My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Hi! I just have to say that I miss this side of the board even though I still visit! Newlywed life is great but I wish I could do this all over agian!

Well, to start off, the weather was perfect! It was such a beautiful fall day and I felt soooooo lucky that it didn't rain! I thought it would. But it was still too chilly to have the ceremony and coctail hour outside.

Photographer: PROLINE
We had a regular photographer and a photojournalist photographer take pictures. They were both great! I wish I could remember their names though. The photojournalist photographer got to my house first and told me to 'just ignor her' but it's hard to do when someone is following you around with a big camera. I did get used to it and didn't even know she was there by the time we got to the Westbury Manor for formal pictures. The egular photographer was fantastic also. He took tons of pictures at my house and it didn't feel like I was stuck taking pictures all day. He was very quick about it and just knew where and how to pose me. He was open to taking my picture infront of my DH's jeep (the jeep became a huge issue with my mother because me and my DH decided to trade cars (he's having transmition problems) the night before our wedding b/c his father needed an extra car to give his relatives to use since they were coming from overseas. My DH and I didn't see eachother before the wedding and I figured that if he took it home from the RD, it would have been easier. Well, I forgot to get the keys to the jeep and therefore couldn't move it out of the driveway, which my mother wanted me to do so the jeep wasn't in any pictures. We have a huge circular driveway and it was parked at the end of the driveway away from the house so it wouldn't be in it anyway.....I guess my mother just wanted everything to go perfectly!) Well, all my photographers heard while they were at my house is 'don't get the jeep!' So as a joke they took my picute infront of it kicking the tire and posing by it...HA HA.....Well, anyway, like I mentioned before, my DH and I didn't want to see eachother before the ceremony (which was at the WM) and the photographer was great in getting all the different combo photos he needed without me and DH together. We also didn't want to miss much of coctail hour and he made sure that he got what he needed and us to coctail hour with 30 minutes left of it.

limos:
a family friend drove us in his limo. What more can I say! He was on time and everything went smoothly!


flowers: PEDESTALS
Danny was fantastic and knew what he was doing when he picked the colors for my girls bouquets, centerpieces and my bouquet. My BM dresses were in claret, which is like a ruby red. Danny had suggested black magic roses with terrocotta roses and these purple flowers with lemon leaves, ivy and berries for my centerpieces and my girls flowers were made of the same flowers. My bouquet was all fire and ice roses (for ones who don't know, they are a creamy colored rose with bright red tipped peatels that make the whole bouquet look like all red roses but you can see some white coming through. very pretty!) Danny was very accommodating and made every effort to make everything perfect!

officiant: REV. JOE
Rev. Joe and his wife Judy were excellent! They made sure everything went the way we wanted it to go. Judy helped us pick vows, readings, etc. that made our ceremony unique to us. They really took the time to get to know us and made suggestions on how to combine both of our faiths into the ceremony (I'm cathloic and he's jewish). Everyone has said that the ceremony was so beautiful! It went by so quickly for us that I can't wait to see it on our video!) They arrived 30 minutes early to talk to both of us and to rehearse with the BP (without me). I do have to say that Judy had suggested that instead of when I walk down the aisle with my parents, to have them go out first without me, stop at the first row of chairs, turn to the door and then I step out and walk to them, my parents give me a kiss on the cheek, we link arms and walk down the aisle. I loved that idea and have to say that it looked beautiful! My DH told me that when I stepped into the room, he got all choaked up and tears came to heis eyes! I am sooooo glad that I decided to not see him before the ceremony! As I said earlier, the ceremony went beautifully and Rev. Joe kept me calm. Judy was there also to keep my relaxed and get me anything I needed.

ceremony/reception: WESTBURY MANOR
my bridal attendent was Kelly and I feel so bad that I forgot our matredee's name. They were both excellent! Kelly kept bringing me whatever I needed and removed any stains I got on my dress. She knew just what to do! By the end of the night, Kelly was like a close friend. The matredee was also wonderful and made sure everything went perfectly! The coctail hour (we only got to be ther efor the last 30 minutes) was fantastic! So much food! It was held in the library and atrium. It was so pretty and many of my guests commented on how wonderful it was. Oh, I forgot to mention, the WM had a breakfast for my guests before the ceremony at 11:30 since my ceremony was at 12:00. Most of my guests showed up for this and I have been hearing wonderful reviews about it. Reception: great! Again, the food was plenty and delicious. The staff did a great job making sure that everyone was well taken care of. They made sure that everything I brought with me for the reception was cleaned off and packed up for me (toasting flutes etc). The cake also came out just as me and DH wanted it to!

Band: HEART AND SOUL
they were great! They got a lot of people up to dance and even though they didn't know how to play our first dance song, they learned it for us and did a great job! The only thing I have to say about them that I didn't like was that I had asked them to play 2 irish songs for my dad and they didn't. They did do the hora for my in-laws. I was annoyed about this but didn't realize it until after the reception! Also, they didn't play the last dance song that we wanted and it was on their list of songs they can play!

For the ceremony, we had a orchestra trio play (also from Franklin Wayne). I wish I did not hire them! I had asked them to play a song that I wanted to walk down the aisle to and they told me that they couldn't. I had checked with other trios and they said that they could do it and it shouldn't be a problem! Also, at the end of the ceremony, they came right up to me and DH while we were takeing pics. and demanded the balance of their money. I told them to go to my FIL and even pointed him out, but the guy just said 'I don't care who gets me the money, I just need it now!' I had to stop taking pics and get it from my FFIL! How rude! Also, with Franklin Wayne, the trio was supposed to play at my coctail hour but the day before our wedding they called and told me that the band (keyboardist) would play at coctail hour! WTF??? I was too busy to argue but should have. Needless to say, the trio did not get a tip!

I will post again with my HM review! Sorry this was long. Hope it was helpful!

Kelly

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congratulations Kelly! From a guest point of view, the wedding was AMAZING...everything was beautiful - especially you!!!!!!! And even though the band didn't fulfill every request, I have to say they were great!! All the best to you and your DH for a long and happy life together!

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

wow, it sounds absolutely wonderful. congratulations to you and goodluck to you and your new hubby

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congrats on being a Mrs. We cant wait to see pics! Enjoy married life!

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congrats and thanks for the review

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Kelly,
I'm so glad the weather was good! Sounds beautiful, I can't wait to see your pics! What happened w/the ceremony music is lame, but overall it sounds like it went perfectly! I can't wait to see your pics. Our day went too fast! How was your HM? Ours was amazing, I'm going to post pics later. Hopefully I'll get my proofs tomorrow night!
Kelly

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Kelly- Glad you had a nice day. I had to respond to your post because we used the band Creations (Franklin Wayne) and we had major problems too. First, more than half the band were replacements and not the people on our contract. The lead female singer I found out wasnt going to be there through another bride on this board. Then at the wedding there were others that werent there and replacements. I also had a play list and they hardly played most of the songs on my list which were on their song list too. Me and my husband were supposed to dance our first dance alone and the band invited everyone to join us. Then my dance with my dad was supposed to be some of a slow song and go into MY Girl and they never went into My Girl. I had posted previously about my problems. Believe me I understand how frustrated you must feel. Is it so hard to play songs on a list?

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

congrats kelly!

omg, how rude were those franklin wayne people?!?!
I hate a$$holes like that

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Thanks for the review! Good to know about Franklin Wayne! Sorry you didn't have a review beforehand.

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Thanks ladies! I can't believe I forgot to review my hair and make-up! I will add that soon.

Cindy~ Now I remember reading your post about Franklin Wayne! I guess I must have been thinking 'Not me!' Live and learn! Sorry to hear you had a similar expierience!

Kelly

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congratulations to you and your new hubby Pictures please...

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Kelly4-
Your cake looks amazing- my fi loves it-

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

thanks dcbride! We combined pics of 2 cakes! We both wanted fresh fruit instead of flowers. We got so many compliments on it. My mother hated the idea of it at first.

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congratulations on your wedding

Re: My 10/20 wedding review! (LONG)

Congratualtions Kelly! Everything sounds like it went terrific...and I'm sure everything made up for those rude Wayne people!!!