Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

the room is so beautiful that it doesnt need much. i think with the linens and centerpieces its enough. I may add some lighting around the room just to give it an extra UMPH but even without the lighting the room is SPECTACULAR!!!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

By the way since i was reading the photo posts, I am using Tony Ferrari, he's a Russo's vendor and also did my cousin's wedding and my communion portraits if you can believe he's been around that long He does amazing work. At my cousin's wedding he knew exactly the schedule we were on, stuck to it, captured all the shots she wanted, and more and everything turned out great! He was a little on the expensive side for our budget but due to his work we booked anyway. I highly reccommend him!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

I agree about the lighting. My dj company is providing our lighting around the room, plasma tv's, a monogramed light on the dance floor, and some other things that I think will really be beautiful, or at least I hope!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Hi,
I am having the same room & haven't decided yet on what i am doing with flowers or decorations. I do have an idea of what i want since it is a Valentine's wedding I would like to have lots of candels & make you have that romantic feel when you walk into the room. I am only doing table arrangements & I might not do high peditals either. I was speaking with Kelly Russo's cordinator the other day & she said with that room you can get away with not having high arrangements. I also spoke with her about if I decided to have my florist/decorator person put a sheer color over the white table clothes & decorat the backs of chairs with out having to pay extra for Russo's linens & she said it is fine as long as the florist/decorator does it themselves. I am on a budget & I rather spend my money on a good photographer & band before I start paying extra for linens. lol

So personaly it's up to you & your style. I feel the room is already beautiful & all you need is table arrangements. Are you going with the Elements of Style package? I am unsure if I will add that in, but it gives you alot if you want different color lighting through out the night. I really don't think it's necessary. But it's up to you.

I have a while for my wedding so right now I am trying to get the flowers & entertainment out of the way. since it is Valentine's florist want to over charge me =(. but I am a good bargainer so I am not worried hehe.

So right now I haven't added anything on extra with Russo's I am waiting to see what i will really need & want after I book most of my vendors. That's what i like about Russo's you can add on extras as you go if you need to.

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Hi again,

I am doing the elemnts of style package. I decided early on that I wanted it just so I could design my own cake! You definately have plenty of time to go but it is going to fly. It seems like only yesterday I had a whole year and a half to plan! My music was actually an easy choice for me because my dj has done every function my family and friends have had for the last 10 years. His team is amazing and he is giving us so many extras for such a reasonable price. I looked at a few others and they were priced much higher. Who are you thinking of using for music?

As for my flowers, I agree with the shorter centerpieces. I like your idea with the sheer colored piece over the white tablecloth. I am thinking of buying rose petals and sprinkling them on all the tables. I have to ask Kelly if that's something that I can do. My cousin had a Valentine's wedding this year and she did red rose vases which sound simple but actually looked really nice. Are you going to use red BM dresses?

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Hi,
I am actually trying to be very creative & different my giest are going to be shocked to see I actually don't want to use lots of Roses. I love ochids & would like to have ochids in cylinders filled with water & have floating candels on top, with dark red & pink rose petals bunched around the arrangement.

For the girls dresses I am still trying to figure it out. for now I know I want to pick one color & have the girls in different styles of there choice. All my girls have different bosy shapes & I want them to all feel comfy. lol I was thinking a champagne or bronze color but I am still unsure. I do love dark red but I feel like alot of brides have been using that color & I want something different.

Entertainment I really want a band. I like this band code Bleu they were at my cousin's wedding this passed August & they were awsome. I am going to talk with them at the end of the month, if I can't get the price down to were I want it I might go with Mike from Dash of class DJ company. He was at a friend of mines wedding & had a singer with him who song during the three sit down meals & it was a great combo. So right now its all about the price. lol

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

I am absolutely with you on the price thing. Everything has been about the price. I love your centerpiece ideas. They sound really pretty, and also, the dresses in bronze I think will look so nice against the colors of the Tivoli room. We wore red for my cousins wedding and it looked pretty but I wasn't completely thrilled with the color. The bronze sounds much nicer! Have you looked at any of the Russo's vendors for flowers or photos? I heard Flowers by Brian does great work, but they were a bit pricey.

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Fot Flowers I spoke with Dyker Flower Design in bensonhurst brroklyn. He started me with the Idea I want to go with for the centerpieces, but his price was crazy & I know I am asking for orchids but I want to know was he charging me for the water lol. I am going to have an appointment with Russo's in house flower designer Adrianna & see what price she gives me. I am going to look at a few florist before I sign any contracts.

Photo I spoke with Judy at Tony Ferrara & liked the work but I felt the photo's were too posey lol. So i am still looking but also considering them I felt they had good work.

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

The florist that I am using is in Astoria and not associated with Russo's but she gave me the best price for what I wanted. You're right though some of them I think do charge for the water lol. I felt Ferrari's was a little posey too when I saw some of their work, but I think it's based on what you tell them you want, because I asked for more contemporary shots and they said they could do them. I worked with Judy too. The only thing I forgot to ask was if they have Pictage or a method to view your proofs online. I really was interested in that. I do know that they give me the negatives in my package which was really important to me also. This is exciting to finally have people to share wedding things with. I'm sorry I didn't join the boards earlier!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

As I was going around I did price out Ricardo (blah excuse my spelling) and it was a bit pricey.

As for decor- we didn't add anything because you have the three TV's that are utilized in the Tivoli room and also the elevator also has it's own lights and smoke as well. We just had the basic package - I did decide not to go with the Elements of Style package mainly because it was a day wedding.

I do recommend that at the very least for photography, video and DJ/band that you use the house vendors- they work together with each other all the time and I felt it really made the diffrence in the end as to how the day flowed.

As for florists I looked at Stefans (they showed me a wilted CP sample), Dalsimers, Flowers By Brian, a small mom/pop store in Hempstead (can't recall their name) and acutally booked with Flower Michele- I got so much in the ways of flowers for my $$.

Judy over at Ferrari's is such a doll- I love her to pieces as our photographer Mike- we clicked so well with him and everyone loved him as well.

By the way I got more non-pro picutures back (over 200 that was on a CD a friend did for us) and I am just uploading them to my Flickr account but hopefully by tonight or tomorrow I'll have more picutres to show off so you get a better idea of what the room looked like and such.

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Also since we have another Russo's bride let's update the list some more to include Nicki0509!


CL122705 March 11,2007
Stephdv94 May 27, 2007
Anthony07 June 30, 2007
Raisin July 3, 2007
Pupidda122505 July 7, 2007
Nina September 3, 2007
rosabedda September 15, 2007
BrideInBlue October 11, 2007
Legalrx04 October 13, 2007
Lilgee713 November 3, 2007
Jenn122397 November 23, 2007

Sexidevilgrl- February 17, 2008
Mizzdimple February 22, 2008
DGoldfarb0776 March 9, 2008
Jetfan1521 March 14, 2008
KFox715 April 11, 2008
Nicki0509 May 9, 2008
VARussosBride June 1, 2008
Soon2BMrsMcD July 4, 2008
Nunzian88 August 31, 2008
jinabina September 20, 2008
lela9282008 September 28, 2008
Fall Bride 2008 October 19, 2008
FinallyEngaged November 8, 2008
Hawks Nest December 19, 2008

fabulousmady March 22, 2009
Dinaamatuccio May 8, 2009
MrsCtobe July 19, 2009

Kris3115 February 14, 2010

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

KRIS u MUST check out Flower Michele. John there is AWESOME and will work with whatever budget you throw at him!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Thanks, I feel included now

I can't believe that my wedding is the wedding after the next one. That kind of freaks me out a bit that it's so close!!! I can't wait though!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

woohoo nicki that means we are stalking you NEXT for your review! lol

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

I can't believe that I am the next Russo's bride on here! OMG!!!

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

I know I said the same thing, I'm the one after you. Crazy how time flies!!! Are you super excited??? Do you have a lot left to do???

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

I will definately post a review...if I figure out how to do that!!! So all of the Russo's brides out there, what wedding songs are you guys using? Can you believe that with 49 days to go we still haven't decided on one?

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

lol i have NO CLUE! i hvnt even started thinking about that! lol

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

Hey Ladies,
today has been crazy for me can some one FM me Flower Michele's info? I would love to check it out.

As for a song no clue, the only thing I know is that I told my FH that he can pick our entrance song & he wants to walk into 'Enter The Sandman' by Matallica. lol Ilove all types of music, but he is a big rock fan & I thik as long as it is just instrumental it will be great lol.

I am going to have my bridal party walk into a fun up beat song & then have it turn to Matallica. lol my grandmother may freak haha.

Re: <3 Official Russo's on the Bay Thread <3

We did our first dance to Journey's Open Arms
Coming up the elevator we had them play Slayer's Dead Skin Mask and also Tremble for my Beloved by Collective Soul which we played when the elevator went down back into the floor.
We cut our cake to Luna by Smashing Pumkins....other songs escape me atm as well...

I totally forgot what I had the BP walk into - it was a diffrent song for each though...all had so much fun.

I am working on my review now so that when the professional pics come I can just put it all together. I just can't wait until I get home so I can upload more pics and hopefully post the link to the album on my Flickr account.

Did anyone hear from JetFan btw- her wedding was the weekend after mine and was wondering how it went.

Btw- Flower Michele- here's the website:

Flower Michele