My April 14th, 2001 Wedding at OHEKA Castle...Part 2...LONG!

***START PART 2*** **T & R Limo, Woodbury, NY: The cars were nice, the bars were stocked and the drivers were nice. We wanted 2 black stretch lincolns for my our bridal party and they worked out beautifully. We had the Bentley and it was beautiful, but didn`t have great pick-up on the road. Suffice to say I had to pay for an additional hour for each car at the end of the night. They were on-time and courteous and the same price as everyone else. **Paula Ralph-Birkett: Was our soloist at our ceremony. She was AMAZING!!! We also went to high school together and she is a professional singer. Very affordable and really accommodating. She helped me pick my ceremony music b/c I was clueless by the time I got to that! She also learned the songs that I requested! Out-of-this-world!!! **Adlib Steel Pan Band, Freeport, NY: For cocktail hour we had this band that is made of up CHILDREN!! They were amazing!! Chip`s nephew is in the band, so he got to play for our wedding too, which was wonderful!! They were so good and so professional. We went to cocktail hour (the food was great)and danced so much to them and it was so much fun! **The Dimension Band: Valerie and the band(732-679-7250) are out of NJ and they are fabulous!! Our wedding song was 'Ain`t Nobody' by Chaka Khan and the guests thought Chaka was there!! They are an R&B Band, they jammed and our guests loved them! I can`t wait to use them for another function. They were also the cheapest band we found, believe it or not, though that is not the only reason why we chose them. They knew our crowd and our music and played for US. They were quite wonderful! **DJ Bobby 808 & JP: They are longtime childhood friends of ours! They were dirt cheap too, but they really only had to play a few sets in between the band. My husband and I are products of the hip-hop generation, so the DJ played only hip-hop/rap, raggae and soca. They were wonderful and our guests had a ball. **The Husband Shoppe, Woodbury, NY: Cynthia (516-367-1740) is wonderful and talented. I designed my own bridesmaids gowns (they wore pants with long wrap duster coats, very DIVA and gorgeous!!) Cynthia was easy to work with and helpful. She also makes mother of the bride gowns. **Gifts:Once Upon a Dish, Garden City, NY: I hand painted mugs that outlined my life with each of my bridesmaids. They cried! Things Remembered--Do not use the one in Sunrise Mall, Massepequa!!! It was a complete nightmare!! Go with Roosevelt Field. I learned the hard way! I gave them bath wraps with their nicknames on them in my wedding color (ice blue), Craft Shoes, Commack: I had their purses dyed with their shoes. Craft Shoes ( I think I worked with a Liza?) they are WONDERFUL!! She had everything done when I asked, she ordered stuff for me and had it in the next day! She let me borrow shoes and bring them back. Love that place!! I didn`t find mine there (I got mine at Jildor Shoes, Woodbury, NY--Pricey but fine!), but my girls and I had a great experience with them. Also gave them their jewelry as a gift and it was perfect thanks to my brides maid that picked it out! My mom made them each their own tote bags out of authentic African mudcloth... They loved their presents! **The guys got Things Remembered, Roosevelt Field (see, my husband knew better:)!!) Flasks w/ their initials and really kool monogrammed keyrings w/ clocks. They loved them and they actually use them! **Rehearsal Lunch: Benihana`s, Manhassett, NY: We had a private room, it was wonderful and they gave us chopsticks when we booked it, so I used them for invites!! I took vellum paper, typed all the invite info for the rehearsal at the church and the luncheon on it, cut each invite into small squares, made a hole with a hole puncher through the paper wrapper on the chopstick) and attached the little square piece to the chopstick with a ribbon. Cheap and creative!!! People loved them! **Our wedding favors were small Easter Baskets (we were married the Saturday of Easter weekend) Sprayed platinum (thanks to my mother!) with an individual wedding cake (the CakeDiva, Hoboken, NJ) and a tee-shirt that Chip and I designed!!! Cute and useful stuff! I think that`s it... I`m so sorry this is sooo long!! I remember every detail because I was PRESENT for it!! Our day WAS NOT a blur! We too were party-goers at our wedding and that`s exactly what we wanted!! It was so amazing and we would not have changed a thing, except for one vendor that will not point out...Nothing happened at the wedding, but after it we realized the true colors. More importantly, I love being married!! I wish we would have done it sooner!!! It has been 3 1/2 months and we are LOVING it!!! We never lived together, so this is just a really special time for us. We are really enjoying each other and building a life together as a couple. Anyway, good luck and God Bless to all wives and brides-to-be!!! Enjoy your day and your life together! Ayanna (Whew!!!:)!!!)

Thanks for the great posts!!! *NM*

YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!! I am soo happy fopr you!!

Hope u stick aorund and help us out. I am going to hear Paul sing on the 11th...she sounds so nice. You know I want to see pics [email protected] Thanks and God Bless Jen

Congratulations!!

Thanks for posting. What a great day. Please add me to the e-mail list for pictures. [email protected]