Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Rating scale: A++ through F, A++ being beyond what I was expecting and F obviously for a horrible experience.

In no particular order, here’s my review!

LIWeddings: A++
If it wasn’t for this website, I probably wouldn’t have had all the great ideas and little details that I had in my wedding. This site has been truly helpful and I would like to thank Ron, Kim, staff plus all the LIW girls who have helped me w/ my year and half process of planning. Thank you!

I would like to start off with the bad to get those out of the way. I would also like to add that what I’m writing is based on what happened, what I saw and what people told me.

Tuxes - Men’s Warehouse (Green Acres): F
Two of the GM went to this location and I happened to have gone w/ them as DH was away at his bachelor party. My brother’s tux was way too big and baggy and the collar for his shirt was way too small. The other GM’s tux pants were way too short, and not just slightly short, you saw about 2-3 inches of his sock while standing! His jacket sleeve was also too short where you could see his watch. His shirt collar was tight as well. My brother started looking at jackets to see what size truly fits him and one of the associates goes to the other associate who was helping us saying: “Why does he need another jacket, it’s only a rental?” First, it doesn’t matter if it’s a rental or not, we are paying for it. Second, you weren’t the ones helping us so f*ck off. Third, the jacket was way too big and he looked ridiculous. Why wouldn’t we get one that fits him correctly? I mean, that’s what they do there right? Measure and fit them accordingly so people look good on special occasions. Also, their shirts were so tight around the collar that when they finally took the shirts off, their necks were red. Luckily, they were able to find shirts in the store to try to make sure they had the right size. We had to go back 2 days later for the correct sizes and luckily they were correct this time. They got this rating b/c of their poor customer service and lack of interest in helping us. Plus, I personally thought they lacked knowledge in what they do as employees there. They obviously did not measure or order correctly, and for that, they receive a big fat F.


Tuxes - Men’s Warehouse (Carle Place): A-
DH and one of his GM got his tux from here and they didn’t have the horrible service that they had in Green Acres. I gave them an A- b/c both of their sleeves for their shirts were slightly short but DH and his GM didn’t bother getting it fixed as they didn’t think it was a big deal.

North Ritz Club: A++
They were great from the beginning. They gave us all and more than what we expected. Nadine was great to work with from the very beginning and was easy to communicate with whenever I had any questions. Our MD was George who was fantastic and definitely made sure that the night ran accordingly. Isabel (Isabella?) was my BA who was my shadow from the second I stepped out of the limo. She was beyond accommodating and always made sure I had a drink in my hand, fixed my bouquet, dress, everything! She was phenomenal! When guests were handing me envelopes, she would hold them for me and would put them in the card box to make sure I didn’t lose them. She was great! She was even going to go to the bathroom with me to help me with my dress but I thanked her and said no b/c luckily for me, I had my 2 sisters to help me out with that!
The week before the wedding, I met with Nadine to finalize everything and I stressed out that I, as well as the BP will be taking pictures and might not make it to CH. I tend to get faintish if I don’t eat so I asked them to make sure that there was food in the bridal suite. When we got there, there was a feast waiting for us!!! There was no need to go down to CH – everything was there! We did manage to take pics before the 1 ½ hr CH was over so the BP was able to enjoy some of the CH.

I couldn’t have asked for a better RH and staff than NRC. The waiters, bartenders, everything!! We were so thrilled with everything that we got from them including the seafood bar, VH (which they allowed the guests to take home w/ our take home boxes), extra station, customized ice sculpture, our requested cake flavor (and we received a mini cake for tasting), martini luge, extra hour and more!! The food and drinks were plentiful. Nobody went home hungry or thirsty that night! They were just simply AMAZING! There is not a single bad thing I can say about them! Oh and they even packed us a giant box of treats from the VH! Thank goodness b/c I only got a few bites that night.










Church – Holy Name of Mary: A-
It was kind of a struggle to get in touch with them in the beginning. I felt like I had to call multiple times before I could even get an appointment to set up the date. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of booking the hall first only to find out that our date was booked already (a year and a half in advance) and we had to switch the date with NRC. Pre cana was fast and painless so no complaints there. Unfortunately, our papers got mixed up and the music coordinator never received it and therefore never set up an appointment with us to go over music. Luckily I knew what I wanted and trusted him (since I hear him every weekend) and took care of the music program 2 weeks before the wedding w/o any consultation. I had my great uncle marry us and we had Father Rob say the gospel and homily which was great. I’m so happy to have had both of them there for our ceremony. There was a graduation the day of our wedding so we basically had to start on time and people started coming in after our ceremony so we couldn’t take any pictures at the Altar. I wish they had done something so that the parents of these children could wait at least 15 minutes before storming in but what’s done is done and we did start 10 minutes late.





Photographer/Videographer – Duet: A++
DH and I didn’t even bother looking at any other photographer. We went to Duet first and booked on the spot. They definitely give you the best for your buck and the quality of their work speaks for themselves. We had team Alberto, Frank and Sean the day of and all of our guests kept on complimenting us the day after as to how great they were and it was as if they weren’t even there. Our e-pics w/ Alberto at Sands Point were fun and we loved the pics. The wedding pics were great as well and we got so many, I still need to actually sit down and look at the rest of them. I would definitely recommend them if anybody’s looking for a photographer. I only wish we got to take more pictures outside but that was not their fault. It poured on our wedding day and outdoor pics weren’t going to happen. I’m just glad that when it did stop raining for a bit, they took us out and captured whatever outdoor pics we could. They did such a great job that my sister’s even using the same team for her wedding next year! There are more pics in my album as well.

Epics at Sands Point




Wedding day pictures















Franklin Wayne Band – Heart and Soul: A++
They were probably the 3rd band that we saw and I’m so glad that we waited to book b/c they were AMAZING! I still have guests telling us how on point they were. A lot of people were telling us before the wedding that bands are ok b/c a lot of times they don’t sound like the artist, but they Heart & Soul was phenomenal! They kept the dance floor packed (which I loved seeing) and def stayed within my music request. Again, another vendor that was so outstanding that my sister will be using them for her wedding next year!






Flowers - B urtons: A++
B urtons were great to work with. One of my least stressful vendor. I went in 2 weeks before the wedding giving them a general idea of what I wanted and they delivered such beautiful products. I loved all the bouquets and the CP’s and the pieces for the church as well. The flowers for my hair were also provided by them. Definitely got our money’s worth through them!







Alterations – My Daughter’s Wedding: A++
Both of my dresses were sample dresses so I had to find places that would alter them. I originally went to a dry cleaning place recommended by MIL’s friend who used to make wedding gowns. She seemed promising except she wouldn’t listen to what I wanted done and she was doing the bare minimum to the dress. I lost $200 in deposit with her but it was worth it knowing that she was going to do a sh*tty job had I left it there. We then took it to My Daughter’s Wedding in Great Neck who gladly took in both my dresses. Yon is a perfectionist and spent lots of time making sure this dress fitted perfectly. I brought my dresses in early as I couldn’t have them in my house any longer so I was going for fittings from Feb – June (totally did not mind this!!) I found her prices to be reasonable for the amount of work that she did for both my dresses esp compared to how much the dry cleaners were charging for the little sh*t job that they did to my ceremony dress. One of my dresses was about 2 dress sizes too big and that she spent a lot of time on. The other was about a size too big but that wasn’t as much of a problem for her. I also was constantly losing weight from Feb til my wedding and she had to take in my dresses more than once when she thought she was done. She told me to stop but I couldn’t help myself. Lol. She was awesome. She probably wanted to choke me hahah. Yon also made me a custom veil. I bought the lace myself to try to match the lace on dress as close as possible and the veil came out beautiful!! All in all, I’m very happy with the end product and I would recommend her if anybody’s looking for their gowns to be altered.





Favors – Afresh Approach – A++
DH and I originally wanted cupcakes and I took him here based on reviews from past LIW brides. I thought DH wasn’t going to like the idea but he absolutely LOVED it! I contacted Jeanne who was really easy to communicate with and we went there and they had all these different flavors of truffles ready for us to try! We booked with them later on that week and went back a month before the wedding to finalize the flavors and got to try the truffles again!!! This was my favorite part of the planning! We went with the 4 truffles in a jar with chocolate hearts that doubled at seating cards. Loved the idea!! The guests thought it was such a clever idea and the truffles were a hit. Who doesn’t love delicious truffles?? The best part – both times we went to taste the truffles, they packed us a box of truffles to take home. And on top of that, they gave us a platter of cream filled strawberries in the bridal suite for the bridal party. They were going nuts over it! I wish I had more but NRC had filled the room with food from the CH so it was hard to stuff my mouth with everything in there!



Hair/MU – Ai Sakai: A
Ai was my 4th makeup trial and 1st hair trial. I booked with her on the spot. On my trial, she gave me 2 makeup looks and two hair looks. I was very happy with the way it came out. I would’ve given her a higher rating except I noticed in the pictures that I had some (not a lot) hair that fell out of my bun and that my makeup on my face kind of ran a little from all the crying I did during my MOHs’ speeches. It wasn’t that bad but I noticed it when I went to fix myself up. Overall, I was very happy with her and her work. She had an assistant come to our house the day of and took care of me, BM, 2 MOH’s and my mom. They did a great job!





Uplighting – Prestige Event Lighting & Décor – A+
This was a last minute add on for us and I had to fight my way to get this with DH. In the end, we were happy that we went with it b/c it definitely changed the mood of the hall. Glen was great to work with, easy to communicate with and I even met him the day of as he was setting up and taking down the lighting. They got the coloring exactly how I wanted it, yellow and pink, our colors without making it look cheap.




Invitations - Even*Star Pa perie: A
I went with her based on the many reviews here from LIW girls. I had originally wanted hard bound invitations and when she originally gave me pricing, I was really excited b/c it fit within my budget. After she had constructed it, she realized that it was going to cost a lot more than I thought and I eventually went with a pocketfold instead. I worked with her through email and she was really good with her response time and my requests. I would’ve given her a higher rating but I was missing some addressing on a couple of envelopes and I didn’t want to deal with contacting her for a couple of envelopes. It was actually a pain to print on the square envelopes as I’m not printer savvy at all!



Honemoon – Dubai and Maldives through F*rosch: A++
I went with this TA based on recommendations from a few ladies here on LIW. I’m glad I contacted her b/c I was working with another TA who was pricing out the same exact HM and did not even come close to the pricing that they gave us. We had a 12 night HM to Dubai and Maldives (4 nights in Dubai and 8 nights in Maldives). Dubai was suggested by our TA and it never really crossed our minds as to somewhere we wanted to go to but we thought, what the heck, why not? I’m glad we got to experience it but I think we definitely could’ve done without it. We did an excursion everyday that we were there and it was tiring especially since we went right after our wedding and it was a 14 hour flight plus it was extremely hot! Maldives was beyond anything that we expected. We stayed at Centara Grand Resort Spa which was an all inclusive food and drink resort. For all inclusive, the food was EXCELLENT and so were the drinks. There were a few nights where I had one too many. LOL. But every night, there was a different themed dinner from Indian, Japanese, Mediterranean, African, you name it, it was there! They also had a few restaurants to go to if you weren’t feeling buffets but DH and I are buffet wh0res so we enjoyed that and only went to their Thai restaurant which was excellent! We had a water bungalow which was just incredible to have the ocean be your backyard! We went sunset fishing and swimming with whale sharks (the largest sharks in the world) which was the most thrilling experience ever! Pictures cannot even describe what it was like to swim with these gentle giants. And we swam with two!!!!! We were definitely relaxed and hope that one day we can return to Maldives.









Whale shark!



BM Dresses: Alexandra;s Boutique in Forest Hills – A
I dragged my MOH’s and some of my BM’s to a few bridal salons until we decided to go with Alexandra’s who had the cheapest price by far. The order came in quick without a hassle. I gave them an A just b/c they don’t do alterations and it was a pain for some of my BM’s to find a place get it altered.




Trash the Dress – LovemorePhoto: A++
I was lucky enough to convince DH to do one b/c I was so upset that we didn’t get to take much outdoor photos during our wedding due to the rain. I was between them and 1 other photographer but eventually went with them b/c they were able to do submerged water photos and would do it in PA without extra cost. I’m so glad with our decision. We were originally supposed to take our TTD the weekend or hurricane Irene. I kept in contact with them via email and was still going to go through with it til that Friday when the storm was just not disappearing and I had to email them and let them know that we couldn’t drive them for both of our safety. They were very accommodating. Luckily for us, they had a Saturday day available in October, which ended up being an oddly warm day! I told them what I was looking for and Arek & Ilona scouted PA for waterfall areas and sent me pictures of it. I then sent them inspiration pictures and they scouted the area for all these amazing spots for the pictures!! They suggested sunrise or sunset, and we ended up going with sunrise just b/c we had booked the hotel a while back already. I’m so glad we did!!! We got these amazing sunrise pictures and got to experience the beauty of it all. We were with them for almost 5 hours driving to different locations and taking so many different shots from bridges, to lakes, boulders, slanted trees, waterfalls,etc! Arek has such a great vision and both him and Ilona are such friendly, amazing people. I felt so comfortable around them, I honestly could’ve done this the whole day!! Too bad DH is not a camera person HA! If anybody is looking for a photographer, I would highly recommend them!







Others:

VH take home boxes – Papermart.com - A and Stickers for VH take home boxes – Vistaprint.com - A
The boxes did their job and I’m so glad we got them b/c there was so much dessert during the VH and you could see the smiles on people’s faces when they found out they could take home sweets! Some of the boxes were dented and that’s why I gave them an A only. The stickers were also good except I found the writing to be not as clear as I wanted. Overall, they both served their purpose and I was happy with the outcome.


TheWeddingChannel.com – Ribbons, matches, napkins & bubbles: B-
I gave them this rating b/c it took forever to ship the items and they sent me bubbles 2x (2 weeks before the wedding) that were brown. I called the first time to let them know that the bubbles were all discolored and to make sure that the next shipment was clear b/c it was getting too close to the wedding. The 2nd shipment also had brown liquid. I had to call and complain and get management involved b/c it was less than 1 week at that point and I still had to wrap ribbons around them. They overnighted the bubbles and let us order whatever we wanted. We went with their higher priced bubbles (HA!), the champagne classes and they were delivered with no issues. The napkins, matches and ribbons were according to what I wanted as well.


Rings: Solomon Jewelry for Ering and Lord & Taylor for wedding band A++
What can I saw except for that I absolutely love my rings! I found the design of my e-ring while going to my mom’s jeweler (from Vegas). I took a picture of it and knew this was exactly what I wanted. Since the jeweler was so far away, DH had my ring replicated by Solomon’s to look exactly like what I saw. It came out even better than what I remembered! The wedding band was from L&T and we was able to get discounts upon discounts through their coupons and opening up their card. Diamonds – what more can a girl want?


Bridal shower favor – Sugar Chic cookies: A+
My sisters got the cookies through Sugar chic and they were big and delicious. She made them to match our color scheme and also did the favor tags as well! She was quick and responsive and everything came in one piece!


Bridal shower location – Crab Tree: A-
My mom and sisters threw me a shower at the Crab Tree in Floral Park. The food was delicious but the space was tight. We had closer to 60 people and that room probably would’ve been comfortable with 40-45. Too bad it rained b/c we had the whole outdoor area and this probably would’ve caused the tightness issue. We had breakfast food served buffet style and had great drinks with it! I gave them an A- b/c we paid for valet but they didn’t valet any cars (we did get our $ back for that).






Rehearsal Dinner – Coral House: B+
I don’t have pictures from this night b/c my sisters are horrible at uploading pictures but we got one of the smaller rooms and had about 50 people fit in there comfortably. The MD was accommodating and not overbearing and the CH food was great and drinks were plentiful. I gave them an B+ b/c my chicken was slightly pink and I caught it before putting it in my mouth. I let the MD know and they quickly brought me back a different dish. Other than that, we were very happy with their service.

Accommodations: Four Points Sheraton of Plainview – B+
FMIL booked this for us b/c I really didn’t care much about this as we didn’t have that many OOT guests. The rooms I felt could’ve been cheaper as I didn’t find anything spectacular about the place. We stayed in their honeymoon suite the night of which was just a really large room w/ a place for the boys to play video games and a hot tub on the other side. We didn’t get to use this as we had a late night. We also had brunch there for the OOT guests the next morning and found the food to be just okay. It was also really tiny for my liking. There were also some really loud and obnoxious guests running around at 3AM in the morning down the hallway and management didn’t seem to do anything about it. My sisters had to tell me that they couldn’t sleep b/c of it.


Wedding Dresses - Running of the Brides at Filenes Basement: A++ and Kleinfeld’s Blow out Sale: A-
I decided to give it a try after work one day so luckily there wasn’t a mob of people there. It was seriously a hit or a miss and I found a lot of the dresses looked the same. My sister managed to find my dress tucked in the back corner somewhere and begged me to try it on. It was big on me but I loved it! Plus it was a Carolina Herrera so how could I say no and it was such a steal! Plus there was absolutely nothing wrong with the dress (stains, rip, etc!) I couldn’t believe it! I have to thank Yon (My Daughter’s Wedding) for doing such a great job taking this down to my size!

I went to the Kleinfeld’s blowout sale b/c I knew I wanted to change into a 2nd dress that was more fitted and easier to maneuver around in for the reception. I tried on dresses for maybe 45 minutes and found this dress that was extremely clean and in good condition. Of course, it wasn’t my size but I wasn’t worried b/c I knew Yon was going to be able to fix it. The staff at Kleinfelds thought that the dress didn’t belong as part of the sale b/c of its condition but they think it was probably a canceled dress. Regardless, I’m glad I went b/c I got this gown which I loved plus I was able to wear it again for my TTD without worrying about my Carolina getting filthy!

STD’s: Made in the Philippines through my Uncle’s friend: A-
I was just sending ideas to my uncle and I didn’t know that he was actually going to get them printed. It was a surprise to come home to one day when I had a package of STD’s that I didn’t even think I was going to get. I gave them an A- b/c there were some that seemed smudged but my uncle had so many made, I was able to pick and choose which ones I could send out.



And I think that’s it!! If you’ve made it to the end, thank you for reading this all! Even if you just skimmed and looked at the pics, I hope you ladies enjoyed my review!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

Love love your review! Thanks for sharing love!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

Great review!!! Sorry to hear about the limo. That stinks. I understand stuff happens but give a discount or something for the troubles. Congrats. Pics looked great!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

great review, evita!! you looked gorgeous in both your dresses and i love, love, loveeeeeee the pics from Duet and from your honeymoon!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

what a wonderful review!!!! thank you

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

Great review, thank you!! You had an absolutely beautiful wedding, congrats!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

wow amazing honeymoon & wedding!!! funny the reason I didn't book camelot was when I went to check out the limos I thought they all smelt awful and were very run down inside.

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S and more!

Amazing review!! Your pictures came out really great!!! You look radiant!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Beautiful wedding!!!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Thank you for sharing. I always love to read amazing things about NRC

AND we have the same Bday!!!

Congrats everything looked beautiful!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Congrats!!! You did a great review! Glad you gave such good reviews about Duet - I am really interested in them. Btw - Your honeymoon looked amazing!!!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

i'm so sorry about the situation with Camelot!
But I LOVE your dresses and your TTD shots came out beautifully!!!!!!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

AWESOME

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

thank you all!!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Awesome Review!!!!! Love all the details! I especially love your honeymoon review :)

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Amazing review Evita. What can I say, you are simply beautiful!!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Great review!! I used Alexandria too and would also give the same grade due to the no alterations.

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

what a great review!! thank you so much for sharing your experiences, good and bad. your wedding looking absolutely amazing and you were a gorgeous brides. congrats and thanks again!

Re: Our awesome 6.17.11 wedding!!! HNOM, NRC, Duet, H&S, B*urtons, My Daughter's Wedding, Prestige, LoveMorePhoto and more!

Amazing review girl. All your wedding details were so beatiful, classy & elegant. You looked stunning. I love that you did 2 dresses!!! Duet pics came out awesome, can't wait for my proofs next week!!! Loved the TTD shoot - you are gorgeous!! honeymoon pics were unreal. looked like you were in paradise.....

Sorry you had a bad experience with the limo company!

Thanks for posting