Search Forums

Wedding Forums > The Brides' Review > Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: NOW WITH PRO PICS! Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot...
Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: NOW WITH PRO PICS! Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot...
Chanwich Posted: Aug 16, 2011 01:49 PM+
Chanwich MEMBER SINCE: 3/07 TOTAL POSTS : 5720 WEDDING DATE: Jul 09, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 01:49 PM bride-minus.png

Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: NOW WITH PRO PICS! Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more.

Preface: I planned my LI wedding from out of state(s). DH and I lived in Oregon when we got engaged and now live in NC, so much of the planning was done over the phone and by email. Some of my vendors were out of state, so they might not help many, but I included them anyway! And I will be adding pro pics once I get them!

I rated everyone using this scale:
A+= exceptional from start to finish, highly recommended
A= did a great job, no issues
B= did a good job, had a few issues
C= didn’t do a great job, had some issues
D= had major issues, wouldn’t recommend
F= run away screaming from this vendor!

Words of Wisdom: Girls, yes it is your wedding day, but please realize that everyone else’s life does not revolve around you just because you are getting married. Not many people are willing to drop everything on a whim to cater to your fancy. Treat people nicely and ask for help nicely when you need it and things are more likely to get done.

Also realize that not everyone is willing to shell out tons of money to travel to/be part of/ gift your wedding so be cognizant of other people’s situations when asking them to be part of your BP or inviting them to the wedding. And for the love, do NOT complain about any gift you get. Please realize that it is about YOU and FH getting married. Too many people get caught up in keeping up with the Joneses. Do what YOU want to do, just because everyone else on LIW has something doesn’t mean you have to. Be creative, don’t be a sheep. It will really come through in the small details on your wedding day! My only caution is that if you have to ask a bunch of online strangers to justify every purchase, every feeling you are having, every sentence that comes out of your mouth, there is something wrong. Definitely get opinions but don’t take everything on here to heart, and DO NOT compare your wedding to everyone elses. Be your own person and have the wedding of YOUR dreams, not someone elses.

People are going to tell you that the day goes by so fast and that you need to stop and take a moment to take it all in. LISTEN to them. It goes by in the blink of an eye, and then its over. Make sure you thank your guests, dance your butt off, EAT your dinner, have a couple drinks and enjoy yourself!

LIW: I’m not going to rate this site. It was a great way for me to get some wonderful ideas. I’ve never wanted the typical huge LI wedding, but had one anyway so this was a great way to find ideas to make it my style. Plus planning this bad boy from NC pretty much s ucked, so this site was just a wealth of information about LI vendors!

E-ring
BlueNile.com -A

I had no idea a proposal was coming at all. DH totally surprised me with that one. We had been together for about 5 years, so clearly I was in no rush. But I LOVE my e-ring. I work in a research lab so I wanted something that didn’t sit 4 feet above my hand and snag my gloves all day. DH did a perfect job of picking the perfect ring for me. I guess the process wasn’t too bad for him either, and there have been no problems with my ring that are bluenile’s fault. I will say though, if any of you girls have tension set e-rings, keep an eye on them! Mine comes loose quite a bit and I have to get it tightened every few months since I knock it around.





Save the Dates and RD invites:
Wedding Paper Divas- A+

We searched high and low to find STD’s that we really liked. We didn’t want anything too fancy, and went back and forth between making our own and ordering on line. We came to wedding paper divas and found the perfect STD. Nothing fancy, but they came out great! The service was wonderful, they sent us a proof in which they had changed a couple of our original words around and we didn’t like it, so we emailed them back and they promptly changed it and sent us a new proof. They were very nice to work with! They were a little more than I’d like to have paid for a STD, but in the long run we were VERY happy with them!


And we of course went back to them for our RD invites as well. Family and friends raved about them, and in the end I kind of wish I had just gotten my invites from them instead of making them ourselves!



Bachelorette Party:
LIwinetours.com- A+++++++++

I knew I didn’t want a bar hopping bach party, or anything with half naked men, so my sister set up a wine tasting bach party for me, which is right up my alley! DH and I love wine! We used LIwinetours.com and it was unebelievable! We had 12 ladies go, so we got the stretch limo. Our driver Tommy was so amazing, he was definitely very patient with a bunch of drunk girls and made us laugh so hard and was so much fun to have around. It was almost like he was one of the girls! Our package included the limo, tastings at 3 vineyards (Duck Walk, Vineyard 48 and I’m blanking on the name of the other one right now), a lunch with wraps, chips and sodas which was delish (we ate outside under a beautiful trellis at the 2nd vineyard), a stop at Bremiere Farms (PIE!!) and a stop at the vodka distillery (this is where it all went downhill for me lol). We went to Duck Walk first, and it was great! My sister got me a hand painted bachelorette wine glass, and all of the vineyards we went to were filling up my entire glass instead of just a tastes, so I was pretty happily buzzed all day. Everywhere we went was really nice and friendly. Tommy kept buying us bottles for the limo, so Im pretty sure everyone had a great time! If anyone is considering a wine tour bach party, I HIGHLY recommend LIwinetours!!!

Our driver Tommy


Lunch Spot


My girls


Feeding the Turtles!


RD:
The Melting Pot, Farmingdale A+ before, B day of

DH and I had our first official date at the Melting Pot, and go there for all of our special occasions, so it made sense to have our RD there. I mean, who doesn’t love melted cheese?! They have several private rooms there and we had about 32 people, so we rented the room that holds 35. We dealt with the BM Chris beforehand to book the party and choose our menu, and he was really helpful. We chose 2 different cheese fondues, one salad, two different entree cooking styles and two different chocolate fondues. We also included beer, wine and soda. The fondue was a huge hit with everyone! It was something different and interactive and everyone had a great time. The service on the day was a bit lacking, we had 2 vegetarian entrée plates and my uncles regular entrée plate that came out about 15 minutes after everyone elses, even after we repeatedly asked them to bring them out. It took DH speaking to the restaurant manager for them to finally get the food out. And the drink service by the same waiters was just OK. But overall everyone really loved our RD and how different it was, and of course I will still go back to the Melting Pot!




Grooms Cake:
The Sweet Peace Bake Shop in Lynbrook- A++++++++++++++

The owner Ali and I went to HS together and have stayed in touch, so it was a no brainer for me to go to The Sweet Peace for my grooms cake. Ali is such a talented baker and artist! I went to her with some ideas for a Formula 1 cake for DH since that’s his favorite sport, and she came up with a great idea to make a cake of the helmet of DH’s favorite driver. I think it came out great, and DH was SO surprised! He absolutely loved the design and was so excited about the cake. I got vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream filling (DHs fave) and let me tell you that this cake was delish!!!



DH Wedding Band
Littman Jewlers- D

DH had found his ideal wedding band online (it’s a Triton wedding band) and we spent hours calling around trying to find a jeweler that carried them. Finally we got a hold of Littmans and they carried the line. So we trekked over to the mall, but they did not have the exact ring he wanted in stock. They said they would special order it for us, and they measured DH in the store and told him his ring size was 13. Ok, fine. Three weeks later we get a call that the ring is ready so we drive back over (a 20-30 minute drive for us) only to find that the ring had come in as a size 11. Now we still aren’t sure whose fault this was. The girl who ordered it originally had no idea where the paperwork had gone, but she “remembered for sure” ordering a 13 and blamed it on the manufacturer. Then she blamed it on DH having a very common name (our last name is Smith!). Never once conceding that she could have ordered it wrong. So they have to send it back to the manufacturer and order the right size, which she said would again take three weeks. Three weeks later and still no call, so DH calls them up and the guy there says “Oh yeah, your ring is in. Its been in for a while, I’m not sure why no one called you”. Ugh. So we go back and finally pick up the right size. Then they try to charge us AGAIN for the tax and shipping and we were certainly NOT having that mess. We got them to just give it to us, but not without a fight. But DH loves it, so I guess it was worth it, but I would never go back to Littman again after that fiasco!

My Wedding Band:
Jared Galleria of Jewelery- A

I knew exactly what I wanted for my wedding band. I didn’t want anything matchy matchy with my e-ring. Plus my e-ring is set low in the band with a tension setting, and every band I tried on rubbed against the diamond, which the jeweler said would eventually erode my stone. So I decided that I would wear my e-ring on my right hand and get a fun band for my left. I searched high and low for a band that had black and white diamonds in a half eternity style and finally found one that I loved at Jared. The lady who helped me was nice enough, although it really only took me about 15 minutes to find my ring, try it on, and buy it, so she didn’t do much. I also like Jared because they have a lifetime replacement policy for the small stones on my ring.

Here is a pic of both rings!


Invitations:
Brides kit from Michaels- A- for kit, A+ for my DIY skillz

Invitations were something that we personally were not willing to spend an arm and a leg on because people end up just throwing them away. So we went to Michael’s one day and looked around. We found these really cute invitations that matched our brown and green color scheme and our mini “nature” theme perfectly! Mom stocked up on Michael’s coupons and went back when they had a sale. I think in total we spent maybe $100 on our invites. We printed them ourselves on my parents printer using the template, and that was pretty easy. The only pain in the butt was putting these things together! Every single piece (invite, backing, ribbon, cutout) was all separate and had to be put together. Luckily I have an amazing mom and grandma who put them together for me, and in the end I LOVE how they came out. We didn’t do lined envelopes or anything like that either, but we got tons of compliments on how simple and elegant they were!





DOJ:
My Grandma A++++++++++++
Kohl’s- A+

My grandmother left me her pearl jewelry set when she passed away when I was little and I thought it would be a lovely tribute to wear her jewels on my wedding day. She left me a gorgeous necklace, bracelet and ring. They are absolutely stunning and had such sentimental value. And they were perfect for my dress!

My earrings were purchased from Kohl’s during a pearl sale. They were originally 90 dollars, but with the sale and coupons I got them for 35! The pearl color didn’t match the rest of my jewelery exactly, but I doubt anyone noticed. I loved my earrings and I think they are so pretty!



this is a good pic of me with all the jewelery


FG Basket:
Michaels- A+

Once again we hit up Michael’s when they were having a sale for our wicker FG basket. I think it was $5 for the basket. I also bought some green and brown ribbon that mom used to spice it up a little and got ivory petals for our FG to throw from our florist. It was perfect and inexpensive!

My Dress, Veil and Undergarments:
Davids Bridal (Portland, OR store)-A

We were living in Oregon at the time we got engaged. My mom was coming out to visit from NY about two months after we got engaged, so we figured why not go try on some dresses? The best part about Oregon is that there is no sales tax!!!! So we saved a few hundred bucks by shopping there. Anyway, we went to a few other bridal boutiques first and I tried on about 30 dresses and found one I thought was “the one”. I had a pretty nice sized budget from my mom since she was paying for it, and that dress fell just under budget. Well, I am completely indecisive and decided we should go to Davids anyway just to be 100% sure, and lo and behold I fell in loooooove with MY dress there. I went in with one idea of what I wanted and what looked good, and this was totally opposite, but it was definitely THE ONE. The best part is that it was about ¼ of the price of the other dress I almost bought! I’m not one of those people who’s snarky about where their dress is from, and since I loved it, we bought it then and there. Go ahead and judge me, but I got a dress I loved AND saved money, so I win. And almost every single woman at my wedding asked where my dress was from, and told me how elegant it was, and they were all shocked when I told them that it was from Davids! The dress was really great quality too, not chintzy like some of their stuff can be. Obviously I’m not going to rate their service since I doubt any of you are going to travel across the country to buy a dress.

I also got a plain ivory veil from Davids to match my dress. My veil was one of the least important things to me, and I knew it wouldn’t be wearing it after the ceremony, so spending $$$ on it was not something I cared to do. I think my veil ended up being $25 and it was perfect. I also bought one of their spanx-like undergarments to help hold in the jiggly bits, but I also ended up taking that off right after the ceremony too since it was so hot!







Shoutout to Suzie411 for the hangar!


Alterations:
Connie Tailor (Cary, NC )- A+

Just in case there are any other NC brides planning a LI wedding, I’ll give you a quick recap of my alterations. So in the midst of all the wedding planning DH and I moved to NC, so I needed to have my dress altered in NC. I read lots of reviews before finding Connie Tailor and I’m so glad I did. I’m of normal height and on the skinny/not busty side, so my dress needed to be taken up at the hem and in at the bust area to make it lay correctly. Connie took me in right away and got the job done quickly and efficiently. She was very friendly and made sure I was satisfied with my dress before I left. The price was way less than I expected to pay, so I was very happy with everything at this shop!











MOB Dress:
Lord and Taylor-A+

My mom had a bit of a hard time figuring out what kind of dress she wanted and in what color. She wanted to go with our natural color scheme, but didn’t want something too bland. She had tried on some dresses in other places but was never 100% happy with any of them. One day she and my sister went to Lord and Taylor and found her dress and that was it! And finding her shoes was an even bigger hassle. She knew exactly which ones she wanted but they were discontinued! So we ended up ordering them online and hoped they fit, which they did! My mom looked awesome!





Suits:
Mur-Lees in Lynbrook

We have been family friends with the owner, Harry, for forever. So it was a no brainer that we would go there. And it just so happens that they are an authorized retailer of Jim’s Formal Wear, which had the suits that FH really wanted. The suits were tan, the GM had chocolate brown vests, ties and pocketsquares (instead of bouts) with ivory shirts, and they all wore their own brown shoes. DH had the tan suit, ivory shirt, vest, tie and pocket square. I LOVED the way everything came out! In the end I’m not going to rate my family friend, but I will say that the guys looked awesome and we got so many compliments on the color scheme!

DH and Best Man







Flower girl Dress:
Mygirldress.com- C

I ordered our FG dress from Mygirldress.com after hearing some positive things from LIW girls and not wanting to spend a fortune on a dress that my FG will wear once before she outgrows it. I ordered the dress and it came a week later to my SIL’s with a HUGE stain on the front, like someone had spilled a cup of coffee on it while they were packing it. It took me TWO WEEKS to get someone on the phone to fix it. I left numerous voice messages and emails on their customer service line and email account, just like it says to do on the website. No one ever got back to me. Finally I called one day and actually got someone on the phone. They were happy to ship us another one as long as I shipped the old one back, which is fine. In the end, it was a huge pain in the butt to deal with their customer service dept, but in the end the dress was super cute and only cost me 60 bucks. My flower girl loved it too.










BM Dresses: Alfred Sung d448
Bridal Reflections Massapequa- A

I went BM dress shopping with my sister only, since most of my bridal party is spread all over the US. I wanted something that would flatter all figures since I have girls of all shapes and sizes (5’10 and skinny to 5’2 and plus sized). We went to bridal reflections at our scheduled appt time and Corinne was our consultant. She was such a sweet girl and helped us find some dresses that would look good on many sizes. I had no idea what I wanted, but I did know what colors I wanted so she helped pick some out that came in chocolate brown and sage green. My sister must have tried on 20 dresses before I found one and pulled it off the rack. It didn’t look like much on the hanger, but when she put it on it was awesome! It has a high neck, and is short, and was fun and funky which was what I was going for instead of formal and traditional. And it had POCKETS which all of my girls loved! The BMs ordered their dresses in chocolate while my sister/MOH got hers in pistachio. All the girls ordered, although for this particular line it was an extra $40 for plus size or for anyone over 5’8! The dresses came about 4 months later and we had no problems. BR shipped all of my dresses to the OOT BMs and they got their alterations done locally. I had all the girls buy their own animal print shoes to go with the dresses and their own jewelry to showcase their own particular style. I think they looked amazing and I love that their personalities shone instead of all looking like clones!









Cocktail Hour Musician: Acoustic Guitar
Jason Liebman (found on Gigmasters)- B (leading up to the day), A+ on the day

I found Jason on Gigmasters in searching for an acoustic guitarist for the ceremony. Lo and behold, I come to find out that he went to high school with my cousin in Hewlett! Small world. Anyway we booked Jason once we heard how awesome he was from his videos online. He was kind of difficult to get in touch with before the day of, FH called and emailed him numerous times with questions about our song selection and he rarely heard back from him in a timely manner, which for me caused a little anxiety towards the end. For our ceremony we didn’t want any traditional wedding music, and Jason was cool with our song selections of Eric Clapton, DMB and Paul McCartney. On the wedding day, Jason was on time and very professional. He set everything up and began playing shortly before our guests arrived. We had him play lots of low key stuff while everyone was getting seated like DMB, Jack Johnson, etc. He was GREAT! He played and sang flawlessly and it was such a beautiful touch to the ceremony. Jason also played our CH and we got so many compliments! If anyone is looking for an acoustic guitarist, I would definitely recommend him!



Officiant:
Bill McLaughlin, Village Justice of Lynbrook

Bill is my best friend’s dad, so I knew right away that I wanted him to do our ceremony. I told him I would love him to make it personal, but not too long (as in 15 min or less). Bill did exactly what I asked and it was so touching to have him recount some stories from when we were young. It truly made the ceremony so special. Of course I am not going to rate him either, but I am so touched that he was a part of our day!



DJ:
A family friend- B

Our DJ is a family friend and had played my sisters wedding 2 years ago, which was an amazing good time, so we knew right away that we would hire him for the wedding. For the first half hour of the wedding he had some technical difficulties with his computer, so all that was played was techno music. It pretty much ****** because no one was dancing and DH was getting really upset. But what can you do, right? Anyway, once he got everything figured out and started playing good music, everyone was up and dancing and having a great time. There was one other problem with DH’s mother/son dance song, it kept skipping at the beginning, but again there wasn’t much we could do about it. It sounded terrible but they just kept dancing through it. We didn’t get any fancy lights, uplighting, plasmas or anything like that, we just had the standard light package. It was so perfect in our venue, we didn’t need anything else. Any Riviera girls who are on the fence about uplighting, I’m actually glad we didn’t get it and take away from the beauty of the place.

Florist:
Flower Barn- A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mike is my hero. Definitely my favorite vendor to deal with. I went to him with some vague ideas and he made magic happen. Our colors were chocolate brown and sage green with hints of ivory. I knew I wanted tall branch centerpieces with hanging candles on half the tables and low green on the other half, but that’s about all I knew. Mike made some amazing suggestions for our low CPs and they came out PERFECT! He said that he had never done the tall branches before, but he went to 5 different places looking for the perfect branches for us. He ended up finding them, and they were more expensive than he thought, but he didn’t charge us for them because he said he was a perfectionist and wanted to do it for us. We also had some orchids on the branches and hanging candles. I was totally blown away when I saw them. They were EXACTLY what I had been picturing and were so beautiful in our ballroom! They were so beautiful that MIL tried to bring one back on the shuttle with her. I don’t think she realized that there was 40 lbs of plaster of paris holding the branches up! LOL
Our low CPs were absolutely gorgeous as well, they were full and lush and looked wonderful on our dark linens. We didn’t get to see any sample CPs since we live in NC, so we were just trusting his reputation and boy were we right to do so. It was kind of a fun surprise to see our room all done up with our flowers!

Aisle decoration


Gazebo decoration


Low CP


High CP








My Bo-K was also everything I ever wanted. I showed Mike a picture I saw in Martha Stewart magazine of a beautiful green bouquet, and he didn’t just replicate it, but made it even more beautiful than the one in the magazine! And it lasted so long! I also used my grandfather's fire department badge on boK to honor and remember him since he passed away in September. Two days after the wedding we brought my BoK over to my grandma’s to give to her since she said she loved it so much, and it was still green and open and gorgeous. Mike also put orchids on our cake for us and gave us petals for our FG.

My BoK









BM BoK


Gazebo Decoration



If you haven’t booked a florist yet, get yourself to Flower Barn immediately! You will NOT be disappointed. In fact, you will be blown away! Mike is so sweet and talented, I will definitely be going back to Flower Barn for family parties in the future!

DOC:
Laura and Adriana from A Modern Day Affair- A++++++++

Originally we were having a family friend as my DOC since she works for an event planning company, but about 6 weeks before the wedding she found out she was going to be out of town for work the weekend of our wedding. So I began emailing a couple of vendors and heard back immediately from Laura and Shauna at AMDA. I realized that I went to HS with Laura’s husband, which was an awesome coincidence. Even in emailing with them, I felt really comfortable and trusted them completely. My mom met with Laura since I was in NC, and loved her and booked her immediately. Laura and my mom worked a lot together since I wasn’t around much, but when I came home for the wedding, Laura knew all the details and was so organized. On the big day Laura and Adriana were wonderful! We had a problem with the limo and Laura was right on top of it. I had a major dress mishap before the ceremony involving a huge black streak of grease down the entire back of my dress, and Laura and Adriana took care of it right away and no one even knew about the stain! All through the night they were both there to help us in any way they could. They were so wonderful to spend the day with. I would recommend them 150%!

Limos:
Camelot- C

I know Camelot usually gets stellar reviews, so this one really surprised me. We booked the Infiniti SUV limo for the BP to pick us up at the hotel, take us to pics before the ceremony, then drive us to the RH. We also had a black stretch pick my parents up at their house then go get MIL and FIL at the hotel. Everyone at Camelot was really great to deal with beforehand, very friendly and helpful! Our BP limo was on time and clean, Mike the driver was really nice and funny, the only problem was that the air conditioner was NOT working at all!!! And it was over 90 that day. So of course we had our DOC contact Camelot immediately, but they said that they had no replacements since every single one of their limos was out that day, and even the owner was out driving. Now I know these things happen, but why wouldn’t they check the limo AC BEFORE they sent it out? Our poor BP was sweating all day long starting the minute we left the hotel. Of course I was a sweaty mess in my huge dress, and the poor guys in the suits were dying. Our driver was really apologetic, and I know it wasn’t his fault, but still. Its summer, really hot, check your freaking vehicles AC before you send it out. They did offer us a free ride to/from the airport for our HM but that doesn’t really make up for the fact that we were all on the border of heat stroke all day. Although in hindsight, it might have worked out fine, since it was so hot in the limo, we decided to stop at Nathans when we had some extra time between pics and ceremony, and we got some AMAZING shots from our photog. My parents limo was on time and clean, and the driver was really nice, and their AC worked, so I guess at least that worked out well.



I believe this picture adequately sums up my discomfort!


Us getting into the AC at Nathans


Custom Linens:
The Finishing Touch- A+

This was a surprise from my mother so I don’t know much about their customer service, but my mom said they were great to work with. She went to the show room, and chose our fabrics, which were chocolate brown tablecloths with green napkins which matched our colors PERFECTLY! My sister even held the napkin up to her dress and it was a perfect match! They also folded all of our menus into the napkins for us, which looked great! The linens at the Riviera were not exactly my style at all, and I had really wanted linens but wasn’t sure they were in the budget. The custom linens definitely MADE our room, tied all of our décor together and looked unbelievable in our ballroom. Anyone who is waivering whether to have custom linens or not, DO IT!!



My sister showing how well the napkins matched her dress!




Shoes:
Ann Taylor- A+

I had all my girls wear leopard print shoes of their own choosing, and I decided I wanted to stick with the animal print. I searched forever for the perfect pair of shoes, and surprisingly found them at Ann Taylor! And to top it all off, they were on sale. Woo! They were comfy enough, I took them off after our first dance since I’m a spaz in heels. But everyone loved them










DIY: Menus, Table name for our table, Programs, Table Numbers, Donation Favor Scrolls, Placecards, Cardbox
Me and DH- A++++ ?

Paper goods were something that I really feel makes a wedding special, and we wanted to give it our own personal touch, so we decided to DIY most of our stuff. For the menus, we bought chocolate brown cardstock from Michaels and some ivory linen paper in a bulk pack from Office Depot. We printed them ourselves using Microsoft word and glued the ivory paper to the cardstock with spray glue.


For the Programs, we used ivory cardstock and printed directly on there, same for the donation favor scrolls.



For the Table #s, I used quotes and images from our favorite movies and used Photoshop to put the table numbers on the image. I printed them onto paper and put them into frames I found at the dollar store. Everyone loved them and it made it special to us!




For our table name for our table, I didn’t want a channa plaque just because I’ve seen them everywhere lately, I wanted to make something different. So DH and I bought block letters and a wood piece to put them on at Michaels. DH spray painted the letters and the wood block chocolate brown spray paint, and then we glued on some fake moss we bought at Michaels. Everyone thought we had the plaque professionally made! And it looked so amazing on our table. And now we have it on our mantle above our fireplace. It looks awesome, and we are really proud of ourselves for that one.


Our placecards were a labor of love for DH. We found a design we really loved online, but we really didn’t love the price tag that came with them. So DH worked some magic in photoshop and basically recreated the placecards we saw online. We printed them on the same linen paper we used for our other DIY and I love the way they turned out!


Our cardbox was also made by DH. Originally I thought I wanted one of the ones covered in fabric that I saw a lot on here, but after seeing how much they cost, and how much effort it would be for me to make one, I decided to rethink it. Then someone on here posted their cardbox that they had made out of picture frames, and I LOVED the idea! So, armed with my ever trusty Michaels coupons, DH and I set out in search of some frames that would make our cardbox “rustic” looking to go with our theme. Well we found the perfect 5x7 frames for the outside and an 8x10 for the lid, and they were on sale! DH nailed and glued for about an hour, and voila! Our carbox! I personally love love love the way it came out, and we got so many compliments on it!


Favors:
Donation to the American Heart Association

We knew from the beginning that we didn’t want to give out any favors since most of the ones we have gotten were pretty cheesy and I don’t think we have ever used any of them, unless they were edible, in which case they were probably gone before we got home from the wedding. Anyway, we knew we wanted to do a donation favor. DHs father and uncle passed away from a sudden heart attacks way before their time, so we knew we wanted to donate to the AHA in their memory. The AHA also funds the research that I do on cardiovascular disease in my lab, so it was the perfect fit. If you contact them they will walk you through the process of donating, and you can make a memorial page to donate to in memory of a loved one. It was a really special way for us to make DHs dad a part of our day.


Hotel Block:
Hampton Inn Garden City- A+

We chose the Hampton Inn because it was close to our venue, it offered singles and doubles as well as suites, had free hot breakfast and had a conference room. We also loved that their suites are HUGE which was a big deal since that is where me and the girls were getting ready. I actually started the process off online, by going to the website and requesting a quote. I got an amazing quote online, so I called the hotel to check it out, and they actually told me it was going to be $20 more per night than I was quoted. Well I said that wasn’t cool, so Linda (the manager that we dealt with) called up corporate and got us the original quoted price! Awesome. Then if 20 rooms were booked, we were told we would get our suite, which is normally about 100 bucks more expensive than the other rooms, at the discounted room rate that my guests were paying. Well we ended up booking 19 rooms, but she gave us our suite at the discounted price anyway! And we got to use the conference room for free since we booked more than 10 rooms, which was great since that’s where the guys got ready.

The rooms themselves were big, clean and nice! The breakfast each morning was great, and the staff there was super super friendly. They took care of our OOT bags for us, and there were a couple slip ups where guests didn’t get their bags, but that happens everywhere. Overall they were really great to deal with and I would definitely stay there again.

OOT Bags: Totally blanking on where we got them from- A+

Since 50% of our guests were from out of town, we wanted to do something very NY, so I went in with another 2011 bride and got I heart NY tote bags made up. They came out SO cute and I love them! We put some chips, fruit snacks, two bottles of water with two crystal light packages, some gum, advil, pepto, subway maps, and LIRR schedules in there, along with a welcome note and a timeline for the wedding day. Everyone loved them and people were very thankful to have some snacks, and all of the tourist info.

Shuttle:
Independent Coach Corp- B+

We knew we didn’t want any fancy expensive shuttles since we had so many OOT guests, so we decided it would be a super fun throwback to hire a big yellow school bus! The people here were very pleasant to deal with and they have a few school buses that they only use for these types of affairs, so these buses are clean, newer and air conditioned. The shuttle was supposed to pick our guests up at the Hampton Inn in Garden City at 6pm, so that everyone would get to the RH for our 7 pm ceremony with time to spare since we only had 30 mins for the ceremony and any time we went over would cut into cocktail hour. Well the driver went to the wrong Hampton Inn and sat there for a bit until calling in and realizing that he was at the wrong place. So he had to go back to the right Hampton and pick up our guests, which happened at about 6:30 pm. Now normally this still would have gotten our guests there on time, except that Sunrise Highway was closed in both directions due to a fatal accident. So 7 pm rolls around and our guests still weren’t at the RH! Of course we still waited for them, but they ended up arriving at about 7:15 pm. Luckily our ceremony was short! Obviously the accident was no fault of the drivers and couldn’t be helped, but if he had been on time originally and gone to the right hotel we wouldn’t have had such a problem. He was super apologetic though, and it was an honest mistake, so no big deal. We just let it roll of our backs. But just in case girls, double check with your shuttle company that they know where they are going! But all in all our guests really liked the old school school bus and had a great time on it on the way there and back!

Hair:
Angelas Hair Designs-A++++++++++++

I had a good idea of what I wanted to look like on the wedding day, and I brought a picture to my trial with Angela. She totally nailed the look I was going for! We tried an all up style from the picture I brought but we also tried a half up look just because I wanted to see how it looked. Both looks were gorgeous, but I went with the all up because I have a ton of hair and it was July and would be hot. On the day of, Angela was such a pleasure to work with! She was so friendly and fun to talk to, and she did hair for me, 2 BMs, my MOH and my FG. Every single one of them looked gorgeous and their hair was exactly what they wanted. Angela did a wonderful job on my hair as well on the day of, it was so intricate and beautiful, and it was exactly what I had pictured! I loved it!












Hair Clip:
Tri County Flea Market (forgot booth name, but its NOT Barrons)-A+

I knew I wanted a simple hairclip with pearls and crystals to match my dress and DOJ and that I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on something that I wouldn’t wear ever again. So mom and I headed over to Tri County and found this booth, over where near Barrons is. The lady who helped us was very sweet and friendly and let me try on lots of clips and hairpieces, but I fell in love with a pearl clip that was perfect for my look. Best part is that it was only $25! I love the way it looked in my hair, its so pretty!



Make-up:
Kelly from Glam Me Up NY-A+

I set up a trial with Kelly based on her reviews on here, and boy am I glad I did! I should say that I never wear makeup, and if I do its eyeliner and lip gloss if we are going somewhere fancy. So makeup was something that I was nervous about. I asked Kelly for a natural look and she did exactly that. I did airbrush and fake lashes, and I looked just like me, but a more glamorous version of me, which was perfect! On the big day Kelly was on time and great to work with. She was so funny and sweet! She did my sisters makeup and my makeup, and she made us look like movie stars! I loved my makeup and it lasted all night, even though we were so sweaty all day and I danced my butt of at night!







Cake:
Black Forest Bakery-A

The cake came with our RH package, and we had our choice of Black Forest and Campbells. We went with Black Forest based on reviews on here. DH designed our cake for us, we wanted a pretty simple design, just a square cake with fondant and a branch design to match our CPs. Well I didn’t realize that square cakes were an upgrade! Really?!?!? You are going to charge me more just for using a different pan that you already own? Ridiculous. But I guess most places do that so whatever. Fondant we knew would be an upgrade, I just didn’t realize how much fondant cost. But again, we wanted it so we got it. We chose two different fillings for our 4 tiered cake: 2 layers of vanilla cake with cannoli filling and 2 layers of chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse filling. Our cake looked beautiful on the wedding day! The design was exactly what we had asked for, and even though we didn’t get to eat any cake, all of our guests told us how delicious it was! So overall this was a great experience for us.




Photographers:
Liesl and Richard from Photo Pink NYC-A+++++++++

DH is a pretty good amateur photographer, so photos were something that were really really important to him, and to me of course as well. We wanted someone non traditional, much more photojournalistic and edgy. We found Photo Pink through another website and immediately fell in love with their work online. We made an appointment with Liesl and met her at their studio in the city. We were completely blown away by all of the portfolios we saw, they were exactly what we were looking for. And Liesl was so nice and friendly to be around, we knew that we wanted them to shoot our wedding right away! We had 2 photographers, Liesl was with the girls all day while we were getting ready and our 2nd photog was Richard who was also really cool and fun. He was with the boys while the girls were getting ready. We took lots of getting ready photos and then headed over to Museum Row for our bridal party photos. We had rented out the old Nunley’s Carousel and we got tons of great pictures. Then we took some more in the industrial area around the carousel and outside the childrens museum. And once it was too hot for everyone, we went to Nathan’s to cool off where we hopefully got a ton more awesome pics. Liesl said we were one of the most fun bridal parties she’s ever worked with, so I’m really hoping that when we get our pro photos that they will be amazing! But for now, I will just say that Liesl and Richard were super cool and awesome, the type of people that I want to be friends with in real life.

So now that we have our pro pics, I can NOT recommend Photo Pink enough!! Our photos BLEW US AWAY. They are so amazing, they caught moments throughout the night that I didn't even know occurred. I am SO obsessed with my photos. If you are looking for amazing photojournalistic photographers, RUN to their studio and meet with Liesl. So amazingly talented, such an artist, I can not say enough amazing things about our pictures.









































Venue:
The Riviera of Massapequa-A++++++++++++++++++ to infinity

Since Dh and I live in NC, we basically knew we had one long weekend to go up to LI and find a venue or else we would have to wait a few months and risk places being booked. And we knew that we didn’t want the typical LI catering hall feel, no marble, no mirrors, no painted ceilings or walls, no gaudy over the top curtains and carpets, just something on the water, natural and rustic with hardwood floors, raised celings and exposed beams. And boy was that a challenge. We looked at tons of halls online and finally found 4 places that fit the bill: Stewart Manor CC, Old Field Club, George Washington Manor and the Riviera. I’m not going to sit here and tell you why we didn’t choose the others, but we ended up falling in love with the Riviera and their staff. Their outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour spaces are simply amazing. The views of the bay are breathtaking and the ceremony space is gorgeously manicured. Our BM was Michele, who I immediately loved from the beginning. She isn’t one of those BMs who will tell you whatever you want to hear and give you some lame spiel. She threw in so much stuff for free for us! And if something couldn’t be done, she just told it like it was, which I really appreciate, instead of telling us she would “see what they could do” like we heard at other places. Michele was also so helpful in the whole planning process, always taking my calls and answering all of my crazy questions. Planning my wedding with her was truly a wonderful and fun experience. We had a Saturday evening affair, and the weather was perfect for us, so we got to have our ceremony and CH outside. Ceremony was at 7pm, and by the time CH was wrapping up the sun was starting to set and we had some unbelievable views! And OMG the food at CH was unreal! We got SO many compliments on the food, even from my Italian uncles who own restaurants of their own! We got a couple of extras, like the sushi station and mashed potato bar. Everything was out of this world delicious, and many of our guests thought that CH was the actual meal! People are still raving to us about the food at our wedding. The only small things that went wrong during the night was that my mother dropped off all of our stuff on Weds before the wedding, and somehow 2 of our 14 table numbers went missing (weird!) which made me mad because I spent so much time making them! Also our cake cutting set, which was a gift from my mother, also went missing. I know that they do a lot of weddings there, but everything was labeled in boxes so it shouldn’t have been that difficult. We never found the cake cutters or the cake cutting set ?

For the reception, Paul was our MatireD and Jaqueline was our bridal attendant. Jaqueline was amazing, always there when we needed something and we never had an empty glass or an empty plate. She took such good care of us all night long. Paul was also great, but the only small complaint I had was that he wasn’t communicating much with the DJ on when food was being served, so our DJ didn’t know to start playing the dinner music. But that really wasn’t the biggest deal. Our bartenders were also great, everyone always had fresh drinks and they were very friendly. The room at the Riviera is a little oddly shaped, but we had 135 people and it was the perfect fit! And I just love the look of the place, its so rustic. One of our guests likened it to “a super elegant ski lodge” which was exactly the kind of look we were going for. As for the actual dinner, we got the filet upgrade, the pork chops, the mahi mahi and the chicken princess. We got to try all of them and they were SO yummy. I wish I had more time to eat my dinner because everything tasted so good! Overall if I had to do it all over again, I would one million percent choose the Riviera. Their staff and grounds are just amazing and I can’t say enough good things about them! I keep having guests tell me it was the best wedding they’ve ever attended, and I definitey agree with them!





































































If you got all the way through this, thanks for reading and I hope it was helpful!!!

Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
rosatemp Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:12 PM+
rosatemp MEMBER SINCE: 12/10 TOTAL POSTS : 11359 WEDDING DATE: Sep 24, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:12 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

love the review and all the pics
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Richiesgirl Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:28 PM+
Richiesgirl MEMBER SINCE: 7/09 TOTAL POSTS : 2507 WEDDING DATE: Sep 30, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:28 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

I absolutely loved your review and absolutely loved the advice you wrote in the beginning. I feel the same way.
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Lsorrent Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:47 PM+
Lsorrent MEMBER SINCE: 1/09 TOTAL POSTS : 24914 WEDDING DATE: Jun 05, 2010
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:47 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Great review! Congrats again Chantelle!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Moonmist09 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:52 PM+
Moonmist09 MEMBER SINCE: 1/10 TOTAL POSTS : 10598 WEDDING DATE: Jun 12, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:52 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

loved the review! congrats of making it all the way through!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Danielle41209 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:54 PM+
Danielle41209 MEMBER SINCE: 8/09 TOTAL POSTS : 3347 WEDDING DATE: Jul 16, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:54 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Great review!!!!!!!! Congrats again!!!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
MrsTarricone2B Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:56 PM+
MrsTarricone2B MEMBER SINCE: 4/10 TOTAL POSTS : 10025 WEDDING DATE: Sep 10, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 02:56 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Great review!!! Congrats!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
pixietina Posted: Aug 16, 2011 04:26 PM+
pixietina MEMBER SINCE: 3/11 TOTAL POSTS : 7732 WEDDING DATE: May 04, 2012
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 04:26 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Congrats! Great review and love your pictures!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Chelechel1 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 06:38 PM+
Chelechel1 MEMBER SINCE: 1/09 TOTAL POSTS : 2809 WEDDING DATE: Jan 01, 2006
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 06:38 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Thank you for the review. And you are right about that dress, it's gorgeous! YOU looked gorgeous!!!!!!!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
SummerBeauty Posted: Aug 16, 2011 07:25 PM+
SummerBeauty MEMBER SINCE: 4/11 TOTAL POSTS : 1434 WEDDING DATE: Jun 09, 2013
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 07:25 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Everything looks absolutely stunning!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Andrea12785 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 07:42 PM+
Andrea12785 MEMBER SINCE: 1/10 TOTAL POSTS : 195 WEDDING DATE: Oct 01, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 07:42 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Beautiful review. And I LOVE your words of wisdom. You captured my feelins exactly.


Congrats
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
nikki41579 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 08:22 PM+
nikki41579 MEMBER SINCE: 8/10 TOTAL POSTS : 1432 WEDDING DATE: Sep 09, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 08:22 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Congrats! Everything looked beautiful!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
bartgirl12 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 08:39 PM+
bartgirl12 MEMBER SINCE: 7/10 TOTAL POSTS : 1259 WEDDING DATE: Oct 08, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 08:39 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

awww Chantelle!! I love your review and of course the pictures!!! Everything looked amazing!!! We need to have a reunion soon!!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
Chanwich Posted: Aug 16, 2011 09:02 PM+
Chanwich MEMBER SINCE: 3/07 TOTAL POSTS : 5720 WEDDING DATE: Jul 09, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 09:02 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!


Posted by bartgirl12

awww Chantelle!! I love your review and of course the pictures!!! Everything looked amazing!!! We need to have a reunion soon!!



YES!!! Lets plan one after your wedding
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
jovigirl414 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 10:02 PM+
jovigirl414 MEMBER SINCE: 5/10 TOTAL POSTS : 3827 WEDDING DATE: Aug 26, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 10:02 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Great review, and awesome advice!!! Congratulations, everything looked beautiful!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
MNM0805 Posted: Aug 16, 2011 10:08 PM+
MNM0805 MEMBER SINCE: 8/10 TOTAL POSTS : 2982 WEDDING DATE: Aug 05, 2011
Posted: Aug 16, 2011 10:08 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Great review! You looked absolutely beautiful!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
FDNYwife1029 Posted: Aug 17, 2011 09:10 AM+
FDNYwife1029 MEMBER SINCE: 6/11 TOTAL POSTS : 2232 WEDDING DATE: Oct 29, 2011
Posted: Aug 17, 2011 09:10 AM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

awesome review! beautiful pics! can't wait to see more!
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
evita2781 Posted: Aug 17, 2011 10:36 AM+
evita2781 MEMBER SINCE: 12/09 TOTAL POSTS : 14413 WEDDING DATE: Jun 17, 2011
Posted: Aug 17, 2011 10:36 AM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

thanks for posting your review!!! you looked beautiful
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
AngieJusty Posted: Aug 17, 2011 07:25 PM+
AngieJusty MEMBER SINCE: 7/11 TOTAL POSTS : 1456 WEDDING DATE: Mar 16, 2013
Posted: Aug 17, 2011 07:25 PM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing.
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
merelynn10 Posted: Aug 18, 2011 12:21 AM+
merelynn10 MEMBER SINCE: 3/10 TOTAL POSTS : 5545 WEDDING DATE: Jul 09, 2011
Posted: Aug 18, 2011 12:21 AM bride-minus.png

Re: Our July 9, 2011 Wedding: Riviera of Massapequa, Flower Barn, Photo Pink, Camelot and many many more. With non-pro pics!

You look beautiful!!! Congrats
Reply   |   Quote    |   Subscribe   |   Report
No Posts Found With Your Match.
  • Chat With Local Long Island Brides
  • Larkfield
  • Lessings Waterfront Mansions
  • Coindre Hall-Coindre Hall
  • CARLETON HALL OF EAST ISLIP-Carleton Hall of East Islip
  • Ice Sculptors-
 
Welcome New Vendors
X
X
X
X
Email to Friend
X
Submit a Report