Reviews (I’m only doing one plus or minus) Venue: The View on the Hudson A+ I cannot say enough great things about the View. The venue was beautiful as always, but even more so since the weather was amazing. Our ceremony was inside and was set up beautifully. I’m glad I went with the pink linens in the end because they made the room look lovely. The food was awesome and portions were large as I remembered. Howard was always around keeping everyone calm and solving any and all problems. When I started sweating he brought me a cold towel, when it was time to eat, he pulled me to my seat so I wouldn’t miss my meal, when a vendor had a question he dealt with it himself so I could just enjoy. Howard also set up ALL of my DIY projects (and trust me there were many) and the candy buffet. He even made baskets himself to hold the plastic bags with white and green tissue paper. He was a godsend, and I recommend that anyone using the View ask for him! Everyone who came said they’ve never been to a better wedding! DJ: Jimmy Dee Music Productions, Richie MC A+ Wow! Richie ALWAYS smiles! It was infectious which made everyone just want to have a good time. He also did every dance with us, instructing everyone if necessary, took any and all of my requests on the day, played all the music from my list that I gave him prior to the day, and was just a complete sweetheart. He was the perfect balance of laid back and energetic while revving up the crowd. The dance floor was very crowded all night, and I was pleasantly surprised since my husband and I’s relatives are not big dancers. Photographer: Catherine Leonard- Reserving judgment until I see the pictures Videographer: Halo Video- Reserving judgment until I see the video Officiant: Rabbi Burt Siegel A+ Rabbi Burt was very timely, had an awesome speech prepared about my husband and I and even went onto our wedding website to get sweet tidbits about us that he didn’t tell us about. I really thought the whole ceremony was lovely and I was thoroughly complemented on his performance. I have to say that after seeing him on my wedding day it’s no wonder he was named one of the best rabbis in NY for weddings. Florist: Lee Vazquez A+ Lee did such a good job on the flowers. She took all my thoughts and put them into the most beautiful arrangements with such a great variety of flowers. I was truly blown away by the beautiful atmosphere. My chuppah was luscious and lovely and she put TONS of branches on top to cover it, the bouquets looked awesome (she even found peonies for me in September!!!), the boutonnieres were so cool (she wove metal into them which I thought looked really different and interesting, and I LOOOOOVED my centerpieces. Also, I am looking at one of the centerpieces now and it’s STILL fresh. Cake and Groom’s cake: Home style Desserts B No one can say that home style’s cakes don’t taste good, but we did have a few snafus with the cake. First, the owner wasn’t overtly friendly when I came in. She almost told me she couldn’t do my groom’s cake because it had to stand up. Second, the owner called me less than a week before the wedding to tell me they don’t use fondant even though the use of fondant was written in the contract. In the end, the cakes did look smooth, but it still really stressed me out since I had no idea what they would end up looking like. I gave them a B because the groom’s cake came out looking fabulous. My husband loves penguins so I got him a penguin cake which looked great and tasted delicious. However, my wedding cake was not in the right colors and didn’t look exactly as I thought it would. However, on my wedding day, I just let every snafu slide right off my back so I didn’t get upset about it, but I did notice that it wasn’t right. Wedding Dress and bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Angelo, Altamonte Springs Florida B- I loved my dress and it was easy ordering it and getting it in. However, they never called me when it came in and when I called them they told me it had been in for some time. Also I loved how the bridesmaids looked in their dresses, but they ordered the wrong sizes for almost all of the girls and most of them had to get TONS of alterations. One was so big on my bridesmaid that she had to send it back and get a dress 4 sizes smaller. Also my maid of honor’s dress, which was long unlike the others, was cut incorrectly so that it was longer in the front than the back. But again, the dresses looked great in the end and I LOVED my dress which fit me without ANY alterations except a bustle. Makeup: Christine from Color Makeup Studios A+ Christine was superb. The makeup on all the girls looked great and I’ve NEVER seen my mother look so nice in my life. My airbrush makeup did come off during the day, but I was sweating profusely from all the dancing wearing my heavy dress so it was definitely not Christine’s fault. She also had a flat tire on the way over, took her boyfriend’s cop car, and still made it here only 15 minutes late. I was very impressed with her skill and sweet personality, and I know anyone using her will always look beautiful. Hair Stylist: Just Imagine U Salon A- I loved my hair and my bridesmaids’ hairs. However, we did get off to a rough start when they wanted to charge my mom 100 bucks for a trial when my mom has extremely short hair. Luckily they changed their attitude and were nothing but sweet on the day of my wedding. They even made me tea when my stomach acted up. The only other negative thing is that they are kind of pricey. Invitations: Custompaperworks A+ I LOVED my invitations. Kate was great to work with, made countless corrections for me, and provided me with an awesome quality product. I got a lot of kudos on the invitations because they were so unique and pretty. Photobooth: Party Booths A+ This was the best money we spent on our wedding by a landslide. EVERYONE including my great aunt in a wheelchair took pictures in the photo booth, most people multiple times. The attendant fixed anything that went wrong and even kept the booth open longer than the contract required. I SERIOUSLY urge anyone considering a photo booth to spend the money. I saw lots of people’s pictures and they all looked funny or silly or sweet or sassy. It was SO worth it, and I cannot wait for the cd with all the pictures. Now that I’ve had this at my wedding, I consider it a “must have” instead of a “would like to have.” Hotel: Westchester Marriott Tarrytown C The rooms themselves were nice, although everyone was ALL over the hotel even in two different towers, but they screwed up a lot. First, my uncle’s partner got his wallet stolen from his hotel room. This included his ID and he lives in Florida and was supposed to fly home. This was obviously a HUGE problem. Then, they screwed up the rooms in the block: my brother, my uncle, and even my husband and I’s reservations were somehow not included. Third, they used down comforters on the bed and my brother is allergic. It took 5 phone calls with 2 from me saying I was a bride for them to come and change his linens to hypoallergenic ones. They did do two very nice things though. Apparently, they don’t have any handicapped rooms with two double beds. They only have ones with one king bed which didn’t work for my grandma and my aunt. They were very accommodating in giving them two rooms for the price of one so that they could use the bathroom in the handicapped room and sleep in double beds. They also ended up giving us two suites for the block price instead of the one which was in the contract. All in all, most of the problems were solved before anyone became stressed out (except my uncle’s partners) Breakfast: Hotel A+ The breakfast at the hotel was very nice. The food was yummy, the staff told my husband and I that if we didn’t get a chance to eat they’d keep the buffet open later for us, and it was well set up and organized. Rehearsal Dinner: Striped Bass, Tarrytown A+ I can’t say enough good things about my rehearsal dinner. It was such a great way to start the wedding weekend. We had it outside on their patio which ended up being perfect on such a beautiful day weather-wise. The food was SOOOO good including lobster, spicy popcorn shrimp, and this yummy beef tenderloin on a garlic butter bread. The staff was very attentive and even set up more seats when we ended up having more people than were expected. I know everyone had a great time.Also if anyone wants pictures email me at Lac707 at gmail dot com and I will give you the username and password for the flickr account I set up for the guests! I have over 450 pictures so far!
