*~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Even though we have been married a few weeks now it feels like it didn’t even happen! Make sure all you girls enjoy your day and take a few moments to just take it all in. Enjoy the review and pictures!!


LIW- A++++++++++++++++
I couldn’t have planned such a wonderful wedding without the help and support of all you wonderful women and your reviews. I thank each and every one of you for your contributions to this site. I hope I have been some help to many of you and hope that each of you has a “dream come true” wedding like mine. Also a special thank you to Kim, Ronnie, and Liz! You guys are great!

Engagement – A+++++++++++++++
My mother almost ruined it for me by reading her texts out loud. He sent her a text that morning to make sure I went with her to my grandmothers because he had to get… and then she stopped. I figured he was going to get the ring, but apparently had had that since January. To make a long story short he got the ring a day in January when I suspected it and he made me think I was absolutely crazy. Then in February he went home, from college, to go to his aunts birthday party. This was the day before Valentine’s day and I made him promise to be back by midnight. When he was late I blamed him for already ruining Valentine’s day. He went to his aunts party and then afterwards went to my parents’ house to ask for their blessing. So continuing that day I got home and he was supposed to come over from dinner, but he called saying he doesn’t feel good if I could come by there for a few minutes to say hi. Me and my mom were cooking dinner because her half-sister was coming by so I was ready to say no because there was no one to take me (I didn’t have a driver’s license at the time). Instead my mom was asking what he was saying so I told her and she looked around at the kitchen and everything cooking and says give me 5 minutes. This was my 2nd hint that something was up, but I didn’t care to notice. So we get to his house and right away I realize a note on the front door. The first clue to a scavenger hunt; I knew right then what was up. He used to put me on scavenger hunts all the time to find gifts and such. All of the clues were in little poems and had me going around the house, doing part of a puzzle, and running a small program he made on the computer. At the end he has me check an e-mail that said “Clue #7: Congratulations! You are almost ready to claim your prize. Look in the napkin holder on the kitchen table. Here you will find a key. Use it to reach me in the most likely place. This key may be for a door and not for my heart, but when you step through that door, my heart will be yours.” I started crying right then and went to his room where he was on one knee with a dozen roses beside him. After he gives me the ring and everything he shows me that he had his computer running upstairs to view what was happening downstairs; aka watching me go around doing the whole scavenger hunt. I was a little mad at him for doing this and not recording it, but it was an amazing night.






Engagement Party – At the In-Laws – A+
We wanted our engagement party to be just a time to celebrate with our extended families (which ended up being 65 or 70 people). Our parents cooked the food and we did small centerpieces using small vases from dollar tree. Nice, small(ish) and simple. Great time with great people.





Save the Dates – Magnetstreet.com – A++
The shipping was quick and they came out just as expected. Some people thought they were too small being business card size, but I am not too fond of the bigger ones.



Registry – Bed, Bath, and Beyond & Amazon.com – A for both
BBB- We set up most of our registry on here. We went to the Farmingdale location to set it up and the lady who helped us was very nice. The only thing I wish we did was start it online! It would have been so much easier and some of the things they have you pick out are ridiculous prices, but you wouldn’t know that because the prices aren’t shown in the book they give you to choose from. The best part of setting up a registry here was they told us if we needed to return anything on our registry we would get cash back. When we actually went to do this they gave us a hard time, but after I spoke to the manager he let me do it.

Amazon.com – I wish more people used our amazon registry. We had some things on there we really wanted but didn’t get. We ended up having to return something because from the few things people did get we got a duplicate and had to return one. They were very helpful and we got the credit to our account (we asked for this to be done cause we were ordering something right away).

Invitations- Michaels DIY – A
These were very nice simple invitations. The only annoying thing about them is they had ribbon for you to tie a bow around them. ANNOYING!!! We wanted them to look nice obviously and my mom (I passed this wonderful job onto her) spent hours tying these the right way so the bow was straight. Also, the envelopes were too thick to go through the printer so we ended up getting large clear labels to print all the addresses. We got a bunch of phone calls telling us how pretty they were.




Bridal Shower – Bellmore Fire House – A+
My mother set the party up at the Bellmore fire house. My parents knew someone that worked there so they were able to rent the place. Catering was from Bagel and Deli Creations in West Babylon. Everyone raved about the food. It was a great party and the fire house staff was amazing! The best game my mom set up was a unscramble the letters to make a wedding related word. Ex. Remibisdad was unscrambled to be bridesmaid. Everyone was stuck on like three words and people were shouting across the room helping people at other tables to win the prizes.







Bachelorette Party – Dangerfield’s Comedy Club – Museum of Sex – A
This was being set up by my sister who does not know how to give out information. Half of the girls were confused and didn’t know what was going on and asking me about it when I wasn’t supposed to know anything. It was a hot mess and everyone was complaining because we were planning on being out late with Easter the next day. It ended up being a fun day regardless of how crazy it was. Museum of Sex was an interesting place to go visit. Don’t know if I would recommend it for anyone else to do as a bachelorette party idea, but we had fun with some of the exhibits. I can’t remember what restaurant we went to be it was only okay anyways. We did stop at Shake Shack to get a shake for me (I’m in love with them) and they gave me a free beer cause it was my bachelorette party. Dangerfield’s was a great time. We got a good discount by printing a coupon from their website or something. As we were leaving the manager pulled me to the side and was upset we didn’t let him know about the party because he would have pulled me on stage and such. As a gift and apology for not realizing he gave me 10 free tickets to come back another night. Overall great night with the girls! O I almost forgot. My sister had a great idea of making Malibu Bay Breeze cupcakes for the train ride to the city. Great idea and they were yummy!





Rehearsal Dinner – B+
We had the back room of this place and it was very nice. We were full after the pasta dish, but all the food was amazing. They had a singer there who was so loud we couldn’t hear what the person next to us was saying which was a bit annoying, but he wasn’t bad at least.



Hair- Nichole – A+++++++
Nicole from my salon came to my house to do my hair. I absolutely loved it and she nailed what I wanted both for the trial and day of. She was on time and was decently quick and patient; especially with my sister wanting to change her hairstyle after it was done.



Make-up – Danielle – A+++++
Danielle was recommended by Nichole since she was always bumping into her doing weddings and loved her work. She was on time and even put a little make-up on my 10 year old sister that wasn’t going to get anything done. She was very sweet and everyone’s make-up lasted through the night and looked wonderful!





Jewelry - Wedding Bands – Mine: Tri-County – His: Online – A++
We found my ring at Tri-County. The store was Gold Star Jewelers and they were so nice. It went so well with my engagement ring I knew I had to get it. The price was right and they resized it and polished both rings for me free of charge a week before the wedding. We order his ring online after getting the item number from a store that was too stupid to realize what information she was giving out. He didn’t want a really nice/expensive ring and we knew it had to be light for him since he was not used to wearing any jewelry. He ended up getting a tungsten ring from some website that sold the ring for 1/3 of the price the store was selling it for. We were very happy with his ring and it feels like nothing. Both were engraved at Tri-County at another little shop in the back. The both came our great.




Necklace- Gift from DH – A+++++++++++++++++
I had picked out everything for the wedding months in advanced and then at the rehearsal dinner he gave me the necklace and asked that I wear it the day of. I couldn’t say no, but was worried it would look good with the earrings I picked out. They went good together since my earrings were so simple.



Earrings and original Necklace -Weddingfactorydirect.com – A
They are a pain in the butt to go through, but the shipping was fast and I was happy with the set. It took me forever to find something I liked and it was perfect for me. Only thing I didn’t like was it just came on a little piece of cardboard and I thought being this way it had a good chance of breaking going through the mail, but it came in one piece.

Headband and Veil – David’s Bridal – A+
We went here to see if we could find a dress for my mom and I started looking around and found a veil and headpiece I loved. The lady gave me a discount that I should have only gotten when I was purchasing things with my dress, but I don’t know if this is really true/strict. Either way I got something I loved.




Shoes- myshoeconnection.com – A+ for service and look of shoes – B- for comfort
Found these shoes in a few stores and loved them. They were not comfortable, but looked great (I ended up changing into a pair of wedge sandals most of the night). I ordered them from the above website because it was cheaper and with free shipping (Look up coupon codes on google). We also ordered the bridesmaids shoes off here. I let them choose between two similar shoes since one of the girls had surgery on her foot and it’s hard for her to find a shoe that won’t be killing her foot. My Jr. Bridesmaid (little sister) also got a similar pair but with no heel since she is little.



Shoe Decals – Etsy.com – A
My shoe decals we delivered decently fast. I did not expect what I got, but they looked nice so I wasn’t complaining. I got two sets “I Do” for me and “Lucky Me” for him. He said it was cute for me stupid for him so he never used his. This was my something blue along with my “soon to be a mrs” undies from Victoria’s secret.



Dress – David’s Bridal – A+ for Westbury store – C for Massapequa
I first went to the Westbury store before I was even engaged with my mom for fun. The ladies there were very helpful and I knew just what I wanted. The minute I tried on the first dress I just knew. We tried on a few more that day but didn’t even try and compare. I went in again, after I was engaged this time, with my father, mother, and sister. We went to the one in Massapequa this time and were not as impressed. Tried on the same dress and a few others, but I always went back to the first one. The third visit is when I intended to make the purchase, but the lady at the Massapequa store just left us alone and didn’t help at all, so I left without it. I went back to the Westbury store and ordered there. They said 8-12 weeks it came in 2. Only thing about ordering from David’s Bridal make sure you have a place to store your dress!!!





Alterations – David’s Bridal –
B for the lady and her attitude – A+ for the alterations and the Manager of Alterations
I had to go to the Massapequa store to get my alterations because it was extremely hard for me to get around with the dress and everything without help. This store was closer to me and made the trip a little easier. All I needed to get done was a bustle. You would think that would be easy, but no. The lady was preoccupied and didn’t pay any mind to me when I asked her a few questions. I was ready to strangle her by the time I had to leave. When I went to pick up the dress something looked a bit off to me so I called my parents and had them come by and they stood with me discussing what had to be done and the guy in charge of the alterations department was very nice to us. He let us talked and gave his input and showed my mom how to tie the bustle. Finally we just decided it had to stay the way it was, and after me looking at it in the mirror for 20 minutes I didn’t see anything wrong with it. A little stressful all because of my nerves, but the dress came out very nice.

Bridesmaids Dresses – Jr. Bridesmaid Dress – David’s Bridal – B+
We went in one day without an appointment to the Massapequa location, there was 8 of us there, and we were helped for a while and then left on our own to try on everything we picked out. The lady that helped us was nice and continued helping when we asked for a different size and such, but was only half there. I didn’t mind this so much because we did come without an appointment. They all agreed on a dress and we got them all in a few weeks later. We also found a dress for my little sister that matched the girls dresses very nicely and was on clearance; couldn’t go wrong with that. The only annoying this was they did not call to let anyone know the dresses were in. We would have never known if my sister didn’t go in one day when she was nearby to ask when they would be arriving.




Bridesmaid/Jr. Bridesmaid Dress Alterations – Steve’s Express Dry Cleaners – A++
I used to work at this dry cleaners a few years ago and the tailor does an amazing job. We didn’t bring in the dresses until about 3 weeks before and didn’t have a problem. He had them done in a week.

MOB Dress – Nordstrom – A+
My mother is still pretty young and didn’t want to wear something that made her look like she aged 10 years. She found her dress at Nordstrom and couldn’t be happier. She needed a shawl or wrap and found one in Tri-County she was ok with, but I thought she looked great.



Tuxedos – Men’s Warehouse – A+ for ordering – C for alterations
We went to the Massapequa location to get the tux’s picked out. The people there are very nice and helpful. It took us maybe a half hour. We had some people from OOT in the Bridal Party and had asked for their Tux’s to be delivered at the location near us. No problems with delivery. I was very disappointed in the alterations. My father had to go in 3 times until they got it right, my FIL went in twice, and my DH had to go in once. They didn’t seem to know what they were doing with alterations. The other guys that lived nearby got measured at other stores and their tuxes came out fine. I don’t get it!!





Flowers – B*urtons – A++++++++++++++
I wasn’t too crazy about having big extravagant wedding centerpieces, so I went for the 3 cylinder vases with a submerged flower and floating candle. They gave me a great quote and with a handful of great reviews we signed on the spot. The bouquets were delivered a few minutes before they were supposed to be and looked amazing. The centerpieces looked great as well. John was great to work with from start to end!





Limo – Serenity Limo – A+
I was very happy with our limo. It was clean and they came on time. The driver was very nice and helpful with everything. We were on our way to the church (thank god it is only minutes from my house) and my sister announced she forgot her bouquet so we had to turn around and get it.



Church – Maria Regina
I will not rate a church. It is a very nice church and was a beautiful ceremony. We didn’t do any church flowers or pew bows and I am very happy we didn’t. There were plenty of flowers because of Easter. The organist set all the music up with me and all went according to plan. The cantor was a friend of ours who sang at other churches, but the organist wanted us to pay more for bringing in someone of our own because he thought she needed a rehearsal. We opted out of it and she did a great job.



Photo and Video - Patken Photographer
Engagement Photos – A+++++
We couldn’t have been happier with our pictures from the engagement session. Steve did an amazing job in capturing me and my DH. We went to Pearsall Park in Amityville. It was a very small park, but you would never know from the photos.

Photos wedding day – Steve came earlier than expected and got right to work. He knows what he’s doing! I gave him a list of pictures that I liked and I think he got in most if not all of them. We even did sparklers at night and he showed us some of the photos which came out really nice. He was telling us his research he did to make sure he did it right and all. He went well beyond my expectations of a photographer. He was holding my dress for me at some points, holding my flowers, and even jumping over bushes to get nice shots. The pictures all came out stunning. Now for the hard part to pick 80 out of my 850!

Video – Mike was our photographer the day of. He was very nice and stayed pretty much out of the way. He has been very helpful with everything so far. I can’t wait for our recap video!

Cake- Dortoni’s – A+++++++++++++++
We got out cake from Dortoni’s, which is my favorite bakery, and luckily the sister company to the bakery of our venue. We went in for a cake tasting and everything was amazing. She let us choose a different cake and filling for each tier and replicated the cake I wanted perfectly. I am very happy with our cake and their service. We also had two cupcake cakes delivered along with it for the 2 birthdays we had that day. They were amazing and the recipients loved them.






Cake Topper – Amazon.com – Registry gift – A++
I was very happy with our cake top. I was surprised with how many people commented on it.

DJ – NYU Entertainment – B
I was very aggravated with the MC, which was recommended to us by my MIL’s friend. The MC is the owner. I would think he would have taken what we said into more consideration, but what’s done is done. For our entrance song, “Marry You” Bruno Mars, we sat with him and told him we wanted it to be in the middle of the song because we knew it was going to be the shortest one. He said of course he wouldn’t do it any other way, but started it from the beginning and you didn’t hear any of it. Then, I told him, about 10 minutes before the speeches, that my father was also making a speech. I also left him a voicemail letting him know this, but he claims he never got it, but then again he didn’t check his messages. Whatever. Speeches start and he forgets about my father. My dad has to go up to him and tell him this and then he makes his speech about 10 minutes after the other ones. And then the biggest complaint from me was we had 2 birthdays that day and before we made our entrance I asked him to announce it, but not to play happy birthday because we didn’t want to be a huge thing. He played the song for a good 5 minutes while we gave the two cupcake cakes we ordered to the recipients. I was so upset by this. It is annoying when people just done listen. Good thing about all of these things is people probably didn’t notice or wouldn’t have known that it was a mistake. Everyone was happy with the music being played and were always up and dancing. I don’t think the floor was empty once.




Reception Hall - The Watermill – A+ (For the most part)
I am very happy we chose the Watermill as our reception location. The grounds are beautiful and the people and very nice. I am starting with my bridal attendant, Janine. She was amazing. She got me and DH anything we needed right away and was super helpful. She made sure she we were always comfortable and really deserved the Maitre D’s tip, but that was not in our budget. The Captian, head chef, was Jose. He was very nice and helpful and made sure we always had water and whatever food we wanted. When my cake arrived he came to the bridal suite to let me know there were no flowers for the cake and did I want him to add some to make it stand out and look a little better. I said ok and was very happy I did. He did a great job and made the cake stand out a lot more. I was happy he asked and made me appreciate the fact that he did cause many other people would just let it be. The Maitre D’ did nothing at the start. My parents were upset at him because we had a beautiful day out and they told us they would open the doors and make sure people knew they were invited outside and if a lot of people did go out they would put a bartender out there too. They did none of this. It was 75 degrees out and they made no attempt to tell anyone to go out even after my father asked him to let people know. He didn’t do much of anything the whole night. The only thing I will give him credit for is finding my great-grandmothers cross. I had it tucked into the ribbon on my bouquet and I realized it was gone while lining up for our entrance. I started going crazy, but he and a few others calmed me down saying they wouldn’t stop looking until they found it. At this point it was dark and the last place I knew I had it was outside taking pictures. He came back 20 minutes later with it and showed me he found it was the tiniest flashlight I have ever seen. This is the only good thing he did IMO. I was informed of a few things about this incident afterwards though. 1, my bridal attendant didn’t want to really look, because it could be anywhere that we would never find it, and 2, the best man yelled at the Maitre D’ to get up and look for it after being yelled at by him to put back a small lamp he found on the grounds he was using to try and find it. Through all the drama though it was found, people enjoyed all the food and had a great time.





Plaque – Gift – A++
I love our name plaque. I think I would have chosen different colors, but it does look beautiful so I can’t complain!



My DIY Projects – A+ for time and effort
Bubbles – I bought the bubbles from Michaels and bough skinny long labels to have them say “Kimberly and Ronald – 4-15-2012”. They came out very nice and was an easy project with nice personalization.



Programs – I bought the trifold programs from Michaels as well. I worked with the priest to make sure I put in anything important. These weren’t bad at all, but the room allotted for on a trifold is limited so you might want to go for something else, unless of course you don’t have a lot to say.



Card box – Me and 3 others helped me with this project. 4 photo frames from Dollar Tree, a lazy Suzan from target, wood glue, foam board and a piece of fabric. This was a time consuming project, but I loved my card box. It gave us a chance to show off our engagement pictures and we are not going to be handing down the box to our sisters once they get married.



Menus – I was trying to originally do these with just two different colors of cardstock. It was 2 weeks before the wedding and I was driving myself nuts. My father eventually yelled at me to get up and come to the store with him. We went to AC Moore and found invitations that we printed on to be the menus. They came out very nice! So happy to have him think of this because I would still be working on the other ones.



Donation Scrolls – We made a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We cut 8.5’’x11’’ paper in half and printed on that. I made sure the get a nice but neutral colored paper to make it look nice. We rolled each one up and tied a piece of ribbon around each one.



Votive Candles/Escort Candles- I wanted to do something other than escort cards and saw this idea online. We bought the ribbon, candles and holders at AC Moore and printed everyone’s name and table assignment on clear labels bought at staples. It was a time consuming, but decently easy project.



Guest Book – Made on Mixbook.com (A+). This was a decently simple project. We used our photos from our engagement shoot and it came out great. The website is a little hard to navigate, but it came out very nice and I would defiantly use it again. Delivery was very fast too.



Escort Lollipops for Kids – We bought these giant lollipops for the 12 kids we were having. I printed their names and table numbers on labels. Easiest project ever and the kids couldn’t be more trilled. Until they saw their centerpiece I guess.

Kids Centerpiece- Found various vases around my parent’s house and stole them for the kid’s centerpiece. I filled each one with different candies. Kids were happy and hyper the whole night. Main reason why I did this was because the regular centerpieces had the candles and I knew that couldn’t end well.

Unity and Memory Candles – These came out just how I wanted. They were nice and simple, but the hearts on the bottom of the taper candle kept coming off no matter what glue was used.




Honeymoon - Hawaii - A++++++++++++++++++++++
We went to three islands. Oahu, Kauai and Maui. I absolutely loved Kauai. It was the quietest of the three and was very nice and relaxing. While on Kauai we did a tubing excursion where you go water tubing down the old irrigation system they used for sugar can plantation. This was a different yet fun excursion. We also did a dinner cruise, which was very nice but long. DH apparently get sea sick and it was a long cruise, so I would skip this if you get sea sick in the slightest. Oahu is a mini NYC. We had a good time and did a ton while we were there. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for DH’s birthday and had a great day. Last but not least Maui; it was a mix of the other two islands. We went on a bike excursion here going to the top of Haleakala for the sunrise and biking downhill for 24 miles back to the bike shop. This was a very nice excursion, but one thing is for sure, it is FREEZING at the top of Haleakala for the sunrise. Anyone who is going up here should wear long pants and a few sweaters. We had a great time and had plenty to do!






Hope you all enjoyed this very long review!! Hope it helps and feel free to ask any questions! (Forum mail is better cause I am very bad at checking older posts)

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Great review!! Your wedding was beautiful!! Im also a watermill bride and using patken!!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Beautiful review and wedding congrats

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Congrats, thanks for the great review. You were beautiful and everything looked great.

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Great review! You looked amazing and your pics are great!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Beautiful bride and looks like it was a beautiful wedding! Congrats!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Very nice review.Congratulations!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Congrats!!! Thanks for the thorough review. You looked beautiful!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Great Review! Everything looked beautiful!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

beautiful and loved your pictures!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

congrats!! great review

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

congrats!!!!!!!!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

not too long at all..awesome review and beautiful pics!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

CONGRATS!!!! You day looked amazing! Great pics.... Can you help me? Mine won't load for some reason... Please!

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

beautiful pictures, nice review!! congrats

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Thank you so much for this review :) I'm getting married at the watermill and using patken! You looked amazing! And your pictures came out great!

Did the watermill not provide menus? Or did you just decide to make them yourself?

I love the candle idea for the place cards! Might steal it :)

Loved the proposal story :)

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Great review....we had some of the same vendors! i felt the same way you did! Everyone did a fabulous job & your pics look beautiful! Congrats

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Thanks girls!! I had such an amazing day that will never be forgotten <3

Re: *~*~*~*~*4-15-2012 Dream Wedding!*~*~*~*~*

Great Review,...beautiful pictures..congratulations