Here are the reviews I posted on TK a lil while back:
Ok this is going to be long because I’m always long winded and I have a lot to say.
I want to give honest and THOROUGH reviews of everyone who contributed to my wedding day. I know these have been a long time coming and I apologize for the delay but please understand I did not take the task of vendor reviews lightly.
Feel free to skim this but I have to say everything I have in my mind. I will start by saying that my wedding was amazing. Truly the best night of my life. Despite anything that went wrong, it was absolutely incredible and I have never felt the amount of happiness or joy that I did on my wedding night. Like all of you, I put a lot of time, energy, heart and soul into planning my wedding and it was a very crazy but exciting journey. Seeing it all come together was such a dream and it turned out more beautiful than I ever imagined.
As many of you know, I spent a LOT of time choosing my vendors. In most cases I met with a number of people and agonized over who to book. I visited about 20 venues in person; I met with 7 photographers, 9 florists, 4 DJs and on and on and on. In the end I am glad I did my research and I believe that with the recommendations and help from the knot and from my own investigating, I was able to chose amazing vendors who helped see my vision come to life.
That said, no matter how much research you do or how many recommendations you get, you can never know for sure how a vendor will perform and you will almost always be disappointed in SOMETHING esp if you’re like me and have really high expectations.
Many of you know this but yes, several things DID go wrong on my wedding day. I had always heard married girls say that SOMETHING will inevitably go wrong so I was kind of prepared and expecting that. But a lot of things went wrong, most notably the weather - an element beyond anyones control. In the end, it didn’t even matter b/c it was so special and sweet and beautiful. The day was truly about Matt and I and the love we felt and shared that night is something I will treasure forever.
It’s amazing how before hand you think that if something goes wrong it will be ruined. But when you get to that moment, you realize, there is nothing you can do, and the show must go on. Prior to my wedding, I was sure that if it were to rain, I’d have a major breakdown and slit my wrists. I was sure that I would cry my eyes out and be a wreck.
Well, it rained and I did not cry. Not one tear. I didn’t even care. I was honestly not even phased by it. I guess it’s because when I was in the moment, all I wanted to do was marry the man I love.
I will preface by saying that we were supposed to have our Ceremony outside on the “Epic Green” overlooking the Miami River and Biscayne Bay. This did not happen. The weather report said 10% chance of rain, and for a week leading up to it I felt so lucky that I was going to have AMAZING weather… BUT THEN… just an hour before the ceremony was supposed to start, clouds rolled in and there was a major downpour forcing everything inside. The backup plan for the ceremony was to set up half of the ballroom but since the rain came out of nowhere it was too late b/c the ballroom was already set up with the CP’s and reception décor so they had to find a last minute room to do it in.
Originally, our cocktail hour was going to be on the Epic Pool Deck which would have been so scenic and so gorgeous but that didn’t happen. This is one of my biggest disappointments b/c I had been so looking forward to my cocktail hour. I really had a picture of how it would be and it was not that at all.
In the end, you can make all the plans in the world but things don’t always turn out how you pictured it or how you wanted it to. But if that happens, just know that not all is lost and it can still turn out to be the best night of your life. Sometimes these unexpected changes can actually make things more interesting, give you great stories to tell and create new unexpected memories to take with you.
I’m warning you now that these are going to be the longest and most overly detailed reviews you’ll ever read. I want you guys to know my whole experience and understand WHY I graded the way I did. Did I have high expectations? Absolutely, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Each and every one of us has expectations of how things will be and we know it may not be just like that but when we pay a lot of money and put so much time and effort into things… we have no choice but to expect a lot and I most certainly did.
Vendors:
Epic Hotel B+ I want to give the Epic an A but there were definitely some issues on my wedding day that the Epic was responsible for so I just can’t. On the whole the Epic is amazing. It’s a stunning hotel and the ballroom is gorgeous. I personally think it’s the prettiest ballroom I have ever seen and that’s a big part of why we booked it.
That said, we also booked the Epic hotel for its waterfront views, as I really wanted to get married on the water. When we booked, the hotel was brand new, open only 2 months and had never even had a wedding yet. We knew we were taking our chances with a newer place but it seemed a good gamble as they were rated #1 hotel in Miami on tripadvisor and the service I received every time I was there was impeccable.
I think my biggest issues with the venue were actually with the coordinator. I want to believe she truly did the best she could, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I hate to give a bad review to anyone but I did have a few issues with Ivette Perez the coordinator at the Epic. In the beginning she was wonderful but throughout the process I found her to be very hit or miss. Sometimes she was super accommodating and sweet as pie and other times she would be curt or cold and sometimes seemed like she could care less.
The first thing that really bothered me was that she never told me that there was a chance that the water view over the Epic Green could possibly be obstructed or completely blocked and therefore unavailable on my wedding day.
The day before my wedding at the rehearsal there was a yacht, (the biggest friggin yacht I have EVER seen, seriously) was parked right in front of where my ceremony was going to be. When I asked Ivette about it and asked her if it would be moved for the wedding, she told me no and said that since the marina is not owned by the hotel she had no control over it. What killed me was her lack of concern over the fact that this was going to pretty much take away my waterview for my wedding ceremony. Instead of being like, “I’m so sorry” it was more like, Tough crap; there’s nothing I can do. That really really bothered me. I’d think she’s have been like, I’m sooo sorry this happened let me see what I can do… (um, hi sorry I sold you a water view that you’re not gonna get). To her defense, perhaps it never even occurred to her when we booked that a boat that size might park there and block my view but regardless, when it DID happen, the way she handled me was awful. In discussing this afterwards I asked her to be sure to warn future brides that might be booking the epic for the water view, that they may not get it. I hope they will do the right thing and do that. In the end because my ceremony had to be moved inside - it was a non issue but had the weather cooperated, I would have been left with an ugly blue boat as my backdrop rather than Biscayne Bay and the Miami River. Not cool.
Speaking of weather… the rule with the Epic, and in the contract, was that weather calls had to be made 3 hours in advance. So this means that if they were going to move our ceremony indoors, the decision would need to be made ahead of time so they would have time to set up half the ballroom for the ceremony. In my case, 3 hours before it was not raining, it was sunny - the florist was outside setting up the Huppah as planned and had no reason to resort to a Plan B. When the rain came out of nowhere, my mother asked Ivette what we were going to do as all my guests were starting to gather in the lobby. This is where it gets amazing. Ivette actually told my mother we were going to go have to go ahead with the ceremony outside in the rain!! Can you imagine that she wanted us to proceed outside when it was raining sideways?? So my mom was like, “that’s not an option, and Ivette said, “well the contract states that you have to make the weather call 3 hours ahead and your daughter didn’t make that call so there’s nothing I can do and it has to be outside” and my mom said in utter shock, are you serious? I don’t give a CRAP about the contract, it wasn’t raining 3 hours ago there was no reason to make the call, and I’m not sending my daughter or my guests outside in the rain so – FIND A SPACE! In the end, they did, but the fact that Ivette would even SUGGEST that we should continue with the ceremony in the POURING rain is totally ludicrous. Again, you’d think she’d say to my mom, “I’m working on finding you a backup, don’t worry” but no. She was like, sorry too bad. That’s not what a mother of the bride needs to hear minutes before the ceremony. She just didn’t seem like she cared.
THEN… during my wedding, while I was sitting at our sweetheart table eating dinner, Ivette actually came up to me to tell me she was leaving and ASKED ME FOR MONEY! DURING MY WEDDING. Does she think I’m carrying my wallet on me? What happened was that I had upgraded something at the last minute and it was for about $230. I gave her my CC number a few days before the wedding and I guess they didn’t run the cc right away and then I changed my account a few days later so when they finally went to run my card, it didn’t go through. Did she have every right to ask me for the money? Absolutely. BUT AT MY WEDDING? While I’m eating dinner and in my wedding dress? Considering that we had just paid them over $30k, you’d think she would realize I was good for the money and hold off on asking for the $200 or so bucks till afterwards! I just found that to be so highly unprofessional and just another example of why I feel like she doesn’t care about the bride. Or at least not about me.
What else? OH yes, there were tip jars at the bars at my wedding. This was sooo not ok with us. Considering that we paid the Epic $68 PER PERSON JUST FOR TAX AND TIP there should NEVER have been an expectation for my guests to then tip the bartenders on top of that. When my mom confronted Ivette about this after the wedding, Ivette insisted that there were no tip jars at that bars, that she walked around and never saw them and called it “hearsay. More or less suggesting my mother was lying. Luckily, Amy had photos of the bars and actually had a photo of my cousin is putting money in it!! So much for hearsay. They were there and my guests shelled out to tip the bartenders.
What else? Oh the Cocktail hour was not at all as we expected or what we paid for. Sure it was definitely dampened by the fact that it was moved inside instead of outside on the pool deck. I’m sure that to my guests it all seemed fine because they didn’t know what we paid for or what it COULD have or SHOULD have been but the truth is that we upgraded the cocktail so much and we did NOT get what we paid for. We added a bunch of stations to the original menu and there were supposed to be attendants at the stations but they weren’t there. Each station was supposed to have a chef/ attendant there serving food but there was no one there. When I asked Ivette why, she had no explanation. Not the end of the world but not what we expected or what was on our banquet order. Then, we paid almost $3K for a “Seafood Display” that was supposed to be Oysters, Shrimp, Crab etc. and it was the weakest looking seafood display I have EVER seen. It was nothing like what I expected or what we paid for. I’ve been to so many weddings where the seafood was displayed on ice and looked really awesome but it looked like nothing more than a bed of orchids, with some pieces of shrimp and a few oysters on it. Also, it was NEVER replenished. Such a disappointment. I was really surprised that a 5 star hotel would put that out… It was a far cry from what I’ve seen at other weddings or what I’d expect from the Epic Hotel. Also, There were only 5 small table rounds at the cocktail hour although the Banquet Order called for 12. Originally it was going to be outside at the pool which has a ton of seating in addition to the 12 tables but in this case, there were no seats AND no tables for my guests so everyone had to stand and had no where to set their food or drinks. When my mom asked Ivette why there were only 5 tables she said to my mom, that’s what your daughter asked for. Um, no. I asked Ivette why she said that and she denied it saying that she knew there was supposed to be 12 tables and doesn’t know why they weren’t there. That was her response to everything, I don’t know why there were no tables, no attendants, no this or that. I don’t know what happened. She refused to take responsibility for any of it and that bothers me b/c it was her job to see that things were going according to what we paid for and contracted for and what was on our banquet order. The cocktail hour was so important to me and I even skipped taking photos during it to be there but it ended up being just ok and then it was even cut short I found out. It was like 45 mins long. I just feel like we did not get what we paid for. Some of the hors’douevres weren’t even served until my mom asked about them at the end. The Kobe sliders came out during the last 15 mins. When I asked Ivette why all these things happened, and why she wasn’t on top of it, she has NO explanation and didn’t really apologize. She was just like; I understand what you are saying. Um? What? That’s your response? If she had some valid explanations or at LEAST and apology I might feel better about it but she had nothing. And again, didn’t seem to really care
Next issue…the LIGHTS WENT OUT IN THE BATHROOMS and the HALLWAYS during the reception and couldn’t be repaired. THANK Goodness they didn’t go out in the ballroom or my wedding would have been ruined!!! But seriously, the majority of the night the bathrooms had ZERO lights. Luckily Guerdy my DOC put some lanterns on the floors lining the hallways to provide some light so people could see where they were walking! I had two women in their 90’s there, so this was a major safety hazard to say the least. Guerdy tried to find someone to fix it and apparently spend a large part of the night trying to troubleshoot the issue but it was not fixable. Ivette meanwhile, LEFT early and did nothing about it. She just went home. I can’t believe this happened but again I’m just glad that the lights in the ballroom stayed on or that would have been the worst. All in all these things may seem small but at a 5 star hotel, where we paid TOP DOLLAR this was really unexpected and really not acceptable. Luckily I don’t think most of my guests noticed most of this but still… I expected much better.
On the positive the food for the most part was good. My mom said she thought the fish was “horrible” but I don’t know b/c I didn’t have it. What I ate at the cocktail hour and for dinner was really good… and most of my guests that I spoke to said the food was awesome. Then again, who is going to be like, the food was horrible? But I don’t think it was nearly as good on the wedding day as it was during the tasting. Other positives are that the hotel is beautiful the rooms were amazing, the service on the whole from the front desk and most people I encountered aside from the coordinator there was 5 star!
The issues above were not the end of the world but I think they were worth mentioning b/c they could have and should been avoided. I think Ivette could have done better and cared a little more and she really disappointed me b/c I had a lot of faith in her. . Honestly, if Ivette would have apologized or at least PRETNEDED to give a crap, this review wouldn’t be so harsh but her I could care less attitude really bothered me. The biggest thing I want to tell anyone thinking of getting married at the Epic Hotel is that if you are booking to have a ceremony over looking the water, you may not get it should a yacht decide to park there on your wedding day. Done and Done.
If I could go back would I still book the Epic? Probably.
Priscilla of Boston A+++ Amazing! My experience at PoB was truly exceptional. I love that store and I highly recommend going there to try on dresses. I was sooo scared to try on gowns and really didn’t want to go b/c my weight was up really high at the time and I didn’t think anything would fit. Knottie Vicki convinced me to go to PoB by myself as my first dress shopping experience and I’m so glad I listened to her. Jennifer Alvarez was my consultant and she was awesome. She made me feel so comfortable, it was never stuffy or about what I could or couldn’t afford or what I could or couldn’t fit into, she just made it so pleasant and enjoyable. My first visit, I tried 13 gowns!!! I didn’t find the one on that visit so I went to other stores after that including Victorias bridal, Sue Gordon, Chic Parisen, Coral Gables Bridal etc… and they were all ok (Victorias Bridal being the nicest experience of those) but nothing compared to the service I got at PoB. I was really close to buying a Romona Keveza gown from Chic Parisen but when I went back to PoB I tried on another 8 dresses with Jen and that’s when I found THE ONE! I truly loved my dress. It was so gorgeous and so well made. It wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t crazy expensive and I feel like I really got value for what I paid. I can’t recommend PoB enough. They have a HUGE variety, something for everyone and in prices ranging from $1K to over $10k that I think it’s the best bridal salon out there so I’m thankful they had a local store. I also ended up buying my Bridesmaids gowns there and they were beautiful and PoB even matched the discounted price I got from Pearls Place which was unexpected pretty awesome! I can’t say enough good things about this store, their dresses, and Jennifer!
If I could go back and buy again would I get from here? Absolutely!
Lux Images A – I got my photos the other day and on the whole I am very pleased. I had extremely high expectations and I think that the photos are stunning. Andy and Oscar got some incredible shots. I was nervous about not having many photos of Matt and I because we never ended up doing bride and groom portraits. My hair and makeup ran so long it put us over on time. We had a first look and figured we’d take them then so we could enjoy the cocktail but then there was no time for that. During the reception Andy tried to pull us out a few times to go take them but each time he did, we’d get pulled in another direction so it just never happened.. In hindsight I wish we would have skipped part of the cocktail take photos since the cocktail ended up being inside and wasn’t that great. Anyway, when I got my pics there were a few good ones of just us two but we’re going to also do a TTD with Ashley Colhouer to get more pics of the two of us.
I hired Andy b/c of his amazing ability for candid shots. And I got them. That said, if I’m being honest, I think there was a real lack of interesting or creative detail shots. I was a little disappointed at the lack of photos of things like the dress, the rings, the bouquets, our table numbers, menus etc. A lot of thought went into the details and I happen to think the details were incredible but the photos don't show it as well as they could. I gave Andy a very detailed list of what I wanted and he got most of it but he never did a group shot of the bm bouquets with the charms on them, he never really took a cool creative pic of the dress, he never took a photo of my engagement ring. I attribute this to the fact that he doesn’t do a lot of weddings. If you look at his blog, he does a LOT Of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs so that’s probably why he didn’t realize the importance of these shots or think to photograph my e-ring along w/ the wedding bands.
I think that the color and richness in the photos as well as the moments he captured make up for that, but they were not the most creative shots I’ve ever seen. I also didn’t think Andy gave the best direction during the formal photos because in some pics, the people are too spread out or not looking etc. I also wish that for some of the formals he would have used a zoom and gotten more close ups and face shots…
I think the lighting in the area we chose to shoot in was not the best and then guests started arriving in the lobby during these pics and the timeline was behind so it was very rushed... I think all that considered, Andy did the best he could, but I was hoping they would have been a little better.
All that said, if I had to chose between great candid shots of people and moments, vs. details and posed formals, I’d take the candids and the moments all day long so I’m very happy. I also like what he does in the post processing and editing, the colors are vibrant and the images and framing are excellent. I’m still looking through my shots and trying to pick out favs… there are some definite framers and I think Oscar and Andy are a VERY talented Team! I have only posted 140 of the nearly 700 pics I got so keep an eye out for more later!
Teasers: http://www.luximagesblog.com/2010/01/jaime_and_matt.html If
If I could go back would I hire? Maybe.
Focused on Forever A + (Pending Full Video) Got my trailer and It’s AMAZING. Exceeded my expectations. If my 15 min movie and long edits are that good I’ll be beyond thrilled. I booked FoF a long time ago and at first I was worried that I may have jumped too quickly when I saw some fantastic work from other videographers like Blue Shore etc… and for a while Ryan wasn’t blogging anything so I was nervous. I honestly think my trailer is one of the best I’ve seen. The editing is incredible, the moments he caught and chose to feature are perfect and I truly believe he GOT us. He managed to make me cry and laugh all at once. I highly recommend Ryan Zapatka of Focused on Forever to anyone considering video. I also highly recommend budgeting to Video period! Whether or not you go with the most expensive or not, having actual footage of your day to help remember it is priceless!
Trailer: www.focusedonforever.com/blog/2010/03/amazing-wedding-at-the-epic-in-miami/">http://www.focusedonforever.com/blog/2010/03/amazing-wedding-at-the-epic-in-miami/
If I could go back would I hire? Absolutely!
Lutz Karpf and Karla A + This man is THE BEST MAKEUP ARTIST on the planet. I’m convinced. He made me look the best I’ve ever looked in my life and probably ever WILL look. But he took a really long time to get me there. Maybe b/c I needed more work than other people but I don’t know…lol. I asked for a natural look after having a bad trial with Amy Palma where I had so much makeup on and looked like a clown. I went to Lutz and requested a very natural, soft and fresh look and that’s exactly what he gave me. I was concerned about him showing up on time but he showed up at 10am as scheduled. It took him some time to set up and he didn’t actually finish me until 2pm so it took 4 whole hours for just my hair and makeup. In his defense, I think he was having a hard time getting my hair to hold a curl. When I did a trial with him, my hair curled pretty easily and it lasted until the NEXT day, but not on my wedding day. NOT HIS FAULT. I do Thermal Reconditioning which means my hair is chemically relaxed. When I did my trial I was due for a redo on my TR and he strongly suggested I wait until after the wedding to have it redone b/c he said that my hair would not hold a curl as well or have as much volume if I had it redone but I didn’t listen b/c It had been almost a year and I was due. Well he was right. My hair didn’t hold a curl as well, it took longer to do and it fell out sooner. Still, my hair still looked great and it didn’t really matter except that it may have cost me some precious photo taking time. But Lutz is a perfectionist and a real artist and I recommend him HIGHLY. Just make sure to alot at LEAST 3 hours for hair and makeup on your wedding day. I also love his personality. He helped keep me calm and cool on my wedding day which I think is SOO important. He also stayed with me through formal family photos and did touch ups right before my ceremony which was unexpected and so awesome of him!
He brought a girl named Karla to do my bridesmaids makeup and she was amazing. My girls all looked sooooooooo stunning and they all raved b/c they loved their makeup. I highly recommend her for yourself or for your bridesmaids. I don’t have her last name or contact info but Lutz does and I think she was really really good!
If I could go back would I book again? Absolutely! (just would have had him come earlier)
Anna Wark B+ I am not sure what grade to give her. Anna came on time and did a nice job on my Bridesmaids. Not an amazing job. but a nice job. I’ve seen better updo’s and hair before and was expecting her to be a lil better… I know one of my girls was not crazy about her hair and another I personally thought could have been better but I think the hair stayed well, it looked pretty good and she worked fast and got all 5 girls done in less than 4 hours. I kind of wish I would have spent the extra to go w/ the hair person Lutz had recommended b/c if she would have been as good as Karla, I bet they would have been incredible but all in all the girls looked good and most of them were happy so Anna wasn’t a bad choice at all.
Would I book her again? Maybe.
Ocean Florist A My flowers were amazing. Truly amazing. I met with 9, yes 9 florists and I got some crazy quotes. At first I figured Ocean Florist wouldn’t be in my budget b/c they are the florist for Fischer Island and she does platinum weddings and has been featured in Grace Ormonde etc… but I’m so glad I contacted her. She got my vision right away, and was able to do our flowers for what I thought was a really reasonable price. Sadly, because of the rain, I never got to see any of my ceremony décor which makes me sad b/c I’m sure it would have been incredible. We had a really pretty huppah planned and some cool aisle décor she was going to do, but that darn rain messed it up there are only two photos of the flower balls and a pic of a cylinder with Callas to give a tiny glimpse of what I think may have been really beautiful! I’ll never know what I missed.
I looooved my Centerpieces. They were exactly what we asked for. Guerdy worked really hard to get it just right. Matt and I came up with the design and we weren’t sure it would be pulled off but I think the tables looked incredible. I feel like the value over all from Ocean Florist was amazing. She threw in a lot of extras– she wasn’t one of those florists who nickel and dime every little thing. Some florists charge insane amounts for candles and votives and all the little details and she just throws all of that in. She added LED spot lights in the cps, she threw in extra little flowers, candles and vases around the table to create the whole look. She did an incredible job decorating our cake table. She put succulents around the tables to tie them in b/c we really wanted them - all at no extra cost.
The Escort Card table was amazing and exceeded my expectations. Quite possibly my favorite part. We changed our original plan for that at the last minute and as a team, Guerdy, Matt and I designed that table during our final walk through at the venue. I was really nervous about how it would turn out b/c it was so last minute but it was soooo gorgeous! I love how the escort cards looked lined up with the candles in between them and then the huge tall vases with the callas cascading out and then the wheat grass beds all around. UNREAL!
The only area I wasn’t 100% THRILLED with (but still I was happy) was the personals. Originally I was supposed to have Garden Roses as my bouquet and the girls were going to have dark throated Rannunculus. At my Rehearsal Guerdy informed me that the rannunculus were destroyed in shipping by some infestation of bugs or something so we couldn’t have them. As an alternative she suggested that the girls use the Garden Roses and then she’d give me Peonies which was something I originally wanted. I was disappointed about the rannunculus b/c I believe they would have looked incredible with the dark centers but there was nothing I could do. My memory told me I didn’t love my bouquet but when I look back at the photos it was actually really pretty. After seeing the garden roses in my girls bouquets though, I kind of wished I would have stuck w/ them b/c I think that bouquet would have better complemented my look and my dress. But really it was beautiful! . Not as polished as the Garden Roses would have been but who knows really. The girls bouquets were pretty but small… but they turned out fine, just not the original vision. The boutonnières weren’t the best I’ve ever seen. They were ok but Matt’s fell apart really quickly. Probably because after hugging people a billion times that’s what happens, I kind of wish Guerdy had had a spare one on hand to give him later in the night or something b/c in the pics taken from the reception onward it looked pretty bad. Maybe we should have gone with something else. Word to the wise, Phaelenopsis do not make good boutonnières. That said, on the whole I was very happy w/ the flowers and the value I got for my money esp considering how Guerdy threw in so many extras.
They also didn’t charge us for the jars for our candy bar… they just provided them which was awesome. I will say that I was disappointed with how they set up our dessert/ candy table. I just didn’t think it looked chic or as good as it could have/ should have. One thing that drove me insane was that Tom, the florist who apparently set it up, took the lil chocolate bars from TK that we got and used them to spell out a J and an M and it looked so out of place and looked like a lil kid did it when I saw the pics. Kind of cheapened the look of it to me. But in the end, not a huge deal and I was still happy overall.
If I could go back would I hire? YES!
Devine Design by Guerdy A + Guerdy is amazing. Period end of sentence. A true professional. I hired her to be my DOC and since I also booked her as my florist it made sense. At first I wasn’t sure b/c she was more expensive than other DOC’s out there but in the end I’m certain she was worth every penny and I’m not sure a less experienced DOC could have handled the snags in my day as well as she did. She truly saved my day in so many ways because she was able to think quick on her feet and had backup with her. She was so well organized and on top of things and truly cared about making my event the best it could be. She also REALLY seemed to care about ME and helping me see my vision through and making sure I had the best day. I think one of the best things she did was when they had to make the last minute decision to move the ceremony inside. Right after my ketubah signing, she came up to me and said that there was not going to be a huppah or any décor at the ceremony because it had all gotten soaked in the rain. I was like, no way - I can’t get married without a huppah or ANYTHING at all in the room (It was bad enough that I wasn’t outside on the water, no chivaris, no aisle arrangements, no scenery, but then NO HUPPAH??) I had a moment of “oh no, what are we going to do” and then within seconds she found the solution. She goes “OH I’m a genius, I’ve got it” and she made the suggestion to have the guys carry the huppah into the room. This is how it was done in traditional Jewish Ceremonies so it was a perfect idea and solution and it ended up being super cool and really quite special. I never would have thought of that, and neither would anyone else. I’m pretty sure most DOC’s wouldn’t have thought of that but Guerdy has so much experience and is smart and creative and it was just the perfect solution so I was at least able to have SOMETHING up there in that bare and boring room. She was like, “I’ll re-drape it and we’ll have the groomsmen carry it.” And they did. And it was awesome. I later learned that they literally had to saw off the legs of the huppah at the last minute so that it would fit into the room… Pretty awesome. Guerdy was so prepared and ON IT… the knotties likened her to a ninja seeing her working the event that night. She comes with a team equipped with Walkie Talkies and communicates with all the vendors the whole time. Her right-hand Marcy was awesome and came and checked on me multiple times throughout the day, my bms loved Guerdy and Marcy and were so impressed by them. When the issues happened with the lights in the bathroom Ivette did nothing, Guerdy on the other hand had her team doing every thing they could to try and fix the problem, talking with engineering etc… at all times she was trying to make sure I was happy and never aware of any issues…She just GETS It and really cares about her job and her events and does everything in her power to please her brides and help make their day special. And I was no exception. This woman KNOWS WEDDINGS and is the most professional you can get. From the first time I met Guerdy I knew she got me and my vision and she was a life saver all across the board and I’m so happy to have hired her!
If I could go back would I hire her? Absolutely!
Elements and Accents A+ This company provided our Chivari Chairs and I thought they were great. They were one of 3 choices given to us by the Epic and I’m glad I chose this company. I met Rick at one of the bridal shows at the Epic and he was very nice. They are a newer company so at first I was hesitant but then I realized that because they are new, all their chairs and cushions were too, so they were in great shape. When I went to see different ballroom set ups at the Epic, I saw chairs from Hitched and they looked a bit worn, where as the times I saw E&A’s they looked great. Also, Rick was super nice and actually gifted us Chivaris for our Ceremony at the last minute. Because our wedding was supposed to be the first ever Ceremony on the Epic Green, Rick offered us at no additional cost, white Chivaris for the ceremony. Sadly they were never used and just got rained on.
If I could go back would I hire? YES!
Ana Paz A- This is a tough one for me. Originally I was not happy that I was confined to just 3 cake vendors and having read such mixed reviews on Anna’s and Eddas, I was expecting to go with Divine Delicacies. But we went for a tasting there and while the cake tasted good, we weren’t that confident in their design abilities. We went to Eddas for a tasting and didn’t love the taste and they wanted to up-charge for anything outside of Chocolate and Vanilla. After tasting Ana Paz’s cake at Amy’s wedding, we decided to give her a try. We went to meet with Ana Paz herself at the Renaissance in Plantation and we had a great meeting. The cake we tasted was really really good and she didn’t up charge us for different flavors like red velvet or lemon… so we were really happy about that. So choosing Ana was a no brainer. We asked her to design the cake after our invitations which is a fairly simple design so we figured there was no way it would go wrong. I thought it looked great, Matt however, did not. He felt it could have been better. He’s super picky when it comes to design though. What I tasted at the wedding and from what said, It was yummy. BUT Matts mom who is a HUGE Wedding cake fan, said she had the lemon and didn’t like it at all. In fact I think she said it was the worst wedding cake she ever tasted! Not sure why she felt that way, she’s generally easy to please!?!?! So the cake was good but not perfect or amazing.
If I could go back would I book her? Not if I could chose any vendor I wanted but of the choices given, yes, I would.
La Loggia A+++ We had our rehearsal dinner at La Loggia and it was perfect. We looked high and low for a nice space for the RD in the downtown area and I’m so thankful someone recommended this place. They closed off the entire downstairs of the restaurant to accommodate our party of about 65 people. The price was great and the food was plentiful and delicious. For about $33 a person we got 2 family style appetizers, salad and then a choice of 4 entrees, Dessert, Tea, Coffee, Beer, Wine and Sangria. Amazing!! Highly recommend it if you’re’ getting married downtown.
If I could go back would I book? Absolutely!
Rabbi David Young A++ I can’t say enough good things about our Rabbi. He is truly amazing and we feel so lucky to have found him. I feel like it was meant to be that he marry us. I’m Jewish but Matt is not but we agreed to having a Jewish Ceremony as he’s not really religious. We knew we needed a Rabbi who would perform an interfaith ceremony and so we went onto Interfaithfamily.com at the suggestion of Danielle (Citytoshore) and we found him. We met with 2 other Rabbis first who were ok but we really clicked with Rabbi Young. He is young and has a very fresh modern perspective and the fact that he’s a huge Comic Book geek like Matt and loves the band Phish like me certainly helped! We really enjoyed the times we sat down with him and talk about life, religion, marriage etc. When it came to the ceremony he really personalized it, he really understood and appreciated Matt and I as a couple and it made our ceremony so special. He even threw a Phish quote into the ceremony which makes my heart smile big b/c they are one of my all time favorite bands and I’m such a music person. I really can’t recommend this Rabbi enough. He’s in North Miami at Temple Sinai and if we were still in Miami, I know we’d see him again.
If I could go back would I hire? In a heart beat!
Tropics Entertainment/ Marischen Music A We wanted to have a guitar duo play our ceremony and cocktail hour so we contacted Tropics Entertainment about two flamenco guitarists we were interested in. They put us in touch with Scott Marischen who is a harpist but also a classically trained guitarist. I explained to Scott that we were looking for a guitar duo to play a lot of classic rock and modern songs. Matt plays guitar and I’m a huge fan guitar fan as well so this was super important to us. In talking with Scott he explained that the flamenco guitarists may not be the best route b/c they would have to learn all the songs and he said he already knew how to play a lot of the stuff we were requesting like the Beatles, Led Zepplin, Steely Dan etc. I told him the 3 songs we wanted for our ceremony and mentioned Little Martha by the Allman Brothers for the recessional. He said he didn’t know it but would be willing to learn it. Then one day I got a message on my voicemail from Scott playing it for me and I was so impressed that he went out and learned it for me so I was sold. He was also willing to learn a Phish Song for the Processional and a some Radiohead songs for the cocktail hour etc. A few weeks before the wedding I sent Scott the list of songs and asked him if he had picked the other guitarist and he called me to discuss what he felt was a better option. He suggested that instead of a Guitar Duo, he knew a local Viola player who is amazing and said he truly believed the music would be better if it was him and her playing. At first I was skeptical and a little bummed out b/c we really really wanted that rich Acoustic Guitar Duo sound. But I trusted him and in the end I’m so glad I did. He brought a woman named Debbie Spring with him and they couldn’t have sounded better. I was soo impressed with the sound and how well they played… as I was walking down the aisle I was noticing in my head how each note sounded like perfection and I couldn’t get over it. It was very obvious that he put a ton of time and energy into learning and practicing the songs to get them right and I couldn’t be more pleased. I highly recommend Scott and Tropics!
If I could go back would I book? Yes.
Jorge Antonatos / Vision DJs B+/ A- This is sooo hard for me to write. I want sooo badly to give them an A b/c I was on the whole a big fan of Jorge. I really like him as a person and I think he did a great job overall. BUT there were a few things that he did that I can’t seem to get over and although it was probably not even noticed by my guests, as someone who lives for music these small mistakes stood out HUGE to me and haunted me for weeks following my wedding. (I’m over it now) Basically, we gave him a huge list of what we wanted him to play. He had suggested we give him about 25 songs for the dinner service and about 50-60 for dancing. I knew 50-60 seemed like a lot but I had so many songs I would have been happy to hear, so I did it. I started planning our song list when I started planning my wedding 10 months out b/c it was so hugely important to me. We opted for a DJ over a band b/c we so badly wanted to hear certain songs and knew a band could never play them. We tried to keep the dancing list very diverse with something for everyone b/c we wanted everyone to dance. So here’s what went wrong… I had put a few songs on the list for my mom and dad. My mom for some reason is obsessed with the song Money Money Money by Abba. She also LOVES It’s a beautiful life by Ace of Base. My dad is a huge fan of Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant. So I put those on my list and those were kind of like, ok if it gets played great but if not that’s ok too. So the wedding starts where they announce us, and Jorge did an amazing job timing those songs and making the announcements and of setting it up so we walked out exactly when we wanted to… like this big build up and then the song releases and we came out. Awesome! Then the plan was to go into first dances, a short Hora and then a quick dance set before dinner. So we do the first dance and mother son father daughter dances. Then the hora. Well the hora was a bit of a mess. I told him I wanted it to be short but I ended up giving him the signal to cut it even shorter b/c It JUST wasn’t happening. I’d say only a quarter of my guests were Jewish and I guess most people just didn’t know what to do. I heard Jorge try to tell the guests to make small circles and then big ones once but it didn’t seem to register with my guests and it was kind of weak and he didn’t really encourage it so it just wasn’t working. Not his fault but I was kind of bummed b/c everyone was like WTF is going on right now. So THEN he goes into the first set of songs for dancing and this is where I have my big issue. The idea was that everyone is on the dance floor right now for the hora so lets take advantage and get people dancing. Well… He chose to play THE WORST songs on our list to kick off the party. He started the party off with Money Money Money by Abba… . Sure, I put it on my list, but as the FIRST song of the night? BAD choice… no one is gonna dance to that so of course everyone went and sat down. Great. So then from there he goes into Electric Ave. THEN he puts on Hungry like the wolf by Duran Duran. I don’t even know why I put that on the list but if there was ever a time for that type of song, it’s later on when everyons drunk. So NO One is on the dance floor and Matt and I look at each other like oh no, this party is about to go down hill. Our ceremony and cocktail were rained out and now no one is dancing. Ugh. So I RUN up to Jorge and I’m like WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU PLAYING THESE SONGS RIGHT NOW? (Because in my mind I figured they start the party off with a bang, maybe put on like Michael Jackson Wanna Be Startin’ Something or a fun song like that )… and his answer was “I’m getting these songs out of the way” Wait WHAT? WHY? In my mind I just thought that was so bizarre. If you think they aren’t great songs just don’t play them at all… you have a list of 50-60 awesome songs, don’t play lame songs to start the party off! IN hindsight I regret not giving him a list of like 15-20 absolute MUST Plays b/c in the end he didn’t play some songs that we were literally couldn’t wait to dance to at our wedding and that kills me. For the longest time Matt and I would say I can’t wait to dance to this song (Run by Gnarls Barkley) at the wedding… It’s one of mine and Matt’s favorites. But he never played it. Then he never played Beggin by Macdon which I looove and so that was a bummer. But on a positive note, he played every one of our dinner songs, and never played anything we didn’t ask for. And despite the rocky first set of dancing, the dance floor was hopping after dinner! He def had everyone on the dance floor later in the and he did a great job keeping the music flowing and mixing it up. One other thing that did NOT go so great was that we were silly enough to ask him to mix a few songs for us. That didn’t turn out so well. We wanted him to mix two daft punk songs for us and mix was sounded pretty choppy and it was kind of hard to dance too… so I was bummed that that didn’t work out too well. Matt and I kept looking at each other during the Harder Better Faster > Around the World mix he did like YIKES!! But we have to keep in mind that he’s not a club DJ he’s a wedding DJ so we should have known better than to think he’d be able to mix something like that and make it killer. He tried and for that I give him credit and he really did listen to what we asked. I think it’s hard for a DJ when they have ZERO free reign and are stuck playing only the music on a list. I think that when you take that away from them, it’s harder so on the whole I’d say Jorge did a great job with what we asked of him. But I def felt he had poor judgment with that first dance set and that bothered me a lot… still, I think we got great value for our money since we paid less than $1K for his services.
If I could go back would I hire? Yes. (I’d just be even MORE specific about what I wanted to hear and when)
Alterations by Reina A+++ This woman is an angel. There is a reason everyone sings her praises. She is beyond talented. So good at what she does and she does it at the most ridiculous prices. PoB wanted to charge over $300 for very minor alterations so I decided to go to Reina and I’m SOOOO glad I did. She altered my wedding dress AND my rehearsal dinner dress for $100. And the alterations were PERFECTION, And she’s soooooooooo sweet. I love that woman and can’t say enough good things about her!
If I could go back would I hire? 100%!!!!
Photobooth – Photobooth Social A+ The photobooth was one of the biggest hits of the party and I’m so glad we did it. The guests really loved it and the pics turned out great. Elizabeth who runs the company was amazing to work with! She even met me on two separate occasions to sell me the frames so that I didn’t have to drive so far north. We definitely could have gotten another booth for less $ but I really liked that she had the vintage style booth with the long strips, that they came in Color, B&W and Sepia and the biggest selling point was that it printed doubles so we were able to have the guests keep one and the put the other in our sign-in book. Still trying to figure out how to get the Photobooth pics onto facebook but the size is weird and fb won’t take them! Boo facebook! But I can’t recommend this company enough!
If I could go back and hire would I? YES!
Twin Ravens Press A - I found this amazing vendor from Danielle, Knottie Citytoshore. When I saw Danielles invites I knew I had to have letterpress. We had fallen in love with an invitation suite that we could not afford so we decided to contact Kristin at Twin Ravens and she if she could do something similar for less. She agreed to do it and the price she quoted was a fraction of what the original cost. Matt did the design and submitted it to Kristin and she printed them for us on beautiful paper. In the end we loved our invitations as they fit our venue and theme beautifully. I will admit that I wish they would have had a heavier impression but they still gave us the look we were going for and we less than $1K vs. the $4K + the original suite would have been so I was very very happy. We ended up using that same design throughout our event on the Menus, Escort Cards, Table Numbers etc due to my talented “husbands” excellent design skills!
If I could go back and hire would I? Maybe.
Ashley Colhouer A+++ We were fortunate enough to win a free engagement shoot with Ashley and our photos were incredible. Ashley has such a great eye and is so talented and creative. All of you knotties who have had the chance to use her while she’s still establishing herself are so lucky b/c soon I think she is gonna be charging BIG BIG Bucks and she should. Not only does she take great photos and has a great eye but she was just wonderful to work with. I think it’s so important to feel comfortable with a photographer esp the first time you ever shoot. She made us feel so at ease from the get go! I showed up to my epic session in tears b/c I had had a horrible hair and makeup trial before hand and felt looked like a tranny so I freaked out ran to CVS and got makeup remover and took it all off. I showed up with puffy bloodshot eyes and no makeup and the pics still turned out GREAT! Somehow despite my meltdown, Ashley was so cool that she managed to calm me down and make me feel ok about it. I could imagine some photogs being like sorry but you’re a hot mess and I can’t do this. I would have possibly booked her for my wedding had I known about her sooner. I loved her so much that I decided to do a TTD session with her so I’d have a chance to work with her again! Can’t wait for that!
Teasers from our Epic Session here:
www.1313blog.com/p=992"http://www.1313blog.com/?p=992
ISDM Printing A Ordered my STD Magnets through this etsy seller and they were perfect. They were cheaper than the ones from Magnet Street and in my opinion the same if not higher quality. The turn around time was insanely fast too! She got the color perfect (unlike the two sticker vendors I tried) and was a pleasure to deal with. Highly recommend this vendor!
Vilma Cruz A ++ I got this recommendation from Ursula and she was really amazing. Vilma is not a real wedding vendor but she made our cupcakes, brownies, and cake pops and they came out sooo good! I sent her photos of things I wanted and she made them look as good if not better and the taste was off the charts. Some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had honestly. And her prices were really really good, better than anywhere else! Highly recommend her. If you want her contact info let me know!
Truly Scrumptious A We ordered our Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Pretzels from this vendor. Joann was very accommodating, great with communication, so nice and easy to work with and it all looked and tasted amazing!
Bulk Candy Store A Ordered all the candy for our candy bar from Bulk Candy store. Amazing prices and because they are local you save a ton on shipping. Amy was nice enough to pick it all up for me to save me the drive and that was awesome. Highly recommend if you’re having a candy bar.
Art Kitten A
We custom ordered our guest sign in book from this etsy vendor and it turned out beautifully. Def recommend.
Calligraphy by Michelle A Found this rec through the knot and Michelle did a great job on our invites and she has great prices. Highly Recommend her but I think you have to book her in advance so get on it!
Ketubah Tree A We purchased our Ketubah from this company and we loved it. It was beautiful. They were pretty easy to work with and turned around pretty quickly.
Mazel Tops A Ordered our Kippas from this company and they were great with communication and turned around really fast. They were very good quality and a good price. Def recommend.
Nashville Wraps A Ordered our Boxes for the dessert bar from here and they were great. This place has a fantastic selection, great customer service and good prices. Highly recommend.
Ok this is going to be long because I’m always long winded and I have a lot to say.
I want to give honest and THOROUGH reviews of everyone who contributed to my wedding day. I know these have been a long time coming and I apologize for the delay but please understand I did not take the task of vendor reviews lightly.
Feel free to skim this but I have to say everything I have in my mind. I will start by saying that my wedding was amazing. Truly the best night of my life. Despite anything that went wrong, it was absolutely incredible and I have never felt the amount of happiness or joy that I did on my wedding night. Like all of you, I put a lot of time, energy, heart and soul into planning my wedding and it was a very crazy but exciting journey. Seeing it all come together was such a dream and it turned out more beautiful than I ever imagined.
As many of you know, I spent a LOT of time choosing my vendors. In most cases I met with a number of people and agonized over who to book. I visited about 20 venues in person; I met with 7 photographers, 9 florists, 4 DJs and on and on and on. In the end I am glad I did my research and I believe that with the recommendations and help from the knot and from my own investigating, I was able to chose amazing vendors who helped see my vision come to life.
That said, no matter how much research you do or how many recommendations you get, you can never know for sure how a vendor will perform and you will almost always be disappointed in SOMETHING esp if you’re like me and have really high expectations.
Many of you know this but yes, several things DID go wrong on my wedding day. I had always heard married girls say that SOMETHING will inevitably go wrong so I was kind of prepared and expecting that. But a lot of things went wrong, most notably the weather - an element beyond anyones control. In the end, it didn’t even matter b/c it was so special and sweet and beautiful. The day was truly about Matt and I and the love we felt and shared that night is something I will treasure forever.
It’s amazing how before hand you think that if something goes wrong it will be ruined. But when you get to that moment, you realize, there is nothing you can do, and the show must go on. Prior to my wedding, I was sure that if it were to rain, I’d have a major breakdown and slit my wrists. I was sure that I would cry my eyes out and be a wreck.
Well, it rained and I did not cry. Not one tear. I didn’t even care. I was honestly not even phased by it. I guess it’s because when I was in the moment, all I wanted to do was marry the man I love.
I will preface by saying that we were supposed to have our Ceremony outside on the “Epic Green” overlooking the Miami River and Biscayne Bay. This did not happen. The weather report said 10% chance of rain, and for a week leading up to it I felt so lucky that I was going to have AMAZING weather… BUT THEN… just an hour before the ceremony was supposed to start, clouds rolled in and there was a major downpour forcing everything inside. The backup plan for the ceremony was to set up half of the ballroom but since the rain came out of nowhere it was too late b/c the ballroom was already set up with the CP’s and reception décor so they had to find a last minute room to do it in.
Originally, our cocktail hour was going to be on the Epic Pool Deck which would have been so scenic and so gorgeous but that didn’t happen. This is one of my biggest disappointments b/c I had been so looking forward to my cocktail hour. I really had a picture of how it would be and it was not that at all.
In the end, you can make all the plans in the world but things don’t always turn out how you pictured it or how you wanted it to. But if that happens, just know that not all is lost and it can still turn out to be the best night of your life. Sometimes these unexpected changes can actually make things more interesting, give you great stories to tell and create new unexpected memories to take with you.
I’m warning you now that these are going to be the longest and most overly detailed reviews you’ll ever read. I want you guys to know my whole experience and understand WHY I graded the way I did. Did I have high expectations? Absolutely, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Each and every one of us has expectations of how things will be and we know it may not be just like that but when we pay a lot of money and put so much time and effort into things… we have no choice but to expect a lot and I most certainly did.
Vendors:
Epic Hotel B+ I want to give the Epic an A but there were definitely some issues on my wedding day that the Epic was responsible for so I just can’t. On the whole the Epic is amazing. It’s a stunning hotel and the ballroom is gorgeous. I personally think it’s the prettiest ballroom I have ever seen and that’s a big part of why we booked it.
That said, we also booked the Epic hotel for its waterfront views, as I really wanted to get married on the water. When we booked, the hotel was brand new, open only 2 months and had never even had a wedding yet. We knew we were taking our chances with a newer place but it seemed a good gamble as they were rated #1 hotel in Miami on tripadvisor and the service I received every time I was there was impeccable.
I think my biggest issues with the venue were actually with the coordinator. I want to believe she truly did the best she could, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I hate to give a bad review to anyone but I did have a few issues with Ivette Perez the coordinator at the Epic. In the beginning she was wonderful but throughout the process I found her to be very hit or miss. Sometimes she was super accommodating and sweet as pie and other times she would be curt or cold and sometimes seemed like she could care less.
The first thing that really bothered me was that she never told me that there was a chance that the water view over the Epic Green could possibly be obstructed or completely blocked and therefore unavailable on my wedding day.
The day before my wedding at the rehearsal there was a yacht, (the biggest friggin yacht I have EVER seen, seriously) was parked right in front of where my ceremony was going to be. When I asked Ivette about it and asked her if it would be moved for the wedding, she told me no and said that since the marina is not owned by the hotel she had no control over it. What killed me was her lack of concern over the fact that this was going to pretty much take away my waterview for my wedding ceremony. Instead of being like, “I’m so sorry” it was more like, Tough crap; there’s nothing I can do. That really really bothered me. I’d think she’s have been like, I’m sooo sorry this happened let me see what I can do… (um, hi sorry I sold you a water view that you’re not gonna get). To her defense, perhaps it never even occurred to her when we booked that a boat that size might park there and block my view but regardless, when it DID happen, the way she handled me was awful. In discussing this afterwards I asked her to be sure to warn future brides that might be booking the epic for the water view, that they may not get it. I hope they will do the right thing and do that. In the end because my ceremony had to be moved inside - it was a non issue but had the weather cooperated, I would have been left with an ugly blue boat as my backdrop rather than Biscayne Bay and the Miami River. Not cool.
Speaking of weather… the rule with the Epic, and in the contract, was that weather calls had to be made 3 hours in advance. So this means that if they were going to move our ceremony indoors, the decision would need to be made ahead of time so they would have time to set up half the ballroom for the ceremony. In my case, 3 hours before it was not raining, it was sunny - the florist was outside setting up the Huppah as planned and had no reason to resort to a Plan B. When the rain came out of nowhere, my mother asked Ivette what we were going to do as all my guests were starting to gather in the lobby. This is where it gets amazing. Ivette actually told my mother we were going to go have to go ahead with the ceremony outside in the rain!! Can you imagine that she wanted us to proceed outside when it was raining sideways?? So my mom was like, “that’s not an option, and Ivette said, “well the contract states that you have to make the weather call 3 hours ahead and your daughter didn’t make that call so there’s nothing I can do and it has to be outside” and my mom said in utter shock, are you serious? I don’t give a CRAP about the contract, it wasn’t raining 3 hours ago there was no reason to make the call, and I’m not sending my daughter or my guests outside in the rain so – FIND A SPACE! In the end, they did, but the fact that Ivette would even SUGGEST that we should continue with the ceremony in the POURING rain is totally ludicrous. Again, you’d think she’d say to my mom, “I’m working on finding you a backup, don’t worry” but no. She was like, sorry too bad. That’s not what a mother of the bride needs to hear minutes before the ceremony. She just didn’t seem like she cared.
THEN… during my wedding, while I was sitting at our sweetheart table eating dinner, Ivette actually came up to me to tell me she was leaving and ASKED ME FOR MONEY! DURING MY WEDDING. Does she think I’m carrying my wallet on me? What happened was that I had upgraded something at the last minute and it was for about $230. I gave her my CC number a few days before the wedding and I guess they didn’t run the cc right away and then I changed my account a few days later so when they finally went to run my card, it didn’t go through. Did she have every right to ask me for the money? Absolutely. BUT AT MY WEDDING? While I’m eating dinner and in my wedding dress? Considering that we had just paid them over $30k, you’d think she would realize I was good for the money and hold off on asking for the $200 or so bucks till afterwards! I just found that to be so highly unprofessional and just another example of why I feel like she doesn’t care about the bride. Or at least not about me.
What else? OH yes, there were tip jars at the bars at my wedding. This was sooo not ok with us. Considering that we paid the Epic $68 PER PERSON JUST FOR TAX AND TIP there should NEVER have been an expectation for my guests to then tip the bartenders on top of that. When my mom confronted Ivette about this after the wedding, Ivette insisted that there were no tip jars at that bars, that she walked around and never saw them and called it “hearsay. More or less suggesting my mother was lying. Luckily, Amy had photos of the bars and actually had a photo of my cousin is putting money in it!! So much for hearsay. They were there and my guests shelled out to tip the bartenders.
What else? Oh the Cocktail hour was not at all as we expected or what we paid for. Sure it was definitely dampened by the fact that it was moved inside instead of outside on the pool deck. I’m sure that to my guests it all seemed fine because they didn’t know what we paid for or what it COULD have or SHOULD have been but the truth is that we upgraded the cocktail so much and we did NOT get what we paid for. We added a bunch of stations to the original menu and there were supposed to be attendants at the stations but they weren’t there. Each station was supposed to have a chef/ attendant there serving food but there was no one there. When I asked Ivette why, she had no explanation. Not the end of the world but not what we expected or what was on our banquet order. Then, we paid almost $3K for a “Seafood Display” that was supposed to be Oysters, Shrimp, Crab etc. and it was the weakest looking seafood display I have EVER seen. It was nothing like what I expected or what we paid for. I’ve been to so many weddings where the seafood was displayed on ice and looked really awesome but it looked like nothing more than a bed of orchids, with some pieces of shrimp and a few oysters on it. Also, it was NEVER replenished. Such a disappointment. I was really surprised that a 5 star hotel would put that out… It was a far cry from what I’ve seen at other weddings or what I’d expect from the Epic Hotel. Also, There were only 5 small table rounds at the cocktail hour although the Banquet Order called for 12. Originally it was going to be outside at the pool which has a ton of seating in addition to the 12 tables but in this case, there were no seats AND no tables for my guests so everyone had to stand and had no where to set their food or drinks. When my mom asked Ivette why there were only 5 tables she said to my mom, that’s what your daughter asked for. Um, no. I asked Ivette why she said that and she denied it saying that she knew there was supposed to be 12 tables and doesn’t know why they weren’t there. That was her response to everything, I don’t know why there were no tables, no attendants, no this or that. I don’t know what happened. She refused to take responsibility for any of it and that bothers me b/c it was her job to see that things were going according to what we paid for and contracted for and what was on our banquet order. The cocktail hour was so important to me and I even skipped taking photos during it to be there but it ended up being just ok and then it was even cut short I found out. It was like 45 mins long. I just feel like we did not get what we paid for. Some of the hors’douevres weren’t even served until my mom asked about them at the end. The Kobe sliders came out during the last 15 mins. When I asked Ivette why all these things happened, and why she wasn’t on top of it, she has NO explanation and didn’t really apologize. She was just like; I understand what you are saying. Um? What? That’s your response? If she had some valid explanations or at LEAST and apology I might feel better about it but she had nothing. And again, didn’t seem to really care
Next issue…the LIGHTS WENT OUT IN THE BATHROOMS and the HALLWAYS during the reception and couldn’t be repaired. THANK Goodness they didn’t go out in the ballroom or my wedding would have been ruined!!! But seriously, the majority of the night the bathrooms had ZERO lights. Luckily Guerdy my DOC put some lanterns on the floors lining the hallways to provide some light so people could see where they were walking! I had two women in their 90’s there, so this was a major safety hazard to say the least. Guerdy tried to find someone to fix it and apparently spend a large part of the night trying to troubleshoot the issue but it was not fixable. Ivette meanwhile, LEFT early and did nothing about it. She just went home. I can’t believe this happened but again I’m just glad that the lights in the ballroom stayed on or that would have been the worst. All in all these things may seem small but at a 5 star hotel, where we paid TOP DOLLAR this was really unexpected and really not acceptable. Luckily I don’t think most of my guests noticed most of this but still… I expected much better.
On the positive the food for the most part was good. My mom said she thought the fish was “horrible” but I don’t know b/c I didn’t have it. What I ate at the cocktail hour and for dinner was really good… and most of my guests that I spoke to said the food was awesome. Then again, who is going to be like, the food was horrible? But I don’t think it was nearly as good on the wedding day as it was during the tasting. Other positives are that the hotel is beautiful the rooms were amazing, the service on the whole from the front desk and most people I encountered aside from the coordinator there was 5 star!
The issues above were not the end of the world but I think they were worth mentioning b/c they could have and should been avoided. I think Ivette could have done better and cared a little more and she really disappointed me b/c I had a lot of faith in her. . Honestly, if Ivette would have apologized or at least PRETNEDED to give a crap, this review wouldn’t be so harsh but her I could care less attitude really bothered me. The biggest thing I want to tell anyone thinking of getting married at the Epic Hotel is that if you are booking to have a ceremony over looking the water, you may not get it should a yacht decide to park there on your wedding day. Done and Done.
If I could go back would I still book the Epic? Probably.
Priscilla of Boston A+++ Amazing! My experience at PoB was truly exceptional. I love that store and I highly recommend going there to try on dresses. I was sooo scared to try on gowns and really didn’t want to go b/c my weight was up really high at the time and I didn’t think anything would fit. Knottie Vicki convinced me to go to PoB by myself as my first dress shopping experience and I’m so glad I listened to her. Jennifer Alvarez was my consultant and she was awesome. She made me feel so comfortable, it was never stuffy or about what I could or couldn’t afford or what I could or couldn’t fit into, she just made it so pleasant and enjoyable. My first visit, I tried 13 gowns!!! I didn’t find the one on that visit so I went to other stores after that including Victorias bridal, Sue Gordon, Chic Parisen, Coral Gables Bridal etc… and they were all ok (Victorias Bridal being the nicest experience of those) but nothing compared to the service I got at PoB. I was really close to buying a Romona Keveza gown from Chic Parisen but when I went back to PoB I tried on another 8 dresses with Jen and that’s when I found THE ONE! I truly loved my dress. It was so gorgeous and so well made. It wasn’t cheap but it wasn’t crazy expensive and I feel like I really got value for what I paid. I can’t recommend PoB enough. They have a HUGE variety, something for everyone and in prices ranging from $1K to over $10k that I think it’s the best bridal salon out there so I’m thankful they had a local store. I also ended up buying my Bridesmaids gowns there and they were beautiful and PoB even matched the discounted price I got from Pearls Place which was unexpected pretty awesome! I can’t say enough good things about this store, their dresses, and Jennifer!
If I could go back and buy again would I get from here? Absolutely!
Lux Images A – I got my photos the other day and on the whole I am very pleased. I had extremely high expectations and I think that the photos are stunning. Andy and Oscar got some incredible shots. I was nervous about not having many photos of Matt and I because we never ended up doing bride and groom portraits. My hair and makeup ran so long it put us over on time. We had a first look and figured we’d take them then so we could enjoy the cocktail but then there was no time for that. During the reception Andy tried to pull us out a few times to go take them but each time he did, we’d get pulled in another direction so it just never happened.. In hindsight I wish we would have skipped part of the cocktail take photos since the cocktail ended up being inside and wasn’t that great. Anyway, when I got my pics there were a few good ones of just us two but we’re going to also do a TTD with Ashley Colhouer to get more pics of the two of us.
I hired Andy b/c of his amazing ability for candid shots. And I got them. That said, if I’m being honest, I think there was a real lack of interesting or creative detail shots. I was a little disappointed at the lack of photos of things like the dress, the rings, the bouquets, our table numbers, menus etc. A lot of thought went into the details and I happen to think the details were incredible but the photos don't show it as well as they could. I gave Andy a very detailed list of what I wanted and he got most of it but he never did a group shot of the bm bouquets with the charms on them, he never really took a cool creative pic of the dress, he never took a photo of my engagement ring. I attribute this to the fact that he doesn’t do a lot of weddings. If you look at his blog, he does a LOT Of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs so that’s probably why he didn’t realize the importance of these shots or think to photograph my e-ring along w/ the wedding bands.
I think that the color and richness in the photos as well as the moments he captured make up for that, but they were not the most creative shots I’ve ever seen. I also didn’t think Andy gave the best direction during the formal photos because in some pics, the people are too spread out or not looking etc. I also wish that for some of the formals he would have used a zoom and gotten more close ups and face shots…
I think the lighting in the area we chose to shoot in was not the best and then guests started arriving in the lobby during these pics and the timeline was behind so it was very rushed... I think all that considered, Andy did the best he could, but I was hoping they would have been a little better.
All that said, if I had to chose between great candid shots of people and moments, vs. details and posed formals, I’d take the candids and the moments all day long so I’m very happy. I also like what he does in the post processing and editing, the colors are vibrant and the images and framing are excellent. I’m still looking through my shots and trying to pick out favs… there are some definite framers and I think Oscar and Andy are a VERY talented Team! I have only posted 140 of the nearly 700 pics I got so keep an eye out for more later!
Teasers: http://www.luximagesblog.com/2010/01/jaime_and_matt.html If
If I could go back would I hire? Maybe.
Focused on Forever A + (Pending Full Video) Got my trailer and It’s AMAZING. Exceeded my expectations. If my 15 min movie and long edits are that good I’ll be beyond thrilled. I booked FoF a long time ago and at first I was worried that I may have jumped too quickly when I saw some fantastic work from other videographers like Blue Shore etc… and for a while Ryan wasn’t blogging anything so I was nervous. I honestly think my trailer is one of the best I’ve seen. The editing is incredible, the moments he caught and chose to feature are perfect and I truly believe he GOT us. He managed to make me cry and laugh all at once. I highly recommend Ryan Zapatka of Focused on Forever to anyone considering video. I also highly recommend budgeting to Video period! Whether or not you go with the most expensive or not, having actual footage of your day to help remember it is priceless!
Trailer: www.focusedonforever.com/blog/2010/03/amazing-wedding-at-the-epic-in-miami/">http://www.focusedonforever.com/blog/2010/03/amazing-wedding-at-the-epic-in-miami/
If I could go back would I hire? Absolutely!
Lutz Karpf and Karla A + This man is THE BEST MAKEUP ARTIST on the planet. I’m convinced. He made me look the best I’ve ever looked in my life and probably ever WILL look. But he took a really long time to get me there. Maybe b/c I needed more work than other people but I don’t know…lol. I asked for a natural look after having a bad trial with Amy Palma where I had so much makeup on and looked like a clown. I went to Lutz and requested a very natural, soft and fresh look and that’s exactly what he gave me. I was concerned about him showing up on time but he showed up at 10am as scheduled. It took him some time to set up and he didn’t actually finish me until 2pm so it took 4 whole hours for just my hair and makeup. In his defense, I think he was having a hard time getting my hair to hold a curl. When I did a trial with him, my hair curled pretty easily and it lasted until the NEXT day, but not on my wedding day. NOT HIS FAULT. I do Thermal Reconditioning which means my hair is chemically relaxed. When I did my trial I was due for a redo on my TR and he strongly suggested I wait until after the wedding to have it redone b/c he said that my hair would not hold a curl as well or have as much volume if I had it redone but I didn’t listen b/c It had been almost a year and I was due. Well he was right. My hair didn’t hold a curl as well, it took longer to do and it fell out sooner. Still, my hair still looked great and it didn’t really matter except that it may have cost me some precious photo taking time. But Lutz is a perfectionist and a real artist and I recommend him HIGHLY. Just make sure to alot at LEAST 3 hours for hair and makeup on your wedding day. I also love his personality. He helped keep me calm and cool on my wedding day which I think is SOO important. He also stayed with me through formal family photos and did touch ups right before my ceremony which was unexpected and so awesome of him!
He brought a girl named Karla to do my bridesmaids makeup and she was amazing. My girls all looked sooooooooo stunning and they all raved b/c they loved their makeup. I highly recommend her for yourself or for your bridesmaids. I don’t have her last name or contact info but Lutz does and I think she was really really good!
If I could go back would I book again? Absolutely! (just would have had him come earlier)
Anna Wark B+ I am not sure what grade to give her. Anna came on time and did a nice job on my Bridesmaids. Not an amazing job. but a nice job. I’ve seen better updo’s and hair before and was expecting her to be a lil better… I know one of my girls was not crazy about her hair and another I personally thought could have been better but I think the hair stayed well, it looked pretty good and she worked fast and got all 5 girls done in less than 4 hours. I kind of wish I would have spent the extra to go w/ the hair person Lutz had recommended b/c if she would have been as good as Karla, I bet they would have been incredible but all in all the girls looked good and most of them were happy so Anna wasn’t a bad choice at all.
Would I book her again? Maybe.
Ocean Florist A My flowers were amazing. Truly amazing. I met with 9, yes 9 florists and I got some crazy quotes. At first I figured Ocean Florist wouldn’t be in my budget b/c they are the florist for Fischer Island and she does platinum weddings and has been featured in Grace Ormonde etc… but I’m so glad I contacted her. She got my vision right away, and was able to do our flowers for what I thought was a really reasonable price. Sadly, because of the rain, I never got to see any of my ceremony décor which makes me sad b/c I’m sure it would have been incredible. We had a really pretty huppah planned and some cool aisle décor she was going to do, but that darn rain messed it up there are only two photos of the flower balls and a pic of a cylinder with Callas to give a tiny glimpse of what I think may have been really beautiful! I’ll never know what I missed.
I looooved my Centerpieces. They were exactly what we asked for. Guerdy worked really hard to get it just right. Matt and I came up with the design and we weren’t sure it would be pulled off but I think the tables looked incredible. I feel like the value over all from Ocean Florist was amazing. She threw in a lot of extras– she wasn’t one of those florists who nickel and dime every little thing. Some florists charge insane amounts for candles and votives and all the little details and she just throws all of that in. She added LED spot lights in the cps, she threw in extra little flowers, candles and vases around the table to create the whole look. She did an incredible job decorating our cake table. She put succulents around the tables to tie them in b/c we really wanted them - all at no extra cost.
The Escort Card table was amazing and exceeded my expectations. Quite possibly my favorite part. We changed our original plan for that at the last minute and as a team, Guerdy, Matt and I designed that table during our final walk through at the venue. I was really nervous about how it would turn out b/c it was so last minute but it was soooo gorgeous! I love how the escort cards looked lined up with the candles in between them and then the huge tall vases with the callas cascading out and then the wheat grass beds all around. UNREAL!
The only area I wasn’t 100% THRILLED with (but still I was happy) was the personals. Originally I was supposed to have Garden Roses as my bouquet and the girls were going to have dark throated Rannunculus. At my Rehearsal Guerdy informed me that the rannunculus were destroyed in shipping by some infestation of bugs or something so we couldn’t have them. As an alternative she suggested that the girls use the Garden Roses and then she’d give me Peonies which was something I originally wanted. I was disappointed about the rannunculus b/c I believe they would have looked incredible with the dark centers but there was nothing I could do. My memory told me I didn’t love my bouquet but when I look back at the photos it was actually really pretty. After seeing the garden roses in my girls bouquets though, I kind of wished I would have stuck w/ them b/c I think that bouquet would have better complemented my look and my dress. But really it was beautiful! . Not as polished as the Garden Roses would have been but who knows really. The girls bouquets were pretty but small… but they turned out fine, just not the original vision. The boutonnières weren’t the best I’ve ever seen. They were ok but Matt’s fell apart really quickly. Probably because after hugging people a billion times that’s what happens, I kind of wish Guerdy had had a spare one on hand to give him later in the night or something b/c in the pics taken from the reception onward it looked pretty bad. Maybe we should have gone with something else. Word to the wise, Phaelenopsis do not make good boutonnières. That said, on the whole I was very happy w/ the flowers and the value I got for my money esp considering how Guerdy threw in so many extras.
They also didn’t charge us for the jars for our candy bar… they just provided them which was awesome. I will say that I was disappointed with how they set up our dessert/ candy table. I just didn’t think it looked chic or as good as it could have/ should have. One thing that drove me insane was that Tom, the florist who apparently set it up, took the lil chocolate bars from TK that we got and used them to spell out a J and an M and it looked so out of place and looked like a lil kid did it when I saw the pics. Kind of cheapened the look of it to me. But in the end, not a huge deal and I was still happy overall.
If I could go back would I hire? YES!
Devine Design by Guerdy A + Guerdy is amazing. Period end of sentence. A true professional. I hired her to be my DOC and since I also booked her as my florist it made sense. At first I wasn’t sure b/c she was more expensive than other DOC’s out there but in the end I’m certain she was worth every penny and I’m not sure a less experienced DOC could have handled the snags in my day as well as she did. She truly saved my day in so many ways because she was able to think quick on her feet and had backup with her. She was so well organized and on top of things and truly cared about making my event the best it could be. She also REALLY seemed to care about ME and helping me see my vision through and making sure I had the best day. I think one of the best things she did was when they had to make the last minute decision to move the ceremony inside. Right after my ketubah signing, she came up to me and said that there was not going to be a huppah or any décor at the ceremony because it had all gotten soaked in the rain. I was like, no way - I can’t get married without a huppah or ANYTHING at all in the room (It was bad enough that I wasn’t outside on the water, no chivaris, no aisle arrangements, no scenery, but then NO HUPPAH??) I had a moment of “oh no, what are we going to do” and then within seconds she found the solution. She goes “OH I’m a genius, I’ve got it” and she made the suggestion to have the guys carry the huppah into the room. This is how it was done in traditional Jewish Ceremonies so it was a perfect idea and solution and it ended up being super cool and really quite special. I never would have thought of that, and neither would anyone else. I’m pretty sure most DOC’s wouldn’t have thought of that but Guerdy has so much experience and is smart and creative and it was just the perfect solution so I was at least able to have SOMETHING up there in that bare and boring room. She was like, “I’ll re-drape it and we’ll have the groomsmen carry it.” And they did. And it was awesome. I later learned that they literally had to saw off the legs of the huppah at the last minute so that it would fit into the room… Pretty awesome. Guerdy was so prepared and ON IT… the knotties likened her to a ninja seeing her working the event that night. She comes with a team equipped with Walkie Talkies and communicates with all the vendors the whole time. Her right-hand Marcy was awesome and came and checked on me multiple times throughout the day, my bms loved Guerdy and Marcy and were so impressed by them. When the issues happened with the lights in the bathroom Ivette did nothing, Guerdy on the other hand had her team doing every thing they could to try and fix the problem, talking with engineering etc… at all times she was trying to make sure I was happy and never aware of any issues…She just GETS It and really cares about her job and her events and does everything in her power to please her brides and help make their day special. And I was no exception. This woman KNOWS WEDDINGS and is the most professional you can get. From the first time I met Guerdy I knew she got me and my vision and she was a life saver all across the board and I’m so happy to have hired her!
If I could go back would I hire her? Absolutely!
Elements and Accents A+ This company provided our Chivari Chairs and I thought they were great. They were one of 3 choices given to us by the Epic and I’m glad I chose this company. I met Rick at one of the bridal shows at the Epic and he was very nice. They are a newer company so at first I was hesitant but then I realized that because they are new, all their chairs and cushions were too, so they were in great shape. When I went to see different ballroom set ups at the Epic, I saw chairs from Hitched and they looked a bit worn, where as the times I saw E&A’s they looked great. Also, Rick was super nice and actually gifted us Chivaris for our Ceremony at the last minute. Because our wedding was supposed to be the first ever Ceremony on the Epic Green, Rick offered us at no additional cost, white Chivaris for the ceremony. Sadly they were never used and just got rained on.
If I could go back would I hire? YES!
Ana Paz A- This is a tough one for me. Originally I was not happy that I was confined to just 3 cake vendors and having read such mixed reviews on Anna’s and Eddas, I was expecting to go with Divine Delicacies. But we went for a tasting there and while the cake tasted good, we weren’t that confident in their design abilities. We went to Eddas for a tasting and didn’t love the taste and they wanted to up-charge for anything outside of Chocolate and Vanilla. After tasting Ana Paz’s cake at Amy’s wedding, we decided to give her a try. We went to meet with Ana Paz herself at the Renaissance in Plantation and we had a great meeting. The cake we tasted was really really good and she didn’t up charge us for different flavors like red velvet or lemon… so we were really happy about that. So choosing Ana was a no brainer. We asked her to design the cake after our invitations which is a fairly simple design so we figured there was no way it would go wrong. I thought it looked great, Matt however, did not. He felt it could have been better. He’s super picky when it comes to design though. What I tasted at the wedding and from what said, It was yummy. BUT Matts mom who is a HUGE Wedding cake fan, said she had the lemon and didn’t like it at all. In fact I think she said it was the worst wedding cake she ever tasted! Not sure why she felt that way, she’s generally easy to please!?!?! So the cake was good but not perfect or amazing.
If I could go back would I book her? Not if I could chose any vendor I wanted but of the choices given, yes, I would.
La Loggia A+++ We had our rehearsal dinner at La Loggia and it was perfect. We looked high and low for a nice space for the RD in the downtown area and I’m so thankful someone recommended this place. They closed off the entire downstairs of the restaurant to accommodate our party of about 65 people. The price was great and the food was plentiful and delicious. For about $33 a person we got 2 family style appetizers, salad and then a choice of 4 entrees, Dessert, Tea, Coffee, Beer, Wine and Sangria. Amazing!! Highly recommend it if you’re’ getting married downtown.
If I could go back would I book? Absolutely!
Rabbi David Young A++ I can’t say enough good things about our Rabbi. He is truly amazing and we feel so lucky to have found him. I feel like it was meant to be that he marry us. I’m Jewish but Matt is not but we agreed to having a Jewish Ceremony as he’s not really religious. We knew we needed a Rabbi who would perform an interfaith ceremony and so we went onto Interfaithfamily.com at the suggestion of Danielle (Citytoshore) and we found him. We met with 2 other Rabbis first who were ok but we really clicked with Rabbi Young. He is young and has a very fresh modern perspective and the fact that he’s a huge Comic Book geek like Matt and loves the band Phish like me certainly helped! We really enjoyed the times we sat down with him and talk about life, religion, marriage etc. When it came to the ceremony he really personalized it, he really understood and appreciated Matt and I as a couple and it made our ceremony so special. He even threw a Phish quote into the ceremony which makes my heart smile big b/c they are one of my all time favorite bands and I’m such a music person. I really can’t recommend this Rabbi enough. He’s in North Miami at Temple Sinai and if we were still in Miami, I know we’d see him again.
If I could go back would I hire? In a heart beat!
Tropics Entertainment/ Marischen Music A We wanted to have a guitar duo play our ceremony and cocktail hour so we contacted Tropics Entertainment about two flamenco guitarists we were interested in. They put us in touch with Scott Marischen who is a harpist but also a classically trained guitarist. I explained to Scott that we were looking for a guitar duo to play a lot of classic rock and modern songs. Matt plays guitar and I’m a huge fan guitar fan as well so this was super important to us. In talking with Scott he explained that the flamenco guitarists may not be the best route b/c they would have to learn all the songs and he said he already knew how to play a lot of the stuff we were requesting like the Beatles, Led Zepplin, Steely Dan etc. I told him the 3 songs we wanted for our ceremony and mentioned Little Martha by the Allman Brothers for the recessional. He said he didn’t know it but would be willing to learn it. Then one day I got a message on my voicemail from Scott playing it for me and I was so impressed that he went out and learned it for me so I was sold. He was also willing to learn a Phish Song for the Processional and a some Radiohead songs for the cocktail hour etc. A few weeks before the wedding I sent Scott the list of songs and asked him if he had picked the other guitarist and he called me to discuss what he felt was a better option. He suggested that instead of a Guitar Duo, he knew a local Viola player who is amazing and said he truly believed the music would be better if it was him and her playing. At first I was skeptical and a little bummed out b/c we really really wanted that rich Acoustic Guitar Duo sound. But I trusted him and in the end I’m so glad I did. He brought a woman named Debbie Spring with him and they couldn’t have sounded better. I was soo impressed with the sound and how well they played… as I was walking down the aisle I was noticing in my head how each note sounded like perfection and I couldn’t get over it. It was very obvious that he put a ton of time and energy into learning and practicing the songs to get them right and I couldn’t be more pleased. I highly recommend Scott and Tropics!
If I could go back would I book? Yes.
Jorge Antonatos / Vision DJs B+/ A- This is sooo hard for me to write. I want sooo badly to give them an A b/c I was on the whole a big fan of Jorge. I really like him as a person and I think he did a great job overall. BUT there were a few things that he did that I can’t seem to get over and although it was probably not even noticed by my guests, as someone who lives for music these small mistakes stood out HUGE to me and haunted me for weeks following my wedding. (I’m over it now) Basically, we gave him a huge list of what we wanted him to play. He had suggested we give him about 25 songs for the dinner service and about 50-60 for dancing. I knew 50-60 seemed like a lot but I had so many songs I would have been happy to hear, so I did it. I started planning our song list when I started planning my wedding 10 months out b/c it was so hugely important to me. We opted for a DJ over a band b/c we so badly wanted to hear certain songs and knew a band could never play them. We tried to keep the dancing list very diverse with something for everyone b/c we wanted everyone to dance. So here’s what went wrong… I had put a few songs on the list for my mom and dad. My mom for some reason is obsessed with the song Money Money Money by Abba. She also LOVES It’s a beautiful life by Ace of Base. My dad is a huge fan of Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant. So I put those on my list and those were kind of like, ok if it gets played great but if not that’s ok too. So the wedding starts where they announce us, and Jorge did an amazing job timing those songs and making the announcements and of setting it up so we walked out exactly when we wanted to… like this big build up and then the song releases and we came out. Awesome! Then the plan was to go into first dances, a short Hora and then a quick dance set before dinner. So we do the first dance and mother son father daughter dances. Then the hora. Well the hora was a bit of a mess. I told him I wanted it to be short but I ended up giving him the signal to cut it even shorter b/c It JUST wasn’t happening. I’d say only a quarter of my guests were Jewish and I guess most people just didn’t know what to do. I heard Jorge try to tell the guests to make small circles and then big ones once but it didn’t seem to register with my guests and it was kind of weak and he didn’t really encourage it so it just wasn’t working. Not his fault but I was kind of bummed b/c everyone was like WTF is going on right now. So THEN he goes into the first set of songs for dancing and this is where I have my big issue. The idea was that everyone is on the dance floor right now for the hora so lets take advantage and get people dancing. Well… He chose to play THE WORST songs on our list to kick off the party. He started the party off with Money Money Money by Abba… . Sure, I put it on my list, but as the FIRST song of the night? BAD choice… no one is gonna dance to that so of course everyone went and sat down. Great. So then from there he goes into Electric Ave. THEN he puts on Hungry like the wolf by Duran Duran. I don’t even know why I put that on the list but if there was ever a time for that type of song, it’s later on when everyons drunk. So NO One is on the dance floor and Matt and I look at each other like oh no, this party is about to go down hill. Our ceremony and cocktail were rained out and now no one is dancing. Ugh. So I RUN up to Jorge and I’m like WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU PLAYING THESE SONGS RIGHT NOW? (Because in my mind I figured they start the party off with a bang, maybe put on like Michael Jackson Wanna Be Startin’ Something or a fun song like that )… and his answer was “I’m getting these songs out of the way” Wait WHAT? WHY? In my mind I just thought that was so bizarre. If you think they aren’t great songs just don’t play them at all… you have a list of 50-60 awesome songs, don’t play lame songs to start the party off! IN hindsight I regret not giving him a list of like 15-20 absolute MUST Plays b/c in the end he didn’t play some songs that we were literally couldn’t wait to dance to at our wedding and that kills me. For the longest time Matt and I would say I can’t wait to dance to this song (Run by Gnarls Barkley) at the wedding… It’s one of mine and Matt’s favorites. But he never played it. Then he never played Beggin by Macdon which I looove and so that was a bummer. But on a positive note, he played every one of our dinner songs, and never played anything we didn’t ask for. And despite the rocky first set of dancing, the dance floor was hopping after dinner! He def had everyone on the dance floor later in the and he did a great job keeping the music flowing and mixing it up. One other thing that did NOT go so great was that we were silly enough to ask him to mix a few songs for us. That didn’t turn out so well. We wanted him to mix two daft punk songs for us and mix was sounded pretty choppy and it was kind of hard to dance too… so I was bummed that that didn’t work out too well. Matt and I kept looking at each other during the Harder Better Faster > Around the World mix he did like YIKES!! But we have to keep in mind that he’s not a club DJ he’s a wedding DJ so we should have known better than to think he’d be able to mix something like that and make it killer. He tried and for that I give him credit and he really did listen to what we asked. I think it’s hard for a DJ when they have ZERO free reign and are stuck playing only the music on a list. I think that when you take that away from them, it’s harder so on the whole I’d say Jorge did a great job with what we asked of him. But I def felt he had poor judgment with that first dance set and that bothered me a lot… still, I think we got great value for our money since we paid less than $1K for his services.
If I could go back would I hire? Yes. (I’d just be even MORE specific about what I wanted to hear and when)
Alterations by Reina A+++ This woman is an angel. There is a reason everyone sings her praises. She is beyond talented. So good at what she does and she does it at the most ridiculous prices. PoB wanted to charge over $300 for very minor alterations so I decided to go to Reina and I’m SOOOO glad I did. She altered my wedding dress AND my rehearsal dinner dress for $100. And the alterations were PERFECTION, And she’s soooooooooo sweet. I love that woman and can’t say enough good things about her!
If I could go back would I hire? 100%!!!!
Photobooth – Photobooth Social A+ The photobooth was one of the biggest hits of the party and I’m so glad we did it. The guests really loved it and the pics turned out great. Elizabeth who runs the company was amazing to work with! She even met me on two separate occasions to sell me the frames so that I didn’t have to drive so far north. We definitely could have gotten another booth for less $ but I really liked that she had the vintage style booth with the long strips, that they came in Color, B&W and Sepia and the biggest selling point was that it printed doubles so we were able to have the guests keep one and the put the other in our sign-in book. Still trying to figure out how to get the Photobooth pics onto facebook but the size is weird and fb won’t take them! Boo facebook! But I can’t recommend this company enough!
If I could go back and hire would I? YES!
Twin Ravens Press A - I found this amazing vendor from Danielle, Knottie Citytoshore. When I saw Danielles invites I knew I had to have letterpress. We had fallen in love with an invitation suite that we could not afford so we decided to contact Kristin at Twin Ravens and she if she could do something similar for less. She agreed to do it and the price she quoted was a fraction of what the original cost. Matt did the design and submitted it to Kristin and she printed them for us on beautiful paper. In the end we loved our invitations as they fit our venue and theme beautifully. I will admit that I wish they would have had a heavier impression but they still gave us the look we were going for and we less than $1K vs. the $4K + the original suite would have been so I was very very happy. We ended up using that same design throughout our event on the Menus, Escort Cards, Table Numbers etc due to my talented “husbands” excellent design skills!
If I could go back and hire would I? Maybe.
Ashley Colhouer A+++ We were fortunate enough to win a free engagement shoot with Ashley and our photos were incredible. Ashley has such a great eye and is so talented and creative. All of you knotties who have had the chance to use her while she’s still establishing herself are so lucky b/c soon I think she is gonna be charging BIG BIG Bucks and she should. Not only does she take great photos and has a great eye but she was just wonderful to work with. I think it’s so important to feel comfortable with a photographer esp the first time you ever shoot. She made us feel so at ease from the get go! I showed up to my epic session in tears b/c I had had a horrible hair and makeup trial before hand and felt looked like a tranny so I freaked out ran to CVS and got makeup remover and took it all off. I showed up with puffy bloodshot eyes and no makeup and the pics still turned out GREAT! Somehow despite my meltdown, Ashley was so cool that she managed to calm me down and make me feel ok about it. I could imagine some photogs being like sorry but you’re a hot mess and I can’t do this. I would have possibly booked her for my wedding had I known about her sooner. I loved her so much that I decided to do a TTD session with her so I’d have a chance to work with her again! Can’t wait for that!
Teasers from our Epic Session here:
www.1313blog.com/p=992"http://www.1313blog.com/?p=992
ISDM Printing A Ordered my STD Magnets through this etsy seller and they were perfect. They were cheaper than the ones from Magnet Street and in my opinion the same if not higher quality. The turn around time was insanely fast too! She got the color perfect (unlike the two sticker vendors I tried) and was a pleasure to deal with. Highly recommend this vendor!
Vilma Cruz A ++ I got this recommendation from Ursula and she was really amazing. Vilma is not a real wedding vendor but she made our cupcakes, brownies, and cake pops and they came out sooo good! I sent her photos of things I wanted and she made them look as good if not better and the taste was off the charts. Some of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had honestly. And her prices were really really good, better than anywhere else! Highly recommend her. If you want her contact info let me know!
Truly Scrumptious A We ordered our Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Pretzels from this vendor. Joann was very accommodating, great with communication, so nice and easy to work with and it all looked and tasted amazing!
Bulk Candy Store A Ordered all the candy for our candy bar from Bulk Candy store. Amazing prices and because they are local you save a ton on shipping. Amy was nice enough to pick it all up for me to save me the drive and that was awesome. Highly recommend if you’re having a candy bar.
Art Kitten A
We custom ordered our guest sign in book from this etsy vendor and it turned out beautifully. Def recommend.
Calligraphy by Michelle A Found this rec through the knot and Michelle did a great job on our invites and she has great prices. Highly Recommend her but I think you have to book her in advance so get on it!
Ketubah Tree A We purchased our Ketubah from this company and we loved it. It was beautiful. They were pretty easy to work with and turned around pretty quickly.
Mazel Tops A Ordered our Kippas from this company and they were great with communication and turned around really fast. They were very good quality and a good price. Def recommend.
Nashville Wraps A Ordered our Boxes for the dessert bar from here and they were great. This place has a fantastic selection, great customer service and good prices. Highly recommend.
