Venue/Catering - Manhattan Penthouse: From start to finish, MP went above and beyond our expectations. Monika always responded to my endless emails in record time and handled every detail without a hitch. Since our wedding, we have received nothing but compliments on the food (get the lamb! Its amazing!) and the ambiance of the space. Most of our guests had never attended a NYC wedding and were impressed with the 360 views provided by the arched windows. We had nearly 190 guests and the space was a perfect fit – the dance floor was full and open flow between the cocktail room and the main room(and the window seats throughout) ensured that the space never felt cramped. I really cannot say enough about the venue – they were accommodating and from the minute I booked, the space set the stage for the rest of the wedding details. Photographer - Erica Berger: Erica’s photos speak for themselves – she is a truly gifted photographer and she makes it look so easy. We booked Erica when she first moved back to NYC and was establishing a business here. I am so happy we found her. Within 3 days of our wedding, we had around 50 edited shots already up on FB and a 4 minute stop motion video that blew us away. Though we have yet to receive all of our pictures, the work we have seen so far did an amazing job capturing the day. Without telling them, Erica and her assistant Kara (not to mention her new videographers!) grasped onto the dynamics in the room and got great shots of people in their element. Before our wedding, we had already suggested Erica to friends and got to see her in action as guests a few months before our day. Her style of shooting is def not traditional – very few posed shots and a much more photojournalistic approach. She “dances” with guests, mingles throughout and along the way captures amazing pictures. If you want a more formal approach to wedding photography – Erica may not be for you. She is warm and real and my husband and I now consider her a friend. Her editing skills are incredible and she makes pictures look like paintings but if that is not your style, she is also adept at natural edits. Her prices are very competitive for NYC and I would expect will increase as she establishes more business in the area given her results. DJ - DJ Ceremony From the minute we met Carlos, I knew he would be a great fit for us as our DJ. He has a true process to how he designs the music flow for the night and spent time asking us about our musical tastes and also the general vibe of our wedding guests. He was able to take all that information and boil it down to a few hours of music that kept the dance floor packed from start to finish. We had some very eclectic requests including working in traditional Greek folk dancing, 90’s hip hop, and plenty of music that would keep our overwhelmingly Jersey crowd dancing – not an easy task. He balanced everything perfectly, keeping old (including three 85 year old plus grandmas!) and young alike happy. Beyond his skills, Carlos is a really nice guy and someone we were happy to entrust such an important part of our wedding to. I would recommend him to anyone. Flowers/Linens/Day of Co-coordinator -- La Flor Event and Design– Margie did a fantastic job in transforming our venue through flowers, linens and other details while also serving as my trusty day of co-coordinator. I was so happy with everything she provided and am appreciative of all her help over the months leading up to the wedding. She was able to take my idea of turning birdcages into centerpieces and ran with it, creating a beautiful design that included candles and flowers. She also designed a flower scheme for the other bouquets, including topiaries, submerged orchids with floating candles, and lovely Manzanita trees with orchids. My colors were deep eggplant purple and Margie did an amazing job of finding flowers that fit into the palette. Our bouquets were gorgeous!!! A mix of different purple calla lilies and lavender roses and other flowers – they were exactly what I wanted. Margie’s linens (deep eggplant and champagne pintucks tablecloths, runners and eggplant napkins) really added a touch of elegance to the room. From what I saw they were in excellent condition and I am so happy I went with them. I first found Margie when researching renting linens as her prices were by far the most affordable I found for the types of linens I wanted. Margie also was very helpful as a partial planner, contacting vendors for me in the weeks leading up to the wedding, and always available with helpful suggestions along the way. I got my baker on Margie’s suggestion saving hundreds of dollars on my cupcakes. On the day of, Margie balanced her multiple duties as florist and day of co-coordinator and worked off my cues. She was not pushy and I know my bridal party and other vendors appreciated her calming presence throughout the day. Hair and Makeup- Sachiko Yanase- Sachiko was one of the best vendor decisions I made. She did an amazing job on myself and my eight bridesmaids, working at an incredible speed yet still creating beautiful intricate hair styles. She is super sweet and really helped calm my nerves on the morning of. I had requested an old Hollywood look with Rita Hayworth as my hair and makeup inspiration and she completely delivered. I got so many compliments on my wedding day look and some of the pictures truly look vintage. Everything held up the entire day and night and the airbrush makeup and eyelashes were great – really gave flawless coverage and the extra drama. Sachiko was with us most of the day, traveling to our ceremony site from the hotel on her own, and was ready for touch ups right before we walked down the aisle. Sachiko was always there with a touchup at the ready and she really went above and beyond what she needed to do. Her prices are extremely reasonable considering how talented she is. She was nothing but professional from the trial through the wedding day, arriving at 6:45am with a smile. I would recommend her to any of all future brides in a heartbeat. Dress -Pronovias I purchased Pronovias Finisterre from the NYC flagship and had nothing but a great experience. After first going to Kleinfeld for the fun of it, Pronovias was a breath of fresh air. Kleinfeld felt like a madhouse, and though my rep was very nice and pulled some lovely dresses, I did not feel like they had much to offer my lower budget. By comparison at Pronovias, my rep Katarina was able to pull dress after dress that blew me away and were all within my price range. The store itself is beautiful and I truly had personalized service. I knew I wanted a lace dress and Pronovias cannot be beat for this style. All the lace is very high quality and incorporates traditional designs with modern touches. The real reason Pronovias earns its stars however is the alterations and amazing service provided by Angela in alterations. Angela was a sweetheart and went above and beyond in helping to slightly redesign the dress. Admittedly, my initial alterations experience was not the greatest. During my first appointment my first seamstress, though very nice, did not really understand what I wanted for the sleeves we were adding to the dress. She also did not appear to be pinning the bust correctly as I was spilling over. Both of these issues were promptly addressed when Angela(manager) was called over. She understood exactly what to do with the dress to make it flatter me and created amazing sleeves that incorporated two difference laces on the dress. She also removed several of the underlayers of the dress and creating a beautiful A-line bustle. Angela treats tailoring like the art it is and I truly appreciated her stepping in and taking a special interest in my dress throughout the process. Each appointment Angela greeted me and her level of customer servicer was unsurpassed. Invitations – The Aerialist Press Alexandra did an amazing job with our invitations and her VERY reasonable prices allowed us to get letterpress, which I had originally written off when I first researched prices elsewhere. Given I only communicated with Alex via email, she was always extremely prompt with responses and answered all my questions. The process was fast easy and the invitations came perfectly packed We chose the NYC skyline house design with a postcard and got so many compliments. The suite really set the tone for the wedding – everything was very high quality – . For a small additional extra charge, they printed our addresses in matching calligraphy font – saving us time and additional money. Would definitely recommend for anyone who wants the old school elegance of letterpress but doesn’t want to spend a fortune. Hotel Block Hotel Indigo Chelsea We booked a room block through hotelplanner.com at the Hotel Indigo given its central location to our church/venue. It was a great decision as the rate provided was very competitive for Manhattan and it was only a short cab ride away for our guests. Wesley was helpful start to finish and added rooms and reservations quickly. The hotel staff did a great job the day of ensuring our guests could get early check ins whenever possible given the 3pm check in time would have left some guests stranded. Wesley also kindly offered a conference room for the groomsmen to gather for no additional charge – a very nice gesture. The suite(which we also received for the block rate despite its huge size) is lovely and has more than enough room to fit more than 15 people buzzing around getting ready/taking pictures etc. It also provided a nice backdrop for getting ready pictures with the city views and lovely décor. The customer servicer at the hotel was also exceptional despite a last minute snafu with regards to the rooftop bar. Our afterparty plans were ruined when the company that owned the bar and restaurant decided to close business on our wedding day. The hotel staff claimed to not have been informed ahead of time– needless to say we were not happy when we arrived back to the hotel after the wedding with 150 people ready to keep the party going. Had we known, we simply would have chosen another bar. After some back and forth, our guests were able to extend the party in the downstairs bar – a nice gesture given they could have left us without any service Wesley could not have been more apologetic and handled the situation gracefully. I would recommend the hotel to anyone looking to provide their guests with a comfortable centrally located hotel. Favors TruffleTrolley. I have to commend Truffle Trolley for their excellent customer service.. Days before my wedding, my 200 boxes of truffles were lost in the USPS system, leaving me scrambling. Truffle Trolley very generously reshipped an entire new order at no charge to me to ensure they would arrive before the wedding. They did not have to do that and it was greatly appreciated. The truffles came backed tightly in adorable little boxes that matched my décor perfectly and they were delicious. The website was easy to use and they always answered my calls/emails promptly. Very affordable prices as well.