Venice, May 4th 2013.
Martina,
I don't even know where to begin with writing my testimonial of your services. It has taken me a few days to gather my thoughts to really take it all in because it all still seems like a fairytale!
From the very beginning you made every piece of the planning process a breeze (even when I did not make it oh so easy for you!) :) When I contacted you at Exclusive Italy I also contacted a few other planners just to get an idea of the process and to see if what I wanted was even possible in my short time frame and living all the way in the States. Out of the 4 wedding planners & designers that I contacted you were the only one that was willing to take the time to make my dream a reality. Only having 2 days in Venice, the other planners told me it would not be possible to be married at St. Mark's with that short amount of time. Obviously, with your expertise, we pulled it off without a single mishap & we showed them otherwise ;). Even at a hometown wedding it is VERY uncommon for things to run as smoothly as our wedding went. I cannot express to you how much we appreciate you taking the time and going the extra mile to help us make this all happen. Looking back, I know that it was God leading us to you and I am very glad that he placed us in your path.
Again, from the beginning you made everything a breeze. Not a single week went by where I went without an update. I felt like I was receiving your undivided attention at all times. Working, going to school, & planning a wedding all the way from Alabama, U.S., that communication was very important to me. Wiring money overseas can be a very scary thing also, especially since we had never done it before, but you kept us completely up-to-date with receiving payments and sending us receipts immediately. We knew from the beginning that our precious information was in very good hands. Everything was explained and even when I would ask you questions that you had probably answered for me many times before you never lost your patience with me or forgot to get back with me. You are truly an expert at what you do!
Back to how smooth the day ran... OH MY GOODNESS, Martina! How did you do it? We are still baffled by the fact that not one single thing went wrong and even our timeline went along perfectly. Not that we ever doubted you ;)! I have just never heard of a bride having even a hometown wedding not have at least one simple thing go wrong. But no, not with us. We were married thousands of miles away from home, neither of us had ever been to Venice, neither of us spoke much Italian, & our day was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! How does that even happen?!
It is obvious that you love your job and you went out of your way to make sure that we were VERY taken care of. You are truly a Godsend! The flowers were exactly what I wanted (and more). The salon that you recommended (Carlo & Bruna in Hotel Bauer) was fabulous & did my hair and make-up perfectly, even without having a trial-run. Our violinist was superb & went above and beyond with her beautiful talent. Mons. Brian at St. Mark's was such an amazing man. Thank you so much for finding such a kind and Holy man to be with us and join us as husband & wife.
And then on to Andrea, our wonderful videographer... WOW! We were blown away by Andrea's ease to work with and god-given talent. Honestly, we were very nervous to even be in front of a regular camera, much less a video camera all day. But we rarely even knew Andrea was there. He made us feel so natural and he knew exactly where we should be and what we should do to get the best shots but without looking too posed. And then when you planned for the orchestra to play our 1st dance song in the piazza & he got that amazing shot circling around us! Oh it gives me goosebumps! Andrea is just a wonderful person to work with and he is fabulous at what he does. Like I said before, it still doesn't seem real! The entire day just seems like a fairy tale!
I don't even know where to begin about the restaurant where we had our reception dinner, Algiubagiò! Again, WOW! I have never received such great service and hospitality!! Paulo was amazing and we truly felt again, like we received his undivided attention the entire night. His staff was also superb. From the wine tasting the night before to the actual meal it was an amazing experience. I could write a whole new review of just how delicious the food was, but I will save that review for their website as not to take up the rest of your week reading my email. ;)
Now on to you, our lovely & talented Martina! I obviously could not have done it without you! Again, I feel like I need to start a whole new testimonial just to rant and rave about how fabulous you are! We truly left Venice feeling as though we made a new friend. I honestly already felt that way just from the correspondence that we had the months leading up to the wedding. But finally meeting with you & seeing all of the work you put into making everything so perfect. It was a dream come true! The day of the wedding you were like my 3rd hand, there to handle every little detail. All I had to do was get dressed, walk, and not fall. You handled the rest to the tiniest little detail & it was an amazing feeling. I always hear about brides being frantic and stressed on their wedding day. Now I know that is only because they do not have you there to save the day. I could honestly go on for days about the amazing experience that we had working with you and I don't know how words will ever do you any justice. God blessed us the day he led us to you to handle our very important and special day. You are a rockstar!!! I just don't feel like these words do justice to what you did for us, so I may just have to send another testimonial in a few weeks to touch on anything I may have missed. Hehe
You are an angel Martina! Your company is a shining star in the line of work that you perform and I wish nothing but success and prosperity for you all. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for EVERYTHING! Andrew has already promised to take me back to Venice for our anniversary and our whole group has made a pact to return together in 5 years to Algiubagiò so we hope to see you then if not sooner! :) we will be writing you to let you know when we come for our anniversary so that we could maybe meet up for lunch or dinner. We would love to see you again, our wedding angel!
God bless you & your family Martina.
This definitely isn't goodbye, but more of i'll see you later!
Again from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for everything!
Lots of love,
Andrew & Marsha Holley
