Edited with PICS My full review on our Wedding

Finally we are back from our HM in Hawaii. It was spectacular. I wanted to post my wedding review in hopes it will help all the upcoming brides as much as past brides have helped me. I can not seem to get my pictures resized. Once our PC is hooked up at home I will fix the pics and post them. ? Thanks again to all those that helped me during the planning process.

Here we go:

Westbury Manor A+++++++
We loved the WBM. Everything was beautiful. We had our CH outside. We expected to have it inside because the weather was iffy but we were pleasantly surprised when we drove up and we were set-up outside. Our Matre’ D and Bridal attendant were awesome. They attended to our every need and the evening went very well. Best of all people are still talking about the food, service and how beautiful the manor was. We were very happy with our choice.

Classie Sounds A++++++++
Nick was our MC and he was phenomenal. He really did a great job. They played a great combination of music and our dance floor was packed all night. You know your MC/DJ is good when it’s the last dance and people don’t want to leave. We had an awesome time and we danced all night.

Flower Michelle A+++++
I have raved about John before and I will rave about him again. John and co. did an excellent job on my flowers. My bouquets were gorgeous. John’s idea of an extra boutonniere for the groom was an excellent. (Tom really needed a new flower after all the hugs and congratulations.) The floral decorations on my cake were gorgeous as well as all the table arrangements. People are still raving about the centerpieces. The multi-colored rose petals thrown in lieu of confetti looked really great in pictures.
John’s creativity and personality shone through in all aspects. Beautiful work all around.
(I mean it and no I am not related… )

Angel Eyes make-up A+++
Denise did a great job on our make-up for the day. A touch up with lipstick and blush here and there was all you needed. All looked perfect the whole day and night. Denise was very pleasant. Word of advice. You should wear a white shirt the day of the wedding too. I didn’t think of this when picking a shirt to wear all I could think of was button down and I wound up wearing orange. Oh well make-up looked great anyway ?

John Saccente Hair Designs – A+++
Rose and Claudia did a great job on our hair. Rose did my MOH and my hair and Claudia did my other sisters hair. Beautiful hair all night long.


Flowerama Bridal Plaza – Elmont A
I went to the Elmont shop and I did not have any problems. My seamstress was AWESOME. I had one fitting and a final. I believe her name was Josephine but I will confirm. I do know there were a few girls from another wedding that had problems with their BM dresses having stains, but like I said my experience was positive.

Macys Bridal in Manhasset – BM dresses - C
My girls had problems here. From the very start when we ordered the dresses there were issues. They wanted to charge us a rush order fee after on three different occasions we were told the same date to order by. Not one sales attendant we spoke with took into consideration the dress manufacturer’s timing. (That problem was resolved and the fee wasn’t paid by the girls) The seamstress that did the alterations was pushy and sloppy. My sister was so unhappy with her dress she wound up having to bring it to another seamstress. My third girl was told her gloves were picked up by the bride (me? . We never communicated on this so she did not have her gloves the day of the wedding. Hence only the MOH wore the matching gloves. A lot of stress dealing with this place.


Sposabella in Brooklyn - C
I went to Sposabella in Brooklyn for my head piece. They were located across from Klienfelds. I felt completely robbed after I left their store. They were nice but I paid top top dollar for my simple veil. My head piece was beautiful and I absolutely loved it but they knew that and charged quite a bit for it. A week after having the headpiece I took it out to show my MIL and I noticed a crystal missing. I brought it back at which point they glued another stone in. The woman who owns the shop made comments on how she checked the headpiece etc… but frankly based on what I paid, it should be perfect and stay perfect… I would not recommend them. PS. The woman who owns the store makes the veils herself. They say they use Swarovski crystals but I doubt it seriously.

Barry’s Tuxedo in New Jersey –F
OMG! This place was the pits. Do Not Use them. It is not likely you would because they are from NJ but hey you never know…. We used them because they were convenient to the NJ guys and they delivered. Bad idea. They are sloppy, they delivered wrong items and these morons caused the most stress of all!!! My husbands pants were delivered stained, they delivered the wrong color vests and the wrong shoes for another guy. It just gets worse as I go on. Just stay away from Barry’s Formals ? they are a nightmare.


Petri School of Irish dance A++++++++
One of our friends sent this troop over to dance at our wedding. What a great addition. People loved the 20 minute show. All of the dancers wore beautiful costumes and the dancing was wonderful. Our guests really enjoyed this and they are still talking about it.

Wingate Inn A+
We started working with Cynthia and ultimately worked with Jessica. Both ladies were very helpful. Jessica was very easy to deal with. She organized wedding letters into the care packages we left for our guests as well as helped with directions and coordinated the Van service. We arranged to have a shuttle van between the Wingate Inn and the Reception as an extra convenience for the guests. The Inn is very clean and the rooms are very nice and modern. Our guests were very happy with their stay.

Follow Your Heart Calligraphy A+
These people were excellent to deal with. I had some problems with Caligraphixs and needed my calligraphy done ASAP for time was running out. They were awesome. Fast turn around time and everything was PERFECT!

We favor You A++
Invitations and Favors -718-738-9029
Joanne was awesome; she was very helpful and did a great job wrapping our favors. Her prices are very fair. She doesn’t jump on the wedding band wagon for over pricing her goods and services. You can look at many invitation books at her house as well as favor samples. I highly recommend her.

Cassarino Studios C+
Well I have mixed emotions about this place. We really liked them to start they were very professional. They let you pick your photographer based on their work and style. But basically that really didn’t mean much since they switched the photographer a few weeks before the wedding. Supposedly he was going to be out of town the weekend. So they supplemented with another photographer who is from Twelfth Night Photography. His name was Dominick. We liked him a lot. He was very personable. He made everyone laugh with his jokes and he was able to get the kids to pose well. We will see how is work is when we get the pictures back. I’ll let you know. Other than that, Razz from Cassarino (the sales man Razz) was to add a little more to our package for our inconvenience of having to drive out to LI again and meet with another photographer. (we live in Westchester now). Of course he is very hard to get in touch with and barely returns your calls. Makes you feel like once they have your money then that’s it your in a contract too bad. But I have to say he had one of the receptionist call back and he did add a little more to our package so ok fine. Hopefully the pictures will come out good. Keep ya posted on that one.
Edited to say We picked up our proofs yesterday. I am not impressed. See posts below for more. Disappointed to say the least.
So I took them down a grade. My family took some better shots.

Video – Anthony Bevelaqua A
My BIL does the editing of wedding videos and Tony supplies him with a lot of work. We were happy with Tony and the quality of his coverage. He was not intrusive and we barely knew he was there. Really cool guy. He’s on the ball.

All Star Limo- B+
Overall they were very good. They were on time and the limos were clean and looked great. The driver for the bridal car was a really nice guy. I heard the driver for the bridal party was a little bit of a jerk and was smoking in the front. Not too cool. He should have asked if the passengers mind. Especially since they were going to a formal affair. If you are not a smoker you certainly don’t want to smell like you are. No offense to all the smokers out there but they loose a grade for drivers lack of consideration. PS. Ironically there was a no smoking sign posted in the limo.

Message edited 6/13/2004 7:39:47 PM.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congrats Mrs!! Thank you for the detailed review! I am using Flower Michelle and always love to hear wonderful things about John!!

Can't wait to see the pictures!!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

yay! congrats!

Dominic= 12th Night I believe...

I would be curious to price the difference of what it would have cost you to work with Dominic directly vs. going through Cassarino Studios. Unless your scheduled photographer had some true emergency, unfortunately this is the classic bait and switch game many studios play. The pros to working with studios is that they do have the ability to get a replacement quickly, however I believe that well networked and responsible freelance photographers have the same... I'm sorry you had to deal with this, hopefully Dominic came through with fantastic shots and everything will be a-okay :)

I'll stay away from the tux place as I am a Jersey girl...

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Sounds like you had a great day!! Congratulations, can't wait to see pics!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Hey Jersey Girl,

I am glad I put the info on Barrys horrible place.

Bride:
You will not be disappointed with John.

Message edited 6/10/2004 4:47:15 PM.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

congrats...

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congratulations!!!!!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Sept:
I am curious to know what Dominic charges as well versus Cassarino. I am sure Cassarino is more expensive. They have been around longer.

PS: Coincidentally I just got a call. My proofs are in!!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congratulations!! Glad to hear another wonderful WM review!

Question - your DJ was Classie Sounds Entertainment in Brooklyn? I thought I was the ONLY one on the boards using them! I'm glad to hear they did a good job too (although they have to do a good job for me - I know where the owner lives )

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congrats it sounds like you had a wonderful day...do you have any pictures scanned???????

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congratulations!!
thanks for sharing your review

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Very nice. were is the florist located?

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congrats!!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Thanks so much for sharing your review. I am glad WM was great and I can't wait to see my flowers from John!

Congrats!!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

I liked your review, you gave positive and negatives, Overall it sounds like you had a wonderful wedding day!! Congrats, can't wait to see pics.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congrats! It sounds like you had a wonderful day. I also used Sposabella and had some problems with them. I totally agree about them being overpriced.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

I am glad overall you had a great wedding and HM! Congrats! Thanks for sharing your review!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Thanks for the review. Dominic is my photographer, so I have no doubt your pics will come out great!

Congrats to you!! Can't wait for the pics. Ooohh. and tell us about Hawaii. I am heading out there September 3!

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Congratulations and welcome back. I had similar issues with Cassarinos. I have to tell you that my pictures came out wonderful but their service afterwards was horrible.

Congrats again.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

Thanks for the great review! Congrats!

Edited with pics My full review on our Wedding

Well I finally got a few pictures :)

Here they are...

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Re: My full review on our Wedding

More to come

Message edited 6/12/2004 11:40:16 PM.

Re: My full review on our Wedding

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Message edited 6/12/2004 11:25:38 PM.

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Message edited 6/12/2004 11:25:08 PM.