10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more

This website was so helpful to me in planning our wedding. The forums were so helpful to get ideas and opinions from other brides going through the same thing and I used so many vendors that I heard about on here! After I started using this website when we got engaged, I have told so many of my friends who are planning weddings about it. DH and I were very lucky and our wedding day was perfect! There were really very few things that I could complain about regarding our vendors. I can't figure out how to post pictures on my review so I will put some in an album.

Invitations
Bride Magazine by Gartner Studios: A+
This was an area that I definitely did not want to spend a lot on because after someone receives an invitation they go in a drawer or the garbage. I bought a box from Michaels on clearance, one on ebay and then two more of the Gartner Studios website, totaling around $100. DH and I are very lucky that his uncle is very good with computers and has a laser printer so we were able to use the template from the website to create exactly what we wanted. It was surprisingly easy, just a little time consuming to put together. All in all I highly recommend this route if you are looking to save money.

Rings
Marinelli Jewelers: A
DH bought my engagement ring from Marinellis and he was not interested in shopping around for our wedding bands. DH found a ring he liked immediately, I also found a ring that I liked but felt that it was too expensive and I wanted to shop around more. I found another ring that I liked at another store that was more reasonably priced but because I couldn’t compare it to the original one I went back to Marinelli. In the time that I had shopped around they sold the ring that I had liked but told me they could special order the wedding band that was designed to match my engagement ring. This ring ended up being more expensive than the original one I wanted but I was happy knowing that it would match perfectly.

Dress
Demetrios Bridal Salon - Macy’s Smithaven Mall - A+
I had a great experience finding my dress at Macys. I made my appointment at a bridal showcase so they gave me a coupon for 15% and $100 off. I didn’t look at the price of my dress before I put it on and it was waaaaay over my budget. When I decided it was the one, to get the price to be where I was more comfortable they told me to wait a week to order it because there was a friends and family sale so I would get a discount of 20% and let me use the $100 off even though at that point the coupon would have been expired. The dress came in quickly and they did a great job with the alterations. The only downside to buying a dress there was that there wasn’t a cap on the alterations like at other stores so if you need a lot done it could get very expensive.

DOJ
Macys Smithaven Mall - A+
I found some great earrings that matched the necklace that my aunt was lending me. They were on sale and we used a coupon so they ended up being pretty cheap. My mom also bought me a rhinestone bracelet that was under $10 and looked really nice with the other jewelry.

Headpiece
Barrons at Tri County - A+
I looked at headbands at Macys, Davids Bridal and on Etsy and I didn’t see anything that I liked that wasn’t over $100. I wanted something that matched my dress and was beautiful but I couldn’t justify spending so much on a headband that I would wear for one day. At the recommendation of so many brides on here I went to Barrons and found a great headband that was about $60. They had a huge selection and you really can’t beat the prices there.

Tuxedos
Mens Warehouse - A
We had two groomsmen coming from out of state so we thought that it would be easy to go with a national chain. When we went to pick out the tuxes the salesperson we had wasn’t very good, he barely said anything to us about the different tuxes and options, he kind of just flipped through a catalog and pointed to each page and asked what we wanted. We went with the Vera Wang fitted tuxes and they looked great on everyone. We used the coupon from the Davids Bridal catalog and had enough people so everyone got $40 off and DH and my dad both got free tuxes.

Bridesmaid Dresses
Davids Bridal - A
Three of my five BMs live out of state so I wanted things to be easy for everyone. I had each girl pick a dress they liked in the same color and fabric so they would look cohesive but everyone would feel comfortable. All the dresses looked great and came in really quick. As far as service goes, I went with two of my girls to look at dresses at the store in Lake Grove and even though it wasn’t crowded we didn’t really have anyone helping us. Every now and then someone would come over and ask us if we needed anything but it was easier to just do it ourselves. A few of the girls got alterations at various stores and none of them had a problem with them.

Photographer
Silverfox - A+
We picked Silverfox because we got a great feeling from them at our first meeting (DH loved that they had shot Matt Moulson’s wedding). From all of the photographers we looked at I thought that their work seemed the most consistent. We had one photographer for 10 hours and a second for 4 hours and though they were expensive they were worth every penny. On the day they were timely and professional and made sure to get every picture on my (extremely long) must take photo list. The best part was that our pictures were ready 2 weeks after the wedding!

Videographer
Capture the Moment - A+
I decided about a month before the wedding that I wanted a videographer so I knew I was going to have limited options. I sent a bunch of emails out to feel a few vendors out after watching highlight videos. Jessica was the first to get back to me and she posts her packages on her website so I knew ahead of time that she was affordable. After hearing back from a few other (much more expensive) vendors we set up a meeting with Jessica. Her pricing was the most reasonable and she was very flexible with payments. We booked her for her most basic package adding on two extra hours to be able to include some getting ready time and photos. Two days before the wedding I spoke with my banquet manager about the timing of dinner and cake cutting etc. I found out that the timing we had planned was about a half hour off. I emailed Jessica right away to see if she would be able to make the change so we would get everything in and she got back to me right away saying it was no problem. We already got our trailer back and it was incredible, she got all of the important moments in and it is just amazing! I can’t stop watching it!

DJ
Parties Alive - A+
I saw Parties Alive at the LIWeddings showcase in the Spring and won a free photo booth through them. After talking to another bride at the showcase I found out that they had also given away free steel drums for cocktail hour. When the showcase was over I went to talk to one of the MC’s about the steel drums instead of the photo booth and was told that Rich would be willing to work with us on things. When DH and I met with Rich we clicked right away. We ended up booking about ten minutes after we left the appointment. Rich gave us an awesome package that included ceremony music, the steel drummer and a singer for cocktail hour, lighting and a DJ and MC. On our wedding day Rich could not have done a better job! Everything was perfect and the dance floor was packed all night. All of the songs we wanted to hear were played throughout the night and after the last song was played and a chant of “One more song!” started Rich played one more to keep the party going for a few more minutes! Parties Alive really made our wedding the party that we wanted it to be! I can not say enough good things about Rich and his company!

Limo
Elegant Limousine A
We had a pretty big bridal party, 9 groomsmen and 5 bridesmaids, so we needed a big vehicle to accommodate us. We shopped around a little bit and found that Elegant had the best price by far for a party bus. The bus was clean and on time to pick everyone up. We did go over by about 10-15 minutes because of traffic but they didn’t charge us extra. The only thing that I didn’t like about my experience, and it really wasn’t a big deal, was that when we booked I wasn’t sure of where or when we were going to be picked up and have our photos taken so it didn’t say any of that stuff on our contract. I called after we finalized all those details so it could be added to the contract and I could have it in writing but the person I spoke to told me that those details were gone over the week of the wedding. During this conversation I wanted to make sure that our pickup time was going to be ok because the only real detail on the contract was that the ceremony started at 6 and our pick up time was going to be 1:30, they told me that this would be ok but I didn’t get it in writing at that point. The week before the wedding I called again to get these details finalized and they told me that someone would be in touch with me the next week to go over it. I explained that I wanted to do it then so I wouldn’t have anything to worry about the week of the wedding and I wanted to have a copy of the contract and the times/locations in writing. They agreed but said that they wouldn’t mail the copy of the contract to me that they would only be able to fax it, so I had them fax it to me at work. This all seemed a little strange to me, I thought that the sooner they had the details the better for everyone, but I guess that’s how they do things. It didn’t ruin my experience with the company whatsoever and I was really pleased with things the day of the wedding but I felt they could have been more accommodating to such a simple request.

Venue
Woodbury Country Club A+
Woodbury Country Club was AMAZING!!!! I went to a party for work here about a year and half ago and thought that it was beautiful and that the food was awesome so I had it in mind when DH and I got engaged and started looking. I did a lot of venue shopping with my mom because of DH work schedule so I saw it with her first and didn’t think it would be in our price range but when we met with our original BM Joe and he made it work for us and I was sold. I brought DH back and he liked it too and so we decided to book. We booked the downstairs room but got lucky that the other party going on wasn’t a wedding so we were able to use the pond for our ceremony.

About two months before our wedding I got a call and was told that our BM had left and that we would be working with Caroline. This really didn’t bother me at all and I really liked working with Caroline. Our first meeting with her was when we selected our menu and she was very helpful in making choices so we had a menu that was balanced. She was very quick to respond to my emails and phone calls and overall did a wonderful job.

The day of our wedding everything went perfectly. We were able to get to WCC 2 hours before the ceremony to get all of our family pictures in. Our bridal attendant brought drinks and some appetizers out to hold everyone over while we were taking pictures outside. They had the guests wait in the lobby until about five minutes before the ceremony because it was cold out. When the ceremony was over and the guests were moving to the tent for cocktail hour the staff was handing out hot apple cider, something that I didn’t requested, but a wonderful thought on their part! DH and I ate some of the cocktail hour food in the bridal suite before joining our guests and it was amazing! DH was even into the food from the Caribbean station that I had picked to go with our tropical theme! When we made it into the tent for cocktail hour it was warm, which was great, and everything was spread out and there was plenty of seating. It felt like we were only at cocktail hour for a minute before we were brought back inside for the reception. The room was beautiful and everything was set up as discussed. We went with the appetizer duet because we wanted more dance time and it was probably one of the best crab cakes we had ever eaten. When it was time for dinner we barely ate any of it because we were so full from everything else. I asked for our meals to be wrapped up so we could take them home, they wrapped up what we had left and put two full meals in for us as well. The few bites we managed to eat were great and it even tasted good the next day heated up in the microwave.

Caroline and all the other staff at Woodbury Country Club was amazing and they made our wedding day perfect. No request was too much for them and they made sure we had everything we needed!

Hotel Block
Holiday Inn Plainview - B+
We picked this hotel for a few reasons, we felt the price wasn’t too high for our guests, the rooms were nice, the bar would stay open for us, and they had a shuttle that was pretty reasonable. The downsides to this hotel was that the window to book a room in the block was a month before, though they did add people after the cut off if they called and spoke with the group booking person, and that we needed to book 20 rooms to get our room comped. The only other issue we had was that there was either some kind of problem with the fire alarm or they were testing it because at 8 that morning it went off and then it went off two more times like two hours later. We ended up checking out earlier than we thought we would and we were focused on the things we needed to do that day so we didn’t say anything. We heard later from other people who stayed that they started taking money off of everyones bill and comping everyone breakfast because so many people complained.

Favors
Afresh Approach - A+
This vendor was a really easy choice after we tasted some of the truffles! They were easy to communicate with and dropped the truffles off the day of the wedding. They also put a plate of truffles in the bridal sweet for us which was nice.

Menus, Place Cards, Thank You's
Vistaprint - A+
I used groupons to buy most of these things off of vistaprint so it was all very affordable. I picked out the Thank You's and Menus that matched and wanted to have a place card that would match as well. Vistaprint helped me by creating a folded business card using the same design. In order to put the names and tables on the cards I printed on clear address labels and stuck them on. They came out really nicely and I liked how they all matched and went with our colors and theme.

Hair and Makeup
Nadine Vasquez - A+
I heard of Nadine from another bride on one of the boards and set up a trial for hair and makeup. I brought pictures with me and she did a great job recreating the style I wanted and booked her on the spot. Nadine came to us the day of the wedding with two assistants. They all worked quickly and did a great job with everyone. My hair and makeup looked great all night and Nadine was very reasonably priced.

Florist
Hidden Essence - A+
Another vendor I found on LIWeddings! Flowers weren’t super important to me until I started meeting with florists and coming up with ideas. I met with two other florists before picking Hidden Essence and they were both close to $1000 more than what I was quoted by Michelle. After booking we did a sample and I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything looked and how much Michelle understood what I wanted. The centerpieces, bouquets, and boutonnieres were all beautiful the day of the wedding!

Ice Cream Sundae Bar
Snowflake - A+
Ice cream is one of my favorite things in the world so I wanted to have an ice cream sundae bar, but I didn’t want just any run of the mill ice cream. I was very lucky that WCC was willing to accommodate my bizarre request of bringing in ice cream from the best place I know, Snowflake in Riverhead. It ended up being cheaper for me to bring in ice cream then to have the sundae bar that WCC normally charges. It was easy to order from them and they had it ready when we asked. You can order any flavor you want and they told me that they even do a full set up of a sundae bar if you want.

Officiant
Pastor April - A
April had officiated when one of my bridesmaids got married so I had seen her work first hand before we booked her. I liked that we sat down with her and she got an idea of who we are as a couple and wrote the ceremony from that. She was easy to communicate with and helped me to solve the problem of my mom wanting to watch me walk down the aisle, but also be a part of walking me down the aisle.

Cake
Dortonis - A
I actually didn’t eat any of our cake on our wedding day other than the bite DH fed to me but from what I had at the tasting and from what my guests told me the cake was good. They had a bunch of different designs that we could choose from a book and they let us do some minor adjustments without upcharges. I dropped off swatches so they could match the flowers on the cake to the coral color the BM dresses were. The cake was beautiful, I just wish I had gotten to eat some.

Registry
Macys - B+
We registered at the Macy's in the Smithaven mall and we had a good experience. We found a bedspread online that we liked better then any that we had seen in the store and it wouldn’t let us add it. We emailed the girl that we had worked with and she added it for us. The only issue we ran into was because I had originally started the registry online, when we went into the store to register they didn’t give us a dreamfund card because of this. We were then given a gift on our dreamfund card and had to go back to the store to figure out what to do. They did resolve it but we had to make an extra trip to the mall to get it sorted out.

Sandals - A+
DH and I have lived together for 2 years and we really didn’t need much so we did a honeymoon registry. It was easy to use the Sandals registry and we were able to transfer the gifts right to our checking account to put towards the balance of the trip.

Honeymoon
Sandals Royal Bahamian A+
DH and I had been on vacation to Sandals La Toc in St Lucia and loved it, so we knew we would have a great experience at another sandals. It was a quick flight and only 10 minute ride from the airport when we got there. The resort was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the beach was great. We had a really nice time on the private island, it was really peaceful and quiet. We did a lot of snorkeling there and had a massage on the beach that was so relaxing. The only downside to this resort was there is not a lot of nightlife. DH and I like to party and it got pretty quiet around 11 every night. All in all we had an amazing time and I would definitely recommend it.

Cake Topper
Buttonwilloe (Etsy) -A+
Our cake topper was actually DH idea and it came out really cute. We had a custom made giraffe and platypus made dressed as a bride and groom. The seller was really easy to communicate with and we got the cake topper within two weeks of ordering it.

Bridesmaid Jewelry
FiveThirty (Etsy) - B+
This seller was not so easy to communicate with. She didn’t get back to me very quickly when I had questions about things but the jewelry she made came out really nicely. She custom made it to the color stone and style that I wanted and it looked really good with the girls dresses.

Name Hangers
TenDollarHangerShop (Etsy) - A
Like the name of the store, I ordered name hangers here for ten dollars each. Before I ordered them I asked if I would need to pay an extra charge for them to be rushed because the comments others had left made it sound like it took forever to get them. The seller assured me that I was ordering with plenty of time (about a month and a half before the wedding) and the hangers came very quickly. The names all came out really nicely and the girls all liked them. The wire that was used to write the names didn’t seem super durable but I’ve never seen another name hanger in person to know if they are all like that so it didn’t bother me.

Name Plaque
MySweetMemories (Etsy) - A
Channa must have made close to 15 proofs for me before I thought to look at her facebook page for inspiration. She had a ton of color combinations in the pictures on facebook so it was a lot easier to get an idea of how things would look without her having to make proofs of everything. Channa told me that I had ordered in plenty of time but I think she over estimated that because I didn’t get the plaque until a week before the wedding and she assured me when I originally ordered that I would get it two weeks before that. It came in time and thats what matters but I wish she had been a bit more up front about how long it would actually take.

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

Beautiful photos! Congratulations!! I am so thrilled to see, yet another, A+ review for Silverfox! We booked them from photo, video and even DJ!! Can't wait :D

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

Everything looked beautiful!! So happy to hear you had a good experience with WCC!!

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

Congrats!! Looked through your album pictures look great!!

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

great review!!

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more

Thanks!! :)

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

Congrats!!! Great review! I love Woodbury cc

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

I'm a silverfox bride too! I couldnt be more excited after seeing your pictures, they came out beautiful!! Congrats!!

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

Review on WCC was great to read.

Re: 10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more

This was so helpful!! Thanks!

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more - Long Island Weddings

I'm using Capture the Moment for photo and video! Can't wait

10/25/2013 Woodbury CC, Parties Alive, Silverfox, Capture the Moment, Hidden Essence and many more

Thanks ladies! Glad I could help!