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The Rusty Pelican is in itself gorgeous with breathtaking views. When we were shopping around for reception/ceremony venues, it was the last one we saw...and I was set on booking with them. Their packages include pretty much everything (or at least the basics, you can upgrade with the other vendors directly, such as linens and cake). The food there is always excellent and we wanted a place that had a great view, by the water for the ceremony and amazing food. The planning process was easy with them - I only ran into issues when I would send them an email (which I prefer using, since I can do that more easily from work). The first catering manager I had would take a week to return an email, but was very prompt in returning phone calls. When she left TRP, I was assigned to Gina, and then to Christina. Christina was, in the end, the one I dealth with through the wedding day. They both have a little bit of an attitude (but are very honest and upfront). Because they lack a tad of flexibility, I was glad to have Karla (my DOC) deal with them towards the end. We ran into a couple of problems the day of the wedding, but nothing at all major - little things, that I felt could have been better dealt with. 1. Saturday afternoon/night you can pretty much only valet. Our ceremony start time was 5:15, and most guests had arrived at 4:30 or 4:45 but the ceremony wasn't started until 5:30 because most of our guests were in this insanely long line waiting to turn over their cars. I think that's something that needs to be addressed, because when I got there for pre-ceremony pictures at 3:30, there were about 30 people waiting to get their cars, ready to leave. 2. People from the other wedding (which didn't arrive until we were 1/2 way through the cocktail hour) started crashing our side (even though there was a big sign that said our names near the appetizers and bar). There were about 10 people that came to the cocktail hour and kept trying to eat our food and use our bar. The banquet manager dealt with it, and replenished the appetizers, but even afterwards, they kept trying to use our bar and COME IN to our reception! I guess our party was way better than theirs! lol ;] 3. Karla and I had decided on a particular set up for the ceremony, which they repeatedly told us was impossible...that day, they told her she could change it to our set up anyways. That could've been avoided.
Overall, I was very happy, and honestly if anything else went wrong, then I had no idea about it (I didn't find out about the other things till after the reception). The food was great, our head waiter was always bringing us drinks and checking on us. During the cocktail hour, we decided on some down time, and sat in the catering office (the hubby and I) and they kept bringing us huge plates of hors deouvres. They were very attentive and the view, like always, for our ceremony (lower terrace) and reception were incredible. EVERYONE was commenting on how great the place was...and it realllllllly was!
This is absolutely my favorite vendor (after my DOC, of course). Greg was the first photographer we met, and the second vendor we searched for after the venue was chosen. We met with him, and I was sold! DH was reluctant at first, but when the meeting was over, he was sold, too. We booked Greg and the amazing Heidi for their cheapest package which didn't include an album since we wanted to keep with the budget. We are sooooo happy we booked them. Our engagement session was amazing. We brought our unruly (but lovingly friendly) furbabies with us to a park and then headed to the grove and Greg and Heidi were very, very flexible with us. Greg was beyond patient taking pictures of the dogs and we have incredible pictures from that day.
For the wedding, they were there for the getting ready shots at 1:30pm and didn't leave the reception until 10:30! I can only imagine the wonderful images that we're going to get! They are both so very professional but at the same time incredible funny and laidback and they work very well together. Heidi is the coordinator of EVERYTHING, lol. She and Karla worked together on my timeline, which was perfect. Having Greg, and especially Heidi, there, is like having a second DOC. Absolutely worth the cost and we (DH and I) both recommend him without reservation.
Nevot was one of the gems that I found which was truly budget friendly! I went to a few florists who quoted me from $500 to $1000 more for the same exact flowers and decor that I got from Nevot. I wasn't too much into the floral decor either way, I just wanted something simple and affordable but still elegant. And I spent $1000 with Nevot and got two altar arrangements, 8 CP, the sweet heart table (3 vases), the cake topper, the bouts, and the bouquets (and a free toss bouquet). And all the arrangements were gorgeous. Mini calla lilies, roses, hydrangeas, green berries. I didn't rent the vases, they were included, since my family is totally hispanic and taking the centerpieces is a tacky, albeit normal, tradition for us, lol.
He was very easy to work with, perhaps because this was one vendor which I didn't ask much of. I sat with him two weeks before the wedding to go over the numbers and the vases and the delivery addresses, and that was that. I've heard from other brides that he's absentminded, which he definitely seems to be, so if flowers are important to you or you have requests a little bit more complicated than me, I would definitely check in with him more frequently to make sure he has all your stuff. He seems aloof, so keep that in mind. But the price was unbeatable!
The cake was gorgeous!! And so, so yummy! I'm so happy we went with Lily from Edible Creations. We had appointments at other cake places, but were so comfortable at the cake tasting with Lily that we cancelled our other appointments. She is so sweet and accomodating - we paid extra to have the 3rd tier to take home and she was by far the most affordable ($3 a slice for our cake). The cake was delicious - buttercream frosting with marble and chocolate cake tiers, really moist but not too syrupy tasting - just perfect. We are big foodies and this cake was beyond ours and our family/friends' standards.
I went to a few other bridal shops before and after DB, but this was the most affordable place and the dress that I chose had a LOT of details and was within my budget. Dress shopping for myself was pretty simple, I tried on a bunch of dresses, picked one, bought it, etc.
I felt a little ripped off when I looked back and realized that I probably paid way too much for my veil which was fingertip length, but it wasn't something I gave much thought to. The dress and veil were gorgeous and I used their credit card to be able to pay it off in six months which was helpful. The service at DB is pretty okay, it's definitely not one on one and there are a lot of people in the store if you go on a weekend (I tried to do shopping during the day or afternoons on weekdays to avoid the crowds). I was probably helped by 6 different people by the time I took my dress home, so there's no personalized service in my opinion. And when we went for the BM dresses, the sales person that was assigned to us was probably new and took forever to bring us the different sizes, so I ended up leaving my MOH and BM in the fitting rooms and going back to the rack myself for different dresses. Which, in the end, made us more comfortable, rather than having the other person hovering over you (which I hate anyways, lol).
The only negative (really, really, negative) part was that I had my bustle done at David's and it came off before I even got in the car to go the ceremony! My dress only had a chapel train (but it was pretty heavy due to the beadwork) and the alterations person put in only one pearl button and a 3 string loop to hold it. I felt that it was a crappy job they did, but unfortunately didn't notice it until the wedding day. But, thank goodness, my DOC came to my immediate rescue with safety pins (it took about 5 pins for it to stay up through the night).
Overall, I was happy with the selection (I'm plus-sized) and the cost - but the alteration was poorly done, IMO.
We were referred to DJ Regz (his name is Brit) by our photographer, Greg, who had seen him DJ at a wedding he had recently photographed. He told us that he didn't work with him or know him personally, but that he had a 300 guest wedding moving all night. We called him, and he was the MOST affordable DJ we spoke to. We booked him on the spot, hoping that everything would work out, for $350. Quick decision, but in the end, he was worth every penny and more! This guy had EVERYONE on the dance floor at our reception and really listened to our Do-Not-Play list! He DJ's at different clubs as well, so he is definitely good at keeping the people going. That night, our reception had started about an hour before the couple's next to our ballroom, and Brit had us going way past the end of the other wedding! We even had some wedding crashers tell us they liked our music more, lol.
Review Date: 01/28/2009 Services Used: Ceremony Music
4.7 out of 5.0
Quality of Service:
(5.0/5.0)
Responsiveness:
(3.5/5.0)
Professionalism:
(5.0/5.0)
Value For Cost:
(5.0/5.0)
Flexibility:
(5.0/5.0)
This was a last minute vendor we booked (about 2 months before the wedding) because our friend, who was originally going to play the guitar for us, told us he'd be unable to. We booked them for a Solo Guitar for one hour for less than $150. The BEST price out there (other guitarists were quoting us 300-400 dollars for an hour!). The guitarist was on time, played the songs (which were quite untraditional) perfectly and was very professional. The only issue I ran into with MFA was that my emails weren't responded to as quickly as I would have liked, but overall, they were a great vendor to work with. I even gave them my music about 2 weeks before without a problem.
This is by far the most recommended transportation vendor in SoFla, so I automatically went with them. The cars weren't of much importance to us, so we didn't really shop around. Gilbert, whom we initially spoke with, was great. He explained the rates, showed us the cars (of which they have a ton!) and we signed the contract. We had a rolls royce (which took me and 3 bm to the venue), and navigator (SUV) which took the guys and the groom, and a town car to drive us home afterwards. DH was very, very happy with the navigator that picked him up and his GM, the driver was early (15 minutes) and helped them load some last minute things into the car. Very professional and the car was stunning according to the guys. The towncar that drove us home has the same driver as the SUV and we were home in 10 minutes. The driver has a GPS for a brain :]
However, the reason Meilan doesn't get 5 stars across the board is because of the driver of the rolls that picked me and my bm's up. He was half an hour late picking us up, didn't call me, the groom, or my DOC...so DH had his driver try to contact the driver for the rolls. Who kept saying he'd be there in 5, 10, 15 minutes. When he finally picked us up, he kept commenting on how 'strange' it was for me to be going to the venue with my BM's and how this has been such a strange wedding since we're seeing each other before the ceremony. And going on and on about the bride that made him late for picking us up. The driver was completely unprofessional during the car ride over to the rusty pelican. When we got there, DH asked him if he could stay an extra 1/2 hour since he picked me up late, and the driver said no, that he was only 15 minutes late and that it wasn't his fault, etc, etc. In the end, he stayed the 30 min, but I didn't even want to go back out there to take pictures with the car because he simply had me soooo PO'd! Meilan was great, and so was our other driver, but this guy was a serious PITA. Would not recommend Rey as your driver!
Review Date: 01/28/2009 Services Used: Beauty & Health
5.0 out of 5.0
Quality of Service:
(5.0/5.0)
Responsiveness:
(5.0/5.0)
Professionalism:
(5.0/5.0)
Value For Cost:
(5.0/5.0)
Flexibility:
(5.0/5.0)
Dina is so sweet and easy to work with! She did my hair and makeup for the wedding day and also for the engagement session. Both times I felt so at ease with her and she did a wonderful job! My BM were very, very happy with their hair and makeup as well and she was so patient during my hair trial for the wedding - trying on two different hairstyles for me. She asks you every little bit to check in the mirror to see if you'd like to change anything, and she's more than happy to oblige. My makeup and hair were flawless the day of my wedding and stayed like that through the end of the night, despite my oceanside ceremony where it was a little windy and my non-stop dancing at the reception.
This was a vendor which in the end we didn't get the service we had agreed on. The vendor had written in our contract that we could pick up the uplighting which we were renting from them the day before the wedding (Friday) in order to waive the delivery fee. When DH called to pick it up, the person said we could do so at 5pm. We then spoke to him again, the person said they were going to be gone/out of the office before 5...and told us so at about 4pm! They then suggested that we pay the delivery fee to get it delivered but couldn't promise delivery before our reception started. In the end, we just said forget it and went without the uplighting (and the room looked gorgeous anyways!) but weren't too happy with the miscommunication that occured with this vendor.
Karla is by far the best choice we made during wedding planning. I love my photographer and the reception venue, but this woman was the one that made it all flow seamlessly on my wedding day. I am so happy we finally decided to have a DOC and that we chose her. She kept in touch with me every week up to the month of the wedding and in the last month, I think we may have exchanged about 200 emails! She is super sweet but still stands her ground when dealing with your vendors and she is very, very quick to respond to questions or issues. The day of the wedding I truly felt like a guest at all times. The days before, she handled pretty much everything, even taking on the DIY aisle runner that I didn't have time to make (which came out beautiful!). She was managing everyone. EVERYONE. She would come up to us and say, "ok, in 5 minutes you'll walk this way, and go up here, and cut your cake, and then the waiter will..." etc, etc, etc! She made my unruly family coordinated and set up everything for the ceremony and reception perfectly.
She is the queen of emergencies, doing and redoing my bustle (which came kept undoing itself after my BM stepped on my dress) 4 times that night with safety pins, handing out aspirin to whoever needed it in the bridal party and making sure that all our things were safe. She boxed up everything as if she were a fedex expert for us to take home and was there till the very, very end.
I sincerely feel that this is one of those vendors that you CAN live without, especially if it's not in your budget (she was soooo affordable though!), but if you can, get a DOC!!!! They're so helpful and will help you feel at ease at your own wedding so that you can just eat, mingle, dance and get your married on! Stylish Events by Karla B. responded with the the following comments: Helen & Donald:
First off, thank you so much for such a great review. I'm excited to know that you were pleased with my services. You guys are a unique and fun couple to work with!
Your wedding is unforgettable, specially certain special moments (e.g. dances LOL). You hired a great team of vendors that made my job easy as well and so everything flowed smoothly.
I used Alaun by Design for my escort cards because I had already DIY'd all my other paper/stationary and didn't want to deal with writing up and printing these as well. They were beyond affordable and very responsive. They have a huge selection of fonts, colors and paper and ship you samples free of charge! Would definitely recommend if you don't want to go the DIY route.
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