Hi Ladies,
I never posted on this board, but checked in regularly while I was planing my wedding. I found vendor reviews really helpful, so I wanted to post mine here for others
Venue:
Black Horse Inn/A+ Lynn, Jennifer, Pam and Joyce were INCREDIBLE!! They made our wedding weekend a truly amazing experience. Lynn is extremely responsive - I always got a response within 24 hours to any questions, updates or requests I had. All my bridesmaid stayed with me the night before the wedding at the Hunt Box and it was a priceless experience. After the rehearsal dinner, all of the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and our family staying at the Inn were able to continue the party in the parlor. It was so great to have all of our bridal party and our family stay with us - we all got to bond so much during the weekend and it put everyone at ease. The venue itself offers many options and was perfect for our multi-day affair. We had the rehearsal dinner/Indian Pithi ceremony on the tented terrace on Friday, the ceremony at the Gazebo, cocktail hour on the terrace, reception at the Gilded Fox, and the cigar bar on the terrace adjoining the Gilded Fox. Joyce is so friendly and made all our guests feel so comfortable. Jennifer worked flawlessly with our day-of-coordinators to make sure everything went exactly as planned. Our guests at the Inn were wowed by the look, feel, and experience of the weekend, and our friends and family were amazed by the beauty of the facilities and grounds. We would absolutely recommend this place without any reservations. It is a little pricey, but we thought it was worth every penny to have a relaxed, stress-free weekend with our family and friends.
Catere for Rehearsal/Indian Pithi Ceremony:
Aroma/A The catering manager Daya is great to work with and he is really organized, but he wasn't present at our actual event. The food from Aroma is INCREDIBLE. We got so many compliments from both sides of our families on this one - everyone really enjoyed it, even those that had never tried Indian food before. There were only a couple minor issues and no one knew about them except for me, my husband, and our parents. The first issue was that they were supposed to serve appetizers as guests were entering so that they had something to eat prior to the start of the ceremony. Instead, we had to wait until 8:00 (after the ceremony) and they served appetizers and dinner right after each other. Not a huge deal, but a minor annoyance. Second, we thought that gratuity was included and at the end of the night, the caterer came up to my dad and asked for a tip! It was a little off-putting, but again, minor and not something guests noticed or knew about.
Caterer for Wedding:
Better Events/C Let me start of by saying that the food was delicious! All the items we tasted were quite good and they did a good job with the food at the wedding as well. We tasted several other of Black Horse Inn's preferred caterers and Better Events was our favorite - they were able to combine good food with formal elegance, which was exactly what we were looking for at our wedding. Roberto and his team were definitely flexible with what we wanted and needed - they created a dual entree and let us have as many entree selection options for our guests as we wanted at no extra charge. They also provided service staff at our Rehearsal Dinner and provided the bartender for that evening (catering was provided by another vendor).
In terms of service at our actual events (rehearsal and wedding) there were a couple of issues. First, the bartenders didn't seem to be too familiar with the types of liquor. We did provide our own alcohol, but we also provided a bar menu, and the types of liquor we provided were pretty standard. When my husband went to the bar at our wedding at asked for a scotch, he had to point out exactly what we wanted. We also had some trouble with the wine service at dinner. At the rehearsal dinner, Better Events provided the bartenders, and they ended up leaving the bar about 30 minutes before the end of the event. They came back with about 10 minutes left, but that was a little frustrating. At the wedding, we had four wines at the wedding and of the four we had selected two that we wanted as options to be poured for dinner. Instead, all four were poured and the waiters didn't seem to be aware of the quantities of wine remaining in the back - when I asked for more Cabernet Sauvignon, I was told there was none left, but we ended up with half a case left over. All in all, not too huge of a deal, but this was something that I had been pretty specific about with all the directions and I was a little disappointed.
In terms of the food on the wedding day, there are three issues we had. First was with the appetizers - we had selected four hors d'oeurves to be butlered during cocktail hour and they ended up only cooking/serving 3 (they left out the beef satay).
The second thing that came up was with vendor meals. We submitted the order for vendor meals per the terms of our contract and during dinner, we were told that we hadn't done so and that we would be charged extra, etc. At the time we said fine, do whatever needs to be done to get our vendors fed and we'll deal with it later. When we got home after the wedding and checked our records/contract it showed that we had ordered and paid for those meals (Roberto did apologize for this when we spoke on the phone the next day).
The final complaint we had with the food on the wedding day was the inconsistency with the portions and the accompaniments. Some of our guests only received 1 potato wedge and some received 3, some received veggies, and some didn't receive any, and some received huge portions of filet mignon and some received tiny bits. This was the only real complaint we received from our guests, and it was a little embarrassing considering how nice and formal everything else was. This was the real issue we had - all the other things were relatively minor in comparison, and probably not noticed by anyone other than our parents and us, but the portions and accompaniments/presentation were definitely noticed by our guests.
Florist:
Growing Wild/ A+ I found out about Barbara by checking these boards and she is as amazing as everyone says she is. She did an AMAZING job. We went to a couple of florists before choosing Barbara, but none of them could do what we wanted with the budget that we had. Barbara really listened to what we wanted out of our flowers - I didn't want any greenery in the reception flowers, but I wanted them to look full and she gave us exactly what we wanted and she gave us a variety of orchids and calla lilies and she was even able to get me peonies for my bouquet (in July!). She is so easy to work with and so reliable. She made our gazebo look stunning, and the aisle looked beautiful. I am super picky about flowers, and both me and my husband loved all of her creations!
Cake:
Cakes by Design/A+ Debbie's cakes are incredible! We ordered our wedding cake and an anniversary cake for my husband's parents that was cut at the rehearsal dinner. Our wedding cake looked incredible - the henna design that she piped was spectacular and she was able to do it all in buttercream since we don't like the taste of fondant. Several other people told us that they could not do it in buttercream, but Debbie pulled it off! And the cake was delicious - I ate 2 pieces at the wedding, and we finished off the top tier the next morning at my parents' house. The anniversary cake didn't even last the whole weekend! It was a chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream frosting - we had about 3/4 left after the rehearsal dinner, but our family and wedding party devoured it on Friday and Saturday night - there was only one bite left at the morning after brunch on Sunday! Her cakes were both moist and beautiful and she is priced very reasonably.
Music for Rehearsal:
DJ Amer/A Amer was great to work with and did a great Job MC-ing the night. We needed someone to talk our non-Indian guests through the traditions and he did a great job. Everyone felt really included, and he really helped keep everyone on time (a small miracle). He arrived early and even provided lights free of charge. He had a great mix of music and we all really enjoyed ourselves.
Ceremony Music:
Perfect Harmony String Trio/A From what we heard, they did an amazing job! They were the most affordable group that we could find and they played at both the ceremony and cocktail hour. Gretchen was really easy to work with and very responsive. We'd definitely recommend them.
Reception Music:
Mutual Fun Band/ A+ AMAZING BAND!! We heard them play at one of my best friends' weddings and knew we had to have them for ours. They had the whole crowd dancing the ENTIRE night - even my dad and my husband's dad who NEVER dance.They are super reasonably priced - all the other bands we wanted were 3-4x the price of Mutual Fun, and I can't imagine that anyone could have been better. They played all of our favorites and did a great job of reading the crowd. We could not have been happier with how it all turned out.
Officiant:
Beautiful Weddings by Lance/A-Lance did a great job officiating our wedding. We met with a couple officiants before choosing him. Ultimately, we choose Lance because he was flexible and gave us the option of writing our own ceremony. He also is really personable and our friends and family really enjoyed our ceremony. We got so many compliments on how personal it was and all of our guests really felt like they were part of it. The only reason we gave him an A- was because he didn't have the right ceremony on our wedding day - we had added an engagement ring ceremony that was cut and the ring vows weren't what we had written (the real vows were correct thought!). In all fairness, he did call me the day of the wedding to tell me he couldn't find the ceremony and I think our wedding coordinators unknowingly gave him an outdated copy. However, all in all this was really minor and we had an amazing ceremony. Lance cracked jokes at all the right times and really kept everyone engaged the whole time, even on a ridiculously hot July afternoon! Definitely recommend using Lance, especially if you're looking to create a unique ceremony that incorporates traditions from multiple cultures or faiths.
Hair for Wedding:
J. Lynn Bridal Hair/A+ Julie is awesome! I am so picky about my hair and she did an incredible job. She came to my apartment twice for two trials and came to our venue for the wedding day. She did two styles at my first trial - they both looked good, but I wasn't completely happy, so she came and did a second trial - I absolutely LOVED the result and she reworked it until I was 100% happy.
Julie is completely reliable and just a great person to be around. She helped me find a backup makeup artist for my rehearsal dinner when mine hadn't confirmed just 2 days out!
At the wedding, she was on time and even accommodated an extra bridesmaid at the last minute. Everyone's hair looked amazing and lasted the entire day and through the crazy heat - we started hair at 8:30 AM for our 4:30 PM wedding and all of our hair (me + 5 BMs + my mother-in-law) lasted all the way through the after party and well into the wee hours of the morning. I got so many compliments on my hair, and my cousin, who is getting married in 6 months even said that she wanted to use my hair as an inspiration for her wedding day hair.
Hair for Rehearsal Dinner:
PR Partners in Warrenton/A - They did a great job on my hair and it managed to stay put even through the ridiculous humidity (our rehearsal dinner was outside under the tent.) I showed them an inspiration picture and my stylist was able to recereate it perfectly in one shot! I got a lot of compliments on it as well and they were really affordable.
Make up for Rehearsl Dinner/Indian Pithi Ceremony:
Crystal Jo/F This was the one vendor that I worked with was completely unprofessional and that I would absolutely NOT recommend to any bride. First, Crystal was supposed to do my makeup for my engagement photo session (it was supposed to be my trial), and she did not show - no phone call, email, nothing. I emailed her about it right away, and she apologized profusely - she had forgotten to put it in her calendar and was out of town that week. To make up for it, she offered to do a trial and my makeup for the wedding for free, which I thought was a good gesture. I had already found someone else to do my makeup for the wedding at that point, but since I was having multiple days of events, I contracted with her to do my makeup for my rehearsal dinner and Indian Pithi ceremony. When I met with her for the make-up trial, I was very happy with the results and her work - I am very picky about my make up and I can do my own very well, but I was very impressed with her work. Fast forward to the week of the wedding. My wedding coordinator and I both emailed her and called her to get a confirmation for Friday and she did not respond until Wednesday evening (she was supposed to be doing my make up on Friday!!) - I was a bit nervous waiting that long for a response given the previous history and even went so far as to secure a back-up in case I didn't hear from her on Wednesday. However, I heard from her so I canceled the backup. Friday comes around and she is supposed to be at the venue at 4:00 PM to do my make up. I get a call right at 4 saying that she is stuck in traffic and will be about 30 minutes late. 4:30 comes and she still isn't there - I thought it might still be traffic and didn't think anything of it. By 5:00 PM she still hadn't showed up. I start getting dressed for my rehearsal and Pithi ceremony thinking that I should be dressed so that when she comes, we can just do my make up and I'll still be on time for the rest of the evening. A little before 6:00 PM (right before the start of the rehearsal) I call to find out where she is - she says she is about 30-40 minutes away! We go on with the rehearsal and since we allowed for 30 minutes between the end of the rehearsal and the start of the Pithi ceremony, I thought there would still be time to do the makeup if she showed up by 6:30. No such luck. Crystal did not show up and didn't even call to let me know she wasn't coming. I ended up doing my own makeup 30 minutes before the start of my Pithi ceremony - it was really lucky that I brought my makeup (I considered leaving it at my parents' house since I had hired people to do my makeup for both the rehearsal/Pithi and the wedding), and even luckier that I actually know how to do my make up well. I am just thankful that I didn't have her do the wedding makeup. Do yourself a favor and hire someone else. While Crystal is very affordable, I would have gladly paid a bit more to ensure that I didn't have to deal with this the day before my wedding!
Make up for Wedding:
Faces by SAM/A - Suzanne did an incredible job on my make up! She did airbrush for me and she and her assistant did make up for all my bridesmaids plus my mother and mother-in-law. My mom always complains about everything whenever someone else does her hair or makeup and even she really liked it! My bridesmaids all looked stunning, and Suzanne is definitely one of the more affordable options for airbrush. My makeup stayed pretty well all day - I wanted a dramatic look and I definitely got it - I felt like I just walked out of a magazine cover, it was amazing. I'm really good at doing my own make up so this was a vendor I was very picky about. However, Suzanne definitely impressed me and my friends and I'm really glad I hired her!
Day of Coordinator:
Embellished Affairs/A++++f I could give them 100 stars, I would! Sheena and Tabitha were absolutely incredible and made the wedding completely stress-free for both of us. They thought of everything, took care of every detail, and made sure that our vision was executed exactly how we wanted. As I was getting ready to walk down the aisle, I realized we hadn't given our mothers a print out of the readings for the ceremony that they were doing - Tabitha and Sheena got them and had them to our moms by the time I was at the alter. They brought us food and drinks during cocktail hour, made sure our bridal party was comfortable and generally made sure that everything went according to plan. My aunt lost her place card for the reception and Tabitha made sure that it was found. The best thing was that Sheena and Tabitha made sure everything started on time!! I could not believe it - everything started exactly on time both at the rehearsal/Pithi ceremony, and the wedding and reception. Not only are these two incredible coordinators, they are incredible people - they are so much fun to work with and were sweet enough to talk to my grandmother, and sassy enough to handle our bridal party and crazy families. Everything they did for us this weekend was priceless - we were able to enjoy every minute of our wedding weekend because of them and would highly recommend them to every couple out there. After spending so much money all the other aspects of the wedding, this was really a minor cost and worth every single cent and then some. Plus, Sheena and Tabitha are just so much fun and put you at ease - it's like having friends around:)
Photographers:
Documentary Associates/A (pending photos) Ashlee and Tom are great to work with! We had so much fun with them and really felt like they captured all the moments - they seemed to be everywhere at once and we cannot wait to see the photos. That of course will be the true test, but we are confident that those will be beautiful.
Videographers:
5iveStar Media Productions/A (pending video): Jim is great to work with and easy to coordinate with. He helped us build a custom package that gave us exactly what we needed at the price we wanted. We had a limited budget for this and 5iveStar was the only place that would give us edited video within our budget. Our day of videographer, Steve was fabulous - all of our guests kept telling us what a good job he was doing and how we were going to enjoying watching the video. We are really excited to see it!
Henna Artist:
Amber Ghauri (Amberesque)/B- I would like to start by saying that I talked to many people who had henna done for their weddings in the DC area and not one person has been fully satisfied. I thought Amber did a decent job - the design was nice, but I didn't get as dark of a color as I would have liked. The henna looked good for the weddig, but it faded almost completely with 5 days. Amber did provide a very unique service that I loved - she came to the venue on the day of the wedding and applied crystals and glitter to the henna - it was really unique and I got a lot of compliments on it.All in all I wasn't 100% satisfied, but the color and look was good for the wedding and that's what really matters. Plus she was affordable compared to others we looked at and she traveled to our home and the venue.
I know this is a long post, but hopefully it will be helpful to some brides out there! I also have some items for sale from our wedding. For info about items for sale check out
picasaweb.google.com/farahanderic/weddingitemsforsale#. If you're interested please email us at farahanderic@gmail.com. Thanks!