Weddingbee boards

@TheBride2B: I am in the process of looking for florists and was curious to know what your experience was w/Flowers by JoAnn... and if you wouldn't mind, the cost range of what they charge for wedding flowers. You can PM if you prefer! I'd very much appreciate it!

I'm finally married and super excited to share my vendor feedback with you all! I had such an amazing wedding and I loved almost all of vendors to death, and can't recommend them enough! Please feel free to PM if you have questions or want more info.

• Wedding Date: July 17, 2011

• Location: Washingtonville, NY

• Ceremony & Reception Venue: Round Hill - I can't say enough great things about this place!! July is definitely peak time for Round Hill, as everything is bloom and green and just looks stunning! But I imagine fall is also a gorgeous time of year to get married there as well. It's an old house (not as fancy as some of the estates on the East side of the Hudson, but nicer, perhaps, than, say, a summer home you yourself might have up that way). If you want a place that feels like an extension of your own home, that is totally unique and can be as casual or jazzed up as you want it to be, this is your place! The gardens are amazing, well-maintained, and not cheesy (no ridiculous marble or faux-marble statuary here and there). You have the place to yourself for your wedding so no worries about other weddings cramping your style. It feels intimate whether you have 50 or 150 guests, which I love. The staff there are so kind, friendly and accommodating, and they definitely took care of everyone. The food is great, though be advised that they do not do an individual tasting when it comes time to select your menu. I did hear that some of my guests complained about the food, but unfortunately we couldn't do any quality control before making our selections, and I feel like our guests are NYC food snobs so they probably would have complained if the garnish was 2" off center. My now-husband and I had a sample of every entree and we liked everything we picked! Cocktail hour is definitely where they succeed most, and I think out of the 20, maybe 25, options you have for passed hors drv's, there might have been 1 I didn't like! Delicious! They happily accommodated our specialty cocktail requests and did a bang-up job with them! And otherwise, everything went flawlessly! I couldn't be happier we chose to get married there!

• Caterer: FEAST (they own Round Hill but also do off-site catering) - see description above

• Photographer: J.Castro Photography - OMG. I am in love with Jaymie and his associate photographers. A- frickin'-mazing work, and truly the nicest people you will ever meet. They are SUPER fun and SUPER nice. And, oh yeah, they take ridiculously awesome photos. They even put together a couple of slide shows of photos they had taken earlier in the day to display for our guests toward the end of the reception! And what we saw - all gorgeous! They even did a photo booth for us AND brought extra props! I don't think I've ever had so much fun taking photos, and I feel like these guys are practically family. We had a little snafu early on causing to run an hour behind schedule, but Jaymie & his crew just rolled with it and made all happen gracefully and with a smile! They are based in CT, but work all over the Hudson Valley and even came to Brooklyn to do our engagement photos. Wow - definitely one of my favorite vendors and I highly recommend these guys!

• Videographer: N/A

• Cake: Pastry Garden (part of Round Hill's package) - seriously, best wedding cake I ever had! I swear they put some kind of illegal substance in their cake because it is soooooooooo good! Even if you get married at a place where you have the option of bringing in your own cake, these guys are the CLEAR choice. They are based in Poughkeepsie, but work all over. They created my cake from a combo of 2 different photos and did an amazing job! We chose to have them do our topper our of sugar or gum paste flowers and they are the most realistic edible flowers I have ever seen! I worked with Lisa who was great and made sure everything we asked for got incorporated! She did not try to upsell you on anything and the extras we asked for were more than a reasonable cost. Our cake was great!

• Ceremony/Cocktail Hour Music: Judy Handler & Mark Levesque - I think next to our photographer, these guys are my other favorite vendor. My husband and I wanted non-traditional ceremony music, and a laid-back, jazzy vibe for cocktail hour. We love the sound of classical guitar, and after some difficulty finding exactly what we wanted, I stumbled upon the Classical Guitar Society of CT and was directed to Judy & Mark. They have more talent in their pinkie fingernail than, oh, just about any musician in their genre I know! I chose to have the classical guitar and mandolin duo for the ceremony and it was BEAUTIFUL! They brought their own amp so you could hear the music loud and clear, and it was amazing. And then we added a base for cocktail hour and let them play what they do best! Gypsy jazz, bossa, bluegrass - they did all flawlessly! My only regret was not spending more time listening to them!

• Reception Music: The "A" Band (out of Monroe, NY) - Jack the band leader is just a super person! He arrived on time, set everything up, and was rarin' to go when it came time for introductions. Everyone was dressed professionally, and my guests have said nothing but great things about these guys! We love live music and knew that's what we wanted for our reception, but had trouble finding a band that fit our budget but that also sounded good! These guys totally fit the bill and we had so much fun dancing! We wanted to have a little dance party at the end of the reception, and so I requested someone DJ for the last 40 mins or so - no one even noticed the band has stopped playing! Jack and his band totally read the crowd, played most of what we requested, and got everyone dancing and having a great time! There some guests (who I never expected this of) who practically stayed on the dance floor the whole night! Such a great and talented group of musicians!

• Florist: Elegant Accents (our of Gardiner) - Theresa is a great person to work with and definitely knows her stuff. She honored my request to do a sample, which was hugely helpful for me, since I sent her some photos of what I was going for, but had made some adjustments based on the season and what she told me would be available. However, I think the colors of the flowers in the end were still off despite my feedback, and I wish she was much firmer with me in saying what I wanted wasn't going to be available. I was definitely a little surprised on the day of that mine & my bridesmaids' bouquets, and the centerpieces weren't 100% what I wanted, but they were at least 85% perfect, and in the end, it looked great and totally worked out with the rest of the decor and my linens and ceremony space. You should also consider that she is a small one-person operation (which I wanted), but it means she can be less responsive that you might like, particularly around prom season. But she arrived completely on time and set everything up as planned. I would definitely recommend her, but just make sure that if you have a vision and you know exactly what you want, be very clear with her and make sure she is being very upfront with you about what she is able to do to fulfill your requests.

• Day-of Coordinator: Lauren of Hudson Valley Events - Literally came to my rescue when the original DOC I hired bailed and is, to this day, nowhere to be found and not to be heard from again. She brought assistants even when I told her I couldn't afford it because it was such a last-minute expense, and she worked seamlessly with the maitre'd of Round Hill to make sure E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G was perfect, that everyone was in place, on time, and that I didn't have to worry or stress about anything. She arrived on the day of the wedding on time and immediately went to work. When I snuck away to check out how everything was set up, I think my jaw dropped because it seems like she was in my head and everything was where and how I imagined it to be! I wish I had had the time to get to know her better before meeting her, but I am so glad I made the decision to hire her as she did a phenomenal job on super short notice! Hudson Valley Events does great work, and I totally recommend them for planning and/or DOC services!

• Wedding Party/Family Transportation: Robin's Taxi - We didn't want to hire a limo because it was expensive and most places would not let us forgo the 3hr minimum since we only needed it for a one-way trip, so we got a recommendation for Robin's Taxi for the Marriott and Hamption Inn in Middletown where everyone was staying. I took a quick look at their website before booking them to make sure they had what I was looking for and not just taxis. When I called to make the reservation, I specifically requested a car service/sedan (not a taxi cab), and I think regular old taxis showed up to take my husband's family and the groomsmen to the wedding venue. I also reserved/requested another car service to take just my husband & I back to our hotel at the end of the night, and the car or taxi never showed up. It was fine because we had a bus charter for our guests so we just rode the bus back with everyone else (and drank beer and sang songs so it was actually fun). They also demand payment up front, before they even start moving from your pick-up place, which I found weird. So in all, for a last-minute, not much advance notice taxi, these guys are fine. But I would NOT recommend them for your wedding unless you are willing to follow-up with them a few times before the day to make sure they undertood your request.

• Guest Transportation: Leprechaun Lines - This is a great charter bus services and their rates are WAYYYYYY more reasonable than any other bus service in the area!! The buses were clean, arrived totally on time to pick up/drop-off my guests, and the driver was great! No complaints at all!

• Seamstress: Had to mention this incredible woman - Bevin Dillon (www.bevindillon.com). If you are an NYC-based bride, please get your dress altered by this woman! She is brutally honest in telling you what will and won't work, she has an expert eye for details (the embellishments she added to both mine & my mom's dresses were PERFECT!) and is extremely talented. She could charge way more than she does, but she clearly loves her work, and puts her all into everything she does. She lives/works on the Upper West Side, and coming from Brooklyn/lower Manhattan  - not super convenient, but TOTALLY WORTH THE TREK! She made the process so much fun and I can't tell you how many compliments I got on all the detail work on my dress, all thanks to Bevin. While I was able to almost match the lace perfectly, she added on both lace and beadwork so expertly that even I could hardly tell where the original detail work stopped and Bev's embellishment started! Not to mention that she made the dress fit like a glove and then some! I literally looked 10lbs thinner on top of the weight I had already lost. Bevin was really a joy to work with and I stand behind her 100%! She made me really love my dress!

Whew! Well I think I hit everyone! Again, please feel free to PM for any more information - happy to discuss further!