Finally some reviews from our June 4th wedding. It was such a perfect day and a lot of it has to do with our vendors. I feel like this is super long so if you have any specifics questions feel free to ask! Thanks ladies!
A couple of the vendors I picked were recs from here (Studio 1923 and Dana Bartone) and they were by far my two most favorite vendors! So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Here we go!
Venue - St. Clement's Castle, Portland – AMAZING! They didn’t miss a beat. They were so attentive to us and all our guests. Our family and friends are still raving about the beauty of the castle, the view during cocktail hour and the delicious food. I seriously could not imagine getting married any place else. Carol was perfect thru the planning process and always responded immediately to my emails. Every time I felt I needed to see the room again for my vision she was right there with me going over things. As for the Castle. I fell in love with the view and the river and with that comes the Waterford Room. After we booked, I immediately started seeing things I hated about the Castle…the carpet, the chairs, the mirror on the walls…I started to freak about how I was going to make it work. Needless to say, I felt like we did and no one noticed the chairs, the rug or the mirror. And it was perfect and my freak outs weren’t worth it. The only “wah wah” thing is I do wish candles we were allowed and I was still sad about that. Other than that it was amazing and PERFECT!
Church - Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, CT Fantastic! We needed a church that would marry us at 5:30 and they were so accommodating. Rev. Maggie Minnick was perfect. Although hard to contact at times (she went on medical leave), so no fault of hers…we just weren’t sure about how the ceremony was supposed to go and we needed to get the programs started. But once we explained why we were nervous she met with us and went over everything. The only “wah wah” was all of the beautiful stain glass windows were shipped out for cleaning so we didn’t have any of them there on our wedding day. Haha…perfect timing. Oh well.
Room Block/Moms and Maids Luncheon/Post Wedding Brunch - Inn at Middletown, Middletown, CT – Perfect also. The rooms were clean and ready for all my guests that arrived early. My cousin who traveled from Boston with my flowers said they were so helpful with storing the flowers while she got ready and before she could get into Saint Clements Castle. I also hosted the Maids and Moms Luncheon here. The food at The Tavern at the Armory was great. And we hosted a Post Wedding Breakfast there. The food and service was also amazing.
Dinner Rehearsal – Luce – Great place, great food. Sammy the owner made me a little nervous when I first met him. He had swivel head and always seemed preoccupied, but totally pulled everything together. And our guests never had an empty glass or plate. They let us prepick the menu and do Family Style Apps and Salad which was perfect for a group our size (40 people)
Photographer - Studio 1923, Middletown, CT – AMAZING! Jerome seriously is the best. EVERYONE loved him, not just me and Hubby. Everyone complimented us on how fun and incredible he was. He set up a slideshow of some of the pics from the day and from the ones we have seen they are breathtaking and made alot of already married couples jealous of the photos we have. He didn’t miss a moment. He also helped me with my Dad’s bout and when the flower actually broke (too much hugging) he was there to fix it. He also stopped babies from crying…seriously the guy does it ALL!
Videographer - Michael and Tricia Films – Sweetest couple EVER. I was hesitant at first about booking a videographer but after seeing their work, I knew I had to have one and I had to have them. They are from MA so they aren’t a local vendor, but they are so talented and their work is perfect. I booked them before they became really popular on the MA boards so I got them for a really good price too. I can not wait to see the video. They were also so unobtrusive. None of my guests even knew I had a videographer there. And Michael was supposed to leave after the cake cutting but he stayed until almost the end of the night, which was awesome.
Ceremony/Cocktail Hour Music - Michel Entertainment - Trio Classique – From what I heard they sounded great. I honestly can’t review too much of them other than I remember hearing Canon in D when I was walking down the aisle with my Dad and it brought a BIG smile to my face. My mom had the most contact with them and she said they were really easy to work with.
DJ - Lou Ferraro, LifeTiled, Yalesville, CT – He was great and kept the dance floor packed all night. Took requests from guests but stuck to the do not play list. Also played all our must plays. The only thing…at the end of the night he had me and Hubby do a slow dance in the middle of everyone which turned into a group hug…not our thing. I thought Hubs was going to walk off the floor. Overall very happy with him.
Flowers and Paper - Emily Field, Lynnfield, MA – My cousin is the BOMB. She’s not for hire but I just needed to give her a shot out because she did my Save The Dates, My Invitations, My Programs, My Table Numbers, My escort cards…and ALL my flowers which EVERYONE RAVED about. They were absolutely GORGEOUS! And it was fun going to the flower mart with her to pick out all the flowers we were going to use. Not to mention we were able to keep the same paper theme and color throughout. LOVE HER.
Transportation – Peter Pan/Dattco, We originally booked with Double A, but Double A was sold. So our transportation was split up. The Shuttle Bus for the guest was thru Peter Pan and the Trolley was thru Dattco.
Peter Pan- Guest Shuttle – Easy to work with. No problems. I put one friend in charge of making sure everyone was on time. We even gave her a whistle (she likes to be in charge) and the bus was on time and didn’t get lost. To me that’s a big success.
Dattco – Trolley – I HEART MY TROLLEY! It was great! They picked up Hubby and his family at our house in Rocky Hill, dropped them off at the church in Middletown. Picked up me, the girls and my family at the Inn and then dropped us off at the church. Waited for the ceremony to be over and drove us all to the Castle. Again on time and didn’t get lost. BIG Success. Did I mention I LOVE TROLLEYS!?!
Cake - Creative Cakes by Donna, Haddam, CT – AMAZING AGAIN. The cake was DELICIOUS. The tasting was fantastic. We brain stormed a lot while we were there and she was so attentive and brilliant. Love her! The cake was gorgeous too. And a week before the wedding I called and wanted a groom’s cake. She said No Problem…and made the most fun Fish Groom’s cake…which was also YUM!
Hair and Makeup - Dana Bartone, Cheshire, CT – there are three vendors I could not imagine my wedding day without…and Dana Bartone’s team is one of them. Catie did our hair and Amy did our makeup and I seriously couldn’t love them more. Amy is the sweetest person you will ever meet. She just smiles and is a constant positive person. Not to mention she made all of us look flawless. My sister and mom were hesitant about getting make up done because they don’t wear really any…but they were both so happy with the results that my sister said when she hits the lottery she is hiring Amy as her personal make up artist. And Catie…Catie is one of my favorite people. I actually go to her now for my color and cut. She also did such an amazing job with all the girls. Every one was feeling their best the day of the wedding and it showed. Can’t wait for the bridal party photos with all my hottie friends!
Dress – Priscilla of Boston – Boston – Again not a local vendor, but they tend to get mixed reviews on here so if anyone is in the Boston area, don't be afraid to go. I had the best experience with them. Other than having to take the two hour drive and pay for parking for fittings…I have no complaints. My dress was perfection. I still wear it around the house…shhhh…
Bridesmaid Shoes – Unforgettable Moments Dyeable from Payless – I felt these needed a review…I looked for MONTHS for the perfect bridesmaid shoe at an affordable price and couldn’t find them anywhere…until I stumbled upon a “Style Me Pretty” wedding and saw the perfect pink shoe. I was hesitant about getting dyed shoes and hesitant about using Payless, but they looked beautiful and perfect and had so many people ask where they got their shoes.
Bridesmaid Dresses – Bella Bridemaids – Boston, again not local, but they were so great to work with. We worked with Brit the owner and she is just the cutest and we have kept in touch even post wedding. She was always in contact and willing to help brainstorm my vision and price range. We ended up with LulaKate dresses for the girls…and they were GORGEOUS and comfortable.
Lunden Jeweler – West Hartford – Hubs got my engagement ring there and then we went back for our wedding bands. We love Jay! And plan on using them for all our future jewelry purchases. My engagement ring was my dream ring and he was able to custom make a wedding band to match the band of my engagement ring. They also gave us free lifetime adjustments and fixes if anything happens to the ring.
Tejani – Bridal Jewelry – I worked with one of their consultants and then with the owner. I sent them some of my inspirations and pictures of my dress and shoes and we went thru a bunch of looks. They were so great with getting the look I wanted and couldn’t be happier with the bracelet and earrings I ended up with. They also gave me a discount for getting my mom and sister bracelets from them too.
J.T Ghamo – Tuxes. Everything was great. No problems with the tux other than one GM had stains on his, but they quickly provided him a new one. And some of the GM said that they felt the prom kids were taking priority while they were there when we were promised weddings were their priorities. Oh well…the guys looked great!
Thanks for reading! Again let me know if you have any questions.