Hope these help some brides out there! Overall, all my vendors were wonderful. Seriously, except for two minor gliches, there were no issues all day. I'm expecting bad luck on my honeymoon, because I can't believe I was so lucky to have such an amazing day! We leave for the honeymoon Thursday!
Vendor Reviews Venue & Catering: Mystic Aquarium/Ocean Blue Catering- A We both had an awesome experience with the aquarium!!! The food was great, the atmosphere was great, the guests were raving about the beluga and the penguin that we had come out to visit!! Kathy and Ashley were the main contact points I had for the majority of the planning, and both were helpful and put up with all my ridiculous questions! The day of the wedding, I had no clue how they were going to flip the whole place in half an hour…and at 6:30 I checked it out and everything was perfectly set up, exactly how I imagined it would be. That was more a collaboration of all my vendors though, but the aquarium really has their events down to a science! Before cocktail hour, we wanted to eat a little since we were both starving. The staff brought in two platters of food for us to eat for a few minutes in peace and quiet before we went out to greet guests. The whole night anything I asked for was given to me ( I wasn’t too demanding!) without a second thought. My only recommendation to future brides at the aquarium- hire a day of coordinator. The catering and venue is coordinated well, but having a DOC there made it 100 times easier. Loved them! DJ: DJ Melee- A Multiple guests have now told me that our wedding was the most painful wedding they’d ever been to- because their feet still hurt 2 days later from all the dancing! Jae did a great job reading the crowd the entire night, the dance floor was PACKED to the point that people were dancing in between tables. We had one small snag where our custom introduction order was messed up because of his new online system for information, which I believe he has already fixed, and we were able to easily fix it by just bringing up the custom mix on someone’s phone and writing down the order. I won’t hold it against him though, technology is a bitch and it was an easy fix and something I believe he already fixed in his system- so overall, great experience with him and the music for our venue! Oh, and to any other aquarium/DJ Melee brides- ask him for the wave light he has. It created an awesome effect 
Photographer: AE Stelzer Photography- A Ashley was AWESOME. Love, love love her and her pictures. I invited Ashley down the night before (she comes from Boston) and offered to pay for her room so she didn’t have to worry about getting to Mystic from Boston the day of the wedding (and so I didn’t have to worry either!). She took me up on this, and was able to scope out all types of picture locations for us! Pictures were painless- she was highly organized- and she started right on time, then went all day long. At the end of the night one of my guests accidentally knocked her in the face with his elbow, so my mom checked on it and she handled it great and didn’t seem to have any lasting injuries. She is an up and coming photographer, I would HIGHLY recommend her to anyone. I already have some sneak peeks and I LOVE them !!! Florist: Flora Flora- A- The ONLY reason why I did an A- is because she doesn’t communicate that well via email. Which is partially my fault, because I communicate pretty much all via email, and should have called her sooner (thus I would have discovered phone contact is much easier). Jess is SO talented, she knew what I wanted and met with me multiple times up until the wedding to figure out what I wanted. My flowers were perfect the day of the wedding, centerpieces and bouquets. I would recommend her- just communicate via phone, much easier! Day of Coordination- Piece of Cake Events: A Christine and Amy were great. I have no complaints. They showed up on time, took care of every little thing that came up- I had a bridesmaid have a meltdown, they took care of that, my husband’s lip bleed for almost all the pictures, they found him ointment to stop the bleeding. They kept everything on track and on time and literally stayed with me right up until I walked down the aisle, and then until it was time for them to go. To anyone on the fence about hiring a day of coordinator- DO IT. You won’t regret it. Transportation- Limo Affair: A- I needed a 20 person limo to transport my bridal party, so I had to go out of state. Melony (the office manager) was very responsive to me all throughout the planning. The limo driver was great, the limo was in perfect condition and we were everywhere we needed to be on time. My only issue was that they wouldn’t talk to my DOC when she called to confirm things because I hadn’t given them permission to, and then the day of they still called me and not her. I’m happy that they respect my privacy, but it was just a little weird. No big deal though, highly recommend them! Paper (Programs, table numbers, etc): EstoPrints: A I loved LOVED all my paper for my wedding. Jess did awesome making sure it all coordinated. It all had the same font and same colors, just different styles and layouts. My programs were fantastic- a lot of people kept them- and all the colors worked out wonderfully. Jess worked in my budget, did basically anything I asked and also pulled through on some last minute changes to place cards that I needed without any issue. Oh, and she had to reprint all the menus because of my mistake- didn’t charge me- and didn’t complain once. Awesome, awesome vendor! Dress: Melissa Ashley Brides- A I had a great experience with them. They also custom re-designed my mother’s veil to coordinate with my dress. Denise and Maria (the seamstress) were super helpful and always friendly and welcoming. Maria was great for alterations- she did a phenomenal job for an awesome price. Room Block: Comfort Inn- A The Comfort Inn in Mystic really went above and beyond to cater to me and my wedding guests. They are newly redone-and I honestly want to RAVE about how awesome they were. The front desk manager basically bent over backwards to everything that we needed- gave us tons of towels and blankets. We had the suite and an adjoining room for the bridesmaids and then for the groom and groomsmen the day of the wedding, and they gave us towels and blankets galore without blinking an eye. We ended up with 25 rooms booked there- the guests loved it and couldn’t get over how economical but nice it was. The Comfort Inn isn’t fancy- only an outside pool- and a pretty basic hotel, but seriously, for what the price was it was well worth it. I highly recommend blocking off rooms here for any weddings in Mystic! Chocolate Fountain- Sweet Streams Chocolate Fountain: A No complaints, only rave reviews. They come recommended by the aquarium, everyone loved it and everything was just as I asked. It was awesome! Cake: You take the Cake- A Delicious cupcakes- set up was perfect, on time and just as I asked. I didn’t get to have any of my cupcakes, but I heard they were delicious! Tuxes: The Trinket Shoppe- B We weren’t all that impressed with them- 5 of the tuxes were measured wrong and needed to have pieces shipped overnight. We aren’t talking like an inch, we’re talking that my husband’s waist was 4 inches too small and the pants were 4 inches too short. There were all types of small things missing from the tuxes. But, from what I’ve heard, this seems to be the going trend for tux rental places, so I’m not all that upset . They pulled it together for the end. Harpist: Allyn Donath- Mystic Harpist- A Allyn is a close family friend of ours, and luckily also the music director at the church we got married at. She did a beautiful job and if anyone needs a harpist, guests are still asking me who she was and saying how beautiful the music was