Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

First I have to say I am so lucky to have found this site. I planned the entire wedding from Florida and it was tough but this site made it doable!!!!

I have tried my best to include details on vendors that I think will be helpful to future bride, however, if you have any questions please feel free to message me!

Throughout the review, I have used both prof pics and some my friends and family have taken. Mostly because I do not have the digital rights for my photos, more on that later.

Let’s start from the beginning!

E-Party
Pomodorino’s in Seaford: A -
DH and I chose this restaurant not only for their great food but also because we ate dinner there right after we got engaged. Pomodorino’s was decently priced and they closed the entire restaurant on a Saturday for the party. They offered a good variety of a menu choices, appetizers, desserts and good bar options.

Rehearsal Dinner
Don Ricardo’s: A-
Babylon Village
Good food and service. We had the entire upstairs room, unlimited sangria, margaritas and beer. The upstairs room is very fun and pretty! However, service was slow and issues with seating!
Invitations
E*V*A*N*S*T*A*R Paperie: A
Online Vendor
We decided on this vendor because of Tessa’s excellent portfolio of invitation designs. Tessa was easy to work with and responded very quickly to my e-mails. However, please note the design process can take a long time depending on how many brides are above on her list. Prices are reasonable and you get the end results that you want! I even recommended her to another bride who is going with her as well.

Rings
Artistic Jewelers in Farmingdale: A
Rings turned out beautiful and we were very happy with the service here!

Hair
Beautiful Brides By Lauren: A +

Loved her and loved how my hair looked! She is def a perfectionist when it comes to bridal hair and will not rest until you’re happy with your look. She is a bit pricey but worth it!

Make-up
About Face Artisty: A +
I found Stacy through Lauren. Stacy is so personable and makes you feel comfortable – which is a good thing since you are in the chair for about an hour! I did the air brush and it looked great. No flaking off. I would def recommend her!!

DO Dress/Jewelry
I bought my dress and veil in Ohio, so I am not going to rate this vendor. I bought my headpiece from another bride online. It was a Maria Elena headband, original sold for A LOT more than I paid. Don’t be afraid to buy from another bride – it was one of the best decisions I made because the headband really made my look “bridal”!

Reception Hall
The Woodlands in Woodbury: A+
DH and I visited several RH before deciding on the Woodlands, however, the first time I saw this venue I knew it was the right place. The Woodlands is absolutely gorgeous and had the right feeling for the overall theme I wanted to incorporate throughout our day.
Leading up to the wedding, I had some difficulty reaching my banquet manager since it seemed as though several BMs had come and gone. Finally, I was able to speak with Steven and everything went smoothly afterwards! I also worked with the Woodlands event planner, Raquel. She helped us out a lot, considering we were planning the wedding from Florida!
The Woodlands gives brides the chance to come in for an excellent tasting. Woodlands brides – bring as many people as you can to this tasting so you can try many different entrée options!
The day of the wedding, DH and I got so many compliments on the Woodlands. The food was outstanding – restaurant quality. The service was great and professional. I can’t say enough good things about my bridal attendant, Iris. Before our guest arrived she made sure our families and bridal attendants had enough food in the bridal suite and our glasses were always full. She even helped repair my dress!
We decided to have an after party at the Woodlands in the bar area. We offered our guests some finger food (not that they were hungry!) and two extra hours of open bar. The Woodlands offered this at a fair price.
Photography
B*r*e*t Mathews Photography
Roslyn Heights A

I can’t say anything bad about this vendor. We had Chris as our main photographer and he worked all night. He even caught a picture of us in the snow, which we really wanted. The only negative thing about this photographer is that we do not get the digital right to the photos until 5 years down the road. But we knew this going in.

Transportation
Camelot Limo
New Hyde Park: B+
We needed a limo to take us to the church and then decided to provide a shuttle from the hotel to the RH since a lot of our guests were OOT guests. Everything went well, but I had to give this vendor a B+ because the shuttle drive did give DH some attitude toward the end of the night – it seemed like he was annoyed that we used all of the time we paid for. DH got the impression that he wanted to leave early. By contrast, our limo driver who drove us to the church was fabulous.

Tuxes
VIP Tuxedo
Massapequa: A+
Great local tux shop and per DH they even found a tuxedo for his 400 pound friend. Better service and prices here than the larger chain stores. No mistakes, even with the out of state orders.

Music
DJs Unlimited
Woodbury: B

DJs Unlimited provided us with up lighting and music. The up lighting was great and really did transform the room. I had even decided to go with an amber color, but when they tested it out it looked green! Thankfully one of the guys came to get me and we switched it to a silver color.
I was somewhat frustrated with the way communication was handled with this vendor. They called me at odd hours and when I returned the calls they were never available. The day of, they did not follow our instructions so DH had to pull the DJ aside. Once DH talked to him, everything was fine. Everyone was up and dancing, so can I really complain too much?

Flowers
Bella Flowers
Huntington: A+
Finding a florist was the toughest vendor for me. As soon as I visited Bella Flowers, I knew I wanted to go with them. This was first florist I met with who was actually able to whip up my vision using real flowers on the spot. I was also able to stay within my budget and still get everything I wanted! The day of, the centerpieces were even nicer than I had anticipated.

Hotel
Melville Marriot
Melville: A –
Great hotel and even gave us a discounted rate for our e-party guests. However, the bar closed very early which left a lot of our OOT guests looking for some place to go.
OOT baskets
Merritt Bakery
Merrit A +
I made OOT baskets that included bottles water, a cute poem, and two black and white cookies. I can’t even tell you how many people RAVED about the cookies. If your on the fence about doing OOT baskets, do them! Your guests will love them!

In-Tents Party Rentals: A+
We rented a stand up propane heater for DH and his friends to smoke cigars. (We got married in Dec. – it was cold!) Paul delivered the heater and extra fuel, easy to work with.

Etsy.com: A
I used this site to find vendors for my table numbers, escort cards and necklaces for my flower girls. All turned out nice!

Gifts
Bridal Attendants: Victoria Seceret PJs. The girls loved them and even wore them the morning of!
Groomsmen: DH picked out a bottle of their favorite liquor and this seemed to go over well also!
Parents: We bought them personalized picture frame and Christmas ornament from Things Remembered. My parents loved the ornament and DH’s seemed to like the frame best so it worked out!

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Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

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Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

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Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

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Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

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Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

Beautiful pictures! I am so happy to hear that you loved the Woodlands! We are so excited for our wedding. I would love to see more pictures of the RH and flowers if you have any.

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

Thanks for the review! Congratulations, everything looked great!

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

Soooo gorgeous!! I'm getting married at The Woodlands! I LOVE to see Woodlands pics!! Everything looks so great!! Thanks for sharing!!!

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

your wedding looks sooooooooooo gorgeous!!!!! Love the pics of the woodlands (would love to see more if you have! esp since im a december bride ) you look beautiful!!! and your cake! too pretty!

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

Everything looks great

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

Thank you! From a fellow Woodlands bride!
I would also welcome more pics.

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

You were such a beautiful bride! And I went with Brett Matthews too for my photographer - so nice to see another Bride on here as well who used them!

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

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Posted by Bree730

You were such a beautiful bride! And I went with Brett Matthews too for my photographer - so nice to see another Bride on here as well who used them!

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Thank you! You will love BM - the pics turned out beautiful I only wish I could post more!

Re: Our Beautiful December, 2010 wedding at the Woodlands!!!

thanks for the review!! Love your shawl!!