While I haven't received the DVDs of our wedding yet, I have great faith in Skip and Visual Memories. We talked at length before the wedding to make sure he caught everything I wanted on film. And I have seen a completed DVD of a completed wedding, which was great.
Everything I have even eaten from Minooka Pastry Shop has been fabulous. I have previously ordered cakes and cannot leave the shop without wonderful cookies. And Joseph was wonderfully accommodating with regard to my desires, including making complimentary cupcakes for us to taste certain fillings. While my reception site, Via Appia, has an arrangement with Minooka and I didn't have to decide where to get a cake, I can't imagine I would've gone anywhere else anyway!
Stazione Salon is a relatively new salon and spa located in Old Forge. The owners came recommended to me by their aunt, who came recommended by my then-fiance but whose shop was too far away (Lavender in Dalton - also fabulous!). Stazione is owned by two sisters, one who does hair and one who does makeup application, both with great talent. For the wedding party, I met some other stylists who were also fantastic. The salon is located in a beautifully renovated train station and the ladies have a wonderful atmosphere. As far as how my girls and I looked on my wedding day, I could not have asked for more. I did choose to go in ahead of time, at additional expense, to have a practice run with both hair and makeup and I recommend that to everyone.
We love Via Appia! From the excellent food, to the fantastic people who run it and great event staff, to the value for your dollar, to the beautiful setting, I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Gary and his assistant Kenny were wonderful, from the meetings before the wedding right through the night of the event. I had very specific wants and needs with regard to music I did and did not want played and Tag DJs handled everything with aplomb. They also got the crowd up and moving in a way I've never seen and had a great understanding of all different genres.
White's Floral is wonderful! For centerpieces, I had many different pieces of antique glass and silver sorted out to about 12 pieces per table that I wanted filled with candles and flowers. While this was a specific idea, and I also knew I wanted an antique look for the flowers, I had no idea where to go from there. Jen and her staff at White's Floral got the sense of what I wanted and brought it to life, even setting up my centerpieces! She suggested and showed me flowers and plants that I loved, and helped me add to my theme. Jen even found and ordered orange blossoms for my bouquet, a very specific flower I really wanted.
Mary at Bridal Trinkets was an incredible help with choosing and ordering my beautiful invitations. From jewelry to cake toppers and unity candles, groomsman gifts to flower girl baskets, veils to tiaras, bubbles and tossing merchandise, card boxes and wishing wells (available for rent), and many invitations to choose from, Bridal Trinkets in an important resource in the all the planning and purchasing involved in a wedding.
Nasser Limo is a wonderfully run business with many different cars and types of vehicles in their fleets. I was interested in an antique car, but figured I could only get something for the two of us. Then I spoke with John and saw a picture of his 8-passenger Excalibur limo, made by himself and a friend from a 1928 Excalibur, and I fell in love. We fit the entire wedding party into the car for the whole day and got so many compliments! Also our limo drive was fantastic, making sure we didn't forget anything important like rings or a license before we went to the church, filling the limo cooler with beer (at my request) for the groom and his groomsmen and even fluffing my train and veil before I walked down the aisle. Above and beyond all around!
Krista and her team at KPhotography are the best! While she had a lot of weddings right before ours and we are still waiting for most of our pictures, she did our engagement photo shoot. Normally my husband and I are both usually very hesitant about getting our pictures taken and not big fans of pictures of ourselves, but Krista made the shoot fun and the pictures were fantastic! I'm sorry I can't rate KPhotography on the entire wedding process, but I have great faith in everything being fantastic.
In this area, Sarno and Son is unparalleled in men's formal wear. The selection is fantastic and all their locations make it so easy for everyone to get measured whenever they can. This may be the only time I will ever see my man dressed up and I'm glad I trusted them!