vendor recommendations

[dianeleach]

I'm looking for recommendations for good photographers, videographers, and DJs in the Wilmington, DE area. If anyone has had a good (or bad) experience lately, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks!

[shanes_gadget]

I too, and getting married in DE, in the newark area. I'm trying to pland this while living in Minnesota. I would love to get some ideas about vendors and most imoprtantly reception sites. If there is anyone with any ideas, please let us all know. All feedback is GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

[evitawylie]

I've gotten a lot of good recommendations from the chat board at theknot.com. Some are:

Photographers - Pam DiLorenzo, Laura Novak, Scott Ellis
DJs - D&J DJ Service, Rich Buchanan
Reception sites - Brandywine CC, DuPont CC, Brantwyn (at DuPont CC), Rehoboth CC

The bad things I've heard are:

Photographers - The Pros, Lindelle, Foschi
DJs - The Pros

I'm sure you could do a search on google to find their websites.

Hope that helps!

[gdesider]

These women did not discuss their prices until the end, which ended up being over $600 for a three-tier yellow cake with strawberry filling and fondant icing, only decorated with a couple of bands of plain ribbon icing on each tier and 6 sugar flowers. We called back later to ask for an itemized receipt to understand how the cake had gotten so expensive. We realized that we should have talked prices all along, rather than just discussing what we wanted then having them give us the price.

However, we called them and asked how we could reduce the price. They said that removing the sugar flowers would remove about $100 from the price, and this would be an acceptable option. They did not want us to put silk flowers on the cake because it would ruin their piece of art, and we understood that—we agreed. They agreed to change our contract and remove sugar flowers from the design for a reduction in $100 on the phone. However, we first had to ask for them to send us an itemized receipt.

When we got the itemized receipt, we realized they were also charging us for deliver. They falsely advertised free delivery then refused to follow through. Our wedding location was within 25 miles of their Smyrna, Delaware homes, yet they refused to follow through with the stated “Free Deliver Within 25 Miles” stated on their brochure. They never even mentioned this when we met with them, and when we went home and looked at the brochure again, we realized this had been mistakenly added to our cost. We wrote back that the delivery charge should be removed from the contract. Then, when we returned the itemized receipt with the changes we had already discussed on the phone, these women said we had “voided our contract” because of the changes.

These women are nice and polite upfront, but don’t let the British accent and friendliness lull you in. They are talented, but their prices are too high. We did not void our contract—we made only one change—the removal of the sugar flowers for a $100 deduction. The delivery charge should have never been included—this was false advertising. They pulled out because we called them on their false advertising and wanted to remove the sugar flowers, though they said this was okay.

Again, don’t deal with them. This is a bad review for House of Cake, Smyrna, Delaware, 302-492-1946.

Gina – Wedding Date: 08/06/2005

[maxelrad]

Hello all in Delaware/Philly area. My wedding was one year ago this week and I wanted to let everyone know about the vendors I used.

First the good:
Greenville Country Club and Jennifer Lohmeyer (at GCC) did an excellent job. I couldn't have been happier with the food, location, etc. and I had both my ceremony and reception there. The guests raved about the food after. They even sent me money back afterwards b/c the alcohol estimate was more than what was consumed. Jennifer was there throughout planning to put me in touch with other vendors - she recommended a great cake that everyone raved about. She was also there through the wedding to take care of little things.

Rehearsal Dinner: Krazy Kat's in Montchanin. It was pricey but excellent and service couldn't have been better.

Our invitations and place cards were great. Apropos did them and addressed them for us (and printed place cards).

The Quake was a great band. The one thing that bothered me was that we told them our wedding song LONG in advance and were told "no problem." However, when we entered our reception and the music began playing it was a CD! That was not cool, but they more than made up for this. In retrospect, had I had time I would have followed up with them to assess what "no problem" meant.

Shaw Strings was a great string quartet. Virginia Shaw was a pleasure to work with.

Wedding dress - Sophia at Creative Alterations on Concord Pike did an awesome job. She even made my veil from scratch.

Video - Chase Production. Great job. He even worked with us when we couldn't get the DVDs to work on our DVD player. He ended up sending us more DVDs to see if they worked better. He was awesome.

The less good:
Jacobs Photography:
We were very happy with our photographer at first and he did a great job at the wedding, which was very important. In fact, people who have looked at my pictures have said, "he really captured the mood" and "he captured your personalities." However, we got our album a couple of days ago. One year later. The pictures were digital so it wasn't like the time was taken processing them. To make it worse, my husband did a layout in Adobe Photoshop, and we were told that the layout couldn't be accommodated b/c it didn't fit in their "point and click" program. I mean, if my husband could do it in Photoshop I am pretty skeptical that it couldn't be done by a professional photographer. When I called to discuss this and to ask why it was taking so long and if we could by chance get the album by our first anniversary I was told by the photographer that I clearly did not understand that I was not his only client. When I explained that I did understand that (I too have a job) he said, "obviously you don't" and HUNG UP ON ME! Since then my dealings have been with an assistant. Additionally, our package came with one large picture that still has not arrived (nor has any explanation why - I mean, did they think we would forget?). But again, the photographer’s work was excellent so if you are willing to put up with some aggravation maybe you should go for it.

The UGLY:
Our florist. At the time her business was called Garden Gate Floral Design. Her name is Coleen Elrod Fitpatrick (may have dropped the Fitpatrick, not sure). We met before hand a few times; she knew what I wanted for bouquets, table arrangements, our chupa (wedding arch), and baskets for hotel rooms. She had never done a chupa but I showed her many pictures and she was very excited. I suggested that I should call my temple and possibly others and borrow a structure that wasn't being used but she said no. I asked if I could see the demo or a plan many times and she kept telling me not to worry about it. The problems began a couple of days before the wedding when I got complaints that some people did not have baskets in their rooms and others did. Also, I had close family and wedding party baskets that were a bit different than the others, and had given the names of the people to get the wedding party/family baskets and their hotels (there were only 2 hotels we provided baskets for). I even offered to take care of dropping off and labeling myself. Well, she said, "no, no, that's what you pay me for" and said she would do it. It was completely wrong. As I said before, some people didn't get any at all and people I didn't know (friends of family, etc.) got super nice bridal party baskets while some members of the bridal party got nothing and my parents and siblings did not get what they were supposed to. OK, then to the wedding day. The bouquets were beautiful. They couldn't have been more perfect, and in retrospect, this is what I spent the most time with her discussing and then I asked her to use the same type flowers/colors/design for the table arrangements. I wish I could say the same for boutonnières. Not all of them arrived. I had to send an assistant (had never met any assistants) back to the store to get more. She was rather miffed. Then the kicker: Just before I walked down the aisle Jennifer (Greenville Country Club) grabbed me and said, "I didn't want you to see the chupa and cry, it isn't what you ordered, there are no flowers." Well I am very thankful for Jennifer. I am not sure I would have even noticed as there was so much going on but had I noticed I would have flipped. I couldn't believe it. To top it off I had given her an extra thousand dollars to do the chupa. My husband later told me that he saw the entire thing happen. Apparently she had difficulty getting the poles into the ground (c'mon, you didn't anticipate the ground would be hard Labor Day in Delaware?), said something like "this has never happened to me before", stamped her feet, and LEFT THE WEDDING. Greenville Country Club and Jennifer again saved the day by quickly suggesting to my husband and father that they should ask important guests not involved in the wedding to hold the 4 poles. Yes, this was nice but had I known that beforehand I would have asked beforehand and made it a nice thing, not a quick "help! will you hold the poles?" To make matters worse the poles weren't high enough and our rabbi had to bend through the entire ceremony. So, by the time I got to the reception and saw the table arrangements that were COMPLETELY WRONG and VERY SKIMPY (and I like simple) I was not surprised. However, when I got back from my honeymoon and tried to find her to get some money back (you know, for the chupa that was never made) she had skipped town. Business numbers disconnected, certified letters sent back to me, no one had heard from her. So, possibly you will be spared but in case she comes back with a different business name....

Hope this all helps others.

[melcam]

Anyone looking for a great band ..www.cto.com then click on bands and then SOHO..they are awesome!!!