE]He posted the shoe drinking one....yup, that's my crazy family
    Posted by Carebear62584[/QUOTE]

    Oh I saw that one!!  Congrats on a great wedding!
  • Thanks!  Apparently my dad and his friend used to drink out of his baseball spikes in college but nobody knew that.  It wasn't until my uncle's wedding in 1989 when he did it in front of the family and it just kind of stuck.  Everyone says it's gross, but end up joining in and by now everybody knows not to wear old shoes to our weddings.
  • Congrats! I'm glad you had a great day! Enjoy Hawaii!!


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  • Great.... I am so glad that I am using many of the same vendors.. Who did you use as a JP.

    Thanks
  • Happy you had a great day and thank you for the reviews! Hope you have so much fun in HI! :)
    Anniversary
  • In Response to Re:6/30 Vendor Reviews Very long:[QUOTE]Great.... I am so glad that I am using many of the same vendors.. Who did you use as a JP.Thanks Posted by SecondTimeAround714[/QUOTE]


    We used one of my uncles coworkers. He actually did our ceremony for free so we gave him a gift card to a restaurant. He actually left before anyone could give it so we mailed it to him today.
  • great reviews. congrats. I love Jerome's pictures, can't wait for you to share them.... he is amazing.
    abc
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