The Embassy Suites worked with my in-laws to come up with a menu and a room that would work for them. They have some beautiful rooms there for great prices, as well, so we blocked rooms there for guests if they didn't want to stay at the Hyatt (which was much more expensive). I considered staying at the Embassy Suites the night before the wedding, as it was so beautiful in their rooms, and I wanted to do the tradition that I wouldn't see my husband the night before the wedding. The food was great for the dinner, and we were able to bring in our own cake for dessert.

Two days after our wedding, we went on a cruise with Princess on their Emerald Princess. It was our first time going on a Princess cruise, but we'd been on Royal Caribbean before. For our honeymoon, we were hoping for a decent room and a romantic dinner for two each night in the dining room. Unfortunately, the room seemed very cramped, and our table at dinner was less than 3 inches from the table next to us. They had many rooms decorated for events, and even though we had made sure to let them know it was our honeymoon (and they assured us our room would be decorated) we got to the ship to find no notice of anything special. All in all, the ship felt very cramped, and they really did not make us feel special in any way. We'll be cruising again… Just not with them! We'll stick to RC.

Scott and Tina are a husband and wife team that were the DJ's for our wedding. They were wonderful! We met with them about a month or so before the wedding to go over song we wanted and in what order (for our entrance to the ceremony and reception, etc).


They really know how to get a party started! They really cared how we were, and Tina would check in with us to make sure we were ready for things to happen (letting us know that we needed to do the cake cutting, was now a good time, etc.). They will make sure that the bride and groom are doing well the entire night. I couldn't be happier with how they did!

Mason's was great with getting us taste tests of their cakes. They were all great pieces of cake! Also, it's wonderful that they will remake the top layer of your cake for you a year later (for your 1 year anniversary). They worked with us on flavors, and we even had them do a flavor they'd never done before (a cinnamon spice cake with chocolate filling). The one downfall of Mason's is that their frosting is the only thing they use. Although I would never want to do fondant on my wedding cake (I'm all about taste!), they could not do a fudge or anything for accents. My dream cake had white frosting with fudge scrollwork, and they simply were unable to do that with their frosting. We still had an absolutely stunning cake, but anything that has a lighter color frosting with accents in a darker color is out...

Ceremony & Reception: We had a shaky start with the Hyatt, as they refused to book a date out more than a year. Once the one-year mark had passed, they still were not sure they could book us for the reception room we wanted. They offered us another date, and we wound up accepting. Once we were actually getting into working with them on details, everything was great. They treated us very well, and, with only a few small hiccups, provided an amazingly beautiful wedding reception for us. We also had our ceremony here, and everything was first class.

Catering: Because we had our reception at the Hyatt, we had to use them as the caterer. The taste testing was absolutely amazing. I was thrilled with all of the food! I gave them only 4 stars because the food at the actual wedding was not quite as good. They missed a few things that had been at the taste testing (a Parmesan crisp that had sold me on a specific dish and regular mashed potatoes when we had boursin cheese mashed potatoes at the testing), but overall, the food was still great. I still would kill for those boursin mashed potatoes again, though! =(

When we first met Gigi, she seemed a little strange, but definitely like a competent photographer. We were very excited to get to work with her after the initial meeting, during which she mentioned that "the bride was her boss as soon as the contract was signed!" From there, everything went downhill. Although she claimed that she was willing to go the extra mile, she promptly forgot everything about us once the contract was signed and the deposit was in. She complained about the time we wanted her to come to the wedding (for the "all day coverage" in her contract), so we wound up getting very little of us getting ready. She felt that she could have come an hour and a half later and still not have had a problem getting all the shots (except that there would have been absolutely no shots of us getting ready, something that I wanted!). Her attitude was an absolute mess, and she frequently upset my family members during the course of the wedding. Although her pictures came out okay, we are upset with the quality of some of the pictures. We've also had a very hard time getting in touch with her to meet about our album, and when we did finally get to meet her (where she wanted to meet), the meeting was a disaster. She also promised to get back to us with information about pricing and about whether the picture we wanted for the enlargement would be high enough quality. It's been weeks without any response… again.

I have a hard time coming up with the words for a vendor that was this amazing. Gina (and her employees) at Xpress Floral were fantastic. At first, I didn't think any florist with a name with "Xpress" in the title would be the one to do my wedding. As soon as I met them, I changed my mind. Their work is truly unique and beautiful. They have true artistic vision, and they are willing to go the extra mile for their brides. I felt so close to Gina after we worked together for the wedding, that I wanted to see her on my wedding day so I could thank her. Unfortunately, the hotel would not let her back to see us, so at 11:00pm that night, she came back to see us after the wedding was over. Her loyalty and dedication was so apparent, and I gave her a huge hug. I could not have asked for a better florist.

The best thing about Men's Warehouse is that they are all over. Our groomsmen were able to get fitted where they lived, and were able to pick their tuxes up here. I also loved that we were able to track who had gotten fitted and who hadn't online! Because we had at least 4 people renting tuxes, the groom's tux was free. That was really nice.

One thing that went wrong was that, three days before the wedding, everyone was going to try on the tuxes. The father of the groom's name is Robert, and the groom's name is also Robert. They mixed things up and tried the groom's tux on the father, and obviously, it didn't fit. Everything was a mess, and I think they had to order things in, but everything was fine for the wedding. Everyone was wearing what they were supposed to be wearing and in the correct sizes!

Everyone at Tie the Knot really went out of their way to be there for me. From helping me try on at least 30 wedding dresses (all with smiles!) and helping me to figure out which one was perfect for me to making sure that all the dresses were steamed and ready to go the day before the wedding (even though we didn't buy the bridesmaids dresses or flower girl dress through them!), all the women who work here were stellar. Some of them came in during off-times to make sure we were able to get everything done, and they always really seemed like they cared about me and about the wedding. Even though their shop is on the more expensive side, it's worth every penny to know that everything will go perfectly as planned with the dresses!