My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….WITH PRO PICS from Duet - NOW with VIDEO on page 3!

My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

LIW – This website has been the greatest resource for me!! I live in the Dallas, Texas area so planning this wedding from a distance was challenging. Thanks to LIW, I was able to find great vendors that came highly recommended and plan my wedding weekend with local advice!! This is the best wedding resource and I am extremely thankful to Ron and Liz for running it, and to the ladies who contribute their own personal experiences.

I planned our wedding in about 8 months. I signed the contract with Jericho Terrace at the end of September / beginning of October and joined LIW in November. I was a very organized bride. I am a Project Manager at work, so planning my wedding was a large project to me. My wedding party laughed at me at times, because I had spreadsheets, timelines, checklists, contact lists, guest lists, you name it!! All of the preparation was worth it!!

Note: I interviewed and hired almost every one of my vendors over the phone. I also planned trips to New York to interview specific vendors in person. Working with vendors remotely is more challenging but every one of my vendors came through without a hitch!

Tuxes:
Men’s Wearhouse 7 / 10
Our groom’s party was spread across the U.S., so we went with Men’s Wearhouse. The tuxes were fine, no issues with that, but customer service was lacking. My husband went to Men’s Wearhouse to pick out the tuxes. For some reason, the person who took the order didn’t complete the order in the system. When the saleswoman at the store called the original store manager to find out why the order wasn’t completed, the manager said he “didn’t have time to talk” and hung up on her. To me, if the employees are this rude to other employees, how good are they going to be with customers?

Also, when we went to pick up the tuxes the week of the wedding, my husband waited in the store for 30 minutes and no one helped him. There were 7 sales people standing around chatting with each other and said they didn’t work in the “tuxedo” department. The tuxes are good, but customer service is bad.



Tiara & crinoline:
David’s Bridal 10 / 10
I purchased both of these items from David’s in Lewisville, Texas. The woman who helped me happened to be the store manager. She was very helpful.



Bridal Party dresses:
David’s Bridal 8 / 10
All of the bridesmaid’s dresses were ordered in the Lewisville, Texas store. Two days after I ordered the dresses, I went back to the store to give them shipping information for my out of town BM’s. The saleswoman happened to mention that the dresses were now on clearance so the price had dropped from $150 a dress to $39!! I was told, sorry, nothing we can do about it.

About 2 weeks after the dresses were ordered, I received a call from David’s Bridal telling me that the dresses had arrived. I was happy they were in early. Then I received a call 3 weeks later asking me when I was coming in to pick the dresses up. I told the woman that they were supposed to be shipped out and I had already paid shipping and provided addresses five weeks ago. The dresses shipped out the next day.



Shoes:
MyGlassSlipper & Zappos 10 / 10
I had two pairs of shoes for my wedding since I wore 2 different dresses. Both pairs of shoes were beautiful and arrived quickly. Zappos even upgraded my shipping for free, so I received them 1 day after I ordered them!



OOT Guest hotel: 9 / 10
Marriott in Uniondale

I reserved a group of rooms for my guests. Overall, the process was smooth. The hotel is conveniently located to Jericho Terrace. There were other hotels that were a little bit closer but the Marriott suited our needs better. We were upgraded to an executive king room for our stay and we paid for a suite for the wedding day / night. The concierge desk was very helpful with local recommendations.

There were only a few issues.

This hotel caters to conferences and businesses. However, the printing services were HORRIBLE. I needed to print information for my out of town guest boxes and I wasted almost 2 hours trying to use there printers and computers. I work in technology so I am very capable of handling myself! I asked for assistance from the hotel team and I was told someone would come down to help. I waited for 45 minutes and no one showed up. In the end, I went to Big Lots and purchased a portable printer for $25.

The next issue was concerning my cake. The best man had brought the top layer of my cake back to the hotel. He asked them to refrigerate it until he left the next day. They gave him a claim check so he could pick it up. When he went to pick it up the next day, they couldn’t find the cake!! They brought him a half eaten German chocolate cake. Our best man is a VERY easy going guy but he was quickly approaching meltdown over the cake! Finally, they let Nick go into the kitchen and look for it himself. He found it and all was happy again.

Makeup & Hair:
Makeup by Oksana &
Jenn The Hair Genie 10 / 10

I can’t say enough good things about these ladies. Jenn and Oksana are the BEST!! I had a hair trial with Jenn in March which I absolutely loved! I felt an immediate connection with Jenn and Oksana. They are sweet people and they know their business. When I booked with Jenn, Oksana was already booked with another bride for that day. I was very disappointed because I really wanted to work with both ladies! But after my hair trial, Oksana contacted me because her bride had cancelled for my wedding day! I was unable to have a trial with Oksana before the wedding because I live in Texas and I wasn’t going to be in NY again until the wedding. I had no worries, I was confident Oksana was going to do a great job.

Jenn and Oksana arrived at the hotel on the morning of my wedding and it was like seeing old friends again! They setup in the living room of the suite and got to work! We played music on the CD player while talking, singing and getting beautiful! Jenn brought pictures of my hair trial with her and re-created the same beautiful style. Jenn also styled my mom’s hair and she looked amazing!!

Oksana did my makeup last. I was SO happy with my makeup that day. When I looked in the mirror for the first time, I started to cry. I couldn’t believe how beautiful I looked and I felt like a true bride. All of my girls who had their hair and makeup done looked amazing. I wish I could have these ladies follow me everywhere. They are TRULY talented and they are amazing people on top of it.





Florist
Flower Michele 9.5 / 10
I worked with Mike from Flower Michele. Based on certain cultural issues, I had to be very careful with my flowers and candles. I explained this to Mike and he was able to work with me! My sample CP was gorgeous and my CP’s the day of the wedding were beautiful!!

Mike was great to work with. Flower Michele has been very busy so sometimes when I called I would get a busy signal. Mike also told me that they were having problems with their email and it never worked for as long as I worked with them.

Flower Michele delivered my flowers to the hotel on the day of the wedding. My bouquet when it arrived was dry. Thankfully, Jenn the Hair Genie noticed it and had me put it in water immediately. Still, by the end of the evening, the outside flowers were dying. I put them in water every chance I could but they didn’t stay healthy. This was my only complaint with Flower Michele.

Overall, I loved Flower Michele and I would definitely use them for other events!!



Limo
Sir Oliver
Bachelorette party: 10 / 10
Wedding: 9 / 10
I hired Sir Oliver for my bachelorette party and my wedding. I hired them only about one month before the wedding. I worked with Jennifer and she was very helpful!

My driver for the bachelorette party was Matthew. He was AWESOME. He took care of everything we needed, even bought orange juice for us so we could have screwdrivers in the limo. When some of the girls wanted to go back early, he negotiated with the taxi driver for a taxi from the city back to the Long Island Marriott. He took care of everything!

We had a different driver on my wedding day. I can’t remember his name, but he was an older man with a gray beard. Anyway, we were supposed to take pictures in Eisenhower Park. My husband was in a different limo, also from Sir Oliver. We were both scheduled to take pictures in different parts of the park. Jimmy’s driver had no problem finding his part of the park, but my driver had no idea where he was going. We drove around and around until I finally just said, let’s take pictures here!! While we took the pictures, he gave us all water to drink since it was SO hot and he made sure we were comfortable. He also served us champagne before we headed to Jericho, which was GREAT!!

Once we arrived at Jericho, he played the special horn for me which I loved! There was only small problem that occurred once we arrived at Jericho. My maitre d and bridal attendants showed up at the limo to escort me into the hall. Thank goodness my mom was there, because the limo driver almost left!! My Chinese wedding dress, flowers, shoes, and accessories were still in the limo!! My mom stopped him before he left the parking lot and everything was saved.



DJ
High Voltage Sounds 10 / 10
Vinny was one of my best vendors! He is a no fuss kind of guy and made my wedding so great!! I initially interviewed Vinny based on the great reviews on LIW. I felt very confident based on my phone interview with him and sent him a deposit for the day of my wedding. We communicated a few times before the wedding and the week of the wedding. I sent him my playlist information the week before the wedding.

Vinny came to visit me in the bridal suite at Jericho and I told him of a few changes. I let Vinny know how we wanted to be introduced, and when to start playing our first dance song. He accommodated those changes with no questions or issues!! Vinny made me feel calm before the reception and he met all of our needs! Every song we had asked for was played, every detail was covered and the music was AWESOME. Our guests danced all night long. I can’t rave enough about him, because he was just that GREAT!

Photography – Duet 8 /10
Duet
Let’s just start with the basics. I worked with Sue at Duet for all of the pre-wedding preparation. She was great! Our photographers were Woo and Joe. We had NO COMMUNICATION ISSUES with them. They were easy to understand and knew exactly what they were doing. Woo and his team arrived at the hotel on time and started taking pictures right away.

Woo stayed with me in the bridal suite to take the getting ready pictures and pictures with my mom / brother etc. Joe went to the groom’s room to take pictures of the groom’s party. My husband was SO happy with Joe and I was SO happy with Woo!!

Our guests were also impressed with Duet. They couldn’t believe how many pictures they were taking and how they seemed to capture every moment.

My only regret is that we didn't have many pictures of my husband and I together. We have amazing pictures of each other from the pre-wedding preparation but the pictures taken during the reception just didn't make us happy. So we had a "day after" shoot back in Dallas with another vendor that took care of our needs!

Videography – Duet 7 / 10
Duet
For some reason, we actually had 2 videographers for our wedding day! Unfortunately, one of the videographers had a problem with his camera and the video from that camera was pretty much useless. Duet didn't tell me about this but I found out when I purchased the raw video. I was disappointed in this but happy that the other videographer managed to capture moments from that day.

Ceremony - 10 / 10
Jericho Terrace

Jericho Terrace was amazing. My BM was Mike Closs and my maitre‘d was Linda.

We had a bridal attendant and a groom’s attendant. Sandy was my bridal attendant. I couldn’t have been happier with them!

We showed up at Jericho Terrace a little early because it was too hot to take a lot of pictures in the park. The attendants immediately rushed to our side of the limo and escorted us to the bridal suite. Our ceremony was held at Jericho Terrace, so I didn’t want to see Jimmy beforehand. I knew my husband was in another limo not too far behind us, so I wanted to make sure we got inside before Jimmy arrived! One note about the bridal suite: if your guests arrive early, they will be escorted to the new waiting area in the back. They walk right past the bridal suite on the way there. Make sure that your bridal party doesn’t keep going in and out because all of your guests could see you! Also, your husband could see you by accident, so make sure to stay out of the way.

Sandy had food brought into the bridal suite, served us drinks, and took care of everything! Linda came in to make sure I felt comfortable with everything and I was able to confirm a few last minute details with her. I didn’t even need to bother because it was already take care of! At that point, I just released control to Sandy and Linda and they took care of everything!

We had about 1 hour to wait before the ceremony and the staff of JT kept us fed, calm, and happy. I was not a nervous bride and my major emotion of the whole day was happiness! I was not a bridezilla, it just isn’t my personality. When it was time for the ceremony, the staff of JT made sure the guests were in the chapel first, then they brought the wedding party upstairs and lined them up for entrance. My brother and I were left alone in the bridal suite with Sandy and that is when I started to feel a little nervous. It was more anxiousness than nervousness. This was the most beautiful, greatest day of my life and I couldn’t believe I was finally marrying the love of my life.

My brother walked me down the aisle and all I can remember is seeing my husband Jimmy’s face. I didn’t notice anything about the chapel, didn’t notice who was there or who wasn’t there. All I could see was Jimmy and he kept saying “wow, wow, wow” with tears in his eyes. It was the most special moment of my life.



Officiant:
Father Brennan
Since we live in Texas, I didn’t have a member of the clergy that I knew or felt comfortable with. I contacted Jericho Terrace for a recommendation and they gave me a couple of priests to contact. I spoke to Father Brennan over the phone and I felt comfortable with him. I wanted to have a catholic priest for our wedding, even if we weren’t having a church wedding. Father Brennan was very helpful and flexible. He met with me in the bridal suite before the ceremony to make sure I was comfortable with everything. He was great to work with and I was happy he was there for our wedding.



Reception
Oak Room: 10 / 10
Jericho Terrace

Cocktail hour:
All of my guests RAVED about the food at JT. The cocktail hour seemed to be the favorite! The food was amazing and the service was unbelievable! Jimmy and I took pictures while the guests were in the cocktail hour. We also had a few bites to eat in the bridal suite after pictures. We were able to sneak into the cocktail hour for about 5 minutes before everyone was escorted to the Oak Room for the reception. The guests looked like they were having an amazing time and there was SO much food!!!



Reception: Oak Room
I had a few worries before the wedding about the Oak Room. I was worried it was too small, too dark, on the bottom floor etc. I had no reason to worry!! I had seen the Oak Room many times before the wedding but it looked even more amazing on the day of the wedding. If you have your reception planned for the Oak Room, don’t worry at all. It is a beautiful location and PERFECT for parties of about 80 – 120 people.

The reception started with the champagne march and the guests loved it! We had 2 rolling bars and plenty of food. Our maitre‘d, Linda, guided us through everything. She walked us through the cake cutting process, made sure every detail was covered and just made the whole day smooth!!

The food was amazing (we didn’t eat very much because we were so excited!!) and the cake tasted great. I wasn’t crazy about the way my cake looked because it didn’t match the picture I had sent them and the colors didn’t coordinate well. It was the only thing I was a little disappointed about but it was SO minor!

Our overall experience at Jericho Terrace was fantastic







The little details:

“We do” letters for cake table
Alphabetsoupgifts 8 / 10
I ordered these for the cake table. They were painted and shipped to me. The color of the letters didn’t match the color on the website. It was ok, but not exactly what I wanted. Also, they were packed before they were completely dry so there was paint smudges and chips on one of the letters.



Cake Topper:
Crystals for cake topper:
Artbeads 10 / 10
This is a great website. They have fast shipping, great prices, and great products! This was my first DIY project and I LOVED it!!

Monogram cake topper:
Ebay - Cakejewels 8 / 10
The product was great but shipping was slow. It took forever to receive the product. Not great communication either.


Monogram Cake topper instructions

Invitations & STD cards:
Give-Gifts.com 9.5 / 10
My sister-in-law owns this company. She is an authorized reseller for Carlson Craft. I loved my invitations!! They were SO gorgeous!! Several of my guests commented on them. My only small issue was that when Carlson sent me unprinted envelopes (which I requested) and they were too small for the invites! So I had to contact them to send the correct envelope. I printed all of my own envelopes from my computer. I downloaded Chopin Script font from http://www.dafont.com and it came out beautifully!!

Programs and menus:
Paperandmore.com 10 / 10
Purple Card Stock and Vellum
I printed my own programs and menus for the wedding. Paperandmore has an AMAZING selection of products. They are quick to ship and my orders arrived without a single issue! The card stock actually MATCHED my wedding invitations and the quality of the paper was amazing.



OOT Box Labels:
Laurascustomdesigns.com 10 / 10
Great product, great vendor, great communication and a great price!

OOT Boxes:
Buygiftwrap.com 7 / 10
Products were great but it took a long time to receive the boxes. I ordered them on April 25th and the item shipped on May 17th. The company didn’t communicate with me until I followed up with them repeatedly.



Favor hang tags:
My Own Labels 10 / 10
They have an amazing selection of tags and they are SO beautiful. I don't know if my situation was unique, but it took a while to receive the tags. The price is good considering the quality of the product. I would do business with them again!

Favor bags:
Papermart.com 10 / 10



Ebay vendors:

Card Box: sewwhattlp - 10 / 10
To be honest, I was SO surprised and pleased when I received my package. The box was GORGEOUS, such wonderful quality and care was put into it, I could tell!! It is an amazing product for a great price. She was a wonderful Ebay seller, great at communicating, offering a quality product at a great price!

Votive candle holders, Candles, purple rose petals, wired ribbon
Ebay - Efavormart 10 / 10

Love Coasters
Ebay - Gaspshock 10 / 10

Ring bearer pillow:
Ebay - Girlstuff74 10 / 10

Candy holders & Organza Bags for favors:
Ebay - Packageperfect 10 / 10

Wedding gown dress label, Wedding Handkerchiefs, & Flower Girl tote bags
Ebay - Mainemomof4 10 / 10
One of my favorite Ebay vendors!! Products were always great, delivered quickly, and great communication. I will use her for other things in the future!



Wedding photo mat
Ebay - Hangupsframing 10 / 10
Good quality, no problem with shipping.

Soon to be Mrs. Hoodie
Ebay - Spoolofdesign 10 / 10
Great product, received quickly. Very pleased!



Bridal gifts:
Leather-Trimmed Canvas Mini Totes from Lillian Vernon
Lillian Vernon

Gift cards
Sephora

Custom makeup bags for bridesmaids:
Ebay - Plethora1014 9 / 10
FANTASTIC products but it does take a while to receive them. Make sure to plan ahead of time to give yourself leeway. Good at communicating status when I requested it.

Groomsmen gifts:
Gift certificates:
Omaha Steaks
Beer of the Month club

Steak seasonings kit from Emeril Lagasse

M&M Favors:
M&M’s 9 / 10
I bought the boxes from Ebay. The box size is 2x2x1 ¼. I used a combination of my colors and personalized M&M's. I bought two 5lb bags of color and six 8oz personalized bags. I used all of them to make 100 boxes. There were quite a few broken candies that my nephew proceeded to eat.

-----------------------
In Summary:
I wish all brides and grooms could have a wedding day like ours. I don’t want to say it was “perfect” because that is just not realistic. But it was the most amazing day of our lives and a beautiful memory that we can cherish forever.

---------------------------
Here are my day after pics

Message edited 12/20/2007 2:12:18 PM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

wow that was some review, thank you for sharing. congrats again on your wedding. can't wait to see your pictures

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Pro Pics from Duet - Woo and Joseph

Message edited 8/26/2006 8:41:45 PM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Message edited 8/26/2006 8:42:25 PM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Message edited 8/26/2006 8:46:56 PM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Congratulations!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Great review....everything looked beautiful. Omaha steaks is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.....

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

thanks for a great review!
your pics look amazing and i LOVE hearing wonderful things about JT!

Enjoy married life!!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

congratulations and great review i can't believe you planned everything from Texas, kudos to you
so glad you had a great experience with the oak room, i will be getting married in there also, looking forward to even more pictures

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

wow! i cannot believe you planned it all the way from texas! your photos look great and you looked gorgeous. thanks for sharing

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

WOW, what an amazing review!!!!!!! Congrats on everything!!!!!!!!!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Yay! I am so glad to hear that your day went so well. I love reading reviews from JT brides since I was one myself In the Oak Room as well. I can't wait to see your pics!
Oh by the way, it is ok to say your day was perfect....if it was "perfect" to you, thats all that matters!

OK...edited to say that I didn't scroll all the way and I missed the pics...Lol.
You looked beautiful and really happy! Congrats!

Message edited 8/3/2006 8:56:20 AM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Amazing Review & you looks gorgeous

I am using Woo from Duet as well, so glad to hear you were happy with them

Best of luck to you

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

great review! Thanks!!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Wow, what a detailed review! I'm sure all the girls that are still planning their wedding will appreciate your thoroughness.

Congratulations!

Message edited 8/3/2006 10:00:47 AM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

More pics are available on my shutterfly account.Shutterfly

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

WOW! Thank you soooo much for that wonderful review!!! I am going to be clicking in some of those links now!! You looked soo beautiful!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Great Review!!!!!!!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

GREAT Review - Thank You for sharing! You looked so pretty and really relaxed! Congrats!!!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Great Review! Congratulations! You look beautiful!

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

great review. Congrats

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

loved the flowers! thanks for sharing your review.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

A few more pics from Duet.

Message edited 9/20/2006 2:40:47 PM.

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

Re: My June 18, 2006 Wedding review. Jericho Terrace, Duet, Flower Michele, High Voltage, Sir Oliver, Jen & Oksana and MORE….

omg...beautiful!! i love your pics and how everything came out...thanks for the review