The Brides' Review - Here's my review (REALLY long) and some pics!

hotelcalie Posted: Apr 16, 2003 10:11 AM+

hotelcalie MEMBER SINCE: 1/02 TOTAL POSTS : 920 WEDDING DATE: Apr 05, 2003

Posted: Apr 16, 2003 10:11 AM

Here's my review (REALLY long) and some pics!

Wedding Review

Rehearsal Dinner – Mickey Felice’s – A+
They did a great job. Everything was set-up the way I asked them to, the service was excellent and the food was great.

Dress – Bridal Suite in Patchogue – B-
The finished product was wonderful it was getting to that point that was a little rocky. I ordered my dress and it took 10 months for it to come in (which was 4 months after scheduled delivery date)…it came in and was the wrong dress!!!! That happened Dec 27th! But they came through and the right dress made it there by Jan 15th. The seamstress there, Christina, was AWESOME. I had the best alterations one can ask for. I was so worried about it but she did a fabulous job. BM dresses from there were fine, came in (also a little late) and fit all girls fine and looked nice.

Hotel – Radisson (exit 63) – FFFFFFF
Everything was fine and dandy until wed before the wedding. They call me Wednesday night at 6pm and tell me they are canceling all my rooms!! All 20 of them. HELLO????!!! It wound up that they overbooked the hotel and were trying to bump us. Well I went Bridezilla on them like I never have. After calling them every name in the book for 45 minutes I hung up on them and went down there. After telling them over and over that this is unacceptable and that I would stand out front in my wedding dress with signs telling everyone what they did to me…they began to see clearly. So they bumped 2 other weddings and sent them across the street to the Hampton Inn ( I didn’t know they were going to do that until they told me Sunday what they did). I can’t believe the nerve and the worst part is they were trying to blame it on the war in Iraq?? Saying they had a lot of reserves who needed rooms and can’t I have compassion for the war. It all made no sense. In the end it all worked out guests got there rooms, everyone got there out-of-town guest bag and they were happy. But I am still mad at them and can’t believe that the CHICKEN VINCENT, who I booked everything with, wouldn’t even come out and face me! His 2 bosses did the dirty work.

Hair & Make-up – Ulta Salon in Holbrook – A++
I used Rachel and she was great. The trial was good and the day of was even better. My hair stayed all night and I had nice curls the day after too! Make-up was nice and natural not caked on. It stayed on all night even after I bawled like a baby at the ceremony. Also I had my nails done the day before and that morning in the shower I cracked a nail down the middle and Rachel was able to put a wrap and save the nail and match the polish perfect! She really saved me on that one.

Ceremony – St. Sylvester’s Church (Medford) – A++++++
The ceremony was awesome. Deacon George married us and he really is one of the greatest people I ever met. We have been meeting with him for over a year and he made it all so personalized. As we stood there and started our vows my husband (Will) started crying!! It was so touching. When he started to cry everyone lost it. We barely made it through the vows with all the tears! It was so touching and everyone said how wonderful it was to see a guy openly crying. (Will whispered after that everyone now thinks he’s a baby but he doesn’t care).

Flowers – Flower Garden in Port Jeff – A+
We worked directly with the owner Holly. She was great from day one. She took on the task of the TULIPS, which a lot of florists did not want to do. My boo-k was beautiful. It was all stephanotis with the rhinestones in each one. I can’t imagine how long it took her to make it but it was great. The BM boo-k’s, corsages and boutonnieres were exactly what I wanted. They all lasted the entire night. Centerpieces were great and fit perfect with what I had envisioned. Church flowers and pew bows were nice but I really don’t remember them and only see them in the pics.

DJ – That’s Entertainment – A++
They were awesome! I worked for the company when I was in HS so I knew they were good but they were great. Played exactly what I wanted (and didn’t want) and had everyone dancing all night. DJ was Nick (owner) and the best MC, Ronnie. I was so happy with them. I wasn’t sure I wanted lights but they did them and they really looked nice since the reception was at night.

Cocktail Hour Music – Carl Bruno – A+
He is a guitar player/singer. He was perfect. Nice and laid back to get things started, played a nice mix of music and was overall great. On-time and ready to go 20minutes early.

Photography – Conrad Rego of Impact Imaging – A+++
I don’t have the proofs but he and his asst. were great. They were at my house at 11am and worked there buts off all day. They were easy to work with and very FAST which was great. We got all the pics done that I wanted, with the exception of the outdoor shots. It was soo cold and misty outside that most shots had to be indoors. Hubby and I ran outside and took maybe 15 pics so hopefully those come out nice.

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hotelcalie Posted: Apr 16, 2003 10:12 AM+

hotelcalie MEMBER SINCE: 1/02 TOTAL POSTS : 920 WEDDING DATE: Apr 05, 2003

Posted: Apr 16, 2003 10:12 AM

Re: Here's my review (REALLY long) and some pics!

Limo – NJL – B+
Nice clean car, on-time and friendly. Only issue was at one point hubby and I were trying to take a pic next to the car and all this smoke was oozing out of the exhaust and blowing all over us…we had to ask the guy to shut off the car, I think he should have realized that without us asking him!

We were supposed to have a 1957 Red Plymouth Fury for Hubby and I but there was a little problem. We found an antique car collector who does weddings on the side and he called the night before to confirm and everything seemed fine and it was fine until ½ b4 the wedding. As he was driving to my house he hit something in the road which punctured his gas tank and the car went on fire!! I was a little upset but I just jumped in the limo and let it go. The guy actually felt horrible he showed up at the church and he looked like his best friend just die, he apologized over and over but what can you do..it’s totally not his fault.

Cake – Create A Cake – A+
I only took a bite but heard it was delicious! They took my picture and what changes I wanted a made a great cake! Everyone liked how it was 3 different shapes and green and white..it was a hit!

Dance Lessons – Arthur Murray – A+
We worked with Shevon and she was great. The first dance went awesome and everyone was surprised, they also knew immediately that hubby could not do that so they knew we took lessons.

Reception – Middle Island Country Club – A++++++
They were wonderful from the day we met them. I was a little worried because I hadn’t heard a lot about them when I booked but I am so happy we went with them. They do whatever you want and I mean ANYTHING. They knew I was a little crazy about the wedding and they didn’t have one Friday night so they had the entire place set up the night before for me. I was able to go over and see everything (minus centerpieces, people, food, etc.). Cocktail hour was great. They have it outside under tents. It was very cold so they had heaters and the sides down on the tent. It was still a little cold but once people got there and filled the tent it was fine. I didn’t eat anything during the hour but everyone said the food was great and there was so much of it. Reception was awesome, I never had an empty glass, people loved the food (I had a bite only..way too busy having fun!) and the service was great. I really can’t say enough about them and how great they are. They literally got calls from me almost every day for the month before the wedding and they took care of whatever I needed.

Honeymoon – Turks & Caicos Islands
We stayed at the Allegro and had a ball. We ate and drank all day long. Went tandem parasailing, snorkeling (saw a small nurse shark!), rented a jeep and explored the island (not much there!!) and had a blast. We met nice people and went to the beach/pool all day and partied at the “disco” all night. I am happy to say that one night was a beer chugging contest and I was the Champ (wait..should I be proud of that??!!!). Great place to go if you want to relax unwind and have fun.

Overall the wedding was great and I am sad it is all over. Hubby says I can plan another one in 10 years and we can renew our vows….I want to do it next month but we’ll see!! The day was a blur so I can’t wait for the pics and video. Also DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS…people LOVED them. They loved that the tables had names, loved the camera scavenger hunt, the sign-in-platter, and went WILD over my red ruby shoes. All the hard work over the past 16 months really paid off and everyone had a great time. OK I am done, I hope I didn’t forget anything!