I always found vendor reviews particularly helpful as a planning bride,which is why I thought it was so important to pay it forward and review the vendors that we used! I've tried to be quick and concise, but would be very happy to answer any questions by message or in the comments! If you missed part 1, click here.
Ceremony: Notre-Dame de Bonsecours Chapel, A
Ceremony: Notre-Dame de Bonsecours Chapel, A
This is our home parish, so I am a little biased, but the ceremony was breathtaking in Montreal's oldest chapel, right in the heart of Old Montreal. Catholic wedding ceremonies don't normally have a lot of customization available, so we were surprised to find that Father C. was very open to incorporating a rose ceremony and even a blessing of the hands. Overall, we were very satisfied.
Venue: Le Windsor, A++
The Windsor is one of Montreal's most prestigious venues, and we can see why. Even though we paid a pretty penny, they were always great at answering all of my questions during the planning stage and even better on our actual wedding day. Everything ran like clockwork and the staff were incredibly attentive and professional. Everyone raved about the venue, and it was breathtaking. Definitely recommend!
Catering: Traiteur Bon Appétit, A+
Despite not being able to eat at the wedding, I can tell you without a doubt that the food was amazing. Our guests loved everything from the passed appetizers during cocktail hour to the Viennese table. Bon Appétit is the standard caterer for the Windsor, but we could have brought in a different company if we had wanted to, but after our tasting, we knew we were in good hands. No boring wedding food to speak of! Definitely recommend!
Cake: Sweet Couture, A+++
Well. I've gone on and on about my cake. So you should know by now that it was probably one of the best things about my entire wedding (except for the whole marrying-the-love-of-my-life thing, that was pretty great too). Seriously, if you like cake (and who doesn't), just do your taste buds a favor and go see my girl Claudine, her cakes really do taste as good as they look!
D.J./ Emcee: Big Beat DJ Productions A+
While this was definitely a splurge in the budget, our wedding simply would not have been the same without Mark. He not only ran the schedule for most of the reception, but he also made sure that our dance floor remained packed the entire night. It's been almost a year and people still say that our wedding was one of the best parties they've ever been to, and we owe a big part of that to Mark and Luciano! Mark also did a great job of handling the small hiccups that came up in a very professional and efficient manner, while trying not to bother the bride and groom unless it was absolutely necessary. We're big fans of Big Beat DJ Productions!
Photography: Bachmann Photography, A+++
A picture is worth a thousand words, and we have a million pictures. Jesse and Catherine not only took the amazing photos that you've seen throughout my recaps; but they were such a joy to be around! They were great at joking with us and keeping us relaxed and happy, which is so, so important! Our bridal party kept referring to them as the photography ninjas, because we didn't even see them half the time. We also got our pictures back within the agreed-upon time frame, and were extremely happy with the results. I emailed Jesse when some of the pictures accidentally didn't get transferred onto the DVD and he got back to me right away and fixed the problem with such an amazing attitude. We're just so happy that they were a part of our day!
Videography: Cinemomento, F
This is the review that pains me the most to write. As you know, we debated whether we could even afford a videography package, and compromised by paying for 8 hours of coverage, a small trailer, and the raw footage, on a high definition Blu-Ray. While we had no complaints on our wedding day, the problems quickly started arising the morning after the wedding, when we were woken up by some frantic texts from our videographer, asking if we had seen his battery pack. We didn't hear back for several weeks, until we finally received our trailer, after some prodding on my end.
Obviously, we were thrilled with the trailer, but we had so many issues getting our raw footage. For starters, the footage was burned onto DVDs, and not blu-rays, as stated in the contract, and we had to send several emails to even set up a time for pickup. We were then told to drive out to our videographer's house, and he showed up late, disheveled, and sweaty, and asked us to leave him an external hard drive to copy the footage onto. I left him a 120 Gig ipod and we picked it up a few hours later. When we arrived home and popped in the DVD, we were distraught to find many essential parts of our wedding (like most of our ceremony, vows, speeches, and even our first dance) were missing. I sent an email right away and got blamed for the issue. I then spent the remaining 9 months after the wedding (yes, you read that correctly -- NINE months) chasing after him to obtain the missing footage. In one instance, I was even copied on an internal email, referring to me as an idiot. Thankfully, years of training as a litigation attorney prepared me to deal with this situation, but it caused so much undue stress, which did not help my already critical health. Needless to say, I cannot in good conscience, recommend this company to any one, despite how much we liked the actual trailer.
In the end, we were very fortunate to have mostly dealt with professional vendors, who made our day a dream come true and went above and beyond for us. I hope you've found these reviews helpful, and you can always message me for more information about our vendors!
Catering: Traiteur Bon Appétit, A+
Despite not being able to eat at the wedding, I can tell you without a doubt that the food was amazing. Our guests loved everything from the passed appetizers during cocktail hour to the Viennese table. Bon Appétit is the standard caterer for the Windsor, but we could have brought in a different company if we had wanted to, but after our tasting, we knew we were in good hands. No boring wedding food to speak of! Definitely recommend!
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| Our AMAZING sweets table |
Well. I've gone on and on about my cake. So you should know by now that it was probably one of the best things about my entire wedding (except for the whole marrying-the-love-of-my-life thing, that was pretty great too). Seriously, if you like cake (and who doesn't), just do your taste buds a favor and go see my girl Claudine, her cakes really do taste as good as they look!
While this was definitely a splurge in the budget, our wedding simply would not have been the same without Mark. He not only ran the schedule for most of the reception, but he also made sure that our dance floor remained packed the entire night. It's been almost a year and people still say that our wedding was one of the best parties they've ever been to, and we owe a big part of that to Mark and Luciano! Mark also did a great job of handling the small hiccups that came up in a very professional and efficient manner, while trying not to bother the bride and groom unless it was absolutely necessary. We're big fans of Big Beat DJ Productions!
 |
| MC Lucianno, Mr. W, Lil W., Mrs. W. Flower Girl L and DJ Mark |
A picture is worth a thousand words, and we have a million pictures. Jesse and Catherine not only took the amazing photos that you've seen throughout my recaps; but they were such a joy to be around! They were great at joking with us and keeping us relaxed and happy, which is so, so important! Our bridal party kept referring to them as the photography ninjas, because we didn't even see them half the time. We also got our pictures back within the agreed-upon time frame, and were extremely happy with the results. I emailed Jesse when some of the pictures accidentally didn't get transferred onto the DVD and he got back to me right away and fixed the problem with such an amazing attitude. We're just so happy that they were a part of our day!
 |
| Photo ninjas hard at work!/ Photo courtesy of BM Green Eyes |
This is the review that pains me the most to write. As you know, we debated whether we could even afford a videography package, and compromised by paying for 8 hours of coverage, a small trailer, and the raw footage, on a high definition Blu-Ray. While we had no complaints on our wedding day, the problems quickly started arising the morning after the wedding, when we were woken up by some frantic texts from our videographer, asking if we had seen his battery pack. We didn't hear back for several weeks, until we finally received our trailer, after some prodding on my end.
Obviously, we were thrilled with the trailer, but we had so many issues getting our raw footage. For starters, the footage was burned onto DVDs, and not blu-rays, as stated in the contract, and we had to send several emails to even set up a time for pickup. We were then told to drive out to our videographer's house, and he showed up late, disheveled, and sweaty, and asked us to leave him an external hard drive to copy the footage onto. I left him a 120 Gig ipod and we picked it up a few hours later. When we arrived home and popped in the DVD, we were distraught to find many essential parts of our wedding (like most of our ceremony, vows, speeches, and even our first dance) were missing. I sent an email right away and got blamed for the issue. I then spent the remaining 9 months after the wedding (yes, you read that correctly -- NINE months) chasing after him to obtain the missing footage. In one instance, I was even copied on an internal email, referring to me as an idiot. Thankfully, years of training as a litigation attorney prepared me to deal with this situation, but it caused so much undue stress, which did not help my already critical health. Needless to say, I cannot in good conscience, recommend this company to any one, despite how much we liked the actual trailer.
In the end, we were very fortunate to have mostly dealt with professional vendors, who made our day a dream come true and went above and beyond for us. I hope you've found these reviews helpful, and you can always message me for more information about our vendors!
All photos courtesy of the amazing Bachmann Photography unless otherwise specified
Miss a recap?
- We get it started with our wedding trailer
- We had a really intense wedding week
- We handle some last minute drama and get our nails did
- We practice getting married
- We eat all the French food
- We stuff our faces with chocolate
- The girls get pretty, oh so pretty
- The men suit up
- I put on my wedding dress
- I put on my veil and my entourage loses their sh*t
- I show you all my somethings
- We ride a vintage limo to the church
- The bridal party walks the walk
- We have a tearful “first look” on our walk down the aisle
- The ceremony begins with some lovely readings
- We exchange our vows and rings and have a blessing of the hands
- We finish mass, have a rose ceremony and sign the marriage register
- We take some pictures with our families
- We take a few bridal party pictures
- We take some pictures, just the two of us
- We skip cocktail hour, and spend some time with our friends
- We have a really fun first entrance
- We dance to our song
- Our friends give some heartfelt speeches
- We miss out on eating a fabulous meal
- I have an emotional father-daughter dance with my dad
- We cut our gorgeous cake
- We toss the bouquet and garter
- We play the shoelywed game
- We toast each other
- We dance till I drop, literally
- We dance some more
- We break it down, Cuban style
- Our guests vogue for the camera
- The night ends with a tender moment
- A look back at some details
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