Florida-Central Florida

Wedding Vendor Reviews 6/15/13 Wedding

Well a year and half of planning and our youngest daughter Katelyn’s wedding is over…..I would like to comment on our vendors that we used

Ceremony :  St James Catholic Cathedral--A  My daughter is a member of the church and Father Nick did an awesome job with the ceremony and their wedding coordinator was very helpful.  The only drawback with St. James is that they usually have 3 weddings or more every Saturday, and you have 1 hour for the service and you must be out of the church within 30 minutes after the ceremony, but we knew this prior to booking the church.  It was beautiful, stunning and a perfect Catholic wedding.  Elizabeth Jennings (organist) and Valerie Hall (soloist) were a delight to work with and made planning the music for the service easy and their recommendations were great.  

Reception venue:  Highland Manor—A++ Wow! What can I say about Highland Manor except that they were truly exceptional.  When we were searching for a wedding reception venue, I was overwhelmed with the costs for wedding receptions in Orlando.  My daughter did not want the typical hotel reception, so many venues were ruled out because of that.  We had narrowed it down to Art Museum, History Center, Maison Jarden, and Dubsdread.  On the recommendation of a wedding planner we checked out Highland Manor and chose it because it offered a reasonable package, could accommodate the number of guests, and we had the venue to ourselves during the reception.   It also met her criteria for a “Victorian Rustic” themed wedding.

After meeting with David and Corey, I don’t think he realized how detailed oriented Katelyn and I were, but on our final walk through he understood how important it was to the two of us (we have been doing prom for our high school for over 10 years and to her details were very important).  When we arrived for dropping off the truck full of wedding décor, table cloths, etc, I think I overwhelmed him again but when he realized how everything was organized, he was pleased and looked forward to seeing it on Saturday night but I still worried that I should have paid someone to do all the details  But alas, I couldn’t be two placed at once so I left it in David’s hands.  When we arrived at Highland Manor on Saturday at 5 p.m. for cocktail hour, I was immediately met by David and given a tour of every little detail.  IT WAS PERFECTION to the MAX.  He understood Katelyn’s vision and it was perfect.  Katelyn and Ryan arrived a few minutes after David and I were talking and she was overjoyed!  She was so excited….her vision of pink was perfect!  They even finished directional chalkboard signs that I ran out of time to do.  They  paid attention to all the details that were there and made sure they were perfect.

We booked an extra hour with Highland Manor, with the option of going an additional hour if needed.  I think the extra hour was definitely needed.  We could have easily used the additional hour, but since transportation had been arranged we decided to only go the five hours.   We were told that Katelyn and Ryan would have their own waiter throughout the evening…..and they did.  He was so attentive to their every need, making sure they had a drink at all times….made sure they ate dinner, and even tied Katelyn sash to her dress when she needed fixed.    The packed a box of food for them for the hotel, including their wedding cake, grooms cake, cookies from their cookie bar and candy from their candy bar.  The details to them were just as important to them as they were to us.  The wedding reception food was excellent, the guests were well served and enjoyed their experience.  The bar service was excellent and the servers were outstanding.   

So now I had over 60 boxes to be loaded back into the truck, their staff boxed everything up, loaded into the truck with an hour after the end of the reception, it was ready to go.  Outstanding service, friendly and courteous staff and my husband, Katelyn and Ryan and myself could not be more pleased with Highland Manor.    I would highly recommend Highland Manor for any event.

Flowers: Flowers by Leslie  A++  Flowers were high on Katelyn’s list, not for the church but for the reception.  With 8 bridesmaids, 7 groomsmen, 3 ring bearers, 1 junior bridesmaid, and 4 flower girls, there were enough flowers for the church in every bouquet.  However for the reception, Katelyn had four different patterns that she wanted to be repeated throughout the table scape.  Lesley did an outstanding job from the first time we met with her.  We gave her a budget and Katelyn was able to have all of the flowers she desired.  Lesley made sure all of the flowers were set properly at the venue, and returned at the end of the evening to help take down all of the items.  She was a delight to work with she repaired things when there were issues with one of the candelabras.    We had three meetings prior to the wedding and then she attended our final walk through with Highland Manor.  The flowers were beautiful, fresh and lasted over a week after the wedding and that was transporting them home twice after the wedding two hours away.  Lesley worked to see Katelyn’s wedding flowers a reality and made suggestions to help with the costs as needed.  I was delighted with her work and her friendly personality made working with her a positive point in Katelyn’s wedding. 

Cake:  Irma Kaye Strickler  A+   I used a local baker from North Florida who we had used for our older daughters wedding and for a shower cake.  The venue was two hours from her home and she delivered a cake that was tasty and beautiful,  Katelyn and Irma Kay worked for over 4 hours on the design of her cake and when Katelyn arrived at the venue the cake was exactly as she had wanted.  Her cakes of scrumptious, beautiful, and reasonably priced for a wedding cake.  I would use Irma Kay for any of my cake needs

Apollo Chariots— A –   We used several vehicles from Josh at Apollo Chariots.  1.  Stretch Limo for 5 hours for transportation to church, photos and reception—the driver was polite, courteous and on time.  He made sure everyone was safe and even paid attention to the weather when the bridal party was doing photos afraid that the bride might be caught in a thunderstorm.  2.    Mini Bus for 5 hours for transportation to the church, photos and reception.  The bus was nice and was what we needed to get a large wedding party around.  One thing as MOB I should have done was to be sure there was water and snacks on the bus, since there was such a long time between events.  We did have issues with the driver of the mini bus, but after contacting Josh at Apollo Chariots after the event, he took care of us properly adjusting our costs due to the issues with the driver.   3.    Town Car for transit for Bride and Groom from reception to hotel after the wedding.  Excellent!  The driver was professional, polite and on time.  Katelyn and Ryan said they had excellent service.  4.Van for transport for guests/wedding party from venue back to Floridays Resort.  The driver was polite, professional and courteous.  He arrived on time and delivered all of our guests/wedding party safely home from the reception.  We booked this last minute with Josh and he worked to get us the transportation we needed with excellence.

Photographer:  Wings of Glory/Nickole Woodyard                TBD  Nickole was a pleasure to work with and we think she got some great shots.  We expect to get a copy of the prints within the next few weeks and can review her work better then.  She was very accommodating to various budgets.  I can say that she did an outstanding job with their engagement pictures.  We hope she got lots of great shots because the weather did not cooperate with us!

Elegant Entertainment--  A  We were given Joseph’s name from our photographer and after meeting with several DJ’s booked him  We were pleased with his professionalism, his ability to keep the party moving and the quality of his work.  He was friendly and worked to play what guests requested.  Katelyn and Ryan gave him an extensive list of things they wanted played and he did a great job of making it happen!

Floridays Resort:                C  When we chose Floridays Resort 18 months ago we did so after an excellent stay and great service.  I hate to say that after our week of staying there for the wedding I was disappointed in the resort.  

1.  We had several mechanical issues in our room, that require our calling numerous times to the front desk to get addressed.  One included a water leak in a closet, the closet that the bridesmaids dresses and tuxes were in!  NO ONE ever came to check the issues even after three phone calls.   One of the mens clothes were left on the floor and were soak and wet in the morning, luckily the condo had a dryer or he would not have had clothes to wear.    2.  The other mechanical issue was the outlets in the bathrooms would not reset.  My daughter called once about 7 a.m., I called about 11 a.m., but it took my husband calling at 11 p.m. to finally get someone to address the issue.    We tried the fuse box, but it didn't work, finally they came late at night and fixed it.  3.  We had a master account set up in our names and it was not to be charged on by anyone except my husband, my daughter or myself.  My brother in law was allowed to put several charges on it.  When we questioned it at check out, the manager argued with us, and we had to have her to pull the receipts to prove that they were not our charges.  Although it was less than 100 dollars, it bothered me that anyone could have put charges on our account.   My issue is that I believe that they thought he was us for the entire visit and that really is an issue because who else could have put charges on my account.  I have booked large conventions before at other Orlando hotels and this was a great disappointment that someone else was able to charge to the master account.  4.  The housekeeping staff was excellent, they brought needed towels and items whenever we asked. 5.  Our reservations were mixed up prior to our arriving however, our event planner did work with us to adjust them correctly, thank you for doing this.6.  We asked to be in the same building and our event planner did a great job at making sure this happened.  However, the location of our room was quite noisy, guests walking behind our condo were very loud even after 10 p.m. and banged on the rails that were outside our condo.    When we stayed there before we would not have known that there were any other people in the facility. 

LeJeune Hair and Makeup Artistry

Patricia was a delight to work with from beginning to end.  Her staff were on time, professional and excellent.  They even made me look great!  I want to take the makeup artist home with me.  They worked to make Katelyn have the makeup and hair she desired.  It was a very humid and rainy day in Florida the day of her wedding and she wanted long curls to last the entire day.  Patrice took the time to make sure she was pleased.  With 8 bridesmaids, 1 junior bridesmaid, 4 flower girls ,  1 grandma, 1 mom and 1 bride it was a tall order to have ready by 11 a.m.  They did it with ease and excellence.  I would use them again! 

Re: Wedding Vendor Reviews 6/15/13 Wedding

  • Thanks for the very detailed information! It's a great idea to share our experiences like this so we all know what we are getting into! I love the pictures of Highland Manor and am very interested in using them. I have a small budget so I'm not sure if I can make it work but it's good to know they have superb services. Thank you so much!
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards