My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Okay so here is my review!

LIW: I never got into any of the groups but I loved going on this website. I visited it everyday and I can’t believe I never got to 1,000 posts. Oh Well!!!

DINNER REHEARSAL:
Three Village Inn: B+
It was great to use The Three village Inn because we got a 10% discount because it is another lessing’s facility. Everything was okay except that I am a big margarita drinker and the first four bottles of margarita mix had fruit flies in it. The GM was in the room several times and never said anything to us about it. Finally by the end of the night I had gotten a bug free drink.


RECEPTION HALL:
Bourne Mansion: A+++++++++++++ : Oh my god, they were phenomenal. The day was the best day of my life because of them! Steve was our Maitre d’ and Danielle was our bridal attendant. Both of them kept drinks in my hand the entire time. As I went to get off the dance floor to get a drink, Danielle would meet me on the dance floor with a new one!!! At the end of the night, one of my guests who likes to be funny and was quite intoxicated sat at our table and began eating the Godiva chocolates that were on the table. Steve came over to me quite upset and wanted to yell at the guy for me!!! He was hysterical! The staff at the Bourne was so good that the guests were tipping them!!
We scheduled time before the reception for pictures so we could enjoy cocktail hour but I was so busy saying hello to everyone that I barely got to eat! Everyone keeps saying how good it was though!!!! The dinner was delicious! We got a plate of each, we chose the filet mignon, the pastry filled chicken and the salmon. Some said their salmon was dry and others said it was fine. I think that is common when you are cooking fish! My fave was the chicken but I loved the fried banana’s that came with the fish! It was great!!! We also added the ice cream sundae bar to our menu. The staff made it look phenomenal!!! It was delicious! I felt like a queen all day because of the staff. It was truly an amazing day at the Bourne!!!
I know some have mentioned negative things about Ben on the website but I had no problems what so ever!! Email was the best way to reach him and although he gave one word answers they always answered my questions.

CHURCH
Three Village Church: A
I was really nervous about the church in the beginning. I was raised catholic but don’t have a strong religious background at all. My Hubbie ? was also raised catholic but was never confirmed so we couldn’t get married in a Roman Catholic Church. I wanted to get married in a church because I wanted to be able to invite people who would not be invited to the reception. I am a swim coach and a teacher so I wanted to invite my swimmers and students. I found the Three Village Church which is a non-denominational church. When I called I set up an appt. with Amy. Amy had to cancel on us the first time. We finally got to meet her brought the book she asked us to buy and during our meeting she informed that I would have to wear lingerie and be ready to spice up my marriage!!! I thought that was weird but wanted to go ahead. Our next to appts. She never showed up and never confirmed the meetings. I ended up complaining to someone I knew at the church and asked if their head pastor could do it (he normally only does members of the church). At our first meeting the pastor asks us to buy another books, which we do and take a quiz that scores strengths and weaknesses in our relationships. The next year we met every other month and discussed the results 1:1 with the pastor. We really enjoyed this process (I thought I would hate it.). It gave us tons of things to talk about. The ceremony at the church was amazing. The Pastor did such a phenomenal job talking about how we are best friends and how friendship is an undying part of marriage. He even referenced Samwise in Lord Of The Rings my DH’s favorite movie. Everything was great.

HAIR AND MAKEUP:
Oksana and Jenn the Hair Genie: A+++

I went to Jaqueline Nicole based on a recommendation from my DOC. When my DH saw the make up trial he did not like it at all!! I was heart broken. I went to Jenn and Oksana to try again. When I came home from the trial he liked their work. I had originally had my hair half up and half down. The day of I changed my mind and wanted an updo!!! Literally minutes before the pulled up I was printing pictures from the Hair Thread!!! They both did a great job. My step sister had hair extension and Jenn did a great job!! Everyone kept commenting on how my makeup looked exactly the same at the end of the night!! They both did a great job.





DAY OF COORDINATOR:
Laura LA Productions: A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

My first thought on a coordinator was that they were a waste of money. But after reading many stories on LIW I thought I would look into it. At my sister’s wedding my father was very upset that noone paid any attention to him and that he had to stand on line at the bar. My dad was helping A LOT with this wedding and I wanted it to be a great day for him too. So I decided to look into DOC’s. My FH was really excited about it, he loved the idea of having someone to deal with all the BS on the day of the wedding so we could enjoy it.
We met with Laura and loved her. She made my FH laugh the entire time and that is a difficult thing to do when discussing the wedding. We booked her the next day. We also used her for our invites as well. She gave a great discount. Laura was great with phone calls and emails during the entire process. She had great vendor recommendations as well.
The day of, she was fantastic!!! She was on top of everything!!! The seating arrangements got changed the day before and when they were doing the seating charts there was some confusion. Laura came to me and never interrupted the picture taking going on. She was just absolutely fabulous!!!
Even when we met with Steve at the Bourne and we told him we had a DOC he got really stiff. When we told him it was Laura he relaxed and said how great she was to work with.

FLOWERS:
Nancy from Open House Country A++++

When I first got engaged I really didn’t care about the flowers and said that it would be a place for me to save some money. I went to LA Blossom and Open House and one other place for estimates. While Nancy was on the higher side of the estimates, I liked her the best and her love for flowers. When I first met her I had no idea really what I wanted except that I wanted roses!! After working with her for a couple of hours, we had everything set. After I got her estimate, I decided to change a few things and Nancy was great with that. I loved my flowers. Everything was gorgeous!!! My Bo-k was ivory roses that had not yet opened up! The bridesmaids flowers were black magic. The flower girls had baby pink roses. The boutineers on the groomsmen were black magic as well. My DH had ivory to match mine. At the church she decorated every other pew Hydrangea’s (my favorite). At the Bourne the centerpieces were black magic roses in a silver bowl decorated with pink rose petals on the table!! She also decorated all the mantles with red and pink rose petals. When you first entoer the Bourne there is a table where the champagne is for each guest. This table needed to have a large centerpiece. My stepmom found a great vase to put the flowers into and Nancy filled it with red and pink roses. It was really nice!

DJ:
Tommy Tunes with Joe E. as our MC A+++:
I was so scared about booking a DJ because of the extremely tall ceilings at the Bourne. My mother had been to a wedding there and said the music was so loud that she couldn’t have a conversation at the table. At every bridal show I asked every DJ what they would do and every DJ told me something different, I was so fustrated. Laura the DOC recommended Tommy Tunes and strongly suggested Joe E. When I called and he was still available I was so excited!! When we went for our meeting we met with the owner who recommended the smallest package, which I was impressed with. The price wasn’t as bad as we had predicted in our budget so we decided to book with them. After I booked them I called Steve the GM for the Bourne and asked him what his advice was to ease the acoustics and he recommened the same thing that Tommy Tunes said. The day of the wedding they were fantastic, they had all of our songs for our special dances and played the type of music we asked for. I had several compliments on the DJ!!!

MOB Dress:
After many stores and shopping my mother found a dress she liked and took it to a dress maker, I don’t know here name but if you want more info FM me and I will find out. My mom showed her a picture of the dress and she did agreat job. My mom had the dress done in two parts. She word a shorter skirt at the church and then changed into a fuller skirt for the reception. Everyone loved it.
BRIDESMAID DRESSES:
After reading below, I ordered my dresses from Netbride another recommendation from my DOC and they were great. The dresses came in before the expected date. I also ordered my flower girl dresses from here too!!!




DRESS:
The dress was the most important thing to me. I have always wanted a beautiful and perfect wedding gown. I originally bought my dress somewhere else and then changed my mind, so I am going to rate both places.
Bridal Reflections F:
I stopped by here one day after visiting another salon and asked if I could look around, they informed me that you needed an appt. Not a problem, I called an made an appt. two weeks later; the first appt. was for the bridesmaids and the second appt. was for me. When I arrived on time with my bridesmaids, the area where the dresses were was packed. After selecting several dresses to try on, they gave us one small fitting room for three of my girls. This was ridiculous. The place was so loud you couldn’t hear and the girl assigned to us was no where to be seen. Once the girls got the dresses on they were too big on them and there was noone to clip them or give us any help. We actually ended up finding a dress for them there but I found it online. Anyway, when it got time for my appt. the lady was very nice, and tried hard to bring me out the dresses that I wanted. I found this one dress that I really liked, when I walked out of the dressing room my bridal party started oohing and aahing. I thought I had found my dress. It was a Alvina Valenta dress but the sample they had the dress was pinkish with a cream lace over it. I wanted an ivory or white dress.When I went to purchase the dress, the color of the samples didn’t match up to the colors on the dress and I started to get nervous but wanted the discount, so I bought the dress any way. When I went to pay for the dress, they just kept talking and talking about nothing and gave me no instructions for the dress or the purchase of it. When I got home I started having doubts about the color of the dress and also the price. I think the price was raised when I went to buy it so with the discount it was about the same price it was before. Three days later, I told my DH that I got the wrong dress. I immediately called Bridal reflections to cancel and they said the dress had already been cut. So, I had to call Alvina Valenta and I asked them if it had been cut and they said they hadn’t even gotten the order yet and they don’t cut the dress right away. After several days on unanswered phone calls from Bridal Reflections the manager called me back and said it was too late because I had violated the 72 hour decision to change my mind. Even though it was her that did not call back. So I got screwed and canceled the dress anyway. WARNING: Check out the BBB on them they have a lot of complaints against them.

Priscilla Of Boston:
After the nightmare at Bridal Reflections, I went to Priscilla Of Boston and fell in love with this gown. It was simple and material was just amazing to wear. I worked with Christine who was great to work with. She was always making sure who was with me (divorced family) so she didn’t say the wrong things and gave great ideas. She was fabulous to work with. She went with me to all my fittings as well. I wish I remembered the lady who did my fittings but she was absolutely fabulous. She was sweet and nice and listened well to my opinions. I highly recommend going there.

VEIL:
With All My Heart: A
I knew I wanted a very simple veil because I would only be wearing it for the ceremony and then I was going to take it off. So I went to With All My Heart and they had several veils to choose from and said I could do what every I wanted to it. I ordered my veil and they said it would take two weeks. About a week and half later I got a call from the manager at With All My Heart who said the company who manufactures the veil was moving and it would take two more weeks if I needed something right away to contact her. Luckilly I didn’t but I appreciated that she called me before I had to call her.

JEWELRY:
Marie Richards:
I went here several times, to look at jewelry but had a difficult time choosing because I couldn’t picture what it would look like with the dress. Marie the owner allowed me to borrow several pieces from her and bring them to one of my fittings. I did and found the necklace that I decided to wear.


EARRINGS:
Gift from stepmom.
I had picked out earring to wear from Macy’s but was surprised the week before the wedding with real diamonds!! The were gorgeous, it was so nice of her to do something like that.

BRACELET:
Macy’s. I saw one of the brides on here had a beautiful diamond bracelet and I kept looking at them but never bought them. One day one I was in Macy’s looking at necklaces I found this bracelet and bought it. I loved the vintage look to it.

HAIR PINS:
Barron’s Flea Market
I knew I wanted hair pins from the very beginning and after one of my trials and went to the Barrons Flea Market that everyone speaks of and found my hair pins there. I loved them.


SHOES:
Steve Madden: B
The only reason I give them a B is because I couldn’t dance in them which is my fault because I didn’t break them in enough before the wedding. I never got blisters from them at all and I got them on sale for a great price!!!




TUXES:
Tony’s Tuxedo A+

We first went to Men’s Warehouse because all the groomsmen lived far away. We looked through the book, but DH picked an atypical tux and they didn’t have one for us to look at. So we went to Tony’s and his son was great. He was so personable and knowledgable we got our tuxes right there.
CAKE:
Audrey’s Bakery A:

I had the choice of Black Forest or Audrey’s and after reading such rave reviews of Audrey’s I decided to go with them. I got the tasting cake of Chocolate, Vanilla, Chocolate cake with raspberry and white chocolate mouse filling. I was so excited after meeting with them because I thought I would get just a typical looking cake but they had so many options to choose from. I saw a thread on the website about cake toppers and some of the future brides were joking about this cake topper and how their FH would never allow and I thought my FH would say the same thing. Then one day he was in Michael’s with me and I showed him and he loved it, he thought it was hysterical.




LIMO’S
Serenity: B+

The Limo’s were all on time and knew for the most part where they were going. Our driver though never stopped bugging us with questions about my parents limo’s and who was going in what limo and where the limo was going. I would have hoped they would have asked my parents rather than the bride and groom. Also on the way to the Bourne we hit traffic and the driver took a longer route to get to the Bourne after the traffic cleared up. Also some of the trays and compartments were filled with water, one of the GM’s put his phone in a compartment and it got soaked and destroyed. Water also almost fell onto my dress!!

HOTEL TRANSPORTATION
Baumann Bus Company:
They were great to deal with. We thought it would be fun to get a school bus to transport everyone back and forth and it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than any other service that was out there!!!



PHOTOGRAPHER
12th Night Dom and Michael and Vicki: A++++

These guys were hysterical. I got Dom and Vicki at my house. (Vicki had called acouple of days before and asked if she could come). Michael went to the groom’s house. Everything went beautifully, they were really good. They got some great shots. We had to rush a bit though due to the sun setting but besides that we loved having them there. I can’t wait to see our proofs.

VIDEOGRAPHER:

Timeless Treasures: A (pending video)
Ray was fantastic, he was ontime and behind the scenes the entire time. When ever I looked at him he would put the camera down and walk away. He was funny to have with us and never make us feel we were put on the spot. I never saw the videographer or the photographer at the church until it was over!!!! Fantastic job, I still have to give him pics and songs and then I will rate the DVD.

FAVORS:
Wine A
I bought Sutter Home wine from a liquor store in Patchogue on the corner of 112 and horseblock where DMV was. I did a lot of price shopping for this and they had the best price out of them all. I put labels on them of a picture from our e-photo.

HOTEL
Garden INN Islandia A
This was a great place, they gave me a great price on the rooms and we paid an extra fee to keep the bar opened till 3:00. Everyone came back after the wedding and drank away. It was great.



DIY:
I really tried to do as many DIY projects as I could. I really wanted to do the votive place card holders, save the dates, table numbers, mansion decorations, bathroom baskets and programs.

Votive place Card holders:

These were so easy to do, I bought clear labels at staples and printed the names and table numbers on them, put them in alphabetical order and they were done! This was the easiest of the diy’s.

Save the Dates: I don’t think I even have apicture of these but I just used a picture off of word of a mansion and wrote the information down. If I had seen some of the ones the girls had done on here, I probably would have done them different, but they served the purpose!!

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Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

GREAT Review Heather! I am so glad everything turned out great on your wedding day!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Great Review, Congrats

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Congratulations! Thanks for the awesome review. You looked amazing.

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Great review! Congrats!!!!!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Congrats!! Where's the pics?!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

I tried putting pics in the review but when I went to post they didn't show up, I am working on it!!!!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

Congrats!!!!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

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Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

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Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

congrats..i love ur dress!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

congrats!

Re: My Wedding review of Bourne Mansion, Priscilla Of Boston, tommy tunes, open house country serenity limo's, 12th night, timeless treasures and more

congrats...cant wait to see more pics.