Bio

LOURDES & CRAIG/03.02.2008/FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA

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Getting Pretty

The Boys Get Dressed

Exchanging Gifts

Ring Shots

The Processional

Off to Meet My Husband

The Ceremony

The Recessional

Making It Legal

The Ketubah

Formals and...Not-so Formals

Flowers, Cake & Reception Details

First Dance: The Book of Love

Time for Dad and Mom

Cutting the Cake: How Sweet It Is

The Hora

Dance Fever

Boardwalk Sweets

General Fun & Plain Old Foolishness

Best Times: Family & Friends

Bride & Groom: Just The Two of Us

Strolling along Las Olas

Calling It a Day

Vendors

Ceremony & Reception Site: Riverside Hotel

grade: b-

this grade encompasses our experience with the Riverside Hotel in terms of both service during our rehearsal lunch, ceremony & reception, as well as accommodations.

the best thing about the riverside is its location and how beautiful the hotel itself is, including the lobby, outdoor areas, etc. The rooms in the tower are in great condition, but do note that rooms in the classic section of the hotel are significantly smaller, specially as it concerns the bathroom areas. Either way, all of our guests, regardless of their room selection, enjoyed their stay at the hotel and its proximity to las olas and downtown ft. lauderdale, as well as the beach. One significant point of contention between us and the management of the hotel is their refusal to provide a complimentary suite upgrade to the bride & groom even when said suite would otherwise go unoccupied. Granted, we were never promised a suite, so any couple who insists on this should discuss this at the time of contract signing; otherwise, all the hotel provides is a complimentary king-size bed room on the night that the wedding is held. As it happened to be, our bridal party gifted us with an upgrade to a suite for our night, but they paid for it: $500, which was the best rate made available to us, even though the final bill for our reception totaled on or about $10,000, our rehearsal luncheon was being hosted at the hotel as well, and nearly 15 rooms had been booked by our guests, with some staying more than one night.

Overall, everyone involved was pleased with the rehearsal lunch event, as it pertained to food, which was delicious, and the room set-up. I must say though that I was very unhappy with the room chosen for the event by our catering manager, as it happened to be one of the very same rooms where our reception was being held the very next day. My mother-in-law and her husband graciously hosted this event, and were never told anything at contract signing about the room offered to them being in the same location. When I discussed this with the catering manager, after the fact, asking why they had not been informed of this, I was told, basically, that anyway that was the only room available for that day so there were no other options, to which I responded that of course there was an option: not to host the event there at all. It was not the end of the world to have our rehearsal lunch in one of the same reception rooms, but it would have been nice to have offered our guests a different venue, while still enjoying the convenience of the hotel location. It is also incomprehensible to me why an experienced catering manager would fail to make note of this (rather than placing the blame on my MIL, who "never expressed any concerns" about the room -- why would she have? She was not aware of where our reception was taking place, whereas the hotel was), or why, in addition, my mother--in-law was offered some of the same menu options for the lunch as those being served the very next day for our reception. Thankfully, my MIL and I sorted this out and those menu items were removed from the lunch.

altogether, our experience with our catering manager was what can best be described as hot and cold. For certain things, such as helping us come up with a vegan option for some of our guests, she went above and beyond. However, there were several times when my e-mails went unanswered. Also, on the day of the wedding, she was incredibly difficult to deal with, and after the event we even received a lot of complaints from our wedding party about her demeanor.

As for the reception, the bar service left something to be desired, but only from one of our bartenders, who was quite sullen, and whose drinks were simply inconsistent. (We only had a second one because we had paid additionally for her). I sent back my first piña colada, if it could be called that, and the second was not much better. Also, the hotel failed to place any signs by the food items or at the bar, which was particularly important as the bar was limited to certain drinks for brunch time, and our guests had no way of knowing -- this created some confusion. I would have been happy to create these signs myself, but I had been previously told that the catering department took care of this.

Having said all of that, the event did go off without any substantial hitches, the venue looked spectacular, and the food was scrumptious. I would not not recommend this venue, but I do think couples should be prepared to stand their ground and be on top of things, so as to not allow themselves to be man-handled, which in the service industry is uncalled for.

Day-of-Coordinator: Simply Weddings & Events

grade: d+

Our experience with this vendor was a difficult one. Although Eileen Rivera, of Simply Weddings, was only hired as a DOC, her payment included communication with her leading up to the event, but she was always almost impossible to contact. Allegedly, there were several issues with her Iphone/Blackberry, as well as computer issues, housing issues and even hospitalization, all of which interfered with getting a hold of her. Also, as I understand it, our contract stipulated that our vendors would be confirmed one month before the event, as well as within two weeks and again one week before; in fact, our vendors were only ever contacted a few days before the wedding. We were also under the impression that her company would be responsible for transporting all relevant items to the event, but as we had virtually no contact with her, we transported everything ourselves. On the day of the rehearsal, all bridal party members complained about her, in part we are sure because she arrived about 40 minutes late (she had called earlier to say she would be 15 minutes late) and because her leadership skills were lacking. I must say that this situation was directly responsible for my husband and I having HUGE fight the night before the wedding.

I also realize now, looking at the pictures and talking to people after the fact, that the escort card and candy table didn't get set up as I'd laid out...in fact, the wrong table was used altogether...

Having said all of this, Eileen did in fact arrive early, with two assistants, on the day of the event and worked diligently, especially in regards to our reception area, since the Riverside Hotel refused to set-up any of our seat cushions. We cannot imagine how, without this added labor, our event could have been properly set-up (they also did an amazing job making sure we were comfortable throughout the event and also with break-down/clean-up). We would have preferred, however, that our ceremony area be set-up first, since not doing so meant that guests arrived and we were not able to seat them, but rather had to congregate them in the hotel lobby first, eventually making the seating at ceremony process a rushed and confusing one. Although we appreciate the work Simply Weddings did on the actual day of the wedding, and on its own, would rate it A-, we would not, generally speaking, recommend this vendor.

Florist: De la Flor Gardens

grade: a-

I almost cried when I first laid eyes upon my bridal bouquet and the other bouquets: they were just spectacular and exactly what we asked for. Our centerpieces were equally as lovely. I had originally asked for floral gel to be used inside the vases to hide the stems, but because of environmental reasons, Deborah at De La Flor suggested that we use green dye in the water and double-sided lime green ribbon around the vase instead, and we were very happy with this decision. Deborah also insured that we got peonies and ranunculi for our arrangements, even though they are not in regular season in March. Our rented arch for the ceremony was just beautiful and the flowers that adorned it looked spectacular. Most of all, I loved the wreath used to decorate our sweetheart table, and have to praise Deborah for the other added flowers used there in addition, which we had not requested -- she herself went out of her way to make the table look that good. The minus then is only for two tiny issues -- one, our sample centerpiece was not at all what we requested (but no matter now, that we saw what the actual ones looked like) and also two floral arrangements were placed on either side of the aisle, during the ceremony, which we did not ask for and in all honesty, didn't love.

Photography: Lux Images

grade: a+

There are no words to explain how much we love the people and work of Lux Images. As to the work, we believe their photos speak for themselves. We would like to add though that part of our decision to hire them was also based on their amazing customer service, and even more, on what kind human beings they are. Ricardo and Jonathan are personally responsible for the photographs taken at our wedding, but andy is also to be recognized, for all three supported us in this process from day one. I knew that it would be important to me to be photographed on my wedding day by not only talented photographers, but also people whom we could consider friends, which they now must certainly are. For all these reasons, including their dedication to working on all 700+ of our final photographs (and not just a handful, as other photographers may), we will return to them for all our photography needs and highly recommend them without any hesitation.

Ceremony Music: Cantilena

grade: A?

I only use the question mark facetiously because they were hired to play for a full hour and probably only played half that time, but it wasn't their fault -- the problem of sitting people because of the ceremony area not being ready was the real holdup. Either way, the time they did play, they played beautifully, and we had people say that whatever they got paid was worth it just to hear them play canon in D as I walked down the aisle with my father.

Ceremony Fan Programs: Custom Programs

grade: a+

Yes, if you're talented, unlike me, you can make these yourself and save yourself the $4 per fan with ribbon cost, but I myself do lack the talent and was also lacking in time at the end. They did an amazing job, sending me endless paper and ribbon samples, fed-exing proofs, making the million changes I had to make to spelling, etc. because the first file I submitted was a mess and so on, plus we had to change a reader at the last minute. We did only order about half the number of programs as we had invited guests, as other brides had suggested, and though some were in fact left behind, many people also did take theirs,too. Very happy with this vendor.

Linen: Panache

grade: a-

The linens were beautiful and best of all, affordable. They beat everyone else's prices by a mile. Also, working with kellyann was a dream: she was a sweetheart throughout, even though I e-mailed her about a thousand times. Only minus is that we were not told until the day before the wedding that their tablecloths are all 8' in length and tables at the Riverside are only 6' tall and all the tablecloths would thus need to be draped, which of course, they weren't, so they dragged a bit.

Reception Music: Vision DJ's

grade: a+

Jorge Antonatos was just such a trooper. Our reception took place mid-day on a Sunday, probably not the most dance-friendly time of all, and yet Jorge worked like a mule to get people on the dance floor and keep them there. If one type of music didn't work, he'd seamlessly switch to something else 'til he got people grooving again. And the people did dance (the pictures don't lie)! We were also a bit worried about the hora, because husband's family is not jewish, nor is mine, since I converted, and we thought all would be lost, but he guided everyone through it, and it was, second to the ceremony, my favorite part of the wedding!

Calligraphy: Betsy Dunlap Calligraphy

grade: a-

I love this girl -- she's just the sweetest thing, and more importantly, she does calligraphy unlike anyone else's. I knew the minute I saw the work that only her whimsical lettering would do for our silly monopoly wedding. We hired her to address all our invitations plus the escort and table cards. The minus is simply because, unfortunately, some of the ink on the table cards (and one or two escort cards) bled and left blotches on some of the other cards. Betsy was a true professional though, and didn't charge us for those because of it.

Cake & Cake Stand Rental: Ana Paz Cakes

grade: b

Local knotties will recognize this vendor's name immediately, as will perhaps the non-local ones, since Ana Paz has been featured on "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" and I've seen the name make an appearance or two on other boards. Having said that, we'd say that the reputation is bigger than the taste. Neither my husband nor I were overly impressed with the samples we tasted, but their cake was included with our hotel food bill, so they were it. Husband says chocolate cake didn't taste much different than sara lee but was passable and vanilla was just too wet for him, so that's how we ended up with only one vanilla tier and three chocolate ones. Our guests actually loved the vanilla (thank goodness largest tier) and thought the chocolate was just okay. Did we think the cake was pretty? Pretty enough. But the details weren't as intricate as on the one in the picture we had shown them, and the green was more sage than what the swatch we gave them showed. We did love our cake stand and they were great about refunding us the deposit quickly.

Bridal Couple Custom Figurines (Cake Topper): Nicole Wong

grade: c

We were really excited about these and really loved all the work we saw on Nicole's website. We must admit to some disappointments though unfortunately. First of all, we asked nicole to create bride and groom figurines, as well as a mini schnauzer one to represent our dog Niles and a monopoly terrier one, both on all fours, along with a monopoly board, all of which she agreed to. As we got closer to the time that our figurines were being crafted, we were told that she couldn't do standing dogs, or more accurately, that her sitting dogs looked better, but the monopoly terrier token is always on all fours, so it didn't make sense to have him sitting. She also told us that she would now be unable to do the monopoly board, too. She did refund us the portion of the overall cost for these two items, but they were kind of the whole reason for us doing these in the first place. Also, we had to ask her to change husband's figurine because the eye color was completely wrong. He also didn't think that my face shape was very accurate, but oh well, I realize it's not an exact science. I guess my biggest disappointment was that soon after taking them out of their box, the groom lost his nose and a thumb. Nicole did tell us crazy glue would work, which it did, but I was surprised that she didn't express concern about her work's early fragility.

Hair & Makeup: SoBe Makeup Studio

grade: a-

I found this vendor via a recommendation by my DOC (so she was somewhat useful!) after a disappointing hair and make-up trial with someone else. Both Amy Palma, who does Make-up, as well as Bonney Wolff, who did my hair, were great to work with, as were the other two ladies who worked on most of the bridal party. My MOH loved Bonney so much, she plans to have her do her hair all the time now (plus Bonney kept us laughing the entire time). I have A LOT of hair, so it must have been hell for her to get it all up in a chignon/bun of sorts somehow, but she managed, and was easy going about my changing my mind to go with that hairstyle on the day of the wedding, when it was not what we had done for the trial. Amy stayed extra long to make sure everyone looked good, too. My only issue with her is that two or three days before the wedding she had to call me and ask me for more money than the agreed upon final bill, which had already been paid, because she had made an arithmetic error, which was a bit stressful, to say the least.

Gown & Alterations/Veil : Bellissima Bride

grade: b+

There aren't nicer people out there than Tania, Jody and Kate at Bellissima. I especially love Tania, who kept me in good spirits throughout my craziness of buying a second dress, the Pronovias gown i wore, after the huge previous mistake I'd made of buying a dress I didn't love and through the 20+ pounds I lost the few months before the wedding due to stress and new medication. I think she did an amazing job altering that gown; having said that, their alteration costs are very expensive in my opinion ( close to $400 in my case). They are one of the few shops I found that sold Pronovias dresses and veils locally though, and they had been kind enough to sell me the sample...but still, i wish they didn't charge so much to alter their gowns, especially because I also had an issue with my bustle buttons. I mean, they were adorable -- Tania surprised me with these, which turned out to be my something blue -- but on the day of the last fitting, my MOH did tell her that they looked like they could use reinforcement, and sure enough, they did NOT hold on wedding day. Granted, my dress didn't have an enormous train, but it did have enough of a lip of one that it almost caused several accidents on the dance floor and later on the street as people stepped on it (and you can see from the later pictures in the suite that nothing at that point was, in fact, bustled).

Men's Formalwear: Mr. Tux

grade: a

We must admit to at first choosing Mr. Tux because my younger sister had once worked there, but our number 1 reason for going with them over say, After Hours, is that they actually carry their stock. We were shocked when we first walked into After Hours and asked to try something on, because you can't -- everything is ordered. The nice thing about having everything at the store is you can try different sizes, have alterations made on the spot, etc. They were also great about our adding an additional tuxedo for my brother at the last minute and with our getting a tie and pocket square for my stepfather-in-law, who already owned a tuxedo but who decided wanted a tie the day before the wedding.

Other Miscellaneous Vendors:

Officiant: Judge Joel Lazarus

Bouquet Letters: Bouquet Jewels

Aisle Runner: Original Aisle Runner Co.

Ceremony Sign: Delightful Details

Ketubah: MP Artworks/matting and mounting by Artful Framer

door signs: elle bertoli of Bold Concepts

Monogrammed Tote Bag: L.L.Bean

Bridal Jewelry: Regina B

Bridal Shoes: J. Crew

Handbag: Dillard's

Ringbearer's Ring & Custom Napkins: My Jean M