I hired him at the last minute so he was able to cut me a deal. He also played at the cocktail and you wouldn't guess how much I paid for the church and cocktail music. Pm me if you need info =) He was amazing and very, very kind. Everyone was just raving about him. By the way, he sings too so he sang and played at the cocktail =)

What can I say? Michelle already made a name for herself here on the knot and there's a proven reason why. I am very hard to please when it comes to my hair and from the get-go, I knew I wanted soft curls for my wedding. I've seen Michelle's work and I was pretty confident that she will be able to do the specific curls" I wanted for my wedding. I went for my trial in March and I was very happy with my hair. I was worried during the first hour after my trial was done as they looked a little tight but she guaranteed me that they will loosen up after a few hours. Michelle knows BEST and I got home and she was right - My hair looked gorgeous!

On the wedding day, Michelle and her assistants all came on time. They were there before I woke up. That's professionalism right there. It was 23 of us in total and we were all finished by 11 when she started at 630. How is that even possible? They really did an amazing job! I felt so bad though that I didn't get the chance to feed them. I know I asked someone to bring them food, I just don't remember who =( Noone's fault since we were all busy that day but Michelle was so nice and understanding. Thanks so much.

Pros: Michelle's rate is very reasonable. She's young and fashionable so I was confident that she will make me and my girls look glamorous.

Cons: NOTHING!

For my 140 guests, the Atrium was perfect. The Atrium didn't have an outdoor setting but since my wedding was in April ( which can be cold sometimes ), that didn't really bother me a bit. I was lucky though to have cherry blossoms at the hotel where we stayed at so we took amazing pictures there with my girls. =) We booked the upstairs room and it was perfect for us. It wasn't too big but not cramped either so the uplighting that out DJ set up came out amazing. Our banquet manager promised to provide us a mini cocktail hour in our bridal room but I was disappointed that we were only served a few items and not a mini version of our cocktail hour but according to my family and friends, the cocktail hour was amazing! The mashed potato bar was a HIT! We also requested a few colombian and filipino food and we got them! The Banquet manager even drove to the the colombian and filipino store to get the food himself. I thought that was really nice of them. The food at the reception was sooo yummy. I tried all three entrees ( chicken, beef and fish ) except the veggie lasagna and they were all good. I was afraid they won't be as good as our tasting but the food really came out delicious. We had the banana foster for dessert and we received so many compliments on them. Caramelized banana with vanilla ice cream. What else can you ask for? We liked it better than our blah cake. We also had a chocolate fondue station which everyone enjoyed. People ran there as soon as they opened it. I'm so glad we didn't have the vienesse station. With the cake, dessert and fondue station they provided, anything more would have been just wasted.
Out maitre 'd was really nice. Too bad, I forgot her name =( I know it was mentioned before that Maitre 'd usually asks for tip and I was already expecting this but our wedding ended and noone asked us for a single penny. Whatever we paid on our contract, that's all we paid until the last minute of our reception.
Warm cookies and pretzels were also served after the reception. I thought it was a nice touch. People went home with a bag of goodies in tow.

Being that Jeanine works for CNN, I was convinced that she must be
doing something right for her to be hired by such a Big TV Station. I was also impressed with the photos she has on her gallery so I decided to contact her. I love make-up and and just like with my hair, I can be a pain sometimes. I've had many professional make-up done in the past ( as a bridesmaid ) and I wasn't happy with any of them - either the make-up was nice but didn't suit me or the make-up was just bad. So I went for a trial to ensure that I'll like what I'll look like on the wedding day. I even brought my then-fiance to make sure that he's happy with my make-up. Afterall, if there's one person who I wanted to impress on my wedding, it would be my husband. He didn't like the first trial I had with someone else but was very pleased with my trial with Jeanine. I took some photos of the trial and so did Jeanine so I can go back and forth on my look and make sure this is what I really
wanted. Days leading up to the wedding, our DJ wanted a picture of me for the montage and so I asked my then-fiance to look for photos in his computer. He looked through our old photos from way back 2002. He called me and showed me his favorite photo. He was like: Where was this taken? I was like: Are you sure you don't remember? This was during my make-up trial. He was like: Really? You looked so beautiful in this picture. I got so excited and happy to know that my
husband really liked my make-up. He didn't say it because he didn't want to hurt my feelings but he said it because he meant it.

On the day of the wedding, Jeanine was there on time. She was there even before I got up. She was very pleasant, calm and ready to work. I had so many girls ( maybe over 15 ) that needed make-up done. I even called Jeanine the night before to ask if I can add more people. Unfortunately, some people changed their minds on the wedding day so I started to panic as I really felt embarrassed that I promised Jeanine that I would have that many people. So I was quiet the whole time she was doing my make-up so she asked me what was wrong. She told me that things happen and not to worry about it. I was relieved. I was so touched that Jeanine was not after the money she could have made but she was more concerned on making sure that her brides are HAPPY. I wish I had more time that morning to tell Jeanine how thankful I was for her kindness, help, support and above all, making everyone so PRETTY! Our pictures wouldn't have come out so perfectly if it weren't for her skills. My only wish is that Jeanine won't move anywhere far because I plan on using her for many more events!!! You rock!

PROS: She can make you the "more beautiful" version of you on your wedding day.
CONS: NADA, NONE!