Reviews of the big day!!!!! Overall it was PERFECT! The happiest day of my life! Even the few things that "went wrong" were not a big deal and in the end, nothing could have ruined it! 
DJ: DANNY C ENTERTAINMENT: A+
(Contact Email = gotdannyc@aol.com, 973-839-5820)
Danny is amazing! My favorite vendor to work with! Some of you may know, this was actually my 2nd wedding. Danny was the DJ at my 1st as well, and the only thing associated with that part of my life I would have wanted repeated! Having been to as many weddings in my life as I have, no one has ever come close to his expertise, dedication to his clients, & level of professionalism. I just knew I had to use him again. He goes above and beyond to make sure your day is perfect! He had so many ideas to really make our ceremony perfect… even referrals to vendors we would never have known of otherwise, like the wholesale flip flop distributer where we got amazing flip flips for around .70 cents a pair ~ such a big hit! The dance floor was packed all night, and everyone had so much fun! Danny is incredible, and will not disappoint!
Photography: SEAN PATRICK PHOTOGRAPHY: A+
(www.seanpatrickphotography.com)
If Danny was my favorite, Sean is a very close second! Not only is his work amazing, but he is a blast to work with! We loved his journalistic approach… we really did not want a bunch of boring, staged, portraits… we wanted candids and REAL emotion captured. That’s just what he did! He also was extremely expedient! Our online pics were up by the next morning, and our disc / proofs mailed to us within a week! He is extremely creative, and really works within your budget to give you the most for your money! Anyone interested in seeing our proofs can go to the website above, and under IMAGES / EVENT PROOFS, select ‘Heather & Ed’ from the column on the left, and the password is: wyman
Officiant: Rev. Richard Cash: A+
(www.ministerrfcash.com/)
What a nice man! We adored him! We met with a couple ministers before him, and they were all either overly showy or cold and distant like. We really wanted a spiritual, though not religious, ceremony that really captured our relationship & love…. Oh and only about 15 minutes long too! LOL Rev. Cash was perfect! He not only met with us to help us customize our ceremony, but he completely guided us through the licensure & certification process! He was a godsend. The only thing we got more compliments on than the venue itself was our ceremony! So many people said it was the most moving they have ever seen. And his fee was definitely lower than others we had spoken with!
Dress Alterations: HOLLYWODD BRIDAL: A+
(604 Boulevard, Kenilworth, NJ 07033, 908-272-1104, http://www.hollywoodbridal.net/index.htm)
I actually wore my cousin's dress... who was 30 pound lighter than me when she got married! And is 6 inches shorter! Her dress was originally cusoim made ~ top from one designer and bottom from another, and honestly I have no idea which either were! But Hollywood Bridal was fantastic. They charged a flat fee for the many alterations I needed, and the ladies are so sweet! They are old Italian seamstresses and reminded me of my great grandma! My dress looked brand new and fit like a glove!
Reception & Ceremony Venue: THE CHANNEL CLUB: A
(http://www.channelclubnj.com/)
We really loved everything about the look & feel of CC, as well as the execution of everything the day of. The only reason I held back the ‘+’ is because: the day of we had 5 people (yes 5, ugh… in addition to the 2 earlier in the week) cancel on us last minute. I was under the impression we would get all, or at least some of that money back… or be compensated some other way. CC took off the cost earlier in the week of the first 2 cancelations, but the morning of when I told Liz, she just basically said “of that’s too bad…” and that was that. I was bummed. But like I said, everything else: food, drinks, service, communication, etc was impeccable! We got so many compliments about the venue!
MakeUp: DAWN ROSE MAKEUP ARTISTRY: A+
(www.dawnrosemakeupartistry.com)
A co~worker recommended Dawn to me, and I am so glad she did! Dawn and her assistant Nikki were so great! They got me, my mom, MIL, and MOH ready with time to spare, but never rushed us. They coordinated beautiful with the hair stylist, who was not affiliated with them. They were all great girls, we had such a blast getting ready! And all of our make up was gorgeous, and stayed put all night! Her rates are very fair, and she comes to you day of. You really can’t go wrong with her!
Hair: DAWN GOMEZ (MENLO PARK MALL STYLIST & FREELANCER): A+
(732-494-5777)
Yes, both my hair & make up girl were named Dawn! LOL This Dawn was recommended to me by my photographer and I just loved her! I am actually going to start going to go to her regularly because we clicked so well! She had me cracking up the entire time! It was a big stress reliever! Also, she took the picture I showed her of what I wanted and replicated exactly! I loved, loved, loved my hair! I never even did a trial with her, so I know I took a risk, but she was amazing! Like I said before, her and the makeup artists fell perfectly in sync, which I imagine is tricky, but they were all so professional! Dawn also is very reasonably priced and comes to you day of. I highly recommend her!
Invitations: WEDDING PAPER DIVAS: A
(www.weddingpaperdivas.com)
Loved our invitations! Super cute, but simple like we wanted, and we got a lot of compliments on them! Their customer service was extraordinary too… after I placed my initial order, I ended up having to call up & order some more, as both my mom & MIL kept remembering people they forgot they wanted to invite. Not only did Customer Service get the extras out to me that same day, but they honored the coupon code from my initial order, even though that coupon was for orders of $100 or more. I was pretty happy about that! The only reason I am holding back their ‘+’ is because I was surprised their orders didn’t come with extra envelopes! Any type of stationery or card product I have ever ordered always came with extra envelopes… and they would really have come in handy as we ran the envelopes through the printer ourselves, and it took a couple practice tries to get the layout / font size right. But overall we were very pleased.
Flowers: SHOP RITE OF SAYREVILLE: A
This was one aspect of the wedding I did NOT want to waste a ton of money on! I’m not really into flowers so much, so it was not overly important to me. (And DH could care even less about flowers!) We had DIY’ed our centerpieces using candles & shells, so did not need any flowers for that. Basically we just needed bouquets & boutonnières. After a lot of research and getting very frustrated, someone suggested I check out Shop Rite or Costco. Boy am I glad I did because it ended costing a quarter of what florists were quoting for the exact same thing! I had a gorgeous calla lily bouquet with some crystals, exactly what I wanted, and the other bouquets / boutonnières were beautiful as well. The only downside about going this route is that they will not deliver. But MIL graciously offered to be in charge of this part, and picked them up herself and brought them to the venue herself. It worked out perfectly.
Hotel: MARRIOT TINTON FALLS: B+
(www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/ewrtc-courtyard-tinton-falls)
Planning was difficult from the get-go because they make you deal with corporate for group sales, so I just had to trust that information about things like the OOT Bags and shuttle would just get relayed to the front desk at our location… I would much rather have just dealt with them directly. Overall things went mostly smoothly. They forgot to give some people OOT bags, but the problem was fixed somewhere along the way, I think by MIL, and everyone ended up getting what they were supposed to. The rooms were nice & clean, and we had a wonderful breakfast with our guests the next day. (This was not included though, we had to pay extra.) I was also bummed that a shuttle was not included and we had to pay extra for that as well. Oh, and of course they FORGOT to comp our room, as they were supposed to since we booked way over the 15 required in order to stay free. We reminded them at check in, but sure enough the next day we had a slip under the door saying my Amex had been charged for the room… a quick trip to the front desk rectified it, but I would have preferred not to have to have had to stay on top of them as much as I did!
Shuttle: COAST CITY TRANSPORTATION: B
((732) 774-1414
This one is a little tricky for me to rate objectively, as apparently there WAS a problem with them the day of… but I have no idea what it was! LOL I got ready at the venue and later went back to the hotel with my DH and in laws… so I never even SAW them! Early in the day when I asked if the shuttles had made it to the hotel someone, I think MIL, told me “there was a problem, but it was taken care of… don’t worry about it” (I am a lucky girl I had so many people like MIL helping out and making sure I didn’t have to deal with any additional stressors!) Everyone using the shuttle arrived with time to spare, so it worked out well. I liked Coast City because they were the only place I called that DIDN’T charge by the hour… they charge per person / per trip. I have heard horror stories about limo companies purposely going into overtime, and they assured me this would not happen. Initially I had a fear they would not be honest about how many people took the shuttle. In my head I did the math of how many people would be staying and probably take the shuttle. The amount I ended up being charged was quite significantly less, so even though I guess I have no proof I was charged fairly, I was more than happy.
MOH Gift: THINGS REMEMBERED, MENLO PARK MALL: D
Boy did they rip me off! I honestly had no idea what I wanted to get my MOH. I wandered into the store and right away a sales girl jumped on me and asked who / what I was shopping for. When I told her, she brought me over to shelf with this really pretty jewelry boxes and told me they were only $40. They were beautiful… engravable and even played music. I thought it would be nice to get for MOH, and then inside put a gift card or nice piece of jewelry, so I agreed. She helped me engrave a beautiful poem, and select music and got started customizing it. But then, when she rang me up, she told me the total was $108!!! I was like “Um, you said they were $40!?!” Then she told me $40 was just for a plain box, and then there was the cost for adding the song, and a whopping $48 just for engraving! I pointed to a sign and said “that says engraving is FREE!” But she said that only referred to things on “that shelf over there” and did not apply to my jewelry box. I put up a stink, but apparently not a big enough stink, because she told me the box was all ready made and she really couldn’t do anything. Like a fool I paid it, and I now regret it. I would give them a full blown F, but MOH did love the jewelry box… it even made her tear up. And I definitely should have stood my ground.