EGreene79
226 Invited - 157 Yes, 69 No
Member since 4/06 1084 total posts
Wedding Date:
9/29/2007 3:00 PM
Wed. Location:
Hamlet Willow Creek
|
*Updated on 1/6/08 With Pro Pics* September 29, 2007 Wedding Review - Hamlet Willow Creek, Khouloud's, Leli Photography, Sound Choice Music, Dynasty Limos, and more ...
I tend to ramble, so I apologize about the length of this. I hope I didn’t forget anything! Feel free to FM me with any questions.
Let me start by saying our wedding day was one of the best days of our lives. As expected, not everything was perfect, but it didn't matter because we were marrying each other - and to be honest, we didn't expect everything to be 100% perfect. I think those imperfections are what make you laugh in 10 years from now, or the day of if you're lucky. Our whole intention was to get married and then throw the biggest and best party of our lives, and that's exactly what we did. We took time out several times over the night to take everything in, we ate EVERY part of our meal. I may be one of the few brides who was actually full on their wedding day (I also devoured breakfast and lunch!). I didn't let the little things get to me, I just danced and partied all night ... and there may have been some Bride vs. Groom flipcup at our afterparty ... Hey, it's about having fun!
Engagement Ring & Wedding Bands – John at By The Carat; New York, NY and Old Bridge, NJ – 9 out of 10
My DH is always looking to get the most for his money, so it was import to him to find a wholesaler. John is very charismatic and from what I can tell he’s very honest. He won’t try to sell you something beyond your budget, and will let you know if something is unnecessary. His prices are significantly less than the diamond district and other retail shops. It only took a week to make the wedding bands. He even cleaned my rings several times for free, and dipped my engagement band for free (I wore it climbing Mt. Washington, so needless to say it got a little scratched up!)
Pre-Cana – St. Peter & Paul’s Church in Hoboken, NJ – 9 out of 10
DH and I were both dreading pre-cana as we weren’t sure what to expect, and weren’t sure of the reaction we would receive since we lived together. It was actually pretty great and only one day long (about 8 hours on a Saturday). They had three couples speak – newlyweds, a couple married for 5 years and a couple married for 20 years. They all talked about real life issues – money, kids, even issues planning the wedding. It was very helpful and funny at times. Then they had a couple come in to discuss natural family planning, and the priest spoke about the religious aspects of marriage. Overall, it was a better experience than expected.
The only frustration we had was that the priest here and the deacon at St. Joseph’s kept deferring us for the FOCUS test. St. Joe’s said we should take this with our current parish, and St. P&P said we should take it with the priest marrying us. It sort of made us feel like neither wanted to put the time into us. Eventually we ended up moving out of Hoboken and were forced to take it at St. Joe’s.
Save The Dates, Direction Cards, Church Programs, Seating Cards, Menus, Hotel Booklet – design and printing – friend, me and DH; supplies - Paper Presentation, Staples – 10 out of 10
My friend is a graphic designer, and has always done wonderful work for my other friends’ weddings. I sent her a sample of what I was thinking based off another STD that I found on the internet. She took the flower and painted a calla lily in my BMs’ bouquet color. I went with her to Paper Presentations on 18th Street in Manhattan, and picked out the paper and envelopes. She also custom designed the envelopes so that the same calla picture printed on the outside, and my return address printed on the flap of the envelope. People loved them, and several of my friends hired her because of them. I just bought cover stock paper from Staples for the direction cards. It was inexpensive and simple … other than DH spending hours cutting them! The process was basically the same for all other stationary. She did a lot of designing and a lot cutting! She’s wonderful! By the time we got to the church programs and hotel booklets I just gave her the information and she did the layout. My banquet manager told me that she should definitely go into business doing this after seeing the menus. For the seating cards I just bough minilopes, printed out the names on clear labels, and had my friend make mini cards stating “you are seated at table X.”
She’s looking into starting a side business designing wedding stationary, so if you’re interested please FM me.
Invitations – The Papery of Westwood, Crane Invitations – Crane’s 9 out of 10, Papery 8 out of 10
I really wanted to avoid spending a lot of money on invites, but when I started comparing the internet samples to invitations I had received I decided to start shopping around a bit more. Against everything I always said, I ended up ordering Crane invitations, but for me they were well worth it. Plus we had cut corners in several other areas, and decided we could splurge on this. They were exactly what I had imagined. I ordered them from The Papery in Westwood, NJ. They have several other stores in other cities, and the main one I believe is in Greenwich, CT. The sales representatives were nice, and overall they were very helpful. I went through probably 10 proofs before I was happy, and they were very friendly and understanding through the whole process. I feel like I did a lot more legwork that I was expecting, but this was one area where I did have specific instructions because I wanted to make sure that both families were included on the invitation.
Calligraphy – Irene Voce (Suffern, NY) – 9 out of 10
My friend used Irene for her wedding invites, her work was gorgeous, and her prices were reasonable, so DH and I decided to use her. When we arrived at her house DH was so impressed with her work he kept complimenting her and Irene kept joking “you must pay him to say this stuff!” I still can’t believe she does these by hand, I’ve never seen such amazing work. I can’t even tell you how many compliments we’ve received!!! On top of that, she’s the sweetest woman!
One tip, if you get hand calligraphy, make sure you don’t pack the envelopes too tight. Mine started to smudge a little because I put too many in a box together. It wasn’t that noticeable, but I noticed.
Bridal Shower – The Fat Fish – Bay Shore, NY – 9 out of 10
Ok, I was completely blown away by this place. I had been here on weekend nights just to drink, but I had never gone to the restaurant. The location is a little strange, some of the guests had a difficult time finding the restaurant, but once we were there I was very impressed. It’s right on the water, and the food was FANTASTIC! Honestly, it was the best salmon I have ever had! The service was fantastic - everyone was super friendly.
It was pretty hot on the day of my shower. It might have been nice if they had brought some fans out since they didn’t want to close the plastic awning to turn the air conditioning on. I was fine, but some of the older ladies were suffering.
Rehearsal Dinner – La Bella Palermo - Babylon, NY 9 out of 10
My friend had her RD here, and we just loved the room, setup and food, and it’s just around the corner from our church. We looked at several other places but either the room had an awkward setup or it just wasn’t our taste. I was surprised that most places in Babylon don’t accommodate large groups on Friday (although maybe I shouldn’t have been!), so our choices were pretty limited to begin with, but we were REALLY impressed with Bella Palermo. The food was SO delicious and the staff was so friendly. My mom’s friend who almost always returns her food kept complimenting their buffet. I was really impressed, and people are still saying how great the cake was, even though I’m pretty sure it was just pound cake with vanilla icing!
Bridesmaid Gifts – jewelry - family friend, hair (see below) 10 out of 10
I decided to pay for the girls’ hair as their gifts, but wanted to give them a little something else. A friend of my family started designing jewelry, and my mother had her make me a pearl necklace for my Christmas gift that was beautiful. I did some searching on the internet, and decided I wanted her to make red crystal necklaces for the BMs, and a pearl and crystal necklace for the MOH and the flower girls. If you’re interested, please FM me. They came out GORGEOUS. The red necklaces were three shades of Swarovski crystals and just beautiful, and the pearl and crystal necklaces were amazing. She really does great work.
Groomsmen Gifts – Cufflinks and Cap Catchers – 9 out of 10
DH purchased Cap Catches from http://www.capcatchers.com. They were nice. The only thing DH was upset about was that he thought they were going to be engraved, but instead they had a sticker with the GMs’ initials. They were still very nice and they guys appreciated them.
DH also purchased cufflinks from a vendor on Wall Street. They were relatively inexpensive but the nice thing about them was that he purchase personalized ones – for example, my brother likes to fish so he got cufflinks with a picture of a man fishing. My other brother likes golf, so his were little golf bags. They were all silver except for the picture one. The guys also got personalized beer coozies. Needless to say, they were all very happy with their gifts.
Wedding Gown & Veil – Gown - James Clifford J1641, Veil - ,Shop – Reba’s Brides in North Bergen, NJ – Dress 9 out of 10, Service 8 out of 10, Alterations 8 out of 10
I went to a popular Long Island shop, and just tried on several different styles and came across this James Clifford dress. I absolutely loved the way it looked on, but the girl helping me had such an attitude and no patience. I live in NJ, so I contacted Reba’s Brides, which is about 15 minutes away from where I lived at the time since they carry JC dresses. The owner Diane was so sweet and helpful, the dress was several hundred dollars less than the LI store, NJ doesn’t charge tax on clothing, and Reba’s doesn’t charge for alterations – just a bustling fee of $100-$150.
My first fitting was great. The seamstress wasn’t a chipper, friendly person, but I’ve had that same experience with almost every seamstress I’ve dealt with. Basically if I questioned her she got annoyed. The second fitting wasn’t as great. My mom noticed the bustle (3 points) was a little uneven and the dress was a little too long on the sides. The original seamstress had already left, and the woman who was still there was arguing with my mom. Eventually the owner came over and said my mom was right and they would fix it. The owner and saleswomen at this shop are extremely friendly, but the only thing that really bothered me was that any time I questioned something I got “don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” but when I went to pick up the dress, the one area that was my concern wasn’t fine and I ended up having to wait for them to fix it when it really should have been done the first two times I questioned it. However, they did fix it and were very nice about it. I understand everyone wants the bride to not worry, but I just want people to listen to me. Overall, I had a great experience here and would recommend them, but what I tell all of my friends with any bridal salon – hold your ground and make sure you get exactly what you want.
The veil – originally I was going to borrow one. At my first fitting the assistant put a veil on me that had scalloping on the bottom (like my dress) and had a thin lining of clear crystals. I LOVED it … it completed the ensemble, so I ended up buying it. I’m such a sucker, but it was so worth it.
You can get a good view of my dress in some other pictures, but here's a good pic of the bustle.
Below is a Leli shot
Shoes – Nina Shoes Glasgow, http://www.ninashoes.com – 8 out of 10
I’m relatively short, and can’t accept that so I always wear high heels. The Glasgow shoes have a 4 ¼” heel BUT have a ¾” platform, so it feels like a 3 ½” heel. I ordered them on the internet without worry because they have a great return policy. When I ordered the shipping was free, and they paid for any return shipping. There’s no restocking fee, and you receive a full refund as long as the shoes haven’t been worn. No problems, no surprises. Everything was pretty much as I expected it to be. I did need to get pads for my heels because my foot kept sliding forward, but I spent A LOT of time breaking them in, and wore them the entire day and night!
Hair & Makeup – Kacey at Khouloud’s – 10 out of 10
Kacey is great. Such a wonderful personality, and she gives you exactly what you’re looking for. I told her I don’t wear a lot of makeup and want to keep it conservative and at the trial she did just that. I actually ended up asking her to put some more on! The hair was great – I wouldn’t have even thought of the style she gave me (I’m more of a “let them do what they think looks best” kind of person).
I even went for a second trial, partially because I had my engagement pictures that day and partially because I just had my makeup done for another wedding and wanted to see if Kacey could replicate it, and the makeup was even better! PLUS – since I was going for my engagement pictures she quickly curled my hair so it would look a little more formal in the pictures.
The day of the wedding my hair and makeup was just gorgeous. I also paid for my girls to get their hair done, and I heard them tell her she was the best stylist they’ve ever had. One girls said she liked how Kacey did her hair better than her hair was done for her own wedding! I was so happy to have her there the morning of my wedding. She also helped out when my flowers were late, she’s really wonderful.
Tiara – borrowed from a friend – 10 out of 10
I decided instead of spending a lot of money on a tiara, I would just borrow one – and I could count that as my something borrowed. The tiara matched my dress perfectly! It was gorgeous and she was so generous to lend it to me.
Bridesmaid Dresses – Ann Taylor Celebrations Diana Long Strapless Gown in Black with Garnet Red Sashes – 10 out of 10
It was important to me that the girls feel comfortable in their dresses, and could potentially wear them again. Initially I was going to let them pick their own dresses, but it became difficult and they wanted me to just pick something for them. I had 6 bridesmaids who were spread out over Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, so buying the dresses at Ann Taylor made this process so much easier. The dresses don’t need to be ordered from the same shop since there’s no issue with the dye batch, they could return or exchange the dresses at any time, and most of the girls already fit comfortably into the sizes at Ann Taylor so they didn’t need a lot of alterations. What was even better was that any coupons could be applied to the dresses as well as the percentage off for signing up for the AT credit card, so the girls paid between $120 and $160 for their dresses (one girl got 20% off for signing up for the CC in addition to the 20% off coupon)! The dresses could even be ordered over the internet. DH really wanted a red theme, so I had the girls get red sashes, and we were able to make a fall theme from that (reds, oranges and yellows).
Tuxedos – Men’s Wearhouse in Patchogue – Service - 8 out of 10, Organization – 5 out of 10, Tuxes – 8 out of 10
Two of my friends used Men’s Wearhouse and both had issues, but it was just easier for us to go there. I don’t like that you don’t get to try on the tuxes, but at the end of the day DH said “a tux is a tux, who cares?”
Our order was a little complicated because we had 4 different color vests – Groom in ivory, BM in champagne, GMs in red and fathers in black. I knew this would be an issue from the beginning, so I was proactive. When we placed the order we double checked everything, and they put all the GMs with champagne. I totally expected it, but come on, double check your work! When DH went to get measured I asked for a print out of everything, and they mixed up my dad and my brother.
Just a tip – I’ve seen issues with almost every tux shop. Just check, and double check and triple check your orders up until they actually process it (a week before I think???). From my experience, particularly with the bigger shops, they tend to be a little careless and don’t check the information they’re entering. The reason service got an 8 is because every time I called and corrected them they were quick to fix it, and very friendly about it. I really expected attitude. At the end of the day, everything came out just fine.
Photographer – Gary Leli – Day of (Carlos - 9/10), Proofs (8.5/10), Album - pending
Gary was so relaxing and personable, I thought he would be perfect for a 12 hour period, and his work looked great. Our engagement pictures came out beautiful. Gary was great to work with - very nice. I was very happy with them, and used them for my guest book.
The day of the wedding … Gary was supposed to be my photographer, but instead Carlos showed up at my parent’s the morning of my wedding. Carlos was great, but it was a little unnerving that the photographer I hired didn’t show up, and never called before and I haven’t heard from him still about why he wasn’t there. Carlos really seemed to know what he was doing and my hair stylist and banquet manager both commented on how great he was. There was also a second photographer – Barry, who was really great. Both were a lot of fun to work with and really put a lot of care and effort into the pictures. However, I’m not happy with how the situation was handled – if there was an emergency and he couldn’t call, maybe send an email or leave a message afterwards to apologize or at least explain what happened.
ETA - FH and I have spoken to Gary since the wedding, and he explained the situation and we worked everything out.
The only other issue I had with Gary, and I have read this before, is that he can be difficult to reach at times. I had 2-3 incidents where it took 2 weeks or longer and several attempts to reach him. I could see some girls getting very upset about this, including myself, because a HUGE pet peeve of mine is when people don’t get back to me. Even with that, we had our engagement pictures after this incident and everything was great. I really liked Gary as a person, but our correspondence styles don’t match up that well, and the wedding day incident still doesn’t sit well with me.
UPDATE - Most of the wedding proofs were beautiful. I feel like certain shots were missed, and some of the group photos (particularly the bridal party photos) look a little unorganized, but there were some really gorgeous ones. Just make sure you assert which pictures are most important to you, and realize with any photographer you're not going to get EVERY picture that you see on this site. I posted some of the better ones below.
Videographer – Gary Leli - 8 out of 10
DH and I were very anti-videographer. We don’t like anyone in our face, and don’t feel comfortable being videoed. However, at a friends wedding we found out that we were on tape, although we never realized the videographer was there! Plus, we kept hearing stories about how the night flies by, you don’t remember everything, and we have a lot of crazy friends and family so we wanted to make sure we could relive some moments over and over. Gary’s videographers use digital zoom, so they can stand off the dance floor and capture special moments. The day of, the videographer was great, but a little more apparent than I was hoping he would be, but we’re still really looking forward to getting our video, and he was such a great guy.
Limo – Dynasty – 10 out of 10
They were priced a little higher than some other places, but I really wanted a limo bus and they’re right around the corner from my parent’s house so I didn’t have to worry about them getting lost or having to replace a car in a hurry. They weren’t very flexible with the pricing, but they had exactly what we were looking for. The day of, they were on time, very professional and the Rolls Royce and limobus were very clean. I was very impressed with their service.
Church – St. Joseph’s Church in Babylon, Officiant – Deacon Barry Croce 9 out of 10
To be honest, initially I wasn’t thrilled about getting married here. St. Joe’s is very old fashioned, and my brother actually ended up not getting married here because of issues that arose since his wife is Lutheran – although that was 11 years ago! DH and I lived together before getting married, which I was worried would be another problem. In our first meeting with Deacon Barry Croce he gave us a brief lecture about how the church frowns on that, but he left it at that, and I respect that the church has that position. We were allowed to take pre-cana in our Parish in NJ. Deacon Barry was always a pleasure to deal with, and very easy to contact. We had an issue where our parish priest in NJ wouldn’t review our FOCCUS results with us, and the Deacon marrying us thought he should. We ended up moving out of Hoboken anyway, and took FOCUS at St. Joe’s. The day of, Deacon Barry was wonderful – the whole ceremony was so special, and to ease our nerves he threw a few jokes in. Many of our guests commented on how nice he was and how wonderful the ceremony was.
My only complaint here is that you are forced to pay for and use their music director - and it's not a small fee. The music director messed up the timing of my trio by directing them to play certain songs at the wrong time. At the end of the day it wasn't a big deal. I noticed, but didn't care that much.
Below is a Leli shot
Ceremony Musicians – MAS, Marie Stack 9 out of 10
I played cello for 10 years, and don’t love organ music, so it was important to me to have strings at the church. I had a violin, cello, flute trio. Marie was very pleasant to deal with, and very reasonably priced. We changed our plans several times and she was always very understanding and accommodating. The day of, the music was wonderful. They sounded so beautiful.
The only thing that wasn't 100% on was the timing of some of the music. Basically only I was supposed to walk out to Canon, but I think my MOH and flower girls also did. They also stopped playing it and started again when I walked out which was a little strange. Not that big of a deal, I wasn’t even really upset about it, but it just didn’t go perfectly. BUT - I've bumped my rating on Marie from 8 to 9 because as I suspected the timing issues really had to do with the music director at the church. She was the one who cued the trio to start playing Canon. My advice - thoroughly go through your music with the church music director!
Bagpiper - 10 out of 10
We hired the bagpiper through http://www.sidegig.com to play after the ceremony. The original bagpiper couldn’t make it because of a work conflict, but sent his friend Brian who was amazing. It really added to the day – it was so great to have the music during our receiving line.
Bouquets, Boutonnières and Church Flowers – West Islip Florist – Bridesmaids, flower girls 10 out of 10, brides bouquet 6 out of 10
We only needed the bouquets, boutonnières, and church flowers, so we decided not to go with one of the big name vendors. Plus, this florist was 1/3 the price of other places. We had a few concerns – they florist shop actually burned down before we hired them, but we were aware of that. After a few months they decided to continue operating out of a family member’s home. We were all a little nervous about that. Then she mentioned that she had never worked with large calla lilies, but she would give it a try.
Day of – the bridal party flowers, corsages and boutonnières were AMAZING. I received so many compliments. She really did an amazing job. The girls had wrapped callas with berries and some greens. My bouquet – it started falling apart the minute I picked it up. I had a holder, which was probably my first mistake. It didn’t really look like what I requested. I gave her a picture and it was all tight callas, these were all over the place. To be fair – a lot of people complimented my bouquet, but it just wasn’t what I wanted. It was also monstrously large. I really should have pushed to see a sample. I would suggest that to everyone. But again, for 1/3 the price of other places, it was well worth it.
Cake and Reception Hall Table Flowers - Roots Flowers & Treasures in Port Jefferson – 10 out of 10
I worked with Cori here based on a recommendation from Barbara at Hamlet Willow Creek. She was very sweet, tried to help me save some money, and just overall great to work with. The table petals and flowers for the cake were beautiful.
Church Bell Favors – Ebay Vendor – 8 out of 10
I ordered white mini-bells from Ebay. They’re nothing fancy, but are what I was looking for. The delivery was quick; the product was what I expected.
Bell Basket, Program Basket and Bell Ribbons – Michael’s – 9 out of 10
I LOVE Michael’s. Everything is so inexpensive, but looks great! I bought ribbon for the bells and to decorate the baskets, a small basket for the bells and a big basket for the programs. Great place for DIY!!
Pictures – Bayard Planting Arboretum, Oakdale, NY 9 out of 10
It was a little crowded the day of, but I love the Arboretum. I saw a few non-professional pictures from the day and they came out gorgeous. The only thing that stinks is that while they charge $6 for cars and $12 for limos, if you have a limo bus they charge $75.
Shuttle – David Brothers Provided by Hampton Inn 10 out of 10
I was concerned about shuttle service because several of my friends have had issues with them, but these guys were great. They were early! And at the end of the night they waited for me to get everything together.
Reception Hall – Hamlet Willow Creek 10 out of 10
DH and I looked at probably 20 to 30 halls between NJ (where we live), CT (where DH grew up) and LI (where I grew up), and were getting very discouraged because we couldn’t find what we were looking for. The last weekend we looked around we saw a hall in CT and HWC, and loved both! DH was dead set on HWC because of the appearance, what we were getting for the price and he loves the country club feel. I LOVED Barbara. She can come off a bit aggressive, but that’s exactly who I want handling my wedding day. Anytime I had a question or concern, she would get back to me within a day. She even threw in some extras during our menu selection because she thought they rounded off the meals better!
Day of – the place was GORGEOUS! The staff set up our candle centerpieces perfectly, Barbara decorated the cake and it was just amazing – the most beautiful cake I’ve ever seen! The food was just out of this world. We went with the vegetable napoleon for an appetizer which friends of ours who don’t normally eat vegetables like that LOVED. The Caesar salad was so delicious as was the mango sorbet intermezzo. For the main dishes (which we got to have one of each!) we had the Chicken Sorrentino, Filet Mignon and Parmesan Encrusted Chilean Seabass. DH and I walked around after dinner and everyone’s plates were nearly licked clean! I mean, this was beyond great wedding food, this was phenomenal dinner food. It’s something I’d expect at a four start restaurant. The service – just amazing. All night Barbara and her staff kept checking on us and our families to make sure everything was perfect, and it was. They really helped make our wedding the best night of our lives. Oh, and on top of all of this, the guests arrived 15-30 minutes early, and they had the cocktail hour already set up and began serving everyone.
LELI shot
DJ – Mike at Sound Choice 9 out of 10
A lot of my friends tried to talk me out of hiring a DJ, but DH and I are DJ people. He just has a great outgoing personality. We watched a few of his sample videos and it was exactly what we were looking for. He’s not invasive unless you request it. Plus, after just sitting with DH and I for a half an hour he pretty much told us what music we wanted and he was dead on. I also like that he’s not some random kid.
Day of – the introductions were perfect. We had “My Girl” by Jet for the bridal party and “Welcome to the Jungle” for us. It was so much fun, and there was just so much energy in the room. The only thing that I didn’t love was that just a few songs in they started playing “Sexy Back,” which I don’t mind at my wedding, but not the first hour. HOWEVER, I went to talk to my parents to ask if I should ask him to tone it down and my mom and her neighbor were dancing to it! My mom yelled at me “I LOVE THIS!” and just kept grooving. Too funny. The floor was PACKED all night! So I guess it turned out not to be a problem since my only request was to make sure people were up dancing all night, and they were.
Centerpieces – Wal-Mart & www.njcandle.com – 9 out of 10
DH and I aren’t really into flowers, so we decided to do candle centerpieces. I had a basic idea of what I wanted – 3 candles at different heights, and my MIL found just that at the CTS. It fit 2x3 pillar candles, was on a stand and had a glass vase to hold the candle. We chose the three colors that were carried out with the BM dresses, GM tuxes and flowers. Inexpensive and beautiful.
We ordered the candles from NJCandle. I first ordered 3 yellows, 3 oranges and 3 reds just to see which colors matched best. This first order took a few weeks to be delivered, but in their defense they had just suffered flooding and were backed up. When I placed my official order they arrived in a few days, and they actually threw some extra candles in. It could have been an accident, but I’ll take free candles! It came to a little over $3 per candles, but they were great quality and didn’t smoke. The only thing to watch for is that the colored candles bleed, so you probably don’t want to place them on any fabric.
LELI SHOT
Guest Favors – American Cancer Society – 10 out of 10
I kept looking at different favors, but kept coming back to doing a donation. I’ve lost several aunts and uncles to cancer, and DH’s mother is a breast cancer survivor. We also have other friends and family dealing with cancer in their lives, so we decided that we wanted to put the favor money towards a good cause. They give you a decent selection of cards you can choose for your favor in many different sizes, or you can always print your own.
OOT Guest Hotel – Hampton Inn – Prior to wedding 5 out of 10, Day of 10 out of 10
I’ll start by saying that the original Sales Manager I dealt with, Maite, was very sweet and when a problem arose she would fix it ASAP. She was fairly decent at returning calls, especially since I had to call very often. However, a few months before the wedding she left and I started dealing with a new sales manager who AT FIRST wasn’t as flexible. For example, we ended up having about 115 guests at the hotel, so we needed to keep adding rooms. At one point, she wouldn’t allow us to add more rooms because they needed to save rooms for last minute reservations and business travelers. Maybe that’s standard, but with May there was never an issue with adding more rooms.
We had several problems with this hotel, and I would expect the hotel to be proactive – if not from the beginning, then at least after the first few errors. The problems all stemmed from the fact that out of 230 guests that we were invited, 130 were from out of town. The hotel’s policy is to only block 20 rooms, and add 5 on after the initial block is full, so I needed to get my information out early and keep on top of the blocks. I was annoyed that they couldn’t work with me considering I needed 50+ rooms, but fine – I accepted their policy and asked my friends to book early and had MIL and my mother deal with their guests. Many of my guests decided to book rooms early, but the hotel kept giving different rates, putting them under the other wedding party, and saying they were out of rooms. It got to a point where I just started calling every day to monitor it myself because they were clearly incapable of doing this. I think the miscommunication was more at the front end with the reservations department, but it just got so frustrating. One guest got charged the regular hotel rate for Friday night and the wedding rate for Saturday. This hotel may have been one of my biggest stresses, and I seriously considered just moving all my guests to another hotel. It doesn’t help that they use the initials as the wedding code – which is common – except my code was GNW and the other wedding code was GMW. Once a majority of the rooms were booked, I started contacting them every other week just to get the fax to make sure they had all the correct information and add more rooms as necessary.
The other thing that REALLY got me peeved was that they changed the hotel rates, but never notified me. In their defense, we had a shuttle between the hotel and reception hall that the hotel provided, and the rate for this did not change, but was originally $10 more than the typical wedding block rate. However, the hotel wedding block rate dropped $20, while the rate with the shuttle remained the same. Had I known this, I would have dropped the shuttle and hired my own instead of having my guests pay $30 more for their rooms. If the hotel didn’t make a mistake and book my MIL under the other wedding I would have never found out, and if my guests found out I was essentially having them pay for the shuttle I would have been so embarrassed!!! We worked out a deal because of this whole situation, but consistently kept charging my guests different rates!!!
Day of – everything was perfect! All the gift bags were handed out, no one (that I know of) had problems with their room. We booked a hospitality suite for an after-party and that was perfect. We all had a great time, didn’t get hassled by the hotel. So even though we had a lot of stress early on, I really believe it had to do with the size of my group and management changes at the hotel. I would recommend them, but also recommend you stay on top of them.
HONEYMOON
ITALIAN HONEYMOON REVIEW
Edited for some spelling and grammar issues.
Also edited for some updates to my reviews.
Message edited 2/13/2008 4:07:15 PM.
|
