My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Thanks to the snow I was finally able to finish my review!!! (I apologize it is sooo long!) I have to thank all of the girls posting on LIW for all their ideas and pictures - they inspired a lot from our day!!!
Our wedding day was truly amazing! When my mom asked at the end of the night if I was sad it was over I said absolutely not! If I had to do it all over again it couldn't have been any more perfect than it was!
I have to say though wedding planning was extremely stressful at times. I was lucky to have a very supportive and loving fiance - so maybe the planning is the true "test" - well, we made it and we couldn't be any happier! We are having so much fun as a married couple!!!

Here's my review, please feel free to FM me with any questions - good luck to those still planning

Watermill – A+++++++++++++
Absolutely amazing! From the second we walked in to the moment we left, the entire staff was so amazing! We weren’t nervous for one second, always knew where to go, what to do – they never got in our way, asked us if we wanted drinks when they saw us, asked us if we wanted seconds on dinner (which I heard they asked a lot of our guests). Our guests were never without a drink – they didn’t even HAVE to go to the bar, the drinks were always on the table. The Watermill was beautiful – our pictures all came out with the perfect amount of lighting (not too dark) and the room looked extremely elegant. The dance floor was one of the #1 reason we chose the Watermill and we were right for choosing it- it was large enough for all 200+ guests to dance the entire night – that leads me to…

Times Square Orchestra - A++++++++++++
Our favorite vendor by far – DH and I agreed they were “underpaid” – they started off the night unfortunately with the wrong entrance song for our BP but that was the ONLY thing that went wrong that night and it was quickly forgotten! From our first dance (which we took dance lessons) so they let us dance almost the entire song like I had requested then our guests joined us on the floor. Arnold “Love” Joseph was amazing – just like Barry White!!! He had my somewhat shy friend, then her mom then all the single ladies in the middle of the dance floor singing to each one individually – so hysterical I was crying! The split the room half men half women, then had two at a time partner up – again, hysterical watching everyone dance together. As you can see from our pix – lots of “Irish Jig” dancing- I was having an absolute blast!!!! They sang “C’mon Eileen” (my mom’s name) and she was smiling and dancing with all my girlfriends – I’ve never seen her have such a great time! At the end of the night I probably couldn’t tell you one song they played, I just know EVERYONE had the greatest time – and they must have given out about 20 business cards by the end of the night b/c everyone was asking them for one!

*********** – A+++++++
Before the wedding, I was a little skeptical since the reviews I had read, I didn’t know what to expect – with the “gratuities” in the contract, etc. But for the entire year before the wedding my DH bought all of my roses from them, so it could be that we had a relationship with *** before the wedding, but I thought they did an incredible job! The CP were beautiful and everyone commented on them after – they came out beautiful in the pix as did the BM BO-Ks. They really did a spectacular job! I would definitely recommend them. The price I thought was pretty good too for all that we got. We started at once price and added on $500 by the end – as you all know “What’s an extra $XXX?!!!”

Imagine Studios – A
Engagement pictures came out beautiful – as we drove to the beach to get them (about 11 months after our engagement) we were like what are we doing? Why are we getting these? But the night of our wedding we put about 6 of them on the sign-in table and that night we were getting compliments!
The day of the wedding they were on time, friendly and seemed to do everything how we would have wanted them to so they were definitely great people to work with! They are a husband and wife team who are professional and great to work with.
Our video came out awesome (unedited) – we’re so glad we got a video b/c there were so many moments we would have never seen because we were off somewhere else – so the video got a lot of great moments. A lot of great dancing shots with my grandmothers which we’ll cherish forever! And of course you’re so nervous at the ceremony, you see the video and go “I did that?” “I waved to so-and-so?” hehe.
After receiving our proofs, my first reaction was negative. I thought the church shots were all too far away – really no good close-ups which I was very upset. I wasn’t crazy about the reception-dancing shots and I realized only after that I hated the ones where we were sitting with our families (MIL and I would sit and the rest of the family stood) - holding the BO-Ks in our laps looked so stupid. But what can you do? They gave us about 700-800 proofs and after trying to pick our album, it’s impossible! So all in all they did come out great and I would definitely recommend them!

Gorgeous Faces (Sarah & Jillian) – A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AMAZING! They were really great, and all makeup/hair stayed perfect all day and night! I was dancing A LOT, sweating and my makeup still lasted all night! The cost was a little more than we had wanted to spend, they are worth every penny and if I had to book with them again I would do it in a heartbeat. They are truly amazing- arrived on time (I was very scared of that) – actually even early!, and were friendly and made our morning fun. Definitely would recommend them!

Bridal Suite of Bay Shore – B for the Store overall, D for the seamstresses
My dress came in and was snagged all over and dirty. So they sent it back to Demetrios. I was glad I had ordered it with plenty of time. Dress came back 2 weeks later like they said it would (I was kind of glad I had an extra 2 weeks to get in shape too, haha). So it finally comes in and there is one snag – still! But at that point I almost didn’t care – even though it was on the front of the dress. One of the women working there kept downplaying it – like oh we can get it out don’t worry about it. I think it eventually did come out once they steamed it. Then they get the seamstress to come over and start doing my bustle – so she’s using pins and snagging my dress! So I was like please don’t use pins, just hold it in place until I decide. She went and did some mermaid looking bustle and I said I wanted a French. She said she wouldn’t do it- it would hide the beading. I said I don’t care, this is why I got this long train so I could do the French bustle, I didn’t care about beading, I would be dancing and no pix would be taken of me at that point! So she did it then stormed off. Then like four women came over and said how nice the French bustle looked! So they went and got the seamstress back and she finally agreed to do it- my mom and I were like we’re paying for this! Then the lady said that its more work for them – I was like soooo? So after I took my dress off I saw more snags b/c of how careless the seamstress was – but they were mostly ok once the dress was steamed – I was so upset working with them! And finally I had asked to come by one night to pick up a swatch of my dress and they said Ok they’d leave it out. I called to confirm (learned this while planning) and they had no idea what I was talking about!

Royalty Limos – A++++++++++
I’ll start off by saying if it wasn’t for one of the drivers we wouldn’t have had rings at our ceremony. He reminded our BM to get them from the house! They really were great – on time, told everyone where to go, what to do, they were friendly, the car arrived at the end of the night to pick us up, limos were clean and they didn’t mind stopping at 7-11 to get beer and chips for the BP on the ride out to the Watermill – they were great!

Bridal Garden (Bethpage) – A
BM got their dresses here. No complaints, they were all good to work with and the dresses all fit the girls great the day of the wedding.

Brian the Bagpiper – A+++++
Brian wasn’t actually able to come himself, but the bagpiper that stood in was terrific! He was actually a surprise for my husband – definitely made him smile at the church!

Fortunoff (BP gifts) – A+
I had bought our BM necklaces from here and about 7 months later realized they wouldn’t go with the dress so I returned them no problem. Wound up getting them the Swarovski 3-stone necklace (looks like my engagement ring) and they looked simple and beautiful the day of the wedding. When you register at Fortunoff’s and get your BP presents (we got the GM watches from there) – you get a discount – I think it’s 10%.

Craft Shoes – A+
Got my shoes and flip flops for the wedding there – prices were much reasonable than many of the other stores I had seen those same shoes. They have a lot of disc. dyeables - one of my BMs got her shoes from them and no problems at all.

Church – St. Raphael’s, East Meadow – A-
Our priest was absolutely fantastic! However, my experience in dealing with the church wasn’t exactly a pleasant one- no returned phone calls, they forgot things, thought they lost my check and called me the day before the wedding, etc. The Rehearsal was the worst part I almost broke down in tears! They sent a volunteer in to say “Practice” and refused to help us walk through anything. She said each priest does it differently and she didn’t want to be responsible for telling us the wrong thing. So I was so upset and I tried to remain calm but she could tell I was nervous and upset, so thankfully she got Father Antony to walk us through. The church was just built and finished last June – and was packed with all of our family and friends! Definitely a beautiful setting for our beautiful day!

RD - Milleridge Carriage House – A+++
Rehearsal dinner was amazing – we had a cocktail hour before the dinner – I mostly ate apps since I was still on the bridal diet ;) but everything tasted great and the service was excellent. The set up was great too since we had so many guests!

Metropolitan Dance Studio in Garden City – A++++++++
I would recommend them to anyone thinking about taking dance lessons for their first dance. My DH at first hated the thought of going but then we actually did have a lot of fun and everyone got a kick out of watching us dance our first dance (True Companion).

Bridal Party – A++++++++ (Infinity)
Most of our BP was from out of town – everyone was there for my shower, and our Bachelor/Bachelorette parties – everyone was truly amazing!!! They were supportive and loving and made our day very special and very fun! We couldn’t have asked for a better BP!

Michael's – A+++++++++++++++++
I only wish they had one of those frequent shopper cards that’s all I have to say – I bought EVERYTHING from there!

Holiday Inn Express – A
We had some troubles with them in the beginning since a manager who we originally worked with left – but once that was all cleared up they were truly great. We hosted a breakfast and a reception after-party in the conference room there. Rooms were clean and everything worked out great with the shuttles from there (to date, the only complimentary shuttles to the Watermill).

Invitations – Jamie Lee Weddings – A+
Invitations arrived in days less than they had said – quality was terrific and no problems at all! Everyone loved our invites!

Mother Nature – A+
We were so thankful it turned out to be a beautiful fall day! Got chilly later on and my BMs were freezing unfortunately but they smiled for the camera anyway So glad we got to take outdoor pictures!

Shower – Paparazzi – Beautiful room for a shower – I heard they are closing, so not sure how helpful a review would be, but my shower was great – what a beautiful place and great food!

Programs – Did these myself. They came out very nice and I’m so glad I didn’t pay to have them done! They were little hand-held booklets and were a great size for the church (DH suggested them ;)

Tossing Cones – Did these myself too. Used the same paper as I used for the Programs, these came out really great too!

Honeymoon
L.A.& Tahiti - Bora Bora/Moorea – A+++++++++++++
(Le Meridien – Bora Bora and Intercontinental Beachcomber Resort – Moorea)
Although it was sometimes rainy/overcast we totally enjoyed our very romantic and relaxing HM!!! We didn’t miss out on anything b/c of the rain – although a little disappointed that it did rain a bit, we were lucky that every day there was at least a few hours of sunshine and we were able to snorkel, go on sunset cruises, kayak, swim, lay out, etc! It was truly fantastic. Booked through Liberty Travel in Levittown with AnnMarie – she was great! Oh and we saw Jessica Simpson in LA – very cool - FM me if you have any questions about our HM – I could go on and on but I’ll let the pix speak for themselves!

Message edited 1/8/2006 10:49:48 PM.

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

thank you for such a detailed review!!! Congrats - it sounds like your day was amazing!

I am having truoble with the link...but that could just be me. I'll come back tomorrow for pics!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Your pics were great...it looks like you had an awesome day!

One of my friends is having her reception at the Watermill in JUly...it looks amazing!

Congrats

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Beautiful pictures.
Congratulations!!!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Laura, WOW! You look great! Makes me even more excited for my Watermill wedding. The pics look great!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

congrats

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Thanks!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

congrats...

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Laura....your pics were beautiful!!!! You had the nicest sincerest smile in all your pictures! My fav is the one of you walking down the aisle. Beautiful. Congratulations and all the best.

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

beautiful pictures....and great review..congrats!!!!!!!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Congrats!! Everything looks beautiful!! And boy do you and your girls look familiar

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Thanks

Message edited 1/24/2005 10:05:23 PM.

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Your pics are beautiful...congrats!!!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

You looked beautiful and so did your wedding day!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Everything looked beautiful-congrats

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Thanks for sharing and congrats!! I love looking pictures from weddings that use my color!!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Congrats!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Congratulations!! You look great..the pictures came out great! Everything looked lovely!

Wow, On Bora Bora! Just beautiful!!!!!!!!

Lots of luck..Thanks for sharing!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Congratulations!!! Everything looked amazing!

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Beautiful pics.

Message edited 1/26/2005 1:55:44 PM.

Re: My October 23, 2004 Wedding Review - With Pictures

Great pictures. You were a lovely bride. Congratulations.