My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Hi everyone,
I was a not so frequent poster but this site helped me so much that I felt it was my duty to give everyone the scoop on how everything turned out.

In short, it was amazing, everything turned out better than i could have imagined. I can't even think of anything that didn't go well. I'll try to give you the details of everything....

St. Cyril's and Methodius Church - Beautiful church, wonderful people. This is my childhood church and I am so happy that we got married there. Everyone on the staff was so accommodating, made everything so easy and beautiful. Our priest, Father Grieco is such a wonderful person and really made the ceremony and the months leading up to it special for us. Our bridal party even mentioned to us that the woman who does the rehearsal there, Mrs. Fitzpatrick really did a great job and everyone knew exactly what to do.

Hamlet Wind Watch Country Club - I can't say enough good things about this place. This was the first reception site we looked at and we knew instantly that it was perfect for us. Its a bit smaller than a lot of the other places which we liked and has a nice low-key elegant feel. It is not a wedding factory at all. The service and the food were outstanding and we got so many compliments from all our guests about how personalized the service was. Denise was so responsive throughout the whole process and was always available to answer questions, etc. On the day of, there was not a single thing out of place, all of our requests were taken care of. We didn't have to worry about anything except enjoying ourselves (and this was not a problem!) The view and the grounds there may for beautiful pictures (more on this later). The cake was gorgeous and actually tasted really good, plus our guests were totally impressed by the dessert (Ice Cream/Mudslide pie) that they served along with the wedding cake.

Alexis Limos - This was a referral from my brother since I was impressed with the way they handled his 2003 wedding. Everything was very professional, the cars were really clean, they were all on time, and the drivers are all so nice. they might be a little more expensive than other places, but in my mind it was worth it.

Long Island Sound DJs - Chris (MC) - Again, we only visited one DJ for our event. They were recommended by the Hamlet and did an outstanding job. We wanted someone who wouldn't try to be the star of the party but would encourage people to get up if needed. And he did just that, they played all of my requests and the dance floor was packed all afternoon. Early in the party, only the bridesmaids were out there, but Chris went out around the room and talked to the different tables so he knew who everyone was and then called the bridal party back out by name to dance again and then made it a point to say 'Now, all the friends from college, all the friends from the neighborhood, all the friends from the Navy, etc.' It really go people up and moving and they stayed up after that and Chris faded back into the background. He even humored my crazy friends who requested songs and showed them the 'do not play' list so they knew what they were dealing with.

Spelman Studios Photography and Video - The photgrapher was the one thing I was neurotic about. I had seen too many bad collections of photographers and wanted to make sure that I didn't fall into that trap. From the moment I met Christine Spelman, I knew that I wanted her at my wedding. She has an incredible eye and her work is gorgeous but perhaps more importantly, she is incredibly organized and detail oriented. She remembered everyone's names, she got all the pictures we asked her to get. We had an 11:00 ceremony with a 1:00 cocktail hour and she was totally aware of the tight timeframe, she came early to do my family at the house and then left before the ceremony to do the groom's family at the church. We took all of our family pictures on the church grounds immediately after the ceremony and by the time we got to the Hamlet, our parents and grandparents were able to go directly to the cocktail hour and the bridal party made it to at least 1/2 the cocktail hour. It was fantastic and I was so happy b/c it was really important to me that our parents be able to greet all their guests. Christine is so professional. She has a very relaxed style and I never felt that any of the photography intruded on our day. In fact, her team is so unobtrusive that after the first dance, I never even noticed there were photgraphers there, but there must have been because they got a lot of great pictures of the party!

Now for the more important part, we went to pick up our proofs last Friday and they are gorgeous, absoutely beautiful. One of the things I liked about Christine is that she believes in taking a combination of pictures and styles so our album has a combination of B&W and color, posed and candid, romantic, photojournalism, etc. Plus, the way they do the album there ensures that you get an album that really tells the story of your day. The album coordinator, Gina, has a great eye and puts together a collection of pictures for you to start with rather than the whole box of proofs and you start from there. We sat down with her for 4 hours but the end product is really what we were hoping for from our wedding album. The whole staff there is amazing.

We also used Ted, Spelman's videographer for our wedding and he was also very unobtrusive. I haven't seen our video yet but I am sure it will come out great!

Re: My Oct 16 Wedding Review!!

More details....

Milleridge Village Florist - I wanted to do everything in fall colors and do something a little different. Well, Sheryl did a great job, she is so creative and knew exactly what i was going for. The bridesmaid's bouquets were black magic roses and mango calla lilies and they were so excited when they saw them. They realled looked like something out of In-Style weddings. My bouquet was just a simple clutch bouquet of Vendela roses, stephanotis (she put in rhinestones to match my dress) and red astilbe to match the other colors. I really loved it, I even kept looking at it the day after the wedding and dried it so could keep it. The centerpieces were also red and gold and so many of our guests came up to me to tell me how they had never seen such centerpieces before...they were a big hit!

Makeup - Jackie @ Imakeupyou. Jackie did my makeup plus my mom and two of the bridesmaids. I don't really like wearing a lot fo makeup but she did the airbrush on me and it was fantastic. It still looked perfect more than 12 hours later and I had been dancing all afternoon. My mom and bridesmaids loved theirs as well and it made such a difference in the pictures.

Hair - Carmela - This was a referral from Jackie...Carmela came to my house at 6AM and did mine, my mom's and 2 of the bridesmaids. Everyone was really happy. I had alot of people, including DH's family ask me how long it took to do my up-do since it looked really intricate but she worked quickly and it looked great all day and night. And it was really windy when we were taking pictures outside. I was so happy I put my hair up and didn't ever have to worry about what it looked like the whole day, it always looked perfect!

Invitations - I ordered these online from Invitations by Dawn. They were traditional white square invittes. They came really quickly and were exactly what I ordered. All in all, an easy process.

Calligraphy - We used Rebecca from Favorite Things Invitations (a vendor on this site). She is so sweet and did an awesome job on the calligraphy. We got laser calligraphy but they looked so close to hand done that a lot of people didn't know the difference. It definitely gave the invites that polished look we wanted. She works really quickly and has tons of different fonts and styles to choose from.

Gown - Eve of Milady from Bridal Suite of Bayshore - I've read som negative things about Bridal Suite from time to time, but they were great to me. Their saleswomen were knowledge but not pushy like some other salons and really helped me pick something that was right for me. My seamstress, Nancy, was great and made me the coolest underbustle for my dress that made the pleated ballskirt look like it never had a train at all. I didn't need any other alterations so I can't comment on that but she has been in the business of altering wedding gowns for over 40 years and really knew her stuff. We also ordered the bridesmaids dresses from there (Bill Levkoff) and everything turned out fine, there were no problems.

Mom's Dress - Helen's Bridal - I looked there for bridalgowns and they didn't have what I was looking for but they had a great selection of MOB dresses. My mom really liked the women there and they did a great job with her dress. She really looked elegant!

Tuxes - Ginos Fashions in Farmingdale - i had nothing to do with this, but the guys seemed happy and they did some on the spot alterations. They all looked great the day of!

Rings - Fortunoff - We ordered our rings from Fortunoff and were really please with the service. The staff there were great at helping me choose a wedding band that complimented my engagement ring. I do recommend going earlier in the day or on a weekday. The wedding ring counter does tend to get really crowded on weekends.

Favors - We wanted to give people something they could use and settled on wine. We ordered the mini-bottles of wine from Crazy Billys and put them in organza bags which I ordered from PaperSmart (lowest price I could find and they came superfast) I didn't really like the stick on labels, so we ordered paper tags with leaves on them to go with the fall idea from Wax Inspirations. They had a huge selction of favor tags, candles, etc. Everything was custom made and it really added a professional, elegant look to the favors. Our guests really liked them.

Honeymoon - Four Seasons at Wailea in Maui. In a word, amazing. We were so happy we decided to stay there, we felt totally pampered and relaxed. If you go and like to snorkel definitely try snorkeling off the hotel's beach. We went one afternoon and it was like swimming in an aquarium, we even swam alongslide a sea turtle. We also took a trip to the Molokini crater to go snorkeling and it was a huge disappointment after the hotel beach. We did do the catamaran trip and it was a fun sailing trip if you like that sort of thing. We also took trip up to the top of Haleakala. We drove ourselves and did not do the bike trip, instead we stuck around after the disappointing sunrise and the weather cleared up and we got some amazing views of the crater and the whole island. We really like Maui and the Four Seasons and if we can, we'll definitely stay in another Four Seasons Resort when we travel again. It was worth what it cost, the service was outstanding and the room was pure luxury.

I might be forgetting something so feel free to FM with any questions. Once I get a chance to scan some pics in I will. I lived for other people's wedding pictures while I was planning.

Re: My Oct 16 Wedding Review!!

Congratulations! And thank you for such a thorough detailed review...it sounds like you had a wonderful day!!

Re: My Oct 16 Wedding Review!!

A few non-professional pictures...

Re: My Oct 16 Wedding Review with Pics!!

A few more

Re: My Oct 16 Wedding Review with Pics!!

Thanks for the wonderful review!!!

You looked absolutely beautiful and your wedding sounds like it was perfect!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

I got married on the 16th too.
It was a wonderful day to get married.

You must have had a morning or afternoon ceremony.. it was nice when the sun was out that day. Little brisk... but nice!

I had an evening ceremony..
the rains came.. but it all turned out OK!


Great pics! Congrats!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Hey Congrats, anniversary buddy! It was morning, we were lucky, the rain started just as our reception was winding down. It was windy though, the outdoor photos are amusing. We got plenty of good ones, but there are a lot where my veil is blown straight upward or the bridesmaids' hair is obscuring their face.

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Congrats fellow Hamlet Bride! Glad to hear eerything went so well for you - you both look great!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Great review and your dress was beautiful. I love the top!!!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Congratulations!! Glad the Hamlet treated you so well...you both looked great!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Thanks everyone! I truly can't believe its been 6 weeks already, it goes by so fast. But I'm happy there's a forum for us all to share our experiences with planning and with various vendors. This site was a lifesaver to me!!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Hi wedding dress twin! I just Fm'd you....do you have any more pics of you in your dress??????

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Oh how exciting, its definitely not a dress that I've seen on the boards too often.... I will look for more pics of it and try to scan them in. I also FM'd you..

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Beautiful.

Congratulations

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Everything looked great!!! I love the pics!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Just wanted to say that we got our wedding video back from Spelman Studios last week (after only 2 months) and watched it this weekend. It was beautiful and he did such a great job making sure he got everyone on camera (aunts, uncles, special friends, grandparents, parents) Really, really nice....I highly recommend both photo and video from Spelman, they did a tremendous job and I barely even noticed they were there.

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Congrats your look very pretty.

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

Im so glad you shared your day with us. Happy to hear another great review about the hamlet!!

Re: My Oct 16 Hamlet Wind Watch Wedding Review with Pics!!

you looked beautiful