The George Salon handled all of my wedding day hair/makeup and did an incredible job. I worked with Rick Raines, Carl Ray (Makeup) and Ismail (Hair).
Rick Raines helped me work out the timing for my mom's, my bridesmaids, and my hair/makeup stylings and kept us all on schedule. He made sure we were taken care of the whole time (water, tea, coffee, magazines). He was also great about helping me figure out my hair style through pictures before hand.
Carl did my wedding day makeup. He is a beauty magician and I would hire him again in a heartbeat for any occasion. Here's why:
1. Beautiful makeup: I didn't even give him instruction for how I wanted my bridal make up to look, but he made me look amazing and I've never felt so beautiful. It was the perfect blend of glamorous and natural that every girl should be on her big day. I felt that he just discerned my best features and highlighted them for all to see. I got so many compliments on how I looked and on my makeup!
2. Long-lasting makeup: I was amazed that my makeup lasted (without any upkeep!!!) for the whole day and night. I got my makeup done around 12noon. This same look lasted even though I got caught in showers from a hurricane and even though I was dancing like crazy for at least 4 hours. Not to mention: the makeup withstood my frequent tearing-up.
3. Great person. Carl is so nice, kind and reassuring. He's the kind of person that you want to have on your side and that you really don't mind paying money to on your wedding day.
Ismail did my hair for my wedding and I would recommend him to anyone. Despite the fact that my hair is terrible (flat, thin, boring), he made me look amazing. I showed Ismail pictures of my targeted style weeks before the wedding. Having met me once, he knew I would need extensions to pull it off, so he ordered those. On the actual wedding day, he looked again at the pictures I brought and did my hair exactly as I wanted--he somehow added body, curl, volume and everything to make my hair reach a level of glamour and sophistication that I didn't think was possible. There were a few times when I questioned Ismail about where he was putting pieces of hair, but he was extremely patient and was willing to redo anything I didn't like at all. I would love to work with Ismail again and cannot thank him enough for making me feel so awesome on my wedding day.
Hiring Chris Laich to be our wedding DJ was the best investment that we made for our Big Day. Chris's music transformed the event from an ordinary go-through-the-motions wedding into an amazing party that kept people out and celebrating until well past 2AM. Here's why he's awesome:
1. Amazing music and read of the crowd; Great equipment. Chris's music really breathed life into the event. Chris had our crowd up and dancing at the first opportunity. Every song brought more people to the floor--everyone from grandparents/in-laws to little kids--and there was never a time when the party was lagging. Also important: Chris has awesome sound equipment. Rather than the typical big black speakers that blast music from one corner of the room, Chris has a sound system that was practically hidden, but projected equally throughout our event space. Everyone appreciated this acoustical set-up because it allowed for everyone to hear music and toasts easily.
2. Communicative, professional, prompt. Chris was great about communicating with me before the wedding about songs, timing for certain parts of the wedding (toasts, speeches, entrances etc). He had great ideas and suggestions and raised questions that I never would have thought about otherwise. He was very professional as well. On our wedding day, Chris and his staff showed up very well-dressed and set up everything very unobtrusively.
3. Incredibly knowledgeable. Calling Chris early in my wedding planning was one of the most helpful things that I did for myself. Since he's very familiar with the DC wedding scene, he pointed me toward good other vendors (even before I hired him!) and cautioned me about possible pitfalls.
My husband and I agree that we'd love to have another wedding--if only for the music!
Helen Olivia did the flowers for our wedding and did a truly lovely job. Marianne was very helpful and communicative when we were figuring out and ordering the arrangements we wanted. (For a busy bride, it's really nice to have a vendor who corresponds well over email.) When I felt that prices were too high, she helped me think of less expensive (but still pretty) alternatives). She put together a great proposal, and gave us some amazing sample arrangements. On our wedding day, Marianne's bouquets and arrangements were all beautiful and made our wedding look awesome. Helen Olivia's prices could not be beaten and their delivery and set up services were also very reasonable.
For anyone using Helen Olivia (or any vendors), I'd suggest you walk through the final proposal with them by phone the week before the wedding. On our wedding day, Helen Olivia forgot to deliver our little Flower Girl bouquet, which had been included on our final proposal that was signed-off via email, but not discussed on the phone. Rather than blame Helen Olivia for this though, I blame myself or our planner for not running through the final checklist before the big day. Helen Olivia was great about handling this problem--when we called Marianne, she rushed over from her shop before the wedding ceremony and managed to drop off a bouquet about 30 minutes before, so everything turned out great.
I would recommend Helen Olivia to anyone for any occasion.
MarcParc provided shuttles for our wedding and rehearsal dinner. I really enjoyed working with MarcParc and would not hesitate to use them again for another event. Peter Kaiser handled our account and he was very smart, friendly, communicative and professional. His drivers were on time and he even worked with me to secure an additional driver on the day of our rehearsal dinner. I hope to work with MarcParc again soon.
We got our wedding cake from Fluffy Thoughts, and my whole family can attest that this is the most amazing cake place you'll ever find in the world. Here's why:
1. BEST CAKE-TASTING EXPERIENCE. Before I went to Fluffy Thoughts, I tasted cakes at about 4 other places. Each of these other places had given me and my family slices to share from about 4 cakes that I pre-ordered on the phone, and these samples tasted OK but were generally unimpressive. My family and I were sick of cake, but decided to keep our appointment at Fluffy Thoughts and give them a try (mostly because my dad thought the name was hilarious). We were overwhelmed and shocked by how unique and awesome Fluffy Thoughts was as soon as we opened the door to the store. It's small and beautifully decorated. Unlike anywhere else, they have a very professional tasting room, where you can look at albums and slideshows of cakes while you're waiting and deliberating. Lara, the owner, brought us 6 mini loaves of different cakes and 2 artists' palettes of icings and fillings. She would cut slices of these loaves and spread particular fillings and icings on these slices (mini cake sandwiches!) so that we could try absolutely every variety possible. My family LOVED this experience and it really got everyone into such happy moods.
2. COOL UNIQUE CAKE FLAVORS. The flavors of cake themselves were incredible. The ingredients tasted so fresh and lovely that we really felt like we were eating good quality food. Deciding between flavors was the hardest part, but Fluffy Thoughts allowed us to incorporate 2 of our favorite flavors into our cake, which made the decision easier. I don't like chocolate, but my family loved a lot of the chocolate-based flavors. We settled on Pistachio cake with raspberry preserves and rose meringue filling (which was my favorite) and Angel Food Cake with blackberry meringue and passion fruit filling. Both flavors were a hit.
3. GREAT DECORATIONS. Fluffy Thoughts can do anything and Lara was very helpful in giving us ideas. Our final cake was gorgeous and exactly what I had in mind (actually, it was even better).
4. PERKS. Everytime I met with Lara, she let me leave with a bunch of free cupcakes and cookies. Also, she said Fluffy Thoughts would give us a free cake on our anniversary so that we don't have to freeze any part of our wedding cake! We are already looking forward to our first anniversary.
I can't recommend Fluffy Thoughts highly enough for any wedding or any other occasion at all!