My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club with Pics!

My wedding day was amazing. Everything went fairly smooth. I was bracing myself beforehand for stuff to go wrong but nothing too major happened. There were a few things that left me disappointed but I didn’t let it ruin my day. I was extremely happy that the weather was beautiful. Rain was forecasted for my day but the forecast changed about midweek. It ended up being in the 80s for the day.

Here is my super long review. I’ve gotten so much help and advice from this board. I think I’ve read every single review. So now I’m returning the favor by posting my review. Thanks everyone!!!!


Carosello’s in Howard Beach: A (Rehersal dinner)
We had the small party room right off the entrance. The service here was excellent. The waiters were on top of everything. The food was really good but the portions were small. My only complaint was that the pastries they served tasted old. I had one and that was it! LOL.



Bridal Reflections – Carle Place: A (Bridal Dress).
I had no major problems with them. The sales staff was pretty helpful. Maddy helped me pick out my dress, an Eve of Milady. Lee was my seamstress and she was great. I would have given them an “A+” if it wasn’t for the fact that the day I went to pick up my dress, it was stained in two places and they hadn’t pressed it! I had to go back and pick up my dress two days before the wedding.


Bridal Reflections – Carle Place: C+ (Bridesmaids Dresses).
The bridesmaids picked out a two-piece Bill Levkoff dress in Euro Sky Blue. My Maid of Honor wanted the same dress but she wore it in Periwinkle Blue.

I heard alot of complaints from my Bridal Party about BR. I was totally surprised because I didn’t have any issues with them. I had five bridesmaids and all of them complained about the alterations. Three of the five dresses didn’t fit right. My cousin and my sister-in-law had alterations done 4 times and the tops of their dresses were still loose the day of the wedding. They had to leave them as is because it was too close to the wedding to do anything. The top of my sister’s dress was too tight and she refused to go back after having three alterations. All of them said the front desk people were snotty and rude. The only good things about BR were that the dresses came in on time and they were actually $75.00 cheaper than other places we had checked.

Lestans – B+ (Headpiece and veil).
I picked out a small tiara and a fingertip two layer raw edge veil. The person who helped us out was really nice and helpful. She kept showing us different veil lengths to help me make up my mind. My only complaint is that they ordered the wrong veil but they got the right one in stock in a week. When it arrived, I noticed that they had ordered the wrong number of layers. I took it as is because at that point, I didn’t care.


Simplicity Planning – A+ (Favors, Placecard holders, wedding accessories, some invitations)
Jodi was great! She was extremely patient even though I drove her crazy over my favors. I picked out heart shaped salt and pepper shakers. She took her time going over everything to make sure everything came out right. I couldn’t get over how pretty they came out! I decided to have a sheer flower put on the top of each favor. The petals had Jordan almonds in them. Everyone commented on how beautiful and original they turned out.
I also ordered place card holders in the shape of little chairs that were sooo cuuuutttte. I ordered a Beverly Clark set that was really pretty and I also ended up having to order extra invitations from her because I ran out. I originally went through a friend of the family to order my invitations. She was going to give me a “good deal.” Well I learned my lesson because Jodi priced out the same invitations for me for less. L It turned out that my friend charged me more than retail. I should have shopped around. Jodi was really good about getting the extra invites in right away. She was very professional and I highly recommend her.


Ultimate Class Limo: A+
Ultimate Class was the best. Our limos arrived extra early. I had one white limo and a Rolls Royce go to my house. My DH had another limo go to his house to pick up the men.

I had Janice for a limo driver and she was amazing. She was on TOP of EVERYTHING. One or two times, I would turn around to ask if something was taken care of, and Janice had already taken care of it. She fluffed my dress, fixed my hair and made sure I was comfortable a bunch of times.

When the florist delivery guy left the guy’s boutonnieres at my house, she took them over to the church for me. She even took the little kids with her so they could get a ride in the limo.

Our Rolls Royce driver was Billy. He was very nice and funny. He chatted with my Dad and I on the way to the church. I think he was trying to keep us occupied. I wasn’t nervous at all up until I looked down the aisle at all the people.


Mya from Cosmetic Artistry: A+
Mya was great! She arrived on time and was very professional. Everyone’s makeup came out great. My sister loved her makeup and she’s EXTREMELY particular about her makeup. She did an amazing job with my friend’s eye makeup. She made her eyes stand out so well. My friend couldn’t stop looking at herself in the mirror!

Mya was pretty patient. One of my bridesmaids decided she didn’t like how her hair was done and as we were walking out of the hair salon, she did an about face and went back to have them change it. Mya had to wait for her to get back to do her makeup but she was really nice about it.

My makeup came out beautiful. I don’t wear makeup on a daily basis so I didn’t want anything too dramatic. It lasted fairly well. I just had to reapply lipstick during the cocktail hour.


Lena’s Hair Salon: A+
I had my hair done at my local hair salon. I’ve been going to this salon for years. The girls here work fast and they are very inexpensive. Lena opened early and did my hair along with two bridesmaids and my flower girl. My hair came out great – actually better than the trial. I was worried because I felt she used a lot of hair product for the trial but it turned out perfect! Lena got us all out in time. She did the four of us in a little over two hours. She was also accommodating. As I mentioned earlier – one of my bridesmaids decided to have her hair changed as we were literally out the door.


Jack and Rose: B (Flowers)
This was the one vendor that I didn’t have to think long and hard about booking. Once I met with Jack, I knew I wanted to book him.

He took his time going over everything with us when we first met. He didn’t rush us and answered all our questions.

I decided to go with cream and coral roses for my flowers. The high centerpieces were a mix of cream and coral. They came out beautiful. I was very happy with how the centerpieces came out.

The bridesmaids’ bouquets were coral roses and my MOH had a mix of coral and cream. The BP’s bouquets were absolutely beautiful. The coral went very well with the sky blue dresses.

I wasn’t happy with my bouquet though. I had a clutch bouquet of all cream roses. Let’s just say that by the time the CH rolled around I was pulling out brown rose petals from my bouquet. On our HM, DH kept joking that the leis we got in Hawaii kept up better than my bouquet. He wanted me to FEDEX them to Jack.

The petals for the cake were also brown also. My mom said they didn’t look fresh. Even the bridal attendant told me they could have done a better job. Although I’ve looked at pictures that were taken by guests of the cake, and the flowers look fine. I don’t know, maybe I was having a bridezilla attack. The delivery guy was very nice. He put up with me and replaced the petals I didn’t like.

The delivery guy arrived at my Mom’s house an hour late and messed up the split delivery. It wasn’t until everyone took their bouquets out of the box that we noticed that he put the guy’s boutonnieres in our box.

The dais flowers were nice but I wasn’t impressed at all with the church flowers. I had three floral arrangements and they were OK.

I also had an issue with Jack when I went to see my sample centerpiece and settle the bill. FM for details. For the people who have used Jack, I have a question.


Patken: A+
I’m going to reserve my judgment until I see my proofs but I can say now that Steve was GREAT!!!! He arrived on time and was very organized. I know our proofs are going to be fantastic. He paid a lot of attention to detail. He made sure every picture was just right. He fixed my hair, dress, posture, and flowers numerous times!

He knew exactly how to handle my crazy BP. My house was a little wild because a bunch of my cousins (eight of them) decided to make an unexpected stop ay my house to see us taking pictures. Steve took control of the situation and wasn’t bossy or pushy. You would think that with so many annoying people in the way he would get frustrated….I know I was! We didn’t get a lot of BP pictures at the house but my friend said he was snapping pictures like a madman during the reception. I barely noticed he was there at the reception.

Steve was patient and didn’t rush me during the CH pictures. I wasn’t doing too well during the CH pictures. Towards the end I started to faint. I think it was a combination of the sun beating down on me, and the heavy dress. It didn’t help that I decided to have a few drinks on an empty stomach. Hehehehhehehe. I highly recommend Steve! I can’t wait to see my proofs!!

Edited to add: We picked up our proofs and they are amazing. There weren't any pictures taken that I didn't like! Steve did an amazing job. One of my BMs broke her hand right before the wedding and had a cast. I have like two pictures that show the cast. He did a great job of hiding it when having us pose. I'm very happy with my poofs. I have around 500 of them. I have no idea how I'm going to pick out my album.

Bellarino: TBD
Phil was very nice. He’s a funny guy and was great to work with. I hardly even noticed he was there the whole day. I was told he arrived early at the church. The BP told me he was everywhere. I’ll let everyone know how my video turns out.


Energy Entertainment: A
Mark was our MC. He played a little of everything we requested. There were a few times that our dance floor was packed. I wasn’t expecting a packed dance floor because my family members don’t dance. One thing that shocked me was that Mark got my Dad to dance!! I’ve never in my life seen my Dad dance to fast music. He hates to dance but he was up there dancing away that night.

The one thing they didn’t do was raffle off the centerpieces. I didn’t notice until I saw people take them as they were leaving. They also never made the announcements that I had asked them to. Other than that, they were great!


St. Helen’s R.C. Church: We had a ceremony because my parish couldn’t do a nuptial mass on a Sunday. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I started crying during the ceremony and even DH started to get teary eyed. The priest who performed our ceremony was hysterical. I can’t wait to see the video so I can laugh again!


Crest Hollow Country Club: B+ (Emerald Room for Reception)
I wish I could have given Crest Hollow a better grade. Almost everything was perfect. We had Leo for a BM and he was great. He answered all our questions and emails. As we got closer to the wedding day, I kept emailing CH like crazy about EVERYTHING. They must have thought I was a nut. I emailed them to find out everything from the type of cocktail tables/chair to what color the men’s bathroom was (My Mom wanted to make bathroom baskets that coordinated with the bathroom). They answered all my bridezilla emails.

Marina was my bridal attendant and she took care of everything. I don’t think she left my side the whole time. One of my co-workers asked me afterwards, “Who was that woman that kept following you?” LOL.

I heard the cocktail hour was beautiful. I had it poolside and everyone said the food was great. I couldn’t attend because we were taking pictures during the cocktail hour. There were enough tables and chairs set up for everyone.

Richard was my maitr’ d. He seemed pretty nice. I didn’t really talk much with him. The only time I did was when he came up to me to ask if they could move some tables around. He wanted to move some tables to make room in the back so they could have the Viennese hour behind a curtain. Originally, they were going to wheel it onto the dance floor. I was glad that they could change it because I was never crazy over the idea of having it on the dance floor.

My maid of honor said Richard did a good job of handling a problem she had with the guest seating. It seems like a few family members decided to sit where they wanted and it caused some problems. He played “musical chairs” and helped fix the problem quickly.

From what I heard, the dinner was good too. I wouldn’t know because I didn’t eat. That was my one regret. I was all over the place and didn’t really eat. I just had some pasta when I was in the bridal suite. I didn’t even sample the desserts! I just had a bite of our wedding cake. Besides dancing like crazy, I went to every table to say hi to everyone and I tried to sit and chat with people when possible.

The bridal suite was HUGE. They set up a huge table with food from the cocktail hour with tons of chairs and two couches for my BP. I was pretty impressed with the bridal suite – it was bigger than the one I was shown when I first went to check out Crest Hollow.

After the reception, I was talking to my bridal party and I found out that two of the waiters there were horrible. My sister told me that one waiter spilled a drink on her FI and didn’t so much as apologize. I was thinking, “OK so there was just one bad waiter.” THEN I found out from my mom that the same thing happened to my aunt at a different table. My cousin said the same waiter pulled the plate right out from under her nose as she was putting a fork to her mouth. I was upset afterwards to hear that the wait staff was so bad. I asked my co-worker what he thought of the service. I had to twist his arm to get the truth out of him. He said his waiter was rude and his date was afraid to even ask the waiter to get him some mustard!

I was fuming when I found all this out. I know everything can’t be perfect and accidents do happen but to have three different people who sat at three different tables give bad accounts of the service is NOT GOOD. I also found out that my bridal attendant radioed for a golf cart to pick us up because I wasn’t feeling well and they never came! My mom was annoyed because that is one of the things they said we would have the day of the wedding. It would have come in handy especially since I was having a hard time standing up.

Even with the upsets, I still had an amazing day. I wish I could do it again. It went by so quickly but I had the most amazing day of my life. I hope my review helps!

Message edited 8/8/2004 9:12:01 PM.

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Here are some pictures taken by guests....

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMmzRm3ZtWzjI

Here are some proofs. I still haven't scanned the pics from the reception. I have 500 proofs!

Some proofs

Message edited 8/8/2004 9:28:12 PM.

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Wow... thanks for sharing such a detailed review. It looks like you had a wonderful day, despite a few glitches. Your photos are adorable! Congratulations!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Thanks for such a great review! Congrats on a beautiful day!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Congratulations!!!
Wonderful review!!!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Congrats!

I'm sorry to hear that Crest Hollow wasn't an A+, but now I know what to look for.

Which room did you have there??

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

congrats...

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Congrats!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Cute pictures. Where did you get your cake? Was that supplied by the CH?

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Congratulations! Thanks for such a detailed review!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Beautiful pictures! Remember to think only of the good memories! You're married!

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

Why were you sick??? What happened????

Re: My June 27th Wedding at Crest Hollow Country Club

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Posted by ckgmwedding

Why were you sick??? What happened????

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