OFFICIANT
Rev. John Sweeney (www.nondenomwedding.com)
Rev. Sweeney (Skip) is very personable and fun to talk to. He was very professional and very easy to work with. He was also funny, which I love. With my permission, his wife went to the wedding with him to take pictures of the ceremony and she was equally nice. We invited him and his wife to the reception, but they respectfully declined. Skip however offered to offer blessings at the reception. His prices are not the cheapest, but he’s worth it. I highly recommend him.
~ Highly Recommend
PHOTOGRAPHER
MKD Photography (www.mkdphotography.com)
I am very pleased with our photos. I still couldn’t stop staring at them. MKD Photography is a husband and wife team. It was so nice to work with them. They are a fun couple and I love hearing about their adorable kids.
I was a little disappointed that there weren’t many pictures of my husband during preparation. He didn’t have a single posed portrait. I am aware my husband hates getting his pictures taken, but I wish they were more persuasive. I also wish they were more forceful in giving directions. They said my husband and I were a natural infront of the camera. We really aren’t and there were a few moments we didn’t know what to do. I told them I want a lot of detail shots, but we didn’t get some that I thought were the usual must-take detail shots (e.g. photo of the reception set-up without people, photo of a whole reception table showing the table set-up). But our photos turned out great. They were the best pictures we’ve gotten.
I think their prices were reasonable. But the prices of the prints on Pictage were too high ($15 for 4×6 print). I also didn’t realize til we received the DVD of our photos that we don’t get the files from our engagement shoot. Regardless, I would still recommend them. Did I mention I love my photos?
~ Recommend
DJ
Alan of Moondance DJ (www.moondancedj.com)
We had Alan from Moondance Productions and we were pleased with his work. I was very strict with the timing of the music at our ceremony, but he did great even though processional took a lot longer than expected. Our first dance music was too long for me, so I asked Alan if he could cut it short and he gladly edited it.
At the reception, Alan stuck with our do and do-not play list. What I loved about him was that he knew the type of music we liked just by our do play list. And when a guest requested a song out of our genre, he told the guest that he would need our permission first. So he asked and I appreciated that. Some brides noted that he approached the brides too often when they didn’t really need to be bothered. He only asked me once at our wedding. For a day wedding, I didn’t expect most of my guests to be dancing, but they did. I think Alan did a decent job. Moondance prices are very affordable too.
~ Recommend
FLORIST
Florals by Alisa (www.floralsbyalisa.com)
I love my flowers and our guests were raving about them! I can’t say enough good things. And I want to thank Florals by Alisa for doing such a great job.
I loved working with Florals by Alisa. They were very responsive. I always get a response the morning after I sent my email (I usually email late at night). They were the quickest to give me a price quote. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the quote. The prices were very reasonable and their flower design proposal was similar to what I had in mind. Their flower choices were perfect – garden roses, peonies, ranunculus, orchids, etc. I didn’t have to change anything. Their quote was the cheapest of the all the price quotes I’ve gotten.
We met with Lisa once to see a sample centerpiece and she was very sweet. She even admired the tissue paper mock-up I created! They charge for a sample centerpiece, the same price as what they have in their price quote.
I highly recommend Florals by Alisa. They’re very easy to work with and you get a lot for your money.
~ Highly Recommend
BAKER
Konditor Meister (www.konditormeister.com)
I went to 5 different bakers and I loved Konditor Meister’s cakes the best. I was surprised that their prices were very reasonable too. They were actually the cheapest out of the 5 bakers I’ve gone to. I enjoyed their tasting. They gave us 8 huge slices of cake and they were all delicious!
They weren’t very responsive to emails. And when we went back a couple of months after our tasting to drop off our deposit, they couldn’t find our initial contract. I had to fax them our copy. However, they were very accommodating. Two weeks before our wedding, I changed the design of the cake and they were able to accommodate that. They were even able to mail me samples of ribbons for the cake for my approval in a very short period of time.
The cake didn’t turn out the way I want it to look. The cake I wanted was a bit narrow, but the cake I got was wider. I think they just stick with their regular cake pans and do not make special sizes. The cake tasted great though. They use rolled chocolate instead of fondant. The rolled chocolate looked just like fondant and tasted great. And the cake was huge! I ordered cake for 75 people ~ 3 tiers. The middle tier was enough for my 60 guests. So we got the top and bottom tier to take home. That was a LOT of cake.
I would highly recommend Konditor Meister if you’re not looking to have a complicated cake design. If you are, make sure you ask them if they can do it and be very specific on what you want.
~ Recommend
HAIR
Sam Colavolpe
I was so happy with my hair. It turned out better than I expected. Sam Colavolpe was very accommodating. I am not used to long hair so I had to cut my hair a month before the wedding. Sam was forced to work with short hair – a little longer than chin-length. But she did a great job. At the trial, she first styled my hair down, then half up, then all up. We decided on the updo. She took pictures of my hair to remind her on the wedding day.
My wedding hair turned out a little different from the updo we had at the trial. Thankfully, it turned out even better. I loved it so much that I am considering hiring Sam to come down to New York to do my hair for my friend’s wedding. She is so much fun to talk to, you won’t get bored while she does your hair. But that’s not all what is great about Sam. Her prices are unbelievable.
~ Highly Recommend
MAKE-UP
Krystal Treanor
Krystal was great at choosing the right colors for my face. She made a custom lip color for me. My make-up looked very natural, the way I told her I wanted. It didn’t feel heavy and I was very comfortable. It lasted the whole day. I didn’t even have to touch up. She did however provided me and my girls lipstick for re-applying. She also provided blotting sheets. I love the make-up she did on my bridesmaids, but I didn’t like the make-up on my mom very well. We told her that we weren’t very happy with my mom’s make-up and she willingly re-did her make-up.
~ Recommend
