10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

First I'd like to thank LIW & all the ladies on here. I may not post as often as some, but these boards really helped with every detail of my wedding & for that I'm am very grateful.

My wedding day was absolutely the best day of my life & I would not change one thing about! I had my dream wedding. Thats not to say I didn't hit any bumps along the way, but they were all really irrelevant in the end.

Netbride-I bought my dress & my girls dresses from them. They were great to deal with & I saved a lot of money. I also should say that I choose a Sweetheart gown which is a less expensive line(it just happened to be the one I feel in love with) & I got tons of compliments. I felt like a princess & didn't go broke to pay for my dress.

Filomena's(alterations)-This was probably the worst choice I made, a few months ago another bride posted a bad experience with them, but I had already bought my dress in & had used them for other alterations(they are within a mile of my house), so I stayed. In the end my alterations were done, but I went to 5 fittings because they would either not have done anything or would not have done the whole thing(& this was all within the 2 weeks prior to my wedding), & they would tell me when to come in & not be ready). Also they don't steam, so my mother took my dress to a cleaners & they showed her a dozen spots on my dress (including food & lipstick, which I never had anywhere near my dress), so I had to have my dress cleaned 5 days prior to my wedding(I don't have the name of the cleaners but they were wonderful & only charged me $65 to clean, press, & steam my dress, my petticoat, & my veil, I am going to bring my dress there to be preserved, so if anyone needs some one for anything like that FM me & I'll get there details). My sister had the same problems, but worst, 2 of the seams on her dress ripped on the day of the wedding! Honestly that whole experience made me doubt my choice to use netbride(not that it was there fault). I just feel if I had gone through a bridal salon I may have saved myself a lot of frustration that I didn't need right before my wedding.

Men's Warehouse Tuxes-All of the men who needed tuxes(except for DH) lived out of state, so I choose them because they could accomodate that. Only one tux was off & they fixed it at fitting with no problem(& that was in pant size, everything else was perfect). We had a wonderful experience with them & would definitly recommend them(we dealt with the Patchogue store).

Brennans Rehersal Dinner-The food was excellent & the price was right. There upstairs room was perfect for our group(around 25). My MIL surprized us with a whole cruise theme (to go with our honeymoon), it was really great!

The Marriott in Islandia-We used this hotel for our OOT guests as well as our wedding night & getting ready. We also had our After party there & brunch the next day. I have mixed feelings on them, overall they were wonderful, they are very wedding oriented so they handle the details very well. They have a nice wedding letter they write up for you for your guests, they have no problems with gift baskets for your guests rooms & having a private catered brunch there was a little out of our price range(& my mom felt like some people might not have made down to brunch when we were having it, & we would have paid for them anyway) so instead the hotel gave out coupons from us for brunch in there restaurant which was moreaffordable & gave our guests the leisure of eating when they wanted to, we let everyone know when we would be down there so we did get to see most of our guests before we left. The bad points were that they did not include all of our hotel guests correctly, so some people did not get giftbags because we didn't make a enough(we based it on their room count). Also after the RD at like 10:30pm, my sister & I went down to the pool for a quick dip & there were about 40 out of control 10-12 years olds there. All I can assume is it was some kind of field trip & I know that they had every right to be in the hotel, but it would have been nice if the sales manager had given me a heads up. These kids had very little supervision & not only were they breaking every pool rule, but they were running through the halls most of the night. I just thought the Marriott would have been a little more in control of what was going on in public parts of their hotel. Then there was the after party, which we had because the hotel's bar closes at midnight, so for us to be able to hangout with our guestsafter our wedding we had to have. The hotel rents you a small conference room & we were told they set it up with couches & cocktail tables to have a real loungey effect, well when we got there it was set up like a conference room. The hotel had no explanation as to why the room was setup wrong & my guests actually ended up dragging a couch in from the other conference room themselves. But we also got upgraded to suite when we were told we would only be upgraded to a jr. suit which was a nice surprize, though I wish someone would have let us know because it would have been a beautiful room for pictures. In the end I was happy,they let us stay in the after party room as late as we wanted & even though we were suppose to be out by 3am. The food at the brunch was wonderful & they were very accomodating to our guests who decieded to stay at the hotel the night of the wedding.

M & F Florist- My flowers were all beautiful & I got a great deal. My mom & I made my CP, so I used my CP credit (I got this from using Timber Point) towards 4 arrangements that I used during my ceremony & then moved inside during the reception & they were fabulous. My wedding party flowers were delveried to me at the Marriott & they were on time & perfect. I highly recommend M & F.

Josephine's Hair Salon-This is my regular hair dressers & they were wonderful. They opened early for us & did my hair, my moms, my aunts, my sisters & my MOH's. We all got very different looks & all were beautiful. Everyone's hair stayed all day without any issues. And the best part, when I went to pay for my hair, Connie(my hairdresser) said it was my wedding present & didn't charge me a dime! They are the truly the best.

JN-What can I say that hasn't been said before. She is truly amazing! Not only does she do wonderful makeup(that lasts ALL day), but she really had this calming effect on me. I saw her the Monday before my wedding to do my eyebrows & I was really stressed out & she totlly relaxed me. She had the same effect on me the day of. She even did my sisters makeup(she's 11) for free. Everyone was thrilled with her work. I feel very lucky to have been able to use her for my wedding, she is truly talented & was one of the best wedding choices I made. Anyone who uses her could never be dissappointed!

Atlantis Lioms-We got a really great deal from them. There cars were beautiful & we used there party bus to bring everyone back to the hotel after the reception & it was amazing. But some how there was some miscommunictaion between us. The week before my wedding my mom dropped off a very detailed intinerey for the limos because we had themmaking several different trips. She was assured there'd be no issues & that the drivers knew where they had to go. Well, it wasn't as smooth as all that. I should have had extra copies of the details the day of & should have gone over them when the drivers got to the hotel, but we wre running a little late & at this point I had got caught up in the excitement of the day. Anyway, Gavin & I were seeing each other for the first time at Timber Point & then we were going to go to the Oakdale Aboretum with our BP for pics. We arrived in seperate limos & them one limo was to go back to the hotel to pick up some people who needed to be there prior to our ceremony & one limo was to stay to take us to the aboretum. The first limo dropped us off & then went to the hotel. Then DH & his family & wedding party got dropped off & before I realized what had happened(I was upstairs in the bridal suite getting ready to see my DH & my mom was directing the decoration of the hall) the limo was gone, it thought it had to go back to the hotel as well(probably because it was planned that after the pics both limos would go back for final trip for guests). My Matrie'd got the limo company on the phone & they said they would get the limo right back to the hall, but it didn't come back intill it had already made the trip to the hotel so it was too late, so I was unable to have pics taken at the Aboretum which was my biggest dissappointment of the day. I really feel like this is not the limo company's fault. I should have followed upwith my drivers better. And I know that the limo company did try & get in touch with the limo driver to tell him to come back, but I guess his cell phone was off or not getting reception(my cousin even tried calling the driver himself but couldn't get him). In general, all I can say is make sure whoever your limo company is you not only give them detailed directions but your drivers as well.

King's Brass-They were wonderful. My guests loved my trumpeteers, they added a great feel to my wedding & was happy that I used them.

RCEntertainment-This was the perfect DJ for us. The minute we met him I knew he was the right choice for us. He really played to our crowd keeping the dance floor full all night while still sticking to all our wishes. He was affordable & we were not dissappointed.

Reverend April Gismondi-As some of you may know, my original MOH's backed out of my wedding 6 weeks before, one of their father was to officiate my wedding & also backed out. So I turned to LIW vendor page because I had no idea were to begin looking for an officiant. And thats how I found April. I followed her link on LIW's & her website peeked my interest. I called her & felt an instant bond. DH & I met with her & she customized our ceremony. We had all these feelings we wanted to express in our ceremony & she made them all come to life. She made our ceremony the most beautiful part of the day, all my guests are still telling me how amazing she was. I loved her non- tradional approach to having a ceremony, she addressed our guests, not just us & encouaged us to face them during different points of our ceremony. And somehow she truly captured our relationship in words. She is definitly one of LIW's best kept secrets. I highly recommend that anyone who needs an officiant speak with her, she can truly deliever the most beautiful ceremony ever. She set the tone for my whole wedding, which was perfect!

Duet-Anyone who uses them will not be dissappointed! They were wonderful. I was very upset about not going to the aboretum because Duet has taken pictures there before & they never had at Timber Point. But as soon as the limo was gone they were off finding great places for pics. I got my proofs on Tuesday night & I was truly awed by them(I will try to scan some over the weekend). And they are tons of them. You would never know they had never been to Timber Point & they captured everything I wanted that day. I can't wait to see my video, Eric was my videographer so I know it will be perfect. I can't say enough good things about them! They are truley gifted at what they do!

Timber Point Country Club-I saved the best for last. They exceeded all my expectations & then some! Issaiah was my Matre'd & he was excellent as was all the staff. Myself & my guests never wanted for anything. The food was superb. When we arrived they had started to set up for my ceremony inside, because even though it was a beautiful clear day, it was cold out. I told them that as long as there wasn't any rain or snow I wanted the ceremony outside so they immediately changed the setup to the outside. They kept my guests inside till right before my ceremony was to begin so they wouldn't freeze(some of them still did, but I really wanted my ceremony outside, so oh well, LOL). My mom & had done lots of the decorations ourselves & Timber Point told helped her set everything up & everything was truly picture perfect. My cake was from Audrey's bakerey & was more beautiful then I pictured. I truly never imagined that my wedding day would be as beautiful as it was & Timber Point really was the icing on the cake. I didn't even realize how good of a job they would do. All I can say was they were phenomenonal.

I almost forgot, our honeymoon(which was an 8 day Carnival cruise right out of NY) was great. I don't know how anyone could be dissappointed with a cruise. It was a very relaxing trip & we were able to do as much or as little as we wanted.

If anyone has specific questiond please feel free to ask me & I'll try to post pics soon.

Edited for link to pics taken by family & friends:

Pics

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...

Oh Jennifer, I am so happy for you and your new husband! I have tears in my eyes after reading your review!

Thanks so much for sharing! I can't wait to see your proofs.

I totally agree with you, Jacqueline Nicole does have that calming effect. Thanks so much for recommending her to me!

I have a few questions, but I will FM you the questions tonight!!

Jennifer, Congrats!!!

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

congrats!! great pictures

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You looked beautiful! I loved your flowers and your centerpieces were FABULOUS!!!! Where did you get them?

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

OMG Stavia...your wedding was beautiful!!! Your pics were so much fun to look at!!! It just makes me want to get crankin' on my planning for my TImber Point wedding!! I am so excited that they did a great job! You were beautiful!! I think my fave pic was near the end...a little boy with a goofy smile!! It looks like everyone had soooo much fun! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

Thank you everyone for your kind words. The little boy with the goofy smile is my beautiful stepson(he was running around all day telling everyone he was so excited his ears were going to fall off, LOL). As far as my centerpieces I had 2, my head(family) tables had a silver candle holder that I got at Marshalls & is made by International Silver Company, but there impossible to find or else we would have used them on every table(we even wrote & called International Silver & recieved no response). The other centerpieces were topiaries that my mom & I made. We got the supplies from a small wedding craft store in Farmingdale called A & S Novelety.

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

Congratulations!!

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

Congrats

Re: 10/3/03 Wedding Review(long)...(amateur pics added)

congrats