Villa Barone—I have very mixed feelings here and this one is going to be hard for me. There was stuff good and bad and I’m focusing more on the bad because it was a lot of little things that put a downer on my day. I will say the ceremony was beautiful, the venue was beautiful, and the food was amazing. However, I felt very rushed and I didn’t like that I couldn’t get up when I wanted to from my seat. There was a time that they had me sitting when I could’ve walked around to my guests and it wasted a lot of time. The staff was not great and not very helpful. My bridal attendant was very rude to my girls and to me that’s not the way they should be treated. They asked for the bridal suite to be opened by her and she refused and said, “What would you like me to do about it?” John also asked her if she could go look for something left outside and she said she would go look. When she came back John asked if she found it and she just flat out ignored him and pretended not to hear him. The rest of the staff, ughh. I can’t tell how many times we asked for things to be done and they wouldn’t get done. Example, John’s cake was in the corner where no one could see it, we asked numerous times for it to be moved and it just didn’t happen. And this one gets me most of all, one of the waiters (in his 20’s) hit on John’s 13 year old cousin. She looks a lil older but jeez, don’t assume. Very unprofessional. Also, about the staff, the car parking people came and took my candy buffet items before any of my guests, how rude. On a side note, they did lie to me. They have said from day one that there will only be one ceremony per day. Well guess what, on my day, there were mine and another one. My mom left very detailed instructions of how I wanted things and they just didn’t do a lot of it. She left a packing list, and they ended up leaving/losing some of my stuff including my custom aisle runner which was very expensive and they will buy me a new one if they don’t find it. The worst part of it is that they don’t care. I called there with a list of stuff I was missing this morning and I told them that they broke my cake topper that I worked so hard on for days and they don’t care; not even an apology. And the way they packed things, they just threw it all in boxes, didn’t care how it was. They took all of the complaints in stride and just Okayed us to death and to me it’s wrong. They put the venue and service on a pedestal and it just didn’t come out how they presented it. When you have expectations because they are raised so high, you don’t expect service like this. It honestly makes me want to cry thinking about it all.
So I feel that this needs to be said. I talked to my florist this morning to see if he had taken the crystals I bought from the vases so DH could pick them up next week. Not only the vases come back empty to him but 5 of the columns he had for the ceremony flowers were missing when he went to pick them up. He's upset and I'm upset for him.
Here's the kicker that makes me want to scream, and I know my florist would never lie to me or make this up. He said to someone that works there, "Jaimie has really nice stuff and she's so detailed oriented, it's great." Who ever he said this to, replied back, and I kid you not ladies, "Detailed? She's psycho."
I am the calmest bride ever. What have I done to be called this? Nothing. I'm more fummed than I was before I will say they get an A for beauty, and food and an F for service.
Officiant—Reverend David James B+ I didn’t get to have Reverend David as my actual officiant because his wife had to have emergency surgery on Friday. This was fine because he had a backup for me; I was just disappointed because it was someone I didn’t know. The ceremony went great except for the fact that we had written our own vows and they didn’t get read. It just wasn’t in the book when he was doing the ceremony. Regardless it was beautiful and I’ll never forget it.
DJ and Photo booth—Party Time A+
They were awesome! This is John’s cousin’s company and our gift from John’s cousin. They did a phenomenal job. Everyone was on the dance floor all night and they had a blast. They played all of my must play songs and dedications. The photo booth was a hit! Everyone was in there as well and I have a huge scrapbook of notes and pictures, it’s beautiful. I would recommend a photo booth to anyone looking, it made a huge difference. Fantastic company! Florist—Bed of Roses A+ Carl is the most understanding person and able to work with any budget. He gave me what I wanted and more. My flowers were beautiful and exceeded my expectations. I’m beyond happy with Bed Of Roses and I look forward to getting flowers from them in the future. Transportation—ANN Transportation C
I had a great experience until the day of the wedding. They made the whole wedding start an hour late. The guys were 10 mins late coming down to leave and the limo told me they were 45 mins late. I know for a fact when they left because John called me. They got back to the hotel to pick us up at 5:30 when my ceremony was supposed to start. I know the limo left there at 4:30 and it only takes 25 mins from the hotel so I have no idea why it took so long and made us late. Otherwise the limo was beautiful and very clean.
Photography—Jacob Bergmeier A+
There is not enough I can say about Jake. He is one of my two favorite vendors. He has worked so hard with John and I and we adore Jake as a person and photographer. Our engagement photos came out beautiful and I knew from then that Jake was the perfect photographer for us. He has made us so happy with pictures of us, I have them all over. Something that I personally love about Jake, well two things really is his dedication and his love for his wife. He talks about Diana like no other and his love for her shines through his work seeing other couples as happy he and Diana are. It’s all connected and it’s beautiful. He puts his all into each and every one of his couples and captures them in a beautiful way. I got to see some of his shots from the wedding on his camera and I can’t tell you how I excited I am to get proofs later on. I know my work with Jake doesn’t stop after I get my wedding album.
Videographer—Anthony Quintano A+
I found Anthony through Jake because they worked together on other weddings. The moment I met Anthony, I knew he was it for us because he had a package that was exactly what we wanted. I had done tons of research on videographers and none compared to Anthony. He was great the day of the wedding and made me laugh a lot, that was super important and something I remembered. He filled up all of his memory cards so I excited to see the final product and the video preview in a few weeks!
Cake creators—Both A’s Homestyle Bakery: My cake was GORGEOUS!! And it was delicious but this comes as no surprise because they are my local bakery and we use them for everything. The Pastry Corner: They made a replica of John’s car for his grooms’ cake. It looked exactly like his car and he loved it that was the most important thing!
Dress shop—Gowns by Louise A+ Louise has been amazing to work with. When I bought my dress, I had decided to have lap band surgery and we weren’t sure what my dress would look like when it came in in January. My mom had talked to her about my surgery and being unsure about my dress and Louise completely understood because she herself has lap band and said she would work with us if I wasn’t happy with my dress. To make a long story short, I was unhappy because my dress was huge on me. I had went in in the beginning of April and tried on more dresses and I took a dress off the rack that looked way better and I was much more comfortable in. She swapped the dresses no problem because she wanted me to be happy. Louise treats as if I’m family and I love her to death for doing all that she has for me.
Hair—I Do Hair and Makeup, Michelle LoConte A+
Michelle is fabulous! She did an amazing job on my hair and my girls. My hair stayed in all of Friday and Saturday. I’m so excited I chose Michelle!! I highly recommend her
Makeup— JKFlashy, Jill A+
I have known Jill for 2 years now. She is one of the top choices of makeup artists in Westchester on theknot and I couldn’t have chosen anyone better. She made me look incredible for my wedding and she also exceeded my expectations. The girls looked incredible and my makeup lasted through Saturday as well. I highly recommend Jill.
Stationery—Stella Bella Invites A+
We have worked together for over a year on so many different projects including stickers, drink menus, bathroom basket signs, invitations and so much more. I had a vision and she created it without any flaws. She is excellent with communication as well. She has been savior throughout all of the wedding process for me.
So I feel that this needs to be said. I talked to my florist this morning to see if he had taken the crystals I bought from the vases so DH could pick them up next week. Not only the vases come back empty to him but 5 of the columns he had for the ceremony flowers were missing when he went to pick them up. He's upset and I'm upset for him.
Here's the kicker that makes me want to scream, and I know my florist would never lie to me or make this up. He said to someone that works there, "Jaimie has really nice stuff and she's so detailed oriented, it's great." Who ever he said this to, replied back, and I kid you not ladies, "Detailed? She's psycho."
I am the calmest bride ever. What have I done to be called this? Nothing. I'm more fummed than I was before I will say they get an A for beauty, and food and an F for service.
Officiant—Reverend David James B+ I didn’t get to have Reverend David as my actual officiant because his wife had to have emergency surgery on Friday. This was fine because he had a backup for me; I was just disappointed because it was someone I didn’t know. The ceremony went great except for the fact that we had written our own vows and they didn’t get read. It just wasn’t in the book when he was doing the ceremony. Regardless it was beautiful and I’ll never forget it.
DJ and Photo booth—Party Time A+
They were awesome! This is John’s cousin’s company and our gift from John’s cousin. They did a phenomenal job. Everyone was on the dance floor all night and they had a blast. They played all of my must play songs and dedications. The photo booth was a hit! Everyone was in there as well and I have a huge scrapbook of notes and pictures, it’s beautiful. I would recommend a photo booth to anyone looking, it made a huge difference. Fantastic company! Florist—Bed of Roses A+ Carl is the most understanding person and able to work with any budget. He gave me what I wanted and more. My flowers were beautiful and exceeded my expectations. I’m beyond happy with Bed Of Roses and I look forward to getting flowers from them in the future. Transportation—ANN Transportation C
I had a great experience until the day of the wedding. They made the whole wedding start an hour late. The guys were 10 mins late coming down to leave and the limo told me they were 45 mins late. I know for a fact when they left because John called me. They got back to the hotel to pick us up at 5:30 when my ceremony was supposed to start. I know the limo left there at 4:30 and it only takes 25 mins from the hotel so I have no idea why it took so long and made us late. Otherwise the limo was beautiful and very clean.
Photography—Jacob Bergmeier A+
There is not enough I can say about Jake. He is one of my two favorite vendors. He has worked so hard with John and I and we adore Jake as a person and photographer. Our engagement photos came out beautiful and I knew from then that Jake was the perfect photographer for us. He has made us so happy with pictures of us, I have them all over. Something that I personally love about Jake, well two things really is his dedication and his love for his wife. He talks about Diana like no other and his love for her shines through his work seeing other couples as happy he and Diana are. It’s all connected and it’s beautiful. He puts his all into each and every one of his couples and captures them in a beautiful way. I got to see some of his shots from the wedding on his camera and I can’t tell you how I excited I am to get proofs later on. I know my work with Jake doesn’t stop after I get my wedding album.
Videographer—Anthony Quintano A+
I found Anthony through Jake because they worked together on other weddings. The moment I met Anthony, I knew he was it for us because he had a package that was exactly what we wanted. I had done tons of research on videographers and none compared to Anthony. He was great the day of the wedding and made me laugh a lot, that was super important and something I remembered. He filled up all of his memory cards so I excited to see the final product and the video preview in a few weeks!
Cake creators—Both A’s Homestyle Bakery: My cake was GORGEOUS!! And it was delicious but this comes as no surprise because they are my local bakery and we use them for everything. The Pastry Corner: They made a replica of John’s car for his grooms’ cake. It looked exactly like his car and he loved it that was the most important thing!
Dress shop—Gowns by Louise A+ Louise has been amazing to work with. When I bought my dress, I had decided to have lap band surgery and we weren’t sure what my dress would look like when it came in in January. My mom had talked to her about my surgery and being unsure about my dress and Louise completely understood because she herself has lap band and said she would work with us if I wasn’t happy with my dress. To make a long story short, I was unhappy because my dress was huge on me. I had went in in the beginning of April and tried on more dresses and I took a dress off the rack that looked way better and I was much more comfortable in. She swapped the dresses no problem because she wanted me to be happy. Louise treats as if I’m family and I love her to death for doing all that she has for me.
Hair—I Do Hair and Makeup, Michelle LoConte A+
Michelle is fabulous! She did an amazing job on my hair and my girls. My hair stayed in all of Friday and Saturday. I’m so excited I chose Michelle!! I highly recommend her
Makeup— JKFlashy, Jill A+
I have known Jill for 2 years now. She is one of the top choices of makeup artists in Westchester on theknot and I couldn’t have chosen anyone better. She made me look incredible for my wedding and she also exceeded my expectations. The girls looked incredible and my makeup lasted through Saturday as well. I highly recommend Jill.
Stationery—Stella Bella Invites A+
We have worked together for over a year on so many different projects including stickers, drink menus, bathroom basket signs, invitations and so much more. I had a vision and she created it without any flaws. She is excellent with communication as well. She has been savior throughout all of the wedding process for me.
