I've only posted here once or twice, but would check in from time to time and always found the vendor reviews helpful. I got married Sept. 17th and thought I would share mine:
Ceremony & Reception: Patriot Hills (Stony Point, NY) - A+
The food is amazing and Gina was so easy to work with from the beginning. We got married out on the patio overlooking the golf course which is beautiful and there are so many places to take pictures there. Also, we found that they were very affordable compared to other places in the area and we feel that we didn't sacraficed a thing. I'm rooting for all of my friends to get married there so that I can be a guest!
Florist - Lee Vasquez (Piermont, NY) - A+
Lee definitely wins my favorite vendor award! She really helped put some great ideas together since I didn't know exactly what I wanted when I first met her, just had an idea of the colors. She's creative and so organized - she always got right back to me whenever I had a question and was really flexible with some last minute changes. I was truly amazed when I saw the flowers on my wedding day!
DJ - Jimmy Dee (White Plains, NY) - A+
Plain and simple - they're just great at what they do. Very reliable and a plus for us was that they work with Patriot Hills all the time so they knew exactly what to bring, where to set up, etc. We had them do the music for both the ceremony and reception. Vinny was our DJ at the reception and he was great - they kept everyone on the dance floor all night.
Photographer - Greg Pallante (NJ) - A+
Greg isn't a typical wedding photographer that you would find on this site, but my husband knows him through work and he photographed two of our friends' weddings this past year. I am so glad he and his assistant Anne were the ones with us that day. They made everything seem so easy and effortless for us and took so many great pictures. We haven't seen most of them yet, but he did set up a slideshow midway through the reception of shots they had taken before and during the ceremony and reception. They are incredible! They are really good at taking those random shots that are so creative and really capture each moment. www.gregorypallante.com - there is a wedding gallery of some of his work.
Officiant - Rev. Maureen Orfino (Nyack, NY) - A
She helped us put together a beautiful ceremony that we felt fit us perfectly. She really took the time to get to know us and created really special vows for us.
Invitations - Sandy Weiner (Sparkill, NY) - A
Sandy's great. She works out of her house and has thousands of invitations to look through. My invitations came out great and she offered to address them for me for $1 per envelope. The font on the evelopes matched the invitations - so easy! www.expressionsunlimited.invitations.com
Favors - Viscount Liquors (Wappingers Falls, NY) - A
We ordered mini wine bottles and got free customized labels to put on them. The wine takes no time to come in, but the labels took a few weeks. I went to pick everything up (I live in NJ, so it's about an hour drive) and discovered there was a miscommunication and only the bottles were in, not the labels. Since I wasn't planning on making another trip before the wedding, they offered to overnight the labels directly to my house once they were ready at no additional cost. Easy!
Dress - The Town Shop (Poughkeepsie, NY) - B
My experience with them started out great and kind of tapered off to just OK. I went there already having a dress in mind at another store, but felt I needed to keep looking to make sure. Justine was awesome and pulled a dress that I never would have picked for myself. I tried it on and knew right away that was my wedding dress. I also bought my veil there. When I went back for the fittings (I had 2 fittings and then tried the dress on one last time when I went to pick it up) I felt a bit rushed. Almost like now that I had already bought the dress and they knew they had my money, they were whisking me and my mom and MOH away to make room for a bride that had come in to start looking at dresses. Might sound petty, but I was just as excited to try my dress on once it finally came in and get fitted as I was to find the dress in the first place. Just thought they should have been a little more mindful of that.
Transportation - West Point Tours (Vails Gate, NY) - A
We arranged for a shuttle bus to take people to and from the hotel. Easy to work with and they are very familiar with both Patriot Hills and Comfort Inn on 59. Just a note - the shuttle is too big to travel on the Palisades which is the most direct route to and from the hotel and Patriot Hills. They had to take a bit of a roundabout way, so add on a little time if you're considering this.
Hotel - Comfort Inn and Suites (Nanuet, NY) - A+
I worked with Tsilla in the sales office and had no problem blocking off rooms for our guests and we were able to keep the bar open until 2:15 after the wedding was over. We ended up having a lot more guests reserve rooms than we anticipated, and the hotel was great about accommodating everyone and honoring the group rate even past the date when everyone was supposed to have booked by. They probably weren't all that busy and had the room, but still it was nice.
I honestly didn't have any major issues with any of my vendors. If anything went wrong, I certainly didn't know about it! If I had known it would end up being this easy, I would not have stressed as much in the beginning. Here are some tips that I can give looking back on everything now:
- Keep all of your wedding info, notes, contracts, receipts, in one place. It just makes everything easier.
- Take your friends and family up on help. You might want to do everything yourself, but help is good! Some of my newly married friends were incredibly helpful whether it was giving input/advice, lending me baskets, stuffing those invitations, etc.
- Take shortcuts where you can. I didn't use the place cards that Patriot Hills gave me and write them all out - I bought the $5 per 48-pack ones at A.C. Moore and just sent them through the printer. Neat, easy, and no one can tell the difference. Also, I made a card box out of an old Bed, Bath, and Beyond box by wrapping it with pretty wrapping paper and cutting a slit in the top. No need to buy the $50 bird cage you'll never use again.
- Ask yourself what's important and try not to stress about the rest. It's easy to get caught up in it all, but the truth is that the day is going to come and go and you want to enjoy it. I stressed a lot more in the beginning than I did in the last few weeks. Once all of the big decisions had been made, it was just a matter of pulling all the little things together.
- Enjoy your wedding day. You might not get a chance to talk to every single person at your reception and I think that's ok. My husband and I did our best to get to everyone we could. The reality is that when we were walking around to tables, sometimes people were up at the bar or on the dance floor and by the time they got back we were at a different table. I would also let close friends and family know to encourage people to approach you and your husband at the reception. It's the best way to make sure that those guests get those few minutes with you.
- And wear sunblock on your honeymoon.
Hope this was helpful and sorry if it's long... our flight got in last night and I'm having trouble getting used to the sound of the train outside the door and not the beach!! 
Alaina