I got married on Sept 29th and it was the best day!!! (despite the rain lol).
Church: St. Mary Star of the Sea: A
We chose this church because we wanted a Catholic Church that was close to our venue. It is absolutely stunning!! Deb, who we worked with to book the church and set up everything was extremely helpful and informative and great with communication. They allowed us to take our pre cana at our church in the Hartford area so we didn’t have to drive an hour away each time. The rehearsal was also extremely well organized and Deb made sure to answer all our questions and walked us through the whole ceremony. The church isn’t in the best location in New London but it is so beautiful that can be overlooked J
Venue: Branford House: A
The BH is a beautiful mansion in Groton right on the water with a picturesque lighthouse. The view was spectacular and I loved that you could pick all your vendors and weren't limited to a list they had. I would however, recommend a DOC as the woman who is in charge of the house, Katherine, is very hands off and really only books the date for you and will answer logistical questions but that's it. I highly recommend BH for anyone looking for a unique venue with elegance.
Caterer: Emily’s: A+
Hands down, best food ever! I’m not biased either…we had so many guests tell us how amazing the food was. It was innovative, fun and delicious. I HIGHLY recommend them. They also catered my shower and the food was outstanding there as well. Rick (the owner) and Cheryl were so great during the whole planning process and communication was excellent. They also provided our linens and the open bar. All the staff on our wedding day were extremely professional and so nice. Rick even let us go to another wedding he catered at BH a few months before ours to see the set up which that was definitely helpful in gaining some perspective on how the rooms would look.
Photographer: Val McCormick: A
Val was awesome to work with! I fell in love with her work as soon as I saw it…it just had an artistic feel to it that I didn’t find as much with anyone else. We met with her and instantly clicked. She’s so talented and such a sweet person. Communication was great during the entire planning process (which I was relieved about bc I had heard some negative things on here but she exceeded my expectations.) She was on point all day...Val and her staff were running around getting every little detail!
Videographer: Epic Filmmakers: A+
David Long and his team are truly talented. They pride themselves in having a cinematic feel to their movies and not just typical wedding videos. We got the package that included a Love Story and a same day edit so at the end of our wedding everyone got to watch our love story (which was filmed in the summertime and told the story of us) as well as a recap of the wedding. The movies exceeded my expectations and so many of our guests were crying while watching them (myself included!!) David and his 2 other videographers weren’t intrusive at all to the point that I forgot that they were even there. They were a little more expensive than we wanted to pay but worth every single penny. We received SO many compliments on what a great idea it was and how beautiful the movies were. I HIGHLY recommend them if anyone is looking for a fun, unique way to end their wedding day and to have your memories preserved like no other company does.
DJ: Zach Dauphinais: C
I have to say H and I were extremely disappointed with Zach. We originally booked a different DJ who ended up having to cancel 3 months before our wedding due to a family matter. I was so bummed about having to switch DJs because we really didn’t want anyone else. Our original DJ recommended Zach who happened to have an opening in his schedule due to a cancellation so we met with him and booked him. He’s a very nice person and throughout the planning process he was great but I didn’t realize he had never been to our venue before and he ended up being unprepared. The BH has 3 different rooms and he only brought speakers for one of the rooms, which meant the far room with all our friends in it had no music the entire time. Also, we were introduced down the beautiful staircase in the main room and no one could hear us being announced because (again) the speakers were only in the dancing room. I would think when you are hired to work a venue you’ve never been to that you should at least do a site visit and make sure you know what you are working with. We also paid extra for amber up lighting which I assumed would be throughout the entire venue to give it a nice ambiance they were cheesy looking lights only in the room where the dancing was and they were red! I was extremely disappointed and they were totally not worth the extra money. EDIT: He played songs off our do not play list! Fortunately, I didn't hear them but my sisters just told me. Ugh.
Florist: Datura: A Modern Garden: A
Tony is definitely not your cookie-cutter wedding florist! He puts a different spin on flowers and I loved the ideas he came up with. Our centerpieces were absolutely stunning and definitely made the room look beautiful. My bouquet was just as I envisioned it and so were the flowers for the WP. His communication wasn’t the best during the planning process…sometimes he took a while to respond but he just recently hired an assistant and once he hired her she was great at getting back to me!
Dress: Mariella’s: A
They were great to work with! Kathy was my consultant and, as requested, she didn’t show me anything out of my price range. She was knowledgeable and experienced and both my visits there were great. I also cannot say enough about their alterations place (located a few buildings down from the main store). All the seamstresses were so sweet and made me feel so comfortable. They listened to what things were bothering me (ie my lack of boobs) and they made adjustments that made me feel so much better!
Hair/Makeup: Naomi’s Salon: A
I had Angela do my hair and Naomi do my make up and I absolutely loved the way I looked! Lol. I don’t wear a ton of makeup normally so I was nervous before my trial but Naomi did a great job of making me feel like a more polished version of myself. I have to say the morning of the wedding was so relaxing and more like a fun girls day because of Angela and Naomi. After my trials I started going to Naomi’s salon for my eyebrows and I honestly wouldn’t think of going anywhere else for anything.
DOC: Jen Strunk: A
Jen was incredible and I have no idea what we would’ve done without her! Since the BH person was so hands off it was impossible to get everything set up the way we wanted it without hiring someone to take care of all the details for us. Jen made our timeline for the day and I had access to her for calls and texts whenever I had a question about anything. The day of she did everything from pick up our ice cream cake at the store, to take my e-ring to get cleaned bc I didn’t have time the day before. She even made sure H and I ate at the reception! My only wish is that I discovered her sooner!
Invitations: Shine Invitations (etsy): A
Our invitations were exactly what I envisioned! They were simple yet elegant and I am totally in love with them. I worked with Brittany from Shine and she was so easy to work worth and made the whole process seamless. Shine also designed ceremony programs, escort cards and menus. I loved that everything matched!
