My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

LIWeddings.Com- A+
Although I wasn’t a very frequent poster, this website was a HUGE help for me during the wedding process. When I joined in March 2009, I thought I might be a 2009 bride because I was thinking of having the wedding that November. I posted on the 2009 board for a few weeks until we settled on April 2010 for a wedding day. The girls on this website were awesome and helped me out so much! I don’t know how I would have planned a wedding without it or them. I found almost all my vendors on this website and I was so confident in them before the wedding because I had done so much research and read so many reviews. I also found the message boards to be so supportive and helpful. I tell any girl who is getting married in NY or LI to check out this website. I'm so thankful I stumbled across LIweddings.com!!

Weather- A
It was 61 degrees and sunny! I couldn’t ask for better weather! We wanted to have a wedding in April or May for several reasons. One is that we got engaged on February 28, 2009 and didn’t want to be engaged for more than a year (or a year and a few months). We initially thought about getting married in November 2009 but I was worried that planning a wedding in 9 months would be stressful. We also didn’t want to get married in the Winter and worry about snow which is another reason why we decided to push it to April or May rather than January or February. We eventually picked April because it was much cheaper than May. The weather was perfect and pretty warm for April 10. I have no complaints at all.

Invitations- Costco/E-Invite- A
I ordered both my bridal shower invitations and wedding invitations through Costco. They were great! If you want great quality invitations for a good price, I definitely recommend Costco. You can order samples for $1.25. My bridal shower invitations arrived just in time. The only reason I didn’t give Costco an A + is because my wedding invitations were a few days late. When I called Costco they had to call the manufacturer (Costco is not the manufacturer of invitations but is actually the dealer) and was told that the manufacturer had some sort of problem with the printing of the invitations and never finished them. I think this was a Wednesday and Costco assured me that the manufacturer would finish the invitations right away and that I would have them by Friday. They not only expedited the shipping but reimbursed me my original shipping costs. I received them on that Friday just as promised.



Calligraphy- Inkspun- A+
Inkspun was great to work with and they are so reasonably priced. Bill was so nice and had my envelopes back to me within a few days. I highly recommend them.

Favors- American Cancer Society- A+
We decided to do a charitable donation in lieu of favors. Choosing the American Cancer Society was a very easy decision since DH’s mom died of cancer about 20 years ago. We included a line saying that the donation was made in honor of our guests and in memory of DH’s mom on the donation cards (which the American Cancer Society provides for free). We had so many guests tell us that they loved the favor idea and we were so happy with our decision. I think a charitable donation is a great idea for a favor. Aside from the fact that the $$ will go towards a cause that you feel strongly about, they are so low maintenance because they are easy to store and maintain and they are tax deductible!



My Dress- RK Bridal- A+
My dress was from the designer San Patrick and the model was Papillon. I bought it from RK Bridal in Manhattan. I had a great dress buying experience. A few girls on this site have complained that RK Bridal is very “fend for yourself” and you don’t get very much one on one attention from the sales staff. Well, this is true and not true. I originally took a day off during the week and went there with my Mom. I went with a long list of designers I liked and styles I liked from each designer. We went through the racks (which are separated by designer) and searched for the styles I had on my list. Papillon was one of the dresses I had grabbed from the rack to try on. I was helped by Cheryl and Jo who were great. They saw the type of style I was looking for and immediately each starting picking out dresses that they thought would look good on me. One of the dresses they picked out was an Enzoani dress (Diana) which was beautiful and one of my top dress choices. Ultimately, we all decided that Papillon was the better pick for me. So while I did have to go through the dress racks with my Mom and grab the dresses I wanted to try on, I did find that their sales staff was very helpful and courteous. I ended up getting my alterations from RK Bridal and they were perfect. My seamstress was Nina. I had my dress hemmed, taken in, bustled and I had cups sewn in. I loved my wedding dress!








My Veil- RK Bridal- A
I got my Symphony veil at RK Bridal for about $130 and that includes a 10% discount since I bought my dress there. While I really liked my veil (fingertip with crystals along the edge), I was a bit surprised at how much it cost! But overall, I had no complaints.




My Shoes- RK Bridal- B+
My shoes were from the designer Dyeables and the model was Lovely. I ordered them at RK Bridal. RK Bridal does not have the best shoe selection. I went there because I was in the neighborhood. There were 3 things I insisted on: they had to be sandals, they had to have an ankle strap of some sort (no pumps and no slingbacks because I have a very skinny foot) and the heel couldn’t be more than 2.5 inches. The shoes on display are very old and I only found one pair I liked. I asked to see my size and the lady (who was very nice) brought me out a brand new pair in my size. I ended up ordering them through RK Bridal because they only had my shoe in white and I needed diamond white. I think I ended up paying $66 for my shoes which includes a 10% discount.




My Mom’s Dress- Totally You- A-
My mom bought her dress from Totally You in Bellmore. It was a Macis strapless dress with lace bolero. The sales staff was very helpful. We ordered the dress in November. We were originally told that it would take 2 months to come in but it ended up taking about 3 months due to a delay on the designer’s part. But it still came in with plenty of time to be altered. She also got the alterations done there and they came out perfect. The only thing I have to complain about is that the sales staff was a bit rude to us. When we originally ordered the dress in November, I had to use the bathroom when we were leaving the store and was told that it was out of order. One of the sales ladies told me to use the bathroom anyway. She said that they typically don’t like having customers use their bathroom and tell them it’s out of order. Now, when we picked up the dress to bring it home, my Mom had to use the bathroom and was told that it was out of order (again). We knew from the time we ordered the dress that this was a lie. However, we didn’t say anything to them about it. I just think it was pretty rude that they wouldn’t let my Mom use the bathroom. It’s not like we walked in, looked at a few dresses and wanted to use the bathroom. This is after my mother paid about $350 for the dress and $125 in alterations. So that’s why I gave them an A- rather than an A+.



Groom’s Tuxedo- Roger’s Tuxedos in Smithtown- A+
DH and I decided not to have a bridal party so we only needed to rent him a tux. A lot of girls on this site raved about Roger’s Tuxedos so we checked them out. They were great and had a very nice selection of tuxes. We were supposed to pick up his tux on Friday (day before the wedding). On Thursday morning I called up Roger’s to see if there was any way we could pick up the tux that day since we were going to be in the neighborhood. They told us the tux would be ready that afternoon and it was. I highly recommend them.



Card Box- EmmaLeighDesigns- Etsy- A+
I loved my card box and it looked perfect in the Emerald Room. The Etsy seller was great and made the card box in burgundy with a gold sash, just as I asked.



Limos- Camelot Limos- A+
I cannot rave enough about Camelot. Our limos got to our parents’ houses early, they were very clean and the drivers were so courteous and so professional. I was so confident in Camelot before my wedding due to their reputation, all the raves on this website by former brides and my meeting with Joe (the owner) and I would definitely use them again and recommend them to anyone.




Flowers- Pedestals- A+
I originally booked Pedestals in September after meeting with Vito who I thought was not just a salesperson but someone who was very talented and very interested in his work. I hadn’t really thought about centerpieces much and asked for his advice. I told him that the reception was being held in the Emerald room at the Crest Hollow which had a burgundy and gold vibe to it. He put together an awesome idea of a centerpiece with red, yellow and white colors which went great with the Emerald room. When I heard Vito left, I was a bit disappointed but my new consultant, Rich, was just as great as Vito. From the time I originally met with Vito to the time I met with Rich, I completely changed my mind about the flowers I want for my own bouquet. I printed out a bouquet on the Internet and showed it to Rich. My bouquet was just what I wanted and I loved it. I didn't have bridesmaids so I just ordered calla lily bouquets for my sister (MOH) and mother. All of our flowers were beautiful and were delivered even earlier than expected. And, I had originally told Pedestals that I didn’t want a centerpiece by the place card table because I would rather save the money. They told me they would place candles and petals on the place card table. The day of the wedding, there was a centerpiece on the place card table (in addition to the candles and petals)! I highly recommend Pedestals. They may not be the cheapest florist in Long Island, but they weren’t very pricey in my opinion. And they are very reputable, reliable and their work is awesome!







Photography/Videography- Patken- Quality of Work- A, Customer Service- B
We used Patken for photography and videography. They were great to work with before the wedding and during the wedding. Our photographer was Nick and our videographer was Tom. They were both extremely courteous and professional. Nick even arrived at my house 20 minutes early. During the reception, they did their work without being in the way or seeming intrusive. I love my pictures and my video. The quality is awesome and all of my “must take” pictures were taken. I only wish that Patken would take more pictures..I ended up with around 500 which is a lot but I know that the competitors (Duet for example) will take over 2000. But I knew this when I signed with Patken so I am not complaining. Here are some of my favorite Patken pictures.






















I will give their customer service a B. When I met with the customer service representative, I was told that I would get a CD of all my images “after 6 months.” Well 6 months after the wedding, I still didn’t receive my CD. When I called Patken, they told me that the 6 months starts after I receive my bride and groom wedding album. This was so ridiculous. Of course, my contract only specified the 6 month part but didn’t say when the 6 months begins. So I basically received my CD a whole year after my wedding (hence why my review is so late). I also wasn’t too thrilled with the fact that after the wedding, I was constantly heading over to their offices to pick up stuff. The proofs, the video, the bride and groom album, the parent album and the portraits were all separate trips. And, to make it worse, when I picked up my portraits I was missing one so I had to make another trip to pick up that one portrait. I wish they had given me some of my stuff at once.

Makeup- Oksana (makeupartistryoksana.com)- A
I found out about Oksana through this website. I had a trial with her in June 2009 and booked her. She did an amazing job on me, my sister and my Mom. I think she’s extremely talented and we all loved our wedding day makeup. The one complaint I have is that I originally told her that Patken wanted me to be ready by 12 PM that day. I told her that we had a hair stylist coming to the house and asked her what time we should start makeup application. She said that if she arrived by 9:30, that would be enough time. So, the day of the wedding, she arrived around 9:40 which was no big deal. However, my sister was the first to get her makeup done and she wasn’t finished with my sister until 11 AM. At that point I started to get a little nervous. Then she asked me what time I needed to be ready by (although I had already told her in my email). I told her 12 and she said that it won’t be a big deal to Patken if I’m not ready by then. So, my Mom got her makeup done next and was done by 11:30. I was done by around 12:15-12:20 or so. But then, my hair person needed to just tidy up the side part of my hair (which she couldn’t do prior to makeup application since the side part was supposed to sweep across my forehead). So that took another 10-15 minutes. So I was finally ready by 12:30-12:40. Keep in mind my photographer arrived at my house at 11:45. It all worked out in the end and he even got some pictures of me getting my makeup done but I would recommend that anyone using her give her an earlier start time. And like I said earlier, we loved our makeup. She listened to exactly what each of us wanted and I really think she made us all look awesome!


Here are some up-close pictures of us with our hair and makeup done.






Hair- Reiko Utsugi (makeoverwithreiko.com)- A
When I was searching for hair and makeup artists, I wanted to avoid hiring someone who lived really far away from my parents’ house in Astoria. I wanted people who knew the area well enough not to get lost and tried to keep my search to artists in NYC or Nassau. I stumbled across Reiko Utsugi’s information on www.weddingbee.com. I looked at her website and really liked her work. I especially liked that she seemed to be very versatile with chignons which was the hair style that I wanted to try. I was hesitant because I did read that she specialized in working with Asian women. I emailed her and asked her if she was free on my wedding day and I also made it clear that I’m not Asian and while I have very straight and easy to work with hair, my sister’s hair is naturally very very curly but now chemically straightened. She assured me that she has experience with all different types of hair and I scheduled a trial with her. During the trial, we experimented with 3-4 different chignons. I liked each hair style she did but picked one and booked her for my day. On my wedding day, Reiko was very courteous and punctual. She even showed up a few minutes early too. She was awesome to work with. I loved my hair and my Mom and sister were very happy too. I would definitely recommend Reiko!

DJ- Step Lively Productions- A+
I originally heard of Step Lively Productions from my friend who personally knows the owner, Chris. We booked them after meeting with Chris. We decided to do a DJ and MC package (2 guys) and we also included a photo montage of DH and I as well as a zap photographer who would take pictures of the wedding throughout the night and display them on 2 big plasma tvs. We were very happy with Step Lively and would highly recommend them. They played the songs we asked them to play and they were able to keep everyone dancing all night. In addition, I love the pictures I got from their zap photographer! They look so professional! Here are some of my favorite pictures taken by their zap photographer.












Hotel Block- Best Western Woodbury Inn- A
DH and I stayed at this hotel a few years ago and had a good experience with it. I decided to do the hotel block here because it was only a half a mile away from the Crest Hollow, they gave us a very good rate ($109 for a king and $119 for 2 doubles), and they said that shuttle service would be free. The only thing that made me nervous was that I originally blocked 10 rooms and they said that if less than 5 people book for the wedding, then those people who booked won’t get the special rate. I decided to still block rooms here because it seemed like I had quite a few guests who were interested in staying at a hotel. It worked out perfect because 9 rooms were booked. The rooms were very basic and clean and from what I hear, the shuttle service was perfect. I highly recommend this hotel.

Crest Hollow Country Hall- Reception Hall- A+
DH and I have nothing but great things to say about the Crest Hollow. We dealt with two banquet managers (Tom and Marc) who were both great. We dealt with Tom before we signed the contract and for pretty much up to the wedding. I really didn’t think we would be able to have our reception at the Crest Hollow because we only wanted to guarantee 110 people and really wanted a Saturday night. I was under the impression that they cater to bigger weddings but we checked it out anyway. We ended up being able to guarantee 120 people but for an April 10 wedding. It worked out perfectly because in the end we had over 130 people and we had great weather. For some reason, about a month before the wedding our banquet manager was switched to Marc. He was also great and super organized. Our bridal attendant (Marteen) and our Maitre D (Ralph) were also great. Our guests started arriving early so they opened up our cocktail hour 20 minutes early. The cocktail hour was amazing. I didn’t provide any flowers for the cocktail hour because I was told that the Crest Hollow would decorate it. It looked even more beautiful than I anticipated. The food and service were excellent throughout the night. Everyone kept telling me how beautiful the Crest Hollow was and how great the food was. I am extremely happy with my choice!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot and more

Congrats!~ Thanks for the review, you are gorgeous!

I'm using reiko I'm glad you had a great experience with her, there aren't many reviews of her work on this site

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Congrats and thanks for the review!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

congrats and thanks for the review...!!
the patken thing with the six months really meaning a year is going to concern me!! i'll have to check it out.....

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Great review..congrats

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

awesome review and beautiful pictures!!!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

great review!!!! congrats you looked gorgeous

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

You looked beautiful!!!!! Thanks for the review!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Thanks for the review was taking pictures hard at CHCC? One photographer told me it was and it made me nervous.

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

You look so beautiful- and your pictures are awesome! Congratulations on being married!!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

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Posted by PeaceLoveWedding

Thanks for the review was taking pictures hard at CHCC? One photographer told me it was and it made me nervous.

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Not at all! There are plenty of outdoor spots. The only thing is that if it were to rain, CHCC doesn't have an indoor studio or anything like that. My photographer said he knew of some tricks if it rained..spots outside that had some sort of shelter from the rain. There are plenty of photo opportunties though..don't forget the pool area too! Good luck!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Great review! Congrats!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Great review...love your flowers.

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Congrats

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Great review! You look beautiful!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Congrats!!! The pictures are gorgeous :)

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

Congrats everything looked great!!!!!!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

I enjoyed your review, thanks! you looked beautiful!

Re: My 4/10/10 wedding review - Crest Hollow, Patken, Pedestals, Step Lively, Camelot, RK Bridal, Oksana, Reiko and more

you looked beautiful! congratulations!