Okay everyone, I am sitting down and doing this now - I promise I will post pictures as soon as I get them!
Venue/Caterer
Mystic Seaport/Latitude 41* - The Morgan Suites/Coastal Gourmet Catering:
B+I had nothing but good things to say about them, until the day of the wedding, hence my B+.
We originally met with Kim and booked with her back in January 2010. In the fall of 2010, Kim left and her replacement Alyson was who we worked with ever since. Both Kim and Alyson were great - responsive to any questions we had, friendly, on-the-ball about everything. The prices were great for what we were getting (use of venue free of charge as long as we hit a reasonable minimum with our food, access to the Seaport for photos following the ceremony, built-in catering since they'd just taken over the restaurant, new re-modeling so all the decor would be fresh, other benefits - complimentary membership to the Seaport for 1 year following the wedding, guests would get reduced price admission, on-site coordinator from Coastal Gourmet). We originally wanted the date of June 18th, but a wedding was already booked, and therefore the bridal suite on-site that we wanted to use was taken, but we gladly rescheduled for the 11th when it was available with the caveat that we would get to use the Bridal Suite. Kim put it in the contract and we were all set. On the day of, one of the catering staff that brought the complimentary food to the Bridal Suite for us before the ceremony saw my MOH trying to do something with her hair (she did not have money to pay to get it done so she was trying to do something with it), and she offered to help do what she could since she was a hair stylist - MAJOR BONUS POINTS!
However, because Alyson was assigned to us as Kim's replacement, she could not be our on-site coodinator on the day of our wedding because she already had an event booked for her previous clients on that day. So she set me up with one of the other staff members. This is where my negativity comes in, and I will keep this staff member anonymous. She was pretty clueless. We had our details meeting the week before and went over how the night would go, but during the event she was constantly asking us what was next (which was kind of a pain) when she could have consulted the Banquet Event Order which outlined everything. My biggest qualm - we (my BMs, Justice of the Peace, and I) were LITERALLY lining up for our ceremony to head upstairs from the bridal suite at 4:45 and we had put all our stuff in there with the intention of keeping it safe there. She comes and tells us that we have to have our stuff out of the bridal suite at 6:00pm - I ask why because we were under the impression it was booked for us for the night, and she said because another bride was coming in. Which was not right, because when we booked (and it's in our contract) it was available and reserved for us for the night. So basically the bride in the upstairs River Room/North Lawn area (aka paying more money for her wedding) was trying to bump me out I'm guessing, and she was going to allow it. I was FUMING - I said "what are we supposed to do with all of our stuff - this room was supposed to be ours for the night" and she said she'd figure it out. It wasn't until after the ceremony that she told me it was just "all set" and that was that, we didn't have to vacate. Even my JP made a comment to me on the side that that "wasn't right" and I should complain. I'm still considering complaining to them directly. Also, while it was great that the Bridal Suite was locked for security purposes, this staff member bounced towards the end of the night and we had to run around to try to find someone to unlock it for us so that when my Jr. Bridesmaid/in-laws wanted to leave she could get her stuff that was in there. Also, once the rain let up a lot after the ceremony (it was just misting), I wanted to get outside to take some pictures, and she seemed annoyed by that. My photographers joked around that they had just planned to jump the fence, and she got a little snotty with them, saying that "actually security would probably arrest them." /rant
Justice of the Peace
Chaz Zezulka, Mystic, CT: A
From the get-go, Chaz was organized to the T - the major reason we went with him. He had examples of vows/readings we could use and choose from, he was very straightforward with us about how much time our planned ceremony would take us (ie. he thought it was going to be really short, which we were okay with). He was friendly and responsive and accommodating to whatever we needed him to do. He came up with wonderful wording about our "unique" unity ceremony (we chose to do a Knot Tying rather than a Unity Candle/Sand Ceremony), and his whole part of the ceremony never felt rehearsed or robotic. He was wonderful to work with and his fee was extremely reasonable, and he did not require payment until the day of. He filed our signed marriage license with the Town of Stonington promptly, which meant that we got our Marriage Certificate while we were still away on our honeymoon (we'd paid the extra fee with the Town of Stonington town clerk to send it automatically when we got the license) and I could begin the process of name changing almost immediately.
Hair & Makeup
Dana Bartone, Cheshire, CT: A+
Dana is a genius! She is kind of expensive (especially her travel fee if you are not having her come to the Cheshire area, which I opted out of having her travel in the end and went to her), but you get what you pay for, in my opinion.
She took my vision for my hair and totally rocked it, she did a fabulous job with my makeup (airbrushing is amazing!), and she did a fantastic job with all of my bridemaids who used her services as well. I am generally a "plain Jane" and don't get all "dolled up" too often, but I left both my trial and on the day of feeling so beautiful!
The hair/makeup lasted for hours (literally, I couldn't wash my face or shower when I got home before leaving for the honeymoon because we lost power due to the rainstorm that night, so I had to leave for Aruba - it lasted until I got there at 2:00pm! lol). I was also totally upset when I got there because I had forgotten my headpiece (literally got all the way to her parking lot and realized I didn't have it), so she told me not to worry, and took one of the headpieces she had like mine and showed my bridesmaids how to go about adding it to my hairstyle once we got back to my house.
When I was looking for headpieces and veils, she showed me a catalog of really nice headpieces for really cheap that she could get for me, and she referred me to a custom-veil lady who was awesome, too!
And she is basically the friendliest person - she did the hair and makeup for all of us who used her services on the morning of the wedding, and it was so much fun to chat with her as we sat around gabbing. She totally helped put me at ease during a very stressful time!
Bridal Gown Shop
Bridal Trousseau on Main, Branford, CT: B-
I really only used them because they were a Maggie Sottero retailer in my area. I had chosen my dress style (Grace Lynette by Maggie Sottero) and called around for some the best price I could find and they were it. They also offerred a cleaning and preservation package for a reduced price if you included it in the cost of your dress when you ordered.
The bad: when my dress came in and I paid my balance, they basically told me I HAD TO buy my undergarments (crinoline and bra) through them. When I asked if I could just get it somewhere else, they told me flat out "no" because it would need to be there for my fittings (when I could have clearly just brought it with me). Granted I paid about the same price I probably would have anywhere else, so they didn't make that much money off of me by doing so, but it's the principle of the matter. Also, it took them until the week of the wedding to get the right crinoline for me - very frustrating. And when I showed up for my fitting appointments, it was a constant waiting game to have someone help me into my dress. And when me and my MOH when there to shop for Alfred Angelo bridesmaids dresses, we got no help and waited for 15 minutes and ended up leaving to go elsewhere.
Also they basically forced me into going to their accessories trunk show in February where I would get 10% off of veils/jewelry/shoes, etc. However, the stuff was so overpriced that had I bought those things there, I still would have paid more than I paid for my dress for the accessories even with the discount!
Bridesmaids' Dress Shop
Aurora, Guilford, CT: B+
We used this shop since it was an Alfred Angelo retailer that was central to all the bridesmaids. The lady who runs the shop is very nice and runs the shop herself so she does all the alterations herself rather than outsourcing them, which racks up the price. She was very fast in getting everything done, the dresses came in when they said they would, and she's always chatted with us. The one negative, I think she charged my MOH twice for her dress, because my MOH said the alterations were expensive and when all of the BMs were talking about how much they paid on the day of it sounded like maybe she thought MOH hadn't paid the balance of her dress or something because it was ridiculous!
Veil
Paula from Paula's Sewing Basket, Cheshire, CT: A-
Paula was great to work with - she totally got my vision and helped me find a veil that suited what I was going for for a great price! However, I showed up for my first appointment and she hadn't called to cancel so she wasn't expecting me, but she was sick/lost her voice so that could be why - she was very apologetic! Also, we went through some trials to get the right veil, where I would pick one I liked and she would go to order it for me and it would be discontinued. But in the end we got the right one and she did some custom edits to it for me (added rhinestones). Unfortunately one of the rhinestones she added had a halo of glue around it that my MOH noticed at my fitting, but I ddn't make a stink about it. She also had it ready in time for my fitting and dropped it off at Dana's for me so I wouldn't have to drive up there to get it myself
Calligraphy
Michelle, CT Calligraphy, Glasonbury, CT: A-
Michelle was a gem of a find! I had an idea for message-in-a-bottle placecards (where the guest's name would be on the inside of a scroll inside a cork-top bottle, with the table number the guest would be sitting at tied to a ribbon around the neck of the bottle) that I had NO idea how I was going to pull off not being very DIY-savvy, in addition to not wanting to run my invitation envelopes through the printer because I was having so much trouble getting it right and my handwriting is okay but not what I wanted to do for my wedding invitations. She helped me pull together my vision and was so excited about my placecard idea and did calligraphy on the scrolls and my invitations and table number tags, then did the printing of my programs/favor tags.
She goofed on the date of my wedding and didn't have everything ready until the morning before (because she thought she had until the following week). She called 2 nights before (when it was horribly stormy) saying that she didn't have enough ribbon for the programs and might not be able to go out and get them due to her son being sick/due to the storm, and that we'd meet sometime the following weekend which is how we then we realized my wedding that weekend and we made it happen. She went out when the storm subsided and got it and finished putting together the programs so they were ready the next morning. We also had some issues getting together due to all the snow early in the winter, and she works out of her home, so I went out to her a couple of times, but no big deal. Also, when I picked up the invites from her after getting them done, there were a couple of errors which she fixed on the spot. And when I'd left one of the fixed ones behind by accident, she sent it to me in the mail no problem. Everyone complimented me on how beautiful the calligraphy on the invites was!
Florist
Jane, Just For You, Middlefield, CT: A+++++++
I have nothing but amazing things to say about Jane. She is a true artist - everything she touches is gold!!! Everytime I saw pictures of other weddings during my planning where the flowers looked spectacular, I guessed they were Jane's, and when I asked to confirm, they were - you can just tell! She works within any budget you give her (however, it is a $1000 minimum for delivery) and totally takes whatever vision you have and makes it better than you can imagine. I told her what my colors/style were and she totally fit the bill (I left a lot up to her "artistic vision" because I have no clue and she ROCKED IT). I had complete confidence in her, so it was a no-brainer for me. Also, when I went to meet with her for an appointment that we had to reschedule due to one of the snowstorms (it was an 1:00pm appointment that we rescheduled for the following week at 11:00am), she had forgotten and was not there when I was there. So I called her/e-mailed her and she showed up later in the afternoon at 1:00pm and realized her error which was an easy mistake to make and I offered to come back since I wasn't doing anything in the afternoon. She comp'd one of my BM bouquets for my trouble, even though I insisted it wasn't a problem, but she insisted - that's just good business in my opinion. Also threw in a toss bouquet for me
DJ
John Caccioppo, Action DJ Entertainment, Branford, CT: A+++++++
It's so hard to say because I think I had some really, truly fantastic vendors, but John may have been my favorite. I was worrying at the 3 month mark that I didn't have a DJ booked yet, and he was recommended to me by another knottie on the boards LindaPinda. I'm so glad I went with him!!! His price was great, and he was totally willing to do whatever we wanted him to do without jacking up his prices (brought a 2nd DJ, even though we didn't think we'd need it, willing to do any uplighting). He is so friendly and accommodating and willing to go above and beyond to make your day special. He basically tells you that he will run the show, coordinate with the other vendors...he is just so great. He was so excited by our music choices in our final meetings, and it really got me excited about them, too! He has the sweetest personality and can probably talk for hours and always tells stories about his other brides/grooms, but is just so friendly and awesome. For our last meeting, my DH and I were dealing with a really frustrating personal situation for which my DH was in a completely FOUL/horrible mood, and not wanting to be there at all (but I forced him to come to stay involved). I apologized to John ahead of time when we arrived for any foul behavior/attitude DH might've given him in the upcoming hour or so and explained what was going on and he was totally sympathetic and we just breezed right through. By the end of the meeting, DH was fine (well, not really, but he wasn't giving John any crap) and then (my favorite part) after the meeting, as we were leaving as an aside he thanked John for helping him to relax and just put it aside for a while and helping him to kind of rest easier - he said his personality really helped him just calm down. John and I had a meeting together later in the week and he pointed out that this meant a lot to him, especially coming from a guy since guys aren't usually so forthcoming and joked that sometimes he has to play counselor for his couples, especially in figuring out what they want, and I really took this to heart. Initially, his e-mail wasn't working when I tried to e-mail it (it bounced back saying that you needed to be on some "approved list" in order to e-mail it) but it didn't end up being a hindrance. When I told him about that, he had gotten it fixed and seemed truly upset about it, because obviously not being able to get e-mails from potential clients is bad for business! Also, when he introduced us for our grand entrance, he called us his "new friends" which was really touching. Also the end of the night was a whirlwind, and we just packed up and left, and John called me this week to say he missed getting to say goodbye to us and wanted to follow-up and see how our honeymoon went. We chatted and I am truly sad that I won't get a chance to work with him again! Hands-down, I recommend him to anyone who needs a DJ - seriously! Ignore the outdated cheesiness of his website (adds with flashing text, pop-ups, kind of a standard make-it-yourself website server) and the fact that DJ'ing is only his side job (he works at the Branford post office in Stony Creek), he's totally worth it!
Photography
Kiva Sutton & James - A Love Story Photo/Annandale Photography, New Haven, CT: A+Another vendor I'm truly glad to say I worked with. For what we wanted/got, the prices were a little out of our range, but we splurged because their work is AMAZING! DH was initially ticked that they were late to our first meeting, and they don't seem to have a studio to work out of, so we were meeting them at a public location. However, he got over it once he saw their work! They vow to get the edited copies of your photos back to you quickly, which they did for our e-pics (a custom-slide-show-website was setup within a couple of days, we had the disc by the following weekend), you get the rights to all your photos (because they insist on not nickle-and-diming their clients in to having to buy prints from them), and they create beautiful albums! Their work is very artistic and creative in the shots they choose to shoot, and you get a WIDE variety/high number of shots. They ONLY do wedding-related (e-pics, TTD, weddings, boudoir, etc.), so you don't have to worry about them being in any other mindset.
Also, we paid for our e-pic shoot a la carte since it wasn't included in our package, since according to the contract it would give us a photo album that could double as the guest book for the wedding. Our e-pic shoot took place in November on one of the first really chilly/windy days (weekend of Thanksgiving/Black Friday), and you are supposed to get an unlimited amount of time with them. However, after about 4 hours, we were all really cold, so he cut the shoot short because he just felt like he couldn't shoot anymore, but felt bad thinking he didn't give us enough (we thought he had done awesome), so he offered to give us a second shoot in the Spring. We insisted he didn't have to, he insisted he did. So we scheduled our second shoot in March for early April, and he brought James along this time, since James was going to be the one to shoot our wedding (our package only had one wedding shooter, which we were fine with since we were having a small wedding) - so we got a 2 photographer e-pic shoot, and again all the disc was in our possession/photos were online quickly.
Like I said, our photo package was pretty basic and we were only supposed to have one shooter, so James was supposed to shoot it. However, Kiva alluded to the fact that he might beable to make it at our 2nd e-pic shoot, and would try to show up. He did, so for no additional cost, we got 2 shooters at our wedding! We were so impressed, and luckily one of the guests of the BMs was no going to be able to make it so we had an extra meal for him to eat.
One negative, he kept calling my DH "Will" when it is "Bill" that he goes by, even though one of the pictures we took was of a name badge that said "Billy" on his work uniform. I didn't bother to correct him because I thought he would pick up on it/get the hint, so that's kind of my fault too I guess. So when we got our first e-pic guestbook back, it said "Karen and Will" on the cover. I called to thank him and let him know we got it and told him how great it looked, but brought up the name error and asked if it woudl be possible to change the cover, and he seemed kind of annoyed at first like "But you put William on your contract." I explained because "yeah that's his formal/official/legal name, but he goes by Bill/Billy with his family" and then he offered to re-do the book at no charge for us. I asked if he wanted the book back, he said no, and he got it shipped directly to us.
Rings
Zales, Waterford, CTSince they're a chain, pretty standard treatment. We were happy and got what we wanted, and they clean the rings whenever we want them to free of charge, even if we just stop in
Also, I had to stop at the outlet in Clinton Crossings to clean my ring for the day of the wedding - they cleaned my rings, a necklace that I was wearing that was my "something old"/I hadn't gotten it from them, and also offered to clean my MOH's rings while we were there.
Cake
Erica Suffletto, Mystic Market East, Mystic, CT: A-
Cake was delicious and they're totally artistic. Since Coastal Gourmet/Mystic Market East are kind of partners, there was no cake cutting fee added to our catering bill. Erica said she would give us the top-tier of our cake to freeze free of charge for our anniversary, but the night of Coastal Gourmet didn't end up getting that to us and I didn't think of it since obviously there was so much going on (again, another example of my irked-ness with the staff member we ended up with) and I didn't think of it, so *shrug* I plan to just go to them to buy a duplicate on our anniversary. I think she spelled my last name wrong on my order form with her, so that might have created some confusion in getting the order to Coastal Gourmet, but it got worked out in the end. Also a little tough to get a hold of due to working "baker's hours" and her e-mail doesn't seem to work for me for some reason.
Transportation (only used for my Mom/Brother who had no ride, we did not get a limo)
John, Mystic Limousine, Mystic, CT: AJohn is great to work with, and after calling around they had the best rates I could find (since my mom and brother would be getting picked up from Portland/East Hampton, brought to Mystic then brought back). He was friendly and accommodating, a pleasure to work with
Stationery
Two Em's, Madison, CT: A+
An elderly couple owns this shop in Downtown Madison (where I live), and they have a wide selection of vendors to choose from. I ended up ordering mine from Carlson Craft, which they took care of the order and it came in promptly. When there was a miscommunication over my phone number and they couldn't get a hold of me when they came in, they tried to deliver them themselves to my house but I wasn't there (they ended up mailing me a letter to notify me they were in). What great service!
Favors
Food - salt water taffy
BulkFoods.com: A
Easy to order, can use PayPal, order arrived quickly! Not much else to ask for!
Tin Pails
Ebay Seller: yacanna-gifts - A- Had the lowest prices and lowest bulk amount I could find online (I only needed about 50, where a lot of them started at #100), and had them available in colors I was looking for. However, the listing was out of date and I attempted to order lavender, which the seller notified me was no longer available. When I pointed out that it was on the listing, she said she was in the process of updating it, told me what was available, and I went with white which was fine by me. Arrived quickly, were wrapped securely, good communication.
Table numbers - model sailboats
Ebay Seller: relicgiant - A
Had exactly what we were looking for in model sailboats and a large quantity were available in the color we wanted. However, the shipping to order multiple (10) separately would have been astronomical. So we contacted the seller to ask if he could do bulk shipping, and he set up a separate listing for exactly what we were looking for which brought the shipping down to like $15 for the whole lot, so we got 10 model sailboat with shipping for $80 (so $8 a piece). 1 of the bunch arrived with the sail ropes all tangled and was unusable, but we got away with only needing 9. Great communication and very accommodating and they arrived quickly and securely!
Shoes
Ebay Seller: fritzcloset - A- I found the shoes I wanted on Zappos.com, but they didn't have my size/color available. So through Google Shopping I found them on eBay from this seller for 1/3 the price in my size/color! It was fate! The listing noted they had some not very noticeable scuffs on them, when I asked the seller, she said it was from rubbing in the box, but when they arrived it didn't appear that way and they looked kind of shabbier than pictured. But I was happy regardless, and the scuff marks were barely noticeable (especially after the beating they took from me by the end of the night lol). Great price, great communication, arrived quickly and securely.
Etsy Sellers
Headpiece: FeathersandFrills - A+ Great communication, arrived quickly and securely, and was beautifully made as pictured! Probably my favorite thing I ordered, and she was very friendly in asking about the wedding!
Card box: SerenityMosaics -
A Great communication, arrived quickly, as pictured, securely shipped.
Garter: GarterLady - A+ I feel bad, I gave this lady so much trouble as I tried to determine what I wanted - I tried to contact her to see if she could combine 2 garters to get the best of both worlds so to speak, but she said she wouldn't because she had done it before and people came back with negative feedback. I wasn't happy, but then realized that wasn't what I wanted anyway, and when I finally decided it was beautifully made, shipped quickly/securely, and obviously good communication
Gift Registries
TK Gift Registry 360: C (Kind of cool because you can add stuff from anywhere and it links your Macy's/Bed Bath Beyond/Target registries, both of which is why I used it, but it doesn't work very well)
Macy's/Target/Bed Bath Beyond for physical registries: B (I didn't register for much physical stuff because we wanted to do a honeymoon registry, but realized that some people might scoff at it and would want to get gifts for the shower. Registered for the most at BB&B and even that was only a few and was left with just towels and sheets unbought for me, Macy's was even less and was bought out by my shower. Ended up deleting the Target one since I didn't find anything that I didn't find elsewhere)
Honeyfund.com: A Easy to use and set up, lowest service we we could find, uses PayPal so you can get money directly into your account rather than the awkwardness of being handed cash or checks.
Groom/Groomsmen FormalwearPieced together from the mall - A+ (lol)
Seriously, for the same look we got from buying each piece ourselves, Menswearhouse charged twice or three times as much. Granted, DH did just a navy blazer, button down shirt, tie, and khaki trousers so it wasn't a tuxedo, but the hassle of finding each piece was so worth the money saved!
Honeymoon Flight
Booked through Orbitz.com - A+Orbitz found us the cheapest rates I could find through any of the other online travel sites!! When our flight from Providence to Washington was cancelled, I was able to reach a human being at 4:00 in the morning to try to resolve it (luckily I didn't need to, the airline took care of rebooking us automatically, but Orbitz was totally willing to take care of it if they didn't).
Honeymoon Hotel
Divi Aruba All-Inclusive Resort - A+
Booked through WIOL.com - B+
Some people say Aruba is expensive, and I agree to an extent, but again, you get what you pay for, and DH and I had an AMAZING time. And again, some people say that you shouldn't do an all-inclusive in Aruba because they have some amazing restaurants - but I'm totally happy we did, because we were able to spend more money on excursions than worrying about where we were going to eat. We were able to be booked as honeymooners, and as such got the rate of paying for a garden-view room, but were upgraded to an oceanview room on the far end of the resort - AMAZING VIEWS. The resort is what I would consider the best stretch of beach in the hotel district (south-west/west side of the island), not very rocky except for the end, not a lot of "sea wash-up junk" from the surf washes up, some waves, so you get the sound of the surf, but not dangerous. The resort has a wonderful open-airy atmosphere to it. The restaurants we ate at were good. The entertainment was good. The housekeeping staff was very good. The reception and concierge staff were a little rude, but nothing that troubled us too much. The only negative was that they had street vendors in the public areas (pool/bar), but we didn't worry too much about it. Also the bass of the music could be heard at our hotel room late at night, which is a personal pet peeve of mine (hearing the thumping).
When we booked, we booked through WIOL.com (West Indies Online). They had an option to pay later (45 days before the event), which we elected to do since we were nervous about blowing THAT MUCH money all at once. It was a little nervewracking waiting, but they took out the money when they said they would. Also because we booked on a weekend, they don't send you a confirmation until like the next business day, so we didn't get it right away and worried. When we contacted the hotel (which the 1-800 isn't directly the hotel line) they hadn't heard of WIOL.com and we worried a little, and WIOL.com only works thorugh e-mail or fax (no phone) so that made us even more nervous. But we e-mailed and got a hold of someone and finally got our confirmation, and then also got our confirmation of the reservation received from the hotel, so it worked out well for us. We saved $500 on our hotel by finding this website!