Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Hi ladies,

I wanted to post my review while I can still remember all of the details etc.

Here is a link to a few photos we have seen thus far with more to come-wedding

First I want to thank all of the future and past brides who have posted their advice, vendor info etc. It helped me immensely during these past few months!

Here are my ratings on the obvious vendors... I will post other vendors once I receive more pictures to reference.

Chateau Briand- A+++++
We visited a ton of wedding halls but did not get the 'feeling' until we went to CB. We were reluctant on booking the venue because we didn't like the location and because it's in the neighborhood but we decided 'who cares, we love the venue anyhow!' We were in the Saturnia room and it had the cozy vibe we were going for. We had 154 guests and the room was the perfect size for us.

Anyway, they did an AMAZING job!!!! No stone was left unturned and all of our guests RAVED about the venue and service.

Elmer (our maitre D) guided us through every step of the way and made sure we had everything and anything we needed. The food was great (I will be honest though, a few people say the filet mignon sauce was weird) BUT we personally thought all of the food we had was excellent!

Our bridal attendants were god sent and guided my photographer to all of the popular areas to take pics since they were not familiar with the venue. Not to mention, they helped me get out of my dress to use the restroom- which is not an easy feat to say the least!

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? ABSOLUTELY! The staff went above and beyond for us !

DJ- ULTIMATE SOUND DJS- A+++++++++
After scouring this website for DJ recommendations, I was VERY hesitant on checking out this DJ... We met with the owner Frank and I was straight up in telling him that the reviews online were less than favorable.

He totally understood my concerns and gave us a preview of their music. We literally went into another room where he mixed a playlist for us and were blown away by what we heard.

We booked them after meeting with five other DJs that are on this site and ultimately felt they were the best DJ for us. They were professional every step of the way and called us two weeks beforehand to go over our details. Then the actual DJ called me a day before to go over songs etc... he was also very professional.

Our guests RAVED about Ultimate Sounds... the dance floor was packed all night and they even played an extra 15 minutes because no one would leave! It was the prefect blend of current music, house music and spanish music. They read our crowd and played what they thought would work and they did an excellent job!

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? YES YES YES!!!! They made my party!!!! and gave us free uplighting as well :)

PHOTOBOOTH- INCREDIBOOTHS- A+
The attendant (Dennis) was awesome !!! He was fun and hilarious- all of our guests loved him! The booth itself was nice and simple to use. We had video messaging and loved listening to everyone when we reviewed all of the photos/videos via the flashdrive that was given to us. The booth prints out two sets of b/w or colored prints and they put the extra set into the scrapbook with their comments. It was so sweet to see everyone's comments and very funny to see the pictures that were taken. Pretty much as the night progresses, the more intoxicated your guests become and the crazier the pictures!

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? YES! We did this instead of giving out favors.... guests enjoyed it and we have memories to look at! I say do this extra splurge if you can :)

MAKEUP- lolalovesmakeup- A-
Andrea is great in what she does.... my makeup stayed on and looked flawless. My mom looked amazing and so did all of the bridesmaids. She was also very quick which helped!

One thing that I did notice at the end after she left, was that she never filled in my eyebrows and I am such an eyebrow person....if i wasn't rushing, i would have told her to fill them in but all in all she did a great job!

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? Definitely ! she is sweet and has a calming presence which is great to have around on such a crazy day.

Hair- M*I*A Farrah- B
M*I*A's assistant (TASHA) was on time and did a great job on my mom and bridesmaids hair. No complaints... you showed her a picture and she replicated it. I would definitely give her an A+

M*I*A (herself who did my hair)
I knew she had another wedding during the day but she showed up at my house at 11 am... I was expecting her to get to my house latest by 10am... so by the time I was done, i was already running late and couldn't take any pictures at my house. Everything was super rushed because my hair was finished so late.... it made me a little frazzled and that's something you don't want on your wedding day. I literally ran out my house at 1:15 .... i was hoping to be done at 12:30 pm so that I had some time to take pics.

All in all, if you are spending $175 on your hair alone, the person needs to be on time- no ifs or buts!!! BUT her work is amazing and everyone commented on how great my hair looked.

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? YES- BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE THE ONLY WEDDING ON THAT DAY FOR HER.... she is awesome and has an amazing personality but timeliness is key.

PHOTOGRAPHER- timecut.com- A++++++
Tim Wong and his staff is awesome!! We just saw some shots today and they literally brought tears to my eyes. He and his staff were professional and met with me at various times to go over all of the details. He traveled to my church prior to the wedding to view all of the areas I wanted covered. I was VERY SPECIFIC in everything I wanted and I think that could scare some vendors but he handled my expectations with grace.

We also opted to have photos taken from the ceremony to be uploaded at the Reception for guests to view on the plasmas. It was such a beautiful touch as I was able to see pictures of my husband and the Groomsmen before the ceremony as well of pictures of myself getting ready. The pictures from the ceremony were soooo emotional for us to look at and added a nice touch to our reception.

WOULD I RECOMMEND?? WITHOUT A DOUBT!!! We adored him and he wasn't obtrusive the way many photographers are :) We booked him for a total of 12 hours and he was upbeat throughout the whole day!

VIDEO- M4EVER
Video was an area of contention for us.... we kept asking ourselves 'will we ever really view the video more than once?'

Once we decided to have a videographer, cost was an issue- 'did i really want to spend 3K?' Long story short, we found these guys through craigslist and they were super cool.

We saw their past footage from prior events and were very happy with their work. They came to my house at 9 am and shot till 11pm. They went to both my house and the groom's home and traveled to Brooklyn to film the ceremony and then went all the way back to Long Island for the reception. They were troopers all the way!

So far I give them an A+ and will update the rating once i see the video.

FLOWERS- PEDESTALS- A-
Robert from Pedestals was a dream to work with ... he totally nailed our centerpieces on the first round. Flowers were super important to me and i went to visit 12 other florists (crazy i know!!!!)

Anyway, they did an excellent job on the centerpieces. My BK wasn't my favorite. I requested a BK that was 'sexy' and orchids don't really exude that vibe in my opinion. i wasn't blown away by our BKs to say the least.

Also, we opted for cake flowers and I thought they could have given me alot more roses for the $$$... i pretty much wanted the cake to look like it had a layer of roses between the tiers and that's not what happened.


WOULD I RECOMMEND?? Yes BUT do a preview the day before of the BK.... everyone has a different meaning when it comes to explaining what they want so be specific.

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

great review and so fast too!!!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

wonderful review! congrats again and your dress is beautiful!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

wow you look beautiful!!!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Thanks ladies!! I'm sooo sad that it's over.... at least I have the honeymoon to look forward to !

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Good review!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Thanks for the review!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Absolutely beautiful!!!!!!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Thanks for the review!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

great review!! you looked beautiful!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

congrats!!! thanks for the review helps with some choices i still need to make

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

congrats!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Congrats....great review

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Great review and you looked absolutely stunning! Congrats!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Congratulations & thanks for sharing!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

great review

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

Congrats and thanks for the review. It helps since CB is one of our top runners right now (out of 4). It helps a lot :)

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

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Posted by Beckwith

Congrats and thanks for the review. It helps since CB is one of our top runners right now (out of 4). It helps a lot :)

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Congrats and great review!

Re: Winter Wedding- 2/12/11- Chateau Briand

thank you for your review