I am not very religious but in these unprecedented times of uncertainty one can look deep amongst…read morethemselves to find comfort. I say this because as it seems lately all we hear about is the death and despair we face as a community. There are a few people who's compassion and willingness to help others restores my faith in humanity. Matthew 25:35 says, For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Lystra Lennard and her staff at Venue 518 yesterday did just that as the bible says....... She welcomed and fed people in her community yesterday, no matter what walk of life you came from. Her selfless generosity set an example that as a community together we can help one another persevere. Our first responders, health care workers , grocery clerks, police , and fireman are all heroes in my eyes , but so are the leaders of our community who's feeling of empathy and commiseration feeds our people that are truly in need. So for that I say "Thank You Venue, Lystra , and the volunteers" you are an inspiration that together we shall overcome. #NJSTRONG

If I could give this place ZERO, I would…read more My sister is having her first child and is due in a few months. She wanted to have a baby shower at this Venue. Unfortunately, because of the current Covid Pandemic, we are not able to have the baby shower. It's MANDATORY. So, we called the venue, assuming that they would understand the circumstances and asked them to refund our deposit. We would have NEVER cancelled. We printed invitations and everything! We HAD to cancel. The result, well, they said they can't give us our deposit because we agreed on that date already but they are more than willing to move it to a later date. IT'S A BABY SHOWER. The UNBORN BABY is not waiting for this Covid Pandemic to go away. She's due when she's due! My sister is upset enough not being able to spend any time with family and friends during a time that's supposed to be wonderful. She's afraid of the risk and harm that can come to herself and the baby! And now she has to worry about not getting her deposit back! A $500 deposit is not a small amount!! And then, they kept saying it's "corporate"s decision. Is this a chain?? Don't you have insurance on your business?? I don't understand. The last time I checked this was a privately owned business. I personally booked an event for this weekend, and had to cancel and when I called the venue I was using they gave me my deposit back immediately. They said they understood the situation. I didn't even have to ask!! And my event wasn't for a baby shower. It was just a regular party. I also called in the beginning of this whole Covid thing, when events weren't being forced to be cancelled yet! I am so upset for my sister and this place in my opinion is HORRIBLE. She's not choosing to have this happen. Have some decency!

Amanda was phenomenal for my dad's surprise birthday party by making balloon garland, a welcome…read moreballoon assortment, and 14 custom centerpieces. She was easy to work with and provided such an array of wide options that I didn't previously consider. While I was feeling overwhelmed with planning the surprise party, she really helped guide and provide collaborative guidance on what might look best, She was a pleasure to work with and I highly, highly recommend her services for any party need!!

Amanda is the best! Her balloon skills are out of this world. She put together the most beautiful…read morebackdrop for my bridal shower and bachelorette party. She is very creative and is able to take a theme or color scheme to the next level. Amanda was punctual, affordable and reliable. If you want to step up any celebration, I recommend her.

My Granddaughter is obsessed with Labubu, so I wanted to see if they could create something special…read morefor her birthday... The staff was super knowledgeable and friendly in helping me curate my "Supreme Bouquet". I surprised my granddaughter by putting it in her room and let me tell you that was the biggest smile ever! If you're looking for a gift that brings pure joy and is backed by great service, this is definitely it.

In August of 2016 my now husband proposed to me. We decided we wanted to have a short engagement…read moreand just throw one awesome party celebrating us. Mind you we just moved to Michigan 3 months earlier and therefore wanted to have our wedding back in New Jersey close to our family and friends. After we found our venue we were fortunate enough to get Candice's information from our banquet manager. Candice helped make our day come true. From the first time we talked over to the phone to meeting in person only a month before the wedding it was perfect. Candice helped us through what we really need for a wedding and what type of look we were going for. After talking on the phone and looking over her website I decided why am I going to tell her what to do, she is an artist. At that moment Scott and I asked Candice to take artistic license with our wedding. We showed her things we liked and she knew exactly what we wanted. On the day of the wedding Candice brought in our bouquets and they were absolutely breathtaking. The colors were so rich; dark red, purple, pink and to top it off there was Kale. My bouquet was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and giving Candice artist license was the best choice I could have ever made. From the flowers around the cocktail room to the reception hall, Candice's vision was beyond what I could have ever imagined. Thank you for making this usually difficult part of a wedding day absolutely effortless. Sincerely, Kelsey and Scott Daingerfield

We worked with Candice for our wedding on January 5, 2019. From the start she was very responsive,…read morehad creative suggestions, and designed beautiful arrangements for us. Initially we provided her with inspiration images correlating to the general idea of what we liked. and she quickly put together a visual digital booklet, personalized and detailed for every aspect of the floral designs we were interested in. Since she had excellent communication and was transparent with pricing, she came up with solutions to better accommodate our budget. We were so happy with her advice and recommendations, so it became an easy decision for us to choose Duchess Florals for our wedding. A few months before the wedding, we had a meeting with Candice to go over everything for our wedding. She's so friendly and personable! We discussed our specific requests regarding color and some flower choices, but we pretty much left the rest of the arrangements up to her. She was very clear of her vision and showed us visuals for everything she proposed, so we were able to finalize our designs at that meeting. It was so easy to work with her, there wasn't much homework or too much need to e-mail back & fourth leading up to the meeting, however if we had a question, she had a fast response time. Before our wedding Candice went above and beyond for us. She scheduled a walk-through with our venue coordinator and took a trip up to our venue, which was pretty distant from her shop. Our coordinator reached out to us and complimented Candice on her inquiries and punctuality. As for her talent, everything on the day of my wedding looked stunning. It was an easy and stress-less experience working with Candice. Duchess Florals was one of our best vendors. We would recommend, and absolutely work with her again!

I've experienced timeless Photobooths twice (once for my graduation party and then as a guest to an…read moreanniversary party) and had nothing but a great time taking pics with them! The two sisters Vanessa and Glenda are so sweet with assisting in the easy to use booth and making it a fun experience for my friends, family and me while we snap our cute photos. The prop display is stellar and the overall look of the booth is very sleek and professional. The ladies were able to customize my templates ahead of time and just as I wanted! For my party I used the cards while at the anniversary party they had strips. Both were nice keepsakes, but the strips gave you that classic Photobooth vibe. I had the open air Photobooth with just the background and props and it was perfect for my budget and space! The anniversary party went with the black full tent and it was BEAUTIFUL! I'd definitely opt for that at my next event if the space permits. Everyone got two copies of their photo strips or cards - one to keep and the other to put in my memory book along with a message. I didn't even think to have a guest book at my party and this was the perfect substitution! Now I have everyone's silly photos with heartfelt and funny messages in one place that I'll cherish forever. Overall, when I looked for Photobooth options this was the most affordable I could find and they give you so many options for different backdrops and add ons and are easy to communicate with when planning a party. I am SO glad I went with Vanessa and Glenda and have recommended them to my friends! Don't let the lack of reviews on Yelp fool you - I never write reviews and was glad to be their first! Book Timeless Photobooths!!!

I've had the extreme pleasure of having Evenings of Elegance plan and manage my day-of coordination…read morefor my wedding at the Loeb Central Park Boathouse in NYC in August 2013. Dharmi is an extremely detail oriented planner who was always there at all hours via text message, email and phone call away to answer any of my questions and to provide me with the attention and assurance I needed to ensure everything would run smoothly and care free on the day of my wedding. My wedding day was absolutely perfect in every way and I could not have asked for anything more. She was amazing during the rehearsal the day before to get everyone in line and she's awesome with kids and got them (ages 3 and 5) to listen and understand their roles as ring bearer and flower girl. I highly recommend her to in trust her to guide and manage one of the most important days of your life!!

Dealt with Evenings of Elegance in planning my wedding (for day-of coordination)…read more Wedding planners are usually hired in order to make the bride's life less stressful; however, Evenings of Elegance only made my life more stressful! Not a good listener, not very strong vendor relationships, and not very experienced. She was the only one of my vendors that I had any issues with, and she was also the only vendor that was hired exclusively to provide the service of being helpful to the bride! She was very sweet at first, and gave a nice pitch, but then when it came down to providing services to her client (me), she fell short. She didn't listen very well so vendor recs were off the mark; she kept trying to pitch me additional services, even when she wasn't doing what she was hired for well, and I hated feeling like she was just trying to squeeze more $ out of me; and she made it clear to me that my wedding and my business were not important to her (ie by not reaching out to my venue to learn about its layout, by not providing me a sample itinerary when i asked for it, by refusing to meet before my event to go over details, etc.). Compared to the services my other friends got from their planners, Evenings of Elegance seemed more concerned with their own image than my bridal experience. If you are looking for a wedding planner, there are a lot of them out there so I would suggest you keep looking - and don't get caught up by the hard sell (which is the mistake that I made). If you are at all detail oriented, have hopes of hosting a classy and upscale event, and/or are looking for a planner that will support you and make your life easier, I would recommend looking elsewhere. This planner cares more about marketing and sales than she does about following through and providing proper client service or doing the right thing for her clients. Pricing is seemingly low at first (before add'l fees are tacked on) - but I guess you get what you pay for.

This place was is a great find with two banquet halls to choose from. Pricing is very reasonable…read moreand they supply tables and chairs. There is huge parking lot and everyone is friendly and helpful. though it is a no frills rental you can decorate yourself with chair covers, table cloths, and what ever you want. There was a bounce house in the hall just last last week. Give them a try, great place!

We used their event space for a fun and casual gathering. Easy to decorate, clean, and owners had…read moreeverything we needed. We had our caterer come early for set up. Everyone commented on how nice the event space was

I highly recommend this shop that's right on Main Street in Somerville! Audrey is the sweetest…read moreowner and friend with very high quality, beautiful work. We used her for our restaurant table tops. Told her we needed about 22 tables, some that could fit 6 people, some for 2 people; and all white washed. She did NOT disappoint. Everything was done when we needed it. Lots of communication. It all came out beautifully. And now we are using her for our personal use for living room coffee tables and our future kitchen counter! Support a small business and family; and come here! It's like talking to a friend.