Hi ladies! My wedding was on 11/5/2010 and I am just now getting around to posting these vendor reviews. I was constantly on the Knot looking for reviews and advice while wedding planning, so I owe these reviews to all the current brides-to-be :-) Please message me if you have any specific questions. Happy planning!!
Hyatt Regency Coral Gables (ceremony and reception): A+. We held both our ceremony and reception in the courtyard (Court of Lions) and it was absolutely beautiful! I could not have been more pleased with the Hyatt. Here are a few of the high points:
Catering manager-- The catering manager was very willing to work with our budget constraints and even created a special menu to include some of our odd requests (i.e. tequenos as appetizers!).
Part way through our wedding planning process, the catering manager changed hands but this did not cause any major problems. We only had one glitch—The new catering manager gave us a different (much higher!) rate for our mojito bar than the original catering manager, but when I showed her some e-mails from the old catering manager, she immediately agreed to give us the original price.
The catering manager did an EXCELLENT job the day of the wedding. She almost acted as a day-of-coordinator—Checking on myself and the wedding party, making sure decorations were in place, directing different vendors (floral, DJ, photographer, cake, etc.), lining people up to go down the aisle, making sure guests were taken care of, etc. You name it, she did it! I had absolutely no need for a separate day-of coordinator, as the Hyatt catering manager truly took care of everything. She was really a blessing!
Food—Delicious, plentiful, wide variety. Many of our guests commented on how much they enjoyed the food and the many unique choices offered!
Bar-- We had a standard bar and a mojito bar. Bar tenders were quick and friendly, and the drinks were very good.
Customer service—AMAZING. The staff at the Hyatt was extremely professional (like you would expect at any good hotel). Even when we were there for pre-wedding visits, the tasting, the day after the wedding, etc., everyone was very polite, helpful and accommodating. I generally HATE customer service in Miami, so the high level of customer service at the Hyatt was very important to me (and I wasn’t disappointed!).
I would HIGHLY recommend the Hyatt to other brides who are looking for a classy venue with impeccable customer service, great food and drinks, and a beautiful ambiance.
A Blooming Touch (flowers, linens, tree lighting): A+. A blooming touch did a wonderful job on our flowers and they were very helpful figuring out how to accomplish my vision while staying in budget. They are a mother-daughter team—Mom only speaks Spanish, but the daughter (Maria) is fluent in both Spanish and English. No communication problems at all! Our flowers were vibrant and gorgeous and well exceeded my expectations. A Blooming Touch was very timely and had our flowers, linens, candles and tree lights in place before I even had a chance to check things out in the courtyard! Highly recommended. abloomingtouch@bellsouth.net
Cecilian Johnson (officiant) : A+. Cecilia was very organized and timely. She made things very simple for us, which I liked. Her knowledge of having a bilingual (Spanish/English) ceremony was really helpful. Very good overall! www.floridaweddingsbycecilia. com
Complete Music and Video (handled music and photography): F. Dealing with Damon Russell from Complete Music and Video was a nightmare! We made a HUGE mistake in hiring Complete to handle our music and photography. Damon promised us in the beginning that we could meet with his selected DJ and photographer months prior to the wedding to see if we liked them and their work. No such luck!!! We ultimately had to sweet-talk the assigned photographer and DJ to meet with us once before the wedding, and our meetings took place within 2 weeks of the wedding. UGH! Damon also said he would visit the wedding to make sure everything was running smoothly (it was), but he never made an appearance. In the weeks following the wedding, Damon was a pain in the a$$ when it came to getting another copy of our wedding CD, ordering the photos that we had already paid for, etc. Avoid this shady business-man at all costs!
That being said, I will review the individual photographer and DJ that we were assigned by Complete Music and Video:
DJ Yagnner-- A+. He seemed pretty shy and introverted at first, but he really came through! He arrived even earlier than expected and was dressed professionally. Per our request, he didn’t talk too much, lol. Every song request we had for the ceremony and reception was carried out flawlessly! Also, he did a really great job keeping our guests dancing. Two thumbs up! Yagnner@yahoo.com
Vanessa Prohaska (photography)—B. Vanessa was very fun, friendly and likable. Unfortunately, she arrived late and we had to rush the bride and bridesmaid photos. She also didn’t get a good family group photo which I had requested. She didn’t forget to take the photo, but the photos didn’t turn out well. Other than that, she did a very good job! We have many, many beautiful photos as a result of her work. Furthermore, Vanessa was kind enough to send us a copy of our wedding pictures DVD when we lost (!) ours and Damon (see above) wanted to charge us $150 for another copy. Thanks, Vanessa! viewpointphotos@hotmail.com
Susana Betancourt (makeup)—A+. Awesome, awesome, awesome! Susana did an excellent job (on both me and my mom), her prices are reasonable and she showed up on time. Score! She really made my mom’s face come alive, and somehow she worked her magic to cover this nasty acne spot on my chin. Our makeup stayed in place all night (and we were outdoors the whole time), and our false lashes looked fantastic but were oh-so-comfortable! I 
Susana J
Divine Delicacies (cake)-- A+. OMG, Divine Delicacies (DD) gave me the cake of my dreams!!! We had a fondant cake from DD included in our venue package, but we upgraded and had some fabulous design work done. They did black piping over the entire cake which resembled leaded glass, and then several chartreuse green fondant flowers placed on one side. Super modern and SO gorgeous! Several people asked if the cake was just decoration or if we could actually eat it, lol. Anyhow, we of course ate the cake and it was delicious and so moist! It was vanilla rum cake with coconut filling. The fondant wasn’t nearly as bad as some people complain about. There was a layer of buttercream between the fondant and the cake, thus taste was not sacrificed for design. Based on the number of people gobbling cake leftovers the next day, I think we had a winner! www.ddcakes.com
David’s Bridal Coral Gables (dress pick-up, alterations, hair accessories)-- D. This place sucks! I bought my dress at David’s in Michigan and they shipped it to David’s in the Gables (the one nearest my home). Customer service is pretty much non-existent there. No one in alterations speaks English. What a joke! Avoid unless you enjoy headaches.
Nick Panczak (invitations and save-the-dates)—A+. My brother is a graphic designer and personally designed our invitations and save-the-dates. We had somewhat of a destination wedding, so he made a luggage tag for the save-the-dates and then an airline ticket with tear-off RSVP for our invitations. Loved them! Many guests complimented us on our “unique” invites. http://www.nickpanczak.com/
Fancy Fortune Cookies (favors)—A+. Our personalized fortune cookie favors turned out great! We did black raspberry dipped in white chocolate and coconut dipped in dark chocolate. Both tasted great! The cookies arrived in perfect shape (no breakage). Yum! http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/