My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Sorry all for being MIA. Soooo elated that I just had to post something. Very GRATEFUL for this forum which served as my research site for pretty much everything for my wedding.

Here are the links below.

Link on ESSENCE.com
http://www.essence.com/2012/11/14/bridal-bliss-annie-and-renje


We also made it on the Bride's cafe
http://www.thebridescafe.com/?postID=1976&real-new-york-wedding-annie-and-renje&admin=FC676422-3048-D3FB-E0287EE8AFC9FDD8



More pics!

Engagement







Our engagement was approximately 2.5 years, almost 3. People reacted like “why wait so long! What are you waiting for?”. We were pretty comfortable with that time span actually. It was necessary since we were both in graduate school. Our wedding took place smack in the middle of my last semester in NP (nurse practitioner) school. For example, I had a midterm 2 days before our wedding date....talk about stress! There was some about leading up to the day, but not an exuberant amount.

All in all, our long engagement gave us time to plan, research, save. We researched each vendor extensively before making appointments and booking. We did not need a wedding planner. Everyone we worked with was organized, experienced, and knew their role the day of. We could just focus on being stressed out graduate students. Also we saved tons of money (‘recession discounts’) by booking 2-3 years in advance.

Proposal: Sunset at Grand Canyon
Because we had some time off, we took a random vacation. We went to the travel agent and said pick something for us, luckily she chose Arizona. My husband has a cousin there who was like our guide, and one of the days he took us to the Grand Canyon. We spent the entire day there, waiting for the sun to set over the Grand Canyon, which we were told was an out of this world experience. We got to Hopi point and as we were watching the sunset, he said tapped me on my shoulder, and said “Annie, can I asked you something.” He had a tear in his eye and started mumbling something in Creole. I couldn’t understand, so I asked “what are you trying to say?” He got on one knee, my mind was racing so much, that I don’t remember much of the what else was said, aside from “Will you give me the honor of making the happiest man on earth, and will you marry me?” The ledge was filled with tourists that evening, but I felt as if we were the only two people there.

Weather
Our wedding was the ONLY Saturday in March 2012 that was warm in NYC. We were so blessed to have an outdoor ceremony (the whole time, it was planned for indoors).


Location: Westbury Manor
After going to several venues, we had our minds set on one place. A friend of ours had a free afternoon, and we just went to Westbury Manor on a whim, partly because of all the liweddings reviews. When we arrived, it was the first place that we said “Wow.” No other place spoke to us like the way this place did. The grounds were perfect. It didn’t have the “wedding factory” feel. Very homey , cozy and personal. The staff wined and dined us with free drinks and treats during our meetings. They gave us a coupon to their reputable restaurant. They threw in so many add-ons that we would have payed extra at the other places. My husband worked at a ritzy catering hall in high school and college, and he said, for what we got for free, would've been top dollar at his former place. The cocktail room had large glass windows that made it feel like outside. The other cocktail room was decorated like a mansion library. And we really felt as if the staff coordinator was really selling us the place, and not trying to impress us with bells and whistles. I can’t express enough about how knocked off my feet I was.








Flowers: Designs by Rose
I started researching the types of flowers I wanted. I presented an idea for low centerpieces with blooming flowers on a square vase lined with sliced oranges inside the vase. I got inspired after seeing a picture of sliced lemons centerpieces while browsing in The Knot. I thought it was perfect with our wedding brunch and color theme. Thankfully, Rose was able to pull it off, even better than I imagined.

There’s not enough I can say about Rose Cataplano. She was a pleasure to work with. She is a visionary with great ideas. She too, is great with response and communication (a common theme in my review). She gave us a free centerpiece preview sample a month after we first met her (all the other flower people told us to come back in the spring...we met her in September). The sample matched exactly to what she described and what we wanted. (side note: if you have live fruit in your centerpiece, make sure you get rid of it in less than a week. Fruit flies are a killer to get rid of). She had a lot of throw ins including cake flowers, flower girl flowers, and grooms flowers). All of the bridal party flowers were perfect, without anything missing. She even stayed later to decorate our cake (a practice that is not commonly done). She really goes the extra mile for her clients, she doesn’t have to at all considering how inexpensive she is compared to her competitors. She is a gem, and I wish I could get married again, so I could work with her again







Cake






Invitations :designed by sister in law
Still with the sliced orange theme



DRESS
Lizette Royale by Maggie Sottero
Took me lots of visits and tries to find my dress. Found it at RK Bridal but really purchased it at Lestan's Bridal in Brooklyn.





Bridesmaids Dresses
Big indecision at first. After looking at many dresses, the girls and I decided on long flowy coral dresses with a sweetheart neckline. The MOH dress was unique with the flowers on the side (just like my wedding dress). I gave the other girls choice of 2 other styles by the same designer. I like the “mismatchyness” all the while keeping the same coral color.
MOH wore Bary Jay Style 103
3 Bridesmaids wore Bary Jay style 324 and the other 2 were Bary Jay Style 332
All purchased from Lestan's Bridal in Brooklyn




Makeup: Mia Farrah Boutique


Mia came to my house and worked on my engagement pictures, which turned out great. Due to an emergency, she couldn’t make it to our wedding, so she sent her second in command, and gave me a reduced rate. I wasn't too nervous because her assistant was super friendly and was there for my engagement pictures. Nevertheless, I was super happy with the results.


Garter
Syracuse..vendor from Etsy



SHOES
Twinkletoes by Hey lady Shoes
My criteria for shoes were :
1) I really wanted them to be comfortable. I didn't want to end up changing into flats during my wedding. So the best I could do was 3 inches max.
2) I wanted to use the shoe again. Add it to my wardrobe. which brought me to the idea that I didn't want it to be white.
3) I also wanted them to be dye-able, particularly in orange.
I stumbled on a site called Hey Lady Shoes. Created just for brides that marry style and comfort. https://www.shopheylady.com/details.php?products_id=131&categories_id=

My shoes were Twinkletoes, which I had dyed in bright orange. They were sparkly and comfortable and my favorite color. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect shoe. Sooooo comfortable! I never took them off on my wedding day. Only bad part: My shoe cobbler left a visible smug on the inside of my shoe (seen on the picture above).







MUSIC Raphael Gordon (MMIDJ’s) (DJ)
The best DJ we could have picked. He had everybody dancing and involved from opening to close. I watched the video yesterday, and I didn’t even notice the variety of music he played. He played something for everybody. Our wedding was half Haitian, he even had knowledge of a great Konpa catalog. I was worried, the haitian elders would be unhappy, but they all applauded the selection of music. (Anybody who is Caribbean knows that receiving high praise from the elders is no small feat). He scored the perfect balance between Haitian and American music. I was most impressed by the fact that he had the dance floor full during electric slide and cha cha slide. Usually at weddings, a handful of people are up dancing to those songs. At mine, he had EVERYONE up there.
He is an incredible talent as a DJ and MC. He was perfectly interactive with the crowd, and he worked closely with us to create a truly amazing experience. He took the ball, ran with it, and scored a touchdown, and relieved all my anxieties about the music.





PHOTOGRAPHY : J'ADORE LOVE
Husband and wife team (Jenn & Efrain) are the best. They can make a water fountain look magical. We are so lucky we caught them on the rise, because now, they are worth so much more. They were great to work with, and kept constant communication. The engagement photos at the Brooklyn Museum were a wonderful experience. They added a lot of great ideas. On the wedding day, they guided us, and gave us recommendations about what should be done. We did not have to give them a list of shots...they did it all. They got everything we wanted and then some. They are truly masters of their craft.











VIDEO: ORANGE FILMS
In the beginning, we were against videography. We were told that nobody ever watches it, and it’s not worth the extra money. Fortunately, last minute, we stumbled upon a Groupon for Orangefilms for $895. We figured, why the hell not. This was one of our best wedding decisions. Edward is the perfect company representative. Correspondence with him felt as genuine as talking to a friend. In the beginning, we also felt, that since we got the video for pretty much half price, we were going to get half priced effort. Nope! We got the video last week. It was more than superb (award winning if I do say so myself). It was perfectly edited. I watched the raw video last night, and he got so many shots that I didn’t even know happened at the wedding. Without him, I would’ve never known they existed. Now, I can’t imagine, not having had hired him.

OrangefilmsNY
http://www.orangefilmsny.com/

Small clip that we shared on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnqTxhc8ybo&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLSIuenD0brGHm6d7rnQro8A



OFFICIANT Johnny Erato
We took a gamble and went on a recommendation from a friend, and it paid off, immensely. After choosing him, I can’t believe we even considered anyone else. He worked personally with us to develop a ceremony that met our needs and beliefs. Going back and forth with him, allayed our fears about the whole process. He was on time, gave a great ceremony, and took care of the licensing and everything else.

He gave us a list of traditional Methodist (his religion) and Catholic (my religion) and we chose what to say from that list.No special traditions were used. Our officiate did use his ipad to read the Bible (that was pretty untraditional, I guess). We had one of the bridesmaids read Corinthians 1:13 about the definition of love.



VIOLONIST: Natalie Kriegler of Capriccio Ensemble
since we both LOVE classical music (which we listen to daily), we hired a violinist to play his favorite, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, as he and the bridal party walked and I walked to Bach’s Air. The violinist also serenaded the seating guests, with a few selections (Can you Feel the Love Tonight; Elton John, Clocks; Coldplay, Lara's Theme; from Doctor Zhivago, She's Got A Way; Billy Joel, All I Ask of You; Phantom of the Opera, I Will; Paul McCartney, No One; Alicia Keys, Moon River; Breakfast at Tiffany’s).

Natalie Kriegler of Capriccio Ensemble
http://www.capriccioensemble.com/
She is absolutely the most organized and responsive vendor who we’ve dealt with. Corresponding with us was like corresponding with a friend. She's the epitome of professionalism.


Macy's, Etsy, Tri-county
My jewelry, for the most part, matched the sparkly leaf design on my shoes. On Black Friday, I scored a great deal on matching necklace, earrings and bracelet (all with a leafy design). On that same night, I also purchased a set of pearl necklaces/earing/bracelets and 3 brioches to wear on their dresses for my bridesmaids to wear.

Got my veil from the Tri-County Flea Market in Levittown, NY. The actual place is called Barron’s Bridal Boutique, they work with you and customize the veil. Prices were pretty fair and it was ready within a week.

Etsy was my best friend. I found a crystal and ivory wedding hair comb with leaves that I wore on the side of my hair. Also found my Channa plaque on Etsy that i had designed in our colors



And lastly on Etsy I found the props that we used for our photobooth...from Partybooths.com.




Favors
JR Cakes (wedding favors)
I met Jacqueline at a party a few years back, and little did I know she would end up adding a powerful addition to my wedding. She made red velvet mini-cupcakes, printed the stickers, purchased the boxes, packaged everything, and delivered them, all for one cost. They came out absolutely lovely. She worked with me, and communicated with me on every step of the way from the design to the wrapping. She is very good with responsiveness and has a great grasp of what this day meant to me. The cupcakes were so good, guests told me, they stuck around after the wedding to collect the favors left on the table. They were so good, unfortunately for them, there weren’t many left.


Since we love to travel, we also had special table numbers made of the 15 various locations around the world we’ve visited.



Cake topper



Cake topper shipped from Canada by cake top designer Nicole W. Clark. She did an awesome job by collecting our pictures beforehand..everything pretty much matched the day of.
website http://nicolewong.com/Home.html

Hotel Hilton Garden Inn
This is the perfect hotel for a wedding weekend. Danielle is the perfect sales manager to work with. She is responsive and accommodating. Her staff is wonderful and knowledgeable. She answered all of our questions and addressed our concerns promptly. The rooms were inexpensive comparatively to the hotels in the neighborhood (believe me, I checked them all). They are around the corner from Westbury. They provide a free shuttle. Hilton gives you the perfect website to book rooms and observe who has booked, so one can send out reminders. They have a hotel bar to hang out at, they are in the perfect location near the mall and a bunch of great restaurants. There is a small mini store next to the front desk for the 3am munchies. Every room has free water and cookies. The mall is good for younger guests to hang out at. There is a diner on the corner, that is perfect for the morning after brunch. There are many restaurants within ten minutes to have a nice rehearsal dinner. There are liquor stores in close vicinity for some pre and post wedding partying. The Pizza Hut around the corner is good for a post wedding late night meal. There is a great bagel shop on post ave about seven minutes away that is good for the pre wedding breakfast (The only problem is that there’s no free breakfast, it costs $11.95 for the breakfast buffet). As you can tell, I couldn’t have chosen a better hotel for my wedding experience.

Minado (rehearsal dinner)
Our wedding was on a Saturday afternoon. We had the rehearsal dinner on a Friday night. The problem with many of these LI restaurants is that on Fridays, they do not like to take reservations. If you have a large party, many times you are stuck with having to go at 4:30 or maybe face long Friday night wait times. Ideally we would’ve chosen Cafe Baci, but their latest reservation time was 5, and they wanted us out in 45 mins. MInado came to the rescue. This place is huge, so walk ins should not be a problem. They take reservations for parties larger than 15, but, as said before, there shouldn’t be a waiting problem for people going in at any time. They are a Japanese buffet, so they have something for everybody. They are one price for appetizer, dinner, and dessert, which makes it good for budgeting. Im very glad Baci rejected me, because I believe we had a better experience on Minado.

Transportation: Zipcar (lol)
For about the same price we would’ve paid for a luxury car from Hertz, we were able to rent a BMW from Zipcar for the weekend (no logo). Not only did we get gas included, but the Zipcar station was near our house, so we didn’t have to trek back from the airport. The last thing you want to do the day after your wedding is to be stuck on a subway or cab going home for an hour.
Overall, i think having a ceremony + reception at the same place eliminated the need to have a 'showy' limo.



Honeymoon: Travel Tom

We decided to honeymoon in Brazil. We left for Salvador then Rio de Janiero 2 weeks after our wedding date. We spent 9 days total, 4 days in Rio Vermelho which is a coastal city in north east Brazil on a beach, and the next 5 days in Rio, on Copacabana beach. We could see the Jesus statue from our window. The beach in the front and Jesus statue in the back was exquisite.
Thanks to Travel Tom (our travel agent), we had an experience beyond our wildest dreams. He worked with our budget, made great recommendations, and was responsive to all of our e-mails, phone calls, questions, and concerns.
https://www.facebook.com/TravelTomUSA
*Don’t let the USA fool you, he goes WAY beyond the United States

My wedding made it to Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor

What a great review! Your wedding looked amazing and your pictures are absolutely gorgeous!!

My wedding made it to Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor

awesome! great review. you look beautiful and i really like the color scheme!

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Thanks for sharing! Beautiful pictures!!

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

i love the colors and how you brought it together- so different and lovely!

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Simply gorgeous! I loved your dress.. Congrats!

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

YAYYY,... congrats i'm booked with your DJ too

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Beautiful Review! What did you mean by recession discounts?

Re: My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Thank you everyone

I say recession discounts because we were shopping around right after it was hitting.

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

congrats! great review! I contacted designs by rose because she was highly recommended to me so I'm glad to see such a positive review from you!

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Beautiful pictures!! How did you get your story in Essence Magazine?

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Beautiful wedding! I was wondering the same thing - how did you get featured in those magazines?

Re: My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

One of my bridesmaids encouraged me to apply to Essence via email. I didn't initially meet their deadline (past 6months ). She told me to apply instead to The Bride's Cafe. I only emailed them my pictures. A week later, they told me I was going to be featured on their website..and simultaneously on Essence (they work together)

For Essence I needed to also answer their questionnaire (pretty lenghty).

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Beautiful wedding, I love the orange theme

Re: My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Congratulations! I love the review, pictures and video. You look beautiful

My wedding on Essence Bridal Bliss & The Bride's Cafe!!!! 3.24.12 at Westbury Manor. Designs by Rose, J'adore Love Photography, MIA, Raphael Gordon, Orange Films, Capriccio Ensemble.

Great review! Loved your pics. Congrats!!