Got a few services from Al Dee for the wedding, will review each. One quick note on paying up front. That is the case with vendor we spoke to about any service.
TLDR: Al Dee offers some very reasonable rates given all that he packages in the services. We do not have the photos yet but the wedding was just before Thanksgiving and it takes weeks anyway. The experience on the day was perfect. Each member of his staff was very friendly and quick to help in any challenging situation we threw their way. Would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a full service wedding vendor.
DJ
We met in person for our first meeting. Then exchanged email and phone calls afterwards. He mentioned at our first meeting that he has many weddings going on so he would need reminders of our wedding when we would speak with him. Being forgetful myself, I totally understood and reminded him before meetings and in emails.
Ceremony music was perfect and just as we requested. Reception music was great and Al was amazing at reading the crowd and adjusting things as needed. At one point only like three people were on the dancefloor for the cupid shuffle and he rewound the song and came out to the dance floor to help people start dancing to the music. Awesome.
We came in to our requested song then went right into our first dance. Perfectly timed and smooth. We had planned parent dances after dinner. We finished eating early and decided to say hi to our guests and we requested another round of formal pictures at the reception. So we ended up talking then doing our photos real fast (this is where our requested songs were played) then came back to people already dancing. I thought this was nice. Al saw the situation had shifted and kept our guests from getting bored. Once we were back, he cleared the dance floor politely and got the parent dances started. He also listened to crowd requests and made announcements of events or little reminders, stuff that we didn't even think of until that night but he helped us out on.
I do remember the mic cut out a bit during the second speech. The problem was fixed quickly and it also may have been because neither speaker really held the mic right by their mouth so I think Al had to adjust settings on the fly so that their voices were picked up.
The colors for the uplighting we had are perfectly changeable to any shade you need and he helped us pick a color that would fit our theme. What he didn't tell us but we LOVED was that the lighting actually is timed to music. The lights that were set up by our table flashed and popped as the music went on. It was awesome.
Photobooth
We also booked a photobooth that came with an attendant and prints of the photos for each person in the pictures. Our guests loved it and were all over it. Almost every time I glanced over there were people taking snaps in the area. The attendant was very friendly and when my wife and I went over he helped us out with a nice set of poses to start then had us do our own thing for a set or two.
I also noticed that he would tilt the photobooth as needed to ensure the framing of the photograph was nice in each situation. I really liked that he did that along with making sure everyone got a copy of the photos. Overall, I would have liked a few more props but what they did have was great and the only complaint that I personally had was that I didn't get more pictures over there.
Photographer
Rodrigo was our main photographer and Coral our second/assistant photographer. Both were super personable and nice. Rodrigo is a professional and will do anything for a great shot. He has a good eye and strives for perfection in what he goes after. He showed us a few pictures as he was snapping them and everything looked awesome. Really excited to see how it looks when it comes back. He also gave us plenty of tips before hand and we had a very nice and informative phone chat with him before the wedding that honestly set all our fears to rest.
We made some crazy requests for formal photos, just in terms of family and who we wanted snapped after the ceremony. He helped us get it done fast and efficiently then we moved to our formal photos.
Coral was great with the groomsmen photos. Listened to our suggestions and knocked everything quickly with tons of smiles all around. Both photographers were awesome with our secondary round of photos during the reception. They had stuff staged and brought us out to get a few quick shots without eating too much time. Both brought their A game to our wedding.
Edit: Pictures came back for the photo pod and from Rodrigo barely two weeks after the wedding and everything looks awesome! Added a few photos for reference. read more