Hi! Below are my vendor reviews. I live in Brooklyn, but my wedding was in NJ, so I have a mix of vendors from both. Honestly, I would give them all an A+, so I did not bother rating them individually. I have included some pictures are below. Sorry that they are a little long! I found these reviews helpful when I was planning, so hopefully they can be a good resource for some of you J
Venue-Clarks Landing Yacht Club
There are almost no words to describe how incredible our experience was at Clarks Landing. As soon as we walked in and saw the incredible view, and elegant decor, we knew that this was where we had to get married. Don and Nicole provide the most amazing customer service I have ever experienced. I do not think there was an e-mail that I sent or phone call that I made that was not answered within 1 hour. I knew that on the day of my wedding, I would not have to worry about a thing, and I was right! They managed to make us feel like we were the only wedding they had ever had- remembering every little detail. We have had so many people tell us that the cocktail hour was the best they have ever attended. Our wedding was the first day of Chanukkah and we asked them to do a potato latke station. They were happy to do something they had never done before. Don even suggested a Jelly Donut and coffee station as guests left. The food was incredible and our guests just loved it. Most importantly, the staff at Clarks went above and beyond! During dessert, my mother moved seats to talk to a friend, and when she looked down, she realized that her waiter had moved her cappuccino to her new seat. It was little things like this that really set Clarks apart. Even though our wedding was on a cold and rainy day, we did not even notice because everything was so seamless. They truly gave us the wedding of our dreams!
Florist-Petal Beach
Wonderful! As soon as I met Bonnie, I felt completely at ease about our flowers. All I wanted for my wedding was a bouquet of peonies in December (not an easy task!), and that is exactly what I got! My bridesmaid bouquets were gorgeous and exactly what I had asked for as well. As for my Chuppah- it was breathtaking. Bonnie is truly an artist, and it was just beautiful and perfect for the space. Petal Beach was worth every penny!
Band-Escapade from Craig Scott
We used the band Escapade from Craig Scott and we loved them! We had the acoustic guitar for our ceremony, and also added two horns to the band. I was a little nervous because we had asked him to play music that was not on their playlist for my walk down the aisle, as well as for our first dance, and they were amazing! About 8 weeks before you fill out an online form with the music that you want them to play, and on the Monday before the wedding, we had a phone call with the band leader, Ken Gold. I told him exactly what we were hoping for, and they delivered! Our friends were up and dancing the whole night which was exactly what we wanted. Their musicians are so talented and we were so happy with their performance!
Photographer-Heyn Photography
Marissa and the girls of Heyn Photography are incredible. We are so happy with the preview pictures that we have seen (below), and we cannot wait to see the rest! Marissa knew I had my heart set on taking pictures on the dock behind our venue, so she came prepared with clear umbrellas. They came out so cute that they almost made me happy that it rained on my wedding day! During the reception, they had edited photos from earlier in the day and had them playing on a TV screen at the back of the room. We had no idea they were going to do this, but our guests loved seeing them!
Video-Villanovisions
We used Rob for my sister’s wedding, so I knew he would be great. He is totally unobtrusive on the day. I felt like I never saw him, but he somehow captured everything. My only complaint was that he only let us pick two songs for the video and he picked the rest. I’m not crazy about the music he picked, but the quality of the video and the moments he captured were amazing, which is probably more important. He was also unbelievably fast. We had our full, edited video when we got back from our honeymoon.
Hair-Jeanine LaMacchia
I was so nervous about my hair for my wedding. I have very thick, wavy hair that many hair stylists do not know how to style. Thank goodness for Jeanine! I loved my hair at my trial, and decided to do it a little bit differently on the day of the wedding, and Jeanine did not skip a beat. Not only did I love my hair, but it even lasted through pictures in the pouring rain! Besides just being amazing at what she does, she is just so sweet. She traveled a little far for me, and there was a $50 travel fee, but I thought she was totally worth it!
Makeup-Jeanine Mangan
Jeanine is truly an artist. She made me, my bridesmaids, mother and mother-in-law look flawless. It poured the day of the my wedding, but we still took pictures outside and the makeup lasted through it perfectly. I know there has been a bunch of negative feedback about her surprise assistant fees, however I think she may have found out that people were not happy. A week before the wedding she sent an e-mail saying there was no assistant fee. On the morning of the wedding she actually did bring an assistant (not her niece, but an actual MUA), and did not charge me a fee. I was very pleasantly surprised!
Dress- Birnbaum & Bullock
I had a bit of a unique situation with my dress. I saw it online and knew it was my dress. I went to the store and tried it on, and that was it! Robert Bullock and Steven Birnbaum design their own gowns and this is their flagship store in Manhattan. They have dresses in all different price ranges, and when I told them my budget they stuck within it. The designer is actually the one that fits you for your dress at the fittings, which was definitely a cool experience. Steven was wonderful and made me feel like a princess! I would highly recommend them!
Veil- Bridal Veil Falls
This is a small shop in the East Village owned by a lovely woman named Margaret. If you bring her a fabric sample of your dress, she will custom make a veil for you. She has a ton of samples in her shop to try on. She even let me bring one to my fitting so that I could pick the correct length for my dress. She also does this for a fraction of the price of “designer” veils. I would highly recommend her!
Invitations- Elegantly Stated
Irene was one of my favorite wedding vendors! She did my sister's invitations when she got married, so I knew exactly who I was going to when my turn came. We ended up with beautiful letterpress invitations. We received so many compliments. Irene was incredibly detail oriented throughout the entire process- making sure that every comma and apostrophe was in the right place. She is also just so sweet and you can tell that she loves what she does and takes pride in it. If you are looking for invitations in any price range, Irene has it and more.
Calligraphy- Dani Writes
I know Dani is highly recommended on this board- so this is just another glowing recommendation! She did the calligraphy for my invitations and escort cards. She is fast and affordable and does great work!
Menus and Table Numbers- Wiregrass Weddings
I happened to find a round menu of theirs on Pinterest that I loved, that happened to match my wedding invitations (http://www.wiregrassweddings.com/Round-Wedding-Menu-1549/). I wrote to them to see if they could design something for me that was similar but with our names and wedding date and they did. They also made matching table numbers. They are SUPER affordable and many of my guests commented on how nice and different they were. They were also very fast.
