lanamanitta
Married and Pregnant!!
Member since 1/08 1935 total posts
Wedding Date:
5/23/2009 2:30 PM
Wed. Location:
Chateau Briand - A+++
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My Wedding "In Review" -- Lots of Pics; 5/23/09; Chateau Briand; Matthew Sowa; High Voltage; Halo; Sir Oliver; Jenn & Oksana; Table We'Ar, etc.
FIRST, let me say that our wedding was truly perfect. Not just because it was “our day,” but because we literally had not one “hiccup” the whole day. NO PROBLEMS with any vendors, no timing issues, nothing. Everyone raved about all of our vendors and we have heard from many people that it was the “best wedding” they’d ever attended. We are truly blessed that even though the planning was all done long-distance, we still wound up with a wedding we couldn’t have possibly have imagined going so smoothly and so memorably. It was spectacular, and all of our vendors deserve A+’s!!!!
All I can say is that I would trust each of these vendors again, and they were all worth every penny!!!!
So here we go with as many pro-pics as possible!
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RINGS:
These are not pro pics so they have no shine to them at all, but my ring certainly sparkles!! LOL.
My engagement ring and my husband’s band are from Georgetown Fine Jewelers on Wisconsin Ave. in Washington, D.C. If you’re in the area, tell Moishe Lana & Greg sent you! I love that store and he and his staff are wonderful to deal with.
My band is my Grandmother’s wedding band.
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STATIONERY:
Save-the-Dates:
We ordered from www.magnetstreet.com. Lots of choices, good prices and very fast ship. The proof review process was a breeze.
Invitations:
I used ******** Paperie and dealt with Tessa. My experience with her was wonderful. Everyone thought I spent a fortune on my invites, which the pics don’t do justice. The paper was pearlized and looked wonderful. The ribbon was a beautiful touch, and everyone loved the individually personalized envelopes with multi-colored floral design and name/address. Tessa was not as easy to get in touch with as I got closer to the end, and getting some last minute extras wasn’t super-fast, but I got them in time and they were my fault (messed up addresses, new invitees, etc.). I would highly recommend her but check and see how many other events she’s working on at one time so you can get an idea of how much “me time” you can get. She gets very busy, but she is very good and very reasonably priced, and bottom line: really great to work with!!!
Rehearsal Dinner Invitations & Thank You’s:
I got both of these, along with the t-shirts for the BP from Vista Print (www.vistaprint.com) and I think this site is a great bargain. Everyone especially loved the Thank You’s, and I was able to get the exact amount I needed with different sayings inside – for those who attended the wedding and those who just sent gifts.
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REHEARSAL DINNER:
7th St. Café, Garden City, New York
I didn’t even realize the Scotto family owned this place when I chose it for the RD, but it was so convenient to the Hotel where most of my family and BP (and me and the hubby) were staying, it seemed an easy choice. It was great. The food and service were excellent and everyone had a great time. The price was very reasonable as well.
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GARDEN CITY HOTEL:
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
Everyone who stayed here (most of BP and lots of family) had a WONDERFUL experience. It’s a beautiful hotel with impeccable service. The hotel treated us to chocolate covered strawberries and champagne upon our return from the reception, which was only supposed to come with the “Bridal Suite.”
We were all up very late and drinking at the bar the night before the wedding (tsk tsk) and everyone there was just fantastic!! The Bloody Mary’s were also great the morning after our reception, as were the bicycles that my husband and his best man could not resist!!!
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MY DRESS, HAIRPIECE AND VEIL:
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
My dress is Eve of Milady and it was purchased at Elie’s Bridal in Alexandria, Virginia. Elie’s gets high marks specifically due to Marie who was simply a joy to work with, being a New Yorker of course!!!!
(Diamond white silk with glass beading and silver embroidery)
I ordered the veil from them as well: elbow length, diamond white, edged with glass beads (round and bugle).
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
I got my hairpiece at Burton’s and bought the floor sample for ½ price. I say spend as little on this as possible, but this one was precisely what I wanted.
MY SHOES:
Dyeables: I wanted 4 inch heels and they were hard to find!! I also wanted to spend under $100 and they fit the price range! I put a non-skid pad on the bottom, went without pantyhose, and wore them for over 14 hours!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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BRIDESMAID DRESSES:
Bari Jay, purchased at all different shops. My girls liked being able to choose their own dress . . . I just told them Bari Jay, Shadow, and let them decide!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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TUXEDOES:
Men’s Wearhouse: Easy, no problems, and great selection. We went with very classic style, made by Jones New York.
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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HAIR & MAKEUP:
Jenn “The Hair Genie” and Makeup by Oksana were AWESOME!!!!! Not only are they amazing at what they do, but they have great personalities and are just a joy to have around on such a hectic morning!! When my girls weren’t getting dressed fast enough (which I of course didn’t notice), they got them moving! I felt like they were part of the BP, and I can’t say enough good things about them
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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LIMOUSINES:
Sir Oliver Limos.
They get high marks not only for providing great cars, wonderful drivers and awesome service (helping with the church entrances, etc.), but for being so helpful in the planning stages as I was trying to economize and juggle schedules dealing with a looong break between the ceremony (2:30) and reception (7:30). Jennifer helped me figure out the best combination of cars and hours to get the most for my money and everyone loved the limos.
Our drivers helped with corsages and the entries into the ceremony, timing the couples to walk up the aisle, keeping me hidden until the big moment, etc. They were great, and without them we’d probably have been a mess!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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DIY PROJECTS:
Almonds:
 Matthew Sowa Photography
I made the ribbon bows by putting one basting stitch in each one and then was able to use heart-shaped scrapbooking hole fasteners, poked through the stitch hole and then through the tulle and opened up to keep the packages closed without smushing the bows.
Programs and Bubbles:
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
I designed the programs in Word and printed them on Ivory parchment from Staples. I used a decorative edge hole-punch for the filigree border.
For the bubbles, I bought little bows at Michael’s to go around the bottles, no biggie!!
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FLOWERS:
Flowers By Burton was great. I was a bit worried when they ignored my changes and made our first sample with my old choice (all roses), especially since I was in from out of town and wasted a trip to Melville to see it. But, they came through with a beautiful new sample and a wonderful job when it counted.
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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CHURCH:
St. Patrick’s R.C. Church, Glen Cove
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
The church is gorgeous, high on a hill and very impressive as you drive up. We were blessed to be welcome to marry there, not being parish members, and Father Marty was so nice!! He did call my husband George about three times, apparently because the groom before us was George, but given that it was our best man’s name, it just made everyone laugh. Some folks weren’t too pleased about that (my Dad, for instance) but it didn’t make a difference to us at all because in the end, we were married!!! I was so emotional, the laugh was necessary for me anyhow!!!
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PHOTOGRAPHER AND PHOTO SITE:
Matthew Sowa Photography
Old Westbury Gardens
Matt is amazing. He will have you working your butt off to get the best pictures, but he is a consummate professional and is a real artist. He is a photographer first, wedding photographer second. I highly recommend him if you want something more, something better, than the typical wedding pictures and wedding photo-shoot experience.
The Gardens are beautiful, and we were very lucky to have a perfect day, weather-wise. If you have a break between ceremony and reception, it’s a great time filler and you can get some fun shots.
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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VIDEOGRAPHER:
Halo Video – we haven’t received the video yet, but we had a great experience: fun, unobtrusive, highly professional – would definitely use again and expect that the video will be great! What a bunch of great guys to deal with/work with too!!! Easy, nice, great price!!
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CHAIR BOWS:
Table We’Ar:
 Matthew Sowa Photography
By far the easiest vendor. Donna and I did it all by email and mail, and we never even met on the day of! The beautiful bows were on the chairs, where they belonged, and they were the right color and all . . . she’d been to CB a bunch of times and was familiar with the ivory hue of their linens. The entire thing took less than an hour of my time to arrange and it was a really pretty touch for a great price!!!
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DJ:
High Voltage Sounds were great!!! This was my only area of micromanagement, providing a list of just about every song and when I wanted it played. However, they put it together better than I could have hoped and EVERYONE has complimented the music. The “props” for those of you who are doubtful, were a HUGE SUCCESS – the guests loved them and brought them home for their kids to play with when they were done playing with them themselves!!! Most people hadn’t seen that before and they loved it. It’s not cheesy, people are drinking and having a good time, they love it!!!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
Me and my tambourine!!
 Matthew Sowa Photographry
 Matthew Sowa Photography
I would use Vinny again in a heartbeat and highly recommend High Voltage to anyone looking for a reasonable, professional, excellent DJ. I was amazed at how much I got for my money. I certainly didn’t need to tell them what to play, but it was great that they took my “vision” of how I wanted the music to be, and made it perfect!!!!
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RECEPTION, CHATEAU BRIAND:
I cannot tell you how amazing our entire experience was, due in no small part to the staff. My bridal attendants were unbelievably attentive and worked their butts off! The food was fantastic, the liquor, including a great selection of scotches, was truly “top shelf,” and even though I was well under my minimum (by 25 people) I felt we got more than we paid for when all was said and done.
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
 Matthew Sowa Photography
My cake was marble cake with two fillings, cannoli cream and chocolate mousse, and I thought it was delicious, as did my husband and everyone we asked (including honest people like my Mom!!) The consensus on ALL THE FOOD was that it was amazing, and that there was tons of it!!!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
We (the BP and parents) got to CB at about 6:30 p.m. and were served food and drinks, as I recall, immediately. Our after-party lasted until 3:30 a.m. in the new outside garden – the photographer was gone by then, so it was really a time to chill for the guests who had staying power. It was so beautiful outside I cried when I walked outside, I couldn’t believe this was part of my wedding. It was the perfect end to a perfect day and everyone loved it and was VERY impressed.
Drinks were served until the last guest was ready to leave -- the music was playing, the fire pits were lit, and water ran down the glass walls, as people lounged in cabanas and partied until the wee hours.
 Matthew Sowa Photography
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HONEYMOON:
Dawn Dorr of Cruise One is AMAZING!! Great to work with, loved talking with her as well as we made the initial plans. She also kept track of price changes and we wound up saving hundreds off our original price. I highly recommend her!!
Disneyworld was a great place to Honeymoon – we were treated like gold everywhere we went, had good food and a great time. Royal Caribbean on the other hand was a complete waste of money and we would never go on another cruise again – total ripoff and not worth it at all!!! Too confining, you pay for water, and the entire Caribbean cruise is designed to get you to shop. We loved the catamaran to St. John, but we never wanted to get back on the actual cruise ship.
Having done true “all-inclusives” in Jamaica and spent less money in Europe and Argentina for better experiences, I recommend almost any other vacation but a cruise.
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THAT’S ALL FOLKS!!!
 Matthew Sowa Photography
Message edited 10/30/2009 12:02:55 PM.
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