My husband surprised me with a limo on our wedding day. The driver, Stephen, was wonderful. Very professional and personable. I unfortunately misplaced a family heirloom (6 pence in my shoe!) somewhere between my parents house and the church. When we called the owner, Larry, he immediately had Stephen check the limo several times over for us. Not only that, but Stephen went above and beyond by later calling us to offer getting a replacement 6 pence from England (where he is from). We highly recommend hiring Stephen from Executive Limousines!
We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles getting married in Sarasota. I was only able to make one trip to meet with vendors. The minute I met Heather at Rose Garden, I knew I was in good hands. I am admittedly clueless when it comes to flowers, but Heather was so patient and helpful. She quickly sketched up some amazing ideas and came up with exactly what we wanted! When our color palette changed a couple months before the wedding and I requested a certain flower, Heather made the changes right away. She worked within our budget and made sure everything was exactly the way we wanted it. My bouquet was GORGEOUS and we received tons of compliments on our reception flowers. We highly recommend the Rose Garden!
We went to Sandals St. Lucia Grande for our honeymoon and couldn't have been happier with everything! Like most people, we spent hours researching our options and reading reviews. We tortured our travel agent with questions and doubts until finally, we decided on this resort. We are so thankful that we did! Reading all of the negative reviews can be very confusing but it's all about the expectations you have, what kind of person you are and what you're looking for in a vacation or honeymoon. We live in Los Angeles (but are both from New York) so we are admittedly spoiled when it comes to food, drinks, travel and entertainment.
Our idea of a great honeymoon was something where we could relax, eat and drink. We didn't want to deal with more planning, more budgeting, and more itineraries! This was our first all-inclusive experience, although we have been on one cruise (and hated it). Our expectations were semi-low..... we sort of expected a "cruise on land" vibe, low quality food and cheesy "Sandals" logos everywhere. We were also terrified that we would be the oldest couple there (we are in our mid-30's) or that we'd be amidst a sea of "honeymooners-gone-wild." None of these things were the case! There are all kinds of couples, of all ages there. Most people are there on their honeymoon, so if you're looking to be treated like you're something special just because you're wearing a "sexy little bride" t-shirt then yes, you will be disappointed. Your experience here is really what you make of it. If you want to meet other couples and make new friends, there are plenty of opportunities and friendly people at the bars and the beach who you will meet and talk to. If you want to be alone and focus only on your husband/wife then you can do that, too and that's what we mostly chose to do. There's always an empty hammock, a quiet spot by the pool or a walk on the beach. Getting a cabana one day was our favorite thing we did. "No Pressure, No Problem" was my favorite drink (we made it a point to try all of them and they are all delicious!) The food was all wonderful. We did not go to the other resorts and other than one dinner at Toscanini's, we were happy eating dinner every night at Bayside (breakfast buffet at Bayside and breakfast at Toscanini's are both great!) Our room was lovely. We had a wonderful couples massage at the spa - worth every penny. And thanks to some great advice, we took the Jeep Safari excursion.
We truly enjoyed the "Soufriere Jeep Discovery & Waterfall Revelation” tour with our guide Nilan. The volcano, waterfall, banana plantation and fishing village were all beautiful, but it was really the star personality of Nilan that made the experience extra special. He was fun, genuine and funny - giving us a fantastic insight into the island and its true culture. We recommend taking advantage of the natural mud bath near the volcano, but be warned that the sulfur smell and stains from the mud are hard to get out of your bathing suit (so don’t wear your best suit or your jewelry).
If you're looking for a no-brainer, relaxing honeymoon/vacation and you enjoy eating and drinking then this is the PERFECT place for you! If you don't drink or like to eat (let's face it, that's what you're paying for) or if you are a hard-to-please complainer who thinks the world owes you something because you are on your honeymoon, then..... good luck to your new spouse! We will definitely be looking into other Sandals for future romantic, relaxing vacations!
Margaret was our wedding ceremony musician and we can't speak highly enough about her! We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles getting married in Sarasota and I am a musician, as well. Music is so important. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found someone as talented and wonderful as Margaret. Her voice is beautiful. She also played the organ and the harp, which were so awesome to have. It added a wonderful etherial element to our ceremony. Additionally, because of her talent and knowledge, she was able to recommend a wonderful bagpiper, as well. Margaret was generous in sharing her time and experience, providing us with many helpful suggestions. We highly recommend Margaret's services!!!!
When it came to our wedding invitations, we were conflicted and overwhelmed. There are many beautiful options out there but they are ridiculously expensive and none of them quite felt like "us." Then we came upon the perfect solution - the Nesting Project! Corrine and Kelly were so quick and easy to communicate with from start to finish! They asked me some simple questions and I sent them a basic idea with our color palette. Within days we were presented with the most perfect invitations for our wedding! It was as if they knew us! All of our guests complimented our beautiful invitations and said how "us" they were. One of our guests is a professional artist who loved the invitations so much, she made a special frame and had our invitation mounted as a wedding gift. We highly recommend the Nesting Project and will definitely use them again! The quality of work they produce and attention to detail is amazing!!!!
We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles getting married in Sarasota and we used UDream Events for our beer and wine bar. I work in the catering and event staffing business so I know what to expect and what not to expect. Cristina was great to communicate with and very accommodating. Coming from California wine country, we had some special requests for our wine selection. She was very flexible and patient with us. She even threw in sangria at the last minute, which was a HUGE hit on our hot wedding day! Their staff was wonderful. Our guests loved the two bartenders we had. One of them tracked us down several times to make sure we were getting drinks, which we really appreciated! We definitely recommend their services.
Josh will always be, in our eyes, the hero of our wedding! We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles where I am a musician and work in catering. I work at a wedding or two every week and see all kinds of DJ's and bands. We hired Phase 5 to play our reception and Josh to be our after-party DJ. They were a huge hit! Even though it was 80something degrees and the sun was high in the sky, people couldn't resist the urge to get on the dance floor. Josh is an amazing talent and has such a versatile voice. He and his bass player were also gracious enough to let our friend get up and sing us a song. Not only did our guests have a blast, but people in the area couldn't help but stop by to listen to how great they sounded! All day during our reception, guests were saying to us "These guys are so great! Where did you find this band?" We continue to receive compliment upon compliment about Josh. He is also the perfect DJ to have at your wedding because he is the opposite of cheeseball (we all know the type). He played exactly what we asked for and provided beautiful lighting to set the mood when the sun went down. Josh's website is incredibly easy. In fact, he is the one wedding vendor we never even needed to talk to! We just went on his website and created our play (and do not play) list. He has it set up in such an easy and organized way. It's no surprise to us that he won a national "Entertainer of The Year" award and we feel so lucky that our wedding planner recommended him! We HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend him, as well! Thanks, Josh!!
Josh will always be, in our eyes, the hero of our wedding! We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles where I am a musician and work in catering. I work at a wedding or two every week and see all kinds of DJ's and bands. We hired Phase 5 to play our reception and Josh to be our after-party DJ. They were a huge hit! Even though it was 80something degrees and the sun was high in the sky, people couldn't resist the urge to get on the dance floor. Josh is an amazing talent and has such a versatile voice. He and his bass player were also gracious enough to let our friend get up and sing us a song. Not only did our guests have a blast, but people in the area couldn't help but stop by to listen to how great they sounded! All day during our reception, guests were saying to us "These guys are so great! Where did you find this band?" We continue to receive compliment upon compliment about Josh. He is also the perfect DJ to have at your wedding because he is the opposite of cheeseball (we all know the type). He played exactly what we asked for and provided beautiful lighting to set the mood when the sun went down. Josh's website is incredibly easy. In fact, he is the one wedding vendor we never even needed to talk to! We just went on his website and created our play (and do not play) list. He has it set up in such an easy and organized way. It's no surprise to us that he won a national "Entertainer of The Year" award and we feel so lucky that our wedding planner recommended him! We HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend him, as well! Thanks, Josh!!
We hired Jackie Ross to be our full service wedding coordinator and couldn't be more thankful that we did! We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles getting married in Sarasota. We didn't have a clue about Florida or where to go to find the best vendors. Thanks to Jackie, we got the best of the best while staying within our budget. She must work around the clock because she answered hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of our emails at all times of day, night, weekend or holiday. She truly went above and beyond in all aspects of our wedding. Thanks to her awesome connections, we had the best music and food in town! The two greatest things about Jackie that make her truly special, though, are her absolute honesty and her hilarious sense of humor. She was our wedding planner, our friend, our mom, our comic relief and our therapist all wrapped into one fun, super organized package! We highly recommend her and can't thank her enough for making our wedding as special and wonderful as it was!!
Words can't describe how thankful we are that our wedding planner found Aymee and Puff N' Stuff Catering for our wedding. We were a long distance couple from Los Angeles getting married in Sarasota. I work in catering and very high-end events (the Oscars, celebrity private homes, etc) Food and service are extremely important to me. I know what to expect and what not to expect. After making a couple trips to Florida for tastings at another area caterer, we had given up hope to find the kind of high quality, innovative food we were looking for. As luck would have it, Puff N' Stuff had just come to the area and our planner immediately recommended them. The minute I spoke with Aymee, I knew instantly that we were in good hands. She sent us some amazing videos of their food and without even tasting it, we could just tell by LOOKING at it that we had found our caterer. Aymee worked with our ideas and came up with an amazing, unique menu that worked perfectly within our budget. Our guests were so impressed with the fun food we served and will be talking about it for years! It wasn't your typical, boring wedding food. It was so delicious and presented beautifully! Their staff was friendly and professional. We couldn't have been happier! If you are looking for high quality, super fresh, unique food, then Puff N' Stuff is the way to go! We highly recommend them for any event!!!