10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

So after reading so many of your reviews; it’s time for my own. Overall everything was great. A couple of bumps here and there, but nothing to sweat about. I don’t know if I’m forgetting anything, so if anyone has any questions feel free! (No, we didn’t have limos or a video!)


Mary’s Corset
The girls at Mary’s were great. Once you get over the fact of them groping you it’s perfect. During the dress purchasing process I was losing weight – so the people at Lillette’s suggested that I get a corset for my final measurement before they order the dress. Of course, this was about 10 months before the wedding; so I had lost more weight after that. The ladies at Mary’s re-altered my corset a week or so before the fitting; and then after my first fitting when the back needed to be lowered a bit. They were the sweetest ladies and were very helpful. Do remember to go an hour before they open if you want to get out at a reasonable time!

Lillette’s Bridal
Geri was my saleswoman and she was great. Being a plus sized bride, it was difficult for me. I went into some places and I could see their faces change when I said that I was the bride. Geri just went right over to me and grabbed my hand and was very excited to show me what dresses were right for me. I of course fell in love with a 250.00 veil; but couldn’t spend that much money on it without feeling guilty. I told Geri this and she went downstairs to the alteration area and found the same veil with a tiny hole in it. She sold it to me for 100.00 (with alterations included to fix it!) but then gave me a 50.00 coupon. So; I got a 250.00 veil for 50.00 – nobody was the wiser about it! All I can say is it can’t hurt to ask. Laura altered my dress; and she was pretty good. She needed a little direction in the beginning from one of the older ladies there (I don’t know her name) but once she got going she was good. The one thing I was a little mad about in the beginning of alterations is that (I thought) they charged me 90.00 to alter (ie hem) my slip. She had already wrote it down and I signed it before I realized – I thought it wasn’t very nice of them considering that was not included in the original alteration price. When I went back to pickup my dress I saw Geri there – and I told her that she should tell people that there is an extra charge for it – well she looked up my bill and then realized that they charged me 2x for the slip – the ladies in alteration didn’t take down the second page of my bill that had the slip, veil and tiara on it (they only took the one that had the dress on it). So; I have a check coming my way on a refund on that. It would have been less of a big deal if I actually looked before I signed, but needless to say they were very apologetic regarding the confusion and rectified it right away.

Gino’s Fashion Tuxedos
This place was great – service was prompt and courteous – never a problem, tuxes came exactly as expected, on time, etc etc. It was great that they did alterations right on the spot – best man needed shirt sleeves a little shorter; so they took it back right away, fixed it, repressed it and 10 minutes later we were off.

Elsa’s Wedding Rings
Our rings are exactly as we wanted; the people there are great; will work with you on design and budget. I would recommend anyone to go there!

Gorgeous Faces – Jillian – Hairdresser, Sarah
The girls were great – hair and makeup as expected. Not too much, not too little. It stayed on all day with no problems at all. They were right on time and were finished quickly. My only ‘gripe’ would be the trial price. My feeling is that if I book you then you can take the amount I paid for the trial off of my final bill. From what I hear, not everyone does this. But eh, what are you going to do!


Patken – Steve
Steve was a great guy. During our engagement shoot I told him we were ‘difficult’. We’re not smiling people, and we usually hide from the cameras. But, he was quick and painless in taking the pictures and made us laugh. Since we are not picture people I was concerned that we would be stuck with some old jaded guy that would be snotty about our lack of love of photos – but Steve was the exact opposite. Our engagement pics came out great, so I’m sure that the wedding pictures will be great too. I requested a couple of shots that I saw other people have and he got them in there with no problems. Most people recommend having someone ‘watch’ the photographer; but there was no need with him – he knew exactly what was needed and made us comfortable about it. As Steve was going around to tables he even picked up other people’s cameras and took pictures for them.

Flower Michelle
My flowers were beautiful – everyone loved them! From the bo-k’s to the arrangements at the gazebo they were perfect. I heard people saying ‘wow there are so many flowers here this must have been so much money!” I was dying to tell them that it was so reasonable. John was easy to work with and made us feel comfortable the whole time. We were originally going to go with the house florist with the included centerpieces; but we met with that florist and since we met with John before we did not feel comfortable with the house florist. It felt to me that the centerpieces would have been a small vase with 8 roses in it from the local gas station; and I didn’t want that. So I called up John about 3 weeks to the wedding and told him that I changed my mind and that I needed centerpieces. He delivered with no problems. The only ‘complaint’ I do have is that we made the ‘martha stewart’ mirror bases for the centerpieces (when we originally were freaking out about the standard centerpieces) and I gave them to John to have them put out on the table – well, it seems that they never made it to the tables. My feeling is that the box was probably in the back of the truck and the delivery guy never put them out. No big deal here; everything was great without them. I’m sure if I called and asked about them that morning they probably would have returned and put them out; but it’s not that big deal to me.

Big Hits – DJ
We were difficult on the DJ – we listen to Krock primarily. So; we knew we weren’t going to get the music that we listen to on a daily basis. I had made a list of songs I would like to hear, and asked him to fit in as he could – and he did a great job of it. He played some thing for everyone, and that is exactly what we wanted. He was very courteous, prompt and was always asking us if the type of music and volume was good. I know these guys are a little more pricier than others, but it was worth it to me.

Black Forest Bakery
The cake was included with the Riviera package; and they told me I could go down to the bakery and speak directly to the baker about what we wanted – we did this, and the gentleman said it could be done, no problem, blah blah 50.00 additional. OK, no problem. I had given him a picture of what we wanted – a 4 tier cake, white, with swirls on the cake in a ‘darker’ white color. Well, the cake tasted wonderful, but the design wasn’t that good. It looked like the layers were off center; the cake was some yellowish color (buttercream I guess? But he told me it would be white..) and the weirdest part was that the layers were rounded. I mean, you watch any cooking show on the food network and they show the people cut the ‘hump’ off the top of the cake to make it level – it seems that they did not do this. Of course, none of the guests saw or knew this; we just knew because we had this great picture in our head of what it was going to look like (plus they put the cake out in front of you so the whole time you are eating dinner you stare at the cake). So; overall, the cake tasted wonderful, but looks wise I was not happy. Next time I’ll let them bake it and I will decorate it.

Sergio's italian restaurant - rehersal dinner
This restaurant is 5 minutes from the Riviera and was great - we had a 4 course meal for 15.95 a person. Michael was great in making sure everything was taken care of.
Oh yeah, and the food was yummy too!

Riviera
The Riviera was great – the food was delish; and the guests loved the ‘homey’ feel of the place and of course the great views. We had the ceremony at the gazebo, and cocktail hour outside. If I had many more guests I would have been concerned if cocktail hour would have had to be inside due to the size of the ‘rain’ room. But, for smaller weddings I think the place is great. We dealt mostly with Michelle for the menu selection and our Maitre’D was Jennifer. Our bridal attendant was helpful in all situations and was always around to ask if we were OK and needed anything. Chocolate fountain and mini-viannese hour went over great! I kept on walking around and asking people ‘do you have anything dipped in chocolate?’ and everyone always said yes.

Inn at Fox Hollow
We stayed here for our wedding night; and it was great. We got just a ‘standard’ room, not a suite and it was still enormous. There was a big kitchen; eating area; sitting area, etc. There was a great breakfast in the morning; not your typical ‘hotel’ breakfast of bowls of cereal and bagels; but a full breakfast with omlettes, pancakes, etc.

Message edited 10/5/2004 12:32:44 AM.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats, Im happy you had a wonderful wedding, all the best to you and your new husband!!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

congrats lets see some pics

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations! Can't wait to see your pictures!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations!!!!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

You'd think with all those cameras around I would have pictures - but I don't have any!

As soon as I get some I will post them.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations! Can't wait to see pics.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats. Sounds like you had a great time.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

congrats

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

CONGRATS!!!

We stayed at the Fox Hollow inn too!
I just lovd the 4 poster bed! I am looking for one for our bedroom.


BEST WISHES!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Hi and Congrats

Which Michelle flowers is this?

is this the one in Lynbrook?

thanks

Message edited 10/7/2004 4:34:28 PM.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats, fellow Riviera bride!! Your wedding sounds like it was wonderful!! (We had our RD at Sergio's too, used Elsa's for rings and worked with Geri at Lillette's for BM and MOB dresses!) I wish you and your DH lots of love and happines!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats! Glad to hear everything went well! I'm happy to hear Big Hits did a nice job, we're considering using them next oct.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations!!!!! Im so glad to hear everything went well. I cant wait to see the pics!!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats!!! Can't wait to see pics!!! Also can't wait for that Chocolate Fountain.

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

congrats, everything sounds wondering, glad to hear about paken too

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congrats! And thanks for a great review. I cannot wait to have my wedding at the Riviera! Can't wait to see pictures

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

i want pics!!!!!!!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations Blaze. Everything sounds great!

Re: 10/3 Review; Riviera - Patken - Flower Michelle- Big Hits - etc

Congratulations!!!!! I love to hear reviews from Riviera brides! I can't wait to see pics!!!