Vendor Reviews
1. Kathleen Reynolds: 10/10
Kathleen was the perfect planner. She responded to my emails immediately throughout the planning process (sometimes minutes after I sent them!) and was helpful with anything we needed. She made sure to update us on our recent budgets and revised any changes we made to the ceremony/BEO immediately after we made them. On the wedding day, she was a total pro and just told us where to go. She even helped clean up the WP as we were heading to the cake cutting, grabbing some left over items left behind by our guests! I recommend working with her.
2. Rosie Carabbia: 8/10
Rosie was a great person to work with. Sometimes, it took her a while to respond to my emails, but when I needed her during my last minute boutineer change, she was there. The men's boutineers looked great, and Eric's was exactly what I envisioned with the addition of the billy buttons.
My bouquet was a different story, which is why she gets an 8/10. I sent her several pics of what I envisioned my bouquet to look like and unfortunately it wasn't what I had sent her. I wanted something MUCH smaller, but she assured me 35 blooms of Gerber daisies would look only slightly larger than the inspirational pics I emailed to her. It was more than twice the size of what I wanted and wasn't completely circular...but everyone else loved. I was looking for an orb of daisies so I didn't have to hold it a certain way and it was only about 2/3 of an orb, which required me to hold it at a particular angle so the flat bottom didn't show...but from the pictures you can't really tell. They were still gorgeous so I can't complain too much.
3. Mizner's Lounge: 10/10
We had our cocktail hour after our cake cutting here. Although Eric and I weren't able to make the cocktail hour due to our picture time with our photographer, our guests LOVED spending the hour there. If you've never been, it's located in the Grand Floridian down the hall from Citricos and across from where the orchestra plays. It has a huge bar that wraps around the lounge with big comfy chairs. We set up a bar tab so our guests could order drinks and that ended up being very easy because Mizner's and Citricos have the same manager. We were able to set up both our cocktail hour and reception dinner with the same group of managers. Our guests said they all loved listening to the band play during their time there and when the band wasn't playing, the piano player in the main lobby was! So they always had some comfortable background music that set the mood of the venue. When Eric and I walked in to greet our guests after our photo session, we got a huge applause from the rest of the lounge which was amazing. This was one of the best decisions we made and our guests really enjoyed having this place to spend time before dinner. I vehemently recommend Mizner's Lounge as a cocktail hour location.
4. Citricos: 1000000/10
Hmm...I don't think I included enough zeros. Citricos was hands down the BEST decision we made in the whole wedding planning process. From the beginning, they were fantastic to work with. We met with them the day before our wedding to go over last minute details, and they treated us with complete and total professionalism. The managers made us feel that our wedding was a truly celebrated, important, and unique event. I can't convey how much effort they put into our little reception, how welcome we felt, and how effortless they made the night for us. We didn't rent out the whole restaurant, nor were we using the Chef's Table - we were sitting among other diners. But we felt as if we were the ONLY people in the entire restaurant (all 19 of us!).
First, the chef created a special vegetarian dish to replace their typical meatless entree because I wasn't a fan of the tofu dish. They are very accommodating to changing the menu to meet our needs. On our special day, Eric and I walked in and were greeted by the managers before the dinner to get a look at the table - we were blown away. They sat us toward the back of the restaurant where we were surrounded by gorgeous windows that overlooked the Grand Floridian resort. Our tables were arranged under their beautiful light fixtures that cast a glow on the whole table. They laid out our customized menu cards/Gerber daisy place cards/table decor from the WP. The table looked amazing! We truly felt special. We had 2-3 dedicated waitstaff that waited only on our table. The 4-course meal was amazing and our guests enjoyed the choice from 5 different entrees, yet we still got an elegant sit down meal.
We were there until the Wishes fireworks started (there was no time limit which was made that clear to us) and the Citricos staff let us go down the employees entrance directly off the dining room (with our drinks) which led down to the walkway that leads to the pier (next to Narcoossee's), so all of our guests were able to watch the fireworks with music!! It was so romantic and perfect. Upon our arrival back to the stairway, a Citricos waiter was WAITING for us to return to lead us back up to the restaurant! At the end of the night, the Citricos manager pulled our car at the Grand Floridian valet for us and put all of our stuff in the car for us! Eric told the manager at the end of the night, "Wow, I didn't know you guys could do all this for us" to which he replied "Sir, this is the Grand Floridian. We do it all." I recommend this particular restaurant 110% and would not change one thing about our reception night here. Totally and completely magical!
5. Jason Angelini: 10/10
Jason was our outside wedding photographer and an amazing decision. His playful personality thoroughly aligned with our own, both individually and as a couple - he captured our personalities in each moment of our day and our happiness radiates from our wedding photos. Our wedding simply would not have been as wonderful as it was without him there capturing the day. When I look back on my photos 3 years later, I feel like the moments occurred just yesterday - and I think that is what truly defines talent in this industry. I can't recommend him enough!
6. Carolyn Allen's: 10/10
They did what they needed to do. I had 1 person from CA show up to my room right on time, and she got straight to work. My dress looked great post-steaming. She had me look them over to make sure I was satisfied. No complaints, although I do with I would have taken the opportunity to use their cleaning services! I was so overwhelmed by everything I didn't do it, and I really should have because they made it so easy! Cash only though
7. Beaute Speciale: 10/10
I had Laine and one other girl from BS (not Ana). The hair stylist arrived first and got right to setting up. About 15 minutes later, Laine arrived. They both were fun girls to work with, joined in on our conversations, and were pleasant to have in the room with us. Everyone looked amazing and it lasted all day. It rained on my MILs and MOH on their way to the cake cutting and their hair/makeup was STILL holding strong throughout the night. I loved my make up/hair, too. I didn't bring any inspiration pics but she just asked me some questions and made me look exactly like what I wanted. I recommend these girls. And if you don't get Ana, don't freak out! All of the ladies at BS are amazing.
9. Randy Chapman (honeymoon shoot): 9/10
Randy was a nice guy. He was what everyone says he is...great to work with. After having experienced the styles of both Jason and Randy, I am glad we used Jason for our wedding photography. Randy was insightful and also had great ideas. We walked the boardwalk with Randy for our honeymoon shoot. It was a really sunny and hot day so whenever there was a cloud, he was sure to take advantage of the lighting with a quick snapshot! When we finished walking the boardwalk, he was up to going back to our hotel at Port Orleans Riverside for more photos. We declined just because it was SO hot outside, but Randy was more than generous with his time.
10. Ohanas: 6/10
We had our Welcome Dinner here. The service was horrible. We had reservations at Ohanas for 6 months for our party of 19 people. Upon our arrival at the restaurant, we waited over an hour to get seated and each time we asked the staff what was taking long, they kept telling us that they were waiting for the tables to empty. But for an HOUR!? And after they KNEW we had a large party reservation!? It was ridiculous. By the time we were
finally seated, it was nearly 9:30 pm when we had an 8:00 pm reservation. They made up some of the wait with the food and service at the table. The chef brought out a special vegetarian dish for my mother and I. They also brought out a dessert with 2 glasses of champagne for Eric and me. Plus they didn't charge us for ANY drinks (alcoholic or non) after my MOH spoke with the manager regarding some sort of compensation for the extremely long wait. We had people who traveled all day from as far away as New Mexico only to have to wait a ridiculously long time for a meal. Overall, it was a great atmosphere but I wasn't paying too much attention because I was starving and tired at that point. I would recommend for the food, but for large parties - stay clear.
11. Florida Weather Forecast: 3/10
Well, it was sunny for most of the day. But it rained once we were in the WP near the end of the our ceremony...and when I write "rain" I mean it looked like a monsoon was on top of us! We had all of our family portraits inside...but I am so thankful that we choose the WP!! Our cake cutting was moved to Whitehall Patio instead of Commander's Terrace because it was still raining during, though it cleared up near the end of our photo session so we got some outdoor pics! The Florida weather forecast gets a 3/10 because the 30% chance of rain turned out to be 100%
We contacted them directly first, then booked the dinner. We did the same thing, ceremony at 2:30 PM and dinner at 5:30 PM. I hope it works out for you!
We really had a great time! Thank you so much 
