My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Weather F,A
When I woke the morning of the wedding, it was chilly and rainy out. I was bitterly disappointed, because the Royalton has a beautiful outdoor courtyard that I had my heart set on using for the ceremony and cocktail hour. So a decision was made to set up the ceremony inside. Naturally, by the time noon rolled around and the ceremony was ready to start, it was high sixties and beautiful sunshine out. It was too late to move the ceremony outside at this point, so we ended up doing it inside. It was still beautiful, and we did end up having the cocktail hour outside, but it still bothers me that the sun ended up coming out, if that makes sense. I know, I need to get over it.

Royalton A++++++++
I can’t even begin to describe how amazing the Royalton is. We didn’t even look anywhere else…from the moment we walked in to the Royalton, we knew that this is where we wanted our wedding to be. There are sooooo many beautiful aspects to the Royalton, way too many to describe here, but to name a few: the hardwood floors, the mahogany bar, the understated chandeliers in the ballroom, the fireplaces, the gorgeous bridal suite, the beautiful courtyard and garden area. I could go on. The service is absolutely fantastic, the entire staff accommodated each and every request I had; Mike T. and Gerard were there the day of the wedding and were indispensible. Ashley the bridal attendant did not leave my side the entire day…even DH commented on how attentive she was. The food was out of this world- there was plenty of it, and I can't tell you how many people said it was the best food they ever had at a wedding, bar none. There are not enough superlatives to describe the Royalton and its staff. You are guaranteed a beautiful, tasteful, well-run wedding .

Flowers: Stefans A++++++++
The Royalton only allows you to use either Stefans or Spitz and Peck. I went with Stefans because they were less expensive than Spitz, and I couldn’t justify the extra cost for flowers since they just get thrown out at the end of the day. I was a little apprehensive at first, because I’ve heard mixed reviews of Stefans both on this site and in “real life”. But I must say that I could not have been happier with Stefans. I worked with Paul the whole time; he “got” what I wanted immediately, worked with me every time I was uncertain or wanted to make a change, and accommodated everything I asked for. Yet I was still uneasy, not knowing how the flowers would turn out on the day of. Well, when the flowers showed up at the Royalton, I was FLOORED. I was completely BLOWN AWAY with how beautiful everything had turned out. Everything far exceeded my wildest expectations of how I pictured my wedding flowers.

Band: Times Square Orchestra A+++++
This band is amazing. They really know what they are doing…from our ceremony and entrance songs, to our choreographed first dance, to the Jewish hora and Mezinke -people were up and dancing throughout the entire wedding. One of the biggest thing people were raving about that day was how fantastic the band was. I had certain things I wanted and didn’t want (ie: no cake cutting, changing around the order of some of the things during the reception, etc), and they worked with me to make sure that everything was correct and happened the way I wanted it to. They do have their own “way” of doing things and communicating before the wedding which I found a little frustrating, but was worth it and I was very very happy with them in the end.

Photographer: Patken/Vinny
Vinny was the first one to the Royalton that day (he even beat me there) and made me feel comfortable and at ease about the whole wedding process as soon as I arrived. He did a few boudoir shots, which I CANT WAIT to get back! Havent gotten the proofs back yet but will update the review once I do

Videographer: AVA
I was happy with them leading up to the wedding; again haven’t gotten the video back yet so can’t really review them yet.

My gown/veil: Davids Bridal/Westbury A++++++++
I must be in the minority, because I had a VERY positive experience with Davids. I had heard so many bad things that I went in with low expectations and despite them, I was pleasantly surprised. I had tried on a few dresses in Davids when I first got engaged, and fell in love with one of them. But I wasn’t ready to think about dresses at that point. So a few months later when I was ready to look, I went to a few different places and tried on a bunch of dresses, falling in love and getting more confused with each dress I tried on. I had forgotten about the Davids dress. Finally, I went back to Davids with my mom on a Friday afternoon and tried on a bunch more, including the one I had originally loved. I fell in love with it all over again. And the price was less than half of some of the other dresses I had liked. The service was great- the saleswoman was very attentive; she had been there forever and knew exactly what worked and what didn’t. When we had questions about how the dress would be altered, she went and got the head seamstress to answer them. And the dress arrived within a week! My only problem was how I would store it for 8 months! (wrapped in a sheet at the top of my parents closet)

Bridesmaids/Mother of Bride Dress: Bridal Suite of Huntington A+++++++
I had an issue with this because my bridesmaids and MOH all live out of town. I let them all pick out either dresses or separates from the Alfred Angelo collection; they just had to be the same fabric and color. They went to try on the dresses locally, but I wanted them all to place their dress orders from the same bridal shop to ensure that they were all cut from the same dye lot. I was VERY nervous about doing this. I was so worried that something would get messed up, but Bridal Suite of Huntington did a fantastic job.

Hair: Denise Venti: A+++++++++
I have known Denise for many years. She is a true genius and artist. She is so incredibly talented. We had done a few trials before; she did about 6 different styles, and we chose what we thought would work best for me. She arrived at 4:45am to do my hair, both of my sisters hair and my FG hair, and everyone was thrilled with how their hair came out. She has a great sense of style, and and a real eye for what works on each individual person. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet, and was incredibly patient with me…leading up to the wedding I had so many different questions and ideas, and she promptly responded to each email with her thoughts, suggestions and ideas. Love her!

Makeup: Kholouds Beauty A++++++
Kacey did a fantastic job on my makeup- I cried the entire day, and it still looked great at the end of the day! She understood exactly what I wanted, and my wedding makeup was just how I pictured it.


Invitations: Long Island Wedding Boutique in Commack A++++++
HIGHLY recommend this vendor for invitations or anything other wedding-related services. They were incredibly professional, helped us find our perfect invitation, suggested different types of wording, proofread everything, fantastic correspondence, and made sure we were entirely happy with everything. Bridget is wonderful.

Dance Lessons: John from Ballroom Dance LI A+++++++
He had my DH dancing. ‘Nuff said. Actually its not enough. We LOVE John! We went in hoping to get a few basic steps so we didn’t trip over ourselves during the first dance, and ended up with a beautifully choreographed dance, which we totally nailed! He’s got incredible patience and talent, and made us feel totally confident that we could do it!

RD/OOT Guests Hotel: Inn At Great Neck
We had a lot going on at the IAGN that weekend. This is a beautiful hotel, and they are incredibly accommodating. Sarah the sales director was very patient with me, answering a million questions and everything ended up going off without a hitch that weekend.

Message edited 7/6/2008 9:10:10 PM.

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

thanks for the lovely review, can't wait to see pics!!!!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

pics pics pics!!!
I cant wait to see!
I cant wait to get married!!
Royalton and Stephans!! wooo hooo!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congrats. Glad you loved Vinny from Patken-He is my photographer also. Can't wait. Can't wait to see pics.

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

you looked gorgeous sha, i cant believe you put up a review already!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congrats! We can't wait for the pics!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Thank you for the review. Congrats! Can't wait to see pics

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congrats! Thanks for the review and can't wait to see some pics

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Post pics PLEASE...can't wait to see

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

congrats

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

I ordered my gown and my bridesmaid dresses from Bridal Suite of Huntington too and am glad to hear they did a great job! They've been so nice everytime I go in there!
Congrats on your wedding can't wait to see pics!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Thanks for the wonderful review!! Can't wait to see pics!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congrats! Very nice review!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congrats!! Great review! I can't wait to see the pictures..I am using vinny as well!

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

Congratulations Thanks for the review, can't wait to see pics

Re: My May 4 yellow-rose themed wedding review. Royalton, TSO, Stefans, Patken, Denise Venti, Kholouds and MORE! VERY LONG

congrats!!!!!