Florida-West Coast

Vendor Reviews (long)!!! :)

Back from the honeymoon (which was great!!)! Thought I’d take some time to post my vendor reviews for you ladies from our April 9 wedding in Clearwater Beach…fortunately, we got to work with some wonderful vendors and our day was flawless!! Sorry this is long, but hopefully it's informative!

 

Venue - Hyatt Clearwater Beach Resort: A+++++!! 

I can’t say enough about this place. The hotel was impeccable, the staff was beyond attentive and friendly and the location is gorgeous! Jennifer Payne, the coordinator there, was phenomenal. From day one, she assured us that she would take care of everything. We had tossed around the idea of hiring a "day of" coordinator and I’m glad we didn’t because she really was on top of it all. She followed up with us regularly and with our vendors as well. She knew every little detail of our wedding and executed it flawlessly. Her staff was amazing and the ballroom looked more beautiful that I could have imagined. We had a very positive response from all our guests too – I would highly recommend this place!

 

Ceremony – St. Brendan Catholic Church: A/D 

I split the reviews for this since I have a separate review for the church and for the coordinator. The church was fine – it’s gorgeous. It was during Lent so we couldn’t put flowers on the altar but honestly, it was so pretty, it didn’t need it. They were great about letting us move to 2:30 instead of 2:00 (even though they had a mass at 4:30). They got a little strict on the music selection but we compromised and it worked out well. Since this church is on the beach and holds a lot of weddings for non-parishoners, they allowed us to bring our own priest. I give them an A.

The coordinator there, Joy, was a whole other story. My husband had been talking to her on the phone so I had never met her. She was nice once we got there and then turned into a beast. We knew exactly how we wanted the bridal party placed (guys already in line at the altar and girls walking up one by one to take their place). She wanted it done a different way. She said “that’s not how they do weddings.” Well I’m sorry but we paid you to hold our wedding here, this is how we want it. It wasn’t anything random – the last 4 weddings we went to did the same thing. Honestly, even the bridal party didn't care for the way she wanted everyone to walk down the aisle. Her attitude toward myself and my guests was horrendous. When we were on the altar, my mom said to her that she couldn’t see us because our chairs were too far back. She told my mom that if she wanted them moved to go move them herself or have my dad go up there and move the chairs. Then, I wanted a special reading done that was read at my parents’ wedding and she complained that our wedding was now going to take too long…even though the reading was about a minute long. On the wedding day, she told my husband that they had bent over backwards for us for this wedding…I’m sorry, but we asked for no special favors and the only thing we wanted differently was adding that one reading at the end! Her whole attitude toward everyone during the rehearsal and wedding day were miserable and she should not be working in a church. Even the priest told her to calm down at one point! I’m giving her a D – and that’s being nice!

 

Dress – CC’s Boutique: A+/F

 

I’m splitting this review again because of sales and alterations. My sales experience there was fantastic. Julia was my sales assistant and she was so wonderful. I went back twice and ended up buying the second dress I had tried on. She was so great to work with and so patient and seemed to know exactly what I liked. If you go there, ask for her – she’ll ensure you have a great dress buying experience! I give her and my dress an A+!

The alterations were another story…Cathy, their alterationist is AWFUL!!! When I went for my try-on, the dress was close to perfect. I got a Maggie Sottero who comes in petite sizes (I am 5’2 and a size 0, so dress shopping was not so easy). My length was perfect! The only thing I needed done was to get a little take in on the sides around the top area. I went back with my mom to get altered and due to the structure of my dress, she could sew the bra into the dress instead of having a corset under it. She pinned the sides in and I came back a couple weeks later to try it on. She couldn’t even zip the dress up, it was so tight. I swear to God, I had lost 2 pounds in those last 2 weeks, so I can assure that it was not a weight gain issue, which she accused me of and said her alterations were perfect. She said she could let some of it out and for me to come back in. I come back in a week later and it’s loose again. Again, she claims it’s me and not her alterations. Long story short, I had to go in 4 times and I lost even more weight (which put me underweight) just for the fear her alterations wouldn’t get screwed up and I wanted to be able to breathe in my dress. The dress fit fine however, just into the reception, several of the hooks on my bustle popped and my bridesmaids had to safety pin them so it would stay up. There is another alterationist there whose name I don’t know, but if you go there, say you want her instead of Cathy. She gets an F from me.

 

Photography/Videography– Life’s Highlights: A++++++

Scott and April from LH are wonderful!! We had already used them for our engagement shoot so we had experience working with them already. They are both very personable yet very professional. They work very well together as a team and had a lot of creative ideas. I haven’t seen the final results yet but I have 100% confidence that everything will look amazing. They are both very good on communication as well, and are never hard to touch base with. I’d use them for future non-wedding shoots down the road as well. We loved them!!

 

Hair/Makeup – Michele Renee: A+++++

Fantastic!! Dena was my main stylist and I just loved her. She nailed it on the first try at the trial. Megan was the other girl who came with her on the day of. They were the exactly on time and were so fun to work with. All my bridesmaids had different hairstyles and they looked gorgeous! My mom and mother in law got their hair and makeup done too and everyone looked so beautiful. I would highly recommend asking for either Dena or Megan – they made us all look so great!

 

DJ- James King, Grant Hemond and Associates: A+++++

We LOVED James!! He had done a friend’s wedding in January so we immediately switched to him. He did everything we asked, was so personable and got everyone to stay on the dance floor until the end of the very last song.  We also got the uplighting and wall washing done and it looked SO good! I highly recommend James – he will make your wedding so much fun, I promise!!

 

Flowers – Apple Blossoms: A+++++

Scott at Apple Blossoms was so great!! We did not get floral centerpieces – we rented a mix of small chandeliers and silver branches from him. He really made our room look outstanding! I wasn’t too picky about the flower choices for the bouquets so I told him my colors and let him have some creative freedom. My girls held all white bouquets against their Tiffany blue dresses and mine was purple, white and blue. I got SO many compliments on my bouquet – even from guys (and guys aren’t into flowers, lol)! He really did an outstanding job – I would recommend him to anyone.

 

Cake – Chantilly Cakes: A+++++

Our package at the Hyatt included a cake from here, so this is the only place we looked at. Desiree was wonderful! We went in a few months ago and gave our design and then had a change of heart so we went back in. She was very accommodating. The flavors were so good that we even chose a different kind for each tier! The cake looked AMAZING and we got so many compliments on the look and on all the flavors!

 

Invitations – Not From A Box: A++++

Working with them was so easy! They were excellent at communication and sent proofs of everything. Once approved, they were done on time and I chose to go pick them up since they are in St. Pete. They looked amazing and we also had them print the addresses on the envelopes which looked beautiful too (instead of using calligrapher). We got a lot of compliments and the quality was very top notch. Definitely recommend!!

 

Hope these help! If anyone has specific questions about any of my vendors, just let me know! Smile

 

 

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