Now that the wedding is over, & we’ve had a chance to rehash the night over & over,

I thought I’d share a few things that really made our wedding turn out exactly how we wanted. Good luck as you all continue the planning process!

***Getting married off-season and/or on a Sunday—This was the BEST decision we made! We got married on the Sunday before New Year’s. And December is definitely off-season in NH! This made planning so much easier.

1) I wasn’t competing with other brides for vendors—all my first choices were available. 2) I saved a ton of money. Our food & beverage minimum was almost ½ of the minimum for a Saturday night. Our band gave us a 20% discount. Our photographer gave us an extra hour free, brought 2 assistants, & didn’t charge for travel. Lastly, the dress shop was a ghost town when I was looking. My seamstress says she works on 30 to 40 dresses at a time during busy season. She was only working on one other dress during my alterations.

3) We were the only event at the venue that day—our site can do up to 6 weddings a weekend! This gave us a lot more flexibility as far as timing & special requests—we were able to install special lighting. Our wedding was private & personal. And the service amazing & consistent.

4) Travel & hotels are cheaper off-season & on a Sunday/Monday than on Friday/Saturday.

***Taking pictures before the ceremony

1) After the ceremony, we just wanted to celebrate & talk & laugh & get to the reception where all our loved ones were enjoying themselves.

2) When you see each other for the first time, it is going to be special—no matter where or when. I loved that it was private, just us & the photographer.

3) We weren’t in a rush before the ceremony—I was trying to calm down & relax. I felt like we took a zillion amazing pictures with lots of variety because I wasn’t in a hurry to get to the party yet.

4) We were able to talk—unlike when you are standing up at the altar. I was able to ask him what he thought of the dress, if he was getting excited, etc.

5) It eats up time. Yes, the whole day in its entirety goes quickly. But there were plenty of moments while getting ready that I kept thinking, “Let’s hurry up & get married! When is it going to be time to go to the church!?!?!” Taking pictures helped give me something to do.

6) It was amazing quiet time to spend with my immediate family, the bridal party, & my FI. The calm before the big party. Really helped me relax & take everything in.

*** Arranging to sneak into the reception room to see it before everyone else does.

*** Installing lighting. This totally transformed our reception room.

***Hiring a coordinator for the month before. She arranged all the vendors, made sure I didn’t forget about anything, & insured that the day ran smoothly. My mom & I were able to be guests rather than “go to” people. The best money we spent.

***Meeting with the florist early & not discussing just flowers. We really used our florist more as an event designer. She helped us choose chairs, linens, chargers, ribbons, candles, & the lighting. She helped bring everything together a lot better than I could have ever envisioned.

***Adding some personal touches that included the guests.

For example, in the back of our program we wrote up rather extensive bios about our bridal party. How we met, their interests & hobbies, etc. It gave the guests something to read while they were waiting for the processional & it helped make connections for conversations starters later in the evening (I really wanted to make a crossword puzzle, but I ran out of time).

On our cake table, we put framed 8 x 10 pictures of our parents cutting the cakes at their weddings. Throughout the evening, people were walking up to the cake table to look at what our parents looked like on their wedding days 40 years earlier.

Lastly, we had a sign of peace during the ceremony—like in Catholic mass where everyone shakes hands with those around them. It helped lighten the mood & make things very personal. The minister even whispered to me that he really like that we included it.

***Taking our left-over centerpieces to a nursing home.

 

 

Well, here are the reviews for:

Leslie Barbini, The Wedding Belle, wedding coordinator
The Wentworth by the Sea Hotel
Dan Doke, Photographer

Kathie Colella, Jardieniere Flowers
Jean Fosdick, The Write Place, stationers
Jacques Pastries, Cake

Joanne McDonough, Joya Beauty, Make up

Lena Hartsford, Hair the Moves, Hair
Felciano Limo

Kahootz, Reception Music
Distinctive Directions
Placecards dot com
Victory Restaurant
AK Bar & Bistro
New Castle Congregational Church

 

To summarize: All my vendors were spectacular. I would love the chance to have another occasion to work with any of them, & I recommend them highly. They are all very talented, contientious people about whom I can’t say enough positive things.

If you have questions about anyone in particular, email me at nycnhemily at yahoo dot com.

A disclaimer: I choose my vendors based on service & getting the details I wanted, not price. So these probably might not necessarily be the “best value.”

 

 

Coordinator

 Leslie Barbini, The Wedding Belle

After choosing a date & site, Leslie was the first vendor I interviewed. Finding a great coordinator was my highest priority. I wanted someone on board the last few weeks of the wedding to help coordinate the vendors & to make sure nothing was overlooked. And most importantly, I wanted someone onsite to insure that I & my family could enjoy the wedding & let someone else take care of the details.

I am a very detail-oriented person, & I felt confident that Leslie would not overlook anything. She had extensive experience with our reception site, and I felt she understood the complexities of orchestrating a wedding. She also works with 2 assistants on the day of.

Working with Leslie was amazing. She spent a ton of time making sure that she really understood the type of wedding that we had envisioned. She considered dozens of things that never even crossed my mind. Every time I asked her about something, she would smile & say “Already taken care of.”

Leslie understands the industry, the vendors, & the brides. She knows what looks great & what works. She also knows what doesn’t. And she diplomatically made sure our wedding was everything we wanted!

 

Reception Site

The Wentworth by the Sea Hotel

Overall, service, food, & décor were all perfect!

Like most brides, I didn’t get the chance to eat much at the wedding. But the few things I tried were excellent. And I heard many guests commenting on the food. Although I didn’t eat much, the presentation was beautiful. By the time, I arrived at the cocktail hour, all the sushi was gone & I am still hearing about it! Service was very professional, well-timed, and upbeat.

Our onsite coordinator, Gina Damaino, was a joy to work with. Throughout the planning process, she was so responsive to whatever questions I had. And she is so sweet. She never made me feel like a request was too big or a question was too trivial. She put me entirely at ease—she knows what she is doing. Gina also coordinated some of my special requests without hesitating: ice sculpture, installed lighting, ice cream, and even having the chef create an entrée that was not on the menu.

Again, Gina Damiano is amazing! I loved working with her. She made sure we got what we wanted, including allowing us to install specialty lighting. She also took care of some of our more "high maintainance requests"--ice cream with cake, sushi, ice scuplture, chairs with a different color cushions. And she never made me feel like I was asking for too much. We had the wedding of our dreams, everything look better than I had envisioned, & I credit Gina with a lot of it.

She responded to my emails & questions quickly & thoroughly. And I really appreciated how positive & happy she always was--she didn't seem to have bad days.

Being the last in my family to get married, we know from experience how much turnover there is being a banquet/catering manager. It's a tough job. Don't lose Gina!

 

 

Photographer

Daniel Doke Studios

Dan, Curtis, & Jim

Wow—my fiancé might not have been uncomfortable with all the attention, but I felt like a movie star. Dan is very artistic. He works a lot with lighting. He gave us a ton of direction. But everything went so quickly & smoothly. We laughed a lot, but he was also able to coax me into some serious faces, too. I will give a more extensive review when I get the pictures.

To Dan’s defense, I gave him absolutely no direction other than “take the requisite list of must-take pictures that every bride requests.” So I guess I can blame myself for not being more explicit. Many pictures were not taken that I thought would have been obvious such as the first kiss, my leaving for the church, bride & groom arriving at reception, the bridesmaids standing at the altar. They took pictures of many tables at the reception before they were completely set up & before any of the candles were lit. Lastly, I did request a lot of pictures of my parents at the reception—and there was only 2 of my mom.

 

 

Stationery

Jean Fosdick

The Write Place in Nashua

I loved working with Jean. I feel like I have a new friend. Through Jean, I got save the dates, invitations, thank you/correspondence cards, & favor boxes. She also printed both my inner & outer envelopes.

Jean is a great businesswoman and knows her craft.

She is great with response time & email. I did 90% of planning from NYC. She would email me proofs & mail me the finished product. And she always follows up.

I had a very stressful time trying to visualize what the finished products would look like—picking fonts, papers, colors, ribbons. Jean would tell me what looks good & what doesn’t. When I was on the verge of a breakdown trying to decide what color to go with for our wedding invitations, I told Jean just to pick it—knowing my likes & dislikes. And pick it, she did. Jean is comfortable stepping up when I needed it & making an executive decision.

 

 

Florist 

Kathie Colella, Jardiniere Flowers

Kathie Colella & her husband (I think his name is Vinny, but I’m not sure)

I really wish I would have trusted Kathie from the very beginning. I am a micro-manager who wants to have all the nitty-gritty details hashed out. Kathie is much more creative & free-thinking. It was hard for me to feel comfortable when Kathie had these grand visions that I just couldn’t get my mind around.

Kathie did an incredible job. She created a vision that was complete from beginning to end. And it was a vision that I would have never been able to come up with. We went with an “elegant, botanical winter wonderland.”

She picked our table cloths (a shimmery, silvery blue), she introduced us to our lighting specialist, she helped us chose colors. Kathie gave me her honest opinions, but she was very excited when we’d stop by her shop to show us her latest idea & to get our opinions.

The quality of flowers was amazing—they were the biggest roses & orchids I have seen. And she diamond-dusted EVERYTHING. Guests sitting at our table commented, “Emily, your flowers are sparkling!” I was even amazed that there were very out-of-season peonies in my bouquet. Kathie’s husband told me, “It’s spring in New Zealand.”

If you ever work with Kathie, let her work her magic. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

Cake 

Jacques Pastries

A cake from Jacques was included as part of our package at The Wentworth. Jacques cakes tend to be decorated with flowers or designs either in buttercream or fondant. However, I had my heart set on a cake I’d seen by Martha Stewart. Her white cake was covered in coconut shavings. It looked like snow, which would be perfect for our winter wedding.

When we had our tasting, they brought out coconut shavings for us to taste along with the cake & filling flavors. They agreed to cover the cake in coconut shavings & separate each layer with row of roses.

My mom surprised us with a cake topper that is really a crystal Christmas tree topper. Jacques did a wonderful job of “burying” (into the cake) the 6 inch long part the goes on the top of the tree.

I was a little leery about how the cake would turn out given that we were asking them to do something that is not really part of their repertoire. Everyone continues to comment on how great the cake looked. Oh, & it tasted fabulous as well. We did a spice cake with apple filling

& chocolate with raspberry filling.

 

 

Makeup 

Joanne McDonough, Joya Beauty

I was not comfortable hiring someone to do my makeup. I don’t usually wear make up. And I’ve been to too many weddings where the bride does not look like herself. At my trial, Joanne started with a light hand & slowly added till I said “Enough.” At my wedding, I really looked like myself—just better. She custom blends all your foundation, powders, & lipstick. She also did the makeup for the moms & the bridesmaids. She made sure that everyone compliment everyone else & that they were made up appropriate for the occasion.

 

 

Hair 

Lena Hartsford, Hair the Moves

I did not want to take my hair down at the end of the evening! I loved it. I wanted a natural updo that would loosen through the evening. And that is exactly what I got. Lena did the hair for the bridesmaids & my mom.

 

Lighting 

Karen Hill & Hans Shoop

I think my mom said they are moving to Baltimore to do lighting for the White House. But they totally transformed the ballroom for our reception. We wanted a winter wonderland-esque décor. But the room was gold & yellow. They were able to turn the room a silvery blue. They also had 4 gobos that projected snowflakes around the room. Lastly, they were able to put spotlights on the cake & the special dances. The color of the room changed through the evening.

 

 

Reception Music 

Kahootz

We chose the band based on a CD of 7 bands. While we thought they were the best band on the CD, they were even better live. I guess it was a weird request, but I told the band that I wanted them to play for the 1^st half hour of the reception (while people were finding their seats & while we did the first dances). And then I did NOT want them to play until the cake was cut at the end of dinner—I just wanted quiet recorded music during dinner so people could comfortable talk across a table of 8. The band thought this was weird, but they obliged. The evening went wonderfully, and the band then played from cake cutting till the end of the reception straight—without any breaks. The 2 vocalists would get off the stage & sing on the dance floor. They’d go up to our guests & give them the microphone. We all had a really great time. The band even played an encore at the end of the evening.

 

 

Shuttle bus & Limo 

Feliciano

My husband booked this. And he can do extensive research. So I have confidence that he felt it was the best option.

All I know is that they 1) showed up on time, 2) the vehicles were neat & clean & just what we ordered, and 3) they just us where we needed to go when we needed to get there.

 

 

Custom Map 

Distinctive Directions

For $50, they created a map of the area with the street intersections I needed as well as the points of interest. They even put icons where the hotels, reception, & rehearsal dinner were. This was all done over email. Oh, and I was able to email them the font I wanted them to use. I love the map!

 

Placecards

placecards-dot com

This was also really easy. I created an excel spreadsheet, emailed it to some husband & wife team in St. Louis. Within a day, they sent me a proof. They had the font I wanted. On the reverse of the placecards, they printed “Emily & Mike/Decemeber 30^th, 2007.” The placecards are pretty simple, but then I backed them on silver cardstock & wet-embossed them with snowflakes.

 

 

Victory Restaurant—Rehearsal Dinner

AK Bar & Bistro—Night Before Party

My in-laws were so generous to host the rehearsal dinner (for 30 people) and a Night Before party for all wedding guests. They pretty much took care of all the details. All I can say is that they had a very easy time dealing with the two venues. And as a guest at those 2 parties, I was very impressed with the food & service.

 

 

New Castle Congregational Church—Ceremony

This church does not have a center aisle. But it is so quaint! Built in the 1600s. Each pew has a little door to it with a stenciled numbered. It is intimate, seating about 150. They let us put candles in each window, luminaries lining the walk to the church, and 2 candelabras at the altar. We had the church’s pastor (Rev. Staley) officiate. He was so easy to work with—his only requirement was that our ceremony was “exactly the way we wanted it.” We also used the church’s organist, Charles Blood. I called him once, gave him my music wish list (everything I picked was pretty typical for a wedding), & he said fine. Very easy.

They were all great as well. Just email me at nycnhemily at yahoo dot com if you have any questions or need more details.