Venue: A+ x infinity! LOL
www.thegloucesterhouse.com/ " target="_blank">The Gloucester House
The Gloucester House did such a wonderful job with our wedding. Everyone was raving about the food, and I actually sat down and enjoyed my meal, it was fabulous! Dottie helped me to coordinate everything and she was such a doll. She was extremely accommodating, even with some of my bizarre requests, like an area for our make-shift photo booth. The tables were set perfectly, my centerpieces looked amazing, the memorial candles were placed on the mantle; everything was just perfect. She even understaood when obnoxious family member/s brought an univited guest and threw a wrench into the seating chart and meal orders! I can't say enough about Dottie and The Gloucester House!
Cupcakes: A+ x infinity!!!
Melissa of Dreams in Buttercream
My biggest worry before the wedding was finding/affording a cake or cupcakes. I was even about to consider them another DIY project to tack onto my already huge list. As a last resort, I checked out Craigslist and found Melissa. She answered my email almost right away. We told her we wanted 130 cupcakes and a small cake for us to cut. She quoted us an unbelievable price and we just couldn't say no! We ordered lemon cake with a white butter cream frosting and she even added little blue hydrangeas to each and every cupcake. She came to our venue and set up. The cake table looked amazing, and when we walked by, they smelled soooo delicious! Finally, when it was time to cut the cake, my husband and I were blown away by how good it was! Everyone who had a cupcake loved them! Dreams in Buttercream saved me so much stress and totally paid off; she is worth way more than she charges!
Pamela Helme of Lucid Light Photography, along with James Barron of Undying Photography = Altared Visions Studios
I found Pam on Boston.com through NYEBride, and I can’t thank you enough! Pam’s work is wonderful, she is such a joy to work with and provided us with exactly what we wanted. We didn’t want the stuffy posed pictures, but more of an artistic approach to the traditional family photos and ceremony and reception events. When we hired her, she told me that she would be bringing another photographer to get even more pictures. I met James on the day of the wedding and he was wonderful. They are both very professional and a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see the photos!!
Videographer: B or D
Alex S.
I contacted a couple area schools looking for a videographer. New England Institute of Art was the only one to come back with someone. Alex had already graduated, but was willing to film our wedding for some extra cash. His price was perfect for us! He came by our house and showed us his work, which was wonderful. Weddings aren’t what he is planning as his career, but that wasn’t important to us. A video was a second thought for us, so we weren’t looking for the “Platinum Package”. Basically, we wanted someone to film our ceremony, most of the reception and make sure to film the important people of the evening. After emailing him about a month before to see if he was still planning on filming the wedding, he emailed me the contract. At the ceremony, I didn’t see him anywhere, until about the end. So he’s either a wonderful videographer, so out of the way that you don’t even know he’s there, or he wasn’t there. When we got back home Saturday, there were a couple messages on the answering machine from him wondering the time and location of the wedding, on the day of the wedding! The third message was him saying that he found the location and time and would be there. We pay him the other 50% when we get the video, hopefully the days events are in it!
DJ: A+
www.leosclassichits.com/
Leo of Leo’s Classic Hits
Gown: A+ for my gown, C- for service
David’s Bridal in Danvers
David’s Bridal was the first and only place I went to find my gown. Alla was my sales woman and she was a lot of fun. I loved my dress when I tried it on, but I wasn’t sure of the color. Another woman told Alla that they had the same dress in white, but in the petite size. I tried that on and actually felt a lot more comfortable, especially where I planned on wearing flats. With the tight budget, my mind was number crunching and I was thrilled that I wouldn’t have to pay extra to have a regular sized dress hemmed because the petite was the perfect length for me. Of course it’s not that easy. The dress came in and the bustle was put in place. I went back for a fitting and the dress was too short, my toes were garishly sticking out and I was mortified. Mercedes of alterations was very helpful. She said they could try and stretch the lace to make it longer and in the end, that’s what worked. She also said that she would work personally on my dress so it wouldn’t be passed through different hands who didn’t know all of the circumstances. The Wednesday before the wedding, I was scheduled to pick up my veil and my sister’s gown, when I got there, they couldn’t find my order. Apparently they forgot to press them in time. I had to wait for about an hour while they did it. Not a huge deal, but it was inconvenient and I was a little POd. Overall, the dresses at David’s are very affordable, but if you’re going to need alterations, I recommend taking your gown elsewhere. The Alterations Department is where they make their money.
Flowers: A+ (naturally!)
Me!
After a lot of blood, sweat and tears (not really) I finished the flowers! I’m actually very proud of myself and many people suggested I do this as a living. I bought fabric from Joann’s and had a blast making all kinds of “flowers”. Honestly, it was stress-relief for me throughout the planning process to be creative. I used shells for the boutonnieres and added little hydrangea petals, and used both shells and fabric flowers for the mothers’ corsages. Thankfully I had a very small wedding party, or else I would have gone mad!
