Whew! Back home after 10 days in Miami. What a great time. The wedding was fabulous and even better than we had hoped! Here are my vendor reviews:
1. Patricia South's- A- we bought my daughter's dress here. It was a Maggie Sottero- Ambrosia. Stacey was her bridal consultant and she was awesome. She let us take pictures of every dress she tried on. Satcey chose a dress for Ashley to try on and my daughter hated it on the hanger. She tried it on and fell in love with it! It was the exact opposite of what Ashley thought she wanted. We got 15% off the dress by getting the tuxes from them too. The dress came in 1 month early. Alterations started in Jan and went perfectly. We picked up her dress the week before the wedding and it was nicely bagged up and when we removed it from the bag- there was not one wrinkle! The seamstresses also wrote a note on the inside of the cardboard form wishing Ashley a happy wedding day! That was such a cute surprise.
2. Tuxes- A- Jim's Formal Wear at Patricia South's- Black, classic Calvin Klein tuxes. Beautiful! My dad's jacket was a size too small. They ordered the correct size and it was delivered the next day. The groom, Alex- the sleeves on his tux were too short. The seamstress did a quick alteration while he waited and all was well. The ring bearer's tux was the smallest thing I had even seen- he is only 2 years old!
3. Wedding Planner- Melissa from Events on a Budget- A+++- she was incredible! She took our smaller budget and made a very elegant wedding! Everything was gorgeous! We had so many compliments on everything. Melissa answers emails quickly and didn't even flinch when my husband and I wanted to extend the reception 1 hour 1 week before the wedding. She confirmed all the vendors the week before the wedding even the ones we booked independently- like limo, shuttle bus, and videographer. She took care of everything the day of- even when Ashley had an almost passing out episode from not eating or drinking enough- she stepped in and took over. She wears a little pouch under her jacket with supplies. I dropped a piece of food on my gown and out popped a stain stick! Someone handed me a card and she took it from me and put it in the card box. I didn't do anything but enjoy my daughter's wedding.
4. Ceremony- C- Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church- the church was beautiful and Fr. Sanchez was great but the church was slow to respond with requests and questions. My daughter had no choice for other musicians other than the church organist and then was told she had to pay her $150. It was 5 days before the wedding and we still did not know what songs were going to be played. The organist only spoke Spanish and my daughter does not. It caused a little bridal meltdown but Alex took over and fixed everything. The ceremony was beautiful and the Mass was perfect, but they were just hard to deal with in the months leading up to the wedding.
5. Reception Venue- A+- Miami Beach Botanical Garden- The great price and outdoor space is what sold Ashley and Alex on this venue. Even though the Garden was open to the public the day of her wedding, it still felt like a private affair. We heard so many people comment on how naturally beautiful everything was.
6. Hair/Makeup- Miriam Behar- A+- Miriam was awesome! Everyone looked gorgeous! She and her assistant were on time (5:30 am because the ceremony started at noon and they had 7 people to get ready) and were very professional. Miriam is starting to do alot of magazine and TV work, so if anyone wants a true professional makeup artist- check her out!
7. Holland Limo- A- one of the places with the best prices. Despite an accident 2 days before the wedding and no other available limo- they called around to other companies to find us a replacement. It wasn't the same kind as we originally booked, but I didn't care. I just needed a limo to show up. It was beautiful! A very professional company.
8. 7 Star transportation- Shuttle Bus- A+- Recommended by Melissa. The cheapest price I found for a shuttle bus. The day of the wedding, I called Melissa to tell her the shuttle bus was late. It wasn't late- instead of a shuttle bus, they sent me a BUS! Like in Greyhound bus! I asked them what was going on and they told me they upgraded me to a bus! How hysterical! It was clean and well maintained. And Large! At the end of the reception- he returned exactly on time to return guests back to the hotel.
9. Catering Concepts- A- delicious food. The appetizers during cocktail hour was delicious, the salad course very fresh and the veggies crisp. Dinner was hot and cooked to perfection.
10. Eudely- the in house florist for Events on a Budget- A+++++- my absolute favorite part of the whole day. My daughter chose calla liles for her flowers among others. Everything was gorgoeus. The altar arrangements, the centerpieces, the BMs bouquets and my daughter's was stunning!!!
11. Sugar Shack- Cake- A- Beautiful and delicious! 3 tiers- chocolate cake with raspberry filling, vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling and marble cake with chocolate buttercream filling. The icing was buttercream with some fondant ribbon details.
12. Vision DJs- A++++- Micheal kept everyone on the dance floor! A few times during the reception and I looked out at the tables and not one person was seated. They were totally empty. We arranged for quite a mix- jazz (frank sinatra etc for dinner and cocktail hour) and top 40 and Colombian music for the reception. Apparently the Colombian music won out! When Micheal tried to switch it to something else, the dance floor emptied a little. the minute the Colombian music came back on- and la hora loca started- it never stopped for over 2 hours! My conservative family from Central PA danced like they never danced before!!
13. Ivan Apfel- Photography- A++++- I have only seen about 4 pictures so far, but all I can say is AMAZING! I can not wait to see what he has in store for us. He was so unobtrusive, many times I almost forgot he was there.
14. Chris Kennedy- videography- A+- a friend of my son. He graduated from Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and is just starting his own business. He shot the raw footage and my son (a film student) will do all the editing as a wedding gift for his sister and brother-in-law. Chris was very professsional and also very unobtrusive.
I am not reviewing invitations or BM dresses since they were purchased in Pennsylvania. (I would give them an A anyway!!)
I think that is all our vendors that I should review. I'll post some pictures soon and other reviews if I missed anyone.