I guess I could call myself fortunate when it came to my wedding planning because besides the reception venue, all of the other venders that we chose we booked at our first meeting. I travel a lot for work so I spent countless hours doing my research while in my hotel room. I needed to limit the meetings on the weekends so DH and I could still enjoy ourselves so all of the research really helped. Plus I owe a lot of credit to everyone on the NJ board as well!!!
Venue: The Grand Summit Hotel
This was the second venue that DH and I visited. Once we met with Jimmy, we were sold. We loved the history of the building, the size was perfect for our guest list, the menu was extensive and they were willing to make changes to some of the items we were not crazy about. One of our requirements in looking for a venue was that we wanted it to be in a hotel. We only had a handful of OOT guests but we knew our friends would want to stay. We had 40 rooms booked that night. Jimmy was great to work with and made the process from start to finish very easy for us. DH wanted our ice sculpture to be of a Harley Davidson engine and Jimmy made that happen. We had rave reviews about the food from all of our guests (although I did hear one or two people that did not like their chicken dish). Some people even commented that the crab cakes we chose for our appetizer were the best that they’ve ever had. The only downside about the entire space is that the cocktail hour is split into the two front rooms and some of our guests were not aware that there was even a second room. I didn’t think it was confusing during the planning process but I can see how guests may have thought there was only one room since the entranceway splits the two rooms and there were a lot of people standing in the entrance most of the cocktail hour. The bar downstairs closed promptly at 1:30am and although we had over 50 people, they still kicked us out. On a positive note, they let us take over the entire hotel lobby with all of the booze we had in coolers until 4:30am and gave us no problems. I was in bed before that but I heard there was still about 20-25 people hanging out there until the wee hours of the morning.
Photography: Dean Michaels Studio
This was the first photographer that we met with. We first met with Nichola (she meets with and goes over the packages with perspective clients). She had such great energy and made us feel so comfortable from the get go. We were at our initial meeting for over an hour. We ended up meeting Rich who was our main photographer that day too. I loved the work we viewed during our meeting and the package we ended up choosing fit our needs perfectly. Rich did our engagement shoot at Jockey Hollow at the end of July. He took over 800 pictures and the proofs were up in two days. They came out amazing and I ended up having the studio make our guest book out of 20 of the pictures from our E-shoot. The day of we had Rich and a second shooter Sammy. Sammy went to our house where the guys were getting ready and Rich came to the hotel for me and my girls. They took thousands of pictures that day and we just had so much fun with them. I cannot wait to see how all of the proofs from the wedding come out.
DJ: Elite Entertainment (Eatontown)
We went to one of their showcases and got to see all of the DJs perform. I was so impressed with the presentation that they put on that night that we booked right away. DH and I only had a handful of must play songs that we brought to the table when we met with our DJ Kris A (who we chose the night we went to the showcase). I was a little nervous with how the night’s music was going to flow because we had such an eclectic mix of music and I was so concerned about people dancing all night and having a good time. The dance floor was packed the entire night and everyone was and still is commenting on how fantastic our DJ was. We had two DJs that night and we also chose the intelligence lighting package. This was the dance club type lighting. It was an extra spurge but in the end I am happy we added it onto our package.
Florist: Rose Petals and Lace
Flowers were very important to DH and me because we wanted it to set the tone of our wedding. I found a picture of a bouquet online that I fell in love with and that was the only thing we brought to our meeting with the florist. Linda took that picture and created our whole scheme. We went with somewhat more non traditional fall colors. We matched the girls burgundy dresses but used blues and greens. We did half high half low centerpieces which was a decision we made due to budget and the amount of tables we had. Despite that cost savings, I was happy we ended up doing this because it would have been complete overload to have all high centerpieces. It added to the depth of the room. The flowers held up very well the entire night and they were above and beyond my expectations.
Lighting: JB Lighting
I really didn’t know of any other lighting company to look for since JB Lighting had been mentioned on here and had excellent reviews. I knew I did not want to do the up lighting from our DJ company because they only offered about 8 lights. Jim had never worked at the Grand Summit Hotel before and all I did was send him 4 shots of the ballroom and he came up with a proposal of 20 lights. He was extremely professional and knowledgeable. We only communicated via email and phone although he offered for me to come to his place to show me different lights. I just never had the time to do it and we went with our original plan. I wanted amber lighting for the room to have a romantic feel. The day of the wedding, when our catering manager brought us into the room, Jim showed us different options to change the look of the room throughout the night. I was so impressed. We started out with the amber lighting and then did a soft white light during dinner and changed it to blue for dancing. I could not have imagined the reception without the lighting. It looked amazing and it was money definitely well spent. If this is one thing you are considering spending the money on I say go for it!
Dress: Park Avenue Bridals
I thought picking out my dress was going to be a lot more challenging than it was. I found my dress on the first day, Patty my sales consultant was excellent. She put me in dresses that I thought would look good on me but then she put me in dresses that actually did fit my body type. Dress came in with no problems but they did end up ordering the wrong veil so I did not have the correct one for my hair trail. I didn’t think this was going to be a big deal but the day of my wedding, I hated my veil. Finally, my hairdresser was able to place it so I didn’t look like I was in the “like a virgin” video. I wasn’t able to wear the blusher because it was sewn in wrong so it was a waste of $. In my opinion, I should have waiting to buy my veil because I think for the amount of time I actually wore it, it was too much money. As far as the alterations went, I lost weight from my final fitting and the wedding so it was a little big (I guess you can’t really do anything about that) and although I loved the bustle, I don’t think my MOH was able to get it to look as nice at they did in the shop.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Park Avenue Bridals
The girls’ dresses were made by Impressions and they received so many compliments on them. Two of my BMs had them altered at the shop and two of them had them altered elsewhere since they lived out of state. My only complaint is that they were very persistent about ordering the extra length (my BMs are all about 5’7”) for an additional $30. None of them got the extra length and all actually still needed them hemmed. Other than that, they were very accommodating with making appointments for the fittings even very last minute.
Tuxedos: Men’s Wearhouse (Livingston, Paramus, Jackson)
This place seems very convenient since they are everywhere but if you do not need convenience, I highly suggest not using them. Picking the tuxes out was simple and I went back with DH to make changes the next day and that was no problem. The store manager at Livingston was great and accommodating. For a company that specializes in tux rentals, you would think they would have this down to a science. They never delivered the best man’s entire tux, my father’s vest, almost all of them had the wrong pants length and DH’s stepfather had the wrong color vest (which he didn’t know because he wasn’t sure what color he was wearing). I saw when I walked down the aisle. Don’t get me wrong, they all looked very nice but this is not stress you want two days before your wedding.
Makeup: Gina Brozon
Gina has been used by many of the girls on this board so I went to her website, liked her style and booked a trial. I did not want airbrushed make up and she made me look very natural. She is extremely talented and has a great personality. She also did my mom and my MOH’s make up. Both looked great and our make up lasted all night.
Hair: Liz (from Vito Maza Salon)
I have been having my hair colored at this salon for almost 10 years. My colorist suggested I use Liz from the salon who was available the date of my wedding to travel. She brought along Luz who also works at the salon and they were quick (did 6 girls in 3.5hours). My hair came out just as it did for my trial and I was very pleased with how it held up the entire night. I mentioned above that I had problems with my veil and she was finally able to place it so I was satisfied.
Transportation: Town Limousine
Limos were something that was not really necessary since the ceremony and reception were within 3 blocks but our original intention was to go somewhere to take pictures. We had to squash that last minute because of the weather and the fact that we could not find somewhere decent to take them that was close. Regardless, Town Limo had the best prices and Tony our driver was phenomenal. He was very concerned about getting me into church so that no one would see me before I walked down the aisle and even was helping me with my dress. I am happy we ended up using a limo because we took some really cool pictures with it. We had a Chrysler that had Lamborghini doors on the driver and passenger sides and the back doors were suicide doors.
Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas
Invitations were my least favorite part of planning. The ones I had originally fallen in love with at Papyrus were over 2 grand. I could not justify spending that much. I ended up choosing a watercolor leafy patterned set from here. They were beautiful and their service was quick. The online chat option was great and they came very fast.
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