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wow, the day is almost here! I am so excited for you both! :)
Posted On: Sep 19, 2009 2:42 PM
John & Fran Gileno
Knowing you from Chris & Jean's wedding, and getting this web site from MJ & Jim, John & wish you a lifetime of happiness!
Posted On: Sep 10, 2009 7:33 AM
MJ
We are very pleased with the mate you picked to spend the rest of your life with and are super happy for you. Mom
Posted On: Aug 27, 2009 4:31 PM
CJ
Congratulations you two! You two are my favorite Floridians! Except for the winter, then my Grandma and my PapPap are my favorite Floridians, but from Spring to Fall, it's all you two. I look forward to being with you two on your special day.
Posted On: Feb 20, 2009 11:22 AM
Margaret Mason Tate
Everyone here in Greenville, SC is all a-twitter that you're getting married! We can't wait. I wish you all the best and hope the planning process goes smoothly. Love you!
Posted On: Jan 27, 2009 7:12 PM
Your Friend
Good job on this page & links Jan! I probably should have seen this a few months ago. Very exciting!
Posted On: Jan 13, 2009 5:06 PM
Justin
Hey guys Congrats again. I think its funny how I Googled Corey to see if I could find his 96 conviction for being the worlds coolest cat and I saw this site. Thanks for letting me know about it Corey and I look forward to coming down to Florida in October.
Posted On: Jan 13, 2009 10:08 AM
Dennis & MS
Dennis and I are excited for you both. Enjoy this time together and we've got the date on the calendar. YEAH!!!
Sirata Beach Resort was a great place to have my wedding. We live in nearby Orlando so it was easy to get over and talk with the various staff. The only negative was that we went through 4 wedding coordinators in one year. I'm not sure why they are leaving or being let go as they have weddings most weekends. Book early!
About a week and half before the wedding, I sent an email to our current coordinator and never heard back from her. I called the Sunday before our Saturday wedding and tried to leave her message. This is how I found out she was no longer there. I left messages for the new coordinator and the manager. They have more than 1 coordinator so we got a call from Stacy on Monday who's been working there for over 2 years. She picked up quickly and everything went smoothly with the wedding. My only feedback was the lack of response in contacting me to let me know my coordinator had left. If I hadn't called, who knows when they would have.
My (now) husband negotiated on the contract so we were able to get lower food/beverage minimum for our events as well as get the parking fee waived for the day. The resort charges $8 daily fee for parking (guests or visitors). So I encourage you to ask about those rates. We didn't do the contract for room rates because they wanted us to sign another contract that basically held us accountable for rooms that weren't booked and we didn't want to pay for the rooms if we didn't get enough guests. The "room rate" they gave us what was our guests ended up paying anyhow without the contract.
One of the things we liked is that it included the wedding ceremony on the beach (you have different locations to choose from), the reception, food and beverage so we were only dealing with 1 vendor the whole time, which made it easier.
The day of things went very smoothly and the buffet food was delicious. I would recommend Sirata!
For me the photographer was one of the most important things next to food and drink at the wedding. Katie was referred by another photography (who was booked) that was on the list provided by the resort where I got married. I called several other photographers based on reviews from weddingwire. I selected Katie because I liked her artistic photo's compared to very traditional wedding photo's and because when we talked on the phone she was easy to talk with, very nice, and didn't treat it as a business transaction. We simply connected!
The price was within my range and she was willing to give me rights to the photo's so I could get copies and do what I wanted with them. Not all photographers will do that. I wanted to meet with her before the wedding so we could discuss the shots I wanted and just to simply meet her. Unfortunately, she had numerous personal conflicts and didn't want to travel too far to meet with me so that didn't happen. We discussed the shots I wanted over the phone and gave me a schedule for the day.
The day of the event, she was very professional, easy to get along with, and had specific ideas of the shots she wanted (based on our conversation). She was flexible with ideas of different shots that I wanted as well. When I first saw the photo's I was a bit disappointed because many of them are very traditional photo's. For example, when taking pictures of our family she had us lined up standing next to one another. It would've been nice to mix it up a bit. Also during the wedding ceremony, most of the pictures are from the same angle rather than moving behind the pastor to get close photo's of our faces. I had assumed the photographers would know to do this so it's not something we specifically discussed. I was also hoping for some candid shots such as our faces when the toast was made but all she got was a photo of the person making the toast. Again, things I didn't think to ask for specifically because I assumed they would automatically do this. Maybe they do but my advice is to think about what you want specifically and communicate it to your photographer.
In the end, I got the DVD of the pictures and looked through them more closely and there are some good photo's. A part of it was my fault as I didn't think to tell the family/friends, etc to look at the photographer when we were walking the down the aisle, etc. Again, something I thought everyone would know. The pictures would have been good if people were looking at her.
I do recommend Katie and she is great to work with and I thought her price was reasonable for the 4 hours I hired her for. But be specific about the shots you want.
I will admit I didn't get a traditional wedding cake. We just got a sheet cake and had it cut up as a dessert. You can't go wrong with Publix cakes. They even delivered to the resort for a small fee. No worries, no hassles.
With a beach wedding, I knew I wanted a simply but elegant dress. I didn't want something with a train or full length. I looked online and found a dress that I loved at Alfred Angelo so I went to the Altamonte Springs store.
This being my first wedding, I didn't know to make an appointment when we visited on a Saturday so I encourage those for evening or weekend appointments. The sales person was very helpful. I had gone online and found the dresses I wanted to try on and gave her the list of gown numbers. She gathered them and brought them to me. I feel in love with the dress immediately. Because I am petite, she had gathered quite a bit to get it to fit but it looked great. It cost $399 but she discounted $100 so it was only $299. Bestbridalprices.com offeres designer gowns at inexpensive prices but with the $100 off it was cheaper than the website. At the store, it seems they give $100 off every dress so be sure to ask if they don't offer. I didn't try to negotiate more.
The smallest size didn't fit me but I ordered it knowing I would have to get alterations. I read on the reviews at weddingwire that the alterations at the store were ridiculous so before I bought the gown I asked the sales person to get an estimate from the seamstress and was told it would be about $150 to take in the sides.
When I went for the first fitting, it was actually $199, almost half of what the dress cost. She pinned the sides but for some reason I wasn't loving the dress like when I tried it on and couldn't figure it out. Luckily my mom took some pictures and later I noticed that the dress was too big in the hips as well and draped weird in the front. I made another appointment before my 2nd fitting to talk with the seamstress. I was worried they were going to try and charge me more.
My only disappointment was that the seamstress tried to convience me that the dress was an A line dress and was suppose to drape that way. I had to show her pictures of what the dress looked like when I tried it on and (luckily) there was a picture of it in the store from a magazine as well. I showed her both of these and let her know it's not suppose to drape that way. Then she told me in the pictures the dress is pinned tightly and again tried to convince me it was suppose to drape differently. I told her I bought the dress because I liked how it looked when the sales lady pinned it and that's what I was expecting.
The end result was that she did take it in throughout the hips and didn't charge me anymore. At the 2nd fitting, it was actually too tight! When I came back the 3rd time, the dress fit as well as it could considering my petite size. It looked good but I probably should've picked a dress that better fit my body shape and size. They do offer petite sizes in certain dresses but the one I selected wasn't one of them.
Postives: Seamstress did a good job, the price was discounted, the dresses are gorgeous Negatives: Staff not always nice or responsive when I walked in, having to convince the seamstress that I was right about how the dress fit, the cost of the alterations.
Pastor Dean is great!! We found him through the reviews on weddingwire and talked with him over the phone about his rates and availability. I had talked with another vendor but they weren't available or willing to attend the rehearsal and they cost a bit more. Pastor Dean attended both the rehearsal and ceremony.
I went ahead and booked him before we met in person. He invited my (now) husband and I over to his house and we met him and his wife. He showed us the various weddings he's done before and then asked if we were still comfortable with him. We said yes!
He provides options for you to select for the ceremony. At points, we didn't like some of the religious readings so we found other information online that he is more than willing to include in the ceremony. He is very flexible and recognizes that it's our ceremony.
A small bonus is that his wife takes pictures for their website and they are nice enough to send us a couple copies, which I wasn't expecting.
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