The Garrison/Todd Smith - A I can’t say enough good things about both The Garrison and our wedding coordinator, Todd Smith. We were engaged for almost 2 years, so I had plenty of email exchanges leading up to our wedding weekend. In each exchange Todd was patient and answered my questions. His responses were timely. We hosted a ceremony rehearsal at the Garrison the day before our wedding. Todd walked our bridal party though what was expected of them in a quick, no-nonsense matter that I appreciated. On the wedding day I got ready in the garrison bridal suite. It was rainy on the morning of our wedding and therefore I was a bundle of nerves. Todd, my florist Steven Bruce and I were to make a decision by 2pm on an inside or outside ceremony. The rain had mostly subsided but Todd said it was too wet outside. Although that was frustrating I appreciated someone making the call and generally agreed though I’m not sure I wanted to admit it. We had an indoor, standing ceremony (we had planned on it being short so that worked fine) and people raved about it. The reception was fantastic. Todd and his staff did a great job of keeping everything organized and on time. They let me enjoy the day and didn’t ask too much of us regarding scheduling, etc. As anyone who has visited the Garrison knows, the space is fantastic and beautiful.
BJ Enright Photography - A
We loved working BJ and his assistant Courtney for our wedding. From our first day meeting BJ for our engagement photos, we were confident we’d made the right choice, when we saw the results we were ecstatic. On our wedding day, BJ and Courtney made us feel at ease and brought a lightness and fun to the whole experience. BJ handled all the confusing flurry of family photographs with cheerful professionalism and confident hand, even getting our little flower girls to enjoy the photos. We would recommend BJ and Courtney both very highly. Their work is outstanding, their personalities bring fun and joy to the whole process.
Jason D’Amore -videography - B+
We has a great time working with Jason. He was very prompt professional and courteous. His subtle use of lighting and lapel mics was unobtrusive and effective. We plan to edit the product ourselves so we can’t comment on that part. But he easy to work with. We’d recommend Jason and work with him again.
Melissa Scorfani – hair A+ I loved Melissa. I found her pretty late in my planning because my first trial (at the Garrison spa) was a bust. (Just really didn’t like the hair, poor communication by staff). I went in for a trial with Melissa and she immediately made me feel at ease. She assured me we would try multiple styles until we found something I liked. She is a superb hairstylist and as soon as we started I could tell it was going to be much better. On our wedding day she showed up early and immediately got to work. My girls and I loved our hair. In addition, and what I appreciated the most was how calm and great she was. The weather was rainy that morning so nerves were high – not to mention the amount of family and people around made things a bit crazy. She reminded me to breathe, drink water, etc. She was by far the easiest person of the day to work with. Absolutely loved her.
Kara Watson – makeup – C+ I found Kara after the original makeup artist I contacted wasn’t available on my wedding day. The trial went fine – I liked the makeup and figured it would be good. She made my eyes stand out like I asked and listened to what I wanted. The reason Kara gets a lower score is because she was late on my wedding day. Now, as I’ve said, it was raining and I understand there can be traffic that is not her fault. But, at almost an hour late it really messed up the schedule. Luckily, I had some extra time built in and it all worked out. Once she was there the makeup was great. I felt beautiful and she did exactly what I wanted.
West Point Tours – bus charter - A This is the company we used to charter buses for our guests. My contact at the company, Margaret was easy to work with and great with responding. We used 2 separate buses and changed the schedule for both buses a couple times with no problems. On the day of our wedding (from what guests tell me) the buses were on time and clean. Drivers were good. One of our buses was going back to the Garrison train station to get the guests to a Metro North train back to the city. It was a bit of a fast turn around and they did a great job. We also got our deposit back the day after the wedding, which was much appreciated.
Hudson House Inn - A We used the Hudson House for our rehearsal dinner, day after brunch, and as a hotel for our guests. In each capacity they were fantastic.
The private room was the perfect spot to host a rehearsal dinner and our guests raved about the food. Was hoping for the day after brunch to be a low-key, stop in whenever you want kind of morning. They made it sure it was exactly that. 2 different kind of events but both worked really well there.
As an inn it is obviously a small space (13 rooms I believe). However, everything was clean and well appointed. It is such a cute town with so much charm it was great for out of state guests. The suites were great for people who wanted more room.
Mina Park handled our inn reservations and meals and did a great job in doing so. She was out of work for a few weeks and even during that time we made a seamless transition to and from another manager without any issues.
Steven Bruce Design - florist - B
Beautiful work! SBD did an amazing job with the flowers and decoration for our wedding. I loved my bouquet so much. The end product was really an amazing show of exceptional talent. The communication was a bit frustrating from time to time. We would have to drive up there to meet with them and then sometimes I would leave feeling like we didn’t get much done. It wasn’t too much that you can’t deal with it, and I think it’s definitely worth it for the end product. My communications were always with Melissa, Steve’s wife, and sometimes I was worried about things getting lost along the way. However, everything turned out okay for us.
Turntable Events - DJ, Spencer - B+
We booked Spencer pretty early in our wedding planning after a good meeting with him. We hadn’t talked to him in awhile so I was kinda nervous to see if he was as I remembered him. He was. Our wedding was on a Sunday (we wanted to save money) and I was worried that because of that people wouldn’t drink and therefore wouldn’t dance. But they did! The dancing was on point - all because of Spencer. He kept the crowd moving and excited. Todd, the coordinator at The Garrsion, even said it felt like a Saturday wedding because people were so excited.
My only reason not to give Spencer an A was that our planning meeting didn’t happen until the Wednesday night before. He had sent me some papers and I returned them as instructed. He said he’d contact me but 3 days before I still haven’t heard from him. I realize it’s easy and routine for him but I wanted to know we were prepared and on the same page. I would have preferred to do that earlier. But, still a great experience.
Fishkill Marriott - A
This was the other hotel we booked for our guests. Standard Marriott, clean and nice. What I really appreciated was the monthly updates on who had booked from our coordinator there. She was on point with all the details, really helpful and always available. She was even able to extend our group rate for a couple days before for people who arrived early.
Hudson Valley Ceremonies - Barbara Wyso - A
Booking through Hudson valley ceremonies was easy. Good price and no problems. What I most appreciated was Barbara. She took a special interest in our ceremony and I feel like she really cared about making us happy. We had a couple meetings in person and over the phone. She always had interesting ideas to incorporate and ended up giving us exactly what we wanted. She says she just really likes weddings, and it shows.
Overwhelmingly, a really positive experience. I feel blessed to have had it so "easy".