My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

ALL WEDDING PICTURES TAKEN BY JACQUIE LEW FROM PHOTO PHILOSOPHIES
To start off, I will give the best wedding advice that I know and the first would be to try to not get all caught up in the wedding hype. Don’t let yourself get too worked up about that kind of stuff. The only thing that matters is you and your future husband. You two are the most important accessories at the wedding and everything else is just extra.
I had a long engagement so I did not stress very much while planning but my second piece of advice would be to not sweat the little stuff. The planning process is so much fun, I miss it terribly. Don’t allow anything to completely stress you out during your planning that makes you change the way you normally act. The wedding day goes so fast that you will be really sorry if you wasted any large amounts of time flipping out.
More advice….get a videographer because the day goes by way too fast and you will not remember most of it. It is really nice to have.
Even more advice….Go to your cocktail hour, we did and we started talking to guests there and we enjoyed more of our party. We took pictures before the ceremony so we saw each other before but it was so much less stressful because of this decision. We enjoyed half an hour upstairs in the bridal suite alone as husband and wife and we also got to have more time to mingle with our guests.
Now on to the review ?
Bridal Shower, Mad Hatter Tea Party at my house
I loved my bridal shower. It was exactly what I wanted. I did not want to go to a restaurant because, to me, you lose the feel of the tea party that Lewis Carroll described in the book. A structured restaurant could not evoke that “mad” outdoor, anything can happen type party that I wanted. My bridesmaids and my mother did such a wonderful job decorating and planning and cooking! My mom is an expert in the kitchen and she would not want anyone else catering this kind of affair. Everyone RAVED about the tea sandwiches that we served. My mother truly could not be upstaged for this occasion. She was magnificent with the food! Everything was so yummy! There were cakes, mismatched tea cups (which were purchased at local thrift stores and looked so cool on the tables), different mismatched table cloths some with lace some with garden flowers, there were these huge character cut-outs from the disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland positioned in different places setting the mood, and the music was a mix of swing big band music and swing acoustic guitar music. It all set the mood for a perfectly mad tea party. They gave the cups that they purchased at the thrift stores away as favors along with little organza bags with some fancy tea and a fancy British chocolate truffle. My cake was a large hat with a clock on it. I loved everything about my shower! It was exactly what I had envisioned, only I wasn’t allowed to plan it ? They even made these adorable hat invitation cards for the party and they had all the guests bring a mad hat to wear. The guest with the most mad hat won a prize which was a very large gift basket filled with wine and cheese and crackers and cookies and jams and other goodies that my bridesmaids put together. I was given a handmade hat to wear as well as an apron that everyone signed. It was a beautiful day, one that will be cherished always!
Bachelorette Party, Nine Holes drinking game played in Port Jeff bars
I love Port Jeff and I wanted a bar hopping type bachelorette but I wanted something a little different. I remember that movie, The Wedding Date and I found out what game they were playing for the bachelorette party in the movie. It was called Nine Holes. It is a golf themed bachelorette where everyone dresses in preppy golf attire and each bar you go to is a designated hole. At each hole, there are rules to which type of drink you must drink there. Each hole is also given a par number (like golf) and you use that par number to determine how many sips it should take for you to drink the designated drink. Ex: Bar one is Hole one with a par 1. The drink for hole 1 is a shot of tequila, therefore it should only take you one sip to finish that drink. Each hole also had a different set time limit. The game was wickedly fun! They decided to buy these stickers that were in the shape of male body parts and each time I spilled a drink or said something ridiculous because I was getting tipsy they put a new one on me with a dirty name written on it in sharpie. It was hilarious to hear the new dirty names they were thinking up. We all had so much fun but drank too much to keep up with the rules and by the fourth or fifth hole we all just started drinking like mad with no rules. Everyone had a great time! We were drinking, dancing, laughing…it was a great night!








The Meadow Club A+
They were amazing during the planning process and the day of. I must say that I have a few family members who work in the food industry and they were floored by the service that was provided to us by the staff at The Meadow Club. Our Maitre’d was outstanding, everything that I wanted to happen, he made it happen no questions asked. At one of our meetings with him before the big day, we told a story about my brother in law who was insistent on getting an ice cream cake at his wedding because he said that most wedding cakes were too dry. Sad story was that he never got his wedding cake, he had to suck it up and have the cake that the hall provided because he did not want to pay all the extra fees he would have incurred with an ice cream wedding cake. So….after we told this story at the meeting, our Maitre’d was like, “So we should totally get him an ice cream cake and write something on it just for him.” The we came up with a plan to have everyone at my brother in law’s table to be served their cake and he wasn’t going to get any. This was to go on for a little bit until he began to question where his cake was. Then, the Maitre’d was going to personally bring him his ice cream cake that said “Brian’s Wedding Cake” on it. It was a big hit that night….lots of laughs. Everyone loved it. Not only that, I had wanted my ceremony to be outside and the day of, an hour before the ceremony started I called The Meadow Club and said that the bridesmaids were complaining that it was too cold to have the ceremony outside so he laughed and told me, “That’s ok I set up both the inside and outside for you just in case”. He was a complete sweatheart and more than helpful. He was awesome. I was only supposed to have chocolate martinis passed butler style during the cocktail hour but they noticed that my colors for the wedding were teal blue and brown with peacock feathers so they mixed up a blue martini to pass around along with the brown ones and then they had another pomegranate martini as well. I was so excited to see all those different martinis being passed around by the servers on trays. They looked so pretty! Something a little extra that they just threw in and I totally appreciated it! Everything flowed so well at The Meadow Club. I was so happy with my choice and they treated us like we mattered, not like we were just another bride holding a wedding in their facility. They were always quick to answer any questions, always friendly, always happy to hear from us. They were a dream to work with. The price fit our budget and honestly, I would choose the same place even if I had to do it all over again with a bigger budget. The service was just amazing! Our ceremony ended up being inside by a fireplace…it was very cozy. I loved our ceremony!
Our bridal attendant was AMAZING. I did not want to drink at the wedding because I am not a big drinker (except for that wild bachelorette party hehe) and she had cranberry and seltzer at the table and brought to me before I even asked for anything to drink. She packed all of our stuff up so nicely when everything was over without forgetting anything. She was completely attentive to our needs but we did not feel smothered by her either. My nephew refused to sit at his own table, he needed to sit at our sweetheart table with us so she moved a place setting right away and got his food order out so fast because he was hungry. She was super nice and attentive to the whole wedding party.
The food was AMAZING! My family lives in Florida and DH’s family is from Ohio so they were not used to a wedding that had a heavy cocktail hour and then a sit down dinner. They were floored at how much food there was and that the food was so tasty! Everyone loved our cocktail hour because they drank and were merry without feeling like they were going to keel over from drunkenness because there was so much food to keep you grounded haha. There was paella which was amazing and I am Spanish so I am picky with other people making Spanish dishes from Spain but that paella was yummy! I chose to have a turkey at the carving station with homemade cranberry sauce because I felt like it got everyone in the mood for holiday time being that our wedding was in the beginning of November. It was a hit! By the time I got downstairs to cocktail hour, that huge turkey was almost gone! The pastas were amazing the bean salads were scrumptious! Everything was so yummy! Then our first course was a duet course, a salad with mozzarella cheese, sliced tomato, drizzled with their balsamic vinaigrette. That was so delicious! Then we got to taste everything because they brought us everything and it was all yummy but my favorite was the salmon. Oh my goodness, it was so yummy!! The dinner was soo good! We also had mini Viennese platters on the tables included in our package and I thought it was going to be these little trays with a few cookies but they were quite large and they were packed with pastries and chocolate dipped strawberries and rainbow cookies and cannolis oh man were they yummy looking! The food was awesome! I have gotten so many compliments on the food at our wedding.
Cake, The Rolling Pin Bakery A+
At first I wanted a cake that was fall flavored and inspired. Then when I realized that to get that kind of cake, there was a price tag attached that I was not comfortable spending, I hesitantly went with the bakery that does cakes for The Meadow Club and picked a regular yellow cake with cannoli and chocolate chip filling. Boy was I surprised! I LOVED my cake. It looked beautiful, timeless and classic (DH picked the cake design) and it tasted AMAZING. Everyone loved the cake and everyone ate their piece. The cake part was super moist and the cannoli filling was so yummy! The whipped cream outside was scrumptious….not too sweet but not bland at all. I consider myself an avid baker and I would definitely recommend The Rolling Pin Bakery to anyone! If you hall uses them, you will not be disappointed.











North Fork Trolley B+
The trolley is gorgeous and it gave me that vintage feel that I wanted but there were a few snafus. All in all, I would def have chosen them again. The trolley was clean and warm and it looked beautiful!









Officiant, Judge Corbett A+
He is so nice and we had a beautiful ceremony. He called us a month before the wedding to make sure that we had gotten our marriage license. He was on time, stayed for a little into the cocktail hour but then told us that he would be returning home because it was evening time and he wanted to be with his wife. He is so sweet!!! He sent us a beautiful letter after the wedding congratulating us. He is very kind, thorough, and organized. He was the perfect person to marry us!



Dress, Oleg Cassini from David’s Bridal A
I LOVED my dress. I saw it online once and said to my mother that this is the dress. My mother was like, don’t you want to keep looking, and you still have two years until the wedding. I said nope, this is it. I saw it online once, drove to Yonkers with my sister and my mom to try it on and it was purchased that day. My mother bought me my dress a month after I got engaged but I am the type of person that I know was I like when I see it and I won’t change my mind. I never had reservations about making the purchase so early and the day of, I LOVED everything about my dress. David’s Bridal wasn’t difficult to deal with. They did not have the dress at the store to buy because the only one they did have was damaged so they ordered me one from a warehouse in PA and it was mailed to my house along with my veil and my slip. I received my items in the mail about three weeks after we ordered it. The only thing I wish was I wish the dress came with a garment bag but that really wasn’t a big deal. The alterations with David’s Bridal are a little expensive but they did a nice job. My dress was altered at the Lake Grove location.







Mantilla Veil, David’s Bridal A
I loved my veil. It was perfect!

Bridesmaid’s dresses, Jordan dress purchased at Macy’s Smithaven Mall A
I was looking for a more glamorous, 1940’s style dress for my girls and I fell in love with this dress. Everyone looked great in it and Macy’s negotiated the price down to a more reasonable one for us. The girls were able to get their dresses altered wherever they wanted and they all LOVED their dress! I chose to have my maid’s of honor in teal and my bridesmaids in brown. Ordering was easy and everything came out just as it should.







Bridesmaid’s Jewelry, 1928 Jewelry
I wanted the girls to have something that was pretty but did not cost too much since most people only wear the jewelry given to them by a bride once so I went to Macy’s to check out the 1928 line. After I saw some stuff I liked, I went online to their website, waited until they had a special and purchased what I wanted. It was easy and the girls looked so chic with their beautiful dangle earrings. I chose these gorgeous iridescent beads that shone teal, and purple in the light. They loved them. The maids of honor got matching bracelets as well which they loved.



Day of Hair, Shear Obsession Salon, My regular hair stylist A+
My hair stylist never disappoints me. He is fast, thorough, honest, and super talented. He opened up the shop on a day when they are closed and was willing to do just me and two other girls. He was super fun and our hair looked beautiful! The best part was that my hair salon is located literally two blocks away from my house so it was not a big trip to go to him and then go back to the house. I saved money by going to the salon to get my hair done vs. having a stylist come to me. I was very happy with the result and my hair looked great all night!
Day of Makeup, Rachel Searles A+
I chose Rachel because she was the only makeup artist who was willing to use colors that aren’t normal American bridal colors. She was fearless and talented. I told her I wanted an Arabic or Bollywood style look and she gave me just that. My girls looked amazing as well. She was early and we were all very very happy with the job that she did. My makeup was still on when I got to the hotel after the wedding and it looked just as it did when she first put it on! She’s wonderful and affordablel! I would book her again in a heartbeat!




Photographer, Jacquie Lew from Photo Philosophies and her second shooter Baron A+
Oh my gosh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE our photographer. I knew the moment we met her that we just had to have her shoot our wedding. Her prices were in our budget and she showed us a portfolio that made me feel like she could make an ugly duckling look like a super model. She has this way about her that makes you feel comfortable right away. She shot our engagement pictures and she is just so talented and so wonderful to work with. She sent our engagement pics to us wrapped up in this pretty paper with peacock feathers all over it because I told her I loved them and I wanted to use them in our décor for the wedding. She also gave us a cd with our best epics set to a slideshow with a song. It was so cute! She is punctual, super friendly, talented, funny, laid back, so good that you don’t even know that she is there shooting you. She understood that I really don’t like posed pictures. I get the worst fake smile in them so she took pics that just told a story. The wedding was no different. She showed up with her second shooter, Baron, and they began taking pics right away. They were all over getting shots of everything that was going on, even my sisters dog Cameron got some formal shots in! They stayed late at the wedding and she didn’t charge me for overtime. She was such a joy to work with and I can’t wait to work with her again! The pictures are absolutely beautiful! Her package includes a cd with edited images with copyrights so I can make prints for myself or others. She’s just so amazing, I wouldn’t trade her for any other photographer! When I received our cd of edited images in the mail it was beautifully wrapped with two 8X10 metallic prints and there was a little ornately decorated box with it…she had made an ornament for us for our first Christmas!! It was gorgeous it had two pictures on it! I absolutely love every single one of our pictures! She was awesome the day of and the pictures that I have, I love love love! We got our pictures, edited on a disc for us to reprint as we like about 6 weeks after the wedding. She also gave us two amazingly edited gorgeous 8x10 metallic prints in frames and she gave us a Christmas ornament with a picture from the wedding on both sides. She is so nice and thoughtful. I am so happy with my choice for hire her for our wedding….having her there and having these pictures she took has made my wedding so wonderful!









Videographer, Tom Morgan A+
Tom is really quiet but very sweet. He seems like that guy who is really smart and a little shy. He’s very talented and professional! He was early and stayed late. We did not even know that he was there the whole time haha. I was not going to have video but I ended up caving in and I am so happy that I did because I barely remember the day. It goes so fast but now I have the day frozen in time with pictures and video for me to look back on and enjoy forever! My advice to future brides is to get a videographer. You will regret It if you pass it up. Also, my grandmother who did not attend the wedding wanted a copy of the video and he mailed one for her like express mail or something because she got it like two days after he mailed it out and she lives in florida. He was so nice and I am so happy to have a video of the day!
Song for highlight reel: Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap
Song for Celebration reel: Love You Madly by Cake

Invitations, custom made by a family friend A+
I had a family friend make our invites. She drew the peacock feathers by hand as an oil pastel drawing, scanned that into her computer at work, and designed our invite with her personal artwork. I was so happy with the end result. I wanted invites with peacock feathers but I wanted them to look like they were pieces of art instead of digital images just smacked onto paper. She met my expectations and beyond with our invites. They looked classy and elegant and no one else has invites like it because they were custom made for us. She saw how much I liked them that she surprised me with place cards for our guests with the same peacock feather design on them. I loved it!




DJ, Absolute Entertainment A+
I loved our DJ, he just got us right away. We like a good variety of music and he touched on all of our favorite genres that night. I also wanted a DJ that could throw in a good mix of salsa tunes and he definitely had my family and friends dancing. We also had the percussionist Ben play as well. He was so fun! The sound of the drums really made the night with the music, it totally brought the songs to a different level and the music sounded more like a live band than just a DJ. We could not afford a band but we were def happy with the percussionist and our DJ. I would totally use them again! Not one little snafu here. We even asked our DJ to play “Big Pimpin’” for DH’s brother when he was being introduced at the beginning of the reception because he was walking out with two girls and the DJ, Gene, was like no problem and he made it totally fit with the song that was being played for the rest of the bridal party. We ended up being introduced to our reception with “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed. DH chose it and I was hesitant but it was a hit. The DJ had confidence in the song the whole time ?
Ceremony Music
Bridal Party Processional: Bittersweet Symphony by Vitamin String Quartet
Bride Processional: Sweet Child of Mine by Vitamin String Quartet
Recessional: All You Need Is Love by Vitamin String Quartet
Reception Music
Bridal Party Introduction: Celebration Benassi Remix by Madonna
Bride and Groom Introduction: Down With the Sickness by Disturbed

Florist, Flowers by Floyd Harbor A+
I loved my flowers and my centerpieces. Everything was so beautiful. The flowers were delivered on time and were fresh and smelled so pretty. I had peacock feathers in my flowers and they looked so cool! The groomsmen’s bouts had peacock feathers and little berries. They looked awesome!!! Everything looked just as I had imagined and I was afraid in the beginning because I did not think I was going to have what I wanted with the floral budget that we had but we paid an extremely affordable number for our bridal party bouquets, peacock feather boutonnieres, father of the bride bout, mothers corsages, roses for mothers for the rose ceremony, bouts for the ring bearers and a bout for my uncle, a corsage for DH’s aunt, and 13 centerpieces for our tables with peacock feathers in them. Everything looked gorgeous! I loved this vendor too, everything looked so gorgeous!









Shoes, Steve Madden A+
I wanted blue shoes so bad so when I passed these shoes in the mall, I couldn’t pass them up. They have this vintage round toe that they are a vibrant, stunning blue color. I loved them! They were pretty comfy but I ended changing into another pair of wedding shoes that were slip on white wedding shoes from David’s bridal. I loved both shoes for different reasons but I was so excited to have my something blue be my blue shoes




Marine Corps Garter, David’s Bridal A+
My sister got this for me as a present and I loved it! Dh wore his dress blues and when he saw the Marine Corps garter he smiled and appreciated that we got it.
Bridesmaid’s gifts A+
I ordered these beautiful, handmade sterling silver wax seal initial necklaces from etsy.com. They were gorgeous and the girls loved them. I also got them all Vera Bradley wristlets in different patterns that matched their styles. These were a big hit with everyone! I even picked one up for myself ? they also got the DOJ that I bought from 1928 and three out of four bridesmaids said that they would def wear their DOJ again which made me happy. The maids of honor also got these gorgeous scarves made in India. My sisters were my maids of honor and I know the one thing that they both love is a pretty scarf so I got them really nice ones and they both love them. They have these beautiful woven pictures of elephants on them which have their trunks up for good luck! I had no problems with the etsy seller, the necklaces shipped super fast and they looked stunning in person. Vera Bradley ships super fast and the wristlets were so cute! The girls use their wristlets everyday! 1928.com is another affordable site that ships very fast as well. No problems at all with any of the vendors used for the bridesmaids gifts.

Groomsmen’s Gifts, eflasks.com A+
All the guys like booze so we got them booze and personalized stainless steel flask sets that come with a little funnel and a little jugger. They looked so nice and they came in a pretty black gift box with a window. Good cigars and they guys were very happy with their gifts. The company for the flasks shipped fast and they looked great! The price was right and they loved them!
Donation Favor to the ASPCA priceless
Everyone loved this idea. We chose it because we saved our kitty, Cleo from being subject to an uncertain fate and we love her to death. She gave us the idea to donate to a charity that helps animals who are in the same position that she was in when we found her. All of my guests were coming up to me telling me that I am such a wonderful person for thinking to give a donation favor to the ASPCA. They give you these little cards to put at each place setting that explain the favor. It was a big hit and most people took their cards home with them! We calculated how much we would have spent on other tangible wedding favors and we just put all that money to the donation. I was going to give candy or something but then I remembered that we had those mini Viennese platters on the tables at dessert time so I felt that a little truffle or something edible was going to seem like too much and would probably be left behind anyway. I loved our donation favor idea!



Well that pretty much sums it up. Our wedding day was wonderful! I totally enjoyed myself and so did DH. Everyone has been talking about how much fun they had and how great the food was ever since. I would not change any vendor that I chose for our wedding, I was really satisfied with the way everything turned out. Our honeymoon will take place in January as we are going upstate to stay in a quiet bed and breakfast and possibly get some skiing in as well. I can’t wait to enjoy the winter wonderland up there and next year we are planning on going to Ireland for a one year anniversary honeymoon. I hope this was helpful to some new brides! Thanks for reading!
~The new Mrs. Wallace

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

wow! looks like you had an amazing time and a beautiful wedding! Congrats!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Gorgeous, gorgeous pics!!! Congrats!!!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Beautiful pictures & great review!!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

You were beautiful ! I absolutely love your dress and mantilla veil. They both looked perfect on you.

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Danielle! Everything looks AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

I loveeeee your dress! You were a beautiful bride!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

AMAZING!!! LOL here are some coincidences
you were married on my birthday... I am also doing a peacock theme and I got a (white) trolly!!! WEIRD LOL!!

Very awesome pics and I am loving the bridesmaid dresses! Also love the bird cage... have been wanting one for envelopes!

You look... BEAUTIFUL!! Congrats!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Beautiful...Love the feathers.

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

beautiful!!! i love your veil

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

What a beautiful wedding!!!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

your bridal shower and b-party sound like they were so much fun!!!
Congrats on marrying a MARINE!!!!

and lol, my mom's been going to shear obsession forever. I bet you're neighbors!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

you look beautiful! i loved your dress! congratulations!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing, and Congratulations!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

Thanks ladies!!! Wow writing these reviews does take a lot of time...I am so glad that a few people actually looked at it after all that effort to write it! Thanks again...it was a wonderful wedding day and I had a great time!!!

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

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Posted by ChristeveT

AMAZING!!! LOL here are some coincidences
you were married on my birthday... I am also doing a peacock theme and I got a (white) trolly!!! WEIRD LOL!!

Very awesome pics and I am loving the bridesmaid dresses! Also love the bird cage... have been wanting one for envelopes!

You look... BEAUTIFUL!! Congrats!

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Wow those are plenty of coincidences!! I bought my bird cage from saveoncrafts.com there are loads of wedding and party things on that website and it was really inexpensive...I want to say like 13 bucks.

Re: My 11/7/2010 wonderful fall intimate wedding with vintage flair

THANK YOU!! I am going to look into that birdcage! :)