Hi All, We got married back on March 13, but b/c of school I hadn't really had time to do vendor reviews, so here they are. My apologies that they are so long!
Ca d'Zan Mansion at Ringling Museum: B+
This was my dream wedding venue growing up as a child and I was so lucky to get to have it. We lucked out by booking in July and there still being a date available in March. Before we booked Holly Hall (the head of event planning) was amazing and so helpful to me since I was doing everything from Seattle. She took my parents around on a tour and held the date for me for two weeks before I was required to sign the contract. That said, all in all the Ringling is a challenging venue to work with. Because of it being a historical venue there are a ton of rules to work around. Additionally, because it is such a popular venue in Sarasota, they can charge you an arm and a leg for basically everything (the base fee only includes the terrace of the mansion and the lawn for the ceremony from 6-11, if you want to take pictures before or allow your guests inside the mansion during cocktail hour, you'll be putting on hundreds extra). On the day of everything was flawless and the security guards were very accommodating (we had heaters being moved around during the reception). All in all, I am SO glad I had my wedding here and it was all I ever dreamed of, but it comes with a lot of strings attached.
Scott Serbin and the My Friend Scott Band: A +
We found Scott through their gigs at the Five O'Clock Club in Sarasota. I really can't say enough good things about them. We really didn't want the typical wedding band (I am just not an electric slide kinda girl) and we didn't want a dj or have to spend an arm and a leg. Scott was wonderful to deal with, he held the date for months for us before we had to put a down payment and he was incredibly prompt in responding to my emails (usually within 20 minutes). At the reception they definitely read the mood of the evening and had the dance floor packed all evening. Also, once they came on, they never took a break! They played non-stop from 7:30 till 11pm . Everyone was impressed with how great they sounded and they just played such fun songs to really keep the party going. Again, if you're looking for a bit different of a band at your wedding, they are fabulous and a great bargain.
Trevisio: A
While we weren't originally thrilled that we had to use Trevisio for our bar (Ringling will only let you use them), they actually worked out really well. We had originally planned on doing just a beer and wine bar, but then realized that with 100 guests (many of whom we knew would consume more than 3-4 drinks each), an open bar was our best bet. We had a premium open bar for a fairly reasonable price (they were willing to negotiate with my father a bit). That said, we couldn't afford to have the champagne toast b/c it would have really bumped the price up. At the wedding their service was great and I was very pleased overall.
Oasis Cafe: A +
The owners are family friends and were willing to do our wedding. We could not have been more pleased- they created an amazing wedding reception for us by creating a truly original wedding menu and it tasted incredible. The she crab soup, miniature pulled pork sandwiches on sweet potato biscuits, fried green tomatoes, sticky bacon, flank steak, fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, and shrimp & grits were all INCREDIBLE and really gave our Northern guests a taste of Southern food. If you're ever in the Southgate area in Sarasota, definitely go have breakfast or lunch at Oasis, you won't be disappointed.
U.S. Tent Rentals: C
Unfortunately, this is yet another vendor that you are limited to with the Ringling. While trying to figure out what we wanted for our reception tables and linens, I really had a mixed experience: some staff were incredibly helpful and personable, others were rude and not at all helpful. Leading up to the wedding, it seemed that we were on the same page about what was going to be at the wedding, but I was surprised when I showed up at my reception. We had ordered white table clothes with gold overlays and when I showed up there were full length gold tablecloths. They looked fine, but were not what we had ordered. Per our contract with Ringling, they were supposed to come back at 11pm to pick up all the rentals. Unfortunately, they decided to not show up until 1am. This forced us to lose a $500 deposit with Ringling and we have not gotten it back from U.S. Tent Rentals as of yet (since the contract was done through our caterers, we lack negotiating power). I really feel like this business depends on who you are dealing with, I just wish we had had a better experience in the end, because they were very willing to work with our caterers in the process and change details up until a week before the wedding.
Pastries By Design: A-
I have to say that I really debated on how to rate this. Leading up to the wedding I didn't think I cared much about cake. However, after taste testing at two more well known bakers in Sarasota, we were entirely unimpressed with the taste and customer service at those two places (one which appeared that he would be doing us a favor to bake our cake and one which wanted to charge us to try a flavor of her cake). Our planner recommended Pastries By Design. I have to say that I was incredibly impressed throughout the process by the Lyndsy's customer service- she is very personable and very honest & forthright about how different decorations/styles affect the cake budget (which I really appreciated!). Additionally, her cake flavors were AMAZING (we had key lime w/key lime buttercream, ginger w/ginger buttercream, and marble cake w/fudge). She uses a Swiss fondant which actually tastes good! She created a beautiful paisley design on our cake, however, it was the wrong color. Our cake was ivory with pink piping for the paisley design and we had contracted for bright pink (fuscia) and I was shocked to see a very pale pink when I got to the reception. It was a delicious cake, but I really wish we had gotten what we had paid for.
Beneva Flowers: B
Beneva is the ultimate professional when it comes to florists in Sarasota, they handle tons of weddings every year and provide great customer service. They were very willing to work with us to keep the flowers within our budget provided prompt response to all our questions and changes with our flowers. My bouquet was gorgeous and the aisle markers were perfect. Our bridesmaid bouquets and centerpieces were less than amazing though. We had arranged for a mixture of hydrangea and roses for the center pieces and the tulips and roses for the bridesmaids bouquets. Beneva had told me we wouldn't be able to get them exactly the same shade, but I figured they would at least be similar. When we showed up the roses were dark pink (pretty freaking close to red) and the hydrangea were very light pink, not at all what we had hoped for, but it was too late to change it. While I think it looked fine in the end, I wasn't blown away by it in the least.
Rev. Georgeann Butler: A+
We had originally planned on having a friend marry us, but because of unpredictable schedules in the Navy this fell through only 3 weeks before the wedding. Our planner recommended Georgeann and I'm so glad she did. Georgeann was very honest and funny to deal with and very accommodating for our phone meetings (since it was all done at the last minute and we are on West coast time). She created a very personalized, professional, and beautiful ceremony. She was willing to adapt to the style of our wedding (we had rather untraditional readings) and also had recommendations for what would work well in our ceremony. I definitely would recommend Georgeann without hesitation to any couple!
Romanza Strings: C-
Leading up to our wedding, Lucia (the contact person for this group) was very easy to deal with. We had chosen very traditional ceremony music and that was not a problem. My maid of honor is a professional singer and we wanted her to sing the song "God Only Knows" during the ceremony. Lucia was completely willing to learn a new song and didn't charge us extra for this, which was great. On they day of the wedding, during our song, the violinist messed up the song and started playing a completely different song in the middle! Luckily she got somewhat back on track, but really the music was laughably bad. In fact I'm not even upset over it b/c it provided a lot of laughs afterwards. However, after the wedding Lucia emailed my maid of honor to say how sorry she was for the music during the wedding and to say that the violinist was a sub for a normal member of their group. I really wish they had apologized to my parents or I though, since we're the ones that paid for it!
Barbara Banks Photography: A+
Barbara had been my dream photographer since early in the planning stages when I saw her photos online. After meeting with her in July, I was blown away by her talent and really loved her work. To be perfectly honest, she is not the cheapest photographer you will find in the area, but in my opinion she is the best and definitely worth every penny. She showed up at 3pm and stayed till 11pm with a second photographer. She was completely unobtrusive, but really knows how to get the shot. We got our photos back from her earlier than we expected and we were SO HAPPY with them! I can honestly say that I love all 700 pictures that we got from her. I think that when choosing a photographer, you really have to pick someone you want with you all day b/c they really will be with you ALL day- our personalities really meshed with Barbara's and she was a pleasure to work with. Additionally, we were supposed to do engagement shots the day before the wedding, but we weren't able to b/c of thunderstorms. Barbara was willing to wait until 30 minutes before when we realized that the weather wasn't getting any better and then she was completely willing to spend Sunday evening on the beach with us instead. I cannot recommend Barbara highly enough, she's incredible.
Randy McGowen: Classic Car Rental: A+
I had stalked Golfer'sLady's bio and loved the classic car she'd had. She referred me to Randy whose family owns this wonderful 1965 Lincoln Mark II. Randy drives the car for weddings just as an occasional thing. He was fabulous. First of all, his car has a/c, which is great. Randy showed up on time to pick us up, then was willing to drive his car on to the lawn of the Ringling for our photos, and after arriving on time for our us at the end of the night he took us for a drive over the Ringling bridge and around St. Armands. It was a wonderful way to end the evening and he was very personable and just all around a great guy to deal with. Also, his rental is a steal! Randy was great, thanks again Golfer's Lady for this wonderful find!
Hyatt Regency Sarasota: Rehearsal Dinner & Room Block: A
Hm, I have to say that I had a mixed experience with the Hyatt. Their prices for our rehearsal dinner were no great bargain. Adora who handled it though was great- she was very personable and worked quickly to make changes to our dinner whenever necessary. Part of this was error on my part in not requesting a picture of the room that we would be in (the plan was for the dinner to be on the pool deck and just have the food in the room and some seating there, but we ended up all in the room which was a bit cramped), the room itself was not beautiful by any means. BUT the Hyatt really adapted to a changing situation when we had more than 50 people show up to a dinner that only 30 people had RSVP'd to. They rolled with it, brought out more food and were very kind in dealing with my FIL on the changing situation.
For the room block, we had a unique situation in that we had a significant amount of military guests. The Hyatt was very accommodating in creating a room block price for our civilian guests and a separate one for our military guests. However, booking those military rooms was a total pain in the butt. How a world class hotel chain was unable to clarify in their computers that we had two rates is beyond me. All our military guests had to book at the civilian rate and we had to call and provide individual names for them to receive the discount. As the newlywed couple that spent 4 nights there and had our rehearsal dinner there, we had hoped for a free night, but instead we got a room by the elevators. All I could think at the end was "eh"- beautiful hotel in a great location, but it could have been a better experience.
Jeanne Ciasullo: Makeup: A+
Our planner recommended Jeanne after I wasn't really feeling any of the makeup artists in the area that I had looked at online or spoken to on the phone. Other people either didn't really seem my style or were a bit pricey. Jeanne is fabulous. She did a trial for me on the day of my rehearsal and then made small adjustments that I wanted on the day of. She also did the makeup for my four bridesmaids and both mothers. She really adapted to the style and skin tone all these different women. We were all incredibly happy and I think we looked beautiful. Jeanne was a pleasure to work with and we all loved spending the day with her while getting ready. And most importantly, my makeup looked incredible all night!
Studio 7119: Hair: B+ (bride), A+ (bridesmaids & mothers)
I chose to get all of hair done here because it is where my usual hair stylist is located. Unfortunately he skipped out on vacation at the last minute and I had to have my updo done by someone I had never met before. The updo I had in the end didn't look like the picture. Because I had flown in from Seattle only the day before, we didn't have time for a rehearsal. I really wish I had done one. While the stylist I had was very nice and I'm sure she is great otherwise, I wasn't happy with my hair in the end. But because I was the bride I felt like I had to be nice and couldn't say "NO, this is not I want." I should have spoken up, that was an error on my part. The other stylists did fabulous blowouts on all the other ladies however, all the bridesmaids and mothers looked beautiful. The prices overall were very reasonable.
White Aisle: Invitations: A+
I had stumbled upon White Aisle when looking for wedding jewelry and found their stationary. Our invitations were created incredibly quickly and Rebecca was fabulous to work with. She created beautiful thermography invitations for a very reasonable price. We got so many compliments on our invitations and we loved them! I would recommend White Aisle to any bride when considering unique and beautiful invitations.
Chocolate, Nuts, and More: Favors: A+
We had small boxes of truffles as our favors. They were delicious, wrapped in cute little boxes with matching ribbons, and pretty reasonable priced. Many of our guests even ate them as soon as they sat down at their tables!
ErinJaneDesigns: Bridesmaid Jewelry: A+
I found Erin on Etsy and loved her jewelry. She was willing to make jewelry for me very quickly (24 hours!) and it was so beautiful that I ordered some for myself. Her prices are great and her customer service was wonderful.
Rohm: Veil: A+
I found Rohm on Etsy and looooved my veil from her! She created a beautiful cathedral length mantilla veil for me and put a bustle on it for free for me (which looked fabulous). She was very easy to work with and I was incredibly happy with the beautiful product.
Vera Wang Bridesmaids: Bridesmaids Dresses: A
The dresses for the bridesmaids were beautiful, they were definitely a different color than appeared on the website so make sure to order color swatches! But overall the dresses were gorgeous and I was very happy with them.
Anna Pohl, Dayplanners: Day of Coordinator: A+
When selecting a day of coordinator, I really wanted someone whose personality meshed well with mine and who I trusted. Anna was both of those. She was young enough that I thought she really got the vibe we were going for at our wedding, yet experienced enough that I felt we would be in very capable hands. Leading up the wedding, Anna checked in with me regularly and kept me on top of my planning. At the same time she was always willing to provide suggestions for different vendors and provide advice on a host of different random questions that I had for her. I know I have recommended her in previous DOC posts, but I really cannot recommend her enough. She was a complete professional who many of our vendors had great praise for. She was honestly the nicest person I dealt with during this planning process and the most helpful. I loved working with Anna and if it had been in our budget, I would have loved to have her plan the whole thing. I highly recommend Anna to any couple looking to be able to step back and just enjoy the day of their wedding.
Whew that was long, but feel free to page/pm me if you have any questions about any of the vendors we used!