Wedding Reviews

Feel free to email me at carm4554@gmail.com for more information or questions. 

Hair- A+ Alishia Quinn (AMQuinn22@gmail.com) did my hair.  I think my hair  was beautiful, classic and a very romantic version of me. Alishia is such a great person and so great to have around that morning. She is also a perfectionist.  She made sure that not only did she think my hair was perfect, but also that I did.  She did 3 of my bridesmaid’s hair as well and we were all very happy with our hair.

Makeup-   A+  Pat Tingle, and Noelle (did not catch her last name!)- Mary Kay  Cosmetics.  Pat has done my makeup now for 3 weddings and my engagements photos and she has made me look beautiful every single time.  Flawless makeup that has lasted the entire day/night and photographs beautifully.  She also applied individual fake lashes for me the day of.  I was  so pleased with how I looked!  Between the 2 of them, they were able to do 9 girls in about  2.5 hours.  I know most girls go with a bigger name make up artist (and I love them too!) but I wouldn’t discount a Mary Kay consultant.  I know 3 who are excellent and so reasonably priced!  Definitely worth it!

Dress-   B-  David’s Bridal (Trevose/Feasterville).  I have no complaints with David’s Bridal.  I had gone there just to go, not really intending to find a dress in June of 08.  Lo and behold, this was  the 2nd dress I tried on.  I really liked it (though to be fair I didn’t have that “This is my dress!” feeling when I first bought it) but I took an extra day to think about it before going back the next day to buy it. My consultant wasn’t all that great, my best friend is the one who found the dress, but she was courteous and not pushy.  They are very big on tiaras there though!  I was told it would be in by October 08 and it ended up coming in 2 weeks later. 

Alterations-  Stasica. A+  I love Stascia!   I’ve been going to her for dress/clothing alterations for a few years now so I knew I would go back to her for my wedding dress.  She works at a local bridal shop (in the Northeast Philly area) as a seamstress but also does alterations out of her home.  She’s very honest and will tell you what will and won’t look  good, as well as what she is capable of doing. My dress came with a long sleeve 80’s looking bolero and she was able to cut the sleeves down and make into something I fell in love with.  While I did not originally have the “This is my dress” feeling when I bought it, I DID have it at my final fitting when it was fitted and cut for me.  Prices are very reasonable and she works quickly! Contact me if you would like her number!

 

Salem Creekside Inn-  A+  I can't rave about this place enough.  When we had signed with Martin’s Video, they had mentioned this new Inn we should check out and we instantly fell in love While at first I thought it was crazy that there was a bed and breakfast in Bensalem, we went to check it out anyway. We worked with Patti to book the Inn for our Photos. Later we also decided to stay there for our wedding night and for me to get ready there.  The Inn was empty (it only has 5 rooms) the Friday we were there so we (my girls and I) basically had the run of the entire place.  The staff (Patti and the Innkeeper that day) stayed out of our way most of the time.

The Inn and it’s grounds provided a beautiful background for our photos. We had access to the entire building including the spa room and other guest rooms (we used the big tub in another room!)

  As another treat, Patti set up the Jacuzzi in the Spa room for us for when we returned from the reception (which DH and I definitely took advantage of). The next morning, we were served a fantastic French toast breakfast in the dining room.   While the room was a little pricier than I wanted to spend, I justified it by it being so close to our venue and church, as well as a beautiful photo spot. 

 

Florist- Maureen’s Flowers- A-Working with Maureen was easy, though to be honest,  I think working with me on flowers was really easy as well.  She listened to what I was interested in and went with it.  I knew I wanted orange roses in my bouquet and that I needed to tie in orange and red gerbera daisies (since they were in our centerpieces—which were also included in our reception per head).  I wasn’t picky with flowers, I knew going into this that I would put them in the hand of an expert so I did.  I’m seriously so pleased with the way that they came out! I never stressed about size, specific flowers or anything  and Reenie  (the owner) was able to pick out the freshest and prettiest looking flowers at the market that day.

 

Bensalem Country Club- A+  Andrew and his staff went above and beyond for us.  From day 1, he was  so accommodating and willing to work with whatever we wanted.  He did a tasting for us before we signed the contract, offered to push back the Christmas decorating (which many of the other venues we went to refused) so we could use the fall décor still at the end of November, brought in Diet Pepsi for us (since they had switched to Coke during our planning process) and  just really made my family and I feel so comfortable.  

I was originally going to get a DOC for the wedding but after meeting with Andrew I felt so confident in him and his staff that I decided against it.  I do not regret that choice at all. If there were problems, I never heard/knew about it.  They took care of absolutely everything!  Drinks and hors devours were promptly brought to the bridal suite as we entered the building. 

All the renovations that have been done to the entrance way and the bridal suite are beautiful.  One random surprise was the addition of a fall colored balloon arch when we walked into the entrance way.  I’m not exactly sure why it was there (it’s not something I would have wanted) but it was there and that was that.  Not sure if that’s something they are doing now or not but that was a little weird. 

 

Limos Today-  Limo Bus- A+  Limo was great!  Our driver was fantastic!  Helpful, early, and really fun! He knew where he was going and got us there quickly.

 Sedan- C.  We rented a sedan for the end of the night to take my husband and I back to the Inn. Driver was on time but wasn’t really friendly.  It took us a bit to get our stuff together at the end and he sorta disappeared (we found him later outside) while we were gathering our belongings and saying goodbye.  When we got in the car, he didn’t know where we were going or how to get there.  I had to give him the directions.  The price was great but I just expected our driver to be a little more friendly or to at least know where we were going.


Photography- Kamila Harris A +!.  I have loved working with Kamila throughout our engagement and especially on our wedding day!  By far, photography was the #1 priority in my wedding budget and planning and Kamila Harris was well worth it!

 From the beginning, I felt like Kamila and I really clicked and over the course of our engagement ( we did engagement photos and I did bpics with her as well) I  felt like she took the time  to get to know me and DH.  She was able to capture the emotion of the day so beautifully and I can’t even begin to tell you the number of compliments I have received on our photos. 

We ended up having 3 shooters the day of our wedding ( we also had a photo station set up for our guests!), so I had 2 shooters with me as I got ready and 1 was with DH and the boys while they got ready.  This really helped us so much with our time line for our Friday night wedding.  We were able to get all the girls only and boys only photos before and spend the 1.5 hours or so in between on large groups and just us.  (DH was against seeing me beforehand!)

The photo station was  a HUGE hit once people understood what it was and that it was open.  Kamila even put all these photos in a separate online folder for me to share with my guests. 

The day after the wedding, Kamila had a few photos up on Facebook for us to see and a blog entry about us a couple days after we got back from our honeymoon.  She  has always been really great  about responding in a timely fashion through email or phone calls.  And only 2 months after our wedding, I have a complete online gallery of photos (over 1500!) and have our album picked out! 

 

Video- Martin’s Video  A  (pending video).  Jon was our videographer (not the owner) and he was great!  I barely noticed him all night but my family has had nothing but good things to say about how friendly he was.   We just received our recap online video and we couldn’t be happier. 

They have gotten much busier in the past year so their turnaround time has extended (I was originally supposed to get my video at the end of January and now will get it around the middle of February).  

Honeymoon- El Dorado Royale- Puerto Morales, Mexico  A!  Loved!  Email me for more information!