hmlynch's reviews

I had received my first communion at this church but then my family moved out of this parish. We chose to come back to it because my future mother in law was in a wheel chair and it was very accomodating for wheelchairs. IT is a good size church - a pretty long aisle to walk down with a beautiful choir loft and organ. The church itself is lovely - stained glass etc so you dont need a ton of flowers. we did two big arrangements at the front and twelve pew arrangements with a lot of candles everywhere. I love the way my pictures look in the church too! Our uncle who is a jesuit in Boston married us and the priests at St. Thomas were very nice about welcoming our uncle (not all churches are like that). Also we had a friend act as our cantor - he has an amazing voice but is not catholic. The music director worked for a few hours with our friend to get him up to speed on the music. I thought it was a wonderful location. One thing I found interesting about my wedding - with all the thought and money that is spent on the reception - the ceremony was my favorite part. My husband and I wrote our own vows and did not share them with each other until we recited them during the ceremony - that was really special for me.

Nelson-The Spa‎
37 Lasalle Rd
West Hartford, CT 06107
(860) 570-1400

The first time I went to Nelson's to meet with Nelson was on my trial and he was awesome. he brought in all of these beautiful crystal combs adn tiaras to borrow (they weren't my style but so nice that he offered!) My trial made me feel very condident that my hair was in good hands but it was more than I htought (the trial was $125). I loved my hair that day and it was done in a way that I did not worry about it - veil in and out - lots of dancing - lots of hugs and kisses and it survived perfectly until 4:30 in the morning. Wedding updos are expensive though I think that day it was $300

http://ruggroadpaper.com/

I ordered my invitations through the team at Rugg Road on Charles Street in Beacon Hill (boston, MA) and they were awesome. I wanted a traditional invite with a twist but did not have a lot of ideas beyond that. They came up wtih a square invite with a raised circle boarder with a japanese silk screaned paper wrapped around it so when our guests opened the invite it was like a beautifully wrapped gift to open. Everything was met on time with a great attitude from the team.

Andy Short
>www.devonshirephotography.com
>413.596.2267

We were so lucky to have both andy and his wife working with us on our wedding day. We had seen their work at one of our other friends weddings and loved it. They took great pictures but all normal ones - not posey, not in unnatural settings etc. They were flexible to stay another hour as our wedding kept going on into the night. They were very flexible about what kind of package we ordered too - I did not want a traditional book so they just sold us the negatives and the digitail print rights. They were in the action but not disctracting - I thought they were fantastic. I love my wedding pictures!

Paul Dang
Connecticut Video Imaging
5 Chaffee Road, West Hartford, CT 06110
(860) 521-0593
www.ctvideoimaging.com
ctvideoimaging@comcast.net

At first it took me a while to get used to have a video camera with me but after five minutes Paul blended into the events. Everyone says this but it is so true = the day that you have planned for so long goes by in a blink of an eye. I think one of the most important things we did was the videographer to relive the day. Paul's final work was amazing -I was so pleasantly surprised at everything that he caught on tape - including things that I was not there for so I was seeing in the video for the first time like my husband waiting for me ot come to the church. Paul was awesome!

My friend got 20 tickets to a 4:00pm Saturday game and we had so much fun. We started at someone's house for a bbq/drinks and went to game on before going to the game. We had been "celebrating" quite a lot so I think everyone around us was psyched when we left to go to Tequilla Rain but the whole night was a blast! Thank you Thank you to my friends who planned it.

My Mom wanted to work with her - I never did so I have to say I am biased against her but I felt that she added very very very little value. The only good thing is she was driving both my mom and I so crazy that my mom and I did not fight during our planning. Here is a good example of her lack of value: I planned out all of the music for the church ceremony - with a certain song for all of the wedding party to walk down to and then Pacabel cannon for me. All she had to do was cue the music and she screwed that up. My whole life I have wanted to walk down the aisle to Pacabel Cannon (I know not original but still it is what I wanted and planned). At the end of the day of course I was so happy to be married but looking back I really wonder what she did to earn the 2500 we paid her.

We first saw Mark Mahar sing on Sunday night at Lucky's Lounge in South Boston, MA - where they have Sinatra Sundays. He was amazing! We asked him to put together a 10 piece band for us that would do the classic standards during dinner (Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc) but then would get everyone dancing after and he put together an amazingly talented group! Every bride worries about people dancing at their wedding - Hire Mark and you have no worries. I have had over ten people ask me for his contact info for their wedding. http://www.markmahar.com/

We had 180 people at Hartford Golf Club and they did an amazing job with our reception. Jen was our coordinator and she was a pleasure to work with. My parents have been members of HGC for 30 years so they had high expectations. we had our tasting dinner - it was not exactly what we wanted so my mom went in with her own recipes, the chef redid everything and the second tasting was awesome. We had an hour and a half cocktail party with a martini icesculture that served four different martinis; a sushi bar; raw bar plus the token normal hot passed apps. Great three course dinner with soup, salad and then surf and turf. then we had a venetian dessert room plus the wedding cake. people are still raving about it - I was very very lucky that my parents hosted this kind of wedding. Jen made the night so great - I did not worry about one detail that night.

I did end up getting my dress here but only because of the easy location - I was getting married in West Hartford and the store was in West Hartford. The owner of the store was one of the most obnoxious women I met in the industry. She only had sample sizes of Monique Lhuillier dresses in size 4 - I ordered an 8 - so clearly I could not see exactly how the dress was going ot look on me via the sample - but she offered to try it on for me to show me how good it looked on her even though she had had so many children? WHO CARES what it looks like on you lady? She had been married to this nasty ambulance chasing lawyer - had a very public divorce and had remarried to this guy that was also with her in the store and did not give privacy. That being said - beyond her - the seamstress was amazing and did such great work and that was included with the cost of the dress.