jana923's reviews

Yumila did the flowers for my 11/9/2008 wedding and she was incredible!! She was definitely one of my favorite vendors, because she was so sweet and accommodating, and the flowers arrived on time and looked amazing!!! I brought in photos from a magazine for Yumila to recreate and I was so happy with the results. I had gone to a few other florists and was turned off by the price and/or personality, but Yumila was a perfect fit and I would highly recommend her to anyone. She includes a free trial (centerpiece, bridal bouquet, AND bridesmaid bouquet) and if you don't like her work, you don't have to book her, no problem. This was a huge bonus, since the other florists I checked out charged a lot for a trial.

On the day of the wedding, everyone commented on how lovely my flowers looked and how the colors were perfect with the dresses. Even my sister, who has extremely expensive taste, kept saying how gorgeous the bouquets were and how my bouquet of all roses was so beautiful. With Yumila, you get so much more than you pay for...you really get your money's worth and you have fun along the way :-)

Multivision and Greg (our videographer for the day) were one of our favorite wedding vendors for our 11/9/08 wedding! They came highly recommended and I can see why. We only ordered raw footage since my husband is able to edit video and we wanted to save money, and we were very happy with the results. Greg was a blast to work with. I wasn't sure if I'd feel nervous having a camera in front of me all day, but I wasn't nervous in the least and I think that was in part because of Greg's laid-back personality. He stayed until the very end of the night and got a bunch of great shots and interviews of the bridal party. Along the way, Multivision was great to work with too- we got a good deal and the raw footage was ready just a week after we returned from the honeymoon.

My only note would be that if you have a balcony or outdoor area, I would remind the videographer to go out there once in a while, because my dad and father-in-law and others were out there most of the night and weren't on camera much, because the videographer concentrated mostly on the dance floor. Nonetheless, I was very pleased with the footage and would highly recommend Multivision to anyone looking to get a good price and great quality from a friendly bunch of professionals!

My husband and I were unable to get married at our regular church, since it was a Sunday wedding and the timing didn't work out. So we found another church in the area and were so happy with our choice! Father John from Our Lady of Peace is a doll and was so much fun to work with. We weren't sure what to expect when we first met him, since we had never been to the church before, but he immediately put us at ease and cracked jokes throughout our first meeting. He told us everything to expect and helped us to prepare for the most important day of our lives. We met with him a few times before the wedding day, so we got to know him pretty well before our 11/9/2008 wedding and we loved his attitude and sarcastic sense of humor. On the wedding day, my husband and I spaced out and forgot a lot of what we reviewed at the rehearsal, but Father John helped out by whispering to us what to do.

Rose did my hair as a bridesmaid for another friend's wedding and I was pretty happy with her. Although 2 of the other bridesmaid's hair was falling out at the end of that wedding, mine stayed put and my fiance loved it. So, I used her again for my own wedding and wasn't quite as pleased. She is reasonably priced ($120 for the bride I think and $70 for the bridesmaids), but she is flaky and inconsistent. She arrived ONE AND A HALF HOURS LATE on the morning of my wedding and then claimed that she got confused and thought I was supposed to come into the salon so she was waiting for me. Of course this was a lie, because if I was really running that late, she would have called me to see what was going on. So that really put me off. At least if you are late, own up to it and apologize.

Since she was running so late, she brought another girl with her to help speed things along. I kept telling her not to rush and if we were late, we were late and it was fine. I just wanted everyone's hair to look nice. She must have been rushing, because my hair started falling out right at the start of my reception! It did look nice after she first styled it, but I later had to add in a bunch of extra bobby pins myself to keep it from coming out.

As if that wasn't enough, she didn't even accommodate us when my mom asked for some money off. She insisted that she brought the extra stylist so she was done on time and did her job and didn't want to give us a discount. I told her that I thought that was poor business practice, but I didn't want to argue with her on my wedding day so I let it go. Later on she told me that she would take off her travel cost, but that was another lie, because she wasn't charging me for that in the first place. I was angry, but again I let it go because I just wanted to enjoy myself on my wedding day.

If you choose Rose at Second Glance, be prepared for anything. She can apparently be great sometimes, but totally different other times, and unfortunately, I caught her on a bad day.

I got married at The Palace 11/9/2008 and they were BY FAR my (and my husband's) absolute favorite vendor!!! Their attention to detail is exquisite and they exceeded expectations in every way!! Their banquet room and bridal suite (we were in the West Ballroom) is to die for!!!! It is modern, and gorgeous with neutral tones, a fireplace, and a staircase descending from the bridal suite where my husband and I made our grand entrance! They also have a balcony where you can throw the bouquet from to make it extra special. I was actually not even going to do the bouquet toss, but when I saw the balcony, I knew I had to take advantage :-) The bridal suite is gigantic and has 3 bathrooms and a fireplace as well!

We worked with Jose Russa and Michelle Malave during the planning process and they were incredible. I asked tons of questions and changed the menu and other things last-minute and they were able to accommodate us with no problem and no complaints. Friends and family kept telling us that little things will go wrong on your wedding day and to just ignore them because it's normal and it's to be expected. Well, we didn't notice one thing go wrong with The Palace!!! Everything was a dream and it was absolute perfection. The food was amazing and we ate everything, which I hear never happens! We made it a point to be in our chairs for the food, because it was so good we didn't want to miss out. The cakes were tasted during our food tasting weren't the best, so we changed our order to something else that we hadn't sampled (vanilla custard) and it was delicious! I'm not even a cake person and I went gaga over the wedding cake!

On the day of, our Maitre D was a guy named Allan and my bridal consultant for the night was a girl named Maya. Both were incredible and were right there when we needed them, but didn't interfere at all with us having a blast all night. Maya bustled my dress and they both took care of our drinks all night. We even invited Allan to the after-party because he was so much fun and was so helpful!! When the hotel shuttle failed to come back to pick up the last few guests (us and a few members of the bridal party), Allan took it upon himself to drive us to our hotel himself!

The Palace is pricey, but worth every single penny and Jose worked with us to make sure we stayed within our budget. If you like modern elegance and want a new place (it's only a few years old), you MUST see The Palace!!! You will fall in love!!!

I have mixed feelings about the Bridal Garden, because although I absolutely adored my wedding gown, I would not have bought it there had I not bought it at a sample sale. I originally went to try on gowns at this store, because they had my dream dress there and I had a hard time finding it elsewhere. It was way way over my budget, so I tried on other dresses instead and was helped by a lovely bridal consultant named Andra. The store is set up Kleinfeld-style in that you can't see the dresses, but you describe what you like and the consultant brings dresses out to you. I didn't see any I loved, so I left and continued my search elsewhere. Weeks later, Andra called to tell me that the dress I loved that was out of my budget was going to be in a sample sale, so I could come by the day before and if I liked it, I could get the sale price. So I rushed down there to try it on. I loved it and bought it and thanked Andra profusely for remembering me and calling me. I got a decent good deal considering the dress was originally $3600 and I got it for $2400, but it was still pricey. Nonetheless, I loved it and I really liked Andra.

That was where the warm fuzzy feelings ended though. The Bridal Garden has a policy where you have to get your dress altered by their alterations department, which is a separate department from the wedding gown department. The woman who worked there (her name escapes me at the moment) was somewhat rude considering and I didn't appreciate that. My alterations were $600, which is normal for them, and they didn't even do a fabulous job. The dress was dirty on the train when I picked it up and the lace on parts of it was unravelling. When I went for my 2 fittings, I mentioned the dirty train and the lace both times and both times I was told, "yes, yes, they do all of that at the end and it will look perfect." Hardly. I looked passed it because I didn't want to obsess over it for my wedding day, but I was extremely disappointed. They charge a ton of money for alterations, then they are rude, and don't give you your money's worth. I would stay away from this place unless you can't find your dress anywhere else but here. It isn't worth the money, the messy job, and the unattention to detail.

I love The White Aisle and wound up ordering my wedding favors from their site (mini truffles in a colorfully wrapped box) and absolutely loved how they came out!! The paper was beautiful and matched my wedding color scheme perfectly and as a bonus, they were very reasonably priced. I paid less than $3 per favor and I could have gotten it cheaper if I wrapped the boxes myself, but I went the easy route :-) The favors arrived in about 2 1/2 weeks (I ordered 130) and were packaged nicely and neatly. I searched on a bunch of websites for cute and practical favors, but couldn't find anything as nice and cheap as the little truffle boxes available from The White Aisle.

Apart from the favors, I ordered a bracelet cuff from The White Aisle to wear on my wedding day, and it was shipped in just a few days. It wasn't expensive jewelry, but for what it was, it was perfect, and I got a bunch of compliments on it. The only thing I would warn girls about is that if you have tiny wrists, the cuffs will probably be a bit big. They say on the website that it's 1 size and it fits most, but it was a little big, so I had to watch that it wouldn't fall off.

Jeanine was amazing and I couldn't be happier with her work for my 11/9/2008 wedding!! My face looked flawless without looking overdone. She did my makeup in 2 of my friends weddings and I was so confident in her abilities that I didn't even have a wedding makeup trial before I booked her! I not only loved how she did my makeup and the bridesmaids and mothers makeup (everyone looked absolutely breathtaking!), but I love her personality. She is friendly and chatty, funny, and knows how to keep everyone calm.

She arrived on time and was completely prepared. I was a bit forgetful the morning of my wedding and didn't have any food ready for the girls to eat in the bridal suite where we were getting ready. Jeanine took it upon herself to go down to the hotel restaurant and bring back a bunch of food for the girls. Thank goodness because we had some hungry bridesmaids! I was pretty calm the morning of my wedding, but when my hair stylist was an hour and a half late, I got pretty stressed. Jeanine helped to keep me calm and sane, and I can't thank her enough, because no bride wants to be stressed out on her wedding day!

I am sure that there are many makeup artists that are talented enough to do a nice job and will make you look beautiful on your wedding day. Yet, what makes Jeanine stand out from the rest of these people is her personality. She is so sweet and will change whatever you want if you aren't completely pleased. She also gave me a ton of makeup (included in the price) to touch up throughout the day. I would choose Jeanine again in a heartbeat if I had to do it over again!!