My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

LIW- A+

I know it’s been said time and time again, but, really, what would I have done without this site!?!? I felt confident about choosing my vendors, I got a ton of great ideas and advice, and I know for a fact that my wedding wouldn’t have been nearly as awesome without the help of this site. Thanks LIW!

2011 Brides- A+

Along with LIW comes all of the wonderful brides to be who are going through exactly the same things you are: the stress, the excitement, the confusion. The list could go on for days. I am so grateful for all of your insight, your empathy, your jokes, and for just making me feel better when it got to be too much at times. I am so happy that I’ve gotten to know such amazing girls and that I had the opportunity to share this exciting time in my life with people who really get it!

Engagement- B+

To be honest, my engagement wasn’t really exciting at all. My DH was so nervous, that he totally threw his plans out the window and proposed to me in my room. … Honestly, it was kind of cute that he was so nervous. It was my birthday in 2009, and we had plans to go to a nice dinner at Paces in Port Jeff. It ended up raining that night. His plan was to take me to dinner, have us walk on the boardwalk, and then propose by the water. However, the second he got to my house and came in my room, I knew something was up. He was acting like a total weirdo (he was so nervous). I knew that he was going to propose. I was still getting ready, and he got down on both knees to look in my fish tank. He was staring really intently at the fish. So, being the brat that I am—since I knew he was freaking out about proposing—I ask, “what are you doing?” with that “you freak” tone of voice. All of a sudden, he pivots onto one knee, whips the ring out of his pocket, and asks, “will you marry me?” Obviously, I said yes. We both had a good laugh over how nervous he was, and he explained what his real plans had been. I still wish I had a better story, but it was pretty cute, I guess. And how could you really give your engagement a bad grade?! It was the moment I knew I was going to be his wife

Engagement Ring, Barclays- A+

Even though he kind of botched the proposal, he definitely didn’t botch the ring! I was very impressed since he picked it out all by himself J/K He has good taste He purchased it at Barclay’s in Smithaven mall. It was a little big, so we needed to have it resized, which we did at Barclay’s. No problems there. No complaints here! I still love it.





Engagement Party, Casa Rustica- A+

My In-laws were nice enough to through us an engagement party. We had it at Casa Rustica in Smithtown. From what they told me, they had no problems at all and they were very accommodating (DH’s brother doesn’t eat fish, so they made him his own appetizer and didn’t charge extra—even though they were using the party menu, etc.). The food and atmosphere were great. We had our own room. I know Casa Rustica can be a bit pricy in general, but everything was perfect.



Engagement Party Centerpieces, Premade from Michaels- A+

My MIL purchased the centerpieces in the pre-made floral section at Michaels. The engagement party was in October, so she gave the party a little bit of a fall theme. They were pumpkin bases with pretty fall flowers and leaves (and cute little scarecrows). Everyone took them home. I still put mine out every Halloween. You can kind of see one in this pic.



Engagement Party Favors, Flories Finales- A+

My MIL purchased the favors at Flories Finales in Nesconset. They were big, pumpkin shaped sugar cookies that had our names on them. They were really delicious and super cute. I know that Flories Finales also does cookies and other edible favors for showers and weddings. We looked at them for my shower, but didn’t want to spend so much on favors (The big cookies were $4 each, I think). If that’s in your price range though, I highly recommend them!





Bridal Shower, The Milleridge Inn- A+

My mom organized my bridal shower (and I, admittedly, helped). We had it at The Milleridge Inn in Jericho. We shopped around a bit before deciding on The Millridge, which gave us the most for the money. Plus we loved the room, which was all windows looking out on a pretty brick patio with flowers around it. The staff was great, the food was great, and we used some of the shops in The Milleridge village on the property, which were great as well. The bakery in the village makes a cake as part of the party package. It was adorable and delicious! If you have any particular questions, feel free to ask me. We were very happy with the overall experience.







Bridal Shower Invitations, Party City- Invitations-A+, Customer Service-B-

We ordered the bridal shower invitations from Party City in Nesconset. They were very reasonably priced and very cute. We originally ordered invitations that had a recipe card attached, but they ended up being discontinued, so we had to go back to pick out new ones. We really had our hearts set on the returnable recipe card idea (because we ended up using them for the favors), so we ended up picking out a different invitation that had an RSVP card, and I made the recipe cards myself on the computer. I was happy, overall, with how the invitations turned out, but I wasn’t too happy with the customer service.

First of all, like I mentioned, we had to go back to pick out a different card because the first one we ordered was discontinued (they didn’t know that already?). Once we ordered new invitations, we were all set to go. However, when I went in to pick them up when they were ready, there was a typo. Admittedly, it was a small one (“alot” instead of “a lot”), but I was an English major in college and am still a grammar Nazi (“Alot” is not a word—see this link for clarification (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html). I’m not going to let a typo fly, especially after we went through the whole thing line by line, and I approved what we had written down. I know that the error was on their end because the typo wasn’t on the version I approved. In any case, the woman gave me a huge attitude about it. They did ultimately fix the problem without charging me, but I wasn’t happy with the fact that they gave me a hard time about it. You made a mistake, so own it without giving me attitude. Thank you very much.

Bridal Shower Favors, A.C. Moore, Staples, & DIY- A

The reason we were so set on ordering returnable recipe cards is because, for the favor, we put everyone’s recipes together in one cookbook to give out to all of the guests. We made a cover page that said “Christa’s Bridal Shower, Recipes from Family and Friends” with the date of my shower on it. The assembly was torturous since we had a family friend make us all of the copies (for free! ), and we cut them up and assembled the books ourselves. We purchased Mini Photo Albums for $1 each at AC Moore and filled the slots with the recipes. We figured that it would be good for people that don’t cook, then, as well. If I had to do it again, I would just pay someone to do it. It honestly wasn’t worth the time in order to save the money on materials (this could be because we made 75 of them!) . Overall, I loved how they came out (and so did the guests!). If you are having a (much!) smaller shower/party, I would be happy to share how we did it. Just let me know.

Bridal Shower Centerpieces, Christmas Tree Shop & The Milleridge Village Florist- A+

As centerpieces for the shower, we purchased floral teapots and pitchers from The Christmas Tree shop for $7 each. They were adorable. We had originally planned to buy flowers at the supermarket and fill the containers ourselves; however, we ended up seeing that there was a florist in the Milleridge village. We decided to stop in to see how much she would charge to do the flowers for us. It ended up being around $10 a container. We would have spent that much on the flowers at the grocery store!! We dropped off the vases the week of the party and they filled them with flowers. They did a great job. Cute and inexpensive!

Rehearsal Dinner, Casa Rustica-A+

Since Casa Rustica did such a good job for our engagement party, we also had our rehearsal dinner there. For the rehearsal, we didn’t get our own room, but it worked out just fine. We all had a great time.

Bridesmaid Gifts/ Bridesmaid Jewelry

For all of the bridesmaids, I purchased a Day of Clutch, Day of Jewelry, and a double sided picture frame.

Day of Clutch, David’s Bridal- A

The bags were a bit small, but what evening bag isn’t? The girls loved them and they matched their dresses perfectly (The bags were Jade by Davids Bridal, and the dresses were jade by Alfred Angelo). More importantly, they have them in store, so I didn’t have to wait for them to be shipped.



Day of Jewelry, Etsy Seller liliswan- A+ for jewelry, C for delivery

I found this jewelry set on etsy in the middle of June. I ordered it on June 25th for my July 16th wedding. I needed it to come in for the rehearsal dinner on July 14th. I informed the seller of this, and it should have been plenty of time. However, I literally received the set after we took the getting ready photos and before we left for the church the day of my wedding. To the seller’s credit, I saw that it was shipped July 2nd as First Class Mail (the confirmation e-mail specifically said 2-5 days). I don’t know why it took so long. The problem seemed to be with the US Postal service. Overall, I was SO happy with the jewelry ONCE it arrived. It matched the dresses exactly, and it looked great. I was just pissed that I had to buy back up jewelry in case it didn’t arrive (bought sets on sale at Macys the week before the wedding). I ended up giving my girls both sets, so I spent more than I wanted to. Basically, the jewelry was awesome. Just order early (or request that the items be sent via FedEx or UPS instead of the postal service)!




Double Sided Picture Frame, Personalizationmall.com- A+

I liked the idea of putting a picture from when we were younger in one side of a frame and a picture from the wedding in another side for each of the bridesmaids. I found this item on Personalizationmall.com. It looks a lot more expensive than it was in person, and all the girls loved that I put a picture in it and left a spot for a picture from the wedding. It also comes with a cute poem and each girl’s name inside (where the wedding picture will eventually go). Overall, I was happy with this item.



In addition to the items above, I also bought a Vera Bradley wristlet and a big old candy bowl filled with Jordan almonds for my Maid of Honor (she loves those things!).

All-in-one Wristlet, Vera Bradley- A+

My maid of honor and I had been talking about a good going out bag—something big enough to hold a camera and a cell phone, but not so big that it is annoying while you are dancing. I found this on Vera Bradley’s website, and I thought it fit the bill. She was happy with it and so was I. No trouble with ordering or delivery. It also comes in a nice gift box so it’s easy to wrap.



Flower Girl Gifts

For our flower girl, I bought a cute personalized flower tote and filled it with lots of goodies

Personalized Flower Tote, Exclusively Weddings- A

I ordered online and had no issues. I found reading the reviews very helpful. If I hadn’t, I would have thought the bag was much bigger than it was. I’m giving an A rather than an A+ because you don’t have a choice in the font for the embroidery.



Flower Picture Frame, Michaels- A

I had the idea in my head of getting a flower picture frame so that she could have a picture of her as a flower girl in a frame that’s a flower. I couldn’t find a picture frame that was a flower, but I found this one that had flowers on it. Plus, Michaels always has frames on sale, so that was a plus. I also put this cute poem inside the frame that I found online:

How lucky to have a flower girl
who's so cute in every way
Someone who knows how
to walk down the aisle
and steal everyone’s heart away.
As our cousin you’ll always be special
We love you more than words can say
So, thank you for being
our Flower Girl
on this, our wedding, day.

That way the frame wouldn’t be empty. I think my Aunt and Uncle liked the poem more than the frame!

Random Goodies for inside the bag, Dollar Tree & Party City- A+

I got her a plastic tiara at dollar tree that was adorable (and $1!) and then I went to Party City and raided the princess themed party section. They had princess bubbles, watches, glasses, etc. She loved everything and I don’t think I spent more than $10 on this stuff.

Groomsman Gifts

Sunglasses, Oakley Outlet in Riverhead- A+

We wanted to get something nice for the guys (and I always love how sunglasses pictures look with all of the guys in their tuxes!), so we decided on Oakley Sunglasses. They were about $150 each, and, of course, DH had to get a pair Overall, I was happy with the service at the store and the purchase.




Picture Frames, Kohls- B+

At the last minute, I decided that we should probably get something extra for our brothers. I thought that a nice frame, for them to put a picture with their respective sibling in, would be nice. I went to Kohls and found a frame that said “brothers,” but they didn’t have one that said “siblings” (for me and my brother). I ended up getting him one that says “family.” I probably could have found a “siblings” or “brother and sister” one if I looked harder, but like I said, it was last minute and these worked out fine.





Collapsible Chair, Amazon.com- C

My brother-in-law is an amputee (leg from knee down). I thought it would be a nice gesture to get him a pop up chair for when we went to take pictures at Planting Fields (He was the best man, so he didn’t have much of a choice. He was going to be doing some walking!). I wanted to find something that wouldn’t be too bulky to carry around with him, so I found this chair on Amazon. It’s apparently used for golfing, etc. The reviews said it can hold a pretty big guy (brother-in-law is 6ft) without issue.

He didn’t say anything to me, but it turns out the shape of the chair works out better for a woman to sit on than a man (if you’re catching my drift). He ended up brining one of those bulky fold up chairs people bring to the ball field to watch their kids. Oh well. I tried.



Sunglasses, Yankees T-Shirt, and Yankee’s Hat, ***** Sporting Goods- A+

We had one junior groomsman, and I wasn’t about to buy $150 sunglasses for him that he would grow out of in a few years. So, I decided to go to ***** and just buy him a regular pair so he could take pictures with all of the guys. They ended up having children’s sizes which was great (and they cost be about $10!). His main gift was that DH took him to a Yankee game, so I also got him some gear at ****’s that he could wear there.

Parent Gifts, Things Remembered- A+

We definitely could not have had the wedding we did without our parents. We wanted to do something nice for them, but we couldn’t afford to break the bank. I decided on these nice frames. I thought it would be nice to kind of have a picture of us growing up until our wedding day. Both of our parents loved them and loved that they were personalized. My parents always call me “baby” since I’m the baby of the family, so at the bottom of their frame I wrote “Always your baby.” On the bottom of my in-law’s I wrote “Always your little boy.” At the top of both frames I wrote our names and wedding date. In addition to the frames, we also go each set of parents a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant.



Reader Gifts, Borders- B

We ended up getting both of our readers a $25 gift certificate to Borders and a nice bookmark. I’m giving Borders a B because when we got back from our honeymoon, we heard they were going out of business. I’m annoyed that they continued to sell gift cards when they knew they would be closing. I’m sure my Aunt and DH’s Uncle had time to get something, but still.

Gift Presenter Gifts, Marshalls- A+

We kind of forgot about asking anyone to present the gifts. We ended up asking our God mothers since they were both going to be at the rehearsal dinner with our cousins who were in the wedding party (and since it would be nice to have our God mothers present the gifts ). The week of the wedding I ran to Marshalls and bought a nice stationery set and Yankee candle for each of them. It was just something small, but they both appreciated it.

Hair, Jenn the Hair Genie- A+

I was very happy with the job Jenn did on me and my entire bridal party (and some family members). She arrived with plenty of time to do everyone (and even squeezed in my cousin who decided last minute that she wanted to get her hair done). My hair lasted all day, and I got a ton of compliments on it (including form friends who are hair dressers). I would highly recommend Jenn. She was a pleasure to work with! (Just a side note—My MOH wasn’t crazy about her hair, but that is because she didn’t speak up. She got a blow out, but the ends ended up curling out and under—rather than just under. Her hair looked gorgeous, but it just wasn’t what she was used to. I’m sure Jenn would have been happy to change it/do it differently if my MOH had spoken up)





Make Up, Kelly with Glam Me Up- A+

Again, I couldn’t have been happier with the job Kelly did on me and my entire bridal party (and some family members). She really took the time to talk about what colors she was using, to ask opinions, etc. My make up lasted all day. I just carried around my lip color to re-apply throughout the day. I would definitely recommend Kelly. She was so professional and, truly, so sweet!





Wedding Dress/Veil, Bridal Suite of Centereach- A

I went back to the bridal suite several times while I was looking for the one, and ended up going with a dress I found there. I’m putting an A rather than an A+ because I kind of feel like (just a teensy weensy bit) that I settled on my dress. It really grew on me the more I saw it, but at first I was a little iffy about it. Ultimately, I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I did feel beautiful on my wedding day. When I was going to try the gowns on, I thought all of the sales women were very helpful and nice. We didn’t have any problems.

I also bought my veil at the bridal suite. I wish I hadn’t (only because it was almost $300!). I should have taken the time to go to Barrons or shop online, but when I tried it on with my dress, it really did go perfectly. Also, by this point, I was so tired of trying things on that I just said “Oh, what the hell, just add it on!”








Alterations, Bridal Suite of Centereach- B+

Overall, my alterations turned out fine. I wish I could remember the name of my seamstress (terribly unhelpful, I know). I went for three or four fittings and by the second I thought we were in pretty good shape. When I came in for my third fitting she had raised the front of the dress even though we hadn’t talked about doing that . I asked her to lower it again, and she was able to since she didn’t cut the dress; she just tucked and stitched the fabric (I guess she just wanted to see how it looked shorter ). It ended up being ok (I actually wished she had brought it down a hair more, but I didn’t want to chance it time wise), but I had to go for an extra fitting for no reason to make sure she brought it down enough.
DOJ, 1928.com Jewelry- C-, Customer Service- F; Francesca’s Collectibles- A+; Barclays- A+

I first purchased my DO earring and necklace from 1928.com. They have a bridal area of their site and I found a set that I liked. When the jewelry arrived, I liked it. I didn’t open it up to try it on for a while. When I finally did, the earring fell apart in my hand. Great.





So, I called Customer Service and the girl I spoke to said it wouldn’t be a problem to exchange it even though it had been longer than 30 days since I purchased it.

So, I packed up the jewelry, wrote a long letter asking them to please expedite an exchange as I needed the jewelry for my wedding, and I even mentioned the lady’s name from Customer Service.

After a week or two passed, I hadn’t heard anything, so I called them. They informed me that they did receive the jewelry but that they never received my letter (which I know for a fact I put in the envelope—I also made a copy of it before I sent it). Since it was so close to the wedding, I didn’t want to chance not getting the jewelry back in time, so I just told them to issue me a refund.

So now, that it was less than a month before the wedding and I had no jewelry, I decided I’d have to go to a store rather than find something online. I ended up finding a necklace and earrings from Francesca’s Collectibles in the Smith Haven Mall that I was happy with.



In addition to my necklace and earrings from Francesca’s, I also wore the diamond tennis bracelets that DH got me as our wedding gift. No complaints there! :D



Headpiece, Etsy.com seller Luciabella1- A+ (Thanks, Andrea!)

I actually saw the headpiece that andreahowie posted on the site. I asked her where she had gotten it, and she told me about this etsy seller. I had no problems whatsoever and I loved my headpiece.



Garters, From Mom & MOH- A

I actually didn’t buy garters. I thought it would be a waste of money since we didn’t do a garter toss. My MOH and Mom actually each bought me one separately. I wore them both the day of (as my something blue since they both had blue in them). After a while though, they were cutting off my circulation, so I took them off. Lol




Day of Shoes, Macys Steve Madden- A+

DH is a shorty, so there was no way I was going to wear heels. I wanted sparkly, dressy flats, and these did the job perfectly. Best part is that I can wear them again





Bridesmaid Dresses, Bridal Suite of Centereach- A

I got a lot of compliments on the bridesmaid dresses, and I was really happy with them (Alfred Angelo 7017s in Jade and Pistachio). I thought they were perfect for a summer wedding and for a younger bridal party. Just pay attention to the pricing at the Bridal Suite of Centereach. I went in to pick out the bridesmaid dresses and was given one price in 2010. When we went back to order them in 2011, they had switched over to higher pricing (I was told that the prices had gone up for the new year and that this was standard). They did honor the lower price since I brought up that it had changed and I had already told my bridal party how much it would be. Definitely say something if the price changes on you from one trip to another. As far as I know of, none of the girls had any trouble with alterations.





Flower Girl Dress, Sears- A+, Davids Bridal Sash- A+

I went with my mom to Sears during communion season with a swatch of my dress. I found a dress for my flower girl in the perfect shade of ivory for under $30. I then went to David’s Bridal and purchased a sash in my bridesmaid’s color to go over it (Jade). Perfection.







MOB Dress, Totally You-A, Customer Service- B-

We got my mom’s dress at Totally You in Bellmore. They had many different plus size options if that’s what you need. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t have time to order the dress in another color (we ordered black), but that was really my Mom’s fault since she put off dress shopping to the last possible second!! Overall, I thought she looked great!

I put a B- for customer service because my mom paid for a bracelet when she had her first fitting, and they were supposed to hold it for her for when she picked it up with the dress. When we went to pick up her dress, the bracelet, which she put a deposit on, was nowhere to be found. To Totally You’s credit, they did let her pick out a more expensive bracelet without raising the price on her, but they shouldn’t have lost the bracelet she wanted (which they no longer had in stock).





MOG Dress, Bridal Suite of Centereach- B+

My MIL had her dress custom made at the Bridal Suite of Centereach. She brought in a picture of what she wanted (which she found in a magazine), and the owner happened to be there that day. He told her that it would be no problem whatsoever, gave her a price, etc. She was happy and made an appointment to go back and pick out the dress that they would use as the base.

So she went back, picked out the dress, and they ordered it. Once it came in, she went back to try it on. The dress itself wasn’t the problem though. She wanted a crystal sash like the one in the picture she had showed the owner. The woman she was working with started going into how much each different type of crystal belt would be when the owner had quoted it as part of the dress.

To make a long story short, they didn’t really make good on what they had originally said. They had showed her a gorgeous crystal sash when she first went there, and then on her follow up trips they told her that they didn’t have one, couldn’t find one like the one she wanted, etc. They just didn’t want to give her the nice crystal sash as part of the price she was quoted.

I thought her dress turned out great, but it was after a lot of headaches and, in the end, a compromise on the sash. My suggestion would be that if you are going to get something custom made there that you get EVERYTHING in writing with all pricing included.





Tuxedos, Roger’s Tuxedos in Smithtown-A

We had a great experience at Roger’s. The owner is really funny and great to work with. I put an A instead of an A+ because DH really had his heart set on wearing an ivory jacket. The owner searched high and low for one, but couldn’t find one for DH in time. He ended up wearing an all black tuxedo, but he looked great and it wasn’t the end of the world. Also, we got DH’s tux for free which I thought was really nice.







Day of Coordinator, Piece of Cake Events-A+

Christine and Lisa were amazing to work with. I really had to convince DH to get a DOC, but he was even glad we did. Nothing major went wrong (thank God), but it was nice to just have someone to help with the flow of the day and what not. I really think it saved us some stress, and I would definitely do it again. If anyone is looking for a DOC, I highly recommend Christine. She’s a doll and will not let you down!

Photo/Video, Duet A

After hearing all of the amazing reviews about Duet on LIW (and recommendations from some friends who have used them in the past), we pretty much knew we would be booking with them. We had no problems prior to the wedding at all.

On the wedding day, Danny’s team came early and they were really professional. I have to say I was exhausted from smiling, but I felt they were really getting a lot of great shots.

I can’t say anything about the video as we don’t have it yet, but we are really happy with our pictures. I gave them an A instead of an A+ because there were just a few minor things I was unhappy with.

For one, we don’t have one formal picture of DH and I where we aren’t kissing. To Danny’s credit, they really got every picture I had on my “must-take” list, but I didn’t think I would have to put down “formal picture of bride and groom looking at the camera.” Lol There are three pictures where it’s just us standing formally and looking (one is in front of the limo, one is inside the reception space (but a light is shining behind us), and the other is too far away. That’s not to say that we don’t have a TON of great photojournalistic photos of us, but I thought we’d have more formal ones to choose from.

Secondly, we went to Planting Fields Arboretum to take pictures after the ceremony. All of the pictures with our bridal party are really far away because the photographers were trying to get in the great architecture of the mansion there. That’s great and all, but I want pictures of my bridal party, not the building. If I had realized at the time, I would have asked to go somewhere where we could get closer shots (and maybe some more flowers in the background).

I really am being overly critical. I did give them an A after all. I just want to be completely honest. I do really like our pictures, but I’m only over the top, head-over-heels in love with a handful of them (which is certainly better than none of them!).

Feel free to FM me if you have any questions.





















Limos, M&V Limos- A+

The limos showed up on time and were exactly what we asked for. The drivers were great, and we were really happy overall. I know I’ve heard some bad reviews in the past of M&V, but I honestly had no problems at all. They were great, and I’d recommend them!

**I do want to point out that we did not get an old car. This probably avoided a lot of issues (as even the guy we booked with told us that they tend to break down). I would assume that this is what people have given them bad reviews on in the past.







Church, St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Smithtown, B+

DH and I both grew up in Smithtown, so we’ve been going to St. Patrick’s forever. I’m a little jaded because I miss the old church (which they converted into a gym for the catholic school), and I’m not a huge fan of the new church (which is gorgeous—don’t get me wrong. It’s just modern whereas the old one was more traditional).

With that point aside, I’m really giving a B+ for having to deal with our priest. We, stupidly, admitted that we don’t go to church every week, and so we had to start going every week in order for him to give us a mass. And yes, I get it; we SHOULD go to church every week. However, I know for a fact that other couples just lied to his face and were given a mass with no questions asked. Alas, we did the right thing and had a full mass in the end, but I just don’t appreciate the hypocrisy.

Also, we had it drilled into our heads that we couldn’t throw anything, we had to be prompt, yada yada yada, and on the day of our wedding we arrived to the wedding before us still going on, the wedding before us throwing flower petals outside, and general disarray. Lol If I had known it didn’t really matter, I would have done a few things differently.

In the end, the church and ceremony were beautiful, so it’s all good.







Organist/Singer, Provided by the church: Organist-Lee Forsythe & Singer-Anna Poma -A+ for both

I thought Lee and Anna did a wonderful job with the music for our ceremony. I worked with Lee to set everything up, and she was a pleasure to work with. The music was beautiful the day of.

Wedding Rings, Barclays- A+

Clearly, DH likes Barclays. We went back to them to pick out our wedding bands. They ended up having an eternity band that matched my engagement ring exactly, so that was great. DH got a plain gold band (he’s tan and looks better in gold than I do, so we decided not to do matching bands). We had no trouble picking them out, having them sized, etc. I would highly recommend them. Don’t forget to negotiate the price too (they are willing to work with you).



Wedding Programs DIY (thanks, Jessie!), A- for myself

I DIY-ed my wedding programs thanks to some help from Jessie (FutureJOC). Thankfully, she had a template I could use because the church was terribly unhelpful in that department. lol I pretty much copied Jessie’s program but formatted it a little differently. I’d be happy to share the template (for a full mass) if anyone is interested. Just FM me.

I’m giving myself an A- because I waited until the last minute to do these, and I would have really liked to make them a little more special. I just brought them to Kinkos and had them run copies. I had planned to add ribbon or something sparkly, but I just didn’t have the time.

As a side note, none of this really mattered because the wedding before ours was running late, and barely anyone got a chance to take a program since they were all rushing into the church to start our ceremony.



Wedding Bubbles (thanks, Lisa!), A+

I DIY-ed the bubbles as well thanks to Lisa (leesah85). I literally just copied exactly what Lisa did because it was so easy, economical, and awesome. I purchased the bubbles at The Dollar Tree, and the monogram stickers and ribbon at Michaels (on sale). I spent one night in front of the TV putting them together, and I thought they looked great!



After Ceremony Pictures, Plating Fields Arboretum- A-

We took our pictures at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. The place is gorgeous, and we really got some great shots. I’m giving them an A- because even after we paid a $100 site fee for taking our pictures there, they still charged us $8 per car (limo) to enter. Really? Common. How about a “don’t worry about it; it’s your wedding day!”

**I also want to point out that they don’t have a spot for indoor pictures (you can rent out one of the green houses, but it’s another $100 + that I wasn’t willing to spend “just in case.”) Luckily, it wasn’t an issue for us, but just keep it in mind if you are thinking of going there to take pictures.













Reception, Fox Hollow-A+

We were really very happy with the Fox Hollow. Every step of the way they were really very accommodating and helpful. The day of was no different, and we had a great time. Neither DH nor I ate a thing, but it certainly wasn’t because there wasn’t enough to eat. Everyone was gorged!

We ended up being about 30 people under our minimum, and the Fox Hollow did work with us by giving us baked clams with cocktail hour and the popcorn and cotton candy machines during dessert, which were both a huge hit. I’m glad they did something for us since we were so far under our minimum.

The only (minor) issue we had was with our cake, which I’ll talk about in a minute. Overall, they really did a great, great job, and I would highly recommend the Fox Hollow.

Feel free to FM me if you have any specific questions!







DJ/Cocktail Hour Music, Tommy Tunes-A+

We LOVE Tommy Tunes—by far, one of our favorite vendors. Every time we went in to drop off a payment, we would literally be there for an hour talking to Tommy. He’s really a great guy.

For our wedding we got a 3-piece Jazz band for the cocktail hour and one of the standard MC/DJ packages for the reception.

We heard that the jazz trio was awesome, but we actually didn’t get a chance to listen to them We were too busy taking pictures during cocktail hour, and we never made it out.

(As a side note for Duet brides, don’t make a HUGE “must-take” photo list. You will surely miss out because you will be too busy taking pictures! Lol Like I said, Duet got pretty much everything I asked for, but it’s because we didn’t go to cocktail hour!)

As for the DJ/MC (we had Frank), They were awesome! They played all the songs we asked for, and the dance floor was seriously packed all night. All of our guests kept telling us how great the music was!

I would DEFINITELY recommend Tommy Tunes. No complaints whatsoever.



Florist, Flowers by Brian-A+

I know I’ve read some bad reviews recently of Flowers by Brian, but we honestly had a great experience. We worked with Joseph, and he was great from the beginning.

We were happy with everything—the pew flowers, bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, centerpieces, Altar Pieces, dais piece, etc.

I had them wrap my bouquet with my Grandmother’s charm bracelets, and it looked great. I also brought in ribbon that was the same color as the bridesmaid dresses, and they wrapped them around the girls’ bouquets.

The delivery man who dropped off the flowers at my house even wrapped the porch with tulle for us. I thought that was really nice

I do have to say, that our cake looked pretty stupid. Lol However, that was either the bakery or Fox Hollow’s fault, which I’ll get into in the wedding cake section. Flowers by Brian brought the flowers that they were supposed to for the cake we were supposed to have.

If you have any specific questions, just let me know.





























Wedding Cake, Francesco’s Bakery for the Fox Hollow- C

So, our wedding cake was delicious and was actually pretty on its own. However, the fox hollow showed us a book with different cakes to pick from. We chose a tiered cake that had a space with columns between each layer. When we met with Flowers by Brian, we explained the cake and asked that they bring flowers to place in between each layer. This would then make the cake look full (cake, flowers, cake, flowers, etc.)

On the day of, the cake did not have the spaces in between each layer. I don’t know whose fault this way—Fox Hollow or Francesco’s—but it did not look like the picture we were shown.

The flower delivery boy, not knowing what to do, just kind of plopped the flowers on the cake. I was really unhappy with the finished product, but at that point, there really wasn’t anything left to do about it. It was already out, and I didn’t want to make a big deal and have them pull the flowers off the cake.

I do have to say though, that I asked for a dot pattern since I thought the cake was too plain and the bakery/fox hollow DID deliver on that.

In retrospect, I really should have just pulled the three roses off, but what are you going to do.

The cake tasted great, and now my guests just think I have bad cake taste. Oh, well!

My thought is, if that’s the worst thing that happened, thank God!







Room Block, The Inn at Fox Hollow-A+

We loved that the hotel was right next door. A bunch of our guests took advantage of the rooms and the included breakfast the next morning. It was great to be able to just walk over to the hotels after the party (albeit by myself as DH got lost in his drunken stupor—but that’s another story!) and not have to worry about getting home!

Other Details:

Invitations, E*venst*ar P*aperie (without the *s)- A

I had seen how great her work was on this site, and so I started the design process with her. I do have to say, as some other girls have pointed out, she can be a bit set in her ways. I didn’t end up with the exact invitation color I wanted (which she insisted didn’t have to match the bridesmaid dresses exactly—hello, type A personality here! What do you mean they don’t have to match?!), but I did really love them in the end. If you have any questions, let me know.





Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue- A+

I was throwing around the idea of what to do for each of these throughout the wedding process and here is what I ended up with: Something Old= my late grandmother’s charm bracelet. I had Flowers by Brian wrap it around my bouquet, and I thought it was a nice, personalized touch. Something New= DOJ jewelry. I bought enough new stuff for this wedding, so I wasn’t going to get something special for this! lol Something Borrowed= My Aunt’s ankle bracelet. I kind of forgot about this, and we were at her house. lol Something Blue=Garters. My Mom and MOH both had gotten me garters that had blue in them. Worked out perfectly.

Parasols, The Wedding Channel Store- A+

I wanted to take cute pictures with my bridesmaids, and I loved the parasol pictures I’ve seen in magazines, on-line, etc. I purchased five all together. Three green ones for my bridesmaids (to match their dresses), a pink one for me (to stand out/compliment our colors), and a white one (which I DIY-ed into our thank you umbrella the night before our wedding). I thought the quality was great for the price (less than $10 per umbrella), and I was happy with them. I would recommend these parasols.









Place Cards, DIY- A

I am obsessed with my place cards. I really LOVE how they turned out. I am giving myself an A instead of an A+ because they took a RIDICULOUSLY long time. I did them so close to the wedding and really didn’t have the hours I dedicated to putting them together. In the end, I’m glad I did them though because I think they are SO CUTE!

Feel Free to FM me if you’d like directions. I actually got the idea from Martha Stewart Weddings (it’s on their website).







Family Photos, DIY- A+

I spent some time before the wedding going back a few generations so that I could put out family photos with the place cards. After everyone took their cards, the Maire-D moved the pics to a table behind us. It was nice to have the pictures there that day, and we got a lot of compliments on what a great, meaningful idea it was. (I really thought it was pretty standard, but apparently a lot of my guests hadn’t seen it before). The frames are from Michaels, and now they are hanging in my living room.



Sign- In Frame/Guest Book, Michaels- A

Instead of doing a guest book, we purchased a “sign frame” from Michaels. I meant to have a nice picture taken of us to put inside, but again, ran out of time. We used a picture we had taken at Disney world. lol I’ll probably replace it with a wedding pic. It ended up working out ok, but really, the majority of our guests didn’t even sign it. In retrospect, I could have just skipped it all together, and I wouldn’t have cared much.



Photo-Sharing Cards, Vistaprint.com- A+

I designed my photo-sharing cards on vistaprint and got them for free (schwing!). I thought they came out great. Unfortunately, only one person has uploaded photos. Lol I did, however, upload our professional pictures to the same site, so as to not waste the cards. Now I can hand them out if anyone wants to see our professional pics



DIY Cake Letters “LOVE”, Michaels- A+

I purchased the wooden letters and craft paint to match our colors from Michaels. I then painted them myself. I thought I did a good job on these. Now I’m just trying to figure out what to do with them now that the wedding is over.



Favors, Bed Bath and Beyond-A, Papermart-A+, Party City-A+, Staples-A+, Michaels-A+ (Thanks, Jessie again )

We couldn’t decide for the longest time what to do for favors. We eventually decided on ice cream dishes—one per person. We ordered them in Bulk from Bed Bath and Beyond online. A few came in broken, but they gave me no trouble returning them in the store. I did find out later that they now have these at the dollar tree. It was probably worth it to have them shipped to my house as the dollar tree store has them individually (would have been a pain to buy over 100 of them loose! ) Dollar Tree does have a website though, so if you’re thinking of ordering these, check on their website!

I pretty much copied Jessie’s (FutureJOC’s) wrapping technique exactly. I went to Party City for the wrapping paper (value rolls were the cheapest I could find anywhere), to Staples for the business cards which I printed as the favor tags, and Michaels for the ribbon and craft glue we used to affix the business cards. I ordered the individual boxes at Papermart.com and didn’t have any issues.

If you have any specific question on how I did this, just let me know. Overall, I was happy with how they turned out, but we had a TON left over. I don’t think people realized they were supposed to take one per person (even though there was a server standing there to direct people). Oh well.

I do want to say that putting these together took FOREVER since we had to literally put each one in a box, then wrap it, then put ribbon around it, and then glue the tag on. It was a full, two-day event for two people!







Jordan Almonds, DIY, Wrap With Us in Syosset- A+

I put together the bombonieres myself and purchased all of the supplies from Wrap With Us in Syosset. I was happy with them overall. FM if you want to know exactly what I ordered. It was a fairly easy project.





Honeymoon, The Grace Bay Club in Turks & Caicos- A

We had an awesome time on our honeymoon! We went for 10 days and it actually felt like 10 days because there isn’t much to do there except for lay on the beach! It was so nice to just relax and not do anything after all of the stress from the wedding. I’m giving the hotel an A instead of an A+ because there was one day that the whole island lost power. The main hotel lobby had generators, but we were stuck in the dark in our room! Also, the food on the island isn’t that great (but aren’t all secluded places that way?). We found one really good Italian place and one great sushi place. Overall, we had an AWESOME time. Definitely a place I’d recommend visiting. The beaches are AMAZING!


























If you made it all the way to the end of my review, CONGRATS! This was ridiculously long, but I remember how helpful reviews were to me during the planning process, and this was worth it if I can help another bride looking for answers. Thanks for reading!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Everything looked beautiful. Congrats!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Thanks for sharing!!! Everything looks beautiful and you guys look so happy! I love all of your flowers, and details (including those place cards - so freakin' cute!). I'm sorry about your cake, I know the feeling, but like you said if that's the worst that happened, then I'll take it toO! Hah

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

GREAT Review! Love some of your pictures from Duet - they are gorgeous.

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

great review!! Your pics came out great congrats

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Beautiful and thanks for sharing!!!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Everything looked perfect!!!!! Your dress was so pretty, you defintely made the right choice!!!!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Great review! Everything looked perfect! Congrats!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Christa, what a wonderful review!!!! Thanks for the shout out on the bubbles! I really love this review - thank you for sharing!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Thanks for sharing! Looks like you had a beautiful day

BTW I bought the same dress as you!!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Great review. Congratulations!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Absolutely stunning!

Congratulations

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Great review, thank you! I'm going to FM you about hte church programs.

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Everything looks beautiful! Im also a Fox Hollow and Tommy Tunes bride, loved them!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Awesome review! I love that you included so many pics.

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

thank you so much for the review.. im using FBB and I'll be sure to ask about the Flowers on the cake when we are finalizing everything!!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Absolutely beautiful wedding, congratulations!!! Thank you for your review-especially the tips on Duet!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Thank you ladies! So glad to finally have this written!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Duet, Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Everything looked beautiful! Congrats!

Re: My 07.16.11 Ridiculously-Long, Picture-Filled Wedding Review!! Glam Me Up, Jenn the Hair Genie, Duet, Tommy Tunes, M&V Limos, Fox Hollow, Planting Fields, and many more!

Great review!! Everything looked awesome and love all your DIY details!