Our honeymoon was amazing! We booked with Best Day Travel for an all-inclusive package for six days, five nights to Riviera Maya, Mexico. We stayed at the beautiful Grand Princess Riviera Resort. Our laguna villa suite came with features: an outdoor roof shower, Jacuzzi, flat-screen plasma TV, complimentary champagne & chocolates for newly-weds, bathrobes and slippers and personal concierge service. As part of our booking package, we were treated to a free spa day for a 30 min. massage, manicure, and pedicure. We enjoyed the spa and were pampered like royals. We saw the invoice for our free spa service; the total cost was over $3,000 USD. There were several restaurants in the resort to choose from during the stay at the resort. There was Asian fusion, Italian, Seafood& Steak, Mexican, diner/buffet, and Fondue which featured a diverse dining experience. We enjoyed the food, hospitality and friendliness of the staff, tourist guides, and locals in Riviera Maya.
Due to unavailability with other artists, I decide to contact Rachel on craigslist. I booked her for a trial and signed a contract listing services and 50% deposit before she was willing to do the work. I was really looking forward to working with her after viewing her portfolio. On the day of the trial, she was late and did not appear friendly until we start talking. In the end, I was not thrilled with the make-up. I loved the hair but the make-up could have been a lot better. She made some adjustments to my face chart and eye palette. At the end of the trial, I was satisfied. I told her to email the trial shot. I never got it. On the day of the wedding, she arrived a half hour late to my place. Myself and my BM's were waiting on her for our hair & make up. She brought along an assistant who didn't do any make-up or hair. All of my BM got their hair & make-up done approx. 15-20 mins. each. They all end up re-doing their eye make-up since the eyeliner was was heavily rimmed. I was expecting her to use a top quality mascara compared to Maybelline. She curled my hair halfway and forgot the hairstyle. When she was done with my hair, the curls were pinned the wrong way and loose than the trial. My eye shadow was extremely bright since she kept sweeping my lids. My fake eyelashes had dried up glue sticking on the tips. We were running late so I didn't get a chance to tell her to fix it. She did a quick touch of foundation on FH and all GM before the ceremony. And a quick touch-up on my lip gloss after the ceremony. The whole four hours booked touch-ups, she only sat at the cocktail hour and had a quick bite. It was not until before the reception that she hurriedly rush to do my touch up and hair so she can jet out of there. She forgot about my BM's and I had to stop her to have their hair & make-up re-touched. My hair should have been re-curled but she scrunched it up and pinned it. My curls end up looking flat and non-existent the whole evening. Not wasting any minute, she quickly assured me to twirl my curls with hair pins if it falls off. When I got my wedding proofs, I realized, I should had definitely booked with a professional artist at a salon. Overall, I felt she's too young and impatient for bridal work. She's more suitable for fashion shows since there's no time constraint.
We found our wedding bands, 18k white gold engraved with scroll designs at Macy's. It went nicely with my engagement ring and gave it a simple and elegant look without overdoing it. I found all of my jewelry and hair accessories by looking at the front displays in the jewelry department. I was so relieved that I found everything before my wedding day!!! My Monet hair combs glowed with my wedding gown. The Givenchy crystal bracelet looked fabulous during the ceremony & reception! My diamond necklace was a present from my mother. I also found some jewelry by Givenchy for my bridesmaids. For my MOH, I gave her a charm necklace that she absolutely loved. I also found cufflinks, money clip, and fashion accessories by Kenneth Cole & Geoffrey Beene for FH & GM’s.
My gown is a replica of Eve of Milady 2006 collection, a strapless satin ball gown with gold embroidery over white silk. It has a hand beaded detail. The gown itself cost over 2K. My replica version was less than $400. Jeff, the tailor did a beautiful job replicating the beading detail of the gown. The satin material resembled very closely to silk. He responded promptly to my emails and gave me an exact date on when to expect the arrival of the gown. When I received my gown, he threw in the matching veil and crinoline hoop skirt free of charge. I had to make a minor adjustment to the gown which was to take in the length of the train (since I’m 5’1). I also brought an additional gown to change for the reception but ended up going with an Isaac Mizrahi bridal line dress since the material was much lighter and easier to dance around in. I would definitely recommend Jeff for brides who are looking to cut down the cost without sacrificing the gown they want for their wedding. My many thanks to Jeff for the beautiful gown on my wedding day!
My reception gown is from Isaac Mizrahi's bridal line. It was a strapless sateen sheath dress with back buttons in opal cream. I also got the Spanish brown silk faille sash to go with the dress. It’s more of a butter cream shade than off white. It looked absolutely gorgeous at the reception. I felt so comfortable dancing around in the dress. The boning in the bodice of the dress as well as the slimming silhouette flattered my figure. There is one annoying detail to the dress- the row of buttons since the dress has no zipper! On the other hand, great price, amazing look, and comfy dress, I can’t complain! I would highly recommend this dress for any bride that wants to make a grand entrance on their wedding day!
DO NOT BOOK ANY SERVICES WITH THEM!!! Our experience was horrible with this vendor! Their flowers are extremely over priced! They were very economical with our flowers. Basically, it looked like they stripped a bunch of orchids to make the personal flowers and decor. My own bouquet turned out smaller than the rest of my bridesmaids' bouquets. The owner, Alex Todd is very disorganized and unprofessional in terms of directing her staff. The day before my wedding, I received a phone call from one of her staff at the shop to inform me the flowers chosen would brown easily. They would require at least six hours to set up all floral arrangements. I told them that the garden is a city
owned park. Not only were they not flexible but they were not sympathetic at all. They flat out told us," THAT IS A HUGE PROBLEM!!" I had to make a long trip to her shop the day before my wedding. Not only was Alex unprepared for the meeting, she was very surprised to see me there. She quickly sorted the situation & assured us she would be personally be there to handle everything & it's all set for the big day. On the day of our wedding, it was a major disaster!!! Her staff arranged all the flowers from the bouquets to corsages at our reception tent. My own wedding party have to move the flowers to the ceremony site and remind them what was missing from the floral list. By the time we locate her staff to get our personal flowers, we were running half an hour late in our ceremony. They forgot the wristlets for our family members. They had to arrange them on the side. My own bouquet had missing rhinestone jewelry! The stems were not trimmed at all. Our archway did not have any flowers, only the sides had a few scattered orange lilies. The tent liner had orchid petals scattered over the trimming of the tent instead of cascading orchids parting the tent. All of our personals were stuck in a large heavy vase to keep the flowers fresh. Our flowers start to wither during the cocktail hour. When I informed Alex how displeased we were with her service, not only did she not apologize for the overall service. She sent me an email one week later blaming my MOH as well as my wedding party for causing the delay. She claimed her staff could not find MOH when her staff was hiding at the tent. I pointed out all the problems with the flowers as well as the missing items (rhinestones & wristlets) on the day of the wedding. She did not address any of those issues. She simply stated certain staff members were not responsible for the floral coordination nor do they work at her store. Ironically, they were the ones handling my floral arrangements the day of and before my wedding. I have no idea why they were in the store as well as placing calls to handle her client's flowers. We rent out the vases to lower the florist cost. Not only were the glass vases heavier than the sample shown to us, no boxes or bins were provide to us. We end up calling car service to make the difficult transportation of the vases. Our family helped us with the return of the vases right after our wedding. I received two emails and phone calls claiming for five missing vases. I confirmed with my family that all the items had been signed & returned. They charged us $35 ea for two slightly cracked vases. She claim that her eight complimentary buckets cost $15.00 ea. to hold the corsages. The bottom of the bucket had a price tag- $2.55 ea./$27.60 doz. She demanded crystals back from a branch arrangement when it was paid in full. I demanded half of the payment for returning the crystals and she dropped the whole claim. Overall, I was extremely disappointed with Alex and her inexperienced staff, manpower, service, lack of professionalism, and organization at FLOWER YOU. I would not recommend this vendor to anyone. I was extremely disappointed on the day of my wedding.
DO NOT WORK WITH THIS VENDOR!!
I noticed this place called Wedding Plaza across the street from QBG. At first, it seems perfect and convenient...little did I realize the horrible service we were going to receive on our wedding day! The owner Nancy works with her photographer. They perform a skit to lure the bride & groom with corny jokes and their all in one wedding vendors. Due to the cost and time factor, we went along reluctantly since we need transportation for our wedding. They did charge us a bit less than other companies but the service was not worth it. Our package included two limos and a Rolls Royce. We only need the service to take us to and back from QBG. They cut us some slack and charged us for the 3 hrs. to get to QBG and an additional two hrs to transport our families and wedding party back home instead of a 8-9 hour pkg with other companies. So we have a total of 5 hrs with the cars. The week before our wedding, we were told we have the Rolls Royce for the first 3 hours. However, we would not be given the Rolls Royce to transport us home. They were going to arrange another car to pick us up. On the day of the wedding, the Rolls Royce transport myself and my sisters to QBG. My driver was professional but the car inside was dirty and stained. There were no drinks or refreshments. My husband on the other hand had drinks and refreshments inside his limo. The worse part was this vendor got caught hovering around to take photos. They interfered with our photographers and camera crew after they politely told them they could not take certain shots. Not only were they rude but they insisted they were not taking pictures. Towards the end of the night, we were informed by the driver at the last minute; our contract included two limos to transport our families’ home. When I told him, we arranged and agreed that another car was going to pick us up. The driver told us he was only told to provide the ride home for the families not us. We were left in front of the garden with no car to take us home. We had to call for car service in the middle of the night due to the BS that this vendor provided.
My FH, Julius rent the Stephen Geoffrey Chocolate Parisian tuxedo. It looked stunning on him! He is absolutely handsome. The price was great and the sales guy arranged the whole package from the tux to the shoes. We got a great deal for the whole rental. The service was great and the tux was sent to the store for pick-up two weeks prior to our wedding. I would highly recommend the DK Bridals in Jamaica, NY. The neighborhood isn't the greatest but the store definitely throws in great deals and tux rentals especially for the bridal party. The store also has recommendation for linen rentals, photography & videographer vendors, and wedding planning as well a display case ranging from cake toppers to flower baskets. I have seen previous post with bad reviews about their service in the Manhattan location. We were definitely very pleased with the Queens location.
I came across Flavor by Bistro Ten 18 listed on a catering site. I made an appointment with the owner, Craig Skiptunis and we set up a meeting. For the price we paid, not only did it include a seated dinner with pastries & sweets but it included a cocktail hour with passed hors d' oeuvres. I was blown away by the rate per guest. Our proposal listed passed lobsters, grilled jerk chicken, filet Mignon Crostini, tuna tartar, stationary buffets of cheese and breads and veggies with dips for the cocktail hour. For the seated dinner, the chef designed an entree for us called summer mixed grill entree. It included grilled shrimp on sugarcane skewers, filet mignon with mango salsa, Kohlrabi Slaw, smoked purple potato salad and grilled asparagus. The first course was the chilled tomato soup and the second course was an heirloom salad. Dessert was miniature sweets and pastries. On our tasting, I was blown away by the presentation and quality of the food. We were so stuffed; we couldn't walk out of there. I gave Craig my time line for some of the activities we planned for our wedding. He wrote some notes and gave us the quotes for rentals and recommendation for a florist since it was an outdoor wedding. I had a couple of revisions made before we could actually settle down with the rentals quote and rates of the wait staff, etc. It took awhile since we negotiate and cut back some items. In the end, it was still priced a lot more than we expected.
On the day of the wedding, I noticed the small portions of the food. Our families and guests were still hungry since only five trays of each hors d'oeuvres were passed around! Only the stationary buffets with cheese and breads and veggies got refilled. I asked one of the waitstaff to prepare a tray us due to our photo session. I was told, the trays were passed around and drinks will be waiting for us. Not only were the trays empty but we didn't get any drinks. I was mortified to find the waitstaff collecting the plates and drinks while our family and guests were eating! They were conscious at collecting the plates than they were at serving the food and drinks. The reception hour got worse. Plates were continuously collected only less than 20 minutes into our dinner. We told our server twice that we need another 15 minutes to eat since we had many activities planned for the reception. When I contact Craig to let him know about the wait staff, he acknowledged he would bring it up at their company meetings. However, we didn't get any incentives or apologies from the company. When I got the final invoice for the catering, I was astounded by the wait staff's rates. It was charging half of the reception’s rate. Apparently, they went into overtime. I thought it was a joke since their staff left before I did at the reception. They quoted more liquor than was actually opened. We had about 10 minors & children who couldn't drink; they rounded each table with 4 bottles of wine in addition to cocktails and beer which would be enough to get liquor poisoning. We were charged for extra linens since two tables fail to arrive due to a delivery problem. The rental company gave us 10% off but charged us an arm and leg for the delivery. A lot more rentals were added than necessary to our final bill. We had extra waitstaff who disappeared for most of the night rather than assisting our needs. We had extra food since a few guests could not attend. The plates were taken and discarded. Our wedding cake was discarded without informing us. After our cake cutting, our cake disappeared and we never saw it again. I didn't get to save the top layer of the cake for our anniversary! Neither the wait staff nor assistant manager bothered to let us know. Altogether, the reception came out costing more than booking a restaurant/catering hall. I felt the organization and waitstaff could have done a lot more in terms of servicing our wedding needs. The assistant manager failed to organize and direct her waitstaff as well as informing us before making the actual decisions about the cake and extra food. Overall, I was not impressed and disappointed with the delivery and performance on the actual day of the wedding.
Our reception tent looked like a bridal magazine cover. We add tent liners with two chandeliers. It was simply gorgeous! Everything was glowing with the voltaire and lights; I couldn't believe my eyes how beautiful the tent was set up. We had the amber & green color gel lights which we didn't need since the chandeliers were so bright. Danielle was my favorite contact person; she followed through with our order every step of the way. She was so honest with our needs. Originally, we want to do flooring so the guests would not have to walk all over the grass for an outdoor reception. She pointed out the pricing; the cost is more than the tent itself. And it's an unnecessary expense. She even suggested the color lights to match our wedding colors. And I loved how she was super organized with the paper work and all the updates with our rentals. I really enjoyed working with Danielle & the staff from the NY Tent Rental Co. They show you the different types of tent, give suggestions based on your wedding size and needs, and let you customize your rentals for your big day. Overall, I was really blown away and they definitely exceed my expectations. I absolutely loved my reception! My wedding turned out beautifully thanks to NY Tent Rentals for their amazing tent & rentals.