DJ Seth Isaacs of Beat Train Productions is incredible. Based on prior experience at other wedding who used DJs I was a little apprehensive about having one for our wedding. However, once we realized how incredibly expensive a good band is we decided to go this route - and were ecstatic we did. Seth was great to work with - we went over a game plan for opening dances, slow dances, must-play and "don't play" songs well in advance of the wedding. We gave him the general instruction that we like music that we would recognize - not neccessarily all new or top-40 tracks just nothing too under-the-radar. From the beginning he was always very professional and patient with us. He was always on top of the schedule, even when we weren't, which was really helpful when you are planning your own wedding.
From the second the music started at our reception, I knew we were in good hands - he had such a great feel on the pulse of the room and where to go with the music it was really impressive. I remember the first song we had chosen beforehand was a great starter for a wedding, but unlike a lot of weddings, the dance floor was packed right away (making it unnecessary to draw the crowd out). That first song was not overly up-beat but the crowd was certainly ready for a party. DJ Seth clearly felt that, and quickly moved to a perfect song for the mood and just took off from there. The rest of the night the music was perfect, exactly what we were looking for and we couldn't have been happier with our choice. I cannot remember what the song was but I remember that he played something immediately after the cake-cutting that brought everybody right back into party mode. I distinctly remember thinking at that moment that we had hired the best wedding DJ. I would certainly recommend him for any event.
Also - I should note that we got in touch with DJ Seth based on a recommendation for the entire company, Beat Train, from our photographer, who has done events with several of the DJs and liked all of them. We listened to some sample playlists from several DJs and thought Seth sounded like a great match for us.
I cannot imagine a better wedding photographer than Alex. She is incredibly friendly, genuine and is just a wonderful person to be around, which is especially welcome on a wedding day. It doesn't exactly hurt that her photographs are stunning and provide a real sense of an event. After the guests at our wedding saw her photographs so many of them indpendently told me how much her shots captured the emotions and feeling of the day. Her website says that she is a photographic storyteller and that is completely true, her photographs of our wedding are not only beautiful but they are emotionally transportive - somehow looking at them brings my (now) wife and I back to that day in an almost physical way. Her pictures are exactly what we were looking for and we could not be happier!
Alex came down to Washington D.C. for our engagement shoot and we had the best time with her. Getting to spend a day focused on taking photographs, going to places you love and doing things you enjoy as a couple is great in and of itself, but doing that in the middle of planning a wedding allows you take a step back and remember all the wonderful reasons you're getting married in the first place. Alex got my wife and I used to having someone take our picture, and we became very comfortable with her. This made all of our wedding pictures, and many of our engagement shoot pictures, feel so personal because we felt so comfortable with her. If Alex lived in D.C. I would definitely try to be friends with her - she's awesome.
On the day of the wedding she could not have been more helpful - she went through the entire house where we were having the wedding and took stock of where everything was. When I couldn't find a stack of photographs and asked a room full of the bridal party if anyone had seen them Alex piped up (I didn't even realize she was there) and led me to exactly where they were. That was just one of the many great moments she provided on the best day of my life, and I will forever be grateful and feel very lucky to have had her as our wedding photographer.
Season to Taste made our wedding a huge success, and they made the entire process of putting our wedding together so much easier. This caterer from top to bottom is just top notch. Every single person I interacted with from the owner to the people setting up chairs day-of was friendly, great at their job and seemed genuinely happy to be part of our wedding. It was very telling that both our DJ and photographer had worked with them before and did not just say they were "good" but were visibly excited and happy to learn that Season to Taste was our caterer. If I had an excuse to throw another giant party I would throw it in New England just to use them again. They are very full service - they obviously provide the food, but also work with you and a well-priced rental company to take care of all the rentals, including everything for the ceremony if necesarry. The best aspect of Season to Taste is that you have an event coordinator who basically acts as a day-of coordinator. We had been thinking about hiring one before we realized that our event coordinator would fulfill all those needs, and ours made sure that the day was absolutely perfect.
To start, Robert Harris, the owner, worked with us via video chat (since we live in DC) and made us feel comfortable and excited to work with them before we had even chosen to book them. He worked with our interests and tastes to help us choose a meal that suited the feel of the wedding we wanted as well as feature some of our favorite foods. It was important for us to have a delicious vegetarian option, and they delivered. In addition, little touches like using Purple Peruvian potatoes as our starch since we had recently traveled to Peru, was so fun.
The food was unbelievable. Our tasting with chef Paul was a lot of fun and delicious, but the food at the actual wedding was even better. Our wedding was outside under a tent and the kitchen was set up entirely outside. Everything went off without a hitch, the service was great, water and wine glasses were consistently refilled, the food came out exactly when we were expecting it to and dinner ran right on time leaving plenty of time for dancing. They specialize in seasonal cooking with fresh, local food whenever possible. My wife and I both really care about that and it is one of the main reasons we chose Season To Taste. Even if you don't, the food just tastes better and is completely worth it. We had meat, vegetarian and fish options. We didn't know what fish we were having until just before the wedding because they pick up whatever has been caught by the fishmonger and they pick it up, I imagine, pretty near to the date of the wedding. I still think about how good that fish was, it was easily one of the best dinners I've ever had, period, not at a wedding, but ever. My wife still says she wishes she could have just one more bite because it was so good!
George Nickolopoulos, who has to have the greatest name ever, was our event coordinator and I just cannot say enough wonderful things about him. My favorite, of many, great stories about him involves our cocktails. I was making the ingredients for three signature drinks and one day when we were on the phone going over some details he said he had researched cocktails similar to the ones I was making and determined the right type of glass, and garnish, for each of the drinks. It was such a nice little touch that was so indicative of how Season to Taste handles everything. They set up our tables using lots of stuff that we and our florist had provided and the tent looked better than we ever could have expected. I could not give a more positive review of a company and cannot thank them enough for helping us put on our perfect wedding.