07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Being a teacher, my grade scale goes from an F to an A+! This isn’t really in any particular order….

LI Weddings – A+
This is a great site filled with great people! I got so many great ideas and reviews on here. I’m so glad I joined and didn’t just lurk. I wish I had more time to spend on here, but the school year seemed to fly by with so much to do. Thank you to LI weddings for creating the site.

Engagement (Mama Lombardi’s) & Ring (Busy Bee Jewelers) – A+ and A+
My DH actually asked my mom to marry me 2 and a half months before he actually proposed! They would go together at night, after work to various jewelers to try to find “the ring” for me. After some weeks of searching, they went to Busy Bee Jewelers in Massapequa. Gary was the best! He drew out exactly what my DH wanted and mom gave her approval. He showed Brian the mold after he made it and had him then choose a diamond, and side diamonds of his choice! We still go back there for all our jewelry needs and tell others to do the same!



Since it was my 30th birthday last year, I wanted to have a big party in my parent’s backyard. Brian wanted to propose at the party, but then learned that my friends were expecting it. I actually thought he was going to propose on the cruise that we were taking over Christmas vacation because I kept saying, “I’m so excited that we’re going to be out to sea on New Years Eve.” Well, he didn’t want anyone expecting it so he took me to Mama Lombardi’s one night for dinner (August 8, 2010 to be exact). He kept checking his pockets, but he keeps his phone and wallet in his pockets so I figured he was checking for that! We sat down and ordered. Then he became really quiet. So I did a lot of small talk and as I was talking he started moving the bread, drink glasses and plates to the side, and I thought that meant that the appetizer was coming. Well finally he told me to stop talking and mentioned all the wonderful things about me and asked me right there. I WAS FLOORED! It turns out he was moving things out of the way because, being the clutz that I am (which will come in later in this review), he thought I would knock something over!

Wedding Bands (Busy Bee Jewelers) – A+
Since Brian got my e-ring there, we decided to go back to get his band there as well. My band was going to be my grandmothers so the diamonds needed to get reinforced and it needed to get resized slightly. Brian had no clue what he wanted. He looked at some, but liked parts of one band and parts of another. Gary, the jeweler, said no problem, and made him the band he wanted!





Bridal Shower (Pompei Restaurant & Catering, West Hempstead) – A+
My godmother was retiring this year and my mom told me that she had it at work and was retiring earlier than we expected. Her party was going to be small because so many people pissed her off at work. I got the invitation in the mail, along with 4 other invitations to other parties. I figured that one of those dates had to be my shower. One invitation was to my cousin’s 18th birthday party who was also graduating this from HS, so I figured that that date was definitely my shower because my aunt is too cheap to throw him two parties!!! Well boy was I wrong….my godmothers supposed retirement party was my shower!!! I was SHOCKED! No one slipped at all!

Mom and my girls were amazing! The food was outstanding….and tons of it! The service was awesome and the cake (a Napoleon cake) was to die for! Everyone was beyond generous spoiling us with gifts and well wishes. I’m still not completely unpacked from the shower and trying to figure out where things are going to go!













The Wedding Plaza, Floral Park – A+ customer service, B alterations
Right after getting engaged, I knew I needed to start looking for a dress. I am so picky when it comes to clothes shopping so my mom knew it was going to be a slight nightmare. We went to a few places before ending up at The Wedding Plaza after someone my mom met told her to go there. Luanne was the sales associate that was helping me and she was phenomenal! I told her what I was looking for and she pulled some dresses all within my budget. I was getting frustrated because it was hot, I wasn’t finding anything I remotely liked, and my mom wasn’t crying at all (I always said that I knew which dress would be mine once my mom cried). Luanne said she had one more dress for me to try on. I gave in and tried it on. It was beautiful…a cathedral length (11 feet to be exact), white satin, strapless ball gown with tons of beading and embroidery by Symphony Bridal. I put it on, walked out and mom started crying, then I started crying…that was my dress! I also got my headpiece and veil there. The headpiece was a simple headband, but the veil was gorgeous! It was 2 tiers with embroidery on both tiers that matched the embroidery on my dress. Luanne picked out both for me and I loved both of them! If you go to The Wedding Plaza, make sure you ask for her because she has the patience of a saint and definitely knows what you want!

We also got my bridesmaids dresses there…no issues what so ever! I chose Impressions separates so that my girls could get whatever top and bottom looked best as long as it was black satin. The owner, Ron, told us to make sure that we ordered the dresses all together so that the blacks would match. We did that, but it turns out that Impressions cut the tops from the same dye lot, and the bottoms from a different dye lot so that the tops and bottoms didn’t match! It was horrible! However, Ron took care of everything…he actually paid for new dresses for my girls because Impressions wasn’t complying with their contract and he didn’t want me to suffer! Overall, the dresses looked phenomenal on the girls!

NOW, about alterations…Carmela, the head seamstress was great! She worked on my gown and a couple of my girls. Carmela has her own way of doing things and is very laid back; something my mom is not. It took 5 trips there to get my dress fitted, hemmed, and bustled properly, and the last time there she was basically sewing the dress on me! The other seamstress wasn’t so great…one of my bridesmaids said that her top was a little tight under her arms after alterations were made. This other seamstress turned to her and said, “Listen if you wanted comfort you should have ordered a track suit.”

















Tuxes (Men’s Warehouse, Massapequa) – B+
We went to Men’s Warehouse because we had people all around the US getting tuxes for our wedding so we figured it would be easiest for everyone to go to one by them. There are three fathers involved in our wedding (DH’s father, my father, and my stepfather). We put a note on the file that said the fathers can get whatever tux and vest/tie that they want, but every time one of the fathers went for a tux, we got a phone call from Men’s Warehouse asking us what they were supposed to show the fathers. No one read the note at the bottom of our file! My dad came from California and apparently they measured him wrong out there because when he got here, his pants were too big, his jacket and shirt were too small. So they rushed ordered him a correct tux. A few of the tuxes needed to be left there to get re-dry cleaned because there were spots on the jacket/pants. The buttons Brian’s white vest were dirty so they had to get replaced. Overall, the experience wasn’t horrendous, just annoying.



Weather on July 29, 2011 – A
The weather started out kinda crappy with lots of rain. By the time we left the hair salon, the rain had stopped. Unfortunately, my stepfather put all this work into the landscape of the backyard, but it was too wet and soggy to take pictures back there. However, we were able to take pictures in the front of the house so that part of the landscaping didn’t go to waste! The sun came out just as I was walking down the aisle so there are some great pictures with the rays of the sun coming through the stained glass window. It became muggy, but at that point we didn’t care. By the time we got to the reception hall, it was cloudy again, but that was fine by me because that meant we could still take some pictures outside and not worry about people squinting! The minute we stepped back inside, the skies opened up and it was pouring again…someone was definitely watching out for us that day!

Church (Maria Regina, Seaford, NY) – B+
The priest that married us was the 3rd priest we had gone through. The first one ended up going on vacation…the second one said, “well I’m a possibility, but don’t worry someone will be there.”….and Father Stephen was the third one. However, three days before the wedding, I got a phone call from the rectory secretary telling me that Father Stephen had gone upstate for a few days, but SHOULD be back by Friday morning. Thank goodness he was back in time to perform the ceremony that afternoon. After the ceremony, we were told we could take pictures in the church, but the church worker had other ideas and turned the lights out before we even finished the receiving line. After some arguments, he agreed to give us a few more minutes to take pictures inside the church. Father Stephen’s sermon mentioned at how rude people were and the church worker was the perfect example of people being rude!!!





Photographer & Videographer (S I L V E R F O X, Lindenhurst, NY) – A+
We used them for our engagement pictures and our wedding photos. Alexis, our photographer, was awesome. She was so much fun and so laid back. She let us do whatever we want. Alexis had never shot at Russo’s on the Bay before so the office manager, Renee, Alexis and myself took a trip to Russo’s to scout out locations of where we could shoot. Alexis and I sat with a Banquet Manager and she told us where great shots were and took us on another private tour of the building and grounds! All of the pictures that I’m posting in this review are from Alexis. I absolutely LOVE all of our pictures. Steve was our videographer, and was just as great! He was laughing right along with us the entire time! I HIGHLY recommend them if anyone is looking for a photographer!

Here are some of our engagement photos:






Florist (Flowers By Brian) – D
October 2010, we met with Stacey at FBB. We wanted something different so we told her that we wanted to do red roses submerged in three different size glass cylinders with a floating candle on top. She swore to use up and down that we could do that. Well, when it came time to see a sample, Stacey no longer worked there so we were now dealing with Rich. Well, to make a long story short, you cannot submerge roses because roses float. So when they tried to submerge them, they pushed the candle up and out of the cylinder. My mom and I went to FBB 5 different times for at least 2 and a half hours each time to try to get a centerpiece that I liked. Finally, we agreed to still have the cylinders but submerge white orchids and have red roses placed on top. Well, fast foward to the day of the wedding…they didn’t bring my MIL’s corsage and said it was our fault, they never put the rose petals and votive candles on the placecard table, the roses on top of the cylinders weren’t full and you could see the green Styrofoam, the cylinders weren’t full of water or orchids, and they forgot red roses for the top of the cake, but quickly ran out to another florist to get them for me. On the bright side, I absolutely LOVED my bouquet and the bouquets of my bridesmaids:








Rehearsal Dinner (Black Forest Brew Haus, Farmingdale, NY) – A+
We wanted something different than Italian food since we were having an over abundance of Italian food the next night so we went for German food. Shane was the manager we dealt with and she was fabulous! We only had to put down $100 deposit and were given the backroom. It was relatively inexpensive for a lot of food! We go there quite often so we know that the food is awesome, and they didn’t disappoint us that night either!

Truffles (A Fresh Approach) – A+
At a bridal showcase, I couldn’t get Brian away from their table. He said that we NEEDED truffles at the wedding from them. It didn’t pay for us to get truffles for the wedding because Russo’s already gave us truffles so we decided to get them for the rehearsal dinner. Everyone was raving about them. Brian cannot wait to have another party to get more!

Grooms Cake (The Cake Gallery, Bellmore, NY) – A+
Brian and I met online so every night before we go to bed, he kisses me and says, “Thanks for clicking.” Because of that, I approached Tom at The Cake Gallery and asked him to make a cake for me. He loved the idea and the cake came out amazing! It was chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling. It was unreal!



Mother of the Bride Dress (Totally You, Bellmore, NY) – A
It took my mom FOREVER to find a dress that she liked. Finally we went there and saw a dress hanging up that I knew would look great on her. Well, it was discontinued so we had to take that one which was 3 sizes too big, but they said that they can take it in and perform miracles, which they did. The only reason why I didn’t give them an A+ was because at first, they didn’t want to add the sleeves onto the dress because of a prior customer. Other than that, the customer service and alterations were great.





Hair and Makeup (Salon DiModa, West Babylon) – A+
I didn’t want someone to come to the house because although my parents have a decent size house I didn’t want to get crammed in at their house, so we went to Salon DiModa. This is the hair salon that I always go to and absolutely LOVE! The girls there are my age so they understand what’s in now in hair and makeup. They actually opened the salon early for us and didn’t make any other appointments for the time that we were there. We had the entire salon to ourselves! Jessica did my hair and she nailed it. Karissa did everyone’s make up and I wish I could look like that everyday. Here’s a great picture of my makeup, but I only have pictures of my hair with my veil on, so you really can’t see how great Jess did it:



Shoes (DSW) – A+
I had found online at shoebuy.com the best flat Mary Jane shoes. I was so psyched to wear them! Well, two days before my wedding, I was carrying the favors out to the car, landed on my ankle and sprained it REALLY badly. Well, because of that I ended up wearing sparkly converse sneakers that I bought for my bachelorette party. I even found red ruffle socks that I wore with them. I loved the socks and the shoes!

My ankle:



My Shoes and socks:



Limo (East Coast Limos) – B
Our DJ owns part of this limo company so we got a really great price on an Escalade 16 passenger limo. Well the morning of the wedding, since my cell phone was a contact number, I got a phone call from them asking if their driver had gotten to the grooms location yet. Meanwhile they should have already been there and left. Well it turns out that the drivers GPS was broken so she stopped at Target to get a new one! Also, although we were promised a limo that could hold 16 people, we were only 14 and we BARELY fit. We were also given a town car to take us to the airport for our mini moon on Sunday, but when it showed up, the air conditioner didn’t work and it was so loud it gave us a head ache.

DJ (Level DJ’s) – A+
The DJ was a close friend of my matron of honor so we got a great deal and a great DJ! He played everty thing that we asked and some great 80’s and 90’s songs that we didn’t ask for. He even played some NKOTB, Bell Biv Devoe, Poison, and other great hair bands! He was also the one that put together our photo montage which came out awesome. We got all the zap shots and the montage. I would highly recommend him, but he has since sold the business and isn’t dj-ing anymore! Sorry ladies…

OTHERS
Invites (Media Plus) – A+
I found the invites that we liked at Party City, but then I looked online to see if I can find them cheaper which I did. For $350, I got 150 invites with all the inserts. They were mailed to me with no issues what so ever!



Vistaprint – A+
From all the emails I got for freebies, I was able to get the rehearsal dinner invitations, the OOT bags thank you note, and the photosharing cards all for only the cost of shipping!! I have recommended this site to tons of other people too!!





Cake Topper (Milano Creations, ETSY.com) – A+
We didn’t want the usual silver initial cake topper since silver really wasn’t a part of our wedding. I found Milano Creations on etsy and saw that they could make us a black one and ordered it immediately!



Channa Plaque – A+
What can I say that hasn’t been said about Channa…she’s awesome to work with, so easy and caring and just fabulous! My mom bought us our plaque for Christmas last year. We haven’t hung it up yet, but one of my bridesmaids who’s getting married next year wanted one so I got it for her for their engagement party. Her future inlaws thought it was such a great thing! We put ours on our table at the wedding held up by plate stands.



Mini Moon (Excellence Resorts, Dominican Republic) – A+
Because of Brian’s job, we could only get away for a few days. Our longer honeymoon is in December over Christmas vacation. However, the resort was unreal…so peaceful! The food was great as was the service. Everyone there just wanted to sit and talk and help us relax. The weather was unbelievable too. We had a walk out suite so the pool was right outside our room. We had our own personal hammock and pool chairs. The pool bar was literally 10 feet from our room. Beautiful…stunning…relaxing…just unreal! Starting work again, I wish I was back there right now!!











AND NOW ON TO THE BEST PART OF THE WEDDING….

RUSSO’S ON THE BAY – A+ and way way way way beyond!
There are really no words that can describe how wonderful Russo’s is and was! When we went for a food tasting, we tasted everything! It was four hours long and everything was phenomenal! Brian’s parents could not believe everything that we were getting! Audrey was our original banquet manager, but ended up being on vacation for our wedding so Carol took over and didn’t miss a beat! She followed my instructions to a T and basically read my mind on so many different things!

Louis and Christina were our matre’ds, and Anthony was our bridal attendant. Christina was ready to send someone out to seven eleven to get Brian a specialty beer and a 5 hour energy drink. Christina personally escorted us to our table to eat EVERY SINGLE COURSE!!! I didn’t have to carry my bouquet or train once during pictures because Anthony was there waiting to help. He even carried water in his jacket pockets for us when we wanted them. The food was beyond amazing and overwhelming! My parents went to a family wedding the other night and the family kept comparing our wedding to that wedding and they kept saying it didn’t compare!! We had the hospitality hour because of the time span between the church and cocktail hour. We wanted that time span because we wanted to get pictures over with before the cocktail hour started. Well, people thought that the hospitality hour was the cocktail hour! We originally thought we were just getting fruit, vegetables, and some pastries. Instead, they set up a sushi station, sandwich station, antipasto station, hors d’ ovrs and some other things. The cocktail hour spanned two rooms and had so many things that people couldn’t get to everything in the hour! We had a martini bar and frozen drinks, as well as top shelf alcohol.

We came into the reception via the elevator and people were FLOORED! A friend still cannot believe that we came through the floor! The appetizer was the sausage, artichoke, and asparagus quiche with the shrimp salad on the side. The salad was the house salad with the lemon vinaigrette dressing. The two pasta choices were penne alla vodka and the half moon raviolis with the creamy pesto. And of course…the 11 choices for the main course. Being the bride and groom, they give you all 11 choices! We ended up taking them home and eating them the next time for dinner with my parents and uncle! Everything was beyond delicious…I honestly wish there was a better, more descriptive word that describes the food. People ended up taking their food home and because Russo’s didn’t want the container on the table, they gave people a coat check number so that they could pick it up on their way out!

Russo’s made our cake which was devil’s food with hazelnut and oreo mousse filling. The Viennese hour was indescribable! Milk and white chocolate fountain, fresh zeppolis, hand rolled truffles, candy bar, a juicing station, hundreds of pastries, cakes, and pies, a gelato station, a breakfast station (waffles, French toast, omelets), bananas foster, freshly popped popcorn, candy apples, and so much more! We bought pastry boxes for Russo’s to hand out. People were going nuts! It was so funny seeing people filling these boxes!

Oh, and here’s another great feature…when people were leaving, there was a food cart outside handing out roasted nuts and water for people to take home!!!

When I say that Russo’s spares no expense and goes above and beyond, I don’t know if I’m truly giving them the honor and respect they deserve!

Here are some more professional pictures…mostly from Russo’s, but some I just really love so I wanted to share how wonderful Alexis is! Enjoy:






















































SO, that’s my review!! If you have any questions about anything, feel free to FM me! I love reliving my wedding and every aspect of it!!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Great review! Everything was beautiful!!

What size were the OOT letters that you got from vistaprint? The postcard size or something else?

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

great review sorry about your ankle

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

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Posted by Jmrosa1

Great review! Everything was beautiful!!

What size were the OOT letters that you got from vistaprint? The postcard size or something else?

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They were flat inviations which is basically the same size as a post card.

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

GREAT Review! Awesome Pics. CONGRATS! and your poor ankle... Im gonna be crazy the day leading up to wedding. Im gonna have to bubble wrap myself. LOL

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Great review!!! Everything looks beautiful!!!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Thanks ladies!! The ankle just added some more blue to the 'something blue' LOL An ace bandage was just added to my wedding wardrobe!! LOL

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Great review! Everything looked amazing!!!! You looked gorgeous. I loved all the pics but I have to say I love the pic of you holding the bok with the rosary beads over your hand. Great shot!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Great Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love your cake!!!! and I was at the same HM resort (possibly at the same time as you!!)

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Great review!! Congratulations to both you and your now DH!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Everything looked beautiful, congrats!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!! everything looked great and you looked beautiful!!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Congrats! That was a great review. I can't wait to get married at Russo's. I actually went to a wedding there this weekend for the first time and was soo blown away.. It was exactly what you described! Your e ring is beautiful! I'm glad you had an amazing time.. I will have to reconsider FBb!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

thanks for sharing

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Awesome review!!! You looked amazing!!! Congrats!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Everything looks absolutely stunning! Thanks for sharing!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Congratulations!!!! You looked beautiful!

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

Nancy!!! My wedding is Saturday, and your review got me even more psyched!!

Your table linens were beautiful, they offered those overlays with elements of style or did you get them somewhere else?

Re: 07/29/11 - Russo's on the Bay, S I L V E R F O X, Wedding Plaza, FBB, Mini moon to DR, and lots more with TONS OF PICS!!!

The food looks sooo good there! Thanks for sharing.