We got married on 9/15/12 and had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect and while there were a few minor hiccups, honestly I didn't even notice! Hope this helps and good luck planning!
CT Wedding Group, The Barns at Wesleyan Hills: A-Let me start off by saying that the Barns is a beautiful venue and it was exactly what DH and I were looking for. Mary-Beth was our coordinator on the day-of and she was wonderful, as well. We did have a DOC (see below), so my interactions with the Barns staff that night were admittedly limited. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat much, but I have heard that the food was great and what little I did get was delicious. They were very accommodating as far as decor and set-up, and I have no complaints on that end at all. We did have some issues with one of the bartenders, however. I understand that it is his job and he needs to be cautious of over-serving, etc., however we paid A LOT of money for an open bar and it just seemed that he was rude to a lot of our guests, including some of the wedding party. Maybe he was just having a bad night, but we heard from a lot of guests that he was hard to deal with. They even closed the bar earlier than planned (including non-alcoholic beverages!) which I was not happy with at all. There was a second bartender who seemed very nice, and honestly I didn't personally have a problem with either of them, but I don't like hearing negative feedback from guests, especially after the amount of money we paid. There was also a specific request that we made for the bar (twice) that was overlooked. When my dad pointed it out on the day of, they did rectify it by going out to purchase the item, but it would have been nice if they didn't have to do that. One thing I think they could do to improve communication through the entire wedding planning process is to assign each couple a coordinator earlier in the process, instead of the week of. There were times that we had questions, etc. and it always seemed that we didn't know exactly who to contact or that we were being passed around because we hadn't been assigned to anyone. Overall, it's a beautiful venue, and I was happy with it.
Memorial Chapel at Wesleyan University: AWe chose to have our ceremony offsite and indoors because our type A personalities couldn't handle the "what-if's" of the weather. The church is non-denominational and you can bring in your own officiant, priest, musicians etc. They are EXTREMELY accommodating as far as decor and I have no complaints with them at all. They did call the week of and ask if it would be alright if they held a funeral at the church the morning of, but honestly it didn't effect our timing at all and they were very pleasant to deal with about the whole thing and even let me know that if we were uncomfortable with it that we could say no!
The White Dress by the Shore: AI purchased my Augusta Jones gown from them last year. It is a beautiful store and they do make it a very special and personalized shopping experience. I had a large group of people shopping with me and they were very accommodating to everyone. It is expensive, however they carry some of the higher end designers that you won't find in many other stores in CT. My consultant was very sweet and she was great at making suggestions based on what I liked and didn't like and did a great job at staying within budget limitations. The alterations here however are ridiculously expensive, so be ready for that or take it somewhere else- that's what I did.
Bliss Bridal: A++The owner of the store, Jess (and her mom) are PHENOMENAL! Seriously, amazing. They were my favorite people to work with during all of the wedding planning. We purchased all of my bridesmaids dresses from here and I also had the alterations on my dress done here. They were always super nice and helpful and were never overwhelmed with us, even though it was a pretty big bridal party (9 girls!). I could go on and on about how great they were, but I seriously have nothing negative to say about them at all. If you are in the Cheshire area definitely check them out.
Val McCormick Photography: A-Val was one of the very first vendors that we booked when we started planing our wedding. She is very creative and talented and does beautiful work. She is also very friendly and easy to get along with, which is definitely a plus- DH and I "clicked" with her at our first meting! We haven't gotten our pictures back yet, so I can't comment on that (although the ones I saw on her camera were awesome!) I will say that her organization/communication can use some work- but part of that was because she was on maternity leave literally right up until the day before our wedding, which is understandable (but made me a little nervous nonetheless
) She seemed to be at times, hard to get a hold of via email and hard to schedule a meeting/call with- but like I said mostly because of the new baby. Her second shooter on the day of the wedding was Nikki Nicole and she did a great job of organizing everyone and keeping everything moving and the guys (who she spent the morning with) really liked her. Val's assistant was also very helpful and friendly. We can't wait to get our pictures back!
Epic Filmmakers (formerly DL Video Productions): A+David Long and his team are so talented! After seeing their work we booked them on the spot for a Same Day Edit package. They arrived early in the morning and stayed until the reception was almost over and except for the awesome footage that they got, you would never have known they were there! David was so friendly and made helpful suggestions along the way as far as posing and setting up shots. The same day edit that they put together for us was awesome- I have no complaints with them whatsoever and I can't wait to get our full video back! You can see our same day edit here:
http://vimeo.com/49950074 Mary Coburn, Officiant: A++I adore Mary. Hands down the number one compliment that we heard from our guests was how great she was and what a beautiful and unique ceremony she did for us. She went above and beyond the call of a regular officiant and was like a second wedding planner and a great friend. You can see my full review of her on her profile:
http://www.theknot.com/Vendors/Mary-Coburn-Wedding-Officiant-and-Celebrant/Profile/COF/051/278395/reviews but if you are looking for an officiant that is unique and will make a beautiful ceremony that is about you and your FI do not hesitate to call Mary- she was amazing.
Kia Martinson, ESTOccasions: A+
I'm pretty sure that our wedding day would have been very different if it had not been for Kia. Not only did she and her assistant help run the rehearsal, they also did most of our set-up (including measuring and cutting lace for our table overlays, which was definitely not a part of her job!) They kept everything on time and running smoothly and did all of the work so that we could enjoy our wedding. After the wedding Kia stored most of our stuff while we were on our honeymoon, helped us to sell some of the items that we didn't want to keep and gave us over 150 pictures that her assistant had taken that day. She was really great and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a DOC! It really does help take the stress off- I felt much better knowing that there was someone else in charge in those final days so that I could just relax and be with my family and friends!
Jae Palermo, DJae Melee: AJae is probably one of the most popular vendors in any industry on these boards. DH and I booked him as soon as we met with him- he is young, down to earth, and really knows his stuff- all for a great price. I have read some reviews on here from other brides who have had trouble contacting him, but we didn't have any issues. He always seemed to answer within a reasonable amount of time and seemed to work really hard to make us happy. During the night he did refuse to play some of the songs that we had asked him not to play and always asked for my or DH permission before playing anything "questionable" which I appreciated. The only snag that we ran into was during entrances when I had forgotten to add one of the songs in for one of our couples- totally my fault and Jae worked immediately to fix it so no one ever knew any better. I would highly recommend him as a DJ.
Party Animalz Entertainment, Photobooth: AWe actually found this company on Groupon a few months back. I was a little hesitant to use them because there were really no reviews on them and it seemed like no one knew anything about them. We went for it though, because it was such a great price and we otherwise probably couldn't have a had a photo booth. I was really pleasantly surprised with them! The photo booth was really nice, Donny, the attendant (and owner I believe) was well dressed and very friendly to everyone. He handed out the props that we had purchased and really made it a great experience. He was even able to customize the prints exactly the way I had asked him to, which was great. When we returned from our honeymoon there was a disc waiting for us in the mail with all of the photobooth pictures on it. If you are thinking of getting a photo booth definitely do it- all of our guests really enjoyed it and this was a great company to work with overall.
CT Cigar Company- AThis was one of DH's only requests for the wedding. He and all of the other guys really liked them and spent a good amount of time at this station during the night. They were really easy to work with during the whole process and I have no complaints with them at all.
Coopers Dress Shop- Orange: FBeware. My mom bought her dress here and while it was a pretty dress, the experience was a nightmare. The consultants are very rude and practically throw dresses at you to try on, the entire time acting like you are bothering them. My mom had her heart set on this particular dress, so we purchased it even though the experience was poor. When she went to have it altered at another seamstress she told my mom that this dress had already been altered and had already been worn by someone else! Sure enough, all of the tags had been cut out and there were marks on the dress, and the hem had been lifted! When we went back to the store to discuss it with them, they were very rude, called us liars and refused to do anything about it. I would never shop there again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
Sweet Marias Cake: BSweet Maria's is one of my favorite bakeries and DH and I use them all the time. When we first met with them they were very friendly and the cake samples were to die for. On the day of the wedding, while the cake was pretty and I heard it was delicious, I was a little underwhelmed with the look of it. It wasn't bad, but didn't quite live up to the vision that I had or the pictures that I had shown them. In the end, the important thing was that it was tasty and our guests enjoyed it.
Naomi's Studio and Salon (Janice, Angela and Tonya): AI really loved working with Naomi's. The girls and I all looked beautiful and they were finished ahead of schedule which doesn't often happen with big wedding parties. All three ladies arrived on time and were really accommodating to what each girl wanted. My hair and makeup lasted all night long and it looked awesome in photos. Janice especially was a miracle worker for airbrushed makeup- and she was so sweet!
Men's Wearhouse: CMen's Wearhouse caused us a lot of undue stress in the days leading up to the wedding. While the tuxes looked great in the end and were good quality, Many of the gm and father's tuxes did not fit and had to be re-ordered completely like 3 days before the wedding. We were NOT happy with this at all.
Carriage Limousine: B+ We used two limo's (to bring the guys to the church) and a limo bus on our wedding day. The driver's showed up on time and the vehicles were nice. While we did have some trouble getting dropped off in front of the church due to a closed road (not the driver's fault) the girls and I had no complaints. The guys however said that one of their drivers was very unprofessional and rude.
Nicole Stacy Trio, University of Hartford School of Music: A+I booked the trio through the University of Hartford Gigline and they were absolutely fantastic! Nicole was easy to get in touch with and played exactly the music we asked her to play with no trouble at all and they sounded AMAZING for a great price! LOVED them!