My Storybook Romance & Fairytale Wedding - Update 12/14 w/ Professional Photos

First, be warned, this review is incredibly long, and incredibly detailed. It includes little sources of amusement, random explanations as to why I did or didn’t do something, as well as the nitty-gritty of individual vendor reviews. It is broken up into pre-wedding, day of, and will be edited to add
professional pictures, since I wrote it as I went along. All the pictures that are currently posted were taken either by myself, one of my BMs, my amazing DOC, or another LIW bride! Whenever it says FH instead of DH, you know that part was written before the wedding. I didn’t rate every vendor, but instead let my words speak for the quality of service. If there is a rating, it is on a scale from 1-10. There are no ratings higher than a 10. As a law school professor once said to me when I questioned my grade (he had taken off ONE point for an oral argument, after he told me he couldn’t find a mistake during his critique) no one is perfect, and just because he didn’t notice it, it didn’t mean I didn’t do something wrong. Essentially this means, a 9 is really the highest score I was willing to give unless the vendor was spectacular. Every once in a while you may think - didn’t I read that already? You may have, but some things are worth repeating.

I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning. That brings me all the way back to 2003 and a coworker who asked me to join his 9-ball team. I figured why not? I really couldn’t play well at all, but that wasn’t a concern, since at that time what the team needed was a body to fill an empty roster spot. The league is broken into 3 sessions per year. After the second session, the captain of the team asked me to join their 8-ball team. I declined. He asked again after I completed my third session, and this time I agreed. I played two sessions and promptly quit the 8-ball team. I did not like 3 of the team
members at all, and the experience was so NOT fun. Eight weeks after I quit, my coworker basically begged me to come back to the team. He told me that the 3 people I didn’t like were no longer on the team and had been replaced, but the team couldn’t find a replacement for me. When I asked who the three new players were I was told that two of them were people I knew, and the third was a friend of the team captain that I had never met. I suppose you can guess who that turned out to be! I should note at this point that FH insisted we had met in the summer of 2003. I have absolutely no recollection of this meeting, and his reason for remembering isn’t all that clear. We played side by side for months
with him showing NO signs of being interested in me at all. He intrigued me, but I was more than just a little gun shy. It had been quite a while since my last serious relationship, and I had basically resigned myself to being “old” and alone. Something about him got to me though, and I finally got the nerve to ask him out on a date - dinner at my place. I was such a nervous wreck that night! First, I hadn’t had a real date in many years, and second, his “yes” to my asking was sooo noncommital I could have been
asking him if the sky was blue!

Well, we talked the night away. So much so that dinner got cold, and had to be reheated to eat it!
Before the night was over he had asked me for a second date. I know from discussions, his one regret from that night was the kiss good-bye. It was the lamest kiss I ever got from him - either before (geez, the good-bye kisses I got on a pool night were better than that one) or since!! By our fourth date I knew he was the one for me!

Shortly after this I went on vacation for a month. Part of me was scared to death - I wasn’t sure which adage would hold true: “out of sight, out of mind” or “absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
However, in the hope springs eternal category of things, I bought him a wedding gift in New Zealand. One which I held onto until our wedding day.


When I got home, FH proposed, sans ring. There was no romance involved in this proposal. We had started having a conversation about getting married. We discussed budgets, and guest lists, and even picked a date! About an hour after we ended this conversation and had shifted to discussing other things, he said “by the way will you marry me?” It was April 1, and I had to ask if he was serious!! He was!! I promptly bought Wedding Sites and Services magazine, and we started selecting halls to look at. I also scoured the internet to begin looking at dresses, and of course subscribed to a few bridal magazines. I’ll skip the reception hall search for the end of the “before the wedding” part of this review.

So, here I was, engaged, without a ring, so, like any bride to be I started running around trying on
wedding dresses, and looking at reception halls with my mother. Mom and I got some funny looks at some reception halls (most notably: Giorgio’s), and at some point she said she wasn’t looking anymore until I had the ring.

Wedding Bands & E-ring:
Van Chion Jewelers
720 East Jericho Turnpike
Huntington, NY
631-423-7774
After FH proposed he kept saying he would save and get me a ring. One day, he just decided he had waited long enough and wanted me to have the ring NOW. I said, well, Tony is right over there, I’ll introduce you. Tony Chion is the owner of the store. He also happens to play in the same pool league with me & FH, hence the “he’s standing right over there” comment. Back in the 80's I managed a Radio Shack next to his jewelry store. I used to window shop daily and drool over the gorgeous one of a kind pieces he had. I never thought I would be lucky enough to own a handmade piece from him. FH made an appointment to meet with Tony. He took my mom with him to go look at diamonds.

Funny story: The following account comes from my mom & FH. They went into the store, and Tony
pulled out a bunch of diamonds. He then realized I had told him I wanted a solitaire, so he put one of them away (apparently it was a marquis). He handed my mother a stone and asked her if she could see the flaw. My mother looked at it, and said yes. Tony asked her “on a clock face where is the flaw?” My mom said 2:00. Tony took the stone back from her, and said “you’re right, I can’t recommend this diamond” They looked at a bunch more, and FH picked one that he thought was stunning (IT IS!). We had found a setting we both liked months earlier. FH brought Tony a picture of it, and he recreated it perfectly. So, on July 26, FH presented me with a gorgeous ring. Of note, until I
had the ring on my finger, no one outside my family knew of the engagement.

Funny story: FH went to pick up the ring on a Monday, but Tony wasn’t in. Tuesday came, and I got a message on my voice mail at work from FH that he had called Tony, he was in, and he would go pick up the ring. About ½ hour later, I got another message, that he was leaving work to go get the ring. An hour later I get another call, he has the ring, and is on his way back. I called him back on his cell phone and asked if he was coming to my office. Can you believe he said no!!! If I wanted my ring before 6:00 PM, it would be up to me to go and get it!! Off to his job I went for lunch. FH came out the employee entrance holding a green bag. He handed it to me, and made some random comment about how Tony gave him wrapping paper and a bow, but since I knew what was in the box he didn’t bother to wrap it. Sure enough, in the bag was the green box, wrapping paper, a bow, a jar of jewelry cleaner and a bunch of CDs. FH made a joke about the CDs being DVDs with the entire Tour ‘d France on them. :rollseyes: He knows I have no interest in cycling. I reached in the bag, and instead of pulling the entire box out of the bag, the top came off, and it was EMPTY!! I looked at him, and called him a wise arse. He looked right back at me and said “perhaps you were looking for
this” as he pulled a green velvet box out of his pocket. When he popped it open I was in shock! It completely took my breathe away! Not that it was a surprise by any means, but until he pulled it out I hadn’t seen it. I just kept saying “oh my god” over and over. FH was crying (he’s such a mush!) and I finally managed to ask if he was going to put it on my finger. He did. We then went and had lunch.

When it came time to get the wedding bands, there was no question - we went back to Tony. I tried on a bunch of bands, even though I knew what I wanted was a plain platinum band without diamonds or anything fancy. Needless to say, I got what I wanted. DH found a band that he loved. He asked me if I minded that his would be white gold, while mine would be platinum. I, or course, had no problem. Considering the size of his ring finger, platinum would have cost a small fortune! The rings came in very quickly. I went back a few months later to get his ring engraved as a surprise.



I should note, that the captain of the pool team told FH he would take him to the diamond district to look at rings, but that never materialized. FH also had a friend who was a jeweler, but he didn’t want to take advantage of that friendship. My brother also has a friend who is a jewelry designer. After FH visited Tony, I suggested he at least price out rings from any of these other sources and he refused.
One thing I can say is he doesn’t negotiate. He takes things at face value, and doesn’t believe in
playing people off one another with price quotes to get the best deal. That said, I know Tony did right by us. He is a retailer, so the price was a little higher than if he had gone to the diamond district, but I have a very high quality stone, a lifetime of free cleanings, and something I always wanted - a piece of jewelry from that store!!

The week after I got my ring I happened to be in court, so I went to talk to my favorite judge. I say
favorite judge because he is fair, impartial, takes the time to consider the law, looks it up if he is
unsure, and genuinely cares about each and every case in front of him. He is exactly the kind of
person you want sitting on the bench. I didn’t have a hall yet, but I asked him to perform our
ceremony. He said yes immediately, and it was obvious that he was very touched that I asked him.
During the course of the planning I showed him our e-pics, I gave him an STD (which is on the file
cabinet in chambers) and discussed the ceremony etc. Many girls have asked if you have to invite the officiant to the reception, or whether or not anyone is doing so. I invited mine, together with his wife.

So, I had my ring, I had visited 25 halls, and selected one and put down a deposit in August, but hadn’t yet ordered my dress, or done anything else wedding related that didn’t involve the internet.

Funny Story: Another girl I worked with had started dating a fellow employee about the same time FH
& I started dating. In fact, our respective third dates were exactly the same - Super Bowl Sunday at the pool team captain’s house. Our supervisor started planning our respective weddings in February. One day in the office she mentioned that she had a discussion with her sister (our office receptionist) about our weddings, and she had decided I would look fabulous in a Vera Wang wedding gown.
As a result, after actually getting engaged, but before the ring, I checked out Vera Wang’s website and discovered a sample sale!!!!

Wedding Dress: Burton’s Bridal
Bride’s Dress: Alfred Angelo Style 1242


I found this dress online. I fell in love with it. I was planning on attending the Vera Wang sample sale, and my sister mentioned that if I loved the dress I saw online, I should try it on before going to Vera Wang. I called every single bridal salon on Long Island that carried Alfred Angelo. Only one shop had it - Beautiful Bride in Lynbrook. I ran over there the same day, because it was the only night of the week they were open after 6PM, and I was headed to Vera Wang that Saturday. I put on the dress and it was perfect! I tried on some other dresses, but nothing compared. I went to the Vera
Wang sale with my mother and sister. I found one dress that I would have purchased IF I hadn’t tried on the Alfred Angelo, and one I would have bought if it wasn’t a size 2 that didn’t fit (and never would have even if I lost 20 pounds!). A few weeks later I brought my mom back to Lynbrook to see the dress. She thought it was great. We went to Princess Bridals in Farmingdale that day as well, to try on a dress my sister had tried when she was looking. I tried on a bunch of dresses, and there was one that I might have been interested in, but they refused to tell me who the designer was etc. They were supposed to check about adding the embroidery that was on the bodice of that dress to the hem and call me back, but I never heard from them. A few weeks later we went to Bridal Reflections to try on specific Eve of Milady dresses. Despite the fact that I had called, and given them the design numbers, and they said they had the dresses, when I got there, they didn’t. They called the manager over to try
and explain the mix up with the Eve of Milday dresses. The manager was rude, and told me that their bridal salon was “the number one salon on Long Island” and they did the best that they could. Needless to say my experience in that bridal salon was not a good one, and not someplace I would go back to for anything! Beautiful Bride quoted me a price that was within my price range, but the thought of driving an 1 ½ hours for fittings, did not appeal to me. My sister had the most amazing experience at Helen’s Wedding World so I called them. Unfortunately they don’t carry Alfred Angelo wedding dresses, only bridesmaids. So, I called Burton’s Bridal in Huntington. When my sister got married, this was the store where we purchased my dress (reverse situation, Helen’s had her wedding
dress, but not the BM dress she wanted). We had a good experience, and I knew that their prices were lower than most. They quoted me $350 less than Beautiful Bride. Two weeks later, I ordered my dress from Burton’s.

Between the day I ordered, and the day I got “the call” I stopped by without an appointment more
than once, made random phone calls to ask crazy questions, and Karen was ALWAYS super nice, super understanding, and just wonderful. Although they were always nice, and always
accommodating, I don’t actually recommend doing this. The shop is small and cramped, especially when there is a wedding party in trying on dresses. Alfred Angelo discontinued my dress, and when I called hysterical, Karen calmed me down, assured me I would get my dress, and made me feel better.
Because it was discontinued, they (Karen & Carole) let me take the Alfred Angelo catalog out of the store at 4:45 on a Friday in December (they were closing at 5:00) and run down to Kinko’s to take a color copy of the dress so I would have it. During one phone call, Karen told me it would be in March 27. At least, I think she did. She might have said, it would ship March 27. Either way, the dress came in on April 5. So, either a week late, (no big deal, since it was still 6 months before the
wedding) or exactly on time. I called Carole, and set up an appointment to “visit” my dress. I arrived right on time for my visit. Carole said “hi Darlene” the second I walked in. I was surprised she knew my name because I had really dealt with Karen for the most part. My dress was hanging up right next to the dressing room. She unzipped the bag, and I was in love all over again. It was still sealed in the manufacturer’s plastic inside that white bag. I just kept staring, when she asked if I wanted to put it on. Of course I did!!! Admittedly, once it was on, I was less than thrilled. It was crystal clear that I had put on weight since it was ordered, and it just didn’t look right. There were bulges in all the wrong places. Everyone who was in that day said it was gorgeous, but I felt miserable. Of course,
the fact that I was upset about something else before I even got there didn’t help. My mother, who up to that point hadn’t really said much about my dress choice, couldn’t stop saying how gorgeous it was, and how much prettier it was in pure white rather than ivory. I told her the sample at Beautiful Bride was white, just dirty from hanging in the store and being tried on so many times. She kind of shrugged her shoulders, and said that she couldn’t believe I considered trying on other dresses when this one was so perfect for me. Carole suggested adding a crinoline underneath. I tried a two tier, and that is when my mom really started gushing about how beautiful it was. There were lots of other people in the store, and I had to go to work, so I reluctantly took off the dress. I scheduled my first fitting that day. Lucky me, by setting up an August fitting in April, I got to schedule it for a Saturday!!!

First fitting, August 2006, almost exactly one year to the day that I ordered the dress. Sue helped me that day get in and out of my dress. She kept saying it fit perfectly. I suppose it did. It needed the hem, the bustle and the straps needed to be shortened, but not taking in, or letting out. I borrowed both my sister’s crinoline and SummerBride06's crinoline for that fitting. My sister’s was totally inappropriate (too ballroom gown poofy), but Carol’s was perfect!!! It gave just the right amount of fluff to the very bottom of the dress. I also had my veil at this point, and it was truly perfect with the dress.

I had my final fitting a week before the wedding, the morning after my bachelorette party. I was hung over, bloated, and feeling like garbage. Therefore, I naturally was displeased with the way I looked in the dress. Despite how I felt, I can say the alterations were perfect.

So, I had a ring, I had a hall, and now I had a dress. I just need all my other vendors! This is where LIW really started to come into play. I joined in August, and did research on almost all my remaining vendors through this site. First up, photographers. We visited a total of seven before making our choice.

The Velvet Studio
Route 110
Huntington Station, NY
631-425-4900

When all is said and done, the pictures are what you have left. We wanted high quality photos, a good price, and someone that we could spend the entire day with. After meeting with 6 other
photographers, we determined that Bob at Velvet fit the bill. He was excited and enthusiastic about
our wedding, and the individual touches we were incorporating. He also assured us that we could in fact take pictures at night, (unlike the others we met with) since our ceremony at that time was
planned for 6:30 PM at our hall. He had some nighttime pictures to show us that weren’t dark and really captured the subjects. He explained that all he had to do was drag the shutter, and/or use his lighting assistant (which would be included at no extra charge) to capture the evening photos we thought we were going to have. Overall, we loved his work. Because Bob is a commercial photographer by trade, he has a different perspective, but still captures the “standard, posed” pictures.
He works with his wife who takes the photojournalistic shots. Getting three different perspectives was intriguing. When we took our engagement pictures we had a blast. We drove around the golf course on golf carts and had fun. FH & I were freezing when all was said and done, but we loved the results, and it only served to confirm what we knew - Bob was the photographer for us.

DJ:
High Voltage Sounds
313 North Albany Street
North Massapequa, NY
516-694-7921

This was the only vendor that we didn’t shop around for. Based on LIW recommendations we met with Vinny at High Voltage and booked him the same day. There was no question. His personality completely won us over. There was no hard sell, or anything we didn’t want. By very funny coincidence, the weekend after we booked him we were at a party where one of his other DJ’s was providing music. Round about April 2006 another bride posted a very negative review. Needless to say, it freaked me out a bit. I sent out FM to “my girls” venting and asking for advice. They all came through with support and advice. Two days after the review Vinny himself called me. We discussed the situation, and other things for an hour. I don’t want to discredit another bride, so all I will say is that there are two sides to every story, and after hearing Vinny’s side of things all the panic and doubts I had went away.

With all things wedding, I gave myself a schedule of two major things to have completed each month, with the goal of having every major vendor booked by Christmas. Next up flowers and transportation. I had set a deadline of October 31, 2005 to have both things booked. Transportation, no problem, flowers, well, let’s just say, I never thought flowers would be so difficult!! Right about this point in time, we decided to accept a very intriguing offer that had come our way months earlier.

Ceremony Site: Private Residence


We were planning on having our ceremony at our reception hall. However, most of the photographers we met with scared FH about taking pictures at night. We both really started to feel that we weren’t going to be able to take advantage of the beautiful grounds because the ceremony start time at the hall would be 6:30 PM, and sunset on our day is 6:24 PM. Enter my friends, Henry and Ted. They own a lovely home overlooking Northport Harbor. They offered not only to host the wedding, but also the reception. FH and I discussed this option for several months before accepting their offer to host the
ceremony. Their house was built in the early 1800's. Their gardens were photographed and published in Newsday. The house sits on the side of a cliff above water level, complete with a dock on the water, and beautiful staircase with a gazebo halfway down. Parking is a challenge, and that was part of the discussion. I priced out valet’s but couldn’t afford one. Then I found out with permission of the Mayor, I could have the guests park 2/10 mile away on a private road. I secured permission, and had the Chief of Police enter it into the computer so our guests would not be ticketed the day of the wedding. Shuttling the guests to and from the parking area became a key point while interviewing limo companies. Serenity and All Star both said they could shuttle the guests the short distance in the limos so we didn’t have to hire a shuttle bus. Our other concern was what to do in the event of rain. If you
remember, during October of 2005 Long Island was hit with 8 straight days of rain. That rain
coincided with the one year countdown to our day. We had planned to visit the house to see the
sunset at the same time on the actual day, but the rain completely ruined that idea. It did however allow us to see that the location is beautiful even in the rain, and that our friends had a backup plan for rain. We officially accepted their offer on October 9, 2005. One of my friends offered to decorate. I bought tulle from AC Moore, and bows (in my wedding colors) from Michaels.



This decision cause no end of angst for my mother. She had planned on booking a room near the reception hall and getting ready there. Now that I was getting married close to home and having the reception far from home she wanted a limo for herself and the family so no one would be drinking and driving.

Well, now that I had done something so crazy as to have the ceremony someplace untraditional, I
realized that I couldn’t go it alone. A DOC was in order. FH & I discussed it, and he agreed without
any argument whatsoever. I just needed to stay within the budget.

Day of Coordinator:
Francesca at Dazzling Affairs
516-455-1751
After we made changes to our day and decided we were going to have our ceremony at a private
home with major parking issues, I decided I couldn’t go it alone the day of. There was just too much stuff that would be happening and I didn’t want to leave it to my mother, my MOH, or anyone else. There were lots of recommendations on the boards. I interviewed a few and didn’t get that warm fuzzy feeling I thought was a necessary component. Then I decided to post on the Vendor board. I got a response from Francesca. We set up an interview and she was AMAZING! She came to my house to meet with me. That initial interview lasted more than 3 hours!! I just knew that with her around on my day if anything was to go wrong she would take care of it. I really, really liked her. That day she came with me to the ceremony site. I’m sure she didn’t expect to spend that much time with me, but she was warm and enthusiastic, listened to my ideas, offered suggestions, explained TONS of different things, and never once did she make my feel like her time would be better spent elsewhere! From the moment I signed that contract I felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Francesca suggested setting up a wedding website that included all the needed
information about our ceremony regarding parking and staircases etc. As the months passed, Francesca came through with lots of different things. She hooked me up with the rental company for the chairs I needed for the ceremony. She priced out the invites FH & I fell in love with but couldn’t afford, and got us substantial savings. One day out of the blue I got an email from her about a horse & carriage. She was talking with one of the vendors she works with and remembered that I mentioned
wanting one. Frankly, until speaking with her after getting the email, I didn’t remember mentioning it. Just goes to show you the level of care she puts into each wedding she does.

Round about April 2006, when I was freaking out about Vinny I sent her an email asking her opinion
on the situation. She gave me a completely different perspective, and encouraged me to call and speak to him directly about my concerns. I suspect the phone call I got from Vinny was at her
prompting, although I don’t know for sure. However it went, she was an ear that listened, and her response to me showed great thought and care. Weeks later I got an email from her saying that she “heard” I was looking for a string quartet with a price quote. This caught me quite off guard. I had never mentioned it to her, I hadn’t posted it on the boards, I didn’t even mention it in private FM to any ‘06er - all I did was send two vendors a request for a price quote. I was very excited about the price quote, because by this time the thought of a string quartet for the ceremony had gotten to me. It no longer had anything to do with Vinny, but became about the elegance that strings would add to our very romantic waterfront ceremony site. Unfortunately, FH said there was no way we could afford it.

When my invites arrived Francesca sent me an email letting me know, and telling me they were
beautiful. Due to my continuing computer problems, I got it the day after she sent it. She said they were in and to call her so I could pick them up. Turns out, that she was going to be in my neck of the woods that day and offered to drop them off. She met me at the pool tournament!!!! She was right - they were beautiful!!! She had assembled one for me so I knew how to do it when the time came. Although, I think I screwed it up based on the number of times I took it out to show people.

As the wedding day got closer things started going wrong, and Francesca was never further away than an email or her cell phone. She always helped to put things in perspective. We had two face to face meetings to finalize details, and she always went above and beyond to make sure the meeting location was convenient for me. She met me at a hair trial once, and at the ceremony location once.

Limo:
Serenity Limos
631-929-8888
I met with all the biggies, All Star, Royalty, and Sir Oliver. Then I found Eddie and Serenity at an East
Wind showcase. His personality completely hooked me. Here was a guy that would keep my
laughing the day of my wedding. One other thing that Eddie did that the biggies refused to do was
create a package that met our needs. Our ceremony was scheduled for 3:00 PM (it was later moved to 2:30 PM) and our CH wasn’t scheduled to begin until 7:00 PM. All the other limo companies wanted to sell me a “3 hour wedding package” and then add overtime charges. I thought that was total B.S. considering you can book limos for an entire night of bar hopping in NYC. Eddie was completely willing to work with me and the needs for my wedding and charge me accordingly without all the nonsense about wedding packages. I didn’t book him at the showcase, because OF COURSE I had to come check the boards and read any and all reviews. The reviews matched what I
thought, so by week’s end I booked 3 limos with him, two for us, and the one for the family. During
the months that followed I ran into Eddie at a variety of showcases. He always recognized me (very important), said hello, had a big smile for me, and even though I was already booked we talked each time I saw him.

During one meltdown day I called over there and left a message for him. When he called me back he managed to make me laugh for the first time in days. I know calming down a bride a full month before her wedding is NOT in the job description for a limo driver/company owner, but Eddie came through like a champ!!!

Flowers:
Open House Country
Whitson Lane
Stony Brook, NY
631-751-3842
Oh, my, this was almost a harder task than selecting a hall!! After visiting a dozen or so florists, (including Flower Michele, LA Blossom, Burton’s, Signature etc) and after having a few samples done, I was at my wits end. Who thought flowers would be so hard?? It wasn’t that I didn’t like the florists I met with, (with one exception) I just wasn’t getting the “this is the one for me” feeling. I was frantic, because it was November, and I was behind the schedule I had set for myself. I came straight to the boards and asked for other recommendations. I got three. I decided to make only one appointment, and if I didn’t like that florist, then I would make the next appointment etc. Well, I met with Nancy at Open House Country and within 10 minutes got that “this is the one for me” feeling.
Nancy agreed to put a sample together for me with extra flowers from a wedding she was doing two weeks later. This was one vendor that FH truly wasn’t interested in. While he went to every
photography appointment, every limo appointment, and was by my side when we met Vinny, all he said about flowers was that he wanted them!! Needless to say, I had to drag FH with me to view Nancy’s sample. We wound up having a huge argument in front of Nancy about the amount of greenery in the sample, and I was so embarrassed by it, I almost didn’t book her because I didn’t want to go back. Even though I had described the same thing to everyone, her sample made my description come alive. I am not a creative person by any means, and up to that point I thought I just couldn’t articulate what I wanted properly. So not the case with Nancy. She got it, and the sample was the perfect evidence. Despite my embarrassment, how could I not go back after what she had
created??



By now, (November ‘05) I had found a BM dress that I was totally in love with, as well as a few
others. I managed to get my MOH into a bunch. Both my BMs live OOT, so getting them to try on
the dresses wasn’t exactly easy. One was very accommodating, and tried on each and every dress that I emailed her within a week. She also sent me pictures of her in the dresses, together with comments regarding whether she liked or didn’t like the given dress. My other BM on the other hand, well, I had to go to Virginia and call bridal shops and make appointments to get her to go!!

Burton’s Bridal:
Bridesmaid Dress: MOH, Impression Bridal Style # 1186 BM, Impression Bridal Style # 1192
I saw these dresses together in an Impression Bridal ad. I loved them. I searched online and found a bunch of other dresses that I also liked. I managed to drag my sister/MOH out to Burton’s one day to try on the ones I found online. Karen was extremely helpful and nice during the whole figuring out what we liked process. I sent my OOT bridesmaids the designer names and styles of the dresses we selected that day. The one that looked the best on my sister (from Dessy) looked lousy on one of my BMs. About a month later I dragged my MOH out again. We went to Helen’s Wedding World in Commack, (they had both Impression dresses available to try on) and the Wedding Center in Commack (they had another designer’s dress that I wanted to see). The ladies at Helen’s were AWESOME. I had my sister put on the dress I wanted for her, and I put on the BM dress. They were perfect, but the color was awful! Not to worry, they had lots of colors to choose from. I called Impression directly, and they sent me fabric swatches in the colors that I liked at no charge. Once again, I sent OOT bridesmaids emails to try on the Impression dress. One of them got back to me
right away. She liked the dress and it looked good on her. I had to go to Virginia and drag the other BM out to try it on. During that trip to Virginia, I managed to get her into a variety of dresses, including an Alfred Angelo that I had recently found and loved that none of the other girls had tried on. That particular dresses’ downfall was Alfred Angelo’s color selection, but I still loved it!! FH was with me, and both he and my BM liked the dress I had picked from the very beginning, not the Alfred Angelo. I have to say, part of me wishes they had both liked the Alfred Angelo, and part of me is very happy they didn’t. Getting them measured on the other hand, was yet another ordeal. Again, one OOT BM was quick with the measurements, and the one in Virginia had to be hounded regularly. My
MOH told me to just tell her when and where to show up to get measured, which I did, and she did!

Since I ordered my wedding dress from Burton’s they offered me a discount on the girls dresses. In February, ordering went smoothly once all the measurements were taken. The expected due date was 4th of July week. The day I visited my dress in April, I asked if the BM (and FG) dresses were still on target for July 4th delivery. Carole told me it had been moved up to early June!!

Well, June came and went with no call about the dresses. July 4th came and went, no call about the dresses. I finally called on July 11 and asked where they were. I was told that they had come in on Friday, July 7. I told them I would be in on Saturday, July 15 to pick up the dresses for my two OOT girls. This is where things went wrong. I ran to Burton’s between a wedding ceremony and reception. After all, how hard could it be to just pay for and pick up two dresses? I got there and waited about 5 minutes before I was helped - no big deal. Karen and Carole were nowhere to be found. The girl who was there was rude to FH and told him he couldn’t sit in the shop because women were changing. I know Burton’s is small, but this was not a day where the fake wall was up and people were changing in the middle of the floor exposed for all the world to see, so it was completely uncalled for. She pointed to where my girls’ dresses were, and I pulled them down and started to examine them. They were both covered in stains!!! One had a HUGE black water stain on it, the other had numerous white stains on it. The rude girl ran downstairs to get Carole. Carole came up and had the seamstress clean the dress with the white marks all over it. I discovered the black water stain on the other dress while that was going on. I repeatedly said to Carole that I wanted her to just call Impression, but she insisted they could be cleaned - and they were, but they stunk to high heaven for a few days. Well, FH was getting impatient sitting downstairs not knowing exactly what was going on, and some random bride that came in for her appointment “delivered” a message from him. With all this going on I paid no attention to anything other than the stains. It was a few days later before it hit me that I had ordered the same size dresses for both girls, but had TWO different size dresses!! I was not happy, but then again I wasn’t 100% sure. I had both receipts, but one didn’t have the dress size on it. So I contacted that BM for her measurements again, and sure enough the dress was one
size too small based on her measurements. I called Carole and she told me not to worry and that I should be worrying about my honeymoon instead. Ummm, excuse me, but I thought you always went with the bigger size because dresses can always be taken in, but they can’t be let out????????????????

Needless to say, I was freaked out about the dress. My grandmother is a seamstress, so I had my mother examine the dress to see if it could be let out. Before we even figured that out, my aunt noticed that the seams on the dress were sewn together completely incorrectly!!
My mother examined it closely, and sure enough - the seams were sewn together wrong. To explain - the dresses were chiffon. When you sew chiffon you have to pull the material taut so it doesn’t bunch together to get a smooth edge. This was obviously not done, because the seam was totally bunched. I then grabbed the other dress, only to see that it was worse than the first one. Now I was freaking out more than I was before. It was 72 days before the wedding, I hadn’t even looked at my MOH’s dress, but these two were awful!! I called Burton’s and told them I wanted to see my MOH’s dress. My mother and I went together with the BM’s dresses.

When we got there I told Carole there was a problem. She looked at it, and said that the dress just needed ironing. Mind you, during the cleaning process the week before both dresses were ironed. She had the seamstress iron the dress, and my mother stood over her and “supervised” but continually pointed out that it wasn’t doing any good. Carole brought over another dress to try to point out that all chiffon dresses are like that. My mother pointed out the difference, and Carole had to admit it, but tried to play it off as being the result of two different manufacturers. I told Carole the dresses were completely unacceptable. My MOH’s dress had one white spot on it, and the seam was a little better, but still not what you expect when you pay this kind of money. I left the dresses behind,
and told Carole I wanted her to call Impression and get me a refund. I told her to tell them she had a hysterical bride on her hands that had NO faith in their ability given the stains and poor workmanship and that I just wanted my money back - all of it!!! Unfortunately, I had to live through the weekend and a Monday before I had an answer.

So here it was, Tuesday August 1, Carole had called Impression Bridal and they wanted the dresses to see for themselves what was wrong and be given the opportunity to fix them. I was told they would be back in New York at Burton’s by Friday August 4. Needless to say I was very skeptical. I was pleasantly surprised that the seams on both BM dresses were fixed. However, my MOH’s dress was never returned as Carole misunderstood me when I said the dress was not perfect. She apparently didn’t hear the “not” and therefore didn’t ship it back. That however was not the end of the issues. The BM dresses were returned fixed, but not without NEW stains!!!

The OOT BM that was ordered the wrong size dress was in New York that weekend for my bridal
shower, and went to Burton’s to try on the dress. Although she told me not to worry it was fine, she
also said the top was so tight she couldn’t wear a bra (not a good thing for a girl with a D-cup size
chest), and that if she gained one single ounce between that day and the wedding it would be too
small. I’m sure she was trying to make me feel better about the whole thing, so I’m not sure she told me everything. One thing that she did tell me, which IMO was poor business practice on the part of Burton’s, was that she was charged for her alterations. I’m not talking $10 either!! Very, very disappointed in how this entire situation was handled. FH was, and continues to be, positively livid over the entire experience. My DOC did say however that my BM was charged half price for her
alterations. Fast forward to the end of September when I finally managed to stop playing phone tag
with said BM. She told me she picked up her dress from Burton’s and it was totally screwed up. She is short waisted and there is rouching on the side of the dress. Well, they tried to adjust the waist line so it sat on her waist but then couldn’t get the rouching to sit right, so they let the waist of the dress out. The problem with this was that the waist was already 2 inches larger than her waist (while the bust was too small), and letting it out made the dress look like a potato sack on her. She was there for well over an hour while the seamstress undid everything they had done to the waist line and the rouching on the side. I have to say when I found out I was pi$$ed off, not only at Burtons, but also at my BM. If she had told me what was wrong in August I would have eaten the cost of the dresses and
ordered a different dress with rush delivery etc. Instead, I wound up with a BM in an ill fitting dress.

After getting all the girls to agree on a BM dress, now I needed a flower girl dress. Back to the
internet I went. My FG lives in Virginia, and the weekend I was there dragging her mother (my BM) around, she was with her father, so I couldn’t drag her around. I emailed her pictures of dresses that I liked, and had her select what she wanted from those.

Flower Girl Dress: Sweet Beginnings Style # L408



I was in love with this dress from the moment I saw it. Luckily, when I emailed my FG a picture of it, together with a few others, she loved it too!!!! Jordan has a color that it almost identical to the
Impression color I picked, so I was able to order the sash for the dress to match the BM dresses. I
also ordered this dress from Burton’s. This dress came in with the BMs dresses. It was perfect!!!

Everything was coming together. My time line was basically being adhered to, and all the really big things were booked. We had a busy week between Christmas and New Year’s. We both had off that week we had planned on looking for invites, tuxedos, starting the registry, and . . . video!! Yup, after saying he didn’t want one, he now decided he wanted a video after all! FH was good about changing his mind. When I mentioned creating a website (he is a computer geek) he said no, then out of the blue on New Year’s Eve he said “let’s create our website!” He changed it more times than I care to count, and really made me nuts when he would take down a page to redo it, then not put it back up for months!!!

Videographer:
Wild Rose Video
631-224-7723
We certainly didn’t budget for a videographer, since FH was dead set against it. However, at some point FH redid the budget to include video. (I guess that would be around the time he changed his mind about NOT having a video). We interviewed a bunch, but when we got to Wild Rose our search was over. We met with both Bill and Marie. They showed us a bunch of different wedding videos. They spanned several years, lots of venues, and even one that included our hall. At one point, FH was moved to tears. When we walked out, FH said “we have to find a way to book them.” As much as I loved their work, I still wanted to book a different videographer because I honestly didn’t think we could afford them, and I thought it would be very easy for another videographer to recreate the “spin” so long as we described it. FH convinced me we could afford it, and since he has insisted on so little, I decided to give in. We called them from lunch, and booked them the same day.

Invitations: Nu-Art 7750


We had at some point decided that our theme would be calla lilies. I selected a bunch of invites with calla lilies on them, and then had FH pick which one he liked. At some point I realized this wasn’t fair, so we went to Lion in the Sun in Huntington during our week off. We looked through hundreds of invites. When FH saw this one, he was hooked. We looked at a bunch more, but kept coming back to this one invite. Lion in the Sun wrote out an estimate for us, but it was waaaay more than we had budgeted for invites. We left the store and I told him we just couldn’t afford them. He asked me to look online since I had gotten some really good prices on other invites. I did that, and then I remembered Francesca had mentioned she can get invites. I asked her to price them out with all the extras we wanted (colored ink, lined inner envelopes etc). Her price was the same as online once we
added the costs for proofs of everything. It was a relief to me to deal with a person and not an online company even though all the samples I had ordered were the same quality as the stores. This was another one of those things, that I deferred to FH. I loved the invite, but it was ivory, not white, had a heart on it, not calla lilies, AND was too expensive. With the decision to go with these invites, the calla lily theme went out the window, and hearts overtook us!!

When I finally figured out the wording I wanted to use, I sent my DOC an email with it and asked her
to start the invitation process. With all the changes and corrections I made the proof process took about a month. The time frame had a lot to do with me. I was having major issues with my home computer and AOL, so sometimes it would take me two-three days to get back to Francesca. Ultimately, I sent her a fax and viola - the proofs came back and were all perfect and the order was placed. It took no more than 10 days for the invites to come in once the order was placed. They were stunning! FH & I were so happy with them. Because Francesca deals with this on a regular basis she was actually able to save me money in the long run. Nu-Art charges for each proof, but she was able to negotiate for me and I only paid for one proof per item, not the multiples of each that were done. In the end, she was less expensive than ordering via the internet.

Tuxedos: Rogers Tuxedos Smithtown
Before the Wedding: 9
Day of: 9

We reserved tuxes with Tuxedo Park in Huntington Village in December 2005. On April 1, 2006, FH went with one of his GM to get measured. Lo and behold, the store was CLOSED! Not closed, as in they went during hours when they shouldn’t be open, but closed as in shut down, no longer a store on Main Street in Huntington closed. I honestly thought FH was playing an April Fool’s joke until I came onto LIW and asked. Sure enough, they closed the Huntington location a few days earlier. FH
said there was no way he was going to Carle Place, and since they failed to notify us he had no
intention of going to their new (as of then unopened) Massapequa location. So, now we were on the hunt for tuxedos - AGAIN. We went to a showcase at East Wind on April 5, and met with Rich from Rogers Tuxedo. To this point, we had only used one house vendor (Serenity). We spoke with Rich at length at the showcase, and told him we would visit the store on Friday. He said he might not be there, but his partner Ray would be if he wasn’t. When we got there,
neither one of them was in the store! Oops, they had gone out to dinner, but returned about 5 minutes after we walked in. Rich and Ray were great!!! FH & I are both HUGE Yankee fans - so is Ray. FH & Ray got into a big conversation about baseball while we were waiting for a dressing room to open up (there was another wedding party in picking up tuxes, and Rogers insists that they be tried on before being removed from the store, and another employee was helping them). Rich on the other hand was busy looking for fabric (yes, fabric, not color cards) swatches so we could match BM dresses. Rich is down to earth, has an opinion, isn’t afraid to share it, and thinks that tradition is overplayed, but loves a classic tux with a bow tie and cummerbund. Ray is also very down to earth and while he has an opinion, he’s a little more subtle than Rich with expressing it. They were both extremely helpful, and let me know if I changed my mind about what the guys were going to wear, I could do so up until @ three weeks before the wedding. After putting FH in a bunch of different tuxes, we went a completely different route than what we had decided on in December. We backed away from traditional tuxedos with vests and straight ties, and the cummerbund/bow tie look for the bridal party. The cost of the tuxedos also went down considerably with the change in stores.



Registry:
Macy’s:
We had no problems registering with Macy’s at all. We went to the Macy’s at Smithhaven Mall. The problem came a few months later when I got a notification of discontinued items. We went to Macy’s to fix it, only to be told only two of the 25 items were actually discontinued! A few months after that I went into Macy’s to check towel colors. I found the color I wanted and added them to the registry. When I got home I was flipping through the Fourth of July circular and lo and behold there were my towels with a big ad that said CLOSEOUT - DISCONTINUED! Umm, excuse me, but where on earth was my notice from Macy’s?? They sent me a notice that was wrong, and then never bothered to send me a notice that was correct?? Obviously, Macy’s has some issues with their registry that needs to be worked out.

Fortunoff:
We had no problems registering here either. Unlike Macy’s when I got notice that something was discontinued, it actually was. The problem I did have occurred the day we went to take care of the discontinued items. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find the everyday dinnerware we registered for. I decided if it was that difficult for me, it would be too difficult for a guest, so we selected something else. I honestly don’t like it nearly as much as the first set.

Williams-Sonoma:
FH wanted to register here because he wanted a particular Caphalon sauce pan that ONLY they
carry. We added a bunch of stuff because it was silly to only register for one item. This experience
was OK. We were asked if we made a reservation to do our registry (we hadn’t), but said they would take care of us that day anyway. They did take care of us, and the various salespeople on the floor were very helpful and answered lots of questions about different things. I later tried to add things online. NIGHTMARE!! They do not list all their merchandise on their website.

Linens & Things:
This was not a good experience. We registered at all four stores in ONE day. We had to wait 45
minutes to get service at L&T. We chalked it up to the time of year. Once we got the gun it was
smooth sailing. However, the weekend we were running around fixing the discontinued stuff on at the other stores we went back to L&T to look at bedding since it was now close enough to our date. After waiting ½ hour for service we just walked out. Later that night we took L&T off our website and deleted everything from this registry.

Bed, Bath & Beyond:
We went here after our awful experience at L&T. Oh, my, what a difference!! They have an actual
registry counter with real live staff people at it!!! They told us we were welcome to come before and after hours while the staff was cleaning and/or stocking shelves to make changes. They have a fabulous return policy (cash!), and give you two years to complete your registry and still receive a discount. We ran around the store that day, and by the time we were done our BB&B registry was triple the size of the L&T registry. When we surrendered the gun, they took out L&T list and offered to add anything we hadn’t done ourselves! Adding stuff online was a piece of cake.

So, here it is New Year’s Eve. I had created an STD in October and asked FH to convert it to the
proper file format to upload to Vista Print, and I was still waiting. When I heard about the postage
increase, I made it clear I wanted them in the mail before the rate hike. Do you think this got done?? Heck no!! The STD file format conversion went along with the creation of the website, randomly out of the blue with FH deciding NOW was the time to do it!


Save The Dates:
Vista Print
Rating: 7

I “stole” the Mastercard commercial idea for the STD from another LIW bride. I used one of our e-
pics, followed her lead, played off how we met at the pool hall, and viola - a really cute STD. I
ordered post card sized magnets from Vista Print. They came in relatively quickly. I had to cut two small white lines off them around two sides, but I don’t know if that was our fault because we
uploaded our design, or their fault. It was a minor inconvenience, but everyone who got them thought they were really cute, and they are up on refrigerators all over the country! I bought blank cards and envelopes from AC Moore, printed them out on my computer at home. I attached the magnet inside the card with non-permanent rubber cement. Under the magnet was our website address. One problem I did have, that I do think is their problem, happened about two weeks after I ordered them. I got a phone call from ShoeBuy.com to verify an order I had placed before they shipped the item. Turns out, it wasn’t me who ordered it, and I had to cancel my credit card and get a new one. Vista Print’s site is not secure, and the STDs were the only thing I had ordered online in three months, so I am convinced it was through that order that someone got my number.

Things were really coming along at this point. There were some bumps in the road between me & FH - the usual wedding stress related stupid arguments. We worked through every thing as it occurred, and our relationship got stronger with each conversation. A few times we had “wedding free zones” wherein we would spend the day together with all wedding discussion off limits. I highly recommend
doing this when you start to feel stressed!

We also started talking about taking dance lessons. From the beginning of the engagement, FH said he doesn’t dance, he hates to dance, there would be no first dance, and that there was no point to dancing that he could see. My local department of Parks and Recreation had ballroom dancing lessons for a relatively low cost, and I convinced him to go. It was
eight classes of FUN!! Yes, I said fun. FH really enjoyed it. We went to public dances at churches,
he danced at the weddings we went to (something he didn’t do at the weddings we had gone to before the lessons), and even said he wanted to continue lessons after we were married. The other thing dance lessons did, was show us that the song we picked, although beautiful, really wasn’t a song that could be danced to unless you are a professional. We had to select another song. IMO, the words
didn’t convey my feelings about the relationship the way the first one did, but I think they conveyed his feelings.

The other things that occurred in January were expected, unexpected, and expected!

MOB/MOG dresses: Lord & Taylor
My mom purchased a dress at Lord & Taylor for another wedding she had to go to in November.
She asked me if I minded if she wore it to mine. It was beautiful, and she looked fabulous in it, so I
told her to go for it! She bought it on sale with a coupon, and got a tremendous deal.



My FMIL hates dresses. Two weeks after I got engaged she asked FH if I minded if she wore pants. I told him to tell her I just wanted her to be comfortable. After all, as long as she isn’t wearing white, why would I care if she wore a gorgeous pant suit instead of a dress? At Christmas she mentioned that she wanted me to go shopping with her. I was so excited. This was the first real interest she showed in the wedding. I realized later that the reason she was showing little interest was
out of respect, not lack of caring. She recognized that it was my wedding not hers, and didn’t want to step on my toes. So, on a bright Saturday afternoon, my mom, FMIL and FSIL hopped in the car and went to the mall to find a nice pant suit. Well, after trying on a bunch, she decided she wanted to try on some dresses! We found a lovely celedon dress with a short beaded jacket that looked great on her at Lord & Taylor. It was on sale and we got a good deal. She was very happy that day. FH told me later that she just couldn’t wait to show it to him when she got home. That made me feel really great!



Horse & Carriage: Eagle Carriage Company
Before the Wedding: 8
Day of: 10
My childhood dream. I honestly thought this was one dream I would have to give up. I shopped
around and the prices were waaaaaay out of my budget. Then I bought a magazine that had an ad for Eagle. I called and left a message, but before I got a call back my amazing DOC sent me an email with pricing for a horse & carriage. Lo and behold, the quote was from Eagle!! I talked with Sam on the phone, and met with him a few days later. The carriage was beautiful, and the price was within the “extra” money from our wedding budget. ( there is no such thing as extra money). My dream was becoming a reality. Best part, unlike every other carriage company I called, Eagle has a “day of” rain cancellation policy. I was able to book knowing that if it rained and the carriage was a no-go it wouldn’t cost me. The reason he doesn’t get a higher score for before the wedding is his office. It is a trailer on Main Street in Huntington that was hard to find. He never turned on a light during our meeting, and since it was January, and the meeting was after 5PM it was dark, and well, a little? spooky.

Wedding Day Hoodie:
EmbroidMe
Rating: 7/8
Janna (aka BktoLI) managed to find me a hoodie at Target. I took it to EmbroidMe on Route 111 in
Smithtown for embroidery. Their hours stink, (they’re not open weekends, or past 6PM any night during the week) but the quality is good. Janna had taken hers the week before I did. She dealt with the owner and had a great experience - got her hoodie back in two days, and said the owner was really nice. When I took mine, I dealt with a young man, who was very nice, but not too swift. He told me it would take a week, and it was more $$ than Janna’s but he couldn’t explain why. I called a week later to make sure it was finished before going over there on my lunch hour to get it. I spoke with the owner on the phone and asked why it took a week and cost more than Janna’s. Well, she got nasty with me on the phone. Said all projects take a week, and that mine was more because there were more letters (ummmm, only FOUR). Turns out, the extra $$ was for an additional line of text, not the additional four letters. She asked if I was going to continue to argue with her. I
wasn’t arguing, I just wanted an explanation. I picked it up without incident. Again, I dealt with the young man, as the owner was on the phone when I got there. It was perfect, and when I wore it out and about before my wedding, everyone thought it was great. I somehow managed to drop it in the parking lot at work without noticing, and had to get a new one. It took me months to find another plain white hoodie. I went back to EmbroidMe to have it done over. I was very happy to learn that they changed their hours and were now open until 7:00 PM two nights a week. This time, they did it in three days, and charged me the same price they charged Janna! Whatever! I had
my hoodie again and I was happy.



Shoes:
Wedding Shoe Boutique
Old Country Road
Mineola
Coloriffics: Total Eclipse
OMG! What a nightmare! I wanted ballroom dance shoes because I knew those would be the most comfortable. Unfortunately, Capezio discontinued the perfect shoe. I ordered a 71/2 wide from Zappos hoping they would fit and be comfortable. They didn’t. Then I found a gorgeous pair of Coloriffics on Shoebuy.com. They were extremely uncomfortable, and I had to send them back. I had gone to Craft Shoes in Commack once, and had the misfortune of being approached by the owner, who is obnoxious, and didn’t want to go back. But I did. This time, I was helped by Ethel. She is very sweet, and patient. I think I tried on 15 different pairs of shoes, but nothing fit right and was comfortable. She measured me and said my right foot was a size 6, and my left foot was a size 71/2. However, there wasn’t a single shoe all the way up to a size 8 wide that fit correctly. She recommended looking at Stuart Weitzman shoes online. There was no way I was spending $200 on a pair of shoes I would wear exactly once, so randomly one Sunday while FH and I were at Fortunoff
playing with the registry my brain remembered that a bunch of LIW girls had mentioned the Bridal
Shoe Boutique on Old Country Road. As we were driving to Macy’s to fix that registry I was
scanning Old Country Road for the store. I spotted it, but we were in the left lane. Lucky for me the light was red, so I jumped out of the car. Wouldn’t you know it - the store was closed!! I guess it was my lucky day because the salespeople were still there and they opened the door. They don’t have as big a selection as Craft Shoes, but there was one pair that I didn’t recall seeing that I asked to try on. They were 95% comfortable. Steve, the guy helping me thought I needed a wide width shoe to take care of the 5%. He didn’t have them, but said he could order them, and that I was under no obligation to buy them if they came in and weren’t comfortable. The store is closed on Monday, but they were in by Thursday. Quick huh? I put them on and had the same problem. Steve took them in the back and did something and they then fit like a glove. FH danced with me in the store just to make
sure!! Isn’t that totally sweet??

I need to mention that I considered getting them on Shoebuy.com. The retail price was $3.50 less,
and of course, no tax and free shipping. An LIW bride sent me a FM letting me know of a 15% off
discount code for Shoebuy.com. I actually ordered them, and then canceled the order. The reason I canceled the order was because of the free dying after the wedding. I found out it costs $15.00 to have the shoes dyed to black. I decided the actual savings of .66 cents wasn’t worth it to get them online. To me, dying the shoes after the wedding so they could be worn again all of a sudden became important.

Dance Lessons:
Town of Huntington Department of Parks & Recreation
FH is not a dancer. In fact, he used to say he hates to dance, he can’t dance, there is no point in dancing, dancing is stupid, and every other negative thing you can possibly think of related to dancing. I, on the other hand, love to dance, and have always wanted to learn ballroom dancing. After seeing one of his friends dance at his wedding, and finding out that the couple had taken lessons, he agreed to give it a try. The Town has many adult education classes that they offer. When I saw ballroom dancing, I signed us up. Our first instructors, Rich and Nancy Kaufman taught us waltz, rumba and
bolero. It was an 8 week session, of 1 ½ hour classes. FH started by saying everything was too hard, he didn’t get it etc. By the end of the 8 weeks, and some private lessons with Rich and Nancy after class, he stopped his complaining, admitted he was having fun, and was practicing with me regularly! He even agreed to take more lessons!!

When the summer bulletin came out from the Town, we signed up for Salsa, Merengue, Tango,
Hustle, and Swing. Swing quickly became FH’s favorite dance. We also started going to some social dances on Saturday nights for practice. For the summer our instructor was Rico (aka Howie). During the summer lessons, FH continued to say that stuff was too hard, he didn’t get it etc, but IMO, he just wasn’t giving himself enough credit. During our ballroom lessons he took him at least a dozen repetitions to get something, but by the time we hit the 4th week of the summer session he was learning new steps after 3-4 repetitions. He also made it clear he wants to continue lessons after we get married!

The Ceremony & Officiant:
Honorable Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, Supreme Court Suffolk County
As I said earlier, right after I got the ring I popped into a particular courtroom and asked my favorite
judge to perform the ceremony. With all this planning of the reception at some point I decided enough was enough, and it was time to plan the ceremony itself. I made an appointment with Judge Spinner, because by this time he was back in Supreme Court in Riverhead, and no longer in Family Court in Central Islip, so access was not as simple as just popping in. I brought my prototype program with me for him to review. He gave me a handful of ceremonies that he had performed in the past, and basically told me to do with them whatever I wanted. I knew he wasn’t going to be able to make the rehearsal, so this meeting was very important to me. We discussed the order of things, I showed him
some different readings that we were considering, and we discussed whether or not the vows would be the repeat after me variety, or if FH & I would write our own and read them. After our meeting I spent several weeks working with his outline and doing internet searches for different things. Ultimately, I designed a beautiful ceremony.

One thing of note. When my sister got married she excluded my aunt/godmother completely.
Considering she has lived with us for over 10 years, and single handedly painted the entire inside of the house so it was perfect for her pictures, my aunt was more than just a little hurt. I made sure I didn’t make the same mistake by asking her to do a reading at the ceremony.
I saw many posts asking how many readers there should be, and the general consensus was always 3. My problem with 3 was who would the other two be. FH has two sisters, and I had friends that were not in the bridal party, all of
whom needed to be considered. I also couldn’t figure out where to put two additional readings. The ceremony layout was introductory remarks by the judge, the reading, the exchange of vows, the
exchange of rings, and then the sand ceremony. Ultimately, with lots of discussion with and input from the judge, we made the decision to leave it as is. That did not in any way mean that the other people I considered were not important. Quite the contrary, they were all important and I just couldn’t choose one over another.



All the DIY stuff I did randomly and in no particular order during the entire planning process. Some
things I did in one afternoon, others took me weeks. There is no rhyme or reason to the time frame, some things I was really motivated about, others I was lazy about, still others were just time consuming or required patience.


DIY: Programs, Kissing Bell poem, “WE DO” letters, Table Cameras/Scavenger Hunt, Sand
Ceremony, Photo Cube, Memory Candles
I purchased cardstock from AC Moore for programs. Christine (aka CrissynRicky) designed a monogram that I used as the cover. I used Word Perfect, because no matter how hard I try, I just don’t like Microsoft Word. After several attempts I designed one that I loved. I printed them out, cut them with the paper cutter at work, folded and tied with ribbon I bought at AC
Moore.



Kissing Bell poem I found somewhere on LIW. I used Avery business cards to print it out, again
using Word Perfect, and the template that comes with the business cards when you buy them. I
bought the bells on a whim at Cedarhurst Paper. The bells were actually placecard holders with the
holder part shaped in a heart. One per table.

I was having a serious problem trying to match the color of the BM dresses for the “We Do” letters
when FH suggested I get custom paint. Off to Home Depot I went. The color was so dark, the color matching system couldn’t read it. Well, the sales guy helping me spent at least ½ hour pulling color cards, and cutting little holes so it would fit over the fabric swatch of the BM dress to find something that matched. How he did it I don’t know, but he found the BEST possible match. The day I decided to start painting them, I brought the “E” into the dining room, and my mom asked me what I was doing. I explained I was painting letters to decorate the cake table. She said “oh, how nice LOVE” Well, that was enough for me. I made FH get up and come with me to Michaels to return the “W” and the “D” so I could buy a “V” and an “L”.



Sand Ceremony:
Ebay Vendor GlasPak
Rating: 9
This was part of my overall, “if my sister did it at her wedding, I’m not doing it” theme. My sister had a unity candle, and therefore I was not planning on doing anything. Once again, enter LIW. I read about the sand ceremony, and FH thought it was a great idea. I mentioned to Laurie at LA Blossom, when I interviewed her for flowers, that I was looking for a center container in the shape of a heart. She ran a search on Ebay and found a beautiful double heart container that she sent me a link to in an
email. I bid on it, and won!! I was very excited. I bought the two smaller containers at Michaels. I
printed the wording for the ceremony from LIW and gave it to my officiant, and explained we wanted to do that instead of the unity candle ceremony. This was also the start of the heart theme that later completely overtook us!
FH’s favorite color is blue, so there was no question that he would use blue sand. I bought this from AC Moore. I wanted pure white sand, something neither AC Moore or Michael’s sells. I managed to find pure white at Oriental Trading, so I ordered online.



Table Cameras/Scavenger Hunt:
Again, another LIW touch that I wouldn’t have had if my mom hadn’t told me about LIW. I printed
out an extensive list of photos, together with the poem, and spent a few days making up lists for each table. I also found little holders for the cameras that another LIW bride made for her table cameras. I borrowed her picture and recreated it using burgundy cardstock, white cardstock, and leftover favor box ribbon I got from Janna.

Memory Candles:
I purchased two 6" and one 9" pure white candles from AC Moore on sale. I also bought vellum,
ribbon and crystal hearts. I found a website (www.franscandles.com) that had a huge selection of poems for memory candles. I printed it out and selected a verse for my father, and had FH select a verse for his father. For the 9" candle I selected a long verse. I printed out the verses on the vellum, used my hot glue gun to attach the vellum, the ribbon and the crystal hearts to the candles.



Photo Cube:
I purchased my frames at K-Mart, and the mats from AC Moore. For pictures I used 2 5x7 photos
and 4 4x6 photos. One 5x7 came from BktoLI. It was taken by her photographer at her wedding.
(Thanks Janna!!!) The other was one of our e-pics. One of the 4x6 photos was taken by
KimberlyBride (aka Client Services, aka Kim) at the Bridal Extravaganza. (Thanks Kim!!!) When
reading the directions from the DIY board I somehow didn’t realize the lazy susan was wooden and the actual base of the photo cube, so I bought a large rectangular unfinished piece at AC Moore (and then promptly lost the receipt so I couldn’t get all my money back). For a while this gave me angst. Then one day I ran a google search for a lazy susan, and came across something called a lazy susan bearing. Turns out that is the mechanism that makes the darn thing spin and you can buy it at Home Depot. I did a few things differently than the DIY directions. First, I didn’t make a styrofoam bottom, I just bought extra corner braces and mounted the cube directly to the board I bought at AC Moore.
I bought the bearing itself and attached it to the bottom of the board so it would spin, instead of buying a lazy susan. I also did not use velcro, or plastic hooks to make sure the top didn’t fall in - again I used the metal corner braces that held the thing together. Tip for future brides - when you make the slit in the top, make it diagonally across the top, almost corner to corner, then measure before you cut so that it is 3/4 to 1 inch wide. Do not cut the material first. Fold it to make a triangle and drape it diagonally across the opening, and one half of the top. Pull 2 full inches of material through the
opening - then cut it and attach the cut ends on the underside of the top, on either side of the opening. Then gently pull the material across the top to smooth it out, and attach to the underside of the top. I first used a regular stapler, then switched to a staple gun to get through several layers of material at once. After it is all attached trim any excess material on the underside of the cover.

Favors and Favor Boxes:
Both our fathers have passed. We decided to do a donation to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation in
memory of mine, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation in memory of his. As an outward symbol of these donations we also ordered Live Strong and Brainstorm bracelets. Ordering was quick and easy. Delivery took about a week. I originally wanted to put the bracelets in organza bags. While searching online for an low price I came across really cute favor boxes at Oriental Trading. FH really liked them, and they were the clear favorite in the poll I ran on LIW. I got lazy and didn’t bother to order them for at least a month after I found them. Online ordering was quick and easy. The problem arose when I received the order. I got the white sand, but not the boxes. Whoever packed my shipment
goofed and pulled the wrong item off the shelf. The catalog number for the boxes was 783, and I got catalog number 782 instead. 782 wasn’t even boxes!!! I called Oriental Trading the next morning and explained the problem. They were extremely apologetic, and willing to ship out the boxes at no charge before I returned the wrong item. I received the boxes 5 days later (I told them I didn’t need overnight shipping). They were just as cute in person as they were online, but the actual box part was much smaller than I expected. Some of you may have read about the night I started stuffing the boxes and decided to iron the ribbon because the bows looked awful. This was one of my crazier periods!



Hair:
Patty
I went for a trial with an East Wind recommended vendor who also happened to be my mother’s
every day hair dresser. I hated it, and so did my family. You girls weren’t crazy about it either. That
trial cost a lot of money, and while it was being put together I kept saying it wasn’t right, but she didn’t try and fix it. I contacted Maria at Concours d’Elegance and set up a trial. I had to cancel due to my cousin’s hospitalization, and reconsidered using her based on price. I then contacted Jillian at NY Bridal Looks. I had a hard time with communication with Jillian. It took her a while to let me know she “might” be available for my date, and after a month I still hadn’t heard whether she was or not. She did say Sarah Rock was available for hair. I played phone tag with Sarah for a week. When I spoke with her I was less than thrilled, but I scheduled a trial anyway. I then called my amazing DOC. She recommended Patty for hair and another woman for makeup. The makeup person was out of my price range so I didn’t have a trial. Patty was also out of my price range but not to the extent that Maria was, so I went for a trial (which was VERY inexpensive). She tried a whole bunch of different
styles. We both agreed we liked the first one we tried the best, so she did it a second time so I could go home and show people. Patty also suggested I put on some makeup to see how it looked. Well, what a difference some lipstick makes!! I also put on my day of earrings and promptly fell in love with the style. When I showed my mom the picture Patty was working from she said that she nailed it perfectly!!!! Needless to say, I canceled my trial with Sarah and booked Patty. I never heard back from Jillian about makeup. The day I went for my first fitting I did a horrible mock-up of my hair trial. I say horrible because there was NO way I could recreate the curls that made up the back of the
hairstyle, but I did manage the tendrils in the front and on the side. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work
with the veil, so I had to look for something else and have another trial.

I met with Patty a second time armed with lots of pictures that I thought would look good on me, and work with the veil. Patty played around for two hours until we got it right!!

Make-up
Kim Clarke
Kim was the makeup artist at my sister's wedding in May '04. I loved how she made me look and wanted her for my wedding. My sister however did not cooperate with getting me Kim's info. I did some shopping around with other makeup artists until I managed to actually catch Kim at work. She is the manager of the Prescriptives counter at Macy's at the Walt Whitman Mall. As soon as I talked to Kim, she put me in her book, and my search was over. I had a trial in September only because this time I was the bride and wanted to give the look a little kick. FH came with me and sat fascinated in the chair watching Kim while she worked. He was so interested he told me to make sure the videographers recorded it the morning of the wedding.

So, it was January, and despite having my dress, that was almost all the wedding day attire I had. I
had my something old, (diamond necklace) new, (dress) borrowed (the diamond necklace) and blue, (I decided on a pedicure with blue nail polish), but I was minus a hoodie, shoes, and a veil. My something old, new, borrowed and blue changed when I received my birthday present from FH in September. He bought me a gorgeous pair of pearl and sapphire earrings and matching necklace.



Because my dress was covered in pearls I decided to change my day of jewelry to the set he bought. I was now in need of something old and borrowed, but still decided on the pedicure with blue nail polish. My mother found a beaded purse that she had that was at least 50 years old for my to use as my something old and something borrowed.


Veil:
Barron’s at Tri-County
Back in August when I tried on dresses at Bridal Reflections they put a mantilla on my head. My
mother fell in love with the look and decided I had to have a mantilla instead of a traditional veil. Not
a problem, or so I thought. I should have s*cked it up and paid Alfred Angelo for 2 yards of the lace
that made up my dress. I allowed myself to be talked out of it due to cost etc. So, when I went to
Barron’s to have a mantilla made I needed to find lace that either matched my dress or coordinated
with my dress in a way that wouldn’t overpower it. It took well over an hour. Yana was patient and
understanding and just kept pulling out more and more lace until FINALLY she pulled out the perfect
coordinating lace. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one! Yana measured me for an elbow length veil. She asked how I was wearing my hair. Lucky for me I had my hair trial on my camera, which I had with me (it had a close up pic of the lace on the dress). She immediately realized she needed to add a few inches to the veil so it would be the correct length. She also suggested that I go fingertip length instead of elbow length. She said that a mantilla looks much better as a longer veil. She’s the
expert, so longer is what I ordered. She said the lace I had selected was very expensive, which
caused my heart to jump into my throat. When she said how much I nearly had a heart attack, but my mother calmly said OK. When we walked away she said she expected it to be much more expensive than the actual price. I was charged extra to have the veil on a stick instead of on a comb.

When I picked up my veil I was completely overwhelmed!!! I had just come from Burton’s to
“return” my BMs dresses and was totally stressed, but when Yana opened the box the veil took my breathe away!!! I started tearing up because it was soooo beautiful. She patted my hand and told me not to cry. When her son (at least I think it’s her son) put the veil on my head I felt like a bride for the very first time!! It was just so perfect!! I was so happy they had convinced me to go with the longer veil. Yana asked me to send her a picture when I got the chance.



Calligraphy:
Inkspun
Rating: 7
I sent Bill an order form and my guest list on June 23. Unfortunately, I goofed, and it wasn’t in Word
format, so I had to resend it. Of course, due to home computer problems I didn’t know this until June 26. I reformatted the list and resent it. I sent out the envelopes on June 27. On June 30 I proofed the invite list. On July 5, I had my absolutely beautiful envelopes back. My invites had been printed in colored ink, and I wanted the envelopes in the same color. Bill matched the it perfectly. First complaint - and this was my fault - was the size of the printing on the inner envelope. It was too small. IMO, the names on the inner envelope looked lost given the size of the envelope. Again, this was my fault, not Bill’s. However, I got over it. I mention it only so no future bride makes the same mistake I did. Verify the size before you OK the proof!!!!

I did not check each and every envelope until I went to stuff them. I found several mistakes that I had corrected when I proofed the invite list. It was strange, because some things had in fact been
corrected, yet others were not. There was no rhyme or reason to it either. It wasn’t like all the inner envelopes were corrected, but the outers were wrong, or vice versa, it was just totally random what was corrected and what wasn’t. Unfortunately, he was on vacation at this point so I couldn’t get him to correct it, especially since I planned on having my invites in the mail a full week before he was due back. Lucky for me I have amazing coworkers. One of them brought her color printer to work, our MIS hooked it up to my network computer, I found the font for free online, and after an hour and a half of trying to match the color, I got close enough to fix the mistakes myself. This was also the printer I used for my programs.

Bridal Shower:
The View at Crab Meadow
There was never a question that my sister/MOH would host the shower here, as it is the place all family affairs have been held for several years. How on earth she was going to get me there without suspicion was of course the issue. There is only one road to get there, and it’s fairly obvious where you are going once you leave my house. I really really wanted to be surprised . . . and I almost was. I was completely convinced my shower would be Sunday, August 6 for a large variety of reasons. Unfortunately, on the morning of Saturday, August 5, my FH blew it and told me at 11:00 AM my shower was to be that very day. To say that I was angry at him would be an understatement. There was only one person I could call and vent to - one of my OOT bridesmaids that I knew would not be attending - and I did. I wish I had realized it was 8:00 AM in Arizona before I called her, but she assured me she was awake.

Funny Story: My sister was apparently supposed to call me at 12:30 with “the” story to get me to The
View, but she was waiting for my mother to arrive before she called. My mother on the other hand
was parked around the corner from my house waiting for me to leave so she could grab a gift that had arrived that I put on the dining room table and left there. There was some comedy of errors with phone calls back and forth when it was decided to just leave the gift behind so my sister could make the phone call.

Academy Award Winning Performance: My sister!!! She made that phone call. I first heard the house phone ring and completely ignored it. Then my phone rang. I answered it to a hysterically crying little sister. “The” story was that she had spilled coffee all over herself at work (she sometimes works as a waitress for my brother) and couldn’t leave to get a new shirt, so she needed me to go to her house and get her a new one. She said her husband wasn’t home, that she called the house and “mommy” wasn’t home, and I was the only person left that could help her. If FH hadn’t already let the cat out of the bag, I would have believed her beyond any doubt - remember, I was convinced the shower was the next day, so my suspicions would not even have been raised AT ALL!!

The big surprises: The LIW Crew
I knew they were up to something, and I knew Janna (aka BKtoLI) was the ring leader, but even I
could not have guessed that they would have paid for not only my DOC, but also my DJ!!!!!!!! As
amazing as that is, they were not done. I was extremely touched by The Girls Book of Friendship that they gave me.

For those girls that have joined this website and haven’t made it to a GTG, do your best to go!! The
women that are a part of this family are amazing individuals. You can make lifelong friends if you take the time to post and not just lurk, if you attend LIW events and not just hang back. When you hit a certain age it becomes difficult to make new friends. I made a concerted effort to overcome my shyness and go to GTGs and meet many of the lovely women that post here. There a quite a number of them that I consider friends, and I can’t wait to attend baby showers, birthday parties, and anniversary parties with them.

Second funny story: During the course of the shower, my brother was joking around with me, and asked if I wanted to come in the kitchen and decorate a cake. Cake decorating is not his strong suit. I asked him if it was my cake. Of course it was. Well, I should have taken him up on the offer because he spelled “shower” wrong and had to redo the cake! I’m sure people were wondering where the darn thing was since the coffee had been served.

I suppose I should comment on the food. I love my brother’s cooking and I think everyone that was in attendance enjoyed it as well. He made chicken rollatini with bow-tie pasta, prime rib and filet of sole stuffed with crabmeat. For sides he had rosemary roasted potatoes, a veggie medly and salad. Because I arrived ½ hour after the scheduled start time I missed the fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and all the cheese and crackers, and whatever else he had out.

Decorations, Favors and Invitations:
My sister went with purple and green with butterflies. She had flowers in a small vase with balloon coming out of the top on each table. Lavender table clothes with deep purple napkins. The favors were small tins of mints with lavender writing and a butterfly. She ran out of invites and used two different types. I only saw one, but it was a vellum envelope with butterflies on it, that you slid the invite out of. Nowhere did it say “surprise” shower on it, but I guess everyone just assumed it was, since only FH was stupid enough to tell me when it was.





Office Shower:
I mention the office shower because all the decorations were done by Inez from With All My Heart. She used all silk flowers and lots of tulle to turn a law library into a pretty party room.


Rehearsal Dinner: Crossroads Café

Once we decided to hold our ceremony in Northport instead of our reception hall, there was never a question where we would hold our rehearsal dinner. Our decision on ceremony location meant we had to have an actual rehearsal, not just a dinner (which we originally had planned for the Irish Coffee Pub). We took our engagement photos on the golf course that surrounds The View. We love the food, we love the view of the Long Island Sound, and we knew we could get a great price. I had called and spoken with the manager about reserving Thursday, October 5, for the RD. I told him I
would call back after speaking with OOT bridal party members, since I wasn’t sure they would be in town that far in advance of the wedding. When I called back to ask if the day was still available he
said “it’s booked” I was so upset, but then after a pause for dramatic effect he said “by you”. I love
my brother, but sometimes . . . Yes, that’s right, my brother is the banquet manager at The View. I made him promise he would sit and eat with us before I booked, because after all, despite how good the food is, if he was going to stand over and “manage” everything, I would have sacrificed quality to have him join us. My only other reservation about using The View for the RD was believing that my sister would book it for my bridal shower. After all, her baby shower was there, the party after my niece’s Christening was there, my mother’s b-day party was there etc, so it was a safe bet that’s where my shower would be, and any hope of a surprise would go out the window the moment the car made the turn.

What was something that required NO thought, became a major source of angst a month before my wedding. My brother quit his job. He refused to put our deal (price, food etc) in writing because he was giving me the “family” discount. Needless to say I wanted to kill him. I had stayed up until 2:00 AM on a Friday night printing the RD invites, only to be told by him on Sunday that he had quit. I knew he was giving me a good price, but I had no idea how good until I started calling around. Almost every place I called wanted double what I had planned on spending for the RD. I looked everywhere. I called every place my LIW ladies suggested. I had friends searching magazines for me. It was a miserable two weeks trying to find a replacement restaurant. I finally found a place on a rainy Friday night, and with my mother’s help negotiated a good deal from Crossroads.

Groom’s Cake & Wedding Cake:
Copenhagen Bakery
Woodbine Avenue
Northport, New York

We both had eaten cakes at showcases etc from Rolling Pin, the house bakery at East Wind, and
were seriously underwhelmed. In September 2006, we priced out a wedding cake from Copenhagen (my favorite bakery) and it was extremely affordable. The problem was the price tag on the delivery. Copenhagen has apparently lost business due to delivery charges and at the time FH & I first met with them they were looking for a new delivery service that was affordable. They found one!!! Stace is the decorator of all their cakes and worked with us to design a cake that was IMO visually stunning and tasted good. FH loved the look of a square bottom layer with round upper tiers, I loved the heart design on CaMacho’s cake, we loved the lace work on some cakes in Stace’s book, and I loved the
top layer on the pedestal. FH let me decide on the flavor, so I chose chocolate cake with raspberry mousse filling and whipped cream.



I wanted to surprise FH with a groom’s cake. We met playing pool, so I asked Stace to create a pool table on the top of the cake. She did an awesome job. Since it was a groom’s cake, I had a yellow cake with cannoli filling and whipped cream. (His favorites)



Reception Hall: Country Gardens at East Wind
Before the Wedding: 8
Day of: 9
Boy, was I picky when it came to picking a reception hall. I was making everyone crazy. I bought Wedding Sites & Services magazine early on (before I found LIW), and then FH & I went through all the Nassau & Suffolk venues and selected the ones I/we would go visit. When I first started looking he was working weekends so it fell to me and my mother to look. I was having a hard time finding a place that had the ambiance I wanted and a menu that FH wanted. I was insistent on being the only bride, which for some reason was a major source of angst for FH. There were quite a few halls that I eliminated when I took their virtual tour online. East Wind was one of them. Then, a few people I know insisted I would love it, and explained the three separate buildings thing, and convinced me to
check it out. I went alone to see it. It was love at first sight. The cocktail hour room was lovely, the
ceremony area was beautifully manicured with gorgeous flowers and waterfalls etc, and the reception room was intimate and quaint - exactly what I wanted. I met with Mike. He was really nice. Totally not pushy, completely willing to work with me, and willing to set up a tasting at my convenience. I called FH from the parking lot - I was so excited. I went right back inside and scheduled a tasting.

FH and I came back later that week to try the food. We were completely wow’d. Mike couldn’t
meet with us after our tasting as he was called away with an emergency with another bride. I went back a few days later and booked. Mike answered all my extra questions, and each time I went to East Wind - whether for a showcase or to make a payment, he always had a smile on his face, and was sweet as can be. During one visit I asked him when I could meet with the banquet manager, and he said “right now” and called John over and introduced us.

Right around the time I was having BM dress drama I read a post on the ‘07 board about an EW
bride that was having a 6 hour reception (1 ½ hour CH, and 4 ½ hour reception). I was a bit
surprised because I was told EW did not do weddings that were longer than 5 hours when I asked about paying for extra time for our full viennese hour. I sent her an FM, which she very graciously responded to. She and I had the same banquet manager - Mike, and had only booked one month after I did. She suggested that perhaps EW had changed the policy during that one month. Since I had a payment due, I decided to go make it in person and talk to Mike instead of mailing it in. So, I made an appointment and met with Mike. He insisted he didn’t tell me I couldn’t extend my wedding
by an hour, but instead had told me that a full viennese didn’t come with and extra hour. The price quote he gave me was outrageous, and more per person than the viennese itself! Moreover, my contract has an overtime price on it that was much less than what I was being quoted, but Mike insisted that price was to arrive early to take pictures. Before this conversation with Mike, I gave East Wind an 8 for pre-wedding. After this conversation, well, let’s say it would be lower. I decided to just leave it as is for this review, and let other brides make their own evaluation as to how many points they would deduct for this.

I should also mention that I had no idea they were planning on doing renovations to the Country Gardens until after they were completed (also why they get an 8). Not that I would have selected a different location for my reception, but I think renovations are something a bride should know about in advance, or at least be notified of.

During a visit to the Country Gardens to actually check out the renovations, and measure the dance floor for our first dance choreography, we had a long conversation with John, our maitre’ d. He told us we were welcome to bring the CD with our song on it and practice right there at East Wind before our big day, which we did when we dropped off our final payment. We actually spent about 45 minutes practicing. It was great!!


Long Island Weddings:
Of course, no review is complete without mentioning LIW. My mother was the person that told me about this site. She is very computer savvy and when my sister announced her engagement she started scouring the internet for information because she hadn’t been involved in planning a wedding since her sister (my aunt) got married in the 1960's!!

To Ron, Liz and the entire LIW family - thank you. This website was a godsend during planning. East Wind, The View and Burton’s are the only vendors I used without any input from the website
whatsoever. At the TWOTY I won a beautiful pair of diamond earrings that graced my ears on my
wedding day. Kim (aka Client Services) took a photo of FH & I at the Bridal Extravaganza that I
used in my photo cube. I was able to carry through my theme of avoiding doing anything my sister did with the help of the many wonderful women that are members of this website. I was able to incorporate special personalized touches that never would have occurred to me without the help of the many wonderful women that are members of this website. I have new friends that I know will be around to see my 10th wedding anniversary. I was also able to vent when the going got rough, and share my excitement when things were going good. I received help when it was asked for, comfort when it was needed, and laughs on bad days. The ‘06 ladies were an incredible support system when my cousin was fighting for his life on a respirator. I knew there were responses on the thread even if I couldn’t read them and it gave me a lot of comfort.




If, you’ve made it this far . . . congratulations!!!! Now, on to the week of the wedding, and the day
itself!

I took the week before the wedding off in its entirety. Boy, am I glad I did. I spent Monday-
Thursday running from place to place doing wedding stuff with my cell phone attached to my ear. For all you past brides that actually work during that week, I don’t know how you did it.

Two weeks before the wedding I discovered that the Koi pond in the front of the house where the
ceremony was to take place was nothing more than a gaping 5 foot deep hole. This was stress I did not need. Lots of you girls offered hugs and helpful advice. A week before the wedding, and the day of the bachelor party, FH & one of the GM built a platform to cover the hole, which was then covered with plants throughout the week. I think the final result was outstanding, although it did cause unneeded stress the week before the big day.

The ceremony venue provided some substantial logistical challenges for vendors. On the Monday
before the wedding I met my DOC Francesca, and Vinny from High Voltage Sounds at the ceremony venue. I am extremely grateful to Vinny for taking the time out of his day to come check out the site before the wedding. He was able to find a power source, figure out where to set up his equipment so he was out of the way yet still able to see everything that was going on so he could properly cue the music during the ceremony. I honestly don’t think another DJ company would have taken the time out to visit an unknown venue. The fact that Vinny did gives all you girls on the fence about who to hire some insight into how serious he takes his job, and how truly wonderful a person he is.

When I called to confirm all the pickup and drop off times for the various limos I found out that a ride home for the bride & groom the morning after the wedding was included!! Whoo-hoo!!!! I had been scrambling trying to figure out when I would have time to drop off a car at East Wind, and now I didn't have that problem anymore!! I completely expected a town car to show up the day after the wedding, and instead got a full white stretch!!

Our rehearsal and RD were held on the Thursday evening before the wedding. Jean (Bob’s wife)
from Velvet Studio met Francesca and I at the ceremony venue to get the lay of the land for picture taking before the BP started arriving for the rehearsal itself. I was very happy that I had the
opportunity to meet Jean before my wedding day, although a bit disappointed that Bob himself didn’t make the trip as he had promised the day we booked him.

The rehearsal itself was challenging. First, I was wearing 4 inch heels as practice for the big day.
While showing Jean around I took a mis-step and pulled my already damaged ligaments in my left ankle. Second, only FH’s two nephews were on time. Everyone else was late. One GM never
showed up (and in fact we didn’t know his whereabouts AT ALL until 3:00 PM the day before the wedding), and one BM together with the FG arrived as we were all getting ready to leave and head to dinner. We set up the BP in a variety of different ways (again the logistics issue), until it looked and felt right. Then we actually ran through the entire thing. When we were done with that we then did it all over again inside (the backup plan in the event of rain). I had a mini-meltdown at the rehearsal because people started leaving and didn’t hear me say the missing BM had parked and was walking to the site and I wanted to go over everything again with her there.

Dinner at Crossroads was excellent. The food was great and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The
package I got didn’t include dessert, at my choice, because I ordered a groom’s cake. The cake was out of this world. There was some drama during the dinner when FH took off without telling me he was leaving, or where he was going. As a result I gave out the gifts to his BP members. When he returned he made some random comment about “us” not getting cards. I don’t know about him, but I got cards for my girls, my mother, and our ceremony hosts. Not my fault, or my problem if he didn’t think to do the same for the guys.

FH & I went to pick up his tux the Friday before the wedding. We were once again helped by Rich.
Again, he had us laughing and in good spirits. FH’s tux fit perfectly. FSIL had taken her two sons to pick up their tuxes earlier in the day and reported that Rich was a great guy, with a great sense of humor, and that no last minute alterations were needed for those tuxes either. I got the same good report from one of the GM. The two best men did not report on their experiences. The other GM didn’t get measured properly and some guesses were made on his measurements, but in the end, his tux fit perfectly and did not need any alterations when he FINALLY showed up after being MIA for
the entire week immediately proceeding the wedding.

My brother, who escorted me down the aisle also reported a good experience, although I don’t know
who he dealt with.

The day before the wedding, I went to the jewelry store to take advantage of the lifetime of free
cleanings to have my e-ring polished for the big day. Imagine my surprise, and utter delight when Tony told me to select any piece of jewelry I wanted from the store to wear on my big day. I picked a pearl and diamond bracelet which covered the tan line on my wrist from my watch, and coordinated with my other jewelry.



Which all leads me up to the day of the wedding.

On Saturday I went to bed at midnight, but didn’t fall asleep for at least an hour. I woke up at 5:20
AM, and tried desperately to go back to sleep. At 6:15 AM the sun was coming through the window
forcing me to grab an eye mask to block the light to continue in my futile attempt to go back to sleep. By 7:00 AM I was convinced it was useless and just got out of bed. I took a shower, dried my hair and promptly logged onto LIW to see what my countdown clock said! Hair and makeup weren’t scheduled to arrive until 10:00 AM and 10:30 respectively, so what else would a bride do????

I sort of wandered around the house aimlessly, and kept logging in and out of LIW until hair and
makeup arrived. At some point I called Francesca to revel in the good weather and sunshine. When Patti arrived I was blow drying my FG’s hair. At some point she came up to me and said it didn’t have to be perfect and we needed to get a move on, so I sat in the chair and had my hair set in rollers. When she was done she started work on my FG’s hair.

Kim arrived promptly as well to start makeup. Only problem was, FH wanted my makeup on the
video so I didn’t want to start until 11:00 AM, but the lone BM that was at the house was sitting in
Patti’s chair getting her hair done. I called my missing BM’s house at 10:35 only to discover she hadn’t actually left yet!! I told her mother that her arse was supposed to be in the makeup artist’s chair 5 minutes ago, and to tell her to get a move on. Result - my MOH, who was scheduled to arrive at 11:00 AM arrived from her house 5 miles away, before my BM arrived from 3 miles away, and Kim wound up sitting around doing nothing for ½ hour!

Somehow it all worked out, but in a very strange way. The BM who was actually at my house when
both hair and makeup arrived was the last one finished. I know how my MOH managed to get finished before her (she is the MOH), but how the other BM got finished first I don’t know since she was ½ hour late!!!

While all this was going on, Francesca and her assistant (whose name I didn’t catch) were at my
ceremony site setting up the rented chairs, the sand ceremony, and helping organize my friend Lisa who was decorating with the tulle and bows I had purchased months earlier.



Nancy herself delivered the personal flowers at 11:00 AM. My bo-k was absolutely stunning and
brought tears to my eyes.


The girls bo-k’s and the bouts were also exactly what I had asked for. I’m adding this here because I don’t know where else to put it. I had asked Nancy for an extra bout for the groom and she convinced me I didn’t need it. She said that calla lilies were very hardy and that she always dipped the stephanotis in wax. I should have insisted. Before we made our entrance into the reception the stephanotis was missing petals, and the calla lilies were cracked. By the time we did the cake cutting the bout was in complete shambles and I wish he had taken it off for those pictures because it was just awful. Girls, make sure your groom has an extra bout. Much better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Bill from Wild Rose arrived at 11:15 AM, and started shooting straight away. My second
videographer, Pete, arrived at 11:30, and also started just shooting away. Once or twice I heard Pete ask Bill if he had filmed something already or not, but never heard Bill’s answers.

Bob from Velvet Studio, his wife Jean, and daughter Lisa arrived at 12:30. At that point, my makeup was finished and I was getting the rollers taken out of my hair (or maybe they were already out - that I don’t remember). Bob & I had a brief conversation, and he got his equipment and started shooting away. Francesca had set up my dress, shoes, jewelry and invitation for photos and video when she arrived at 10:30. She had pictures on her phone of my ceremony site all set up with the chairs and the decorations for me to see. At some point, Vinny had called Francesca and told her that he had two different versions of the song I wanted played for my walk down the aisle, (From This Moment On by Shania Twain) and wanted her to confirm with me which version I wanted.

As soon as my hair was finished, I stood before the video camera to do the first half of the Wild Rose spin, and then it was time to put on the dress!!! My MOH/sister got a little miffed that Francesca was helping me into my dress and it made for a very funny exchange with my sister telling Francesca “no one is going to do my job on my sister’s wedding day”. Francesca, never lost a step or took offense to my sister, and between the two of them, into the dress I went. We held off on zipping up the dress until the photographers and videographers all piled into the room. My sister then had the honor of zipping my dress for the cameras, and putting on all my jewelry and shoes.

Patti attached my veil, and it was time to finish the Wild Rose spin, and begin some serious picture
taking.

Professional Photo


It was right about that time that Eddie from Serenity Limos arrived to check in and see how the bride was doing!! He wasn’t even scheduled to be at my house until 2:00 PM, and here it was at least a full hour earlier, and Eddie was making sure the bride had a smile on her face!! After making sure I was in good hands, Eddie left to do a dry run between my house and the ceremony location, and get into position to start shuttling the guests from the parking area, to the ceremony location itself.



Right after Eddie left, Eagle Carriage arrived and began setting up the horse and carriage. This made it very easy for me to take pictures in front of the living room window. Every time Bob told me to look out the window I was more than happy to get a glimpse of the happenings outside.

Professional Photo


Bob took pictures of me and mom, me and my aunt, and me and my MOH. We then moved outside for more picture taking. That’s when the fun really started. The neighbors were already curious about the horse and carriage, but now here was the bride!!!! We took a bunch of bridal party photos, pictures with my brothers, and other assorted shots on the front lawn, while the neighbors looked on, and took some pictures of their own. Francesca came up to me and told me that my horse’s name was Callahan! Bill & Pete from Wild Rose were filming away while the picture taking was going on.

Professional Photos





About 10 minutes before I was ready to leave, the entire Velvet Studio crew, and Pete from Wild
Rose left to get to the ceremony site. Bill from Wild Rose rode up front in the carriage with Sam.
Yes, that’s right, I was lucky enough to have the owner of the company drive the carriage on my
wedding day!!!!!!!!!!

I stood in the driveway on a sheet while waiting to board the carriage and making sure everything that needed to go in the limos to East Wind was in a pile for my mother to give to Eddie when he came to get her and the brother that was escorting me down the aisle.

When the carriage pulled up to the house I had tears in my eyes. I was the first person in the carriage, followed by my MOH, my FG, and then my two BMs.



The sun was shining and the rest of my family was standing around taking pictures, while Bill was filming. And off we went!!! What an amazing, amazing half hour that ride was. I grew up in Northport, and riding down Main Street was an undescribable experience. The best I can do, is say that every single wedding dream I had ever had that I can remember included a carriage ride to the ceremony, and all my dreams came true. As the five of us went down Main Street people yelled congratulations, waved at us, beeped their horns, and I even saw someone take a picture!! I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it as I write this.

To make sure the ceremony started on time, the plan was for me to call Francesca, who had also
departed early to get to the ceremony site, on her cell phone when the carriage was ½ mile away. I
did this, and I know she immediately moved the groom to a location where he could not see me arrive, and cued the photographers and videographer that I would be arriving momentarily.

When I arrived, I posed for a bunch more pictures in and out of the carriage (as did the girls).

Professional Photos





Anybody that was standing around to get pictures was ushered to take a seat because the bride and groom were adamant that the ceremony start on time. I also saw that the limos had picked up my family and dropped them off, although how Eddie got ahead of the carriage (or which route he took to go around and get there first), I’ll never know. The entire BP put their handbags (and anything else we didn’t need at that moment) in the house, Francesca fixed my lipstick, and the ceremony began. From where I was standing I could hear Vinny cue the music for the parent and bridal party entrance. I grabbed my brother’s arm and said the ceremony started I can hear the music (Mozart for the bridal party processional)!!! There were a few stragglers arriving, and I kept telling them to stop telling me I looked beautiful and to get a move on, or they would not be let in, because once the groom and the two best men were in position, there was no way down to the dock where the seating for the guests was located. In fact, I did see a few late comers in strange places as I came down the aisle.




Every