Here is my review from my July 22, 2005 wedding at Windows on the Lake, Beach CLub Estate...
Sales Manager- C- Rude, not helpful and a big headache most of the time. Not reliable on calling you back and certainly did not make our planning any easier. There was no cigar room as promised and only 1 bartender on staff for 200 guests! What a nightmare. I would give the hall itself a miss if you are planning a wedding.....but the setting is gorgeous! Lakeside at sunset, so beautiful!
Staff- maitre d and bridal attendant- A++ Excellent, wonderful, made the day fantastic
Flowers- James Cress A++++++ So beautiful, so elegant. And Mr. Cress is a delight to work with.
Photography- ADA Studio B+ Not enough photos, not enough candid shots, not enough reception shots. The proofs were beautiful and Tony was great though.
Food- Beach Club Catering Hall---A+++ Excellent! Everyone complimented us on the food!
Videograohy- Gemini Video, don't know yet. The staff is friendly enough, although not easy to get in touch with.
DJ- IV Generation- A++ Again, wonderful, got everyone up dancing!
Bridesmaid Dresses- Jasmine B2 collection A+++ Lovely, pink summer color, look lush in the photos. You want bright for summer, it looks so gorgeous.
Hair- Heads First Hair Salon (Michelle) A+++++++++ Super, super super. Michelle is the best. My hair stayed in curls the next day!
Tuxedos- Black Tie, SMithtown, B+ At first, great to deal with, really nice staff. But when it came time to pick up the tuxedos they were all disorganized. Couldn't find the grooms tux, wrong ties for the ushers, wrong sizes and the shop was closed one afternoon when we had a scheduled appointment. Very inconvienent and never apologized for missing our appt.
String Ensemble- The Capriccio Ensemble- A+++++++++++ Natalie Kriegler is so wonderful. The music was beautiful. Highly recommended. One of the highlights of the wedding.
Hotel- Hyatt Windwatch- A++++ Friendly and helpful staff. Very accommodating to our guests. Dog friendly!
Overrall the day was perfect, a dream come true. The weather was sunny, blue skies. A bit on the hot/humid side, but I will take that over rain! I wish we could relive the day everyday! Please feel free to contact me with specific questions regarding our vendors.
We didn't upgrade the package with ADA. They were fab, and we get to keep the proofs. But the proofs aren't actual pics, they are in a notebook as part of the page, so you cannot copy them. We are going to see if we can get a disc of the pics, it is all digital....very nice! It is SUPER expensive to upgrade. I would recommend a friend/family memeber to just follow the photographer around to take the same pics he takes. We did that and our pics came back great on our digital camera and for like a 90% discount you can get those pics developed, printed, blown up, made into extra albums, etc! That is what I recommend, unless you have loads of $$$ to splash out on photography.
We didn't use a lighting guy with the photography, costs an extra $500 for no reason. The one photographer can do it himself....don't let them fool you. But what I might recommend is photo-journalism. That is worth the extra $. It is a photographer to go around and take candid shots of you and your guests. It captures a different prospective of the wedding. I think it was about $900, but you get the proofs, an album, the works. If you are going to upgrade that is the only one I recommend. Don't push for more albums or anything if you can simply have a family member/friend take pics that are just as beautiful. I have attached some photos that our uncle took with our digital camera that were taken while the photographer was shooting his professionally, they are just the same...if you check out the website link I provided in one of my replies it has all the pics he took digitally that are professional quality...
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have anything else....and BEWARE of Bill at the BCE. He doesn't follow through with his promises, never returns calls and was a real nightmare to work with!!!
