Vendor Review!!
Hi all,
I wanted to post my vendor reviews from my SIL's surprise b'day party this past Saturday night. I figured it might help some of you brides-to-be out. Let me just preface the reviews by saying the party was wonderful. My SIL was totally surprised and overwhelmed with how everything turned out. I really have no complaints. Okay - Now for the reviews . . . .
Reception Hall: The Thatched Cottage - The staff at the TC was very pleasant to deal with. It is very difficult when planning a surprise party that there's always more than one contact person helping to arrange the party. It got confusing at times but the staff at the TC was always very patient and helpful. When we arrived at the TC everything was set up as planned. The room looked great and cocktail hour was HUGE! I don't think that even close to half of the food was consumed. It was definitely great. They great you with frozen drinks too which I thought was neat. The cocktail hour was outside since it was a nice day - Really nice environment on the water and all. Very enjoyable. Our maitre d, Bob, did a great job at setting up the 'surprise' for my SIL. She almost keeled over when she walked it. Everyone was very impressed with the food and service. Dinner was great. I really liked how they served the food - Rolled it all out onto the middle of the dancefloor and everyone was served individually and also offered seconds. Our waitress was wonderful - very attentive. The cake and pastries they offered for dessert were impressive as well. The waiters and waitresses also came around with cappaccinos and irish coffees at dessert time - Nice touch. The only downfall of the place - and this is just my opinion - was that there is no bar. The waiters and waitresses serve you all drinks. I guess maybe I am just used to being able to go up to the bar for myself.
Overall, we were pleased with our choice - I'd definitely recommend them.
DJ: Doctor Dance Entertainment - We were in a bind when looking for a DJ due to some extenuating circumstances. I was very happy to come across Dr. Dance. The owner was very pleasant to deal with unlike some other companies I had experiences with. They were also very affordable. The DJ played all the songs that my BIL had requested and did a good job - no cheesy give-aways or anything. I would recommend them.
Floral Centerpieces: Tributes - This was another last-minute booking and I could not have been happier. I called Lisa at Tributes about a week prior to the party in need of some centerpieces for the tables. All I did was tell her we wanted low centerpieces in glass bowls and that my SIL's favorite color was purple - The rest was up to her. She did an amazing job! I took a centerpiece home and it looks as great as it did the night of the party. I would recommend her 100%.
Party Invitations: www.weddinginvitations411.com - We ordered invitations from this website - They were very inexpensive - about $250 for 100 invites. The quality was decent - not great - but, really, you get what you pay for - Definitely good enough for a birthday party. There were no errors and I got them within about a week and a half.
Favors: Lindt Chocolates - I ordered these favors about 6 weeks prior to the party and went to pick them up the night before they needed to be dropped of at the Thatched Cottage. I arrived at the store and the favors were tied with gold ribbon. I had paid $0.30 extra per box to have them tied with ribbon and adorned with a ceramic flower. The flowers were not on the boxes. The girl working there was new and had to call the store manager and the person who took my order. They offered to put them on that night and I could pick them up the next day but they would charge me extra. They insisted that the ceramic flowers were not included in the price I paid. Of course I refused. I would not have paid an extra $30+ for just cheesy gold ribbon on the favors but oh well. They really weren't very accomidating.
All in all, everything went very well. If anyone has any questions, feel free to FM me -![]()
I wanted to post my vendor reviews from my SIL's surprise b'day party this past Saturday night. I figured it might help some of you brides-to-be out. Let me just preface the reviews by saying the party was wonderful. My SIL was totally surprised and overwhelmed with how everything turned out. I really have no complaints. Okay - Now for the reviews . . . .
Reception Hall: The Thatched Cottage - The staff at the TC was very pleasant to deal with. It is very difficult when planning a surprise party that there's always more than one contact person helping to arrange the party. It got confusing at times but the staff at the TC was always very patient and helpful. When we arrived at the TC everything was set up as planned. The room looked great and cocktail hour was HUGE! I don't think that even close to half of the food was consumed. It was definitely great. They great you with frozen drinks too which I thought was neat. The cocktail hour was outside since it was a nice day - Really nice environment on the water and all. Very enjoyable. Our maitre d, Bob, did a great job at setting up the 'surprise' for my SIL. She almost keeled over when she walked it. Everyone was very impressed with the food and service. Dinner was great. I really liked how they served the food - Rolled it all out onto the middle of the dancefloor and everyone was served individually and also offered seconds. Our waitress was wonderful - very attentive. The cake and pastries they offered for dessert were impressive as well. The waiters and waitresses also came around with cappaccinos and irish coffees at dessert time - Nice touch. The only downfall of the place - and this is just my opinion - was that there is no bar. The waiters and waitresses serve you all drinks. I guess maybe I am just used to being able to go up to the bar for myself.
Overall, we were pleased with our choice - I'd definitely recommend them.
DJ: Doctor Dance Entertainment - We were in a bind when looking for a DJ due to some extenuating circumstances. I was very happy to come across Dr. Dance. The owner was very pleasant to deal with unlike some other companies I had experiences with. They were also very affordable. The DJ played all the songs that my BIL had requested and did a good job - no cheesy give-aways or anything. I would recommend them.
Floral Centerpieces: Tributes - This was another last-minute booking and I could not have been happier. I called Lisa at Tributes about a week prior to the party in need of some centerpieces for the tables. All I did was tell her we wanted low centerpieces in glass bowls and that my SIL's favorite color was purple - The rest was up to her. She did an amazing job! I took a centerpiece home and it looks as great as it did the night of the party. I would recommend her 100%.
Party Invitations: www.weddinginvitations411.com - We ordered invitations from this website - They were very inexpensive - about $250 for 100 invites. The quality was decent - not great - but, really, you get what you pay for - Definitely good enough for a birthday party. There were no errors and I got them within about a week and a half.
Favors: Lindt Chocolates - I ordered these favors about 6 weeks prior to the party and went to pick them up the night before they needed to be dropped of at the Thatched Cottage. I arrived at the store and the favors were tied with gold ribbon. I had paid $0.30 extra per box to have them tied with ribbon and adorned with a ceramic flower. The flowers were not on the boxes. The girl working there was new and had to call the store manager and the person who took my order. They offered to put them on that night and I could pick them up the next day but they would charge me extra. They insisted that the ceramic flowers were not included in the price I paid. Of course I refused. I would not have paid an extra $30+ for just cheesy gold ribbon on the favors but oh well. They really weren't very accomidating.
All in all, everything went very well. If anyone has any questions, feel free to FM me -
