I fell in love at first sight with the Richfield Regency in Verona. The place is so elegant looking but does not have a ridiculously high price. Their service is absolutely exceptional. Raul the banquest manager made us feel comfortable and he was a pleasure to work with. We mainly worked with him but the other people there were just as professional and friendly. My husband & I found it amazing that we heard not 1 negative thing about them when we were planning our wedding. We met couples that got married there from 23 years ago until today. They have maintained a consistently great reputation. I would recommend to at least go look at the place. Wedding planning can be stessful. You will have no worries with them.

For our DJ services we used Tom at Elite Entertainment located in Eatontown. We saw them at a bridal show and were impressed at their energy. My husband liked Tom because he loved how he did the introductions of the bridal party at their showing. After meeting with him we liked Tom even more. He did have an easy job with us because our guests were out on the dance floor all night without any prompting but he mixed the music great and our guests raved about our DJ too.

If you don't want to get ripped off on flowers I would suggest our florist Mascola's in Newark. We got great prices and I still received tons of compliments on the flowers even from our photographer. They turned out beautifully.

The Richfield Regency recommended Dr. Michael Festa in West Orange to marry us and we were very pleased with him. His ceremony was a mix of serious and funny which the guests appreciate and we did too. He will go over the ceremony with you and you can omit or add what you want.

The dress shop I used is not up north because we live down by the shore but I loved them. I used Nicole's Boutique in Brick. The shop is set up well and the girls in there are helpful but not pushy when you are browsing for a dress. I found a gorgeous dress that got tons of compliments for $700. Everyone loved the corset tie in the back. The bridesmaid dresses we found there were also great. The girls loved them and would use them again. Their service was exceptional. We received the dresses on schedule or before schedule and my bridesmaid out-of-state got her dress with no problems.

Hope this information is helpful. I know that it can be overwhelming planning a wedding. We did it in 11 months and really lucked out for the most part on our services. We really didn't do much research. Happy Planning!