Need Opinions of Various Vendors

Hi girls....should I ask here in a public forum and then ask for forum mail for my replies? Not from LI so I don't know anything about the vendors on my vendor list provided bu John Anthony's...any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

Who are your vendors. I'll help if I can!

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

Who are some of the vendors listed on their list?? I'll try to help

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

Flowers:
Fleurs de Florissima - Huntington (already met with them - they seem reasonable)
James Cress
Towers Flowers
Bunny's Floral
Burton's of Melville (not on list but rec by you gals)
White Iris - Babylon
Flowers Michelle - Huntington

Photography:
Michael O'Neill (met with Kathy - nice lady and fairly reasonable)
Ray O'Connor (he is the St Anthony's HS photographer and FH went there...hoping for a discount

Patken - I know a lot of you have used them
Northern Exposure - Nesconset

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

I booked Burtons for my flowers. James Cress is good but super expensive. A lot of girls love Flower Michele. I don't know the rest.

Photographers: I met w/Ray O'Connor and his photos are nice but I felt not very creative (my opinion only) and he was pricey for what he was giving me. I booked Mark Kauffman Studios (Lynn and Roy). Mark is very pricey but no pre-set packages so you can customize and the work is very creative, which is what I wanted. A lot of girls like Patken, but I cannot offer any first hand advise on him. I would also say that none of the photographers I met with had an amazing video to offer. I booked Wild Rose Video for our video. I felt that all of the seperate video companies were better than those linked with photographers (again, JMO)

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

bump

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

if you do a search you'll get a lot of info on many of those vendors. Personally, Flower Michele was one of the best choices I made. John was my favorite vendor to deal with, his prices were reasonable and my flowers were amazing.

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I looked at Burtons and also met with Flower Michele. The prices at Burtons are really good and they had samples of bouquets and a centerpiece that were beautiful in the showroom when I saw them. I like the fact that I can get any type of flowers at Burtons. John at FLower Michele was really nice and was very detailed and knowledgeable, had good advise and ideas, but they were more expensive. I would recommend visiting other florists first, at least to get ideas about what kinds of flowers you are thinking of using before visiting with Burtons. With Burton's you don't have to specify types of flowers to be used until about 6 weeks before - so you have a lot of time to figure out what you want.

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I use Florissima and was NOT pleased at all. I found it really hard to get them to understand what i wanted and then it showed up at my house wrong anyway!!!! They neglected to tell me that a type of flower i wanted was out of season and put silk flowers (which looked awful) in my bouquet instead!!! My maid of honor's bouquet (which i spent extra on) looked exactly like the rest of my bridesmaids bouquets. And then everything fell apart by the time the reception began!!! I gave them so much money and i felt really ripped off!!!

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

I used James Cress Florist for my wedding. They did a great job.

I also used Michael O'Neill. He was so easy to work with and got done super quick. We picked up our proofs on Saturday and I couldn't be happier with them.

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

lisaanderic - did you ever post a review of your wedding? I am using Fleurs de Florisima in a month and am concerned with your post. But I cannot remembr you ever mentioning them before? Did you see samples and everything?

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I'm also using Florissima and panicked when I saw your post. I can't believe they would use silk flowers and not clear that with you. I saw my sample on Saturday and everything was fine.

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i saw my sample on saturday too irenie!!! Mine was the tall one in the glass vase! Were you there at around 11:00?

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I was there Saturday! I saw the HUGE one in the TALL skinny vase near the front of the back room? My FMIL and I were like 'Holy cow look at that one!' Then my FMIL goes 'Wonder how ya get that vase in the car...' and Lia goes 'Those are loaners. We find that most of the guests just take individual flowers from the arrangement rather than the whole thing...'

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I would NOT count on people leaving vases on the table. They leave the large candle holders and just take the floral arrangements on the top but a vase ????

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yay that was mine Thrilled! With all the white flowers and branches?

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I used Florissima, and got exactly what I wanted. They were great to deal with and I even made last minute changes that they were cool with. They even called me about what color ribbons I'd like to use on the Mother's corsages.

Re: Need Opinions of Various Vendors

what year did FH grad from St. A's I am a grad too!

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thanks vicki! that is my gut too!

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For what its worth heres my impression of Patken when I was shopping around... The photos (and you can see this in some of the proofs posted) had a sexier quality then anywhere else I saw. Lots of photos on display with bride and/or groom lying down, kissing on the neck, etc. I'm sure if you aren't comfortable with those poses, they wouldn't force it, but in my opinion those were what set them apart and their relative strength. If that isn't the look you want, I'd encourage you to look elsewhere.