Finally got around to doing my reviews from our July 3rd wedding. Everything was fantastic and we had a wonderful party! I used the star system for reviews as most other websites use that. I will also be posting these on Wedding Wire and Wedding Channel. Let me know if you have any questions.
Paper: Design By Sofia, 4 stars
Sofia is an extremely talented woman! She created my STDs, invites, seating chart, programs, and menu cards and I absolutely loved them. After our initial meeting where I gave her an idea of what I was looking for, she designed pieces that really looked amazing. The quality of her work was fantastic and her prices were very reasonable for the amount of customized work that she does. She can sometimes be a little difficult to get in touch with, but the quality of her work was fantastic and I highly recommend her.
Ceremony: St. Dominic Chapel at Providence College, 4 stars
I am an alum of PC and there was never another place I could see myself getting married than at the chapel. It is a beautiful space and everyone was fantastic on wedding day. The wedding coordinator there can be very difficult to get in touch with and there was some stress on my part trying to communicate with her well in advance of my wedding. However, at the rehearsal and on the wedding day, she did a great job of making sure things ran smoothly. Also, the musicians that were associated with PC (I didn’t have a choice on who to use) were absolutely fantastic!
Venue: Providence Biltmore, 5 stars
I am so happy we decided to have our reception at the Biltmore. It was such a wonderful experience that our guests are still talking about. Scott was great to work with (a little slow to respond to emails, but he did always get back to me) and the staff there was amazing on wedding day. Joy was extremely helpful in setting up our room block for 40+ rooms. The food was absolutely delicious and our guests raved about each course. We did have one passed appetizer that didn’t get served, although it was a simple oversight that neither my husband or I even noticed until we thought about it the next day. The flambe presentation for dessert wowed our guests and the servers that we had at our sweetheart table were always available to get us whatever we needed that night. The suite that they gave us on the night of the wedding (and that I stayed in the night before) was spacious and comfortable and the bridal breakfast that the girls and I had the morning of the wedding was delicious.
Dress: Cinderella’s Bridal, 3 stars
Cinderella’s was the first bridal salon I visited when looking for dresses. Scott pulled several dresses for me that day and I ended up purchasing the first dress I tried on (after looking at several other salons and trying on many more dresses). There was some miscommunication on the day before my wedding about my veil (they thought I had it; I didn’t and there were a few hours where it was “missing”), but it was all resolved that day. Despite the fact that I loved my dress, I wasn’t thrilled with my alterations experience at the salon. My seamstress was able to add a corset my dress when it wasn’t fitting right, but it was put in with little support to hold it in place, something I didn’t really realize until the day of the wedding when it kept “slipping.” Also, I did ask for it to be shortened so that it wouldn’t drag when I changed into flip flops and was told that wasn’t possible. My bustle didn’t hold (partly husband’s fault for stepping on it!), despite having several different ties. Overall, I would definitely recommend buying a dress from this shop, but I would take it elsewhere for alterations.
Suits: Spardello’s, 5 stars
My husband, the groomsmen, and both of our fathers bought their suits from Spardello’s. The staff was fantastic in dealing with our many requests and they were able to get suits for guys that were all over the country and had to send in their measurements through phone, mail, etc. They did all the alterations on site and were able to alter my father’s suit within 48 hours of the wedding. I was very impressed with their customer service and highly recommend them.
Hair: Formal Hair Design, 5 stars
Lynda is absolutely fantastic! From the moment I met her at my trial, I knew she would be a wonderful addition to my wedding team. She was calm, focused, and helped all of us to look absolutely gorgeous on wedding day. There were 9 of us getting ready that morning and she and her assistant did our hair in a timely fashion. She listened to all of my girls and made them look amazing. I was so happy with the way my hair turned out and she made sure I was comfortable with how my hair felt with the headband and veil before she left.
Makeup: Spectrum Makeup Artistry, 5 stars
Jennifer is truly an artist! As someone who does not wear a lot of makeup, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about airbrush makeup. After my trial, I wanted to go out and buy a machine for my house! It is the most amazing makeup I have ever worn. It was lightweight, sweat proof, water proof, and provided awesome coverage. Jennifer did such an amazing job with our makeup that day and I am still receiving compliments about how natural my makeup looked. She was able to get 9 women ready on the morning of the wedding and kept us laughing throughout the process.
Day of Coordinators: Gracie Lou Events, 5 stars
If you can find the money in your budget to hire a DOC, I absolutely recommend it. I spent 2 1/2 years planning my wedding and I was so worried that things were not going to come together the way I wanted them to. I wanted to be able to enjoy my day without having to think about the little details and the ladies of Gracie Lou made sure that was possible. Once I met with Adrienne and Liz, I knew that my wedding was in fabulous hands. They were meticulous about keeping the details of my wedding straight and helped make sure we were on time and having fun. They oversaw the set up at the Biltmore and made sure everything was perfect. They were a blast to work with and I couldn’t have been happier with their work.
DJ: Victor from Party Time, 5 stars
I know, what’s left to say about this man?! He is high energy, loves what he does, is extremely skilled at his craft, and will make your wedding one helluva party! From our first almost 3 hour meeting with Victor, my husband and I knew he was exactly what we needed to achieve the wedding vision we had imagined. Victor helped to coordinate all the important events and dances during the wedding. He kept our dance floor packed all night and my guests were talking about him for days after the wedding. We had a full drum set up at our wedding (a surprise to me from Victor!) and it was an awesome element that really gave our wedding something extra. Victor also provided our uplighting and he made the ballroom look amazing that night. Victor is pricier than most other local DJs, but he is worth every penny.
Photographer: Scott Zuehlke Photography, 5 stars
Scott was one of the first vendors we booked and I am so happy we made that decision. He is very laid back, fun to be around, and is amazingly talented. My husband hates having his picture taken, so we knew we wanted someone who could capture what was happening at our wedding without being in our faces or directing us to pose the entire night. Scott absolutely accomplished that. From our rehearsal dinner to the bar after the wedding, I was so impressed with his ability to remain unobtrusive while pointing his camera at us. When we received our pictures back, I was instantly transported back to our wedding weekend and it was awesome to see all of the images he captured. He is definitely on the more expensive end when compared to others in the area, but I believe his personality and photographs are absolutely worth the price.
Videographer: Wedding Stories, 5 stars (pending video)
I decided at the last minute to book a videographer for our wedding, attempting to surprise my husband with it. John was great at getting back to me and even willing to keep up the charade when my husband called to see if we was available for our wedding day (after I had already booked him!). On the day of the wedding, I didn’t even know he was shooting most of the time, as he remained unobtrusive. He was professional and personable (I didn’t meet him until the day of the wedding). A few days after the wedding, John posted a teaser on Facebook with a music video-like clip of some of the highlights of our reception. I was absolutely blown away by what he was able to do with some of the footage he had shot! It truly looked like something that should be on MTV! I am so looking forward to receiving my video so I can see the rest of his amazing work.
Cake: Just Delicious Pretzels, 5 stars
From the day I started planning this wedding, I knew I didn’t want a regular wedding cake. My husband and I went back and forth about what to have and after trying a donut cake from Allie’s Donuts, we decided that we absolutely had to have one at our wedding. After speaking with Julie on the phone and discussing some ideas with her, she created two cakes for us. One looked like a traditional wedding cake, but was donut inside and covered with sprinkles. The other was a baseball themed groom’s donut cake displaying our Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. The cakes were delicious and my guests loved that we had a donut cake at our wedding.
Limo: Rockstar, 4 stars
We booked a 22 passenger limo bus for our wedding day. On the night of the rehearsal, one of the coordinators informed me that there was an issue with the air conditioning in the limo bus and that Rockstar wasn’t sure what would be happening the next day. As I was walking down to the lobby of the Biltmore on wedding day, I didn’t know what to expect, as we had never heard back about what we would be getting! Rockstar did end up upgrading us to one of the Rockstar buses, as the A/C was not fixed in the limo bus we booked. The Rockstar bus was awesome and we had a great time on the bus. Our driver wasn’t exactly sure where he was going and we had to provide some directions, but overall, I was happy with the service I received.
Flowers: Frey Florist, 5 stars
Sheri from Frey was fantastic to work with, especially considering I made many changes throughout the time between when I booked her and the day of the wedding. She was willing to meet with me several times and was extremely pleasant to deal with. My flowers looked amazing and help up very well in the heat that day. She delivered them to the Biltmore on the morning of the wedding and I was so happy with how they looked. Our centerpieces were beautiful and I was extremely happy with how all my florals turned out.
Wedding Singer: Steve Palumbo, 5 stars
We had Steve sing during dinner at our wedding. He performed classic standards (Sinatra, Martin, Armstrong, etc.) and wowed our guests with his performance. He put on a wonderful show and interacted with our guests throughout his performance. When our guests asked for him to continue singing after he had finished his official show, he was more than happy to oblige and performed several more songs. Steve was great about communication through email and I am so happy we decided to have him at our wedding.
Rehearsal Dinner: B and M Catering, 5 stars
We had our rehearsal dinner for 60+ people at our house so we could include many of the people who had traveled to be at our wedding. B and M was absolutely fantastic! We met with them several months before the wedding and had a tasting with some of the different foods we had chosen (a RI themed clambake). Mickey was great to work with and he helped us choose our menu and make sure we had enough different options. The guys from B and M arrived at our house about 3 hours before we wanted to eat and brought everything down to the trash bags with them. They cooked all afternoon and while we were at our rehearsal, and we arrived home to food ready to go. The served tons of food to our guests and everything was delicious. All of the food was prepared on site and they cleaned up everything when they were finished; they even took the trash with them when they left. I cannot say enough good things about this company and it was a great start to our wedding weekend.