1. Planner- Jennifer J events- A
a. She was amazing! I planned from NYC working crazy hours and I wish I would have booked her sooner (I booked her 4 mo before wedding). I chose the full planning package and before I even signed she had a budget worksheet with my numbers and was giving me ideas. Im terrible with the phone and she was excellent with emails so it worked perfectly. I probably sent thousands of emails to her and she always answered quickly. I met with her once in December for the week I was there, she set up all my meetings and even accompanied me to a few. She helped me with the welcome bags & Candy bar which came out good. She had 2 assistants the day of, Kayla & Brittany, who were very sweet. The whole night they kept asking if I was ok and if I needed anything. Kayla was present in my bridal suite while I was getting ready and was there for anything we needed- I sent her on a starbucks run. Jennifer helped me choose most of my big vendors and helped me negotiate contracts with them. Shes definitely a higher end planner and her vendors are on a similar scale. All in all I would recommend her any day.
2. Décor- Ocean flowers- A
a. Guerdy was great. I booked her before I met her (she was recommended by Jennifer and I had heard good things about her) and then met in December for our flower trial. I had half high and half low centerpieces which looked great. She was definitely very expensive but her work was nice.
3. Rentals- Hitched- A
4. Venue #1- Jungle Island- B
a. I had a party the night before the wedding, a Mehndi/henna party. I ended up booking them because of the location and they were so different from a typical ballroom. I used the palm terrace which was large enough for our party. Food was ok, nothing spectacular. My only complaint was that I heard they only had coffee/tea/beer/wine offered to the guests. We had about 30 guests who did not drink alcohol and couldn’t even order a soda or juice. Oh and also we weren’t able to use their dance floor outside so we danced on the concrete floor- not a huge issue except that my sister/friends performed a dance for us and were very uncomfortable.
5. DJ #1- Ubi- D
a. Ugh. I booked him last minute and I do fault myself for not being 100 % prompt/clear with him as to what music or specific songs I wanted. We asked for indian music for the first part of the night and then to open the floor up to dance music for the last half. Granted hes not indian, he had reassured us he was familiar playing it and wouldn’t have a problem. So I can understand the music he was going to play would not be perfect but the whole night he was MIA!!!! Every time I looked over, the DJ booth was empty and he left songs playing on rotation. I complained to my planner several times and even my hubby was like wow our DJ is also a magician and keeps disappearing!!! At one point I looked over and he was hanging out with a bunch of the guy guests who were smoking!!!!! You are not a guest, you should not be hanging out with them and you should be by your booth at all times. If you showed me a picture of him I wouldn’t be able to recognize him since I barely saw him.
6. Décor for #1- Jennifer J events- A
a. Jennifer made our centerpieces for the Mehndi night, cute morrocan lamps with roses all around. Guests like them and wanted to take them home! Haha.
7. Venue #2- Eden Roc- B
a. We booked in May, my husband’s choice. Biggest complaint- They never told us president’s weekend was the boat show weekend and how crazy it was going to be. Our room rates were super high & parking was expensive so I felt bad for the guests. The planning process was ok, we had our Coordinator switched several times so we hardly used them. The weekend of the wedding it was super hectic and very busy. I stayed in my bridal suite the night before the wedding with my 2 sisters and there was only 1 bed…when I called to ask for a rollaway they said they had NONE!!! I sorta yelled at the guy that Im the bride and I need a bed and 15min later one showed up at the door!!! All in all we got what we wanted from the venue- beautiful location, gorgeous ballroom, & beach. They provided the bar but no food. My bridal suite was the same as our wedding night suite which was sooo gorgeous.
8. DJ #2- Firoz Dudhu- A
a. He was awesome. My guests had a blast; we danced all night and extended the party by an hour bc we didn’t want the night to end... And even at midnight we were bummed it was over. He helped me choose my songs for all the major events, a good thing since I don’t know a lot of the indian songs. He played a bunch of Persian songs I gave him too. I recommend him, I think hes more expensive than an American DJ but he was great.
9. Photographer- Gergory Paul- A (pending pics)
a. I loved his work and was so happy he was available on my date. He did an e-pic session for us, we felt comfortable and at ease with him. I barely noticed him at the wedding. Im just waiting for our pics 3+weeks later.
10. Videographer- MXI (Kenny)- A
a. Loved him, sooo glad I found and booked him. His work is more cinematic and not cheesy wedding video stuff. We did a love story with him- which was painful since we hate being interviewed and filmed on camera. But he met with us in December to film and even on our rehearsal day to finish the interviews. We received a 4 min trailer while we were on our honeymoon and we love it.
11. Caterer- Madras Café- B
a. His food is amazing, not your typical oily Indian food. Very high end & modern. He was very nice and we loved him and his food the minute we met. He’s a little hard to get a hold of and we never signed a contract or anything but he delivered the day of. My planner said she was impressed with their organization and presentation. The guests loved the food. My only complaint is that MIL brought 20pounds of Persian nuts/cookies/dates/etc for the dessert table and he forgot to put most of it out so it went to waste…
12. Cake- We take the cake- B
a. Cake was 3 tier- 2 red velvet & 1 strawberry. Taste was good, presentation was ok. I wasn’t big on a cake but ended up spending a lot. Some guests didn’t even get to try it but the ones who did said it was moist & tasty.
13. Rehearsal Dinner- Kuluck- B
a. In ft Lauderdale, a Persian restaurant. Very entertaining had a band/DJ/belly dancer and we were there for hours. Food was good and it’s hard to find good Persian food in SoFla. I gave them a B bc it was like an hour from my house.
14. Hair/Make up for me- Lutz- A
a. My trail with him went ok, he parted my hair in the middle which I hate and my eye makeup wasn’t super sparkly like I wanted but I now knew how to direct him for the wedding. I used him for only hair for the mehndi night- it came out awesome (half up/half down) and he used extensions to make it look fuller. He showed up exactly on time. For the wedding day I thought I was supposed to start at 11am and I got a call from the Eden Roc lobby at 10 am that he was already here. I had him wait till 11 so I could shower and prepare myself for the long day. I had an updo and he took his time and kept working till I was happy. I had an outfit change from ceremony to reception so it was challenging to get one style for both but he did it. All my friends raved about my hair/make up. I also never wear foundation or lipstick/lipgloss so I was dreading it but I felt like I had nothing on!!! He used individual lashes which were awesome and I didn’t get shiny/oily at all. I danced like mad the whole night and my hair did not budge!!!
15. Hair/make up for family- Anna Wark- A+
a. I booked her last minute, she was recommended by Jennifer. We booked for 8 services and im sure we ended up doing like 14+. They were on time, worked very hard and got everyone done on time!!! My mom and sisters looked absolutely beautiful!!! I was sooo impressed with their work and I highly recommended. I think they charged 65 for hair 65 make up.
16. Officiant- Rev. Arlene Goldman- A
a. Also recommended by Jennifer & one of the hardest to choose since we are interfaith and wanted a non-denominational ceremony (me muslim him jewish). We never met her until the day of but she was very sweet over the phone. We worked with her to design the whole thing and we wrote our own vows. She was on time and everyone LOVED LOVED LOVED the ceremony. It was perfect for us: funny & sweet and not cheesy at all. All our guests raved about her and im sure some tears were flowing.
17. Honeymooon- St Lucia- 11nights total
a. Ladera resort 5 nights- A++++ Totally LOVED this place. There are only 3 walls so the views are crazy. Service was impeccable, food @ their restaurant Dasheene was better than some of the places ive eaten at in NYC. Super private (only like 26 rooms?) and relaxing. We booked a 1 bedroom and were upgraded to a 2 bedroom villa (actually had 2 bathrooms, and 4 beds!!!) We’d go back in a heartbeat.
b. Sandals Regency 6 nights- B+ It was all inclusive and we had the butler service. The resort is huge and all couples. It’s like a Disney of beach resorts so you don’t get that private luxury feel. The food was surprisingly really good. We basically relaxed by the pool and ate all day! Don’t think we’d go back anytime soon.