Bio

Lani and Chad's Wedding ~ July 14th, 2007

Our wedding was absolutely perfect, and we are so happy that we succeeding in creating an event that was romantic, touching, crazy, fun and totally "us". Hopefully these pictures will help all of you as much as I was helped by all the other knotties! If you have any questions you can email me at lanitrecida@gmail.com.

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Getting Ready
The Wedding Party
The Ceremony
Just Married
The Reception
Our Aruba Honeymoon
Vendor Reviews

Getting Ready
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The Wedding Party
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The Ceremony
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Just Married
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The Reception
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Our Aruba Honeymoon
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In the Atlanta airport waiting for our Aruba flight. We are working on about 6 hours of sleep in 2 days!

Shiny new rings!

The beach behind the Marriott...so pretty!

Wine at sunset on the balcony. This was a pretty much everyday occurance!

In the lobby of the Marriott

Our favorite new drink...caiparinhas!

Paradise!

I was really excited to sign my new name

Our little 4x4. It was so nice to have a car for a few days to explore.

The east side of Aruba is so different from the hotel side

This was the road!

Alta Vista Chapel

We're dorks

There were iguanas EVERYWHERE!

The best restaurant ever...Flying Fishbone

At the Natural Bridge...just the baby one is still there, the big one collapsed 2 years ago

On our way to the Natural Pool...views on the way, and the hike down

We loved the Natural Pool, so worth the crazy trip to get there

The view on the other side of the rocks at the Natural Pool

Gasparito...another great dinner

The golf course was really nice...great views

I chased the huge iguanas with the golf cart...they were fast!

It's always windy so there were a ton of kite boarders

Happy hour

Our favorite time of the day on the beach was right before sunset, it was almost empty!

Snorkeling on the Jolly Pirates, not the best snorkeling but a very fun boat trip

Enjoying our last day on the beach

One of our other favorite restaurants, Madame Janette

Mmmmmm, mojitos!

So sad, bye Aruba!

Vendor Information
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Ceremony Location - Davis Islands Garden Club

Grade - A+...I absolutely love the DIGC and think it is the perfect place for a wedding and reception. My ceremony looked beautiful, it was so nice having the view and the porch for the reception, and the price was great. I especially like that you can bring in your own liquor and they don't charge a catering fee. Michelle is the coordinator and she is fabulous!

Officiant - Reverend Pat Wenrick

Grade - A...he was a very nice guy who did a good job on our ceremony. No complaints.

Reception Location - Davis Islands Garden Club

See above.

Caterers - Delectables Catering

Grade - A+...I love Delectables food, and most everything we had was so delicious (one hors d'oeurve tasted different than at the tastings, but everything else was great). I started with Terri who was not so nice, but when she left Marilyn became my contact and she was wonderful. When I did have a pricing issue, the owner of the company was quick to fix it. Our supervisor was Linda and she was the best. Kelly (my DOC) said she was totally on top of everything, and when she noticed that the crab cakes were running out, she made sure to save some and had them ready when Chad and I finally ate. We did a cocktail reception and everyone raved about the food!

Cake Creator - Sweet Memories

Grade - A+...My cake was BEAUTIFUL, and tasted just as good as it looked. Sue made the cake exactly like the picture, and her sugar flowers looked real. We had a different flavor for each tier and I'm sure they were all delicious...we had one bite! I do have some in the freezer though =)

Florist - Carmen Gonzalez

Grade - A+...Carmen is a very talented florist, and is so reasonable. I wasn't too picky about flowers, I just brought her pictures of what I liked and she went with that. I thought the flowers were so pretty, and really popped with the girls' dresses.

Photographer - Jason Angelini

Grade - A+++++...Definitely one of the best photographers in Tampa! He was the first vendor I booked, and I am so glad I did. My pictures are amazing, beautiful, wonderful and every other positive adjective you can think of! I am so happy to have such a beautiful reminder of my day. I also like that he charges a fee for his services and you can add on all the extras if you want them. It makes him very affordable. If you don't have a photographer, and Jason is available...book him NOW!

Videographer - Scott Zinna with Starstruck Video

Grade - A+...Scott was very professional and was everywhere during the wedding and reception. I can't wait to see the finished product (and I really hope he got Chad on video splitting his chin open =) ***Update: We received our video and it's GREAT! It was so much fun to relive all the fun moments and see some of the stuff that we didn't even see the first time. Scott did a fabulous job. If you are not sure about getting a video, you should definitely get one. Chad didn't even want to spend the money on it, but now he is so glad we got it after seeing how great it was.

Disc Jockey - Keith with Sword Sounds

Grade - B...this is a hard one. Keith did a great job for the most part. He was there early, and had a CD when the steel drummer almost blew it at the ceremony. My guests danced all night and had a great time. The grade is a B because I gave him a VERY detailed, organized list of songs. One of the songs is my and my girlfriends' favorites, and he ended up not having it. My friend asked him a few times to play it, and she said the last time he was very rude and said he burned a CD with songs that I wanted and the CD must have run out of memory before it got to that song. I just thought that was weird...especially since the song was "Get Low" which is not some odd, obscure song. You would think a DJ would have that. But for the most part, he did a good job, since everyone had fun.

Musicians - Steel Drummers from Breezin' Entertainment

Grade - D...I do not recommend Breezin. The only reason it's not an F is that the guy actually showed up and did play music. I asked for 2 songs for the ceremony, "Can't Help Falling In Love" and "Trumpet Voluntary". I was told the musician didn't do "Trumpet Voluntary" which I thought was strange because it's a popular song, and when I said I was disappointed my contact at Breezin said she would have him learn it (other brides had requested it in the past too I guess). We sent song files back and forth via email to make sure they had the version I wanted, and I thought we were set. At the wedding, 20 minutes before the ceremony, the musician says he never heard he was supposed to play that song and doesn't know how. Also, he didn't bring the right drum to play "Can't Help Falling In Love" for the BP entrance. So he has to call someone to bring the other drum, my ceremony starts 15 minutes late, and I don't even know what he played when I came in. After the honeymoon, I called Breezin and my contact said she would have never told me he would learn the song, he has had many requests over the years and refuses to learn it. WHAT??? I explained to her about the emails, and she says "Oh, I do see emails of that song going back and forth, I'll have to look in to it". And the musician never told her about the wrong drum and late ceremony start, so she was supposed to check in to that too. ***Update: They refunded us, but not even 1/4th of what we paid. Still not happy, but at this point we're tired of dealing with them. Even with the refund, I still don't recommend them.

Transportation - My Blue One

Grade - A+...My Blue One was great. I had them booked to do transfers for the guests from the hotel to the ceremony, and then had them for 3 hours at the end of the night to shuttle people home. It was so nice for my guests to not worry about driving anywhere, especially with all the drinking. They work with the Embassy Suites, and were actually there Friday night too, and did shuttle transfers to MacDinton's when everyone went out after the rehearsal dinner. Randy and Shawn were very fun and professional, and when we called Randy and told him we didn't think we could afford the transfer we had booked to take us to the airport for our honeymoon, he gave it to us for free because of all the business we had done for them over the weekend. Sweet!

Invitations - Olio Style

Grade - A+++...I absolutely love my invitations. Peggy is fabulous to work with and was cheerful even when I was changing the color of the font for the 20th time! The fact that they are customized and no one else has my exact invite is awesome. I can't say enough good things about Olio Style.

Rental Company - Rent All of Tampa

Grade - A...good prices, there on time, had what I wanted.

Jeweler - Associated Watch and Jewelry and Kay Jewelers

Grade - A+...a friend from work knows the owner and suggested I go in to find my wedding band. I was thinking I was going to have to have it made and pay big bucks. They have a HUGE book with all different types of rings, and found a band that matched my e-ring perfectly! And it was half the price of what my friend paid for something similar online. It arrived quickly and was perfect. We bought Chad's ring at Kay's after searching for the best price. It's 10K white gold, and was only $150!

Tuxedos - Jos. A. Bank

Grade - A...we found a suit online at Jos. A. Bank on clearance for $118. You can't beat that, and figured it was much better to buy a suit then to try to find something to rent. We did have an issue with Chad's suit, it arrived with a stain on the pants, but they quickly sent a replacement. We found $8 ties for the guys on www.tieguys.com.

My Dress - CC's Boutique

Grade - A...my experience at CC's was great. Monica was my consultant and really made me feel like I was a very important customer and went out of her way to make me feel special. That being said, if I had to do it again I would order my dress online, but only for the price discount. I was very nervous about the thought of getting it online, but now that I see how many people do it with great results, I wish I would have saved the $200 and ordered over the net.

Bridesmaid Dresses - Jim Hjelm, from A Fairy Tale Wedding Online

Grade - B...The dresses look perfect and arrived quickly (2 months sooner than expected). The girls saved about $50 each by ordering them online. Jennifer was quick to respond and easy to work with. The reason it's a B is because I had requested a swatch when I ordered and was told I would get one in a couple of weeks. I called and emailed many times and was always told they were working on it. Finally Jennifer said that they are no longer getting swatches from Jim Hjelm because the company was so bad about getting them to her and it was making her company look bad. Well, that's fine for the future, but couldn't she have still gotten my swatch???!!!

Hair Stylist - Julissa Mercado

Grade - A+...Julissa was great! I booked her towards the end because of issues with Salon Jack and I am so glad I did. All the girls looked beautiful, and our hair stayed all night. She was reasonably priced, a GREAT stylist, and a fun person. And she's fast!

Makeup Artist - Kathryn Wedding

Grade - A+...I love Kathryn. She is so sweet, and made all of us girls feel beautiful. She lives in South Florida now though, and isn't doing Tampa weddings anymore =(

Wedding Coordinator - Kelly Noel (knottie me&mb)

There isn't a high enough grade or words to describe how awesome Kelly is. We started out at the beginning of all this craziness as 2 brides getting married at the same place, and now I am so glad she is one of my friends. She and Mike busted their butts to create the vision I had, and as you can see in the pictures, she definitely succeeded. I am so glad I get to repay her in a few months!

Honeymoon Destination - Marriott Aruba Stellaris Resort and Casino

Grade - A+...Aruba was fabulous. The Marriott was a great hotel...I liked the Hyatt's pool area better, but the beach was beautiful, and our room was HUGE with a great balcony to watch the sunset. I am going to add my pictures soon with some more details of things we did.

Travel Agent - Embassy Suites Downtown - Guest Hotel

Grade - C...The Embassy Suites is a great hotel, and has some big advantages. The free breakfast buffet is delicious, and the managers reception offers free cocktails and appetizers for 2 hours a night, which was a big hit with our group. Our problem came with the sales department and our contract. I booked 11 months ahead of time, and got a great rate ($139) based on what the rate was for July at that time ($209). However, come June, there were internet rates for $110, and I felt like that put me in an awkward situation with my guests. I had called and emailed everyone telling them to book and that they were getting this great rate, but when the slackers booked rooms after the block was over, they were getting it cheaper. And I had a contract and couldn't tell people to cancel their rooms or I would have to pay for them. When I explained my concern to the sales manager she told me I should be happy because when I booked in August I got a great rate. WTF? That doesn't even make any sense. I went in and talked to the Director of Sales and she said she couldn't do anything about the rate but offered to upgrade my family's rooms and send amenity baskets. The baskets never happened, and their rooms didn't look any different than anyone else's, they were just on a higher floor. The worst came on the Wednesday before the wedding. I called to check on our after-party suite, and I had booked the Governors Suite, the biggest room they have with a huge balcony on the 20th floor. The sales manager said that room was taken and I had booked based on availablity and I was put in one of the 2 Ambassadors Suites, which were basically the same with a slightly smaller balcony. I insisted on coming in to see it and it was NOT at all like the room I had specifically booked. I emailed explaining that I had booked a specific room and was disappointed. The sales manager accidently replied all and was asking the other managers what the deal was because they had another wedding party in that room. So I freaked out, and Chad went down there on Friday (yes, the DAY before the wedding this is all happening) and said if they couldn't show him proof that this other wedding booked it first, then they better put us in the room. The manager tried to talk her way around everything, and say she couldn't show us any documents, and after about 30 minutes said "Well, the other wedding party booked the room before you did, but we're going to give it to you anyway". Yeah right. So we ended up getting the room, but after a lot of unneeded hassle and stress. And after all these issues, they didn't discount anything or really do anything special. And after confirming multiple times about what room Chad and I were staying in our wedding night, they STILL sent the champagne and strawberries to the wrong room. So, it's a beautiful hotel, but the sales department leaves a lot to be desired.

Other Vendor - Save the Dates - iprint.com

Grade - A...This was easy to use, they look great and the price was fabulous!

Other Vendor - Valencia Garden - Rehearsal Dinner

Grade - B...We had a fun time at our rehearsal dinner, and Valencia Garden had everything that I was looking for in a venue - inexpensive entrees, close to downtown and a private room for a big group. The food was good, the staff was attentive and David, the manager, was very helpful. The problem came at the end of the night when it was time to pay the bill. The bar bill was extremely high, and I asked for an itemized receipt. When it came out, I started counting the wine bottles behind the bar, and they were 5 short. When I asked they said they had already taken out the trash and the bottles were in it. I think that when someone is paying by the bottle you shouldn't throw the bottles out until after they pay...maybe if it was off by like 1 bottle, it wouldn't have been so bad, but we're talking over $100 of wine.

Other Vendor - Shot Luge - Matt from Tanya and Matt's Ice Creamiest

Grade - Priceless...The shot luge was probably the biggest hit at our reception. I never dreamed I would see my parents, aunts and uncles, in-laws, etc. enjoying shots so much! I knew this was going to be fun, but I didn't realize how fun. It did make for a crazy evening, but it was totally "us" and so many of our guests have said that never had so much fun at a wedding. We aren't fancy, stuffy people, and I knew our wedding was going to be a fun, crazy affair. The shot luge brought it to a whole new level (well, that and the keg stands!).

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