Weddingbee boards

I just got married on 4/11/09.  I figured I'd offer some feedback on my event in the hopes that it maybe helps other couples with their wedding planning.  I've not directly involved with any of the vendors we worked with or been compensated by any of them, just a very pleased customer!

 My husband and I had our ceremony and reception at the Garrison in Garrison, NY.  We worked with Todd Smith, their banquet manager, who was fantastic.  He offered very candid feedback and insights that helped make our planning process, and ultimately the event itself, very smooth.  My husband and I were very intent on having a green wedding, and the Garrison was a key component of that as they serve local, organic food and use other sustainable practices.  In addition, the food, service, views - everything was wonderful. 

We chose the DJ Solution in Poughkeepsie as our DJ/MC.  They too did an amazing job, and were a joy to work with from the first time we met with them, throughout the planning process and the wedding event.  They truly listened to what we wanted, and delivered on it, offering a classy performance infused with fun, personalization and great tunes that had everyone on the dance floor.  Jeff Padovani also played acoustic guitar for the ceremony and cocktail hour music, which sounded great and gave us more options for a non-cookie cutter wedding.

 Our florist was Carmel Flower Shop.  Diane Farrell was our specialist, and she was outstanding.  The arrangements were beyond what I even hoped for and they utilized only local and/or organic flowers at our request to accommodate our green theme.

 Our photographer was Michael Gold from the Corporate Image in New Paltz.  He has an uncanny ability to make even camera shy folks like myself feel at ease in front of the camera.  We just got his photo proofs - wow!  A bit pricey, but not as much as other photogs of his caliber.

 Hope this helps!!  Good luck to all the brides and grooms to be.

Thanks for the congrats!  Glad to see others had a great experience with Todd from the Garrison and the DJ Solution as well.  We actually were able to stay within budget, and even found that in many ways, having a green wedding cost the same or less as traditional options, like by foregoing invitation reply cards in favor of email and phone replies, for instance.  I've attached photos - sorry for the quality - my scanner is stinky!