Jodi officiated our wedding at The Carlyle House in Old Town Alexandria. From the moment we met…read moreher, we knew she was who we wanted to have preside over our special day. In addition to being extremely professional, Jodi is warm, kind, and caring. She truly puts her heart and soul into making your wedding day special. Our friends and family also loved Jodi and we received so many compliments about her from our guests. We could not have asked for a better officiant! Cheers!

We had our wedding ceremony at the Carlyle House in Alexandria VA, our officiant was Jodi Johnson,…read moreshe is amazing from the start to the end! We recommend her anytime, if your planning your wedding and really want someone that can make your moment special, you need to have Jodi as your officiant, very responsive, always follow up, and at the ceremony make you feel so special, thank you Jodi, you will be part of this precious moment for us.

I got my makeup done for my wedding and honestly, I'm so happy! The makeup artist really listened…read moreto what I wanted and created a perfectly polished and natural look. The foundation, eye makeup, and lips were all flawlessly blended. My makeup stayed fresh all day, and I got compliments from everyone. I would definitely highly recommend them!

Christin is amazing! She's super professional, fun to talk to, and knew exactly what I needed for…read moremy makeup. I will definitely use her again!

Went to one of Chef Tav's couples cooking class we got on Groupon. From the moment we arrived I was…read moreunder whelmed. To start with you had to enter from the side which is fine but it was not clearly marked so everyone was waiting in their car because the front door was locked. We started late and when we got settled discovered that they were not setup for the number of people they had. We had expected that each couple would have their own station but almost every station was shared by two couples and I think one or two stations had to be shared by three; so six people working one cooking station. As we got to cooking you couldn't hear anything the Chef was saying if you weren't right in front of him and what you could hear was not helpful. The first course was a grilled chicken Caesar and I was hoping for some instruction on how to make a proper Caesar dressing or the best way to cut chicken or something but you would have gotten more direction from an amateur YouTube video. They also passed around a beverage of the alcoholic variety while you were working which was little more than weak iced tea with cheap vodka. I must admit as a bartender of many years I was a little insulted. I was not expecting something amazing but it would not have taken much effort to have come up with something more interesting, again I would refer you to a number of great online or YouTube resources better suited for learning. All in all to be fair I saw potential in what Chef Tav and his "Team" we're offering and I won't deny that once I got over the disappointment my wife and I had a good time. For some one that claims to be a Celebrity Chef I would have hoped for something more. I hope Chef reads this review because it would not take much to really step up his game and make his class worth while. For now though I would say don't bother their are better classes out there.

Destroyed all the scallops. Then laughed about it like it was a big joke. He puts too much vinegar…read morein his dishes too. Definitely do not recommend this guy.

I went to Top of the Town for a work event, and it was amazing. You can't beat the views of DC…read more Love the vendors that they partner with, and the staff is always amazing. Sheridan was super helpful not only through the planning process but onsite.

We chose Top of the Town (TotT) as the site for our 40th Wedding Anniversary Party. Our party was…read morefabulous. First, the location is fantastic. The Iwo Jima Memorial is directly opposite the Top of the Town building. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the Potomac River and have views of all the significant buildings in Washington, DC. The inside is spacious - we had 92 guests seated at ten tables, and there was plenty of space for the dance floor, drinks table, and dessert table. We also took advantage of the outside patio because we had great weather, and after sunset, many of us went outside to watch the full moon rise. Catering was provided by Genesis Delight Catering, a company that has experience serving food at TotT and knows the kitchens. The event staff at the TotT are experienced and friendly and will ensure that your event is the best it can be. We enthusiastically recommend this event space. Sheridan Dalier, the event coordinator at TotT, provided generous assistance before our event when we were in the planning stages. She was friendly, experienced, and very helpful. When we learned we could hire Sheridan to help us during our party to take care of the final set-up, last-minute fixes, and any surprises, we gave an enthusiastic "Yes, please." For example, she ensured the audio-visual system had the correct cord to show our slides. She kept track of the gifts we received. She handled questions and requests from our guests. As the evening's event coordinator, Sheridan's help was important, making a great evening even better! We enthusiastically recommend Sheridan Dalier's services as event coordinator.

My mom hired Vicky as our day-of wedding coordinator. It was the best decision we made during the…read moreplanning process. Vicky was communicative, responsive, and helpful in every way. She helped us with a ceremony script, venue and vendor communications, and with general guidance. Thank you Vicky!

Vicky was my wedding planner, and I really can't say enough about her. Let's just start from the…read morebeginning... I interviewed two planners, and I knew I wanted Vicky right away because I was confident that she could get the job done. She didn't want to be my best friend--she wanted to help us achieve the wedding of our dreams while staying under budget. When we were deciding on what services we wanted her to take care of, she showed us this very detailed list of services, kind of like an a la carte menu. We wanted to keep our wedding planner services at $3000 I think, and so we basically picked and chose which things we wanted her to do. SO SIMPLE. No negotiating necessary. After that, she made it feel like our wedding was the only wedding she was working on. Such attention to detail, with a balance of her suggestions and getting our input so that it would still be our wedding. She was honest and straightforward about what she thought were bad ideas, which made us trust in the things that she was excited about and thought were great ideas. Vicky just has so much experience that--really--every little tiny detail was taken care of, so that on the day of our wedding, all we had to do was get our hair and makeup done and show up at the wedding. (My husband and the groomsmen were actually bored the day of our wedding!) The weeks before the wedding, my friends--who know that I get stressed out managing dinner reservations--were amazed to see me so stress-free! Lastly, and maybe I should've opened with this, as soon as we booked all of our vendors, I knew that the cost of having Vicky as our wedding planner paid for itself. The money and time we saved using Vicky's contacts (especially DJ, caterer and florist) was significant. SIGNIFICANT. Please consider Vicky for your event planning services! She is amazing!

Tani helped me to plan my wedding that took place on November 11, 2018 in the DC area. She was the…read moremost responsive wedding planner I had reached out to and immediately began helping me plan the day to make it special and memorable. She helped me find vendors and design the wedding based on my preferences. Along the way, she also tried to help me find the lowest, but quality services. I'm very thankful for her help and would recommend her to other brides looking for a right hand in their planning process! Thank you Tani!

I had the best experience getting my hair done. My hair stylist was very punctual, professional and…read moretalented. After finishing my style, I noticed a few locks of hair did not feel secure and my stylist was very receptive towards my concern and fixed it immediately. I was very satisfied with the end product.

I really enjoyed the vegan challah French toast here for breakfast. It was delicious, fresh and…read morefilling and the staff at the counter was very pleasant. They were also responsive via email for a question I had which I really appreciated. They sometimes have vegan whipped cream available but I asked for extra strawberries instead since I wanted it to feel a little healthier for breakfast. I liked that it came with a little bottle of maple syrup. I ended up keeping it for later because it was sweet and delicious enough for me without. They only have challah French toasts on weekends. My general rating system: 1 star: I would stay away 2 stars: Has some good things about it but I generally don't recommend. 3 stars: Pretty good. I wouldn't go out of my way to go back but a decent place 4 stars: Great place. I would go back. 5 stars: I highly recommend stopping whatever you are doing and making plans to try it out! An Evie favorite!

Food Love this place and I would come here so much more often if it was not all the way up by the…read morezoo in Woodley Park. I have only ever come here for the bagels, but know they have breads, pastries, and are known for their panda cake pops. The people in front of us were ordering them and said they were fresh. I always get the bagels from here, while on the smaller size, they are really good. I argue that DC does not have good bagels, but these are some of the better options that we do have in the city. Get a dozen for the best deal or if you do not mind getting the ones from the previous day, those are the best deal at $7 for an assortment of 6. Pop them in the freezer and they are just as good. Service Quick and easy since I was grabbing bagels to go. The staff was helpful with pointing things out. Ambiance A few places to sit inside, but if it is nice I would recommend just going to the zoo. It is across the street and way better to eat in front of watching the animals than the busy street.

Oh my goodness, Andrea was incredible!! We hired her as a partial planner and she surpassed our…read moreexpectations and then some. We realized around 7 months out that while we had booked some of the major things, we were overwhelmed and in over our heads, and she really saved the day and made it all possible - planning a wedding is a lot y'all!! Especially from out of state, whew! She helped us with finding quality vendors, keeping us on track/organized through her super helpful portal (which had sections for design planning, vendor contacts, budget, seating charts, to-do list, advice, etc), with a number of scheduled video calls and by checking in via email. We used zola for our website but I regret not going with her option to build a website for us because zola had a lot of frustrating limitations (couldn't even add links or bold things where we needed to). She had a helpful assistant through the prep process and an amazing, kind wedding day team who helped assemble my dream design elements. I'm a designer and made mockups of how I wanted things to look and uploaded pictures to the portal design studio, and they followed my vision so well!! And they even made one part look more tasteful than I had planned - loved it! Maybe more importantly, Andrea and her team basically made everything run smoothly, including packing up all the stuff we gave them to set out at the end of the night and dropping it off at my husband's dad's house since our venue was strict and needed everything out ASAP. What a relief to just show up to the wedding day (and leave) knowing all of those little details were being set up and taken care of - it was awesome! On the day-of, Andrea and her team were connected with the vendors with headsets, making everything run smoothly and communicating with the DJ about who was coming down the aisle for the songs to line up. She also helped us and the rest of the staff adjust and pivot after our ceremony went way overtime (we should've known, our rabbi loves the poetic details, which was beautiful in the moment, and my husband & I probably should've planned for more time knowing that lol). She helped us calm down after realizing how behind we were because she stayed so calm and collected, and calmly walked us through deciding what to shift for the rest of our timeline (we packed a lot of rituals in there). She also swooped in to help when I was having trouble with my makeshift dress bustle (she had worked at a bridal shop in the past - so amazingly helpful!) Andrea is so kind, calm, organized, approachable, and just nice to work with. She talked me through a few anxieties when I was overthinking things and in general, she was super patient with our moments of indecision and neurosis lol. I'm going to miss our rapport and check-ins, it was so nice knowing she had our backs throughout this whole process. Wedding planning is an overwhelming process, so having someone there for us like she was was a total game changer. I wish I knew more people in the area to recommend her - if you're on the fence, definitely hire her! She's amazing and you won't regret it!! (Waiting for our official photos but sharing a few of what we have for now)

She's the best! Andrea and the Entyse Lyfe team are simply the best. All we started with was a…read moredress and two months before the wedding date. Andrea turned it into the wedding of my dreams. From the beginning Andrea was professional, organized and full of ideas! She asked us what our must have wedding details were and found a way to make sure that we had them in the wedding. I appreciated all of the vendor recommendations she provided. They fit in perfectly with the style and tone of the wedding. She was there every step of the way and alleviated all of the wedding planning stress that she could. Andrea had a solution for everything that came up through the process. Even down to the end, like not having a cake stand for 2 of the cakes a day before the wedding. She came up with a substitute that was beautiful, matched the decor and no one was the wiser. The day of the wedding she was there with her team and the magic happened!! It was a beautifully arranged room and better than I imagined. The days events went along smoothly. But, it was Andrea and her team working hard behind the scenes to ensure that all we had to do was enjoy ourselves! And, everyone enjoyed themselves. The best decision I made other than my husband was hiring Andrea as my wedding planner.

Nicole did an amazing job officiating our wedding. The vows were beautiful. We are so happy we had…read moreNicole marry us. She was personal but professional. Many of our guests mentioned what a beautiful ceremony it was.

From the owner: As Wedding Officiants, we specialize in performing beautiful, memorable wedding ceremonies. Simply…read moreput, we marry people.

Seems like they're on Groupon all the time. Our horseback ride started about 1.5hours late. I…read morewasn't happy about this at all. Not simply because he was running late, but because the house (castle/waiting room/party room) was absolutely filthy. I was really taken aback by a business looking like this, even if it's a business that works w/ animals. When we got there, the owner and assistant were on a ride w/ another group. Then the group we were supposed to be riding with were an hour late, so we had to wait for them. It was just annoying, although Steven (owner) was friendly. When we walked into the empty house it looked like a construction space, a hen was walking around the inside and I even saw it poop IN THE KITCHEN! Things finally turned around when I hopped on Sherman (my white horse w/ black spots). He was a greedy little thing and ate up all the grass but he was a great horse. Steven immediately put ppl on the horses and taught us while we were riding. He was a straight to it teacher and I liked that. He definitely knows what he's doing when it comes to animals. He took a bunch of pictures and videos and sent them to everyone in the group. I'm thankful to have such awesome pictures that didn't cost us extra. I'm giving 4 stars despite the filth because Steven was friendly, welcoming, and I enjoyed the experience. Tip: -don't eat there if germs bug u -don't arrive early, there's no point -yes, you're in the right spot, even though it looks a little funky on the outside

It's funny this guy is trying to say we never went when we did - I'd love to see what evidence he…read morehas considering during our entire time there he never once asked for our names or checked that we even had a reservation. He also never redeemed our Groupon. He has repeatedly messaged me and begged me to remove this review and has even reported it to Yelp to try to get it removed. Not only do I stand by my review but this Steven Strasburg owner has proved himself to not only be completely unprofessional but also desperate and dishonest. My advice: TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY for your business instead of accusing people of posting fake reviews or saying "it must've been another place". This is the ONLY time where an owner has not only not apologized but tried to say I'm posting for the wrong Castle Strasburg. How many Castle Strasburg horseriding places are there in Midland, VA? SHAME ON YOU!