We have one word for Rose Marie and the folks at Renaissance: wonderful. We had our wedding at a private location on Key Biscayne and had them cater it. The main reason we decided on them was because almost everything was included since they have their own florist, baker, DJs, tables and chairs, etc., and my fiancé and I were not prepared to do those things ourselves. Also, they were very reasonably priced, and after seeing how beautiful everything was at the wedding and the quality of the table decorations, flowers, lighting, food, I can definitely say we got a huge bang for our buck.
Rose Marie runs the show, and it's a family business, which means that they work extra hard to make everything perfect because this is their livelihood, and that becomes apparent as you get closer to your wedding because there is a lot of attention to detail. Rosie is down to earth, funny, and loud but in an endearing way. She truly loves what she does and she treated me like a daughter, not a client. To pull off my wedding, she had to deal with a picky property management company and not one but two demanding mothers. But she was a trooper through it all.
I was picked up in a beautiful Rolls Royce by Luis, who is very nice and was very helpful especially after the ceremony when we went off premises to take pictures.
We got married on the beach and it was so pretty the way they set it up, with flowers hanging from holders in the sand, flowers on the chuppah, the red liner... it was really beautiful and we were so pleased with it. My bouquet was gorgeous, and the bouquet for the maid of honor and the bouquet for the toss were also very pretty. Rosie's flower person was on hand to help put the boutonnieres on the men, help hold up my train as I approached the beach, she was so nice. She even took some pictures that she shared with us later because I didn't have pictures of the venue prior to the ceremony.
The reception room was beautifully set up - the property manager said she'd never seen that room done up so pretty! The tablecovers, chairs, chargers, plates, lighting... everything was awesome. Rosie is not a coordinator, but she offers to do so much for you she might as well be one. She put our personalized napkin holders on the plates, set up our placecard holders, even set up our coffee station (we brought our own).
Cocktail hour was nice- we asked them to do just a signature drink, which was sangria, and several people commented on how yummy it was.
The food was very good - several people told me how delicious the beef in mushroom sauce and chicken almondine were, however when we finally sat down to eat, ours did not have much sauce, so it was good, but not as delicious as we'd expected. Appetizers were yummy.
The cake was beautiful... we gave her a description of what we wanted and we got it. And it was delicious - vanilla amaretto, I believe. Also, I got my groom a surprise Dallas Cowboys groom cake, also done by Rosie, and it was big and beautiful and delicious! Plus she charged me way less for it than if I'd had it made elsewhere.
Open bar was great - and Rosie let us upgrade our red wine and champagne selection, so we were very happy about that. The only thing was that the wine wasn't being served in wine glasses, it was poured into plastic cups, which isn't my preference, but I understand that logistics-wise it would've been very difficult for them to transport enough additional wine glasses in addition to all the glasses they'd already brought. But everyone drank and had a good time.
The DJ was decent - he played the mix of music we requested and people danced, but I think he could've read the room a little better... sometimes the American music went on long after the dancefloor had cleared, and then the same would happen after a long stint of Latin music. I just feel like a wedding DJs main job is to keep the dancefloor happening, and when it isn't, shift gears and try something else, not just wait till the song ends. But we still had a good time. And I think he brought the lighting and the place looked gorgeous, and the lighting would change colors, so it was real nice.
Overall it was a beautiful wedding, everything came out great, and we can't thank Rose Marie and company enough. We will definitely be using Renaissance for future events! read more