Our Wedding Story ................................................................. now with video clips. Draft album pages on page 7...FINISHED ALBUM pics on page 8

Disclaimer: Although we booked our hall and all of our vendors in late December 2005 for our March 2006 wedding, we did our research well in advance.

It is such a cliché but our wedding day was the happiest day of our lives. I cannot even describe the amazing feeling of being surrounded by so many family members and friends who love us and wanted to share in the amazing celebration that was our wedding day Being married brought with it such a sense of peace that I did not expect to feel It really is a place of solace when people are on your last nerve For anyone contemplating the thought, the “piece of paper” does make a difference

I can see why so many couples do not write a review. There is just so much to cover I commend those who put up reviews so soon after their weddings

I debated posting a review for a while. I always enjoy reading the reviews, especially those with photos. However, as I’m sure is the case for most posters, I have a love/hate relationship with the chat boards. I love the concept of sharing information on experiences with wedding professionals since none of us has planned a wedding and could use all of the help available. But in the same vein, I hate sorting through the catty, drama-filled threads ---especially the cross-board drama threads wherein some feel the need to round up their “posse” to “attack” another poster for typing something they found offensive or something that they thought was directed at them personally – when 99% of the time it was not even directed at the posters that get their panties all in a bunch over it. I have to admit, those threads do sometimes make for good entertainment before they get pulled by the site administrators.

We all realize that not everyone can “play nice” (not in life and not in cyberspace) but please use the chat boards for their purpose – plan your wedding. And should you decide to post instead of just lurking (which I did for a couple of months before posting) maybe you will make some good friends in the process of the wedding planning Shout out to all my GTG buddies and soon to be GTG buddies

Since I received phone calls, e-mails and FM’s from all over the country from posters that I have met in person and/or have come to know and respect, we undertook the task of putting this together.

Moreover, our vendors did a fantastic job for us and we want to give them all the praise they deserve.

Although some of you will just scroll through this review and look at the photos, writing this was cathartic for us. Putting this together helped resolve some things in my mind that I struggled with during the planning. In the end the emotional aspect of the wedding as opposed to eloping did win out and I am happy that we had the wedding

We hope that this review is as helpful to future brides as past brides have been helpful to us.

Please do not use our photos without express written permission. They are copyrighted. Please, please, please give our photographer credit.




OUR WEDDING STORY

“They look so happy” “Enchanting” “Elegant” “Unforgettable” “We had the time of our life” “A fairytale” “Such a beautiful couple” “So classy” “The food was psychotic” (a good thing ) “Magical” “the gardens are gorgeous” “the music was on point” “Impeccable service” “Gorgeous location” “The coffee was fantastic” “The best duck I ever put in my mouth” “The DJ was off the hook” “The photographer and videographer were everywhere”. These are just some of the things the guests are saying about our wedding It was such a joyous and emotional day for everyone. It goes fast so you really have to take snapshots in your mind as the day progresses. All I can recall is being on cloud nine for the day

Guests are still raving about the wedding and saying how elegant and beautiful everything was that day. I have gotten calls about helping to plan family events and my good friend who planned my NYC shower and made a few of the favors for the shower earned a handsome fee for the creative favors she made for a coworkers birthday party The shower favors were a great advertising tool. She also took some of our wedding items that I made to her office and many coworkers wanted to use my ideas for upcoming weddings

We have had so many people call to say that it was the best wedding they had ever attended and that we looked so happy that day Everyone has been so wonderful and many sent cards and e-mails saying that they were honored to even be invited My dad keeps getting calls and said that every time he speaks to his friends/family who attended they end up talking about the wedding.

I think the most amazing comment was when one of my older cousins told me that her family had the “the time of their life” at our wedding – and she just gave her daughter a wedding in VA in October that I was not able to attend. My friends that were at her table said that she told them our wedding was fabulous and that the attention to detail surpassed her daughters wedding.

DH and I had such a great time at our wedding! Your guests will follow your lead. If you are having a fantastic time, it will show and the guests will have a fantastic time too We really enjoyed the day and did not let anything ruin our spirits We were so pleased to hear that our guests had a great time When we look at our photos and see how happy everyone looked (including us ) it makes us smile

This is possibly the happiest moment of the day - assuming I had to pick just one.



This is a close second


It was just after we were married but before we walked up the aisle as husband and wife I think it was just after I took off my veil – yep, it was off before we even walked up the aisle I loved it but the crystal pins came out when my dad hugged me by the head and then even more so when DH pulled it back to kiss me. I pulled it out the rest of the way just before we jumped the broom and I never had it put back in place.







A cousin took these photos. I thought my daddy was not gonna let me go





As hard as it is to believe, not everyone will be thrilled about your wedding. For some reason weddings seem to bring out the worst in people But there are those who really stepped up and we appreciated it. We were surrounded by only family members and friends who love us and wish us nothing but happiness We invited those friends/family members that could pledge their support and strength to the success and continuing growth of our marriage – which was a portion of a reading during our ceremony.
This is quite possibly the LONGEST wedding review EVER in the history of the boards DH helped me write it since I did not recall everything and he was in the middle of a lot of things while I was getting ready. I am still finding out as we put this review together about things that happened that day Do not plan to read it all the way through in one sitting.
I still kind of feel like the whole wedding planning process is a hazing ritual – especially for those that want to elope and are convinced by married friends (those who had weddings) not to elope. If you want to elope, do it. Planning a wedding causes a lot of unnecessary stress as it is so if you have your heart set on eloping on the beach or something – do it

If we had it to do again, I would still want to elope. DH says he would still want the wedding day. No, I really would do it pretty much the same way but with maybe a few changes to the flow of the day I am glad that DH convinced me to move forward with planning a wedding instead of going off to elope. It was just mind-boggling to be surrounded by so much love that day. We had family and friends travel from as far as 17 hours by car and 13 hours by bus to share our day



We did not share our wedding day details along the way with many people on the chat boards since this is a public site. I know of brides who had others call their hall to try to cancel or call to try to cancel registries or other vendors – out of pure jealousy I guess Not to mention, the number of lurkers on this site is probably 95% more than the number of people who actually post since there is no requirement to even register to simply read the posts

Because we did not publicly share all of our wedding details along the way, we will give a detailed account now.

We had 6 funerals in the 3 months leading up to the wedding (2 in the last 2 weeks before the wedding) and another funeral the week after we came back from the honeymoon . It was bittersweet to keep taking names off of the guest list Attending all those funerals while planning our wedding put so many things into perspective. With so many friends losing loved ones (spouses and parents) it just made us realize that no matter all the planning, anything could happen.

DH and I kept a tabbed wedding planner so everything is here. He was with me every step of the way and at nearly every single vendor appointment – to make sure I did not make HIS wedding “cheesy”.



It was a magnificent day!!!!!! However, once you come to the conclusion that SOMETHING WILL GO WRONG on your wedding day, you will be less stressed. Nothing ever will be “perfect”. The only issue then is if you learn about the problem(s) before, during or after the wedding.

Sooooooooooooooooo, we finally did it. We are all honeymooned and back in the swing of our normal lives.



After all of my back and forth posts about a VA versus NY wedding from late 2004 until probably the week of the wedding when my time for the “It’s Your Week” post came around, I’m sure some of you thought I was never getting married. Well, we had a beautiful day and I enjoyed the opportunity to commiserate with some of you during the stress of wedding planning.

God puts people in our lives at the right time and for a purpose. DH is the man that not even my dreams could accurately portray – the man with all the qualities I wrote out in my wish list for my ideal husband . He has all of the qualities I forgot or was too ignorant to know that I wanted in a husband. I have no idea what took me so many years to look up and notice him although he worked in my office off and on for years But I’m thrilled that DH & I crossed paths in this lifetime – this coming from a woman who kissed a ton of toads to find my prince charming.



I have not posted daily as I once had since I kind of went through my wedding obsession and then got past it – all without therapy or an intervention I think we all go through that phase though - being completely obsessed with wedding details for a bit during the planning. It does pass though and I think I became really laid back about the details after a while. In fact, some of the things I obsessed over in the beginning never materialized when it came down to actually ordering and making items. And some of the items I bought and took to the hall did not actually get used. And you know what, it did not even matter on the day of the wedding.

Be warned again - this is LONG since I am trying to be as thorough as possible

LET THE REVIEW BEGIN …………………………………
First & foremost: www.EbonyBridalPlanner.com & www.LIWeddings.com and www.nycityweddings.com although I did not go through www.nycityweddings.com to get to the chat boards.

Without hesitation, I totally recommend these websites as the ultimate resource for planning a wedding in this area. Who else can one turn to that can help plan a wedding (absent professional help) but other brides/grooms/parents who have been through it or are going through it simultaneously

Shout out to Alana aka lanikai and Sasha aka SomethingBlu Thank you both for reviewing the countless e-mails and FM’s of my various mock ups of DIY projects and for the honor of asking me to play around with your wedding photos to make mock ups of your Thank You cards. I am now proficient enough with photoshop to make some things of my own

I am a transplant New Yorker and had not been familiar with wedding traditions in New York. I am told that our wedding was very “formal”. Some of my family and most of my VA friends had totally different ideas about weddings but I married a New Yorker so I quickly learned everything I never wanted to know about New York City/Long Island weddings on LIW & EBP. I found LIW in July 2004 although I did not post until September…….. so I KNOW there are always lurkers and many people who register but just take there time posting (if they ever post). I found LIWeddings through a google search about wedding halls and was easily hooked in the chat rooms. I had of course tried the other wedding websites but found them very difficult to navigate. When we were planning a wedding in my hometown of VA, I did use another board briefly to get ideas about locations in VA and vendor recommendations. Once I found some LIWeddings brides that were located in VA, I was threw with that other site forever



I was never one of those women who had my wedding all planned out in my mind from puberty. I was on LIW and EBP (once EBP was created) on almost a daily basis for a while trying to figure out the ins and outs of planning a wedding in NYC/LI since all 3 of my MOH’s are single and none of my family members had planned a wedding in this area.

It is easy to lose sight of the big picture during the stressful process of planning the wedding. In spite of all of the things that annoyed me about the chat boards, I want to say thank you to all of the brides, grooms, husbands, wives, parents and friends who have been or were going through it with us and were kind, friendly and helpful to us along the way. Thanks to all of you we were able to get through this process without irritating the heck out of family, friends and our bridal party. In fact, one MOH was asked if I was driving her crazy with the planning by a guest and she told that guest no, that I was driving myself crazy. I really tried not to burden anyone with our wedding and that was probably a mistake since I did get very stressed at some points. I did end up being one of those posters with VENT threads. However, I think it was better to vent on the chat boards than to fight with my bridal party, family or friends. The chat boards really are a great outlet to discuss weddings without making your family/friends want to choke you for talking about your wedding all the time

We also found a lot of vendors via EBP and LIW that we probably never would have found on our own and we even booked a few of them based on LIW & EBP reviews

Friends photo – my LIWeddings bag




An aside:
As most of you who have seen my prior posts know, DH basically had to convince me that we should have a wedding I really struggled with the expense of it all versus the emotional aspect which wedding vendors pray on to gouge us all out of our last penny in search of “perfection” for the day which NEVER happens. I am just a bit too practical for my own good I guess Thankfully we found fantastic vendors and their goal was only to make our day beautiful.

DH absolutely wanted a wedding and I absolutely did not want to spend a lot of money on the wedding but rather on a long honeymoon. Strange right, the woman does not want a big wedding but the man does. I wanted to elope in Mexico at my favorite resort – Royal Hideaway. However, when we started to make those arrangements, family members complained. And they are still thanking us for picking NYC/LI since they would not have been able to attend a destination wedding.

When it came to spending so much on a wedding I could not wrap my mind around it. I mean, you don’t own anything tangible after spending a fortune – except the photos (and video if you get one). You prepare for the day for months (or years) and after a few hours it’s over. After hearing from so many married ladies and recent brides on these websites I knew that the day would be a fleeting memory. I suggested we forgo a wedding and invest that money but DH would not hear of it. He thinks that EVERY WOMAN WANTS A WEDDING All of his friends who eloped have to hear complaints from their wives constantly about not having had a wedding. DH thought the wedding would be an investment of sorts – saving us from future arguments about not having had a wedding



Some family members wanted us to spend our money on a NY party rather than have them spend THEIR money to attend something more cost effective for us like a destination wedding. Many people voiced their opinions and most felt like we should do something small and save our money for a new house. I guess a lot of NYC/LI couples get that advice since a NYC/LI wedding fund can be a pretty nice down payment for a house.

I have a few confessions to make. I ordered my dress BEFORE we ever picked a hall or set a definite date. We got quotes from bands, florists, coordinators and videographers -- all before we booked our hall. We were determined to know a real figure of what the wedding would cost before signing any contracts. It is just necessary to do it this way. How can you set a realistic budget for something you have never done before with no idea of the costs involved I’m sure many of the 04 and 05 posters recall all of the research I did during the planning stages. It was exhausting.

We are planners and we were not going to be surprised at the total for the wedding after tallying up all of expenses after the honeymoon. Too many people are shocked at the end when they realize how much was spent.

Although there are millions of books that say what a bride “should” do and at which points in time all those things “should” be done, we did not follow any particular guide or etiquette about how our wedding was planned. I was told that we were working in “reverse”. But that is okay since it was our day and we did everything when and how WE wanted it done. We followed no guidelines or wedding rule books although there are TONS of them out there for sale just to help drive brides/grooms to the brink of insanity a bit faster

I am so thankful that we did not let anyone dictate any details of our wedding, who would be invited or where it would be held once we decided on NY and not eloping And trust me, we got suggestions on every detail from nearly everyone we know and some people we do not know – as I’m sure is happening for 95% of the other couples planning a wedding.



In the end, after much prodding and hints about his wedding ideas including leaving his sister’s wedding day photo on my computer desk at home and taking me to see all the wedding thank you photos on display at his aunt’s home in Manhattan, we undertook the task of trying to plan a wedding for our nearest and dearest family members and friends. DH really did participate too although I was always told men don’t care about the details. Well, mine totally cared and vetoed some of my so-called “cheesy” ideas. DH went with me to almost every single appointment – halls, DJ’s, bands and even to look at the hotels when we were deciding where to block.

And let’s not even get into the date changes We were shooting for October 2005 as our wedding date after being engaged on 11/1/04. I put off setting the date for months hoping that DH would give up on the idea of a big wedding. When I finally did come to terms with spending a small fortune on a party (an emotional, amazingly fun and beautiful party though ), I became an 06 bride.

I got soooo irritated with people asking me when was the date and what hall did we pick. I did not understand (and still don’t) why anyone cared so much about our wedding date and our hall since they were not friends of ours and could not expect to be invited. I know that everyone starts asking about wedding details the second you get the ring but you really need a few months (or at least a few weeks) to try to just enjoy being engaged.

As for all the people asking about the date and the hall, I know that most of them could care less about our marriage and our building a family together and just wanted to see or hear about the “show” as one person called it. Our close friends and family did not ask as much as the people that we don’t know And I’m sure some did not ask since they knew they were not invited. It got so bad that I probably was fairly rude to some of them when they asked me. But I figured if nobody was chipping in, they would find out the date when they got a STD or an invite – if they got either.

It was just unnecessary pressure to book a date and jump into planning full force and I did not need that kind of pressure from strangers.



We picked March 2006 although DH was/still is concerned about his cash flow from November – March each year due to gifts for our engagement anniversary, our first date anniversary, Christmas, our anniversary of becoming a couple, V-day, then my birthday (late March) and our wedding anniversary. It’s so funny to me that he even thought about that when picking our wedding date

We are one of the older couples on the boards so we expected to pay for everything on our own – and in the end it was worth it since the only input was from us. Since my dad helped me pay for grad school, I never expected him to pay for my wedding (and those who have that option be grateful). Because we foot the bill, we were free to tell everyone with an opinion “Really. That’s nice. When you have a wedding you should do that.” It was very liberating after reading some of the threads about all the drama with family members some other brides had since those people were chipping in or paying for the wedding. We had far too many “suggestions” from everyone and their momma but in the end they all realized we would do what we wanted and ignore all other input.

The closer your day gets, the more stress you will be under and you may even be tempted to snap at everyone. DH hit that point about 2 weeks before the wedding when people on his side were not sending back the RSVP. The closer the day got, the more he agreed that we should have eloped But all of my married friends really got us through it. I think most people think that the RSVP date is on the card just for fun Of course there could be no real reason to need to know who is attending the wedding in advance . Just know that it is not just something you and your fiancé are dealing with on your own. Even Oprah commented on how many people failed to RSVP for her Legend’s Ball and that some celebs sent the RSVP by phone the night of the ball . In that case though, I suppose a lot of celebrities like to leave their schedule open in case a better invitation comes along

***I took the advice of a married friend and suggest all brides do the same. I turned off my cell phone once we left the hotel. The only call I cared about would be from DH and he had a photographer, videographer and the coordinator’s assistant with him if he needed to reach me. I was not planning to field calls from any guests in search of directions (which we included in all invites) or anyone trying to add on a guest on the day of. My friend Kathy told me that when she got her phone back the night after her wedding there were tons of messages from people saying “don’t worry, we are on the way” as if she and her husband were holding up the ceremony to wait on them to arrive

OKAY, BACK TO THE REVIEW:
I AM NOT GIVING RATINGS, PER SE, AND RECOMMEND ALL OF OUR VENDORS If we could go back in time and plan it all over again, with someone else’s money , we would pick the same vendors

I guess it all started when DH (FI at the time) asked my parents if her could marry me
We went to VA that weekend and although we were there all weekend, DH did not ask my dad until about 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. My dad had threatened to kill DH all weekend long and at every chance he got my dad reminded DH about all the guns in the house. He does have a few of them and showed them to DH too. My dad felt like something was up though. I never brought a man home to meet him EVER before He had met some men that I dated when I lived in VA and when he was in NYC visiting but I never brought anyone to VA to meet my daddy.

So, DH woke up at like 4 a.m. on that Sunday and went down to talk to my dad at like 7:30 a.m. once he got up the courage to ask him. DH said they talked for about 2 1/2 hours and the last few minutes was when DH asked my dad if he could marry me. My dad got up right when DH said he had to ask him a very important question. My dad was in the kitchen with DH and looked around a lot as they spoke. DH asked if he was looking for his gun.

From what I gather, it all went very well. Later when we all went out to breakfast my dad saw a friend of his and introduced DH as his "future son-in-law"!!!! He had been introducing him as Mr. "T" all weekend - but I think he just did that to mess with DH. DH also asked my mom for her blessing and she said yes too. He met my maternal grandmother and some of my aunts and uncles too. We hung out with my sister for a bit and her children too. All in all it was a great weekend. I even got to meet a two of DH's nephews who also live in VA, his sister-in-law who was in town (one of the nephew’s birthday) and one niece who was in town too.

The next step was the ENGAGEMENT RING
Good Old Gold www.goodoldgold.com
GOG
5278 Sunrise Highway
Massapequa Park, NY 11762
Phone: (516) 798-5151



I forgot who we worked with but I do recall getting photos sent by Christine at GOG to my e-mail when an LIW bride (and friend of Christine’s) mentioned that I was posting on LIW about having trouble getting a good close up photo of my ring to e-mail to my mom in VA.

DH and I looked at rings for about 2.5 months before we found GOG. We saw a ton of jewelers (friends and those recommended by friends). I found one jeweler that ended up coming by my house and by my office to show us stones. That guy rubbed us the wrong way after seeing 4 - 6 of his stones. I won’t bother to mention his name. I had a few married friends helping me look through at stones that week in the office. The interesting part is I loved a smaller stone and DH told the jeweler he wanted something bigger so men that considered approaching me would know from a distance that I was taken. Ladies, that is apparently part of the reason for a ring – so other men will back off. I suspect most of you have found out that it works in the reverse and you get more attention with an engagement ring.



So, the first jeweler called DH and got voicemail a few times (over a 24 hour period) and then called me. DH was super busy with work at that time of year and had not had a chance to return the message. This was AFTER I picked the two top stones I liked with DH and AFTER the jeweler got a cash deposit. After I picked the stones I liked, I told DH and the jeweler that I wanted to be left out of it after that so DH could have some element of surprise. He thought DH was ducking him as if DH would duck a call from a jeweler that had his cash deposit Instead of waiting for DH to call him back, the guy called me and asked if we were “still getting engaged” as if no ring would mean that a couple is not really engaged I was livid that this jeweler would say something like that since, although we did not do it, I know of many couples who were engaged with no engagement ring or maybe some stone other than a diamond. I was also peeved since I thought DH had already gotten the ring and I had been walking with my digital camera in my bag and wearing nice evening type outfits to work all week long just in case he proposed after work

I relayed the message from the jeweler to DH and I think it irritated me more so than DH. I convinced DH to get his deposit back and then I found Good Old Gold via an LIW post. The goodoldgold.com website is one of the most informative websites about diamonds that I have ever found. And the pricing is very fair. They test out the diamonds and give you every detail so you can make an informed decision. After all of our research, DH and I were able to sort through the AGS reports quickly and we found a few great hearts & arrows stones on the Good Old Gold website and made an appointment to go in and see them. DH put down a deposit that day and we picked the setting too The ring was shipped to one of DH’s 3 brothers – the one in NJ (no tax) It arrived few days earlier than expected.

On 11/1/04 DH said he was going to work but he did not. He drove out to NJ to pick up my ring at his brother’s house. Later that day DH called to ask what time Chez Oskar's closes - a neighborhood restaurant and the scene of our first kiss. I told him the time and he said he wanted to have dinner there that same night. He reminded me that the last time we had dinner there that they had run out of garlic mussels. I had really wanted to try them so he suggested we go that night.



DH saw a friend in the front of the restaurant in a group of friends. DH and his friend spoke briefly and DH asked the host to be seated in the back in a corner booth. We both ordered drinks. His friend came over again to talk (on his way to the bathroom) and then he and his friends left. I ordered lobster bisque and crab cakes & DH ordered a salad. When the bisque and salad came he ate a few bites of it and then pushed it aside.

He looked at me and said "You know what I'm doing?" I said "No." He then told me that he had prepared something and practiced it in the car for the entire drive from his brother's place in NJ - 90 minutes at least. He said it was not coming out right so he was just going to tell me.

He told me that he never thought he'd fall in love again after his last relationship. He never thought he would get married - ever. He was always the one in his group of friends that said they should never get married. He said that since we have been together I have always been there for him. He said that I am always on his side in every situation and that although it took him 3 1/2 years to even ask me out on our first date, he'd gladly wait another 3 1/2 years if it took that long for him to be with me. Then he said "I would be honored if you would be my wife."

Then he pulled out a small white box. I kissed him and said "Yes, I will be your wife." Then I opened the box (a light was inside) and saw my fabulous ring!!!!!

It sparkles like crazy I still find myself staring at it.



ENGAGEMENT RING APPRAISAL
www.justappraisers.com
555 Fifth Avenue
14th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-377-2090
David Wolf and Toby did a great job. I received a very detailed appraisal which was hand delivered to my office. I was very pleased with the results of the appraisals since we already had an appraisal from GOG for the engagement ring and I knew the cost of the pieces I had bought on my own years ago. Since I was already there, I had them appraise my earrings that I had on in addition to my engagement ring and two bracelets that I took with me to be appraised. DH was pleasantly surprised that the bracelet he purchased as a birthday gift for me in 2004 appraised for way more than he paid. In fact, David mentioned that it could not even be made wholesale in the US for the price DH paid. I ended up insuring everything through Jeweler’s Mutual (had been with Liberty Mutual) since it was much cheaper.

INSURANCE FOR THE ENGAGEMENT RING (and other pieces too)
Jeweler’s Mutual
http://www.jewelersmutual.com

The pricing for jewelry insurance is very reasonable in comparison to my prior insurance company – Liberty Mutual. I still use Liberty Mutual for our cars, homeowners and fire/hazard (rentals) policies but the rider for jewelry was over the top. We also considered Chubb but since we live in Brooklyn the price would have been more than Liberty Mutual if I recall correctly - $40 per $1,000 in coverage for Chubb for Brooklyn. Our JM policy is about HALF that price.

Ebay ID spoolofdesign
Of course I had to get a “SOON TO BE MRS” ROBE When it first arrived there were some wide gaps in the lettering but it was promptly fixed when I pointed it out. I sent the robe back. I did pay on my own to have it shipped back for the repairs so I probably would have had a fit to be charged for a third shipping fee but I was not. The robe was sent back to me the second time for no additional fee.





I took my robe all over the country after we got engaged and loved to have friends and family see me in it so much that I would purposely delay getting dressed so they would see me in my robe before going out.

Then we sent out ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS
DIY & www.printingforless.com
I was going to have photo card announcements made but in the end made my own announcement. I had shown DH the ideas I had found on-line and he responded by saying that I could probably make them on my own – so I gave it a shot .

I used Microsoft Publisher to format the card and put the pictures in place. I was able to upload the completed Publisher file to www.printingforless.com and I received the 4 x 6 postcards really fast. It came out great!!!! We got so many compliments!



SAVE THE DATES
DIY & www.vistaprint.com
I made my own Save The Date’s (aka STD’s – which still makes me laugh whenever I see a post that says come look at my STD ). I used photoshop after looking at a ton of ideas and getting help with photoshop from VickiC (Thank you!) and MCDO15 (Thank you!). I actually made an STD for a friend first and then tried to make up one for us. I made up several designs and ran them by LIW brides via e-mail & FM (thanks ladies ). I did not end up using them though since our date kept changing and they are to be sent 6 months in advance. Plus, if you send an STD, YOU HAVE TO INVITE THOSE PEOPLE TO THE WEDDING We did not want our list to be set in stone based on the STD. Also, I had ordered some business card magnets from vistaprint.com and within a week about half of them curled up on the sides and were barely sticking to my fridge when I tested them out. This was a total disappointment but the business cards themselves (other than the photo being a bit dark) came out great. In the end only 7 of them actually stayed on the fridge

About a month later, after reading a post on LIW about vistaprint magnets, I put them all back on the fridge (since I had not trashed them) and amazingly enough they did stick I have no idea why they fell off initially but in the end they all did stick to the fridge until I took them off. So maybe before you send them out, test them out for a few days.

I decided not to do magnets or STD’s at all. We just called the busy bodies in the family and told them the date It worked just as well – another wedding obsession bites the dust. I sent an e-mail to some family members and the rest I told in person at the Christmas gatherings. DH called like 2 of his aunts and in a few hours his entire family knew about the date and started calling us The funny thing is I know I spent HOURS making up my STD’s in photoshop – time I really could have used for so many more productive things.

After we booked the hall (discussed below) we had to pick INVITATIONS
Indian Wedding Card (http://www.indianweddingcard.com)
Although some of the photos in this review make it seem like we had a monogram theme, our theme was simply “The Color Purple” – not after the book (or the movie or the play) but because I’ve always loved purple (as does my maternal grandma which I only found out during wedding planning and NOT when I had my first car painted purple when I was 16 years old)

DH and I ordered samples (well I ordered the samples) from all over the world – literally. We had settled on a heavy single panel card with pearl border from Encore or Rexcraft That was until I came across the Desi thread on LIW I contacted Indian Wedding Card and ordered samples – for two it was like $20 with shipping from India. Once the samples arrived DH did not even balk at the price and said they would be a “keepsake” – that was the first time I ever heard him even use the word “keepsake” I ordered a purple silk scroll sample and a navy blue silk scroll sample and DH picked purple (my favorite color) instead of his favorite color. I had free reign from www.indianweddingcard.com to design whatever I wanted on the scroll and all I had to do was e-mail them the Word document and the .ttf fonts I wanted to use. Who would have thought DH would care so much about invites I went back and forth with Indian Wedding card for a while and I always heard back (via e-mail) promptly.

Although I am confident that Indian Wedding card would have done a fantastic job with the scrolls we loved, in the end, we did not order the scrolls. There was an issue with mailing them to NYC friends/family. Many people would have to go to the post office to pick them up (including me since my mailbox is just tiny). Although DH is right about the scroll invite being a “keepsake”, I think that is only for us, my mom, my grandma and a few other sentimental wedding guests. I suspect that had my invites been on spiral notebook paper, my mom and grandma would have still scrap booked it.

We nixed the scroll idea, however, I still wanted something different – not a white or ecru card.

We ordered our invitations via www.myjeanm.com
They were kind of DIY too since I designed them and sent in the print ready artwork.
I nearly jumped the UPS guy when he showed up

My photo - no flash though


They are grape with platinum ink. I loved them

I got a ton of samples from various websites plus I looked at invitation books at Party City and then Papyrus. Then I ordered on-line. I had previously ordered a color kit from Jean M and we picked the Jean M invite months in advance of booking a hall. I even posted a thread about the invites we picked at that time. I ordered samples and made mock ups on the www.myjeanm.com website.

When it came down to choosing something other than scrolls, I just went back to the prior idea. I considered having the Jean M invite custom made by Maryellen (Scarlet Petersen) for a bit less money but at the time Maryellen could not print in silver or platinum and she also NEVER sent me the sample after I requested a sample in February 2005 (around the time we first priced out the Jean M invites). We corresponded by e-mail several times and she did apologize for forgetting to send the sample but then never sent it again after I reminded her in May 2005 I requested a sample yet again around Thanksgiving and after sending Maryellen all the text she requested and noting the colors I wanted, Maryellen NEVER sent the sample. I gave up on using Maryellen and did not contact her again.

Kimberly in guest services at Jean M was very helpful and answered all of my pre-order questions very promptly – and I had LOTS of questions. I ended up sending in print ready artwork that Jean M printed since I had them use specific fonts not available on the website. It was no problem – just a custom invitation fee.

We did not actually order them and send them out before the other things noted in this review but I will just finish up with the invite info here.

My photo - Invite assembly line


The text on the first batch was reduced in size to fit the RSVP card and it came out far too small – to small to even read. I was a bit irritated since someone saw the RSVP cards after they were printed, they decided not to say a word about the reduction causing the wording to be illegible but just sent them out. Kimberly even expressed her shock that my RSVP cards were sent out with no inspection. I was encouraged NOT to get a $20 proof (on white paper not my colored cardstock) since they would reprint the order if I want not happy. I guess they do a lot of reprints

I was told that I would have the new RSVP cards within a few days but that did not happen. The same woman who reduced the font size on my first order, had some question about the reprint order which caused her to place a “hold” on it which in turn caused it not to ship out on the date scheduled. I spoke with several people in her department and not only was the question she had not even mentioned or explained in her notes for my file, but she also did not leave the paperwork such that the reps I spoke to could find it to get my order to me in time. My only choice was to wait for her to call. Did I mention that she left a message at my house, during the middle of the work day – and instead of calling my cell phone number (which I was sure to list and confirm) she just left a message at my house

In the end, when she called me first thing in the morning on a Friday, the question was again about font size and moving something to a second line. I was told that my RSVP card needed to be 7 lines long instead of 6 lines. I agreed to a 7 line RSVP card since she believed that the first line of text was too close to the edge of the card. I am happy that she called and even thrilled that she checked the printed order - but why not call my cell phone Or even try to reach me at work I had prearranged to have my invites hand cancelled first thing on Saturday morning at the USPS by me (since a guy that likes me works there) and was concerned about not getting them in time.

I did receive the “corrected” RSVP cards via UPS overnight service but after all that drama with an alleged 3rd reprinting, I did not received the 7 line RSVP card I did not have MORE TIME to wait on a fourth reprinted order, if it was in fact actually even printed for a third time prior to that. I just want to express my sincere disappointment in Jean M’s ordering process when sending in your own text and/or print ready files. My order was reprinted in flat ink and there were grammatical and punctuation errors I suppose the person who wrote the copy using my print ready RSVP card text was trying to get it done too fast since this was yet another reprint of the same order I sent them out with the flat printing, grammatical & punctuation error and the 6 lines. We did not have time to wait on another reprinted set of RSVP cards Plus they were to all come back to me anyway so I figured only I would have them in the end. For those of you still waiting on RSVP’s to come back, you know this is not the case and that you will likely not get them all back.

I wanted a reprint but DH wanted to get them out since we had so many OOT guests who needed to get the info. We had 22 rooms booked from our block weeks after the invites went out (and some were booked before invites went out). Family members had started to call asking about the invitations

I did get my invites out on the day I planned. I rushed through the renumbering (reserved seats and numbering the cards themselves to correspond with my chart) which took about 90 minutes. I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU NUMBER THE RSVP CARDS (inconspicuously on the back) since you will get back RSVP cards with NO NAMES and it will drive you nuts trying to figure out who sent it back.



Jean M invites are great quality but DO NOT under any circumstances place a special order (something not directly from the web site invite form selections and font selections) if you do not have several weeks to wait on reprints. They will screw up any special order no matter how detailed your instructions. I recall another LIW bride sent in her artwork (and specific spacing to add her own ribbons) and they screwed that up too. Give yourself PLENTY of time for reprints if you decided to use Jean M. Not to say that only Jean M does this since I know Rexcraft screwed up a custom invite order for an LIW bride as well.

I am still annoyed with the errors but they are not horrible – just NOT what we ordered. We did end up hearing back from Jean M a few days after I notified them of the errors with the most recent reprint. I did not wait on a reprint and just mailed out the invites. They offered a reprint but by then we had mailed over 100 of the invites out and I did not want to bother with waiting on getting the new RSVP cards. Instead we opted for a 50% credit for the cost of the RSVP cards to my AMEX account.

Although I was annoyed with the number of reprints and the failure to acknowledge the last screw up with my invites for several days, I was pleased with the invite itself and we got a ton of compliments on them.

The RSVP card issues and the lapse in customer service at the end would not stop me from using them again or recommending Jean M .

CALLIGRAPHY for invitations – DIY project
It took a LONG time to do this since I used text boxes. I decided to do inner and outer envelopes in deep purple ink and in the same font as the invitation. They looked beautiful when I was finished. I had lots of guests ask me where I had the envelopes done

My photos – purposely blurred




United States Post Office
We sent out invites just after the rate hike which was for first class as well as all other postage. I had heard it was only for the .37 stamps going to .39 but that was not the case. We ended up needing .63 stamps and the post office did not carry .63 stamps at the time – as if the rate hike was a surprise to them All it all it probably took an extra 30 minutes to go back and add the extra .03 cent stamps to the invites (plus the hour long wait at my horrid local PO just to buy the stamps) but it would have made life easier if the USPS had been prepared to sell .63 stamps since they did raise the rate.

I was told that my invites would be hand cancelled. They were NOT. It was no big deal since they were not irregular (a risk of being destroyed in the machine) but still, I was told that they would be hand cancelled. I was later told, when dropping off more invites days later, that there was a .90 cent fee per envelope to hand cancel I never heard of such a thing and of course I did not pay it. I was told this by the clerk as well as the supervisor I asked to speak with that day. Unbelievable

I wish the USPS would just become privatized already If anyone from Fedex, UPS or DHL is reading this, I for one am willing to pay a bit more for better service if the USPS is taken over by FedEx, UPS or DHL

MARRIAGE LICENSE
Municipal Building
210 Joralemon Street, 2nd Floor, Room 205
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Telephone Number is (718) 802-4107
We got ours on Valentine’s Day DH had gotten the $35 money order in advance and we went to the office with our passports. It was a painless process but a lot of hurry up and wait It took a couple of hours of waiting in 3 – 4 different lines just to get the info. from the form we filled out input at one window, pay with a money order at another window and pick up the print out (after it was input) at another window It was not really crowded either for Valentine’s Day. Just our tax dollars hard at work While we were there we saw tons of couples coming in to be married (24 hour waiting period after getting the license unless they get a judicial waiver) and all I could think of was wow, one more day & $25 then it would be done :



I had a spastic moment while applying for the license and ran out to call my oldest friend. DH and I had already discussed that I would take his name and use my maiden name as my middle. I have a friend who did that with no hyphen and my plan was to do the same. Well, lo and behold after 9/11/01 old laws were being enforced and I could not get the license issued in the name I preferred but only with a hyphen. I considered not changing my name at all because of the hyphen issue and DH was okay with it – or so it seemed. In the end I hyphenated and DH was thrilled but nobody calls me by Mrs. Maiden-Married name except my dad.

BRIDAL SHOWERS were not next but the wedding stuff is after this so I am putting it here.

The first shower was at home in VA at Gus Mariner’s in the Ramada on 57th St. at the beach.
It was so much fun. Both my grandma's attended as did many of my aunts, cousins and friends - some that could not attend the wedding in NY but were really pleased that I had a VA shower so they could show their support








We had a brunch and the food was sooooo good










My oldest friend (MOH who put together the shower) gave me some......hmmmm....gifts I could not show with both of my grandma's in the room



From my 17 year old niece


heavy bakeware that we registered for and a huge collage frame we registered for in the background


My cousin (about 80 years old) wanted to know where was "the string that goes in the butt" - the thong for what she assumed was a set


A gift from my 80 year old cousin.....who said the salesperson told her NOT to buy gift she planned to buy since the girls are wearing these now (talking about the thong not pictured)


My sister was really overwhelmed and almost had me crying too


The NYC bridal shower was at Park East Grill.
The menu




a few mimosas




salad with mint


dessert


I did not get pics of the entrees since we were so busy eating
Time for gifts


















The obligatory hat of bows




Couture bridal fashion complete with a bubble wrap cape


Gift bags for guests


some of the favors








BACHELOR PARTY
DH had his bachelor party in Manhattan at the Pink Pussycat. He ended up calling me a few times and he went home early since he hates strip clubs. His friends (married or in committed relationships) went back to the strip club since they had used him as the excuse to get out of the house.

RELAXATION
Red Door Salon & Spa
691 Fifth Avenue at 54th St.
New York, NY 10022
Phone: (212) 546-0200
Fax: (212) 546-0304

Two days before the wedding, my oldest friend (in town from VA for the week) and we went to relax after the hall drop off.

Massage and pedicure. This was the best massage I had in a while. I fell asleep (as usual) and I even fell asleep in the pedicure chair. I had been sooooo stressed and kind of annoyed with some of the planning so after our hall drop off (all of the items) and after touring the hall and everything with my oldest girlfriend, we went into the city to have massages and pedicures. I was undecided about nails at that time so we did not get manicures.

The day before the wedding I had my nails done.
MANICURE
I decided that since my own nails were not looking well enough I would get fake nails. I just went to my normal nail salon (across the street from my house) and had Candy put on silk wraps with some kind of fiberglass powder/gel. She knows that I am not into fake nails and she was surprised that I even let her put them on. They lasted from the day before the wedding until I had them taken off - 21 days later. They had grown out some but the fake nails did not break at all. It took a while to soak them off in some heated acetone. I went through 3 rounds of soaking and having the gooey layers filed off and then the silk removed.





This was my last official night being single and this is the last photo DH and I took together before we were married the following evening. Yeah, I am much shorter than DH without my heels

My friends photo


Our Wedding Day WEATHER
It was an amazingly warm day for March….especially since it had been cold and raining in the days before and the days after. I woke up to camera phones over my head and cameras flashing in my face (after having taken a sleeping pill the night before) and everyone that came in was talking about the great weather. It was warm and sunny

Friends photo


Many of my friends and family commented about the perfect day for a wedding My room was like grand central and I swear 95% of those that stopped by mentioned the warm sunny day I did not make it outside until after 3 p.m. but it was still very warm and I did not wear (or even buy) a jacket for the day. When we picked our date we both said that God would bless us with a warm day and it came to pass

Once I finally got outside I was thrilled


HOTEL NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING & FOR OOT GUESTS
WINGATE INN
821 Stewart Avenue
Garden City, NY
(516) 705-9000




We initially met with Cynthia Bevington to tour the hotel and hear about the arrangements to block rooms. I got the paperwork by e-mail and sent it back before Christmas. We blocked 30 rooms and the grand bridal suite. Some of the guest rooms were booked before the invites even went out. We got a price of $139 for our OOT guests which we thought was okay for NY – although I have to say my uncle’s wedding hotel block in Atlanta in August 2005 was like $49 for a double room & $69 for a suite. The $139 price included breakfast for the guests. My MOH’s were with me the night before the wedding and we had our breakfast delivered to the grand bridal suite the morning of the wedding.

Friends snapshot


DH & I had some issues with Wingate prior to the wedding but in the end we (as well as the guests) were happy with the hotel – especially the shuttles and the location by the mall, restaurants and of course it’s close to the reception hall we picked.

We were given one free shuttle van (seats 14 passengers) to and from the wedding per 15 booked rooms. We also got a 3 hour bar package (the bar normally closes at 11 p.m). but we had it open for 3 hours for our after party. The bartender ended up shutting down early – about 45 minutes early in fact - but I was tired after being up all day anyway and did not protest.

I ended up dealing with Jessica Pollaro just after the Christmas holiday since Cynthia was on vacation. It seems that the block agreement I had sent was lost so our rooms were not blocked nor were our suites blocked. I scanned in the new block agreement and sent it by e-mail the second time instead of faxing. It really did not cause an issue for our guests since they were still given the discount rate since our block was in the system but just with no rooms allocated. We did not end up with the suite we blocked for the wedding night but Jessica did give us the grand bridal suite for the night before the wedding and we had the staff consolidate us into another bridal suite for the night of the wedding. Jessica gave us that suite at no charge.

The guys had a lot of down time.





DH took that free time to press his tuxedo and shirt. This was after the photographer and videographer reminded him that the shirt would be hidden under the vest and jacket but DH would know it was wrinkled and it would bug him all day




DH called the front desk for the lint brush


My brother took the opportunity to take a nap


A few weeks before the wedding when our block was nearly all booked, Jessica added 10 rooms to our block so we had 40 rooms blocked for the night of the wedding and she let me know that there were more rooms available for the night before the wedding as well. We ended up with 29 rooms being booked and Jessica was kind enough to give us two shuttle vans although we were 1 room short. There was to be a letter informing guests about the shuttle (I did not do OOT baskets) and the letter was not given out. I only found out when family members that were in and out of my room the night before the wedding seemed shocked at my mention of the shuttle. I called and spoke with someone on staff and a letter was printed. The letter was already drafted and in the notes for our block since Jessica had e-mailed me the letter to review in advance. The letter was printed and given out to late arrivals and the letter was slipped under the door for those who had already checked in.

Champagne and chocolates were in our bridal suite the night of the wedding when DH and I arrived.

We would use the Wingate Inn again and our guests had no real complaints. A MOH left her Memoirs of a Geisha book in the bridal suite and never got it back. She also did not get a call back after calling the hotel and speaking with someone the morning we checked out. She bought another copy just to finish the last 50 pages of the book. DH called about some of our huggable hangers that he left in his room (that he used the night before the wedding) and he never got them back nor did anyone from the hotel follow up after he spoke with someone within a few hours of checking out. All of this is minor and would not stop us from using the Wingate again.



Two of my MOH’s stayed in the grand bridal suite with me the night before the wedding and all 3 got ready there the morning of the wedding. The bathroom is enormous and they loved it



The issues with our family were just as minor. One cousin who booked early was told there were no doubles available. She called me about it and not the hotel She told me that she booked very early. I recall her calling me about the hotel info. before we sent the invites out. The mix up may have been because the signed block agreement was misplaced/not received. I sent it again once I was back in NYC after spending the Christmas holiday in VA & GA. Nonetheless, Wingate said they would put a roll away cot in that room at no charge.

One aunt was not happy about having a handicapped accessible room. It was likely my fault since I told Jessica that my uncle booked 2 rooms (one for his sister & mom and one for him and his wife with MS). I noted that they do not normally request a handicap accessible room but his wife had a mild stroke a few weeks before the wedding and could not use her cane.



I was not sure if they would want a handicap accessible room so I just left it open to them to ask at check-in. They did not request the handicap accessible room and ended up in the standard room and my aunt by default was in the handicap accessible room. I think the hotel was full by that day and in any event my aunt complained enough that she or someone in the family finally asked that she get a different room and my grandpa (her dad) ended up in the handicapped accessible room and had no problem with it.









My daddy was waiting for me in the lobby








Hilton Garden Inn, Westbury
Although we did not get to use them I mention it because but we did take a tour and planned to use them for our guests
Hilton Garden offered us a rate of $125 and over 100 rooms were available at the time. We took a tour, took care of the block agreement and headed back to Brooklyn content with getting something done that day . We learned later that same day (via a call to my cell phone) that they could not in fact give us a rate discount code since some high school team (swim team I think) had called to block rooms (get a rate code) while we were on the hotel tour I guess I am still a bit peeved at this since the Hilton does not even block rooms – they give rate codes so it’s possible that the high school team did not even use all of those rooms.

Interestingly enough, the Wingate had a block for the same group and was still able to give us a block. Many of the students were on our floor and hanging out in the halls. As we left for the ceremony I stopped for photos for one young girl who brought along her camera.

We checked out the Fairfield Inn at 24 Oak Road as the cheaper alternative ($119 per night) but DH was not happy with it at all even though they had just finished renovations 2 weeks before we visited.

TRANSPORTATION
My car
Since we had the ceremony and reception at the same place we did not get limos. Instead, my daddy, my best friend and I just used my car. The best part about using my car and not limos is that it was FREE













PROGRAMS
DIY
I ordered the paper from paperandmore.com. I used purple pinstriped vellum with linen text weight paper. I added our monogram I did do a sample with linen cardstock but it fed through the printer very crooked so I was scared to do them using the cardstock for fear of messing up too much of the paper. I ordered enough paper to make 100 programs. We made about 95 with though since I ran out of vellum. I had used some for samples. I kept one for us







ROSE PETAL CONES
DIY
I used large doilies from Party City and cut them into quarters. They were super inexpensive to make. They were a big hit since my family and friends in VA had never seen them. I only made about 30 of them though since the label templates I made with our monogram would only print correctly once out of five tries and I got annoyed with trying to get them even once on the folded doily. I just gave up and figured only the people closet to the aisle would need cones anyway.





We also had unused favor cones and decided to fill them with some petals as well.







CRY PACKS
DIY
I totally gave up on the idea of having cry packs until I tried to make them one night and realized how simple they were to make. I had been on the verge of buying them for SIX TIMES the price to make them Thanks God for a bit of idle time

They came out great. I used vellum paper from www.paperandmore.com with two tissues in each pack plus a color printer then I got to folding. I topped them off with a clear swarovski crystal left over from my monogram cake topper project.



They were placed on some of the chairs along with petal cones and programs.


PHOTOGRAPHER
Lina Jang http://www.jangweddingphotography.com
Lina Jang Photography Business Office:
The Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave. (btwn 33rd and 34th St)
Suite 5522 (on the 55th floor)
New York, NY 10118
Cell Phone: 917-584-8631
Office Tele: 212-868-0218
Fax: 212-868-0219
Email: photolina@hotmail.com

“Unbelievable” “Amazing” - the words guests (and coworkers of guests) have used about our professional photos I sent them a link to our preview shots. The preview photos (about 100 of them that recapped the day) were available on-line within days after the wedding We picked up the proofs about 7 weeks after the wedding.

Photos are super important to me so I searched around a lot for photographers with a style that I liked. Lina Jang is the ONLY photographer of the ones we researched that we visited in person.

We looked at so many websites for other photographers and contacted a ton. After looking at the work of all the other photographers we initially liked and comparing prices and packages, we went to see Lina Jang. A plus is her office is in Manhattan so it was like 15 minutes on the subway train to midtown from us in BK We were totally confident in her work based on the website and reviews we read but once we met her in person we were sold.

Lina is amazing and oh so friendly!! She has such a sweet spirit

All my family members and friends were amazed with the photos she took. The night of the wedding she was not only taking photos for us but for our guests with their cameras. She was so gracious when a camera was shoved in her face by our guests asking her to take the photo.

We now know how it feels to have paparazzi. Plus Lina’s and her team were three more people taking our photos


Lina does amazing work and stayed with us all day. She captured so much emotion in each shot. Lina stayed with me from the time I was under the dryer for hair at like noon until the end of the reception when most photographers leave after the cake cutting.



Lina and her team were everywhere and I only noticed her during formals and during posed shots in the ballroom when family stopped us to get pictures. I honestly did not notice O.B. Solinsky, the second photographer, or the assistant Julie (other then for formals) from the time we left the hotel and the end of the night when I was handing out tips - and that is just what I wanted. I am still amazed to look at the photos and I was there.

I had contacted other photographers and one in particular was not willing to do the formals we wanted since they are photojournalist We were fine with PJ style but still needed some formals and not just “15 minutes” as this company suggested I pictured us running all over the grounds trying to get all the formal shots done in “15 minutes”

I had so much fun doing formal pictures in advance with my family and the girls.











Not only were we joking around a lot but we stuffed our faces too I think it helped a lot with any nervousness.







I have to mention that my parents got along soooooooo amazingly well!!!! Lina was doing photos of just the two of them before the ceremony when my sister and I noticed and I commented that they were so nice to each other ---- and I mentioned they had been divorced for about 20 years. Lina apologized for having them take photos together. I was like NOOOOOO take them, take them



This may never happen again They were introduced into the party together and they sat at the same table My parents by no means hate each other but they only became cordial when DH and I started dating and they became downright friendly once DH and I got engaged. I guess the thought of splitting time with potential grandkids is in the back of their minds

DH and I decided not to see each other before the ceremony but we still wanted to get formals done with the family & bridal party in advance. The plan was to do formals separately before the ceremony and then a few more formals with the bridal party & family after the ceremony, then formals with just the two of us (for thank you photos and portraits) during cocktails which was 90 minutes. Everything else was to be PJ style shots. Lina was fine with our idea.

DH does not normally like taking photos but he seemed to enjoy being the center of attention for the day









Although we did not do the formal photos as I had planned due to time constraints beyond our control, we still ended up with 1300 photos. We are getting a 10 x 15 digital album with 60 – 70 pages and 120 – 160 photos but even with up to 160 photos in the album it will be hard to narrow down our proofs to the must have shots.

12/2006 update ****We ordered the 10 x 15 album but with 220 photos. We just could not narrow down the 1300 shots to 160

I love that Lina and her team captured our joy in each shot. Everyone that has seen her photos of the wedding made a similar statement. Our package was for 2 photographers. Photos (and video) is all we would have left to commemorate our wedding day so we took our time researching and we are thrilled with our choice.

As you can Lina Jang’s work is awesome!!!!! We totally recommend Lina Jang without hesitation. DH and the guys really enjoyed O.B. DH said that O.B. helped lighten the mood for him when DH got stressed. Julie got some fantastic shots too

Be sure to tell Lina that you saw our photos

Check out her ******** website: http://www.bellydancephotography.com

FYI – Lina’s engagement shoot is a 3 – 4 hour tour of NYC landmarks.

VIDEOGRAPHER
We saw several videographers.

I saw Timeless Treasures and enjoyed the video clips I saw which included several LIWeddings brides The price was right and Ray was really wonderful and accommodating. He’s a cutie too

I got a sample that we liked from Mittermax and contacted Travis for an appointment via e-mail. He is very creative with the editing and puts together up to 12 chapters of various sequences including a cute groom segment. I heard back from him about an appointment but by the time we heard back a few days later, we had already booked our videographer.

We went to see Duet for video and took a look at their digital albums since we were in the office in midtown. A married friend met us there to pick up something totally unrelated and took a look at the albums and video too. The price for video was super discounted in comparison to others. The editing was not what we expected so we kept looking.

In the end we picked………..
Bliss Productions
275 Hillside Avenue
Williston Park, NY 11596
Phone (516) 294-7007
E-mail: info@blissproductionsny.com

We saw Jerry first but DH wanted to keep shopping

We were going to forgo even getting a video at one point. I fell in love with Jerry’s style (and played the clips on his site ALL THE TIME) so I really wanted to use him. I was on the Bliss website at least weekly watching all the clips I really liked Jerry when we first met him. He is so sweet and very personable. After checking out other videographers, DH gave in and we went back to Bliss to book.

Another plus if you are using Lina Jang is that she and Jerry shared an office before she moved in Manhattan and they work VERY WELL together

Jerry has been doing weddings since high school (according to DH who had tons of downtime to talk) and it shows. Jerry’s work is just awesome!!! He is such a sweetheart too. My family and friends loved him and it was so easy to forget that he was there that I was half naked (putting on the dress) when a few of my friends/family ran over to the front of the bridal suite and started shielding me from the camera. Jerry brought along an assistant (cannot recall his name) and DH thought he was great too DH would not let them film him dressing though (no boxer shots). DH shut the door to the bathroom and came out partially dressed.

Jerry was with us all day and stayed until after the last dance when the lights came up

We did not pick out songs to go with each part of the video. We picked out a ton of songs we like (and sent them on a CD) and we told Jerry to use his judgment (making sure to use our wedding song).

I know the video will be fantastic I am excited to see the finished product
*****I will update this section once we get the finished video.*****

**********UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE**********
We picked up our finished DVD’s today 8/28/06. They were ready for pick up on Friday 8/25/06 but we could not get out to Long Island on Friday or on Sunday and Bliss had weddings to shoot over the weekend. We thought about 6 months from our 3/30/06 wedding date and got the DVD in 5 months instead. I think the fall couples will get video’s faster since the high summer wedding season keeps videographers so busy shooting that they cannot edit much on the weekends.

We have already watched the video twice. We watched most of it at Bliss so I guess we are up to watching it 3 times now I have played the recap (on the videographers site) about 20 times already It was like a do over Even DH got all teary again during the dove release when I surprised him with a reading to honor his deceased mom

12/2006 update **We have watched the video about 50 times now It’s just amazing.

The conversion to .mpeg from the DVD file makes it appear a bit grainy in the links I created but it’s crystal clear in person This is my first time using the service but FYI the youtube.com links work sporadically. The links are not set to private and they were uploaded a while ago. Some family members and friends have been able to view them and some not.

Opening Credits

Dating photo montage

Dancing with daddy

Wedding Recap

Honeymoon montage

I wish I could upload some of the party clips and the Soul Train line clips. They are hilarious Unfortunately, the rest of the video files are so large (547MB & three are .99GB) that I cannot upload them.

Our package included 2 videographers who were with us from preparations at the hotel until after the last dance - approximately 11 hours. We got 4 copies of the edited DVD (90+ minutes) with photo montages (dating montage and honeymoon montage), a deluxe DVD case (by Renaissance http://www.thebookalbum.com) for our DVD, photo packaging for the other 3 copies, the raw footage (2 DVD with 3+ hours of footage) with photo packaging and 5 Thank You highlight DVD’s (50+ minutes) in cardboard sleeves and organza pouches.

Finished package pictured here minus one DVD left in the player






We are thrilled with our videographer choice If you decide to get video (and you should if you have it in your budget) give Jerry at Bliss a call. We had a great time with Jerry and recommend Bliss with no hesitation

DH’s EMBROIDERED BOXERS
I ended up finding a cute idea on ebay and ordered from jlybean1

I have no idea why or how DH even knew about such a thing but he actually requested boxers for him for the wedding day with his name on them. I know, I am still in shock about it myself.

I called him to say they arrived and he said "you really found some underwear with my name on them" I guess he never had anything embroidered





BRIDAL UNDERGARMENTS
Bridal embroidered panty vulcan-moon
After DH requested embroidered boxers, I set out to find a place to buy embroidered panties. They arrived quickly and exactly as requested to match our wedding colors - lavender panty with lavender embroidery.



Bra- didn’t wear one I had a black long line bra with me that I ordered from www.flatteringme.com after having tried on a white one at Bridal Reflections during my gown search. I did not need it since I had a corset built in to my dress. I just put a bit of deodorant under my breasts (tip from our DOC) and went about the day

DH’S TUXEDO
DH saw his tuxedo at the Oheka Castle 9/15/05 bridal show. DH is impossible to shop for and basically buys clothes when he sees something he likes. He struggles to find clothes so he just buys things year round instead of trying to shop last minute. DH did not want to rent a tuxedo since this was for “HIS” wedding day and it had to be perfect and something he could keep. There were sooooo many comments about how great he looked.

We ordered from several stores since he needed new shoes, socks, a vest and cravat, a shirt and of course the tuxedo itself. We used www.buy4lesstuxedo.com (super fast shipping), www.tuxedosonline.com and www.etuxedo.com. We ordered about 4.5 weeks before the wedding . Yeah, yeah, I know the “wedding gurus” say that they are to be ordered much sooner than that but DH wanted to finish getting into “shape” before ordering his tuxedo. He called me from the gym the day he was able to squat 500+ lbs – something he had not done since he was much younger I’m sure I was stuffing my face with Coldstone cake batter ice cream that day too











DH wearing the monogrammed cufflinks I bought for him years ago for our first Valentine’s Day as a couple


It’s the Jean Yves Mirage


CRINOLINE SLIP AND HOOP skirt
www.ebay.com Ebay ID angelsbridal
The crinoline slip I bought arrived on time and as described. Cheap too I ended up selling it though since it was not as full as I wanted. I was going to get a bigger crinoline from an LIW bride – thanks neeniebean86 But my grandma and I decided that I needed a hoop skirt. An LIW Bride offered me her hoop skirt but never sent it and never responded when I asked about picking it up since we both live in Brooklyn I ended up buying the hoop skirt from the same vendor I am so curious about how they fit such huge crinolines and a 4 hoop skirt into a USPS priority mail box. I could never get that 4 hoop skirt back into the box to store it – and I tried a few times The hoop filled out the dress so much better than the crinoline. I got the hoop skirt idea from an LIW bride who posted photos of her fitting in both a crinoline slip and a hoop skirt. Thank you DayBeforeThanksgiving.

My DOC helping me get on my hoop skirt. Tip – if you plan to do big hair just know you will need to put on your slip after your dress. I did not realize this until the day of and had planned to put the dress over my head as we did in fittings I never went to a fitting in full hair (nor had I even done a trial for my wedding day hair) so it did not occur to me that I should practice putting the dress on by stepping into it.





SHOES – Coloriffic, www.Gownfind.com
Phone: (877) 744-9528
GownFind@aol.com
I got my shoes from Phyllis. I had seen them on-line (my inspiration was on a photographer’s website that I had considered) and Phyllis had the shoes for the lowest price I was able to find. I had no idea she even had those shoes. I just happened to notice that she sold Coloriffic shoes when I went to be measured for my dress. She even had some Coloriffic shoes in stock so I could try them on to get the right size.

My shoes






Spare shoes - Capezio Dance Sport ebay.com EBAY ID tntdancedesign
I was concerned about my feet aching after being in 2.5 inch heels for 8 – 10 hours so I bought some ballroom dance shoes. I had worn a very similar shoe as my wedding shoe when I was a bridesmaid in my uncle’s wedding (not Coloriffic) and they were KILLING me and my sister (also a bridesmaid) so I was really worried that my wedding shoe would ache. I had purchased my wedding shoes prior to my uncle’s wedding so it was too late to switch them out once I knew that style would potentially ache a lot.

Capezio is the brand I am familiar with and that my dancer friends wear so I bought a pair of white satin ballroom shoes with a 2.5 inch heel. My dress was huge so I was not worried about the shoes being seen under the dress – although I still bought white instead of a colored dallroom dance shoe.

I did not end up using them at all. The Coloriffic shoes were not painful in the least. They were such comfortable shoes I kept them on until like 2 a.m.

MY WEDDING GOWN
Phyllis at www.Gownfind.com aka Brides Made (per my receipt)
Phone: (877) 744-9528
GownFind@aol.com
If you look at my previous posts, I shopped for a dress for a LONG time.

I tried on all sorts of dresses from Reem Acra to Amsale to Justina McCaffrey to Kenneth Poole to Romona Keveza, Justin Alexander and others. I tried on gowns in VA with my mom, sister and oldest friend and I tried on gowns in NY with my friend and on my own. I even looked at gowns with my daddy in VA to let him be involved in the planning some too

I decided on a Spring 2005 Maggie Sottero gown – Capri - which was only available in white with blush/pink accents and I am not a pink type of woman.

Kleinfeld experience

Bridal Reflections experience

more searching

Watters & Watters idea

Red gown - considered for a split second

When I first found the Maggie

horrible experience with Lestan's - raised the price on me for the Maggie

Once I found THE WEDDING GOWN, and learned that it did not come in all white I contacted the designer to see if she would make the dress without the blush accents and she told me that she would not be customizing that dress. So, I set off on this long process to find someone to remove all the blush beading for a reasonable price (RK bridal wanted $100 per 20 beads) and I even resorted to having a similar dress made in all white. That was a disaster and I got a full refund.

I knew the exact dress I wanted to wear but since it would be such an ordeal to have it altered to my specifications, I bought a dress (Filene’s Running of the Brides sale) that I did not love. I later sold it on ebay.com at a very minimal loss (since I forgot to calculate ebay listing fees into my asking price as it was the first time I sold anything on ebay). The sale was great but I went in the mid-afternoon instead of camping out all night so the Lazaro that I found (one of the left over gowns) was too small I found a nice Romona Keveza at Filene’s that I nearly bought but it was ivory ands not white. My mom would have flipped out if I bought an ivory gown and she told me as much when we first went to look at gowns and I tried on ivory

I happened to be in RK in April or early May with my friend looking at potential dress for her and showed her the gown I wanted, which did not come in all white . I tried it on again – couldn’t resist – and noticed the tag now said white/white. I had RK confirm that the dress was in fact now available in white on white and they said yes I contacted Phyllis at gownfind (for like the millionth time since I kept changing my mind about my dress) and I went out to meet her in person for the first time. I had her again confirm that the dress would be available in white on white and I placed the order with her after she took my measurements. By waiting so long to order the dress I saved myself TONS in beading costs and a lot of stress from what I know would have given me a heart attack if removing the pink beads caused any issues.

I loved wearing my dress!!!! I never doubted my choice for a second When I went to pick it up Phyllis and I walked around her shop arm in arm so I could see how the dress would work with me and my dad.

My sister (a MOH) called when she saw the pictures I sent of my fitting to say she absolutely loved it and said I looked like I was walking on a cloud She even wanted to make my fitting photo into her wallpaper for her home computer










I was up in the bridal suite, covered in a table cloth, having some food from the cocktail hour display.

When the ceremony started I heard audible gasps “stunning” “how beautiful” and “Oh my God!” I had been hiding out until the ceremony started so only a few people had seen me in my dress.



DH had not yet seen me and this was a great moment


DH and my MOH’s had a bet about who would cry first. DH teared up a few times before and during the ceremony but nothing dropped











Family and friends are still talking about my gown One of DH’s aunts who attends a ton of weddings said it was the most gorgeous dress she has ever seen. By the time we were married the dress had been available for some time but I do not think many brides wear the gown with the hoop skirt. That made a huge difference in the look of the gown in comparison to other photos of brides I saw wearing my gown.

ALTERATIONS
Angela Gong
G & G Professional Tailoring
30 Grand Street
(between Thompson & 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10013
212.966.9813
M-F 7:30 - 7:00 pm
Sat 8:30 - 6:00 pm

Initially I planned to have Phyllis at Gownfind do my alterations but I went with Angela. I would absolutely order from Phyllis again though – she had the best price I found. I cannot recall who from LIW told me about Angela but she was listed here – http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/bony/services/2005/11361/

My dress only needed a hem & a bustle. Don’t be put off by the hole in the wall shop. Angela did a great job and she was much closer to me than hiking from downtown Brooklyn to Suffolk County to use Phyllis at Gownfind. I called Angela to get pricing and she told me $60 for a hem & bustle. This was without seeing the dress at all. In the end the price was $85 for the hem and bustle – still the cheapest price of the places I checked.

Did I mention that I LOVED wearing my dress








MY WEDDING VEIL
My amazingly talented Grandma Kitty
I had tried on a few veils at Bridal Reflections (Carle Place), Kleinfeld’s and RK bridal and they were just too pricey and NOT what I wanted. All the edging was rhinestones pre-strung and sewn to the edge or scattered crystals and I wanted Swarovski crystal edging.
My maternal grandma has been a seamstress for over 40 years and she makes wedding gowns, bridesmaids gowns (made all BM gowns for my uncle’s wedding in August 2005 along with the FG dress, ushers, vests, ties etc.) does alterations and in general can make anything.

Picture from my uncle’s wedding


I started looking for a veil about a year before the wedding.
post searching for a crystal edged veil not rhinestones

My grandma Kitty is amazing!!!!

I did not know my grandma made veils until I happened to call her to let her know I was having trouble finding an affordable Swarovski crystal edged veil. She told me she could make it and that was it for me. A free veil that I know would have been $2000+ in a bridal shop due to the hours of labor involved was a no brainer. I bought the tulle I wanted her to use and dropped it off during a trip to try on the BM dress (when I was in my uncle’s wedding) and I sent her Swarovski crystals from www.artbeads.com.

We both love purple and I had my maternal grandma put clear and purple crystals on the veil.


I had given my grandma photos of the veil I wanted and I also sat with her one night on her computer to look at photographers websites that I knew had photos of crystal edged veils. Yeah, my grandma has the internet and she even has a cell phone and she is 70+ She did an amazing job And because my grandma made the veil, I was able to customize it even more than normal. I had her use alternating clear and purple Swarovski crystals.






Grandma edged my entire veil in crystals and she individually sewed on each crystal with a back stitch in case I snagged the veil – that way a row of crystals would not fall off but only the one in the place where it snagged. I told her that this had been an issue with some of the pricey sample veils I saw. Many, if not all, were missing patches of beads. No doubt this was from constant handling by shoppers but still, for $2000 I expect each crystal to be back stitched so patches of crystals will not fall off. No matter since I did not have to worry about my veil at all

My grandma did an awesome job!!!! And grandma finished it months before the wedding – she started on it before we even booked the hall.

One of my favorite photos of my one of a kind veil




I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY VEIL

It’s gorgeous and something I will cherish forever. I picked it up at Christmas when I was in VA. I tried it on every day while I was in VA I have to admit that I was shocked to see it. Not because I did not expect it to be so fabulous but because I gave grandma a couple of yards of tulle and about 1500 crystals and I thought that I wanted a fingertip length veil. I was a bit concerned about the fingertip veil after I started to see how beautiful the chapel and cathedral length veils looked in photos but I did not want to even ask grandma to start all over. In the end I got a crystal edged chapel length veil without even asking





















BRIDAL PARTY DRESSES
I only had three ladies – my sister, my oldest friend from kindergarten and my good friend from grad school. DH had only a best man – his dad Yeah, it was an uneven bridal party but we did not care. My mom freaked out and said we “had to have” more guys but we refused to just add men to the bridal party to make it “even”. That was the day I thought I would be killed by my mother since I used profanity in telling her that we would not add more men to the bridal party just to make it even. Do people really do that She did not reach through the phone and wring my neck like I had always been taught would happen I will not be trying that out again though.

I could have asked a few more ladies but I only wanted my closest friends to stand up with me that day. I had other girlfriends involved in different ways and still others were honored to be invited Not one of my friends balked at not being asked to be in our wedding.

As far as the dresses, I just told them to wear cute black dresses After a while all the details became more irritating than fun. I decided not to even ask my sister & my friends to buy a dress to match my wedding colors. Plus, I am still not sure what the point is to having all of the bridal party members look the same They are different people and they are all special to me for different reasons so I did not want them to just “blend in” with one another for the day.


I ended up buying each of them a long black dress. I got them all different dresses and told them that if they did not like the dress I picked (my mom picked one) that they were free to buy any floor length black dress. I did not want to force my sister or my friends to buy some deep purple frock that neither of them would ever wear again….although the few deep purple BM dresses that I did end up liking the most were not too pricey. I had picked about 6 – 8 that I liked and they were going to pick a style most flattering to them in my chosen color. They were all happy to buy a purple dress to follow through with the purple theme though. I was really thankful that there was absolutely no drama with my bridal party since I read sooooo many horror stories with BM’s and MOH’s on the chat boards. My sister and oldest friend have known each other just as long as we’ve been friends. My other good friend has been in my life for almost 10 years and met my sister and oldest friend several times, including on a trip to VA and when my friend from VA came to NYC.

My sister ended up liking a dress that I picked for my friend – no drama at all. My oldest friend loved the dress that I picked for her and it looked great on her too. In the end they all wore the dresses that I bought for them and they looked amazing.



This one has a low back.




This one has a lace overlay at the top and a fly away overlay that sweeps the floor.




This one has tiny crystals at the top.




Hey............they all had their bracelet on the same arm for the ceremony. It’s cute that they did it since I know it was not like that when we left the hotel nor is it that way many of the pre ceremony photos


BRIDAL JEWELRY
I ended up wearing my old diamond studs and my old diamond bracelet that I bought for myself years ago – they were my “something old”



I bought myself a choker while I was on a trip to Atlanta for Christmas








My something borrowed were the crystal pins in my hair that I got from the florist. I have not returned them so I guess they are no longer borrowed But they are not something that I went out and purchased so they can still be considered borrowed

HEADPIECE
www.ebay.com ebay ID cutebride
I won a tiara and headband style headpiece on ebay. I thought that I knew the style I wanted from trying on tons of them in bridal shops. They arrived in great condition and very sparkly – Swarovski crystals.

In the end I wore NEITHER of them I tried them on with my dress at the first fitting and hated them both so I set out to find another headpiece. I sold them both on ebay and ordered another from a brick and mortar store. Lesson learned, try everything on and even then you will change you mind if given more time to plan.

I found my tiara at RK bridal. Unless you know the style name/number and find it on ebay or have tried on something you know you want and can find a similar version on ebay, it’s really hard to judge the tiara’s that are on the site. And only a few sellers on ebay have a return policy for items like a headpiece (for sanitary reasons which are totally understandable) so if you order it and don’t like it you will have to sell it back on ebay or give it away I guess

I contacted the company on my own and got a better price by having my mom call and order it wholesale – she has a retail business. That’s a tip I got from a former wedding coordinator friend in my building. He told me to call up all the manufacturers first to see if I could get a deal and then check with wholesalers that would give me a good price with minimal mark up That was the best tip ever!!! Granted, he normally deals with huge weddings (last one had over 40 people in the bridal party with all ladies in the same dress & every single guest – over 300 – got a gift bag ) but his tip still worked for our much smaller wedding.







HAIR
Tiffanie – Sanctuary Salon
East Elmhurst, Queens
shop - (718) 803-1656
We roller set my hair that morning and then started pinning away after it was all dry.

Nothing like mimosas in the morning





This is my regular stylist that I have seen for my hair appointments probably every two weeks since 2001. There was no question about who would do my wedding day hair. She came armed to do at least 20 heads that day – no kidding. She had all sort of hair pins, hair jewelry, hair pieces and anything you could imagine including a portable bonnet dryer. She told me that she always comes prepared to do several heads since sometimes ladies show up undone and decide on the spot to get their hair styled for the wedding.

I had a few trials – well somewhat trials since they were done at my regular bi-weekly appointment and I did not want to leave the salon with a wedding updo. I also did not want to totally flatten out my curls for the week after sitting under the dryer for 90 minutes (which is average when I have my hair set). So, instead of full blown pinned up styles, I had Tiffanie use as few pins as possible (enough to hold the hair) and then put the tiara and headband in for me.

After my hair trials I decided to go with an all up style. We did NOT do a trial for my wedding day hair. We had done a pin curl style (sort of a low bun with pin curls) and we did an updo trial but not a massive updo with pin curls like we did for the wedding day. I was absolutely sure that Tiffanie could do what I wanted

While DH was ironing and watching television (while my brother napped), it was like grand central in my room. We kept stopping my hair so I could hug my family members





I was facing away from the door and I got all excited each time I heard a familiar voice












Although it was not planned, my sister ended up getting her hair cut for the wedding
I took this photo with my camera I was under the dryer behind her at the time.


And if someone was not coming by to visit our room – they called Plus we had a few people call that could not attend

First the hotel phone........


And then the cell phone......but I kept the hotel phone beside me just in case


In the weeks prior to the wedding my niece asked me for a favor. Her ring dance was on my birthday, March 25, and she wanted to get a dress made. She lives in VA and could not come up to NYC for any fitting and she wanted a combination of THREE different gowns I love her to death so of course I ran around in NYC and was able to get dress made for her using a seamstress that I found via LIW

She brought along a photo (not the proofs) from her ring dance so I could see how the dress looked in action


HAIR PINS
I bought 6 Swarovski crystal hair pins from Ebay purchase IDcarryon2000 . I ended up wearing them before the wedding just as accents when I was a BM and to some other affairs we attended

I did not wear them at all for the wedding although I had bought them for that reason. Tifannie instead decided to use some left over Swarovski crystals that I had from another wedding project to put in my hair. I loved her idea, although I had never seen it done and had no idea what it would look like on me Tiffanie put tiny crystals in my hair instead of my pins.

I LOVE the way it turned out and was a bit overwhelmed at how nice it all looked. We NEVER did a trial at all with my hair like it was on the wedding day. I was totally confident that Tiffanie would nail it so there was no need for a trial.



I never would have thought to do something like that on my own. I have always totally trusted Tiffanie with my hair so it was no issue at all for me to let her do her job without no questions from me

This is an amazing shot! It shows my daddy holding me, my husband and my FIL – plus the crystals in my hair.


MAKE UP
Friend – not for hire



My good friend did my make up. She has done her own make up for years and make up for various friends including an entire wedding party (& the bride) so I was confident that she could do the job. She does not do this for a living – it’s just something she is good at and enjoys doing.

I am not a make up wearer so I was very concerned about looking to done up. I wanted a natural look with just a bit of color We went through my non-existent stash of make up and bought a few other things (foundation and powder since our skin tones are so different) and then she used a lot of her make up for my first trial. We did a few trials – maybe about 4 different looks with and without fake lashes and on the wedding day she did an amazing job. I am not a make up user so it was a shock to me to see my face totally made up with foundation and such.

We used Bare Minerals and it was really light and I did not even feel like I had make up on – which was a concern of mine. The product line is really not made for ethnic skin (not a lot of colors that suit darker skin tones) but we managed to use the foundation (Deep) and face color powder (Warmth). The photo effect is a kind of glow – it’s reflective. One friend told DH (not me) that my make up made me look “younger” and one aunt told me I was “glowing” I have no idea how that works but I really like the way the make up photographs – not like I was wearing a mask or anything like some products look. I suppose that on lighter skin the Bare Minerals reflective aspect can have a wash out effect so I recommend having your face done (Sephora carries the brand) prior to buying any of these products.

Bare Minerals make up
The make up is great but the service in the store is the WORST


We went to the flagship Bare Minerals store in Manhattan (1140 3rd Ave & 67th I think) but the manager was pretty rude when we visited. The last make up trial was at 7 p.m. (this was on a Saturday) so we rushed to get there by 6:58 p.m. just to try foundation. The store was not closing for some time. We had called in advance to say we were coming just in case we needed an appointment or something and to let them know that we would possibly get there right at 7 p.m. They told us to come on down.

We got there and the manager was pretty rude and told the consultant (who was VERY nice to us) not to do a trial with us since it was 7 p.m. My friend talked fast and mentioned that she was doing my wedding day make up and wanted to use Bare Minerals since it’s a staple in her make up case. We ended up having the trial but the manager said to only do foundation – not any shadows or lip colors (none of which go with my skin tone anyway but still – it was rude). Oh, and a woman came in well after 7 p.m. and this same manager did that woman’s trial herself

Since the colors worked well, I did buy the Deep foundation & Warmth face powder (plus a brush) at the flagship store but we popped into Sephora (across the street) and bought the kit (7 products) for less than the price of the 3 items I had bought a few minutes before. I was kind of happy to be able to march back in to the Bare Minerals store and return those items since the manager had been so rude – and the employees had started to close the store at 7:15 p.m. (8 p.m. posted closing for Saturday). I left my friend in Sephora while I returned the products and when I went back to Sephora (the teenagers running the store had locked up early 7:30 p.m. instead of the 8 p.m. posted closing time) but they let me in when my friend told them that I was purchasing the items in her hand. This all just goes to show that if you own a business don’t let teenagers run it with no adult supervision since they will try things like closing early to go out and party on a Saturday night.

The eye shadows we used for trials with Bare Minerals are Mac (which I already owned), a black Mac crème eye liner, Origins mascara (I already owned), Physicians Formula for crease, and the gloss is Prescriptives (I got it at Macys Herald Square on a whim a week or so before my friend even offered to do my make up). We mixed the Prescriptives gloss with 2 others by Iman to get a deeper red/gold look but I thought the Prescriptives alone looked fine. I do not recall the name of the blush color since that was my friends color and not something I bought. We used a Smashbox lip liner that I had already (wine). Oh, and the concealers we used are by Mac (under eye area) & Prescriptives.

We basically used the same make up for the wedding day but I did buy blush NARS and we used only Mac shadows for my eyes and not the Physicians Formula since my friend said the color I picked looked great with a “wet set” but the wet set would not blend at all. We used Tempting (base), Sable (for crease) and Retrospeck (for brow line). We also used a bronze liquid eye liner on top of my eyes. Instead of the Origins, I picked up some Maybeline waterproof mascara.

Oh yeah, the brushes we used for the trial were from Sephora (shadow brushes) and I had bought some brushes by MAC a while back from the Estee Lauder Company store.

I ended up buying a set of 14 Trish McEvoy brushes since my friend said they are the best make up brushes ever. I gave them all to her as a gift for doing my make up for free. She used a few of them to do my make up. The total look (w/o the cost of the brushes I gave her) cost me about $200 (about the same I think make up artist charge) but I had my friend with me all day to do touch ups and we did like 5 trials. My friend also did my sister’s make up that day















I love the way it all turned out.

My sister had her make up done too. I bought her Revlon lashes to use for the day.




GARTER
ebay ID buylace8391
I ordered a navy blue satin garter set with rhinestones. I wore one to throw and one to keep. Not sure why I did this though since I really had nothing planned for the garter after the wedding. DH put it on the rearview mirror.





My sister helping me put on the garters. My assistant DOC is behind me making sure I did not tip over in my big dress while trying to stand on one leg to have the garters put on


FYI – I used Shea Butter Body Butter from The Body Shop as well as Ralph Lauren Glamorous perfume. I mention it here since my friend Tiffanie commented about how good the Shea Butter smelled under my gown when she was helping with the garters





DH took the garter off with his teeth




A friend got these two photos for us




The men did not seem as jazzed about catching it and a few ran from it.


It was nothing like the bouquet toss cat fight I tossed a bouquet of lavender roses and not the heart bouquet which could have probably killed someone had it hit them in the head.




Tuxedos for dads - don’t know which stores
I do not know where my dad & DH’s dad got their tuxedos My dad lives in VA so he got his tuxedo in VA and DH’s dad lives in South Carolina and I know he got it there.







OFFICIANT
REVEREND JAMES BOWENS
Brooklyn, NY
Reverend Bowens is DH’s cousin (my cousin too now ) and DH asked him to perform our ceremony months before we even picked a hall. DH always looked up to his cousin as a child so it was only fitting that he perform our ceremony. DH was in constant contact with Reverend Bowens prior to the wedding - they speak often anyway.



Reverend Bowens met with us a week or so before the ceremony to go over what we wanted and to make sure we had our vows prepared. We did not ask for much since I was very comfortable with him after attending his service that Sunday afternoon and hearing his sermon at his church in Brooklyn. He is a real fire and brimstone kind of Reverend - full of charisma. He conducted a beautiful ceremony for us and was asked for his card by some of our guests - although we are not sure who and did not know anyone was engaged

Reverend Bowens arrived at the hall around 6:00 p.m. for our 4:30 p.m ceremony. I did not get nervous since I knew he was coming but DH freaked out a bit. Reverend Bowens was following someone and got separated from them in traffic. That guest had his cell phone off to avoid work calls so Reverend Bowens was left to call DH. Reverend Bowens was lost for some time and passed the hall a few times since he was being given conflicting directions by the staff. He also had a car full of people (since some rides backed out last minute) so I cannot even imagine the stress levels that day in his car. DH had made a test run to the hall with many of his family members but he neglected to do that with Reverend Bowens. I absolutely recommend Reverend Bowens but make sure that he is familiar with the location of your hall. Once he arrived everything went on fast forward and I honestly do not recall a lot of what he said….but we will see it on video I do recall reading my vows and hearing the vows DH prepared for me

WEDDING VOWS
Hmmm. Not sure if I can review them since we wrote them We had read our vows in front of each other when we met with our minister so DH’s vows to me on our wedding day were not a total shock. I think I would have been balling if I had not heard them in advance. He did change the last line though and it was so appropriate for us Lots of guests asked where we got the vows. When we said that we wrote them the guests were surprised. I guess not many people write their own vows anymore









MONOGRAMMED RUNNER
DIY
plus - http://www.lorilis.com/premade.html
I contacted a few vendors that LIW brides used and got quotes for a monogrammed aisle runner, monogrammed table runner, monogrammed tag for my gown and monogrammed wrap for my bridal bouquet.

In the end we only ordered the monogrammed runner. I had wanted to use www.madebye.com for my aisle runner since she did such a good job with azoodie (Azad’s) but she took a really long time to respond to my e-mails. She does beautiful work but by the time she did get back to me I had found at least 3 vendors that could do what I wanted for less

I ended up using an ebay vendor for my aisle runner and sent her the quotation that I wanted painted on the runner as well as the monogram I designed in Microsoft Publisher – the monogram that I put on everything . Lori has a website now and does not sell on ebay.

Lori’s price for a runner with my monogram and the quotation was really reasonable And her fee included the cost of the floral runner which is not included for some other vendors. I ordered a 50 foot runner and I completely recommend Lori .

I had Lori paint the monogram I designed near the top - about 5 feet from the top. I also had her put our quote in the middle of the 50 foot runner. The same quote is in our wedding program

My petals were scattered along the sides liked I asked but they blew around between the time they were placed and the ceremony. We were warned about this when we spoke with the florist so it was not a shock. I do have a photo from when they were along the sides though









My gown was a little wide and mostly covered the monogram during the ceremony.


Over a month after the wedding I realized, while looking at photos from friends, that we did not have the monogrammed aisle runner in the house. I contacted the hall, our DOC and the hotel to determine the whereabouts of the runner since DH had made plans to do something with it after the wedding. We never found it.

My cousin who helped load the boxes into the car does not recall the 3 - 4 foot long box being on the cart at all as we were being packed up to leave. I am not really sure what can be done with a used, monogrammed runner but DH kept the seating chart so who knows what his plan was for the missing aisle runner

DOVE RELEASE
Love is in the Air
Phone: (516) 352-0632
This was so amazing. I only told a few people since it was a surprise to DH to honor his deceased mother. I had 4 readings done (one for his mom, one for my grandpa, one called Family Chain and a reading dedicated to me and DH).

Lillian took care of calling the video, photographer, catering hall etc. She came in a tuxedo. It’s a family business with her husband (the bird trainer) and her son and daughter.

We did a 4 basket release with 10 birds.


It was beautiful albeit NOT the way we intended. Our minister was about 90 minutes late (and I did not flip out at all ) so the dove release was done with just DH and a few family members in the chapel area and I was hiding out inside while my friend/hair stylist did the reading. There was no time to run around and look for my aunt who was prepared in advance to do the readings. The birds had to be released by a certain time and it was exactly at or maybe even after that time when the release happened. Lillian planned to leave without doing the release due to the delay but my DOC convinced her not to leave. DH saw the doves and I saw the doves so as far as we are concerned it was a success

There was some issue with the second money order not reaching Lillian prior to the day of the wedding so I took an envelope for her in addition to the tip envelopes. I went to my local post office to see what could be done but as usual, they were of no help. I had our DOC give Lillian the cash. After I drafted a quick contract, I also had our DOC get Lillian to sign for the balance the day of the wedding and note that she would return the second money order once it arrived.

About 30 days later I put a trace on the money order (for a fee at the USPS). The day after I received confirmation from the USPS that my request for a trace was received, the money order arrived from Lillian.

The look on his face is priceless. He had no idea what was in the basket

DH was so shocked that he dropped the lid onto the head of the poor dove that did not fly away immediately.

Lillian helped him out










I was speaking to him on the microphone from inside the hall.



My friend did the readings for the family members and friends we have lost.




It was bittersweet but DH loved it


Because of the delay with our minister, Lillian had said she was leaving without doing the release Michelle is also the one who convinced Lillian of Love is in the Air to stay to do the release although it was getting late.

MEMORIAL CANDLES – ebay
This was the worst decision I made during this process and possibly the worst judge of character mistake I have made in life.
Link to the post re: drama over our candles if you care to know the story

After the drama with receiving broken candles, I filed a dispute with AMEX to credit me back the full amount that I paid for the candles. AMEX is great about things like this – love them! In the end, the ebay seller lied by stating that I wanted to change the names on the memorial candles! Why on earth would I need to change the names of DEAD PEOPLE And she also lied and said that I refused to send her back the broken candles – which she NEVER asked me to do.

Customer service is super important to me and her attitude over HER MISTAKE just ruined the experience of collaborating to make such a special wedding memento. Ebay and Paypal handled it (along with Amex) and I got a temporary refund from Amex while they investigated.

I ended up getting replacement candles from Teri – Ebay ID peacewithjesus

Teri was really helpful once I told her about all this drama. She got back to me promptly via e-mail and she was willing to redo all of the pillar candles for $14.95 each plus shipping.

Teri really came through for me in a pinch and I am grateful However, the candles did not match. They came in ivory instead of white and the layouts we did by e-mail were off (the bold part is MY fault since I told her to put some of the text in bold). One candle arrived cracked. Plus they had bubbles in them, from what I think is where the paper is attached under the wax

We decided not to bother with memorial candles at all after all the hassle involved.
I think that was the only time I cried during this process and I am still annoyed that I let it get to me in that way. DH (FH at the time) tried to assure me that it was okay to not have a candle for his mom since his aunt did not want to be the one to light it for her deceased sister. This same aunt cried (happy tears) when she got the invitation since we added his mom’s name. I really wanted to do the memorial candle for DH’s mom and our other relatives/friends who passed but it was just so much drama and over $300 spent for CANDLES. We did use the second unity candle that arrived in ivory instead of white. I was refunded for the remaining 3 replacement candles that I shipped back to Teri.

Someone probably realized that the colors were WAY off but by the time I dealt with PayPal disputes, Amex disputes and getting replacements that did not match, I just didn’t give a damn anymore. We will just make it a B & W photo in the album if the coloring looks off I tested the idea and it looks okay

As for the ebay seller, the ebay.com claims adjuster, Opal, told me that I would not get a refund since my items were considered lost/damaged in transit. How can the WRONG items be considered lost/damaged in transit.

In spite of ebay not being willing to make the seller pay me back my money for the candles, American Express did give me a refund. Love them My AMEX account notes a “Goodwill Credit” for the one candle and after the investigation was done the temporary credit was made permanent for the remaining candles I got the notice about the temp credit being made permanent in the stack of mail waiting once we came back from the honeymoon

I did send over a letter to ebay’s legal department after getting the contact info. from Opal via e-mail. That is just what I wanted to do in the last 2 weeks prior to my wedding, draft a letter to ebay noting their ridiculous policy for refunds when an item is not as described in a listing (with photos and documented proof). I have yet to receive a response

Our parents totally forgot to light the unity candle at the ceremony so we just lit them at the reception. After all of that DRAMA over candles – this is the result




It just goes to show that some things that you will obsess over during the planning will mean NOTHING or very little on your wedding day

Unity Candle Stand – www.exclusivelyweddings.com
This was a gift from Andrea aka jada2destiny aka des2ny. After all the drama with our candle situation, Andrea contacted me and wanted to buy us a memorial candle but the shipping would be about 3 weeks (which would mean likely on our wedding day or later) so I opted to get a nice unity candle holder set since I had not yet purchased one – with only about 3 weeks to go until the wedding It was such a wonderful gesture from such a kind-hearted person. Post about the unity candle holder

WEDDING BANDS
HLC Jewelry Masters Co.
66 Witherspoon St., Suite 113
Princeton, NJ 08542
Phone: (631) 842-0730
Email: info@hlcjewelry.com
Ask for Darren

Our rings were custom made for us by HLC






I could not remember which finger his ring went on




Darren is so patient and understanding . lipglossjunky73 ordered rings from HLC as well

DH and I initially wanted to incorporate his family love knot (traced back to 1808 to the Congo Region of Africa where his family originates) into my engagement ring. I was convinced not to do that by the jeweler we initially met with (mentioned above) so I was determined to use the love knot in our bands – or at least in DH’s band. I sent the photos of DH’s family symbol and ideas of what I would want for our rings. We sort of collaborated using some ideas from a few rings HLC had made in the past and incorporated our symbol.

HLC Jewelry

Traditional Bands

Special Orders Bands

pic of the love knot from the family scrap book.


And the rings ended up being CHEAPER than the quote by a couple hundred dollars - a first during wedding planning

We are thrilled with our rings and they are sooooooo meaningful to us. In the days before the wedding DH kept putting on his ring He even kept it on for a while during our final meeting with our DOC I am truly thrilled that he loves it.

Maybe one day our children, grandchildren or great grandchildren will want to use them as adornments at their weddings or even to have as their wedding bands I feel honored to have his nearly 200 year old family symbol as part of my wedding band. I know most women want diamond eternity wedding bands but I did not. I had a few jewelers try to convince me to ask DH for an eternity band when I went to have my finger sized for a band I think there was only one jeweler (besides HLC Jewelry Masters) that did not seem totally stunned that I did not want a diamond band.

I think our bands are just amazing


We absolutely recommend HLC Jewelry.

JUMPING THE BROOM
It’s an African American tradition to jump the broom and we had a reading done in advance to let everyone know what it meant. I was not going to do this but my friend insisted. She made us the broom and she read the narrative that I gave her to explain the history.

My friend is so amazing and gracious that she got the minister to pick up the broom and give it to my dad. My instructions that she had read that my daddy was to place the broom and she made sure it happened my way . Had she not, I know I would not have objected to the minister placing the broom and then jumping.

















FLORIST
This was just as bad as hall shopping I contacted several florists (some LIW vendors and some not). I have to admit that although I did not believe it, lots of vendors seem to base pricing on the location of the wedding – not distance but Brentwood Country Club versus Bourne Mansion. I think that if I had said it would be at our apartment that I would have gotten better prices.

We got some really wild price quotes for services that we needed. For some reason wedding vendors think that an engagement ring makes a woman lose touch with reality to the point of being willing to pay outrageous prices for things that would normally be reasonable or even considered cheap

I initially got a great quote from Trina at Floral Expressions but she later told me she was booked for my date This was after I started shopping her quote which she knew I was doing since I accidentally sent her quote back to her when we were comparison shopping vendors. I found out from several other florist that her quote for 16 high centerpieces with bridal party flowers and other items was way too low.

Lynn from Florisan got back to me promptly (I sent her FM) and could stay within our budget using high centerpieces (including using some ostrich feather ideas I sent to her which DH later vetoed ). Floral centerpieces would have been much more I guess but never found out since Lynn stopped responding to my messages after I said we no longer wanted ostrich feathers

Designs by Rose Rose was extremely helpful by FM and e-mail and when she did give me a quote for the high centerpieces I wanted, it was much lower than I expected. She works from her home (no storefront) but Rose does have refrigerated storage for up to 80 pieces at once so she can do large weddings. She would have needed to rent the candelabra stands that we wanted as well as rent some other items we wanted (columns/stands) which of course drove up the quote. The delivery charge was $200 for 2 – 3 locations. With all the other items we wanted, her quote was more than we wanted to spend for flowers. The price was negotiable though and her work is beautiful. I recommend her although we went with a different vendor

LA Blossom did not get back to me at all so I gave up. I had sent the FM to her with all the photos and I never heard back from Laurie at all. I later found out – months later actually – that she had surgery, then complications from surgery which made her physically unable to respond to messages for a long period She is still in business and hopefully fully recovered

Anna from National Floral Wholesale got back to me very fast, and even called me to set up an appointment. I was scared off though although her prices were the best I heard for high centerpieces. Several bad reviews on LIW about attitude problems, scheduling issues and having the wrong items show up on the day of some LIW’s bride’s wedding was enough to make me concerned about what would happen the day of the wedding. Florists I spoke to were shocked that NFW is a retail shop and some told me that they had ordered from there in the past but stopped using them for various reasons including dead or dying flowers and receiving the wrong flowers on numerous occasions. We did not go to see them in person.

Flowers by Burtons I contacted via e-mail and got a decent quote plus the caveat that they can work with any budget We did not go to visit them.

Angie from Atlantic Floral was really nice when I called. I asked to send an e-mail with photos since I was not trying to hike to Long Island from BK and waste my time or hers if she could not do what we wanted and in our price range. She gave us a good price but it was not for the number of stems we wanted.

Flowers by Emil was one of our first choices to visit since they are in Brooklyn. I was going there to meet up with another bride during her appointment since there were no appointments left that week – Thanks for that Simone aka cantwait2bwed . Well, she was running a few minutes late (torrential rain storm that day) and nobody on staff was able to wait 15 minutes. We never went to see them in person.

Flowers by Brian I contacted via e-mail after seeing other brides flowers. I sent 4 detailed e-mails with photos attached (links actually) beside each item. I heard back from Flowers by Brian promptly and was told that the centerpieces I wanted were $150 - $250 each but that they can work with any budget so I should not be concerned and try to come in for an appointment The picture I sent is a $425 centerpiece according to Fleurissma so $150-$250 each sounded great I never did make it in to see them since they do not have a Manhattan office as the website indicates and I did not want to hike to Long Island.

I just did not have the time to go see all of these vendors on Long Island and can’t understand why they can’t all quote by e-mail or over the phone since we knew what we wanted and had photos for everything. Gas is too expensive to drive out from Brooklyn a few times a month just to hear quotes! Appointments are hard to come by so I felt that not only would I be wasting my time but theirs. I would be taking an appointment from someone who might actually book.

I think it’s an attempt to get customers in front of them to sell them something they did not request and/or don’t even want (bait and switch) like some of the halls that don’t have the specific date a couple wants but still has them come in to the hall to tell you they don’t have the date but they have some random dates that were distinctly mentioned as dates that were not acceptable - Okay, mini vent over.

I never could get a quote from Masters & Co when I sent the photos of what we wanted so I gave up after exchanging e-mail about 4 times. I had sent all of the photos of what we wanted and other options we would consider (which I sent to numerous florist) but Laurie kept telling me we needed to come in to talk about it No way was I driving out to Long Island just to hear a price

Jennifer at Verbena Designs was very prompt in responding to my initial e-mail (in which I attached photos of my ideas) and she stayed within our budget. We did most of our communicating via e-mail and she was able to give us pricing which some florist would not do by e-mail. We never did meet with Jennifer though since our schedules just would not work. After we made plans to meet, Jennifer e-mailed and told me that she had an afternoon open that we could make –anytime prior to 4 p.m., I got back to her by e-mail saying what time we could come out to Long Island and I left my a few of my phone numbers (cell, home and work). DH and I got our schedules together and I got concerned when I did not hear back for a while. I called to confirm our appointment and (about 24 hours after I said what time we could come) and I left a message on the voice mail. I got an e-mail back later that evening saying that she was booked until a few hours later than we had initially planned so we could not go. She did have the following Saturday open but that did not work for me since I had like 6 things planned that day (not even kidding) and half were work appointments. We never made it in to see Jennifer.

Betty’s Total Events in Queens (but off the LIE). I went to see Betty for flowers ONLY because she had the centerpiece stand that I found on her website that she told me she owned. I decided we HAD TO HAVE that stand It helps that she is located in Queens too I had met Betty before when we went to check out her catering hall and had a bad experience (discussed below). She did not make up a sample for us to come and see but instead made up a lot of samples for her expo a few weeks after our meeting. I went to the expo to see the sample (we were to get two versions of my idea but she ended up doing only one) and the stand that I wanted to be used (the reason I even went to see Betty for flowers) was not used for the sample. The sample was not done in our colors and it had different flowers from what I requested. I assume that it was done this way since it was not just for us but to show her skills to the people at the expo The centerpiece was not what I expected but everyone at the expo loved it. It was NOT like the photo we provided at all The bouquet was also not what I expected. After the expo I never heard back from anyone at Betty’s and I did not try to contact them again.

After all of that research, we picked FLOWER MICHELE
234B Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY
(516) 663-5100

Our DOC, knows John at Flower Michele very well and had worked with him on numerous occasions. She has done a ton of weddings and had about 40 weddings booked for 2006 and it was only January Michelle suggested that we use Flower Michele and she agreed to talk to John for us to see if he could create what I wanted since I was not about to make more trips to Long Island just to hear pricing.

I ended up e-mailing Michelle photos of what we wanted and we let her handle it. After Michelle spoke to John about our wedding and several others, she told us that John could do what we wanted and within our budget. All we did was go in to meet with John at the Mineola office to finalize details and leave the deposit. I wish I had hired Michelle Nocella to put all of the details together for us. I think I would have been FAR LESS STRESSED OUT

I absolutely loved my bouquet!!! It was made with 50 to 60 flowers to form the heart shape My bouquet was kind of heavy and but it’s in so many of the photos that it was worth it to me to spend a bit more It had its own water source but by the end of the night I did have some wilted flowers. I lost a couple of flowers throughout the day, including one from the center prior to the ceremony starting . My friends were very resourceful though and just grabbed a flower from the side of the bouquet and put it in with a pin.







John at Flower Michele really has a tremendous passion for flowers. You can’t go wrong in hiring someone who loves their job. We wanted to go with a “theme” of purple flowers and we got exactly what we wanted. Shades of purple roses and purple lisianthus were everywhere. John LISTENED to my ideas and looked at the photos of what I liked (many turned out to be pictures of centerpieces that John had done for other brides). He did not just look at my ideas and go off on a tangent to make up something he thought we should use. John and his team did an amazing job with creating our wedding day flowers. We recommend him and would use Flower Michele again.

I did not get or request a sample of the bouquets for the ladies and they turned out to be amazing!!! As an after thought I decided that I did not want skimpy bridal party bouquets but I never said a word to John. In the end, I did not have to. The bouquets each had 30 roses plus the lisianthus blooms. Not skimpy at all

The corsages






John told me that I was a really easy bride to work. I did not have any demands or even many wants. I only cared about my bouquet and getting a specific centerpiece stand. I really did not care what flowers were used so long as they were purple.

DH & I really had a great time with John. It’s amusing to me since DH had previously REFUSED to be involved with the flowers but I made him go to the appointment since this whole wedding business was DH’s idea. DH ended up really enjoying himself and he commented in the car that the centerpieces on display in the shop were really nice. DH was so pleased with himself for making a floral decision too – he insisted that the BM bouquets be “fully wrapped” when I had told John that I did not have a preference And a real plus was that John noticed DH’s trapezoid muscles that he had been working on for weeks to “get in shape” for the wedding I had no idea what a trapezoid muscle even was prior to that day

DH & I did not see our sample centerpiece and the sample bouquet until 6 days prior to the wedding. Yeah, I know, I know but it really was not a huge deal since I knew that there would be minimal changes if we even made changes. We were going to see the sample bouquet in our colors and the sample centerpiece a little earlier but the flowers for the bouquet arrived too late to open up well enough in time for that showing plus the centerpiece would not be done in time. DH & I also ended up having to go out of town that day. Rushing back was an option to at least get the chance to see the sample bouquet (not in our color) but it was better to reschedule. We could have seen the samples at a Fox Hollow show about 8 days before the wedding but DH was not sure if he could make it that night. Although John said I could let him know the day before the Fox Hollow show if we were coming, I hate doing things at the last minute and I did not want to even ask John to rush and make up a sample centerpiece and cart it to Fox Hollow last minute.

Our high centerpieces




The low centerpiece is in the background


close up of our low centerpieces


We saw our samples and made minimal. In fact, I think the only thing we did was note that we need long burning tea lights since our party was longer than 4 hours and that the day of bouquet would have more crystals than the sample but John already knew that Oh, and I had some curly willow added to the centerpiece to make it more symmetrical since the stands were all a bit different since they are hand made. The funny thing is I did not notice the curly willow until I saw the photos after the wedding. My symmetry concern was even lost on me since I barely noticed the centerpieces at all until I saw that some candles were not lit and mentioned it to our DOC that night. It was some issue with the wicks that did not even matter at that point. I noticed the centerpieces in photos weeks later although, I do recall asking a MOH if they had the curly willow added the day after the wedding.

For anyone who went to the Fox Hollow bridal show on March 22, 2006 and saw the purple heart bouquet – that was mine sans crystals. I know that the sample was at the Flower Michele shop on my birthday – March 25 – since and LIW bride saw it.

Be warned, the heart bouquet from Flower Michele is not for the faint of heart (no pun intended). It is about 8 pounds to carry around all day so be prepared if you order this bouquet. Michele uses 3 bouquets to form the heart so just be aware that it is heavy in comparison to other types of bouquets.

CEREMONY FLOWERS – GAZEBO AND AISLE FLOWERS
These were included in the ceremony fee and the flowers were done by the house florist. I have no idea of the name of the florist









DAY OF COORDINATOR – DOC
Michelle Nocella from Defining Moments
www.thedefiningmoments.com
Phone : (917) 270-7037
Michelle was the designated worrier for the day

First of all I have to say that friends and family have been calling me to compliment Michelle for weeks My sister even commented that Michelle worked her azz off that day And she would not accept a tip at the end of the night although she was beat down from the day and deserved it. I gave it to her assistant I had actually forgotten to do an envelope for Michelle’s assistant but I did take an envelope with extra cash in it for tipping plus the marked envelopes I can see how people get overwhelmed with happiness and just start handing out money after weddings

I suppose not everyone needs a DOC but I had a lot of very specific things I wanted taken care of such as take Polaroid pictures for the guest book, making sure the table cameras were collected, deal with any issues at the hall, hand out programs, cry packs and petal cones, coordinate the dove release, watching out for crashers etc. All I wanted to concern myself with on my wedding day was being pretty We were not even going to hire a DOC. DH totally vetoed the idea when I told him about the quotes I received and the fact that I had a bridal attendant was supposed to be enough. Little did he know.

I had no idea about the amount of stuff that needs to be done for a wedding. For instance, I never considered a “walk through” at the hall to see where everything would be placed the day of like a table for the guest book and where the place cards would be set up. I know that the maitre D handles a lot but I did not want anyone coming to me on my wedding day to ask me anything about set ups or something in my contracts. The day flies by fast as it is and I did not want all of the hard work we put in researching vendors to be interrupted by random questions.

Michelle was a life saver. The DOC I had planned to book since I first learned of what a DOC even did (Rosalie) was not available since I waited so long to book. Rosalie recommended Michelle Nocella as did several LIW brides. Michelle Nocella is not only a DOC but a wedding coordinator and she brings along an assistant. Michelle does make up too which can be included in her DOC package.

I contacted Michelle a little over two months prior to the wedding and I gave her all of our vendor contracts at that time. The first night Michelle and I met in person we spoke for about 3.5 hours This was a Sunday night after I had been at work until like 6 p.m. We met at 6:30 p.m. at my house and Michelle was there by 6:29 p.m. Michelle was so down to earth that she and I talked about all sorts of stuff – even a little about the wedding. And she came to my house in Brooklyn telling me that it was her “job” to relieve our stress and not to have us come out to her in Long Island I LOVED that since I could not stand hiking back and forth to Long Island. DH even commented on the fact that Michelle came to us He was thrilled with my choice although he missed the first meeting (work stuff) and he ended up missing the second meeting too which was about two hours.

I cannot stress how thrilled we both were to not have to hike to Long Island for meetings with our DOC. At one point our photographer said we could use her Manhattan office to meet with potential vendors since she also knew about me taking issue with hiking to Long Island for everything. I really hate being in traffic and it seems like no matter what time of day you travel, there is always heavy traffic on the LIE

From the moment we hired Michelle, I just felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. DH wanted this wedding and I am the one who put it all together – with him cheering me on for doing a great job and him vetoing some of my cheesy ideas It felt great to pass the ball off to Michelle and know that she and her assistant would handle anything…..even getting us a florist since I had not selected one – even after invites had gone out

During one call Michelle told me that she had arranged a meeting with our banquet manager to walk through the hall and to make sure that all of our wedding items were accounted for after our drop off. I had no idea that a DOC did such a thing

Michelle was always prompt for our meetings and always responded to my e-mails quickly. On the day of the wedding Michelle came to the hotel hours before we left to go and do our advance photos. In fact, my hair was still in rollers when she and her assistant arrived. Michelle got to work right away and I recall that she is the one who went down to get our card keys coded (we had late check out but the keys are deactivated at like 11 a.m.) and she went to make sure we were being consolidated by the hotel staff from our two rooms into 1 suite for the wedding night.

She was there to help me get dressed


And Michelle was there to make sure we stayed on track in getting my hair and make up together so we would not be too late. When me and my family & friends get together we always talk and talk and talk…..which we really did not have time to do that day We sent DH off to the hall to take his photos first


Michelle was armed with copies of all of our contracts, the seating info for the reception, the list of how the favors, menus and reception items were to be placed as well as an assistant to do any running around. Michelle and her assistant made sure our ceremony items from the hotel got to the hall (bouts, corsages, our broom) and that those things plus the items we dropped off previously at the hall were set up/handed out (cry packs, programs, rose petal cones).

Michelle personally placed the rose petals along my aisle runner as I had requested



She and her assistant made sure that our cake was set up, made sure people signed our Polaroid guest book (and took the photos I think), stayed on top of the vendors to be sure everything we wanted to happen went as planned……..all in all they made sure that all of the planning was worth it. That includes dealing with the issues at the hall and the dove release situation in addition to offering to drive to get the minister who got lost.

Michelle and her assistant were with us all day. They were suppose to leave after the cake cutting but did not. Michelle was there until the lights came up at the hall

We absolutely recommend Michelle Nocella and her team at Defining Moments Isn’t that just such an appropriate and creative name for wedding services. By the time we hired Michelle, all that was left was to get a florist. Had we only known We really clicked with Michelle and totally recommend her as a DOC and also as your full wedding coordinator. She’s fantastic and I wish I would have hired her to plan the entire wedding It really helps to have someone on your side that has been in this business for years and that has the contacts to get you what you need/want.
Michelle is highly regarded by other DOC’s (she was recommended to us by Rosalie), by brides and by the other vendors with which she works. If you need a DOC, a full service wedding coordinator or make up, definitely give Michelle a call.

CEREMONY & RECEPTION LOCATION
For those of you who have been on the boards for a while, you know that we saw 32 halls in NY & VA. No, that is not a typo -- We saw 32 halls before we picked. It was a real struggle to find a hall we both liked.

We looked at halls before we were even officially engagement on November 1, 2004. I know that we looked at halls around Labor Day so we started looking in September 2004 for our March 2006 wedding. During our hall search I discovered that I wanted an outdoor ceremony as well as a pretty indoor option in case of rain in addition to nice grounds. You would think that the catering halls with outdoor ceremony space would realize this dilemma and build a nice windowed chapel area or at least not use a dark reception room or the basement as the makeshift ceremony area in case of inclement weather.

This is the list of questions I created for the hall search. It is WAY MORE than you’ll need. Several places we checked commented that this list was amazing and a banquet manager at Swan Club told us that many of questions do not come up until AFTER the couple books – a chance we were not willing to take.

NAME OF HALL:

Dates Available:

Capacity:

Minimum for room:

How much are vendor meals?

Are kids half price?

What ages?

Any limit on number of ½ price kids?

Vendors included in minimum?

Are kids included in minimum?

How early can bridal party arrive?

What time can ceremony begin?

Any limitations of music played outside? What type of limitations (i.e., no amplifiers)

Ceremony fee? includes floral arrangements, arch, gazebo, pew markers, pedestals, podium or table

Ceremony location outdoor?

Indoor ceremony option in case of rain?

Length of aisle outside? inside? (for runner measurement)

Can we have a rehearsal the night before?
If not, when?

When can vendors arrive to set up?

Bridal Suite size & location:

Number of Concurrent Events:

If more than one event: separate bathroom
facilities?

Is Champagne Included throughout the reception?

Liquor – top shelf? (Names?)

Are candles allowed? Votive placecards?

Is there an in-house Wedding Planner?

Photography/Florist – recommendations?

Can we use others vendors?

Any fee for outside vendors?

Any discount or credit for using recommended vendors? (i.e. cheaper vendor meals)

Insurance requirements for vendors?

Does hall need proof of insurance?

Wedding Cake included?

Any limitations on flavors/fillings?

Any credit if we do not use the cake?

Cake cutting charge if bringing our own cake?

Number of Entrée Options

Can we have a tasting

When is final menu picked?

Any decorations included? Centerpieces or flowers for cocktail hour tables?

Do we get a credit if not using centerpieces?
If so, how much?

Linen colors?

Ratio of Guests/Servers:

What will waiters wear?

Bridal attendant included?

Number of Bars and Bartenders (i.e. 1 per 50 guests)?

Coat Room and Rest Room Attendants?

Is cost included?

Table Size (number):

Table shapes for room?

Maximum Number of Tables for room:

Valet – included or additional?

Dimensions of Dance Floor:

Dimensions of reception room:

Is there a separate cocktail room?

Capacity of cocktail room? Seating for all guests?

Overtime charges:

Gratuity – is it a set fee? Is it distributed amongst all of the workers?

Service charge % (number):

Is service charge taxed:

Hotel recommendations:

Direction cards provided? (get a copy for file)

Deposit amount?

Method of payment?

Payment schedule and is a courtesy reminder sent?

Any tasting events or showcases before we book?

Can we see photos of hall in different seasons (get copies for file)

Timing for final head count?

Can we upgrade if under minimum (no wasted dinners) i.e., cordials or upgrade entrees?

Cancellation and refund policy?

Smoking area? Outside in NY

Any renovations planned?
What/When?
Expected completion date?

***Do not forget to check out the bathrooms:

***Take digital pics of the rooms and grounds for file

Add any special notes/impressions about this hall? i.e. easy to find, distance from hotels and shopping for guests?

As you can see, the hall search was a major project for us.

VA halls we saw. This means nothing if you are not familiar with the area
Cavalier Hotel - great old hotel but confusing menu/alcohol (order hors d’oeuvres by the piece)
Grand Affairs – not our style
Chrysler Museum of Art – too much work (sort of DIY) and must use preferred caterers
Botanical Gardens – have to use preferred caters (but would have used for ceremony)
VA Contemporary Arts Center – almost went with this place but we did NY, first choice
Chesapeake Convention Center – not our style
Seabreeze Officer’s Club (Dam Neck base) – on the water and really nice, second choice for VA
Little Creek Officer’s Club – not our style
Ford’s Colony Country Club, Williamsburg VA – banquet area that reminded me of a tent and DH HATES tents since they remind him of his time in the military

These are the NY halls we visited:
Milleridge Cottage – This was my first choice hall. When I fantasized about the wedding (after seeing tons of photos of Milleridge) I saw our wedding there. The atrium for an indoor ceremony sold me but DH HATED the place I thought he would love it and I had researched the place for like a month before the appointment. I had even told one MOH that Milleridge would be the place and I sent her the wording for our would be invites with Milleridge Cottage as the location. I was soooo upset when he said he HATED the hall. DH thought it was very dated – it’s 16th century and he did not like it at all. So it was back to the drawing board.

Betty’s Catering aka Betty’s Total Events – Queens –When I initially went to visit the hall Betty lied to me. I was told that I could not see the space since the floors were being done and that I had to come to the expo being held about a month later. I took in my list of questions and Betty told me that people never come in with so many questions. Betty also told me that her hall DID NOT SERVE ALCOHOL since people tend to get “rowdy” and that most of her brides do not want alcohol served since they are Catholic This was after she asked me if I was Dominican (I’m not), if DH was Dominican (he’s not) and after she asked me why we did not book another hall that I told her we had seen. The website clearly says 5 hours of premium open bar is part of the wedding package. I was so concerned about the conflicting alcohol info that I even posted about it here Betty's Catering post from initial hall visit I knew of at least one bride who used Betty’s and I asked her about the alcohol policy when I got home that night. She confirmed that alcohol was served at her wedding and there was no issue at all about the alcohol policy which is clearly noted on the website Here is the kicker - I got a call months later asking if we were still interested in booking them for our wedding hall. I reminded the caller (not Betty) that Betty told me they did not serve alcohol so we decided to book elsewhere. The woman I spoke with assured me that they do in fact serve alcohol – to my surprise

Fox Hollow – liked the space and the menu selection (pretty outdoor space). We visited twice – our appointment and a band showcase. They throw a nice wedding and a friend used Fox Hollow in 2002 in the smaller room. We would have booked the Garden Terrace. There was some change in ownership in 2005 and in the end we decided against Fox Hollow – but it was one of the top choices for us.

Floral Terrace – okay ceremony space, one wedding at a time and cool ballroom with elevated dance floor – can hold like 500 people I think. The location, on a main road, turned me off and I did not like the ceremony area on the first floor. I hear the food is good but the fact that they do not offer a tasting (even after booking) turned DH off completely.

Swan Club – they use the covered Pavilion area for the ceremony, chaotic with 3 events at once when we visited. A staff member was in jeans (no doubt having been called in to help last minute). DH hated that I had been to a wedding there before and did not realize there were 3 events so they can normally handle it much better than the day we visited.

Sandcastle – not our style, DH did not like the knight & armor décor at all. They also do not offer a tasting at all – even after booking

Chateau Briand – DH did not like it – kind of art deco. They have a cool entrance through the floor of one of the rooms

Jericho Terrace – we both loved the space and the BM (Mike Closs) but there is no outdoor space for a ceremony and no real grounds for the guests to roam around. There are various photo locations though We had a tasting during our first visit and the waiter that was helping us was so wonderful. I feel so bad that I cannot recall his name I was talking to Mike Closs or DH when the waiter came in to drop off or clear and instead of doing his job and running off, he waited for me to finish talking and then asked if we needed anything. I used to wait tables and I rarely did that I was the drop or clear and run kind of person The Dome room is really pretty and at the time we visited a lot of renovations were being planned for the outdoor space (for photos only not to use for the guests). We would have used the skylight room for the ceremony and the Dome Room for the party. I attended a showcase a little while after we first visited and I still loved the place. The only reason we did not book is the outdoor space. We had to have our ceremony at the hall so leaving Jericho Terrace to go and take photos at some place other than the hall was really not an option since we did not see each other prior to the ceremony. Mike Closs is just awesome to deal with. If you go tot Jericho Terrace, be sure to meet with him

Russo’s on the Bay – did not like location but a very pretty hall inside which they were remodeling at the time. On the day we visited we saw a bride in a horse and carriage coming down the highway. There were cones to block her from oncoming traffic but that visual really made it obvious that the location (on a main road) is not the greatest. Once you are inside though it’s a different world

Coral House – not our style but great price and really pretty lake setting and deck space, gratuity was included in the price and centerpieces too I think. And we had a tasting during our first visit

Brentwood Country Club – great price but needs updating. Lots of use = lots of wear

Villa Lombardi’s – way too pink for me (I’m not the pink type of woman ) and lots of rules too like no throwing rose petals. They did have the lowest minimum we found – 75 guests.

Chateau La Mer – nice space but the number of cemeteries on the way freaked DH out He hates to even discuss death (his mom died when he was a teenager) so that is the day I found out about his issue with cemeteries too.

Carlyle on the Green – ceremony area needs updating, fab ballroom but DH said it smelled like old cigars. The place is a bit worn and it shows but I still think the ballroom is beautiful I pictured a Gatsby style cocktail party with belly up tables had we booked the hall DH did not like it.

North Ritz Club – basement ceremony location with low ceilings but otherwise a nice place for a summer or early fall wedding if you can use the outdoor space.

Majestic Gardens – reception room for ceremony and way too pink and very far for us – like 2 hours from us in Brooklyn.

Giorgio’s at Fox Hill – it’s 2 hours from us in Brooklyn (with no traffic) since it’s at exit 71 off the LIE. The distance took Giorgio’s out of the running for us.

Sunset Harbour – We didn’t go inside after calling to see if we could stop by, being told to come on by, driving for over 2 hours (fighting traffic and all the while calling to say we were still on the way) only to not be allowed to see the place. Staffers were there while we waited, while I called from my cell phone and while we knocked on the door for about 8 minutes. When they did come outside, we were told that we could not see the hall We were not given any literature on the hall, no business card – NOTHING Yes, we were late but they told us to come on by and we called all the while to say we were still coming and stuck in traffic. The least someone could have done was call us (since I left my cell number with each call) to say not to come by at all. Such a huge WASTE OF OUR TIME and at least 4 hours of our life that we will NEVER get back

Riviera at Massapequa – beautiful setting but the reception room is used in case of bad weather for the ceremony and it seemed dark since they block off the table area which has a wall of windows. The outdoor space looks great for a ceremony. I went to a bridal show (DH could not attend) and the food was good. They include much more than most halls – even a huge dessert spread in addition to the included cake if I recall correctly). It was sort of hard to find though since it is in the back of a residential neighborhood and kind of far off the highway.

Crest Hollow – saw during a band showcase so we were not even checking the place out

Huntington Hilton – saw because of a band showcase so we did not check it out

Oheka Castle – beautiful place but just way too expensive for the amount of people we had to invite. I took tons of photos when we went to visit and we had even gone as far as to decide who would get each hotel room DH was all for Oheka Castle.

Halls we called since DH got sick of looking (this was prior to picking our hall).

Bourne Mansion – no outdoor ceremony option per Michael and this was a deal breaker for me although rain or cold weather would have ruined that idea anyway

Vanderbilt Mansion – I was told that the room only holds like 125 people comfortably They have a very pretty indoor ceremony space but it was just too small for us with 261 to invite. They called me a couple of months later to see if we wanted to book

Timberpoint Country Club – price went up by $11 pp++ within 2 minutes - I spoke with two different people during that phone call but still On principal alone I would not go take a look at them.

Palm House, Brooklyn – very convenient but don’t offer as much as LI halls (like 1 cheese station and 8 passed hors d’oeuvres for cocktail hour). It would have been soooo convenient for us though since we live in downtown Brooklyn A new coworker is having a vow renewal in October and maybe we will be invited

Ceremony/Reception
First, let me say that we agonized over this – it was a very tough and personal decision. Once reality set in about the number of people we could realistically cut from the list and the cost of the honeymoon we wanted, I adjusted the budget to add more to the honeymoon and decided that we were NOT getting married at Oheka Castle no matter how much DH wanted it Our final guest list of those we absolutely wanted to invite reached 261 and this was after cutting the list as much as possible!!!!

So many people have opinions about weddings and the money spent on that day but it was solely our money and therefore solely our decision to make. We did not send any courtesy invitations.

We also did not invite everyone with a guest no matter the age. Guests in serious relationships (if we knew of them or found out at some point prior) were invited with their date. Otherwise, we did not want random strangers or the flavor of the month date at our wedding. I know that etiquette dictates that anyone over 18 should be invited with a guest, but as far I as recall, Emily Post did not kick in any money to pay for the wedding so there was no need to follow such rules. So long as the person invited solo knew people at the wedding, we (and they) were fine with a solo invite. I had a few friends tell me that had no dates and one who had a boyfriend at the time but just did not want him to come. They all got solo invites

In case you have not figured it out through the photos above………
we picked WESTBURY MANOR
1100 Jericho Turnpike
Westbury, NY
Phone: (516) 333-7117
Those using Westbury Manor have nothing to worry about. Your guests will LOVE the place We are still hearing about how fabulous it was all this time later

We ended up seeing Westbury Manor after I convinced DH to see just one more hall. I wanted to see Westbury Manor in person because of the reviews I found on LIW. The Official Westbury Manor thread is probably still the longest thread on LIW with over 2,200 posts, over 90 pages and over 68,000 views).

Once we finally visited in person we discovered that Westbury Manor is a very warm and inviting space and not the typical catering hall The mansion has a very romantic feel. The grounds are gorgeous and extensive, they have a huge basic menu with tons of passed hors d’oeuvres (11 different items), tons of cocktail hour options (we had 10 stations including fettuccine Alfredo, paella, seafood scampi, South Western station, Wok station and a marinated steak carving plus pasta salads, a fruit display, a cheese display, antipasto etc.), plus the basic dinner menu includes the appetizer, salad, guest choice of 7 entrees, various dessert choices (we picked a vanilla gelato covered in white chocolate with raspberry sauce) plus the wedding cake. There is no need for bathroom baskets since there is an attendant with TONS of stuff. I also wanted to see Westbury Manor in person because of all the photos of weddings at Westbury Manor that I found on various photographers websites. The photos on the Westbury Manor website do not do the place justice at all












After we booked we heard from almost everyone else we met (an employee at Fortunoff, a woman at gownfind.com, a woman working at a hotel we viewed, the daughter of our dove release vendor) that they used Westbury Manor and were thrilled and some are still hearing raves reviews from family & friends years later We both grinned every time that happened since we were so unsure about which hall to pick.

Other pluses for Westbury Manor are the mansion and the grounds are beautiful and extensive (no need to take pictures elsewhere unless you just want to do that). And lets not forget the peacocks Prior to the wedding when DH and my brother and some family members were having champagne and my brother was surprised to see the peacocks. He asked if his eyes were playing tricks on him. DH said no, they are all over.








Westbury Manor offers an enormous amount of food in the basic package (plus personalized menus, direction cards, table numbers and place cards), they agreed to our timeline, they agreed to set up for an outdoor ceremony just in case the weather was nice (which it was ) and get this – because of the chair covers. I kid you not, DH was all about the included chair covers. Westbury Manor’s chairs are not bad (kind of mauve or maybe burgundy I think) but we saw some awful floral patterned chairs during our hall hunt that just scream “cover me up”.

The guests loved the cocktail hour selection.

















Westbury Manor gives guests 7 entrée choices This is in addition to the appetizer & salad (or duet course if you prefer it)















Everyone loved the food and that there was so much to choose from too I heard that the duck was “excellent” and the “best I ever put in my mouth”. I have heard from the guests that every single dish was great. One friend judges a place by its coffee and said that the coffee was fantastic. We got a platter for our dais of all 7 entrees



Guest photos




I tasted the salmon and stuff shrimp plus a piece of filet mignon. DH had the lamp chops, a bit of the duck and some of the chicken – all were great.

I had a bit of the heart of Sorrento dessert but it had melted a lot by the time I got to it so I am sure the effect was lost on me of the gelato in a hard shell.



Even though it was melted, it was still tasty I had some of the salmon and sides packed up to go along with desserts We ate a little of that at the hotel along with some champagne.

Our first dance as husband and wife
















Westbury Manor was agreeable to allowing us to come over to the hall hours before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. I wanted daylight photos that would not be possible any other way since we could not get married in a church and have a 3 or 4 p.m. ceremony there (which would have left time for daylight pictures and then a 7 p.m. start reception). I wanted a church wedding with a 7 p.m. reception but agreed to get married at the hall due to the religious beliefs of some of DH’s family members.

There was no tasting but we did get a $25 gift certificate to come by and have dinner anytime and the banquet manager, Mel, said that he would give us back our deposit if we were not happy with the food. This was not in writing or anything but I assume it’s part of the normal pitch and believed he would live up to it had we not liked the food. Interestingly enough, we had met Mel early on in our hall search since he had worked at Fox Hollow.

We went to sample the food at the restaurant. I was going to make a reservation but then decided we should just walk in rather than reserve to see how we would be treated. The service was GREAT! I had called to see if we could do a walk in the night before and I was told that should be okay. We ordered a few dishes and we also tried dessert (the tiramisu and I got a recipe from our waiter). The food was wonderful We found out that the chef is also part owner of Westbury Manor. That is a big plus

The toasts were really magnificent.

DH’s dad was up first and said such wonderful things about my husband


Needless to say, DH got a bit emotional.




My oldest friend, who I have known since kindergarten, got a bit emotional during her toast. She was there from kindergarten to high school and we attended the same college.







She has heard about what a disappointment each guy I have dated over the years turned out to be in the end and she loves DH as does everyone else in my circle of friends and close family members She was so overjoyed for us that day and it just all came spilling out during her toast



After my sister saw that, she got up and was super quick with her toast. She did that since she got really emotional at the bridal shower in VA. Her toast at the wedding was much shorter, purposely shorter, since she knew she would end up breaking down again




My other MOH gave a great toast as well – reminding DH that all my friends love him but they are not above hiding a body






The day that we picked our menu at Westbury Manor we decided to go over to the house bakery.

OUR CAKE
Erga Bakery
We went over to Erga to try the cakes before making a decision. DH is not a dessert person at all so he could have cared less about the cake. I, on the other hand, wanted to see what flavors and fillings they offered before deciding it we would contact an outside baker. We sampled the cake and fillings we liked. I am a dessert person so it was really freaking me out to read so many negative posts about the Westbury Manor house bakery – Erga Bakery. They did a wonderful job for us. Our cake was moist and yummy. I was pleasantly surprised. We ordered a yellow cake with a filling of white chocolate mousse, bananas and strawberries - all covered in butter cream icing . We received calls about how great the cake was and a cousin in VA asked me to have another small cake made and shipped to him in VA overnight mail This is the same cousin that was going around eating any cake that was on the tables (people that were dancing). I think he got to at least 2 tables of cake including my dad’s piece of cake My dad was so stuffed from all the hors d’oeuvres during the photo session prior to the ceremony that I do not think he finished his lamb chops so he would not have eaten the cake anyway.



I gave DH a HUGE piece




his mouth was still stuffed when he fed me a piece of cake


The cake flowers were done by Flower Michele not the Westbury Manor house florist who did the ceremony area flowers (aisle arrangements and gazebo flowers).

We ended up using 15 tables and we used the Manor room for our reception According to all of our guests, the service at Westbury Manor was amazing I have heard things from the location being “awesome” (by the malls, lots of restaurants and really close to the hotel we picked as well as other hotels) as well as the place itself being “immaculate”, “gorgeous gardens” and “elegant”. Nobody left their seat for a thing and the staff were always trying to be of service Guests were given anything they wanted and in some instances things they did not even know they wanted My mom did not want anything but when a waiter asked couldn’t they get her at least another drink she accepted Her glass was never empty One aunt spoke to the staff and told them that they were fantastic and that they should build something like Westbury Manor in VA and of course train the staff in the same manner as in NY. I have been told by some guests that I have to write Westbury Manor a thank you letter since they were so amazing!!!

We had no rehearsal and no rehearsal dinner. I gave out the gifts to my ladies in the week before the wedding and the night before for my sister who drove in from VA. The ladies and parents did a run through with DH while I was in the bridal suite. I did not see the run through but had the order of the ladies changed from what they had been told by the maitre D to what I expected to see when I walked out. From what I gather, the run through was quick and painless

DH nor I used the valet but we heard no complaints at all about the valet service. DH was in and out and did not mention seeing any lines and neither did any of our guests. I did not use the coat check (had no coat since it was so warm that day) but the guests that did use it has no complaints. I did not really use the bathrooms in the lobby – just went in once to get some tissue since I was sweaty from dancing. I went to the bridal suite bathroom upstairs when I had to go once since I had a huge hoop skirt. * Tip – sit facing the toilet to go on your own unless you do not mind your bridal party member being in the bathroom with you holding up your dress I love my ladies but that was something I wanted to do solo There were no lines for the bathroom that I am aware of and we heard no complaints. The guests were appreciative of the attendant and all of her supplies

Many of our guests went to look around the mansion and the grounds during cocktail hour and everyone said the place was a beautiful setting for a wedding We were the only event that day – we had the whole place just for our wedding I do not think that the guests can normally wander around the grounds like that if there are other events

Dancing with my dad


















He had no idea that I planned to dance with him at the wedding. My daddy is such a ham that I knew he would get a kick out of it rather than be shy and not want to dance. Everyone thought we had practiced the dance but we did not – well I guess we did practice it if you count my sister and I dancing with him when we were younger.

Due to time constraints, and because we did not see each other prior to the ceremony, we took our formal shots during the party instead of during the cocktail hour.
Heading off to do formal shots






















DH was pooped out with picture taking




The cordial bar was a hit.


We added an hour to the reception and we also added the chocolate fountain. The funny part about that is that DH said the fountain would look “so cool” and “everybody will love it” although he does not even like chocolate . My friends loved the chocolate and I found out that some of my engineer friends got crafty and made chopsticks out of skewers to dip the Oreo cookies









A lot of people got lost and I am still unsure about why since Westbury Manor was one of the easiest halls to find of those we saw. Some guests at the hotel took the shuttles but when the second shuttle was late a couple of our friends drove over since my girlfriend was really worried about missing the ceremony and she did not want to be one of those guests who walks in after the ceremony has started They got lost with the direction cards, mapquest AND a navigation system in the car. They made at least 3 U-turns since they kept passing the hall. It is sort of set off from the street and there is a large sign but I guess people were not expecting it to be so soon after making the turn onto Jericho Turnpike I also think some people turned onto Route 25B instead of Route 25 (Jericho Turnpike) People from Brooklyn got lost as well as some from NJ & Manhattan. Then again, we became familiar with Long Island during our hall visits so maybe it would have been hard for us to find had we not been there so many times

Things were switched around because our minister was late. Our officiant is one of the few people that DH did not “test drive” to the hall in the weeks before the wedding and it caused a bit of chaos. The dove release had to be done by a certain time and as we waited for the minister, time was ticking. Not to mention, although it was a warm day, the guests had been in the outdoor chapel area for some time and it was getting chilly.

We were to have the ceremony, dove release, 90 minute cocktails (while photos were done with the family) and then the party. Well, it did not happen that way since the minister was late. We ended up doing the dove release while the guests were sent to cocktail hour and then we had the ceremony after they had a chance to eat and get warmed up (and a bit intoxicated ).

DH and I were asked separately to do our photos prior to the ceremony. I was agreeable but that it was a HUGE NO-NO for DH. He told the staff that he knew that he was not allowed to even see my dress until I was coming down the aisle per his aunt. DH was the one who needed convincing and he was the nervous one that day Everyone kept trying to keep him calm.

Since we were losing light, our maitre D came up to the bridal suite to tell me that she would put some candles along the aisle. I recall her saying it but I got so lost in the moment that I did not notice the pillar candles along the aisle until I saw the photos DH saw them being put down at the time and he thought it looked beautiful and was a nice touch. He thought it was something I had planned in advance. He thought it made the aisle look elegant. They are at the base of the cherubs


As all of this was going on, Michelle Nocella suggested that the minister wait where he was and she would go to pick him up. At some point the men decided that she was right and they went to go pick up the minister where he had been told to stop. DH LEFT OUR WEDDING TO GO AND GET OUR MINISTER!!!! He was afraid that whoever went would miss him because they did not know his car or his face. I had NO IDEA about this until after the honeymoon. My good friend knew about this but did not tell me since she thought I’d flip out . She did admonish them that if they saw traffic or saw that there would be any problems getting back ASAP that they should turn around and we would just use one of the several ministers already in attendance at the wedding – another thing neither of us knew about I only sent one “Reverend” invite DH said he was not that far away at all (about six minutes) and had in fact passed the hall a few times while being lost.

The minister arrived and from then on things moved at lightening speed. I had wanted to hold off on everything and add the time to the end of the party so that it would be ceremony, cocktails (photo session) and the party. We were told that we could not do that - I guess because of time constraints with the staff and setting up for the next day




The end result was feeling rushed and having no private time alone with my husband until after the reception ended We forgot to light the unity candle (which was also partially due to the parents not lighting the candles in the beginning of the processional). My best friend/MOH reminded me before we jumped the broom but we decided to just light it in the reception room. We also did not do a reading that I had asked my favorite aunt to do for us (not sure of what it was since I let her pick) I found out weeks later through DH’s aunt who is a minister that my aunt had brought along her Bible too. I’m sure it was going to be something amazing. I did spend time with her though at the hotel before the wedding and we got some photos together. I spoke to her soon after we got back from the honeymoon and she was not at all disappointed Instead she said the day was magical and that it was not a big deal that she did not do her reading since only she and I really knew it was planned in advance.

****If you can afford it, do something at the hotel or at your house before or after the wedding. There is really NO TIME to talk to your guests at the wedding. You may be able to finish table visits though (we did).



My uncle, his new baby and his wife who flew in from GA









My friends parents that survived hurricane Katrina.

We spent Mardi Gras with them in 2004. They plan to go back to New Orleans once there house is rebuilt

My former secretary attended.



She known DH for over 20 years and she was the only one at the office who knew DH and I were dating for months She was so great at keeping the secret.

Even when you do table visits you talk to your guests for about one minute each and maybe pose for a photo. We have family and friends who drove or took the bus for 13 – 17 hours and we did not spend much time with them at all at the wedding. Thankfully we did spend some time with the afterward at the hotel. I would have felt like crap to not see my cousin for more than a few seconds after he drove 17 hours all alone from Tennessee just to be at my wedding. THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE AT YOUR WEDDING WILL ATTEND NO MATTER THE DATE OR THE TIME

Right after the ceremony we were ushered into the mansion and out to the lobby while the guests poured into the manor room.

Someone (not me but I think my photographer) asked for a few minutes to do photos and we were told NO and that we had to do intros. I did not protest and everyone got lined up ASAP.



Since out cocktail hour was in the beginning of the day, the reception tables were set up during the dove release. I had come down from the bridal suite to see the dove release and I saw the people from Flower Michele setting up the reception room I took a second to glance around as I watched DH opening up the baskets full of doves.



From what I’m told, the maitre D was really on the ball. She kept the people moving from one place to the next and from what I am told she did it all without being pushy DH told me as we wrote this review that his step-brother left his jacket by accident and our Maitre D found him a jacket to wear

FYI - Your guests will rush you the second your first dance is over. If you go to the cocktail hour, I’m sure it will happen there too. They all want to have a moment with you and of course to take a photo I guess our first dance was our alone time (during the dance since we did not invite anyone to join in). I should have insisted on a few minutes alone with DH but I did not and I can only blame myself for that. DH NEVER even saw the bridal suite on our wedding day. We never went up after the ceremony and there was no reason to go there after the party started.

None of that is of any consequence now since we did get time alone (sort of) during formals and we did get some great shots.

My FIL was not served dinner until after everyone else was served. DH was a bit upset when his dad walked over and said he did not get his order but just as DH was about to mention it (I guess to me) he saw our maitre D bring out his dad’s meal herself. I happened to look up and see her with the plate too but I had not even heard his dad even say that he had not gotten his entrée yet.: DH was pleased that before he had to mention it that the maitre D brought it out.



Although we did have some negatives with the hall that I understand were cleared up with an apology to that vendor (one apology when there should have been apologies to at least two of our vendors according to something DH witnessed), Westbury Manor is a lovely hall and our guests are still talking about it. In addition to finding a jacket for DH’s step-brother, I found out after the fact that someone sewed my cousin back into her dress after it ripped when she scrambled to catch the bouquet. From the guests point of view Westbury Manor has nothing but positives and DH and I are pleased with the end result – an elegant wedding reception that everyone is still raving about.

My dad has given out photos to those that could not attend and some of his friends from work. I did not even see the photos since we were on our honeymoon. They were not digital so I am STILL waiting on reprints since my dad gave out all the copies. He even gave at least one photo of us at the dais to a few strangers I guess he was showing the photos and people loved them so much that he let them some of them have copies I guess lots of people like looking at wedding photos – even of people they do not know

I know that all of the rushing is because everyone was trying to make sure we got all the “wedding must do things” done in the allotted time but in the end it made me feel like we were just a number Do not misunderstand me though – we were definitely catered to that day by the staff at Westbury Manor. After the “must do firsts” were done we ate, drank and danced as much as possible. I still wish that we had about 10 minutes to be alone after the ceremony and about 20 minutes to take some formals with just us and a few with the bridal party on the grounds. I think 30 minutes would have been ample time to do a few formals with the bridal party before intros and prior to our hair and makeup getting sweaty I think every bride/groom goes through the feeling of being rushed from one wedding day must do thing to the next and then the last song of the night is playing before you know it GET A VIDEO!!!

At the end of the night our things were wrapped (including the top of our cake which we ate right after we came back from the honeymoon , a gift bag with Champagne, trio box of Lindt truffles (which may have been from the hotel) & 2 burgundy t-shirts reading “We Just Did It” on the front with Westbury Manor’s logo and slogan on the back “A Manor of Taste” . We were escorted to our car but not before seeing our ballroom transformed into a ceremony set up within about 5 minutes I know they do a lot of weddings and I can see that they run a pretty tight ship at Westbury Manor. DH was roaming around before the guests arrived and heard someone say (prior to the wedding getting underway) “I don’t want any *&^%# ups tonight” My family and friends that are into catering and event planning were all super impressed. I am just grateful that we were the only event that night.

DH had so wanted a one wedding hall since he wanted nobody else to be in a wedding dress on the property that day to draw a moment of attention away from me. We ended up being the only event not just the only wedding. If we could go back in time and redo the wedding, we would still pick Westbury Manor.

TABLE NAME PHOTOS
DIY
DH and I have traveled some since we got together including Mardi Gras, Paris, Mexico, Vegas, Rome, Naples & Capri. I had an idea to use photos of us and added the name of the location as the table name.







In the end I decided not to go through with this since the hall needed numbers (not names) and I did not want to add table numbers to my photos or add a second table card with the numbers. Not to mention, once we decided to do a seating chart it was much easier to do with numbers rather than names since names would have stretched out my columns (and I would have needed to reduce the font size). We just used the free table numbers and frames provided by the hall. I was happy to do it too since I had gone into DIY project over drive and wanted to cut out some things. I cut out a lot of DIY including save the dates, wedding newsletters, tri-fold brochures with maps and hotel map cards, I gave away my glassine envelopes to Andrea aka jada2destiny since I decided not to use them for cry packs.

SEATING CHART
DIY
I won 144 frosted votive holders on ebay from efavormart but after DH and I went to the bridal show at our hall on March 15 and heard that lots of people get burned from the votive place cards and that they would need to pick them up before cocktail hour (and likely blow it out and sit it down some place and forget about it) DH said he did not want us to do them. I sold the votives to an LIW bride Our crowd ranged from 9 years old up to 75 (with one being wheelchair bound) and we did not want any accidents.

At the bridal show we saw a vendor with a great handwritten seating chart mounted in a nice frame. I made the chart myself not only because I did not want to spend another penny on the wedding but also because we did not have all the names since we were STILL waiting on RSVP’s with only 13 days to go before the wedding The calligrapher told us that she would need 2 weeks (although she admitted that not all brides give her 2 weeks). I later noticed that she does computer calligraphy (maybe only for envelopes and such and not the seating charts) but I did not bother to call to inquire since by then I had made our seating chart.



I got some help from Thomas aka MCDO15 Thomas gave me a ton of pointers and even offered to make up a template for me if I wanted
I ended up doing it on my own using Photoshop (and at one point Publisher) to make a 36 x 24 chart and I had it printed at Kinko’s and mounted. They were able to get it done in 24 hours - just in time to pick up and take to the hall for our drop off appointment that same day. Talk about doing something last minute We had it mounted and laminated.

It’s was set up by our DJ once the guests found their seats.



Many guests commented on the seating chart and even DH’s dad said he liked it - so much so that it’s in our living room . He plans to hang it or something Everyone was shocked when DH told them that I made it





After looking at the photos, I suggest making sure that the easel is set so the chart is eye level. I see in the photos that some of our guests were bending over to find their names

GUEST BOOK
Kolo Newport Album – DIY Polaroid guest book
I picked up a Kolo Newport scrapbook months ago and loved it so much I decided to do the Polaroid guestbook – another LIW idea. I got mine at A.I. Friedman in Manhattan since they have the best price of all the places I checked. The guests love the idea!. The photos were secured on the pages with photo corners and I bought scrap booking pens for everyone to write notes to us





PHOTO CARD BOX
DIY and Ebay ID kix25_gkb since I refused to spend weeks trying to make it. All I added were the photos (not originals).





TOASTING FLUTES
Ebay ID jjg101010
ebay photo

They arrived very fast and were well packaged.

We did not use them at all although they did go to the hall with all of our things. I did not even notice that we didn’t use them until I wrote this review and looked at the photos .



TABLE CAMERAS - TAGS
DIY
Just do them Even with three photographers our guests got shots from different angels and shots that the photographers missed. I’m really glad that we decided to spend the $200 bucks (cameras and developing costs).




We got 12 of the 15 back plus an extra disposable that was not ours to begin with There were some good candid shots of the guests and lots of couple shots They were a cute idea and in the end not too expensive. Some table cameras even had ceremony shots on them

OUR WEDDING MENU
DIY
I was not going to make menus at all since the hall supplies them but in the end I decided to make them with some sparkly cardstock from paperandmore.com I could not decide between the white sparkly paper and the periwinkle sparkly paper but in the end, since I only needed 50 sheets to make our menus (not the 200 sheets required to order both types of paper), I went with periwinkle/lavender sparkle paper. Had to stick with the purple theme They were very easy to make and I used the same font as our monogram for the headings (but I changed the font for S’s and P’s since DH hated the way the capital S’s and P’s looked ). We changed the name of the chicken entrée from Pollo Princess to Chicken Verdi (same thing and the hall used Chicken Verdi on our contract although Pollo Princess is listed in the menu package we received when we took the initial tour). DH really hated the P’s that much I used a block font for descriptions. I printed everything in purple ink. We did one per person.







DIRECTION CARDS
I used the ones provided by the hall and hotel. The Westbury Manor direction card was a really nice ivory card stock and the hotel gave us white 4.25 x 5.5 text weight paper inserts which were sufficient for our needs.

CAKE TOPPER
First choice option
Toppers with Glitz www.topperswithglitz.com
I went to topperswithgliz.com and the website had a few inactive links at the time so the price list would not show up. I sent Vicki, the owner/designer, an e-mail asking for a price for the letter T in tsp I mourning font with crystals in shades of purple. TSP I mourning is the exact font I used for our monogram and the font I had Jean M use for our invitations. Later that day when I was able to get on the site to see the prices it was too late since I was hooked and had to have the T in the matching invite font. Her prices may have changed but it was $160 for a 5 inch T in the font I wanted with the crystals plus an additional fee of $15 added for certain difficult fonts with lots of swirls/loops – ours being one. The 3 letter monogram was priced at $299 plus $15 for the font I wanted for the letter T. Vicki, the bride who started the company, sold her business as of October 1, 2005 because she was expecting

I figure it would have cost me at least $120 to make a 3 letter monogram plus the time and aggravation of placing all 1,000 or so swarovski crystals but in the end this was:

DIY
crystal 3 letter monogram cake topper
I decided we had to have the 3 letters instead of just one. I found a seller on ebay that used the font I sent and then I bought mixed colored swarovski crystals also from ebay. A bottle of glue and that was it. The 3 letter monogram was $121.96 total including the glue & applicators The applicators were useless and I ended up using tweezers instead. It could have been $324 plus shipping so I saved us a lot by doing this on our own. I used 6 colors while the $314 topper used only 4 colors with extra colors being $5 each. And to think we were not having a monogrammed topper at all before I joined the chat boards









Ebay vendor designer_trends_by_tami = crystals
Exactly the colors and size mix I asked for but shipping was a disaster. The special color I wanted (Purple Velvet) took a while to arrive and when it was set to arrive there was a hurricane in the area so Tami did not want to ship the order and risk it being lost/destroyed. When the crystals did arrive, the glue was missing. I contacted her and was very angry since we had exchanged about 40 e-mails about the order and it was well over a month since I paid for my crystals. In the end she sent the glue by overnight mail at no additional charge. To her credit, Tami got me the new for fall 2005 swarovski crystal color “Purple Velvet” that I had not even known about in advance I ordered 1,000 crystals in 6 sizes and had tons left over I used the leftovers for other projects that originally were not to have crystals.

Ebay vendor guy72830 = mirror cake topper
Guy designed the topper using my font (sent by e-mail) and he e-mailed me tons of times to make sure it was what I wanted before production. He used my special font which he had never used before and still cut the letters and had them to me in record time. I ordered two 3 inch letters and one 5 inch letter.

FAVORS
Ebay vendor http://stores.ebay.com/Emmas-Edible-Images
We decided to give out edible favors since DH thought it was a bit weird to give out trinkets for a wedding. I did not want to bother with favors since I never keep them from wedding (unless it’s edible or useful like a few potpourri sachets I once got as a favor). And I also had heard of there being tons of favors left over since people forgot to take them or the couple forgot to hand them out. We went with edible favors so we could eat the leftovers

We got our monogrammed business card sized white chocolate favors from an ebay vendor. I was skeptical about using ebay since this was after my memorial candle fiasco but I gave Heather a try. Not sure why it’s called Emma’s since the seller is Heather but the chocolates were great and so cute with our monogram and matching ribbon All we did was hand them out – no fuss favors are the best!

In keeping with the theme, I had Heather add a sheer purple ribbon she was able to find




MUSIC
ceremony music, cocktail hour music and reception music
Raphael Gordon of MMIDJ’s www.mmidjs.com
E-mail: djspeex@optonline.net
Phone: (917) 868-3416
He also works through EJ the DJ and they are recommended by Flowerfield

Everyone had a great time and guests keep saying that our DJ was “off the hook” “the music was on point” and “amazing”. My uncle recently had knee surgery and should not have been dancing at all but the music moved him so much that he was on the floor all night – and he paid for it when he had to ice his knee at the hotel later. But he did say it was worth it








I am not a huge music person at all but DH is all about music. I know nothing about what kind of system is better than the next



DH said he would rather have a fantastic DJ rather than an okay band. I let DH handle the music since he loves music and was in the music industry as a recording artist for a while (well before I met him), plus he produces music Hiring Raphael Gordon at MMIDJ’s was one of the best decisions we made.



Love this shot since it’s one of the few times my shoes are visible since I got dressed that morning


I wanted a specific gospel song for my entrance and although all the bands we contacted said they could do a great cover version, there was nothing like having the actual song. We considered having live musicians play as well as the DJ but the live musicians could not play the gospel song I wanted to my satisfaction. In the end, we went solely with a DJ instead of trying to have him transitioning in and out for the parts of the ceremony with live musicians.





All of the guests have raved about the music. My bridal party was very happy with the ceremony music too. Apparently some of them have been in weddings where the music for the processional is screwed up or the entrance to the reception music was not right That was not the case with us at all Although I only remember hearing my cue – “Order My Steps” - everyone else loved the ceremony music (volume, selection, and sound system). DH and Raphael thought the sound from the mic during the dove release and ceremony was a bit distorted (due to using some of the equipment from the hall) but they are really into musical equipment and nobody else mentioned it at all. From what I gather the distortion was related to the microphone (the hall’s equipment not Raphael’s). I am not sure if anyone noticed other than the two of them though I know that I heard audible ooooohhh’s and aaaaaah’s when we read our vows (we wrote them ) so I think the guests heard us okay. My dad said that our “announcer” had a really “distinctive voice” and he did an excellent job at keeping the wedding events on track. Others have said he was very energetic, the music was perfect (selections and volume) and that he does a fantastic job





Raphael Gordon was on the cover of Black Enterprise in like January 2005 (with his beautiful wife and bright little boy). Raphael was completely professional. He specializes in Latin/Spanish music (he’s part Cuban) but Raphael can play anything you want and can really read the crowd well Raphael has done tons of weddings and EJ the DJ is on the recommended list for Flowerfield as well as a ton of other halls. He is not just a “wedding DJ”. He does Bar/Bat Mitzvahs’, Sweet Sixteen parties, holiday parties, birthday parties – anything.





Raphael brought along a second DJ, Eric, and Raphael acted as our MC. I am sure that Raphael and Eric were at the hall when I arrived around 3:30 p.m. and I know that they had set up the speakers and equipment well in advance of that time. We had a small light show and party favors since they were included in the package although I considered not having the party favors (there is no price difference) simply because I thought they would be “cheesy”. Raphael gave us a book of party favors to choose from – tons of stuff in there too – and we found some things we liked including Mardi Gras type beads, sunglasses & hats plus maracas. The party favors went over soooooooooo well I got calls from guests saying how great our DJ was and that the music selection was “dead on”







We did NOT give him a list of songs to play. He read the crowd and played what worked for our party Instead of a list of songs we gave percentages (as requested on the worksheet). And we had a few must play songs including one or two that DH called to add from the concert we were attending for my birthday a few days before the wedding. We were in and out so much that I am not even sure we danced to all of them I do recall dancing to Baby Boy (Beyonce) and it was on the list We did give him a list of DO NOT play songs since DH and I both have a few songs that make us cringe but that are very popular.



We totally recommend Raphael Gordon of www.mmidjs.com (also EJ the DJ) without hesitation. He kept the party jumping all night We were MIA doing formals and table visits so it was a relief to hear that guests had a great time since we had to keep leaving the dance floor.





DH and I went together to meet Raphael. DH was impressed by Raphael’s work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (DH’s mom died of leukemia) as well as Raphael’s other work in the community – acting as a DJ/MC for charity events.

We were so pleased that I wrote Raphael a check for the 50% deposit by the end of brunch with NO CONTRACT SIGNED We gave Raphael 50% just to hold our date until he could get us the contract. I had not done that with ANY VENDOR DURING THE ENTIRE WEDDING PLANNING PROCESS – pay them with no contract in place so that is saying a lot for those of you who know that I researched everything to the nth degree before signing a contract or making a single deposit for the wedding. Plus, DH knows about a million club DJ's through having songs he produces in circulation with DJ's for the record pool (underground billboard charts) so for him to pick Raphael to do our wedding is really a huge compliment

Our families and friends having a great time






We hope to have reason to use him again soon and have already recommended him to friends/family.




BRIDAL REGISTRY
We did not register until a couple months before the wedding – right around the time people started to ask where we had registered It was not an urgent issue since we were not expecting any engagement gifts. Although I did send out engagement announcements, we did not have an engagement party. DH had a great time registering and he got to use the gun.

Bed Bath and Beyond www.bedbathandbeyond.com
Who couldn’t use some a few picture frames, new cookware, new casual china and towels. We had no problems at all with BBB and I really hope some of our guests took advantage of the coupons.

Fortunoff www.fortunoff.com
I had wanted a specific china pattern for years – before I even met DH – so we decided to register for fine china, stemware and flatware plus a few crystal picture frames since I am really big on photos . It was between Michael C. Fina and Fortunoff and thanks to LIW and a few other bridal registry reviews we picked Fortunoff. I did that part of my registry on-line but went to the store to look at silver in person. We ended up registering for casual flatware, formal stemware, formal flatware and formal china at Fortunoff (since BBB had much of the same stuff we liked at Fortunoff) but the china pattern I wanted was discontinued (or so I was told a few weeks later ). I called around and learned from Park Ave Gifts that the pattern was not listed as discontinued with them so we switched most of our registry to Park Avenue Gifts. The china pattern, the formal flatware and formal stemware we liked were all cheaper at Park Avenue than Fortunoff and BBB (for those particular patterns not all of the registry items we compared). Several guests used Fortunoff and none had any problems.

Park Avenue Gifts
427 Park Avenue
Huntington, NY 11743
Tel: 631-673-0404
Fax: 631-423-6211
Email: parkavegifts@aol.com
ParkAveGifts.com
(866) GIFTS-20
When Fortunoff contacted me to say my formal china pattern had been discontinued I got on-line and searched out another place to order. I found Park Ave Gifts and gave them a call. They told me that my pattern was not listed with them as discontinued although Michael C. Fina and Fortunoff had it noted as such I have no idea what the issue was with the department stores but I was determined to get that pattern since I had wanted it for so long. I noticed that our stemware and flatware were a bit cheaper at Park Ave Gifts so I moved those items from my other registries as well. Guests could not order on-line from Park Ave Gifts at that time (a feature they were working on) and they had to call in to order but nobody complained about it – at least not to us

However, it seems that not one guest actually used this store I suspect it is because there was no on-line ordering system for the bridal registry since many people sent us registry items in the same price range as those we selected at ParkAve. Most guests used the on-line services of Fortunoff and BBB instead. Our formal china pattern was in fact discontinued and although it’s possible to still buy some pieces, it was suggested that we pick a new pattern DH and I have selected a new pattern but since it’s not in danger of being discontinued (and it’s available at ParkAve, BBB, Fortunoff & placesettings.com for about the same price, we have not purchased it right now.

THANK YOU CARDS
DIY - me and www.winkflash.com
Since my mom started asking me about thank you cards within a month of the wedding I began to work on an idea for them with the preview shots we received. We agreed on the photos and I did some mock ups with our preview shots. They came out really well I ordered a couple with matte finish and a couple with gloss finish. We agreed on the gloss finish.





This is the final version of the thank you card that we made in photoshop


One cute thing I totally forgot about was being able to add our monogram to the back of the cards. I had forgotten that I uploaded our wedding monogram to winkflash months ago when I was ordering something else. When the samples I ordered arrived the logo/monogram was on the back



RETURN ADDRESS LABELS
DIY and Vistaprint.com
I made photo return address labels to use with our thank you cards. I think those who notice it will get a kick out of the idea.

HONEYMOON
French Polynesian Islands
e-Tahiti Travel
Caroline Benoist
Tel. : 011 689 83 51 60 / Fax : 011 689 83 61 94
Email : Caroline@etahititravel.com
Web : www.etahititravel.pf

In a word – STUPENDOUS!!!!
Honeymoon planning was soooooo much more fun than wedding planning.

We had so much going on during the wedding planning with our music production company, our real estate development project in PA, construction project in VA, dealing with several rental properties in two states (with renovations and one set of deadbeat tenants), a 7 month long, weekly commercial real estate class I started plus planning the wedding….oh yeah and going to work I did not go to the office for nearly a month counting the time off before the wedding and the honeymoon Thankfully I had told them about the wedding and many of my side projects when I took the job last year so that was not an issue at all.

We planned the wedding with no help from anyone and I really should have asked for some help – but in the end I am glad I did it all. My bridal party just had to show up and be pretty I will say that the result of being in control of the details is lots of stress and weight loss that may or may not be good for fittings I had a corset built in so I was not to concerned but I had a friend who had her dress taken in several times in the weeks before the wedding due to stress from the planning and being a full time student back then.

We completely stepped out of our life from the day after the wedding until we came back from our honeymoon. I gave the itinerary to a few people but we only made 2 calls – to my dad when we landed and got to the first hotel and to my new 11 year old son for his birthday. The only bad part was coming back to the chaos of about 600 e-mails and a truck load of snail mail to sort through….but there were more wedding gifts/checks in that mail

We hung out with the family a bit at the hotel the day after the wedding and then took off for paradise that afternoon!!!

I recall the first time I realized that DH called me his wife. It was in Bora Bora and I had called the front desk to get a dinner reservation. The woman said she would take care of it and call me back. She did not call back so I asked him to call and he said "Yes, my WIFE called about a dinner reservation for Bloody Mary’s." It was a GREAT moment

We got a ton of quotes from LIW travel agents and the travel agents of various friends. Ultimately we booked with http://www.etahititravel.com/ because they gave us the best price for everything I wanted. I researched the trip for a while on-line, in Frommers and I bought Tahiti by Jan Prince to create our itinerary. Then I priced it out (on my own and with travel agents). We considered a cruise but I can’t swim and got freaked out about being trapped on a boat and possibly being sea sick for the entire trip.

Caroline at etahititravel.com is awesome!!!! She got back to me about all my questions promptly and never flinched at my almost daily changes to the itinerary I took many of her recommendations. And I am not even kidding about all the changes. I had her change our hotels a few times, change our dates to leave two days sooner than planned, add in extra nights at a few locations, add in meal plans for some hotels, add in hotel transfers, take out transfers, add in transfers again since the flight got in at nearly midnight and I did not want to worry about finding a taxi in Tahiti and all sorts of other things. Take out meal plans since we did not want to be chained to the hotel for meals. Many of these changes were one thing at a time and included a revised price quote each time. Caroline did not once come off as irritated with me – although I was irritated with myself for being so indecisive. Something about an engagement ring just makes many normal women into raving lunatics

Caroline was so awesomely wonderful to work with that I have to post her info. She was honestly the most patient and responsive person that I dealt with throughout this entire planning process. I called her at least 5 times one day from the reception desk of the hotel. We wanted to change hotels and upgrade to a nicer bungalow. She got us a transfer to the airport and on a plane within an hour

I am normally a DIY vacation planner but because of all of the inter-island flights and hotel transfers we needed in order to visit Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Taha’a, Bora Bora & Manihi I decided to use a travel agent. Since we were going all the way to the South Pacific, we decided to stay as long as possible and see as many islands as we could since it is not a trip we will take again until our kids are grown.

There was one issue that annoys me still and it was totally not Caroline’s fault. Air Tahiti Nui changed their flight schedule in December 2005 so we (as well as everyone else who had already booked) had to alter our travel plans and pray that the hotels we had picked were available on the alternate dates. Thankfully we were able to still go but our itinerary did change significantly. We visited in a totally different order of islands than we originally wanted. I worked on our trip for ages with picking islands and the order to visit and it was all turned around. It was Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa, Bora Bora & Manihi but due to Air Tahiti Nui’s schedule change we went to Tahiti, Manihi, Bora Bora, Huahine, Tahaa then Moorea. It also cost more since we will had to fly from Tahaa (Raiatea) to Tahiti and then Tahiti to Moorea for the last part of the trip. Presumably there are no direct flights between Moorea and Tahaa So annoying. Caroline was on vacation at the time and Manu was a real sweetheart. I do not even know her last name of contact info since she always answered my e-mail from Caroline’s e-mail account I assume it is Manu@etahititravel.com We ended up adding a night in Moorea and in the end it just another hurdle we had to cross. Then, at the last minute we upgraded our trip to stay in a motu Over Water Bungalow in Tahiti. We had a fabulous time.

The only thing I did not like was all the flying. I was terrified about luggage restrictions for the inter-islands flights. I took a ton of clothes and probably too many pairs of shoes too.

Some of my things unpacked in Tahaa.


In the end we had 5 bags (3 checked and 2 carryon) and although mine were over weight (no doubt due to the toiletries and shoes) we had no issues on our inter-island flights at all. Our initial package even included a flight from Tahiti to Moorea (about 7 minutes) which could have easily been accomplished via a ferry but I do not think travel agencies use the ferry since Air Tahiti offers an air pass. I am not afraid to fly, well not really, but this was a lot of flying and there were even a boat transfers to a remote motu (tiny island) once we landed at the local airport. It would have been fine had I not had a scary boat issue a few months before when DH & I went to Capri, Italy on a boat tour to see the grotto’s. I had a brief flashback/panic attack of that boat scare when we had our first airport/boat transfer but it was really brief and probably me just over reacting since I cannot swim. It really is a bit sad since I grew up in Virginia Beach but for some reason I never learned to swim in the 20+ years that I lived there.

Some pics from our trip.







This reminds me of a travel brochure photo






On a Le Truck – bus system of Tahiti




A Roulotte – mobile diner. I only had an ice cream (and DH would not allow me to eat the cone since the guy had no gloves on). He could prepare all sorts of food that was really cheap in comparison to the hotels and restaurants but I am not sure how sanitary it is to eat from those trucks. I don’t ear from the cart vendors in NYC either though.




Le Belvedere – scary as hell to ride up to the restaurant which is why they pick you up


The house special is a meat fondue which is really nothing special. It’s similar to the Korean barbeque spots in midtown Manhattan (but using a fondue pot instead of the bbq grills inside the table at the Korean places). However, the meat at Le Belvedere is not marinated at all and the “sauces” include ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, tartar sauce and a few others.


The view really is great




Friday night show at Intercontinental – seafood buffet






















View from the plane




The airport is on it’s own island so everyone needs to take a boat to the hotels


Obligatory Over water bungalow


We must have had the best spot for the fish since lots of people decided to snorkel near our bungalow.




We made a game of finding beautiful flowers for my hair that matched my outfits DH got annoyed when he could not find one








The fish and meats are on display in the front when you walk into Bloody Mary’s. You are given an explanation of what each item is (French, Spanish, English etc.) and then you order it to your specifications (everything is grilled) and then go to your table.
The swordfish and red tuna with wasabi are wonderful!!


No black flowers but DH did find a lavender one


One fantastic sunrise of many.............and my attempts at photojournalism




This was the coolest thing EVER for someone like me who cannot swim!!!!






Amazing sunset...one of many we saw


The boat to Te Tiare and another great sunset photo.........




Ebay ID buy4bride - out of Brazil The Just married bikini I bought and LOVED.
DH loved the bikini too.






typical shuttle plane except for Tahiti/Moorea flights


scary baby plane


it has folding seats


one pilot, no parachute, no AC and definitely no flight attendant


Tahaa has no airport














vanilla tour – like a 9 month process to dry it and sell it




pearl farm tour


Pearls are made by inserting a shell (only found in Mississippi and shaped in Japan) into the gonad of the live oyster – yes the gonad – OUCH!!!! The pearl forms around the shell. I never was into pearls but I did buy one - a PURPLE one for my hair stylist - well her oldest daughter really. Her birthstone is pearl and her mom buys her a pearl each year for her birthday. The plan is to have them strung for when she gets married







Manta Ray feeding




















Oh, and this is from ebay – vendor bridal_expressions

I found this on ebay as well as some place else but it was a bit cheaper via ebay. I later found out that the other website and the ebay vendor were one in the same but her ebay price was cheaper. We hung the Do Not Disturb/Just Married pillows on our door during the honeymoon and tons of people approached us to say Congratulations


HONEYMOON PHOTO ALBUM
DIY & www.photoworks.com
I have used photoworks before and like the quality so I decided to order them again. The book came out great!!! A few of my photos of the album are fuzzy but the photos in the album itself came out perfect We put in about 200 photos of the nearly 800 photos we took on the trip.

























So, for a woman who had to nearly have her arm twisted to have a wedding, it was the best day of my life – being surrounded by people who love us and wish us nothing but success. Our wedding day was a joyous occasion and the honeymoon was simply paradise !!!!!!!!

Although I did go back and forth a lot on having a wedding, I never had any doubts about marrying DH. I am so happy that God put this man in my life after 3 ½ years of not even knowing he existed although he worked in my office building all that time and I was introduced to him at work functions for YEARS and it never took. But once we did get together, it was like a whirlwind – he brought up marriage within weeks, we looked at rings by month 6 and we were engaged after 8 ½ months. I always heard it but it’s completely true – “when you know, you just know” I thank God for his father (and his mother although I never got to meet her). They did such a great job with him (and his mother in the 16 short years she had with him) to make him understand how to treat the women in his life

And since lots of brides do this after the wedding, here goes…….

If we could do it all over again I would only change two things that were in our control even though our minister was about 90 minutes late.
1) I should have had the guests stay outside for the dove release so they could all see it in person instead of just on video and then still sent them to cocktail hour before the ceremony and had the reading done by my aunt who had prepared for it and also picked a separate reading for the ceremony for us.
2) I should have insisted on 10 -20 minutes between the ceremony & reception to spend some time ALONE with my new husband and to do some formals with our small bridal party on the grounds and maybe in the portrait studio (we did some in the library). I think I would have felt far less rushed and have had a bit of time to compose myself enough to take in all the details of the reception. The guests would have understood and I’m sure they would have just mingled and got drinks before the intros.

Oh, 4 things – made sure we did the lighting of the unity candle during the ceremony. And made sure to collect our monogrammed aisle runner at the end of the ceremony.

***************Advice for future brides***************
Now that we are an old married couple and can give advice on weddings here goes. For those of you still in the midst of the planning, some of this will be lost on you but it will click in the weeks before your wedding…..or maybe on your wedding day or in the weeks after the wedding

For some reason an engagement ring drives normal women to the brink of insanity while planning a wedding. It’s an emotional roller coaster and I am really not sure why many brides and grooms go into hyper-emotional mode or any wedding detail I am guilty of obsessing over small wedding details that in the end meant very little.

The last few minutes of our wedding reception which sums up all of the planning









The day goes by FAST!!!! Take the time to enjoy it and try to enjoy the planning phase no matter what happens

Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. You are getting married and you are inviting family members and friends to share your day. Planning the day should be a happy time in your life. Do not let anyone stress you out – family or friends. Delegate someone to beat down the rude, inconsiderate people My sister handled a few would-be guests very well for me – including family

No matter who declines (that you just knew would attend) and no matter how many people fail to RSVP, focus on the people that went out of their way to be there to share your day. Although some family members we expected decided in the end to RSVP No, we had people travel from 13 – 17 hours (by car and by bus) to share our day. Please do NOT stress over those who are not coming or the utterly ridiculous reasons (or lack thereof) that they give for not being able to attend. You wedding day will be a beautiful day. It will be their loss and they will feel like complete idiots when everyone around them is talking about your wedding day and sharing stories and photos

We had a lot of family members and friends pass away around the time we sent out invitations – most had various forms of cancer Between DH and I we had 6 funeral services in the months leading up to the wedding. In February DH’s uncle had a stroke and my aunt-in-law had an MS flare up that caused her speech to be slurred and she could not walk. All of that really put a lot of things into perspective for us and it forced us both to quickly get over the minor and what we once perceived as “major drama” we had with some family members.

Please realize that your wedding day will not be ruined if your MIL or even your mom shows up in a white dress – even with a train . My dad’s girlfriend wore white and one older cousin wore white. I did not even notice until 5 weeks later when a girlfriend pointed it out in a phone call I went through the photos to verify it The funny thing is I had seen both women at some point during the night but paid their attire no mind at all I was so overjoyed that I doubt I would have cared even if I had noticed they were in white. I told DH about guests not wearing white to a wedding because it “competes” with the bride and he had never heard of it.

Having kids at your wedding will not ruin the day. The parents of the kids will still have a good time with their children at the reception. We knew in advance of 2 infants (6 months and 3 months respectively) that would be at our wedding and we had no problem with it since we knew they would sleep through anything. We also had our young nieces and nephews at the wedding (age 9 – 17). My friends husband was running late and asked if he should dress the girls for the wedding. I had told her in advance that he could bring them but she told him not to bother getting them dressed up. Well, he did not have time to drop their two kids at his mothers in Queens and ended up bringing their girls. And you know what, it was no big deal at all. Her oldest daughter played with DH’s nieces (age 9) and the baby (14 months) was in her daddy’s arms as usual. Her oldest daughter is at the age where she is into fairytale stuff. She thought I was a princess and even asked me

Your bridal shower will not be ruined if a family member of friend slips up and tells you the date. It will make no difference in your married life is your bridal shower is not a surprise. You are most likely having a shower and may end up being involved in planning it. Go to your bridal shower and enjoy being surrounded by your family and friends – and of course getting presents. I knew about both of my bridal showers – and had to know the dates since I travel a lot and needed to be in town (VA & NYC). And if I did not know in advance, my dad and one cousin called asking me about the details in advance so I would have found out through them.

Your wedding day will not be ruined if your brother, your cousin, your sister or even your mom gets engaged during your planning and picks a wedding date the month before your wedding. Your wedding is your wedding and family members and mutual friends will make plans to attend both weddings if possible. Be happy for their engagement. None of your guests will be any less thrilled about your wedding. It could actually be fun to plan a wedding at the same time as a family member of friend and if both weddings are in the same area you could use the same vendors and get DISCOUNTS .

It won’t matter if all the bridesmaids are in different dresses or even different colors. So long as they are dressed and not nude, nobody will care My sister and friends all just wore floor length black dresses – all different styles. They looked great and more importantly, they were comfortable and had a great time that day

If your maid of honor, matron of honor, bridesmaid, brother’s wife, best mans wife or anyone in your wedding party has a baby due on your wedding day and has to drop out, your wedding day will go on. Trust me, nobody could plan a pregnancy and time it just so in order to ruin your wedding day. Be happy for them

It will not matter if the chair covers are ivory and your dress is white (or vice versa). I had on a white gown and the chair covers and sashes were ivory. Nobody thought that I “clashed” with the room.

If you cannot reach your vendor by e-mail – CALL THEM. That is what we did before e-mail I saw a post about the bridal shop I used being affiliated with a shop that was closing down. Brides all over the country were going crazy and some had to order replacement gowns last minute. Instead of freaking out, I called gownfind and my dress was on it’s way

If a vendor you have not booked rubs you the wrong way, don’t book them. If you let strangers on a chat board convince you to book a vendor that rubbed you the wrong way in an initial meeting, do not complain about it after the fact if something goes wrong just as you suspected. It’s called intuition and that is what we used before the internet and chat boards. We did not meet with various vendors because of intuition and we later saw horrible reviews about some people we had considered.

The groom’s bout does not have to match the brides bouquet (I think everyone will know who he’s with ). DH had statice and a lavender rose. I had no statice but crystals. Nobody cared and nobody thought he was marrying my mom, or one of my grandmas who all had lavender roses and statice corsages

The men do not have to wear vests and ties that match the bridesmaids dresses. Your husband does not have to wear an ivory or champagne shirt since your dress is ivory or champagne instead of white. A white shirt will not “clash” with your champagne or ivory dress. Nobody will care DH, his bestman (his dad) and my dad all 3 had on different tuxedos and different color vests/ties and the world did not end My grandpa (who walked down the aisle with my grandma) did not wear a tuxedo at all and it did not matter to us. I was just happy that he was alive to see it and that he drove up from VA to be at our wedding

You DO NOT have to invite anyone that you do not want to invite. Not every single person over 18 has to be invited with a date – invite who you want to share in your wedding day. We did not invite the long term girlfriend of DH’s nephew and we did NOT invite DH’s sister in law Although it was sort of an issue when invites went out, nobody talked about it at the wedding and the day went great without them. If you can avoid it, do not surround yourself anyone who is not supportive of your marriage on your wedding day. You will have a lifetime to deal with them so take your wedding day as your “day off” from them

Have something after the wedding if possible so you can actually TALK to your guests. We had people come from all over the country and thankfully we got to spend some time with many of them at the hotel after the wedding.

The stamps do not have to match your invites or anything really – we used .60 eagle stamps and flag/star .03 stamps and nobody noticed (or at least they did not comment in advance or at the wedding). One friend commented about 6 weeks later that the USPS had purple stamps now

The font on every piece of wedding stationery does not have to match – although I have to admit that I had the font on the invitations done in the same font I used for our monogram (I designed it) and I had our monogram cake topper done in the same font as well as addressing the envelopes in that font. I also had the unity candle we used and the broken memorial candles done in the same font. I am not sure that anyone really even noticed all the fonts matched. I barely noticed the centerpieces and did not even see the candles along the aisle until we got photos from friends All of those tiny details that seemed important in the months before the wedding meant nothing to me on that day All I can remember is being gloriously happy all day I am grateful for the photos

You can use the direction cards provided by the hall and the hotel. Do not stress out over finding paper to match your invites or having them printed in the same font unless you just want to do that We used the hotel white paper direction sheets and the ivory cards (with burgundy ink) provided by the hall. Our invites were deep purple. Nobody cared that the directions did not “match” the invites. The color of the paper did not matter. Many guests got lost anyway and I doubt that lavender or dark purple direction cards would have made a difference

Guests will only remember the things that were there and not the things that you decided against.

Spend your time and your money on things that last beyond the day. Whatever that means to you, go for it. To us it meant planning our ceremony, writing our vows, selecting a photographer, creating our rings, selecting a videographer and planning our honeymoon. Although the unity candle was not lit at the ceremony and we ended up not using the memorial candles that were the bane of my existence for a while, the time and money spent was worth it to us since those things were to be part of our marriage ceremony

In the end, all that matters is that you are married to the person you adore and the two of you are building a life together.

Our Thank You card photo

Message edited 11/30/2007 3:06:35 PM.

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Wow!! Thank you for doing such an amazing review! You were a beautiful bride and I already have gotten so many ideas from you. All of the DIY projects are amazing! Congratulations

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Katrina, many congrats.

What a great and detailed review.

I rarely post here anymore but had to congratulate you on finally having the wedding of your dreams.

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Oh my goodness! what an amazing review. I've been reading it for an hour and I'm still nowhere near finished! I love reading reviews and tonight I decided to take a quick break from studying to see what was new on LI weddings. I got hooked into your review and now I'm an hour behind in studying!! I'm going to finish reading it tomorrow. I just wanted to thank you for posting such a thoughful, detailed review! When I saw your pictures I was going to send you Fm asking you what type of slip you wore underneath your dress because thats the look I'm aiming for. I was happy to see my question answered in you review. If you plan on selling the slip let me know! Congratulations!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Wow!!! It took me over 40 minutes to read your review. It was absolutely amazing. You looked gorgeous and so happy. Thank you for passing on your experiences. Sounds like you have a wonderful future ahead of you!!

I felt as though I just finished a novel! Best review ever!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Ok that has got to be the most thorough review I have ever read!!!! Amazing!! You are so Beautiful! You and your husband are such a GORGEOUS couple! I love your pics! I love your dress!!!! I could go on forever with how much I loved about your wedding! I am in complete AWE!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Holy long review!!! I think LIW logged me off as I was going through it!!

Your photos are absolutely breathtaking... they capture so much emotion from your day!!! They are some of the best that i have seen on this site!!!

Congrats!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Thank you so much for an amazing review. You look beautiful!!! Your dress, your bouquet, everything was gorgeous!

It's so nice when brides take the time to write a full review. It is so helpful, and so nice to hear someone's story and what an amazing day it was for them.

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

WOW! What a great review! And yes i did read ALL of it
Your wedding looked beautiful. All your hard work planning the wedding really shows. You looked gorgeous.
Congratulations!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

WOW What a review! I can see you spent a lot of time on that!! I'm sure it will help other brides to be!! I cant imagine how long that must have took you!!! You looked amazing and your hubby is HOT

Great job!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

That was some review. Congratulations to you again!!! Everything looked absolutely beautiful. Your Joy and Happiness truly radiates in your pictures.

Re: Our Wedding Story............

You look absolutely beautiful and your DH isn't bad either
What a great review!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

As a future bride just basically starting the planning process of my wedding you really have given me a lot of pointers and advise. Your review was amazing, you looked stunning, and best wishes for continued happiness in the future!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

WOW Amazing Review!! Thanks for sharing!! You look absolutely Beautiful!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Katrina, WOW!

The smiles on your faces that day just say it all. Thanks for the long review, and for selling me the votives, too (of course!) - they'll definitely be going to good use.

Everything looked flawless - all of your hard work really paid off. Your list of questions is soooooo very helpful - I've bumped it several times on the 07 board.

oh, and the OCD in me is in love with the fact that your heart bo-k mirrored your neckline!!!

Enjoy married life!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

WOW! What an amazing review and great pictures! You look like you had the time of your life! I love your idea of having guests sign a guestbook filled with photos! I may just have to borrow that idea!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Congratulations!!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Now that is a review I must say

Thank you for taking the time out to do this and to be so detailed. You gave amazing advice to a future bride and I really enjoyed reading this.

You looked absolutely gorgeous and I wish you and your DH a lifetime full of happiness.

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Katrina...You did an amazing job on your review of your wedding day....I want to TY for taking the time to do it...It is going to be really helpful to brides here on the site...You looked absolutely beautiful and loved everything about it...

Re: Our Wedding Story............

this is really a "REVIEW"
wow.. thanks for the review.
and you look absolutely gorgeous.. I love everything

Re: Our Wedding Story............

Thank you soo much for your review!!!! You made a beautiful bride!!!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

HOLY CANOLI KATRINA!!!!!

I have a feeling law school was less work than your review
I didn't call you The Researcher for nothing.

I read all I could but I'll be blocking off a week of mu summer vacay to ready the rest

Everything looked BEAUTIFUL, especially Hey, Reggi looked pretty good himself

So glad you had such a wonderful day.

Re: Our Wedding Story............

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great review!! Everything looked absolutely amazing! You looked so gorgeous!

Re: Our Wedding Story............

dear katrina...

i am so happy for you and your hubby!!!!! i want to officially thank you..you were one of the first brides who fm'd me and your list of halls was priceless to me and my fh. i cant thank you enough.

your review gets an A+

and your wedding was an A++++++++++

xoox jenn

Re: Our Wedding Story............

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Posted by jantany26

Katrina, many congrats.

What a great and detailed review.

I rarely post here anymore but had to congratulate you on finally having the wedding of your dreams.

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Message edited 5/29/2006 8:07:43 PM.