Derry, NH, USA < change city >

Cakes/Candies Vendor:

Chickadee Hill Cakes

"Shara created a rehearsal dinner cake for us as well as our wedding cake. We asked her to make an Antarctic-y looking cake for rehearsal, and it was so cute. She made a little ice rink for our penguin toppers to sit on and covered it with sugar crystals to make it look like ice. The wedding cake was better than I could have imagined! People kept going up and trying to touch it because they couldn’t believe it was real. She matched our colors perfectly with her delicious icing and it just stood so majestically at our reception. I was upset that I had to cut it, but the flavor (white wedding with fresh berries and cream) was well worth it."

DJ:

Dave Lynch

"Dave was a great choice for a DJ. He really seemed to have a feel for our personalities and what we were looking for in a party. We met with Dave a month before the wedding, and provided him with a CD of all of our songs (we had a LOT of unusual special requests). Dave incorporated all of our favorite songs into the reception at some point, and was even in on a scheme to have my husband serenade me with “Love and Affection” by Nelson. Dave read the crowd well and understood when we grew tired of dancing and needed to slow things down."

Photographer:

Dan Nystedt

"I loved all of our vendors, but Dan was my favorite. He arrived early and checked in with me to see if I had anything to tell him, then just started shooting. All during the day, if someone saw something that was cute, funny, or would make a good picture, they saw Dan there shooting away. I never understood what people meant when they say “He was everywhere and nowhere” but that describes Dan to a T. He was never in the way, but was ready at every moment. Dan handled minor incidents (a huge spider landing on my dress, a baby bird flying into a groomsman, a flower girl throwing a tantrum during formals) with grace and humor. He even took time to offer to help when our flower girl had trouble buckling her shoes. My best advice: hire him."

Wedding Day Beauty Vendor:

D's Hair Design

"Krista and her sister, Tanzyn, came to the hotel the morning of the wedding to do my hair and a few others’. We all had fairly difficult ‘dos but they made it sound easy. My ridiculously straight hair stayed curly all day long. Everybody else looked simply gorgeous."

Wedding Fashion Vendor:

Marry and Tux

"I really loved the versatility that Alfred Angelo offers, and decided to go with Marry and Tux for the Bridesmaids gowns. It was tricky because everyone somehow worked with a different consultant depending on the day or time. Kristen was extremely helpful the few times I was there. It was a bit frustrating for my ‘maids that there weren’t gowns in their size to try on, but we loved that the tuxedos are housed on-site so that if there were any issues the day before, they could be easily taken care of."

Wedding Fashion Vendor:

David's Bridal

"I went to David’s during one of their $99 sales and fell in love with my gown. I bought it 17 months before the wedding, and had no real problems. I will say that if you are looking for a lot of attention as a bride or want someone to consult with you a lot, don’t go to David’s. If you want a great deal on a pretty dress and can handle figuring out what you want on your own, this is the way to go. My sister got her dress from David’s because she was running short of time due to a pregnancy, and had no issues at all."

Wedding Fashion Vendor:

House of Brides

"Some of my ‘maids decided to order gowns online to save some cash. I am not quite positive what happened, but the dress came in about a month later than they originally quoted. No harm, no foul in the end, but it was quite stressful for a few weeks."

Ceremony:

St Thomas Aquinas Parish

"We worked with Fr. Roger for all of our planning. He was great. The FOCCUS test we took about 6 months prior was extremely helpful and allowed us to discuss some aspects of our lives together that we hadn’t gotten a chance to. At the rehearsal, Fr. Roger gave the Best Man a bit of a hard time for having his Blackberry on vibrate (he’s in law enforcement and was on call that night), but his homily was beautiful, personalized, and something that related to all of our guests as well as ourselves. Sandy and Brenda were our co-ordinators, and they worked very well with our party, especially all of the kids."

Reception:

Promises To Keep

"We were in the Atrium room here for our reception and had a garden bar for cocktail hour. Really beautiful. Jon was our coordinator, and most of our guests thought he was great. I was somewhat less impressed. For example, some of our wedding party took a wrong turn and were about 15 minutes late. Jon got pretty nervous about this, and I found myself reassuring him that it was ok. He took great care of our guests. The food wasn’t my favorite, but again, the guests thought it was amazing. I would recommend that anyone who gets married here requests a tasting at the 6 month meeting."

Hotel:

Sleep Inn

Restaurant:

Chens Chinese Restaurant

Restaurant:

Zorvino Vineyards

Attraction:

Canobie Lake Park

Attraction:

Flagship Cinemas

Attraction:

Mall of New Hampshire