Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

Hi everyone!

My (now) husband and I planned our wedding on Long Island (where I am from) despite living in California, and 7 hours apart from one another, no less! It was a stressful experience, as all wedding planning is, but I wanted to share details of my wedding day to (1) reassure all of the brides-to-be out there that everything WILL work out perfectly and (2) provide some advice for those planning their wedding on LI!

Church: St. Kilian Roman Catholic Church (Farmingdale, NY)
St. Kilian was very kind to take us on, being that we were out-of-state non-parishioners getting married on a prime holiday weekend. It is a beautiful church, and we were fortunate to be married there.

Venue: Land's End (Sayville, NY)
Land's End is absolutely gorgeous. We wanted to have our reception by the water (to channel California!) and Land's End provided the proximity while also providing an indoor cocktail area in the event of rain. The banquet managers at Land's End were a pleasure to work with. We never felt pressured to make any decisions and our (numerous) questions were answered promptly and w/ great detail. Being that we were from out of state, they even coordinated a special tasting event for ourselves and our families, building intricate dishes to suit many dietary restrictions (low-sodium, vegetarian, vegan) - something that other venues were not interested in accommodating. To that end, the food was AMAZING! Our guests are still raving about it, as they left quite full after a huge cocktail hour array, a 3 course sit down dinner, and an additional hour of Viennese dessert! As alluded to earlier, they also provided a fantastic vegetarian option (to compliment filet mignon, chicken, and fish) - tofu w/ a variety of vegetables and brown rice, by far the best vegetarian entree I have ever seen at a wedding! They were extremely organized, and our entire evening went off without a hitch. We were provided with a very attentive maitre'd and bridal attendant. Being experts in this field, Land's End knew all of the questions to ask to make our day run smoothly - things we would have not even thought about asking ourselves! I really cannot say enough good things about Land's End and would highly recommend them.

Invitations: Something Blue (Redlands, CA)
Our invitations were beautiful. However, the first time they were sent, they said our wedding was on Saturday (when it was really on Sunday). We quickly followed up with an 'oops' card and, to be fair, we had all missed this when reviewing the proofs. A second revision was made for international guests only, and this time my name was misspelled - no proof had been sent this time. Needless to say, these events were not ideal! The take-home point I would communicate to other brides is to QUADRUPLE check their proofs and to work with someone who they trust to catch any mistakes they may miss. But, perhaps more importantly, what seems like a catastrophe at the time will be a laughable memory a few months down the line!

Dress: Iman's Bridal Couture (Old Brookville, NY)
I didn't think I was picky when it came to shopping, but I literally tried on 40-50 dresses before stepping into Iman's and falling in love with everything! Her dresses are absolutely amazing. My dress was ready in a timely fashion, which pleased me after hearing many horror stories of dresses not available by the promised date. But what really won me over was how wonderful Teresa was with my alterations. Granted, I paid a lot of money for alterations, but Teresa went through FOUR fittings with me. I was really impressed, since I live in California and was only able to come home twice for fittings before the wedding day. Iman's made a point to contact me directly to organize the most efficient fittings possible so that everything would be ready in time. I ended up also purchasing my veil, hair piece, and earrings there. Yes, it can be on the pricey side, but you are paying for quality.

Shoes: Lissa by Badgley Mischka, purchased from My Glass Slippper. This website is amazing. I had originally ordered them in white, to eventually dye them teal (they have a great policy where they will ship you a pair of shoes in white to try on, and you can then ship them back, once you are certain that they fit, to have dyed) - but ended up loving the white so much that I kept them!

Bridesmaids' Dresses: Dessy 6618 in Oasis
I ordered these from H and S Bridals in Midtown West, whom I would not recommend. Although I did eventually receive all 8 dresses (approximately 2 weeks before the wedding), there were a number of mishaps along the way. I believe that these glitches were primarily due to the establishment's rudimentary record-keeping system and lack of tact when communicating w/ clients, and were not intentional - however, it was a bit too much of a headache to want to repeat.

Make-up: Alex Artistry (please visit on Facebook if interested)
My maid of honor made this recommendation, having utilized her services for her own wedding. Alex was incredibly professional from the moment I met her. Her trial price was reasonable, and she was very patient during the trial as we went through a number of different options for the day of. She is available for touch-ups throughout the course of the wedding day for an additional charge. It was such a pleasure to work with her that she actually wound up as a guest at my wedding!

Hair: Mandy from Dakotah Salon (Woodbury, NY)
Another very patient artist! I met with Mandy a number of times prior to the big day to try out different hair styles - we finally decided on a perfect one! Despite my hair being very curly and not behaving in humid weather, and despite my wedding day being incredibly humid, Mandy's creation lasted a whopping 12 hours! It was amazing.

Photo/video: MPW Media
These guys are INCREDIBLE. There really are not enough words to express how professional, artistic, and creative they were throughout the course of the day. Despite there being a 5-person crew at my wedding, they were in no way obtrusive, demanding, or commandeering. In fact, it was a pleasure to have them! They are AMAZINGLY efficient - taking a multitude of shots in a short amount of time based on their knowledge of how to best transition from image to image. But most importantly are their end products. The pictures I have seen thus far are amazing, and the highlights were available the day of for my guests' viewing pleasure (at the reception!). They are also very well-known for their Same Day Edit video - a compilation of scenes from that very day, formatted w/ music and a special artistic touch to create a wedding day trailer. This finished product is shown to the guests towards the end of the reception - it is a beautifully crafted surprise. It brought us to tears when we viewed one of these videos at a friend's wedding, and it had a similar effect on our guests. They also provided a photo booth, which our guests LOVED! MPW offers a variety of packages for different budgets, and they really worked with us to give us exactly what we wanted - all from the opposite coast (they are based out of NJ)! We would VERY HIGHLY recommend them.

I will finish my review here, as those were the MAJOR aspects that made up the wedding day. I would be happy to answer any questions.

Hope the wedding planning is going well! Try to enjoy some of it, but if you can't, just know that you will definitely enjoy your wedding day - it will be the happiest day of your life! Choose a great venue, make sure your guests are well-fed, and take care in selecting your photo/video team, as those are the memories that will remain once the day is over!

Re: Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

YAY...great review. Glad you loved the food at lands end. I am getting married at flowerfield in Dec...went for my tasting and the food was amazing as well. Lovin oven catering does an amazing job

Re: Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

congrats and thanks for the review

Re: Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

Congrats!

Re: Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

Great review. Congratulations!

Re: Land's End 5/27/12 - Amazing!

Congrats!