I can't believe it is already over. The night went so fast, and even no matter how much I tried to step back and take it in, I feel like there was so much I missed. But, I wouldn't have changed anything (except the ambulance needing to be called)!!!
Venue - The One & Only WestMount Country Club (Continental Room)
Do I recommend the WCC - yes, absolutely 100%. Was it perfect? No, but the small details that were missed I don't even want to expand on. They were small and overall I have to say this place rocked and I want to go back and relive the day again!
Pre-Wedding: I had no issues arriving at the time I wanted and taking pictures over the property even with another wedding planned for the same night in the bigger ballroom. Once the cocktail waitresses and bartenders arrived they gave us plenty to drink and eat, inlcuding a huge platter of chicken fingers and fries for my nephews (which I was eating too haha).
Cocktail Hour: After the ceremony I was escorted to a reserved table in the cocktail hour for me, my new hubby, and our family. The wedding party had a seperate long bar table reserved for them. I thought this was a nice touch, and nice for everyone to have a home base. There were two waiters whose job was to get us drinks and bring over plates of food so we didn't have to move. My hubby requested some anti-pasta and they brought it right over. Unfortunately, the waiter accidently knocked over a glass of strawberry champage which landed all over the front of my dress. I think he was about to have a heart attack right then and there - and I will say he was 10x more freaked out than me!! He immediately escorted me back to the bridal suite and got their bathroom attendant to come help me. About 20 minutes later, after some club soda and a hair dryer they managed to completely get everything out. You literally could NOT tell anything happened - and thank them both for that! Accidents will happen, but it was great that they knew immediatly what to do to fix it.
Food: It was really delicious! I was able to snack on a few items in the cocktail hour, but my favorite was the lamb, it was amazing! Cocktail hour is massive, but setup tastefully. There was also plenty of seating for our guests. I ordered the swordfish and my hubby ordered the prime rib for dinner. Both were cooked well and tasted yummy. I got alot of really good feedback about the swordfish from guests. We opted to also include a pasta course within in the dinner and I would say I wish we didn't. Everyone was stuffed from cocktail hour and it really isn't needed on top of the salad course. Plus it takes up more paty time. My advice - don't bother with the pasta course.
Bar: Top shelf is standard here, they have everything you want. Awesome drinks and fun bartenders!!! Their martini's are HUGE and I enjoyed an espresso martini with my dessert.
Emergencies: No one wants anything to happen at their wedding, but in real life you just can't control these things. My husband's grandmother almost lost consciousness towards the end of dinner service. We are very lucky to have a few nurses and an EMT at the wedding who immediately came to help her. Stephanie was standing behind me comforting me and calling an ambulance right away. Grandma is OK but definately gave us a scare!! WCC did a good job at making sure she got help, but not causing a huge scene to draw more attention. I actually found out some guests didn't even realize what was happening and just thought it was an odd lag between dinner and getting on the dance floor. Once we knew she was OK, Fred moved into the cake cutting, had the DJ play a song so my hubby and I could dance and then brought out the vienesse hour show - which was incredible. Some family took Grandma home to rest and we danced the rest of the night away.
DJ - I-800-Jam Music
Thank You! These guys did an amazing job - including dealing with an ambulance showing up in the middle of the reception. In addition to the standard DJ, we also booked their drums and bongos. Highly recommend since it really adds to the music and it was fun trying to play the drums haha. We also booked a photo booth through them with an attendant. Only issue was that I wanted a different backgroun on the booth, but we just had plain white. Didn't realize this until half way through the wedding so I couldn't try to fix it. But honestly, that is the only thing I can even say went wrong. From our first meeting with them, until saying goodbye at the end of the night, they were an absolute pleasure to work with. very professional and played great music all night. They used the last hour to rock the house with all our favorite songs we sent ahead of time. Everyone was on the dance floor! If you are looking for a DJ call them!!!
Flowers - Atlas Florist
I'll be honest here - I know nothing about flowers and really hated spending alot of money on this. I worked with Matt, who is the in-house florist at WCC. You have to pick from 4 florists at the WCC which turns alot of perspective brides away. I definately spent more than I wanted, but Matt made the ceremony and reception look beautiful - gorgeous! Matt is an artistic guy, and I wasn't 100% clear what I would be getting for my bouquet. But when they showed up, OMG so gorgeous!! My centerpieces were very simple, low setup. This is what I wanted (and I didn't want to spend 5K on flowers). Surrounding the flowers were tons of candles of different heights, and he used the cenetrpieces as decorations for the ceremony too. It really turned out 1000% more pretty than I ever thought. If you are like me and are using Matt - just tell him your colors, some of what you like and he'll do the rest.
Photographer - Jason Rhee
Love, love, love him! I initally met him when he did my friends wedding a couple of years ago. His prices have gone up some, but he should be charging more! He is so high energy and takes great photos. He even worked an additional hour outside his contract for us. He is super accesible and was a pleasure to work with. Check out his website!!!
Hair - Pam Falcone V Capelli Salon
She does my hair normally, and was a guest at the wedding. She managed to get me, 7 bridesmaides, two moms, a grandma, and an aunt completely done the morning of the wedding with time to spare! Everyone looked great - and no one had ugly wedding hair lol!!
Makeup - Lindsay Bononno (friend)
She is AMAZING and does makeup on the side. Me and my girls looked beautiful. For those who wanted a more natural look, no problem. I like a darker eye and that is what I got. If anyone is looking for a makeup artist please let me know and I'll send you her info and some pictures of us on the wedding day!!
I think those are all the major players. I also used the Crowne Plaza as the hotel. They were great as well with handaling all my out of town family members and providing shuttle services.