5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Let me start of by explaining that I have VERY high standards. I’m the first to say that I get easily PO’d, but I just won’t “settle” for anything less than stellar from any vendors. So, the following is my “grade” for my vendors for both the planning and their day-of performances – at times I may sound critical, but I am only stating the truth as I see it. I did learn that people / vendors are only human, and that mistakes are bound to happen, but while I recognize this, it is still hard for me to look past repeated mistakes or carelessness and their grades reflect this.


Capitale

Planning – B

Our original contact at Capitale was fired halfway through the planning process, and we didn’t find out until we contacted Capitale, which I thought was extremely unprofessional. Also, we ended up having to pay an extra $5,000 or so because of discrepancies between what was in our contract and what was never verbally communicated to us (regarding lighting and electrical use). However, our new contact was extremely nice and professional – he was always quick to respond to my sometimes ridiculous questions and he remained patient with me. Even at the tasting when I almost had a meltdown over whether to use white or ivory tablecloths, he still stayed calm. The only complaint I have is that Capitale has an engineering company that is separate from them, and the guy that runs the operation *****. Capitale insists that anything lighting/electrical related MUST go through the company….which basically always meant that they wanted more money. Even the simplest task we were charged for. You’re basically screwed if you get married at Capitale, because you HAVE to use their engineers and you HAVE to pay for it.

Besides the engineering company problem, DH and I were thoroughly pleased with Capitale. They do events all the time, and they know what they’re doing.

Day-of A+

They did a fabulous job. They were like an assembly line – plus, the staff was friendly and helpful and efficient with our guests. I don’t know if they would have done such a great job without my DOC giving them a detailed timeline, but nevertheless we have no complaints.

Follow-up / Day after F

Well, well – here comes my least favorite part. DH and I went to Capitale a few days after the wedding to pick up all the things that were left there. DH was busy carrying everything out to a cab and I was walking out with our contact there (I won’t name any names, although I would like to). I was about to thank him for a fabulous job and how it was wonderful doing business with him, when he suddenly got very weird and asked me how much I had tipped the Maitre’D. I was honestly taken aback and responded with how much we tipped - $1,000. (when we first met with Capitale, I remember the guy that got fired telling me that $1,000 was customary, which I thought was a lot of money). Anyway, our contact rolled his eyes and made some sighs of disbelief when I told him how much I had tipped. I asked him if there was a problem and he hesitated and then said, “no, no don’t worry about it – he usually gets A LOT more, but whatever…”. What followed was a very uncomfortable moment and then he just walked away – and that was the last time I saw him. After months and months of great service and being so helpful and polite, this man blew it all in one moment. I could not BELIEVE the audacity to call me out on a gratuity!!!! I had done extensive research on the boards and had determined that $2-5 per head was the norm. At 200 guests, that would put us at $5/head! I don’t know….he made me feel soooo cheap and worthless, and ultimately it made me feel really disgusted at Capitale. I was bothered for several days afterwards….but now after I think about the 22% service charge that we paid, I am even more disgusted at Capitale’s attempt to get more money out of us. Ugh!

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Suky Rosan

B+

I got my dress in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, at a bridal shop called Suky Rosan. Suky Rosan is known internationally for it’s selection. I will say that my dress was beautiful, but Suky’s customer service *****. They are sooo unprofessional on the phone and they made a huge deal about me having to come in on the weekend to get alterations done, even though I live in NYC. Also, my MIL found a dress there that she liked and I called them to see if I could get a discount, and they were really rude about it and offered me a 5% discount – what is that? Why even bother? Anyway, I would recommend this place if you are looking for an amazing couture dress, but get ready to pay big bucks.

BCBG

A

I had two bridesmaids from out of town. I have always loved BCBG dresses, so the first place I went was the Madison Avenue store. I had no idea what we were going to choose, but the red dress stood out to me – it would definitely be something my girls would wear again. They were having a promotion at the time where the girls got $100 each off of the dresses, which was great. The sales people were rude as usual, but the dresses were great. I also had a “bridesman”, but he got his tux at the same place DH got his.

Tuxes – Zeller Tuxedo’s – 23rd and 3rd, Manhattan

A

We had no problems whatsoever – which is a miracle considering that most tuxedo places screw up somehow. I would recommend them – they were fast and courteous and the tuxes were very nice!

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Pastor April

Planning and Day-of A++++++

Pastor April is a vendor on the boards and she was one of our very best. This woman spent SO much time customizing our ceremony. She met with us several times. She never brought up money, and when I asked her about it, she responded with something like, “well, I usually say around $400, but whatever you can afford”. We ended up giving her a well-deserved tip. The only complaint I heard was that the portable microphone/speaker that she brings with her and that she used on our day does not really amplify sound – a few people said they could not hear her. But, we got many many compliments on the ceremony itself. I would definitely recommend Pastor April!!

Long Island Sound

Planning – A

We first saw LI Sound at a friend’s wedding about 3 years ago. I often loathe the predictable, cheesy music at weddings, and I NEED to have good music to have a good time. We had such a blast at this particular friend’s wedding in large part because of LI Sound and their accompanying percussionist, Howie. We immediately knew that we wanted both LI Sound and Howie at our wedding….whenever that would be. We never forgot them, so once we were engaged one of the first vendors we booked was LI Sound.

LI Sound and our main contact, Chris, were completely reliable and professional throughout the planning process. DH and I changed our minds several times about many things during the planning, and LI Sound was always patient with the changes. We changed our minds several times about using their saxophone player, but we ended up going with him and we’re glad we did.

Day of – A

My DOC actually caught something 3 days before the wedding – on our contract with LI Sound, they had our wedding as 8-12 (the original time), but we had actually changed it to 7-11 and we never told them! LI Sound told us that the percussionist and the saxophone player had earlier gigs on the day of the wedding, and might be a little late for the reception. I was VERY nervous about this, but was just glad we at least had the DJ and MC. Thankfully, all the musicians did get there on time.

LI Sound rocked the house – seriously. We got sooo many compliments. My DOC even told me that she has never seen so many people dance at a wedding. They created the perfect balance of old-people and young-people’s music. It was perfect. I was really pleased. People also loved the digital snapshots during the wedding, and LI Sound sent us the CD of these snapshots, which we received in the mail unexpectantly when we returned from our honeymoon – it was a nice surprise, and it was great that we didn’t have to ask for these photos. The ONLY thing that was a little less than amazing was the baby pictures slideshow. The slideshow started before the music and wasn’t choreographed with the music that well – I don’t think anyone else really noticed, but I was hoping for a better presentation. Besides that, everything was great and I would highly recommend them.

• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Duet

Planning – B+

I will say that Duet can be hard to understand when you first meet with them. Eric, the owner, speaks very broken English. Thankfully I had read all of the wonderful reviews about their work, so I was willing to look past this, and depend solely on their reputation and the work they do. Sue, the administrative woman in the office, is very good on email and is easy to get in touch with. She always responded to my inquiries. The only problem I had with her was when I asked for a total amount due a few weeks before the wedding. I got a certified check written out to Duet in the amount she gave me, and then my DOC ended up giving me a call and saying that they spoke to Duet and Duet expected a different amount. So, we ended up just adding a personal check into the payment envelope for the difference. It was a bit of an annoyance, but not a huge deal.

Day-of – A+++

All the things you’ve read about Duet are true. They arrived at the Hotel Giraffe early, and Jay even brought an extra person with him because I had expressed my concerns to him about how dark Capitale is. So, he brought an extra person to help get the lighting right for the pictures. I was so impressed by this! They were literally all over the place for our pictures around Manhattan – they were literally climbing walls to get good shots. At one point during our wedding reception, I remember turning around while dancing with DH, and there was Jay, on a chair, taking pics of us dancing from above. They truly do care about capturing all the important moments. They never took a break!! At one point I asked Jay if they had eaten, and he said not to worry about it. They were like the energizer bunnies!


Proofs – C

Even am I surprised to report Duet’s “average” grade for our proofs. I am disappointed. While every moment was captured, I really feel a lack of an artistic flair in the 800+ proofs we received. There is honestly not one picture that I LOVE. Maybe I am being too critical, but they are just “ok”. Some non-pro pics I got back from family and friends are better. Maybe the pics will look better once I put my album together, but the proofs alone leave me kind of cold.

• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Mia from *************

Planning – A

I had soooo many hair and makeup trials before Mia. I can’t even count. It was a constant problem for me to find someone who could recreate this “look” I had in my head. Everytime I think I nailed it, I would come home and DH would HATE it. I went to some of the most recommended vendors on this site, as well as visiting makeup counters. Nobody wow’d me. I started to notice Mia’s work from girls that had trials with her and posted their pics on the boards. I immediately thought that she has a flair for being able to choose the right colors for a variety of skin shades – I loved every “look” from all of her trials that I saw. After already booking hair and makeup people, I decided to book a trial with Mia, in a final attempt to find someone that I really loved. I booked a hair trial with her too – again, hoping that luck would be on my side.

Mia came to my apartment, which I think is such a plus. I live in Manhattan and it definitely was not convenient for her to come to me, but she made it happen. Also, she got stuck in a bad traffic jam and called me several time to update me on where she was – I really appreciated this, as when people are late with no call it really irks me. When she arrived at my apartment, she spent over 3 hours with me and when I looked in the mirror I really LOVED what I saw. Of course DH still thought it was too much, so I knew that I wouldn’t be able to wear the fake lashes, and would have to cut down a little on the day-of, so he was happy as well. The hair was wonderful as well – I really loved it. I booked her on the spot and lied to the other people I had booked – telling them my wedding had been canceled. I just didn’t know what else to say. I lost out on $100 or so, but it was worth it!

Day-of A++++++++++++++++++++

Mia was on-time and in a great mood. She arrived at the Hotel Giraffe at 8am on my wedding day. She got to work right away. We ordered her lunch when we all ordered, but as far as I know she never ate. She just kept on working. She did the hair of my bridesmaids, and as far as I know they were happy. I thought they looked great – they all showed her pictures of what they wanted, and she recreated each style exactly. That is one of the great things about Mia – she is really good at recreating whatever look you are going for. It’s important to be very specific and direct with her – she takes criticism very well, so don’t be afraid to speak up if there is something you want her to change!

• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

The Little Tramps

Planning – A

Our DOC actually recommended cocktail hour musicians to us. We wanted something a little edgy, so she told us to check out this great jazz trio called The Little Tramps. They play at a jazz club on Thursday nights in Manhattan, so DH and I checked them out one night. They were great – exactly what we wanted. I never even met them in person – we did all of our correspondence over email and telephone.

Day-of – A

I have to be honest when I say that I barely even noticed them at cocktail hour. I did notice that one of the guys was different than the original “cast” who had played at the jazz club. But, their music was not intrusive, and that’s all we wanted. I will say that at $1,000 for one hour, I thought their price was a little steep.

LA Productions

Planning – A+

I used LA Productions to create my votive placecard holders. Considering I cannot even wrap a present, I knew that I would have to hire someone to do these for me. I had always read the rave reviews about LA Productions and I heard they do the votives, so I didn’t hesitate to use them. Laura is great over email – I think I spoke with her once over the phone. Nothing was difficult with this woman. I simply sent her my seating list and that was it.

Day of – A+

I had Laura send the votives directly to my florist, who handled lighting them for the reception. I therefore never even saw the votives until the wedding! They looked great – no problems. I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t receive any comments on these, since I did spend a lot of money on them. Nobody said anything to me – oh, well. However, I would highly recommend Laura and LA Productions.

Pretty Sweet Bakery
www.prettysweetbakery.com
Planning – A

We did a donation to the NY Cares charity instead of favors. I knew I wanted to announce the donation in a cute way, and I finally settled on cookies shaped like an apple, in celebration of our NYC “big apple” wedding. I made phone calls and inquiries all over the place trying to find a place that would make the cookies for a good price. I talked to Elenis Bakery in Manhattan who wanted $6 per cookie!!!! WHAT! I’m sorry, but they can kiss it. I finally did a search on theknot.com and found a rave review for a small company called “Pretty Sweet Bakery”. I emailed the owner and she said she would do the cookies for $2 each, AND she would wrap them each in cellophane and include a personalized favor tag with whatever information I wanted on it. SOLD!

Over the months leading to the wedding, the bakery sent me cookie samples and spent A LOT of time on the favor tags. They emailed me proofs several times, and then sent me the final product with the favor tags. It was a long process, but we finally got it right. I was very pleased.

Day-of A+

The cookies arrived on time and were packaged protectively. They looked great and even my Mom commented on how yummy they were. I was very pleased and would definitely use them again!

• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, ***, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Hotel Giraffe

Planning – A

DH and I knew that we wanted a nice hotel to stay in for the night of the wedding, and we also had a lot of out of town guests so we wanted to have a nice, solid suggestion for a place to stay. Hotels in NYC can be outrageous in price, but DH suggested the Hotel Giraffe from the very beginning. Booking a hotel block here was one of the first things we did in the planning. It is centrally located and very nice. Our rooms here started at something like $250 / night without tax. This was our “high-end” option and I thought the price, all things considered, was decent.

Weekend of wedding – A++

I had read a very bad review on weddingchannel.com about a bride in the city that had stayed at the Hotel. She was not happy with the service, and the review made me nervous enough that I actually forwarded it to our representative there and pretty much said, “I don’t want this to happen to me.” I will never know if they are just a great hotel or if they took that email very seriously, but whatever the case – they did a fantastic job hosting DH and I and all of our guests. My parents have some seriously snobby friends and they were all raving about the hotel – they STILL are. The hotel has complimentary breakfast every morning and after 4:00 they have complimentary wine. It was a perfect place for guests to hang out when they wanted a quiet place to mingle. The hotel was also very nice about sending champagne to our rooms, and sending a nice congratulatory note to my parents. The service was just perfect – I am really happy that my guests were so happy with our choice.

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Wellington Hotel

Planning – A

Everything was uneventful – no problems

Day-of – A

The Wellington Hotel is an old hotel, but it is clean and it gave us a good price for our guests. It is not luxurious in any way, but it was a good option for the guests of ours who did not want to pay a lot. I heard no complaints.

Silver Star Limos

Planning – A

DH and I had a hard time finding a luxury limousine that could hold up to 14 passengers. We didn’t want a big SUV limo, so I had to do some searching before I found our Porsche Cayenne limo. Silver Star Limos was very easy to deal with – I had no problems with them, but was a bit nervous because there were virtually no reviews on the boards about the company – it seems that not a lot of people use them. So, we took our chances.

Day of – B-

I was happy that the limo was on time and that it was the correct vehicle, however the driver was crazy. He drove like a maniac and hit the brakes every few seconds….it was not a nice ride. He also asked me where Capitale was??!!! I mean…come on – he had one address to know, and it was Capitale. That was a bit annoying, but he had no problems finding the place. Again, the only reason this company got a B- is because the driver sucked, and the driver is a huge part of the “experience” with a limo company.

Prestige Parking

Planning – N/A

We wanted to offer our guests a valet service, but the company that Capitale uses and recommends charges a $2,000 base rate. For the 10 cars we expected to drive to the wedding, we were not going to put out that kind of change.

So, in my usual fashion, I checked on the LIWeddings message boards. The only vendor I found under valet parking was Prestige. I called them, and they quoted me a MUCH lower rate. We decided to chance it and we booked them.

DH handled the rest of the details with Prestige, so it would be unfair of me to give them a grade. However, he never told me that he had no problems.

Day-of A

Besides the fact that I actually saw one of the valet parkers asking DH where the garage was to park the cars (this was literally the only detail they had to know for the whole day, and the address of the garage was clearly outlined on the contract), we spoke to the few guests that did use the valet service, and there were no problems.

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Katie Udy

A

I found Katie from her bio on theknot.com. She did our programs and menus and she is amazingingly talented!!! She really is creative. Sooo happy we used her – her prices are amazing!! Would definitely recommend her! FM me for her contact info.

• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Kleon Howe / The Art of Travel

Planning – D

Don’t even get me started on this guy. He was named Conde Nast Traveler’s “Best Travel Agent for 2004-2005 for French Polynesia”. I expected sooo much more. Kleon is very knowledgeable about the islands, but his administrative skills are seriously lacking. The subject of EVERY email is “URGENT: HONEYMOON PLANNING!!” – that got really annoying, especially when nothing was urgent. We constantly had to initiate contact (unless a payment was due, in which case he contacted us immediately). We constantly had to ask for things. He sent me itineraries with the wrong dates TWICE. Our honeymoon was soooooooooooooo expensive – both DH and I expected the royal treatment and we didn’t get it. DH and I were always two steps ahead of Kleon, and we didn’t like it.

Honeymoon – C

Things weren’t entirely clear to us (like where to go and how to get there) during our honeymoon. DH had to call Kleon from Bora Bora to ask about certain details – unacceptable. We had no big problems during the honeymoon, but there was just an overall blah-ness and lack of attention to details during some parts of the trip. I would NOT recommend Kleon or the Art of Travel.

Belle Fleur

Planning – A

It’s funny because I always said that I wasn’t going to get too wrapped up in the flowers for my wedding. I got married at Capitale, which is gorgeous in itself, so I doubted that I really need much decoration. I did want a good florist though, and I wanted someone that had worked at Capitale before. We met with two florists before we booked Belle Fleur. The minute I met Marilyn Waga (the owner of Belle Fleur), I knew that I had found “the one”. Belle Fleur is one of the premiere florists in NYC – they do all the flowers for the fashion shows and do many celebrity events. They are very well-known and very well thought-of. I can understand why; Belle Fleur was always extremely professional and detail-oriented. I don’t have ANY complaints. After our first meeting with them they messengered over a proposal with the most adorable flower arrangement – I thought this was very classy and it definitely sealed the deal on our decision to use them for the wedding.

There is not much more to say about the planning process with Belle Fleur. Everything was really seamless – no problems at all. I was especially impressed when we met with Marilyn and explained that the proposal was too much money. She sat down with us for over an hour and went through the proposal and discounted certain items for us, and explained all the ways in which we could bring down the cost. She was always very patient with all my requests – and she was willing to meet with me months before we needed to…just to put my mind at ease.

Day-of – A-

They get the minus for a few reasons. When we pulled up to Capitale, they were in the middle of laying out the red carpet….this should have been done before I arrived. On my wedding day I don’t really want to see any preparations – I just want everything to be “done” when I see it.

I had explained the exact bouquet that I wanted (I had even sent a picture) and had emphasized that I wanted a very large bouquet. What I got was pretty, but not large and not as luscious as the bouquet I had envisioned. Also, the bridesmaid’s bouquets were kind of blah. For the price we paid (you don’t even want to know….seriously), I guess I was expecting diamonds to be dripping off the petals. I just wasn’t that impressed.

However, the candelabra trees wrapped in white orchids for my ceremony were breathtaking – literally. Soooooo gorgeous. Just magical. The flowers for the reception were also outstanding – we got so many compliments. The tall white calla lillys were definitely worth the money.

I would definitely recommend Belle Fleur, but only if you have a crapload of money to spend…even though they helped us to cut down the costs, it seemed like we kept adding things at the end, so it ended up being crazy expensive. It still makes me sick to think about how much we spent.

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Phew! That's it - will try to add more pics later...enjoy!!!!!

• 
• 

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

awesome detailed review.

And if the photos posted are some of your proofs, they are absolutely amazing.

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

amazing review--i appreciated your honesty!!!! your wedding was gorgeous---you were a beautiful bride!!! congrats!!!

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Amazing review - really well thought out and honest.

Beautiful pics too!!

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

You were a beautiful bride, and as the previous posters wrote, if those are some of your proofs, they are gorgeous.
I dont think they look blah or standard, they are gorgeous!
Those kids in the pic are absolutely adorable!
Congrats!!!!!

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Great review.
You looked GORGEOUS

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Your Proofs are amazing!!! I had seen one of your pics before and absolutely loved it (the one where you are sitting with your DH on a bench).

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

Congratulations! I like the fact that you picked every detail apart and graded before and after. I think your pictures are beautiful and the wedding looked amazing. I can't believe your contact from Capitale made that horrible comment, because I think you were overly generous-you could have given him nothing. Good luck with married life.

Re: 5/6/06 NYC Wedding Review - Capitale, Pastor April, LI Sound, Duet, Mia, LA Productions, Silver Star Limos, Belle Fleur...

STUNNING