Thumper's Tara
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2005
- Messages
- 518
We are back and married! I know that I haven’t been very active on this board, but I found the threads very helpful for planning our DFTW. To help other brides, I thought that I would share my experiences with our non-Disney vendors.
A little background information on us – we were married on January 19, 2008 at the wedding pavilion at 10 am. Our pre-reception was at 11 at Martha’s Vineyard and our reception was at 12 in Ariel’s. We “had” a dessert party in China/France at 8:30 pm – I will post more on the dessert party in another thread though. Our Wedding Planner was Celeste.
Chapman Photography
I cannot say enough good things about Chapman Photography. Randy totally rocks. Matt and I want to nominate Randy for sainthood. He saved the dessert party from being a total loss. With everything a giant mess, he stepped up and drove us to France in his own vehicle. In addition, he called Celeste the next day and discussed with her all of the issues that we had – we didn’t ask him to do this. We didn’t find out that he did until we returned from our honeymoon and we were touched that he took the time to do so.
Beyond all of the logistical help, I loved working with him and felt totally at ease with him. Based on our engagement photos, I know the wedding photos will be amazing. Our guests loved him – everyone I talked to said he was the best.
It was rainy and misty the morning of the wedding, but the weather finally cleared partway through the reception. Randy stayed with us after the reception to get some “nice” weather shots.
Finally, he worked with us on our videographer. A friend of ours had put us in touch with a young film student, Alex, to do our video. Randy was a big help with Alex – he agreed to allow Alex to shadow him and to keep an eye on him. This was not something Randy had to do, but he was very kind about it. Randy mentioned that he remembered when others helped him get his start, so he graciously helped Alex with his.
To any bride out there – if Randy Chapman is available for your wedding day, get him! He is worth it! In fact, we plan on having future portrait sessions with Randy on our yearly trips!
Video by Alex
As I mentioned above, a friend of ours recommended Alex to us. Our friend owns his own business filming local Westchester events and last summer he hired Alex as a summer intern. Initially, we were excited about the idea, but after some thought, we decided we were not going to do any video. When we communicated this to Alex, he was pretty disappointed, so we decided to reconsider. We talked the matter over with Randy, who was our first priority. Randy was okay with having Alex shadow, so we decided to go for it. I think we have made the right choice. We haven’t seen any footage yet, but our guests thought that Alex did a good job and seemed really nice. Maybe a little young, but nice. ;-) As Alex is just starting out, the price was very reasonable too.
If anyone is interested in Alex, PM me – I haven’t asked him if he would be willing to do any other weddings, but I would be willing to pass along information to him if someone is interested.
Beaute Speciale
We hired Beaute Speciale to do hair and make-up for myself, my step-daughter, my 4 bridesmaids, my mother and my mother-in-law. Ana and her two assistants were wonderful. They arrived promptly at 4:30 and managed to get everyone finished on-time. Ana is a perfectionist – if she saw one of her assistants having a problem, she stopped what she was working on and helped them with that problem. Everyone looked wonderful – even my mother-in-law was impressed! The make-up artist (I wish I could remember her name) was able to get her dark circles hidden!! All three ladies were super friendly and they entertained us with stories of the different shows/events that they had worked on. I was very happy with them and would recommend them!
Men’s Warehouse
Now, we reach the one outside vendor that I cannot recommend. Knowing what I know now, I would not go back to Men’s Warehouse. We had several problems with our tuxedos and a few were not fixable. What Men’s Warehouse does not advertise, is their tuxedos are not stored locally. For my father and my husband, this was not a problem – they were available to try on the tuxedos on Thursday. It was a good thing too. My father’s tuxedo was 10 inches too short. He looked like he was going to a flood. Matt’s tuxedo shirt was too small and he needed a new one as well.
Unfortunately, the rest of the wedding party did not arrive until Friday. This meant there was no time for replacement tuxedos to be sent to us. 3 out of 4 groomsmen were fine, but the best man ended up with messed up pants. Honestly, one of my most vivid memories of the day will be how hard it was for me NOT to laugh walking down the aisle. After seeing my handsome groom and glancing around, I saw the best man’s pants and nearly laughed out loud. He didn’t look horrible, but you could tell something was wrong.
The 12-hour turn replacement tuxedo time is not good for anyone planning a destination wedding. I would highly recommend going somewhere else. Knowing what I know now, I would not choose Men’s Warehouse for my wedding again. If I was having a local wedding, I could possibly recommend them; however, it didn’t work for our destination wedding.
Well…that is all! I hope to start working on a trip report for the wedding and honeymoon soon...
A little background information on us – we were married on January 19, 2008 at the wedding pavilion at 10 am. Our pre-reception was at 11 at Martha’s Vineyard and our reception was at 12 in Ariel’s. We “had” a dessert party in China/France at 8:30 pm – I will post more on the dessert party in another thread though. Our Wedding Planner was Celeste.
Chapman Photography
I cannot say enough good things about Chapman Photography. Randy totally rocks. Matt and I want to nominate Randy for sainthood. He saved the dessert party from being a total loss. With everything a giant mess, he stepped up and drove us to France in his own vehicle. In addition, he called Celeste the next day and discussed with her all of the issues that we had – we didn’t ask him to do this. We didn’t find out that he did until we returned from our honeymoon and we were touched that he took the time to do so.
Beyond all of the logistical help, I loved working with him and felt totally at ease with him. Based on our engagement photos, I know the wedding photos will be amazing. Our guests loved him – everyone I talked to said he was the best.
It was rainy and misty the morning of the wedding, but the weather finally cleared partway through the reception. Randy stayed with us after the reception to get some “nice” weather shots.
Finally, he worked with us on our videographer. A friend of ours had put us in touch with a young film student, Alex, to do our video. Randy was a big help with Alex – he agreed to allow Alex to shadow him and to keep an eye on him. This was not something Randy had to do, but he was very kind about it. Randy mentioned that he remembered when others helped him get his start, so he graciously helped Alex with his.
To any bride out there – if Randy Chapman is available for your wedding day, get him! He is worth it! In fact, we plan on having future portrait sessions with Randy on our yearly trips!
Video by Alex
As I mentioned above, a friend of ours recommended Alex to us. Our friend owns his own business filming local Westchester events and last summer he hired Alex as a summer intern. Initially, we were excited about the idea, but after some thought, we decided we were not going to do any video. When we communicated this to Alex, he was pretty disappointed, so we decided to reconsider. We talked the matter over with Randy, who was our first priority. Randy was okay with having Alex shadow, so we decided to go for it. I think we have made the right choice. We haven’t seen any footage yet, but our guests thought that Alex did a good job and seemed really nice. Maybe a little young, but nice. ;-) As Alex is just starting out, the price was very reasonable too.
If anyone is interested in Alex, PM me – I haven’t asked him if he would be willing to do any other weddings, but I would be willing to pass along information to him if someone is interested.
Beaute Speciale
We hired Beaute Speciale to do hair and make-up for myself, my step-daughter, my 4 bridesmaids, my mother and my mother-in-law. Ana and her two assistants were wonderful. They arrived promptly at 4:30 and managed to get everyone finished on-time. Ana is a perfectionist – if she saw one of her assistants having a problem, she stopped what she was working on and helped them with that problem. Everyone looked wonderful – even my mother-in-law was impressed! The make-up artist (I wish I could remember her name) was able to get her dark circles hidden!! All three ladies were super friendly and they entertained us with stories of the different shows/events that they had worked on. I was very happy with them and would recommend them!
Men’s Warehouse
Now, we reach the one outside vendor that I cannot recommend. Knowing what I know now, I would not go back to Men’s Warehouse. We had several problems with our tuxedos and a few were not fixable. What Men’s Warehouse does not advertise, is their tuxedos are not stored locally. For my father and my husband, this was not a problem – they were available to try on the tuxedos on Thursday. It was a good thing too. My father’s tuxedo was 10 inches too short. He looked like he was going to a flood. Matt’s tuxedo shirt was too small and he needed a new one as well.
Unfortunately, the rest of the wedding party did not arrive until Friday. This meant there was no time for replacement tuxedos to be sent to us. 3 out of 4 groomsmen were fine, but the best man ended up with messed up pants. Honestly, one of my most vivid memories of the day will be how hard it was for me NOT to laugh walking down the aisle. After seeing my handsome groom and glancing around, I saw the best man’s pants and nearly laughed out loud. He didn’t look horrible, but you could tell something was wrong.
The 12-hour turn replacement tuxedo time is not good for anyone planning a destination wedding. I would highly recommend going somewhere else. Knowing what I know now, I would not choose Men’s Warehouse for my wedding again. If I was having a local wedding, I could possibly recommend them; however, it didn’t work for our destination wedding.
Well…that is all! I hope to start working on a trip report for the wedding and honeymoon soon...
and what hero he was for you guys as well as a smashing photographer!
I hoped it turned out ok in the end.
