Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

They supplied some... for example, the candles in the 'fireplace' and candles in the bridal suite.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

I am going to DM wed to discuss the contract with Anthony. Anything I should look out for or mention?

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

i just went in and saw Anthony today. He was great - he really worked with us. Just be upfront about any concerns you have and I'm sure he will help out any way he can!

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

Anthony is great and very accommodating. My FMIL loved him.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by aniamario

They supplied some... for example, the candles in the 'fireplace' and candles in the bridal suite.

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THANKS FOR THE INFO!!!! I am going to have my florist supply some as well.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

My Mini wedding review......

sorry it took me soo long.

Douglaston Manor.....I would like to say my wedding was beautiful. I had worked with chris. Instead of saying what they did that was great I'd rather tell the negative things so other girls who are booking can make decisions for them selfs about the place. Like i said I loved the place and if had to do it again i would have my wedding there. On the negative side there is no way they can accomodate as many people as they say in the grand ballroom. We had 155 people, we used the round tables and it was tightreal tight. Dance floor was tiny, everyone couldn't fit on it, and the tables were on top of each other. If your booking there and have more than 150 try and consider the oval tables(eventhough they can hardly fit 12 people) it may give you more room. The other thing i wasn't happy with was at the cocktail hour. For the amount of people I had there should of been two stations where the cocktail hour food was. They only had it set up on one side so people actually had to stand in line for awhile, and they only had one bar out there. So again people just had to stand there for awhile waiting to get a drink. I would think with 155 people they could of used two bars and two sides for food during the cocktail hour. Other than that everthing else was great, everyone loved the food.

My only other complaint was with cascon bakery. I'm going to try and post photos of the cake I got and what my cake was supposed to look like. The cake tasted great which is important but i was dissapointed in how it looked. When i went to cascon bakery i brought a picture of a cake i really liked and he said he could do that exact cake. The first picture is what he said it would look like and the second picture is whati got, it looked compressed. I'm blaming douglaston manor for this but it was very dissapointing to see.

Cress florist was by far my favorite vendor. They are the house florist that douglaston manor uses. My centerpeices came out amazing, people were fighting over who was taking them home. If you book with Tom i know you wont be dissapointed.

I hope this helps girls who have booked and future brides. If anyone has any specific question dont hesitate to fm me.

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Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

for some reason i cant post what the cake actually looked like so i'm going to put it in my album if anyone is interested in seeing it

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

Hi There... Sorry to hear about the size issue. Also good to know about cocktail hour. It's definitely worth bringing up to Thomas. We're only having 110, so i'm hoping this isn't an issue... but definitely something to think about!

Hope otherwise you had a beautiful day! Can't wait to see the rest of your pictures!

PS... For some reason I can't access your profile and see your cake pic! :(

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

Thanks for the mini review !

Thats what I was worried about with the CH, as I had seen some pictures of CH at the DM. Did anyone else who got married there have that problem? I'm definitely gonna express my concerns to Chris next time we go there, which is in a couple of weeks to make a payment.

I also could not see your pics or access your profile.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

i asked if they would separate the tables so it would look more substantal. it is a lot of food, but won't look like as much on one table. they said they would, but i'm going to ask again closer to the date

i can't access your profile to see the cake :(

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by jomacah


Thats what I was worried about with the CH, as I had seen some pictures of CH at the DM. Did anyone else who got married there have that problem?

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I didn't have any issues....I only had 105 ppl.

Here are some pics

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

Looks like for your CH, they had different stations placed throughout the patio instead of all in one area. Is that correct?

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by jomacah

Looks like for your CH, they had different stations placed throughout the patio instead of all in one area. Is that correct?

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Yes....the stations wren't all on the same side......people had to walk around.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by FutureMRS.Benn

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Posted by astorc

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Posted by aniamario

For the tables, I had to bring my own candles. I got them on sale at Michael's. Great deal!!

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I bought candles for my tables as well. Bought them from quickcandles.com! My florist told me I could probably find them from someplace cheaper than what they could give to us and they were right! :)

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Why did they provide them for AugustBridein09 but not you ladies??? This sounds weird to me. Hmmmmm. Thanks for all the responses ladies

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Ahhhhhhh!!! Not to come down hard on AugustBride AGAIN, but she had Sam, who is no longer there, and I keep finding out she got stuff no one else got. I am going to have a talk with my former BM Chris, who was great but this is unfair.

I was specifically told I had to provide candles so be careful, you won't get ANY unless you bring them. We ordered tea lights from Oriental Trading. Michaels as noted above is good too. Also, we had menus but not designed like AugustBride so don't go by those. Not sure what is going on cuz it happened with her cake and the ice sculpture too-special treatment unless she paid for a different package I am unaware of.

See standard menu that you will get unless you design it yourself! FYI: I designed my own monogram which he put on the top of the menu.

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Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by jomacah

Thanks for the mini review !

Thats what I was worried about with the CH, as I had seen some pictures of CH at the DM. Did anyone else who got married there have that problem? I'm definitely gonna express my concerns to Chris next time we go there, which is in a couple of weeks to make a payment.

I also could not see your pics or access your profile.

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My CH was excellent. So much food, everyone kept talking about it. Everyone got a seat BUT I only had around 100 people. So, that makes a big difference.

I also had round tables inside and there was lots of room. However, with 150 people, there's no way you can do the round tables. There are different sized oval tables of different widths. Don't get the ones too thin.

As for the CH, I don't know what to suggest since I had a smaller crowd and it worked out really well.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by sujeire

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Posted by cait625

hey girls - i'm thinking about booking DM for October of 2011...after reading some of your reviews I'm wondering why no one at DM told me anything about the all inclusive package or a gold or silver menu - i was just offered one menu

also has anyone worked with Anthony, is he good? should I be reconsidering??

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Same here, I booked with Anthony and I was never mentioned a gold or silver menu.
I do have to say that working with Anthony so far has been a pleasure.

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They didn't mention it to me either. I came home and discovered it in the back of the green folder they gave me.The packages, Silver, Gold, Complete are all in conjunction with Ariana Studios. I was on a tight budget and did the best I can so I went with it.

I should do my review but am in the middle of a move. The complete package offers the entire reception and with Ariana Studios, DJ, Limo, invites, video, photography, flowers and tuxes. I had issues with all but overall, it worked out to some degree. Didn't use Ariana's florist but they allow you to use Cress instead for low rise centerpieces up to 10. Also went outside and used Amanda Picone for photography and used the credit towards a Plasma Screen which made my wedding great!

If you are on a budget, this will work but if you're picky, not sure you'll be happy.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

I had Chris as BM and he provided the candles for me no problem. It's weird that they would do for one but not another. I had the silver package. I had just 150 people and everyone had seats. MY problem was that at the cooktail hour they only hadthe chaffing dishes set up on one table so everyone literally standthere on line for a while waiting to get food. I think it should have been set up better for that amount of people.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

A Mini review for the Complete package at Ariana Studios.

Flowers: Do not go with Ariana's florist unless things changed. Use Cress instead. Thomas is very nice but try and get him during the week. He is super busy and runs around like a chicken without a head and weekends are busier. Luuuv his wife. I needed that woman's touch. She made my bouquet and BM bouquet color scheme work!!

Package includes low rise centerpieces for 10 tables. I wound up paying $750 extra for additional centerpieces and I had 4 more BM's as they only include the MOH. Tom was generous with the petals. Try using filler in the centerpieces or you can pay up for high rise as with any florist.

Limos: Were clean, did the job and the chaffeurs handled everything including the runner and direction for the ceremony and BP line up as most do. I got (2) ten passenger white limos with this package. The limo company are contracted outside Ariana however and never called me to confirm. Thank God Kathy from Ariana called the day before the wedding. She/they were surprised I never got a call from the limo people. She reminded me about the 20% gratuity locked into the contract and over time after 3 hours = $100 per car.

I put aside the 20% and $100 per car x2 and gave to our BM. As I was waiting in the limo outside the church, the limo driver peaked his head in and said, I know this is not the best time but you owe $400 extra. I told him there's nothing I can do at this moment but my head was spinning. I refocused back to my happy event and about to walk down the aisle. BTW, the other limo picked up FH at the hotel and that was the first thing he said to FH. You owe $400 extra. Uh, not what you want to hear on the way to the church.

When we walked down the aisle as newly weds, the 2 chaffeurs were around us like buzzards announcing, 'don't shoot the messenger. Anyhow, the $400 included the gratuity and overtime I already set aside but not the $60 sales tax not mentioned so FH took out his wallet and with the envelope our BestMan had, it totaled up. They should have called ahead of time to square this away with us and then to have that happen just before walking down the aisle, stinks! After that, all went fine.

Invitations: You get the basics but have to pay extra for any kind of envelope lining etc. So, expect to pay tax, shipping and some extra for lining. I had to put everything together myself. I've read that brides have their invite person do it but they hand you the box and you have to put it all together plus directions to Church and DM, hotel etc. That was a challenge but we set up an assembly line and got it done in a few takes and I added the organza green pre made bows that I ordered online.

Tuxes: Good deal I think but we went with Men's Warehouse where FH also got his Tux free.

Photography: I don't know. Looks like they got a better person that prior years. I went outside because I didn't want to go cheap on photos. I figured the credit I could use towards other stuff would be big but only came to $650. Meanwhile, photography can cost avg $2500 and up. So, I put it towards a projection screen which is one large one or you can go with 2 smaller plasma screens.

Video: Excellent. Andy and Amanda are great. Andy piped in video I had growing up including me and my dad who is deceased, dancing a slow song at a wedding during my father/daughter dance. Amanda went around taking the video. She is working on the final now. Andy walked around taking zap shots which appeared on the projection screen. I gave them lots of photos to scan in of our guests at their own weddings, past memories. Tip: people luv seeing themselves in photos with you vs. pic after pic of you and your FH. Also, Amanda did a montage of our growing up years and our dating which was excellent.. Not everyone is a party animal dancer so this entertained them, the old photos and seeing pics of themselves really worked. Also, it was special for me to dance with my Uncle and see myself dancing with my dad. Also for FH, his father died when he was 10 so attached is a pic of him cheering at his dad/son pic during the montage. It made my wedding and a lot goes to Andy and Amanda from Ariana for that.

DJ and MC: Not sure if you can pay up for a more interactive MC. Anthony did the job. Didn't get super involved as I've seen some others come out and try to get the party going. People danced at my wedding so maybe we didn't need it. Gramm was easy going but I was specific with what songs to be played and when. My cousin gave him a CD of family songs as well so some of my MUST PLAY didn't get played. Not sure that was Gramms' fault though. Basic stuff with some uplighting thrown in.

Think I got everything in. See pics.

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Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

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Posted by dvw30

I had Chris as BM and he provided the candles for me no problem. It's weird that they would do for one but not another. I had the silver package. I had just 150 people and everyone had seats. MY problem was that at the cooktail hour they only hadthe chaffing dishes set up on one table so everyone literally standthere on line for a while waiting to get food. I think it should have been set up better for that amount of people.

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Things DO change over time and policy too. For instance, I hear they are supplying uplighting now as standard. I looked into it and was told $2000. So, maybe they include candles.

I got married on May 29th of this year. Anthony wasn't there. They didn't give a choice of beers. I would advise people to check and get things in writing.

Re: ~OFFICIAL DOUGLASTON MANOR THREAD~

Are there any 11ers and 12ers who aren't on the official list on page 1? I cannot believe there are no 2012 DM brides.

Let me know if you are booked with them so I can add you!