Venue – Liberty House
A++++++ --- I could not have asked for a better venue in a million years. Danielle Villa, our point person at the Liberty House, was fast to respond to each of my emails and phone calls. The venue looked stunning on the day of. Her attention to detail was immaculate throughout the entire process. The food was superb. Our guests are still raving about the food (and the wedding as a whole) and telling us how everything was so delicious – from the cocktail hour to the cake. The filet mignon was cooked perfectly, and each piece of meat was a really good portion size… not a little petite filet that you will see at many weddings. The herb crusted salmon was awesome… each one of our options for the cocktail was great. There was SO MUCH FOOD. If I could go back and do it over, the only thing I would do differently is eat more food. The night of the wedding, my husband and I had a personal waitress who followed us around and refilled our drinks. Danielle Villa visited my parent’s table to make sure everything was alright and to see if they needed anything quite a few times. I rate them an A+++++, 100 out of 10… 50 gold stars. Amazing.
Cake – Carlo’s Bakery
A – Carlo’s is the contracted bakery for Liberty House, so our cake was included in the price of the venue. There are only certain cakes you can choose from without having to pay extra… which was a little annoying. However, when we met with the wedding cake designer he was able to make some slight changes to the cakes available and didn’t charge us so that was really nice. The cake was delicious and looked beautiful on the day of… other than the flowers given by Crest – but I’ll get to that later…
Dress- Priscilla of Boston
A – We all know that the store is currently closed, but I had a pretty good experience here.
Bridesmaid Dresses – J Crew
A+ - My bridesmaids and I went to one of the locations in the city and had an awesome experience. The gals in the store are knowledgeable about the dresses and my bridesmaids had a very easy time getting measured and placing their orders. I think their dresses were delivered to their homes within a week. Only 2 of my 7 bridesmaids had to have alterations done to the dress…. Most of them were ready to wear.
Tuxes – Mens Wearhouse – Livingston, NJ
A – My husband reported having a fine time with the Livingston location. There was some small mix up with the ties, but when he talked with the store they gave him about 3 different ties to have on the day of for him and his groomsmen to choose from. The tuxes fit everyone great. No complaints here.
Alterations – Rina Falcone
A+ - I met Rina when I went to pick up my dress at Priscilla of Boston. She used to work in the store and knew my gown well. We kept in contact and she did all of the alterations for my two piece gown and even added a blue embroidery of me and my husband’s names and our wedding date. She did a beautiful job. Please PM me if you would like her contact information.
Scratch Weddings – DJ Alias
A+ - I LOVED working with Scratch Weddings. When we started looking for a DJ we knew we did not want a Jersey Shore, muscle tee type. We ended up hiring DJ Alias who was a resident DJ at one of my favorite bars on the Lower East Side in NYC – Piano’s. We sent over some song ideas and he created this musical web that really fit our style – retro music with a touch of indie bands. DJ Alias has a great personality and had people on the dance floor starting at the salad course! Dana Wise, our office contact, was very attentive and answered all questions almost immediately.
Florist – Crest Florist
B – Crest was one of my biggest let downs. I want to give them a C, but I think they tried to accommodate us the best they could so I bumped them up to a B. We worked with Roberto, who had a vision the same as mine for our wedding. I did not want Cala lilies or roses anywhere at my wedding. We found natural looking alternatives to create a fall look including berries, greenery and burgundy dahlias. It was beautiful…. He even talked me into these “Quicksand roses” that actually were stunning in the center pieces. On the day of the wedding – my bouquet was not as free form as I had requested. The bridesmaids bouquets were not color blocked with the flowers as discussed on multiple occasions and included in the contract. They looked like traditional bouquets, which I was not very happy with. The guys’ boutonnieres were sent to my hotel room thank goodness – bc when I got them I found that my husband’s white winter better wreath was actually made of GREEN berries. I called Crest immediately and they told me that they didn’t have the white berries so they just used green. When I expressed how unhappy I was they sent over pics of 3 different options--- I chose the one I wanted and they sent it over to my husband at the church. The flowers at the church were beautiful. For the cake, I requested burgundy carnations – which were also in the centerpieces – and when we got to the venue there were orchids on it. Basically Crest took it upon themselves to add this different flower to the cake when I specifically asked, and contracted for the carnations, because they thought the orchid was nicer and was more “expensive.” They took it upon themselves to make many changes on the day of the wedding without contacting me, which I was not happy with at all. Roberto was very nice, creative and helpful throughout the process.
Hair/Makeup – Amazing Face & Luscious Locks
A+ -- Donna was awesome on the day of and the months leading up to the wedding. We met on multiple occasions, until we got the look I wanted. She and her assistants were great on the day of – friendly and open to all the ideas my bridesmaids wanted for their hair.
Hotel – Hyatt Jersey City
B – The stay at the hotel was perfect… There’s a bar called Vu that was able to accommodate my guests for an after party after the wedding. The welcome bags were delivered to our guests quickly (they charge 4 dollars each guest bag and can not keep them behind the counter)… I do wish they were able to offer shuttle service from their hotel.
Invitations – Thinking Paper
F – Awful customer service - This was the first person we started working with for invites. At first everything was fine and after our first meeting we gave her a down payment. After that, she was often hard to get in touch with and did not respond to emails quickly… days would go by before we heard back from her. We had designed an invite and when I inquired about making changes to it, but wanted to stay at the same price point, the owner of Thinking Paper lectured me over the phone about how people always want to pay nothing for a service and that if I want something for a certain price I should just buy them online. A little upset, I agreed to wait for her updated quote that at first she said she would get to me the next day, which was Friday… then turned into Monday… and if I didn’t hear from her I should call her that Tues. So we didn’t hear from her by Tues and I didn’t call her. Two weeks later I started looking for a new invite person. About a month after we were supposed to hear back from her, we received an email acting as if no time had gone by at all. We told her we went with someone knew and she didn’t seem at all surprised. She kept our down payment.
Cherish the Moment
A+++ - LOVED working with Cherish the Moment… a cute little stationary story in Morristown. They were able to offer some great feedback on the invite that we created from scratch. We heard from so many guests that they thought our invites were so original and beautiful. They printed up our envelopes and even did a few for free when I sent over a few more addresses that we needed printed up. Their timeline was quick and service was soooo friendly.
Limos – Santos VIP
A – Just like every other review for Santos – they were awesome. I highly recommend them.
Guest Shuttles – Bayonne Yellow Cab
A – Great prices. Friendly service… a little hard to get in touch with sometimes, but they were a bargain. Day of service was great and the 22 person shuttle was very clean.
Photographer – James & Christine Photographer
A – Christine and James were great. They were a pleasure to spend the day with and from what I had seen of the photos so far, they are beautiful.
Travel Agent – All About Honeymoons
A+ - Carmen was a pleasure to work with. We weren’t sure exactly where we wanted to go, but knew we had a certain budget to stick to. She was really able to give us what we wanted and had a fabulous time at Villa Rolandi in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Her attention to detail for our trip was fantastic, and she always responded to any inquiries in a timely matter. Payment for the trip was a breeze as well! Carmen really made everything so easy and enjoyable! She helped my fiancé set up a dinner on the beach at our hotel, which was one of the most memorable experiences of our trip. Thank you, Carmen!!!
Etsy Vendors –
SAM Designs – Personalized Glasses for Bridesmaids and Mother of Bride & Mother of the Groom
A – THESE WERE BEAUTIFUL! She was a joy to work with and her glasses are beautiful.
Tange Desgin – Cake Topper
A – I ordered this cake topper about 4 days before our wedding and the vendor was able to get it to us in time. It was a beautiful crystal initial of our last name.
iCustomWater – Water bottle labels
A – Another vendor I ordered from very last minute! I contacted him at about 11 pm one night and we had our labels ready to print at 11:45 that night. He sent them to us and I got them in the mail about 48 hours later.
SaraEDesigns – Seating Chart
A – This seating chart was absolutely beautiful. She sent us a PDF of the finished product and we had it printed at Staples. Stunning.
Chrissy’s Creations – Custom Wedding Boutique
F! – I had ordered embroidered handkerchiefs for my mom and mother of the groom the last week of June for our October 6th wedding. The turn around time for the handkerchiefs was a full 3 months and I sent a word document with the wording for the handkerchiefs.. I got them a week late, 2 days before our wedding, and the embroidery was wrong… My mother in law’s did not even say her name on it and my mom’s said “thank you for being my best friend.” I WOULD NEVER thank my mom for being my best friend. She completely changed what I had sent her for the embroidery. I was so so upset. I contacted the shop and asked that she send me the corrected handkerchiefs before the wedding… The shop owner’s sister in law responded saying that the shop owner was out of town and that my order could not be fixed. I explained how sad and upset I was that this once in a lifetime gift was ruined. I told her that I had to give what I had to my mom and mother in law, and either wanted a refund for what I was giving or I wanted new handkerchiefs. When the shop owner came back, after my wedding, she said she would not give me either unless I sent back the other handkerchiefs – which was a little ridiculous seeing as they had my name and wedding date on them, so I’m not sure what she was going to do with them. She then told me that she would not fix the handkerchiefs and that I should not contact her again. I contacted Etsy about the issue and next heard back.