ymellor's reviews

Moran’s was a perfect venue for our wedding reception for many reasons: it has a friendly atmosphere, excellent food and drink, extremely friendly staff and the best event coordinator/manager you could wish for, Tom Murphy.

From the moment we first met Tom I think I knew that Moran’s was where I wanted to hold our wedding reception. Tom is very straight talking, none of the typical NYC “fluff” and he made it clear very early on that he would have everything covered on the wedding day and in safe hands. Everytime we met Tom he was very professional, courteous and although he’s obviously a very busy man, he fit us in even when we turned up unannounced.

Over the months we worked with Tom on our wedding, he showed flexibility (we changed the table arrangement many times and completed the reception in a rather odd order), willingness to go above and beyond (he entertained specific requests for Australian wine and a specific signature cocktail from Australia) and shared his experience which allowed us to develop, with him, the best reception we would have hoped for (in fact better!).

As the wedding drew closer, Tom kindly allowed us to store items at Moran’s (we made our own centerpieces, place names etc) and he also dealt with enquiries from other members of the wedding party such as my Mum! Tom was even gracious enough to work with our wedding day planner and ensure that they fulfilled their duties as well.

On the day of the wedding Tom and his staff were beyond wonderful. Everyone was looked after extremely well and he even had a team charged with completing our photo guest book for us - way beyond the call of duty, but immensely appreciated. He ran everything like clockwork, dealt with anything thrown his way (we had a birthday cake to present and had to present it earlier than expected - the cake Moran’s produced was amazing) and all our guests kept commenting on how much they enjoyed the food and location of the reception.

Looking back on our wedding day now, I still find it astounding that we were able to find a reception location in the middle of Manhattan, at an extremely reasonable price and with such a great team of people (and great food!).

I can’t recommend Moran’s to anyone enough - Tom and his staff go above and beyond what you would expect and it’s because of their efforts that our wedding reception was the amazing success it was. Truly exceptional.

When looking for a place to choose my bridal gown I had two requirements in mind: friendly staff and a good selection of gowns. Jefre’s Bridal was recommended to me by someone on theknot.com as fitting both these requirements and they were not wrong.

From the moment I stepped into Jefre’s with my Mum I could tell that it was a friendly place and felt more at ease - I was pretty nervous and the assistant that helped us that day was wonderful. The assistant asked what I was looking for and off we went. The store is small, however, they have a great selection of dresses and so I was able to try on all kinds of styles if I wished. Although I didn’t fit the sample sizes, the assistant made every effort to make me feel comfortable in walking out into the shop to show my Mum. I was not forced into any style by the assistant, she let me and my Mum lead the appointment where we wanted it to go, and she didn’t rush me through my appointment or make me feel as if I had tried on too many dresses.

The sixth dress I tried on was “the one” - it was (and is) beautiful. There was actually one other in the running at that stage and the other dress was less expensive. The assistant was aware of our budget and although both fit inside of the budget, she very tactfully pointed out the price differential to ensure we considered the price factor as well - both looked great and the assistant didn’t once try and push us into the more expensive dress. Excellent service.

On finding my dress with such relative ease, I found my veil that same day and felt wonderful - I had found the dress of my dreams and thanks to the friendly staff at Jefre’s I had had a wonderful experience as well.

We didn’t think twice about buying our bridesmaids and flowergirl dresses at Jefre’s and these dresses were beautiful also - Jefre’s selection of such dresses is excellent.

Over the months leading up to the wedding we had multiple appointments at Jefre’s for fittings. Each time we tended to turn up very early and each time they were extremely accommodating and saw us at the earlier time.

All the staff at Jefre’s are wonderful, but a special mention must go to the seamstress that did wonderful things with the bustle of my dress and the alterations I requested, but also wonderful things with the Mother of the Bride dress. I was always nervous when trying on my dress (will it fit? will it look nice? etc), but she put us at ease and was just lovely to interact with. She felt like one of the family by the end of the whole process!

I can’t recommend Jefre’s enough - if you want a more personal touch than the large wedding gown supermarkets, friendly staff and a great selection and great prices then Jefre’s is the place to go. Jefre’s and his staff are truly excellent and you’ll be in the best hands.

Starbright were the second florist I visited during the process of identifying a florist for our wedding and I am so very pleased I did. I had visited the first florist with my thoughts for the wedding flowers, hoping for some direction based on their experience, not expecting to be told that I could not have the purple flowers I really wanted (I didn’t have specific flowers in mind, simply purple). When I mentioned this experience to Tom Sebenius at Starbright he thought I was joking. He told me he would certainly work with me to get purple flowers at my wedding and was friendly and not at all over-imposing.

I spent some time with Tom running through the ideas and photos I had and what I loved most about Tom’s approach was that he took my ideas and made them even better. His experience as a florist came through for me and he developed ideas I hadn’t thought of and instead of being told I could not have purple flowers, I was being presented with multiple options for lovely arrangements and bouquets. Tom really listened to me and didn’t make me feel like my ideas were wrong - he truly built on them and brought an element to my wedding I could not have done on my own.

When the flowers arrived on the wedding day I was not disappointed - they were absolutely wonderful, Starbright had gone above and beyond and delivered fresh, perfectly arranged flowers for the wedding. The church pew flowers were delightful - I couldn’t believe that Tom had managed to put my idea into reality. The flowers at the alter were truly beautiful. During the ceremony my husband to be turned to me and told me that the flowers were beautiful - coming from someone who doesn’t usually comment on flowers this was great to hear and had me beaming from ear to ear with a smile.

My bouquet was constructed beautifully and when I saw my flower girl’s bouquet it brought me to tears. Tom’s idea for the bridesmaids bouquets to be all colours of purple worked a treat against their dark plum dresses and the button holes and corsages were truly lovely.

Tom worked with me on price and I found his prices to be extremely reasonable - and cheaper than the first florist who refused to work with purple! I can tell Tom truly takes pleasure in delivering the very best for his brides and I thank him and his team for all their efforts in making our wedding flowers so very beautiful.

I fear that I will not be able to convey just how wonderful Sachiko is as she is absolutely brilliant at what she does and I felt truly lucky to have her as part of my wedding vendor team - by the end of the day Sachiko felt like one of the family!

Sachiko is incredibly sweet, kind and truly cares about what you have in mind for your wedding. Sachiko is also extremely talented in what she does. I had two hair and make-up trials with Sachiko before the wedding as I couldn’t make up my mind and during both very long appointments she listened attentively to my ideas, complimented my ideas with her own and truly made me feel comfortable about the whole process (I am not used to being pampered!).

On the wedding day Sachiko was faced with 10 hours of grueling work but not once did she stop smiling. She was extremely polite and not phased by the task ahead of her. She had not met 3 of my wedding party as they were from out of town and she immediately built a rapport with them and made them feel very comfortable. She took their ideas for their hair and make-up and worked with the ideas to develop styles that were beautiful.

By the time Sachiko had finished with all of us we all looked absolutely stunning - her skills with all our different hair types and styles was exceptional - we all felt like a million dollars. My Mum, who doesn’t let anyone touch her hair or make-up, allowed Sachiko to do so and the results were fantastic. Everyone was so pleased.

During the day Sachiko was always at my side and became more part of the wedding party than just the hair and make-up artist. She was incredibly attentive to me and always ensured I looked my best. Sachiko took it upon herself to also ensure my dress was always properly arranged and looked after which illustrates just how much she cares.

I can’t recommend Sachiko enough, she is truly talented at what she does, her fees are extremely reasonable and she’s just such a lovely person that you feel so at ease and in safe hands.