UPDATED: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

*Some Pro Pics in my album* I can’t believe its time for my review!! The last few weeks building up to the wedding went by SOO quickly, and now here I am, back to reality! A little back story: I live in FL, originally from LI but a few vendors I am not including are FL-based and not of any help! I am reviewing all vendors I used, as well as a few that I was booked with at some point but cancelled during the process. Here we go…

LIW- A+
I’ve been a part of LIW since May 2009, while DH and I were originally planning a 2010 wedding. I received so many ideas, opinions and much needed feedback, and for that, I am truly grateful to all the lovely LIW ladies!! Thank you Ron, Kim & Liz for putting together such a fantastic resource.

Weather- A+++
The weather kept saying “RAIN” or “SUNNY” every other minute for the whole week leading up to the wedding. I gave up on tracking it about 3 days prior and just hoped for the best. Luckily, it was the perfect day…68* and sunny! The only minor downer was that it had rained the night before, and the grass was saturated and muddy, which limited some photo opp’s, but we worked with what we had!

Bridal Shower- Sergio’s, Massapequa- A-
My mom & my bridesmaids put together a great and intimate shower. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Sergio’s, it is a VERY VERY small restaurant. Luckily, the room we had was private and didn’t interact with the restaurant portion. The food was pretty good, it was inexpensive and the owner wasn’t too difficult to deal with. He likes to bargain and play “lets make a deal”, which was a little annoying when my mom booked the shower but overall it was fine!

Tuxes- Esquire Tuxedo- Merrick- A+++++
Mike was super awesome to work with! We had non-traditional tuxes and had GM's from all over the country, that had to be measured wherever they lived...so unfortunately we had a few minor issues when they tried on their tuxes. But Mike was able to fix every little issue and made them look amazing! Recommend him 100%!!



Bridesmaid Dresses- Renate’s, Lindenhurst – A
Not much to say here…the dresses took about 6 months to come in and the service was pretty good. The alterations could have been better in my opinion, but overall not bad.



Make Up- Kelly – Glam Me Up- A BIG THUMBS DOWN
I booked with Kelly 10 months before my wedding. I had 2 trials done but was never in love with either of them, but booked anyway since I thought I was just being picky. Later on, I decided to email her and tell her that I didn’t want her to do MY make up for the wedding, but would like her to remain a part of my day for my bridesmaids. (As a side note…anyone that has contacted Kelly knows there is NO MINIMUM). She responded to my email that she understood and would like to still do my girls’ make-up, and to let her know how many there would be. I tried to get a CONFIRMED amount of girls’ but it was a few months before the wedding and most of them were on the fence, I had 1 GUARANTEED bridesmaid, and possibly 3 others. Well as soon as I told Kelly that I was only able to get a definite 1 bridesmaid confirmed, she wrote me an email to tell me that shes sorry and wishes me the best of luck. Uhhh. She never told me that she would cancel my contract if I didn’t have a satisfactory amount of girls that day apparently. Then when I pushed the issue further, trying to understand why she was all of sudden telling me “sorry but best of luck”, she told me she is now “unavailable to work my wedding”…due to a new booking. This whole situation unraveled in a matter of like 2 days…how did she book a new wedding so fast? I asked her to bare with me on getting more confirmed girls, until her telling me she booked a new bridal party. Then, she referred me to another artist she works with. Someone I have never met. I didn’t feel comfortable working with a complete stranger and in a very nice way, I asked for just my deposit back so I can go elsewhere and be done with the situation. She refused give me my deposit back. Soooo somehow my contract my cancelled due to not enough people, then she booked someone elses wedding and then tried to get a stranger to do my wedding instead of her. Nice. I ended up doing my own make up, very happy I did.

Rehearsal Dinner- Butterfield’s, Hauppauge- A
We had a hell of a time finding a decently priced restaurant around the Hauppauge-Smithtown area, that would let us have a RD on a Saturday night. Most restaurants wanted a 50 person minimum, or they were charging $45 per person. A few LIW’ers recommended Butterfield’s and I booked them blindly, having never been there. They were a delight to work with the months before the wedding and while I picked out our menu. We opted for the buffet option they had which was very good! The only food negative I will say is that the vegetable option for the buffet was green beans…and they were practically uncooked. Super crunchy. Aside from that, the other food was very good, especially for a buffet. The staff was attentive and had drinks flowing left and right!

Rehearsal Dinner Cake- Lady J’s Cakes – A++++
Janean was one of the most accessible vendors I worked with!! I sent her an email, and had a response within 30 minutes or less. I wanted to do a football cake for DH and Janean worked with my budget, as well as my ideas, and made the perfect cake! He loved it!! She delivered it to Butterfield’s at the exact time we discussed. She also made a cookie arrangement for several birthday’s we were celebrating during the week of the wedding, which we handed out to our guests. They loved them!! I recommend her 1000%.

Hotel Room Block- Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge- B-
*Sigh* I was really surprised about this. My experience leading up to the wedding wasn’t bad. I dealt with Laura and she was very helpful and accommodating. We had a minor block issue the last week of the block reservation period, which had a few guests unable to book and they were worried about not having a room. It was resolved 2 days later. The BIGGEST issue I (and all of my guests) had was that there was a Rosh Hashanah group occupying the majority of the hotel during my block period. I was told that an event was going on but NO ONE deemed it necessary to inform me that all of the elevators would be stopping at EVERY floor on the way up and down, making a trip up to your room take 10 MINUTES! Also, my suite was “CONVENIENTLY” located next to the Rosh Hashanah group’s manmade day care. They used several meeting rooms, right next to my suite, as the day care. Luckily, I only had to hear screaminggggg and cryingggg children for the first day I was there but I was so upset no one told me I was situated right next to it. Oh, and after DH and I came back from the wedding, we had a basket of fruit and champagne from the hotel left in our room. Very nice…however, whoever was in our room left our balcony door WIDE open. I was really upset about that.

Hotel Welcome Boxes, Timelines, Menus, Table Numbers- Truly Fabulous Designs (Etsy Seller) – A+++++
My hotel boxes came out so cute and everyone loved them! They were inexpensive and super pretty with the satin bows! My menus were awesome, with cute fall leaf details and my table numbers were customized with our names at the top and matched our menus. Great seller!





Hair- Angela’s Hair Design- A+++++++
I LOVE ANGELA! Shes the best. I booked with her about 9 months before the wedding, after she NAILED my trial. She was very patient with all of my 1000 questions in the months prior, and I really appreciated that! The morning of the wedding, she arrived right on time! My hair came out AMAZING! It held up all day and all night! She also did my mom and my bridesmaids. Perfect, perfect, perfect!



Photographer- J’Adore Love Photography – A+++++
Jenn & Efrain…the best! We only had a 7 hour package but they got every single available picture IMAGINABLE in that time frame. We spent a good amount of time during the day taking pictures, I underestimated how long the pictures would take, but I am SO glad that they worked every minute and every shot! We took a lot of traditional pictures, as well a lot of fun pictures that we are dying to see! We did our Engagement pictures with them 2 years ago, and loved them also. Love love love!



Videographer- Wild Rose Videographer- A+
OMG. I LOVE WILD ROSE! They did such an amazing job with my video. It was exactly what we wanted, fun, fast but catching all of the little moments! Wonderful to work with, quick to respond. Recommended a million percent! Link below...

Link to Wedding Video

DOC- Fairy Tale Events- Chrissi- A+++++
I loveeee Chrissi! The poor girl has been stuck with me and all of my 50,000 questions for over 2 years! She was always available for questions and extremely patient throughout the process. She’s just downright awesome! She gets bonus points for breaking out a few dance moves at the reception (after BEGGING her to dance with me, she finally gave in!) If you haven’t contacted Chrissi yet, what are you waiting for?? ?

Officiant- Pastor April- A

Prior to the wedding, Pastor April and I put together a awesome personalized ceremony. The ceremony itself was very nice and well written. She did a great job with the ceremony! The only small issue we had was with who would be signing our marriage license as witnesses. We asked our Best Man, and his wife (a bridesmaid) to witness....instead of MOH and Best Man. I am almost 100% positive that I gave Pastor April the names of who would be witnessing, but on that day, she took my MOH and Best Man and had them sign and I didn't know about it until it was over and done with. Needless to say, my bridesmaid that was supposed to sign was upset. Theres a possibilty that maybe I thought I told Pastor April...but in reality never did. Even so, I just wish that the witnesses were verified with me before having them witness. In the future for anyone wanting a witness other than MOH or Best Man...make sure you express this several times!!


Flowers- Hidden Essence- Prior to wedding: A+, Day of: B+ …let me explain!
First of all, I love Michelle. She does great work! She was very helpful to work within my budget and patient to answer all of my questions, making adjustments to things and then more adjustments! In January, I went to see a sample of the bouquets. My whole theme was Fall…everything was red, orange, yellow. The samples were red, peach-ish orange, and yellow. The orange was muted, not bright. Orange is DH’s favorite color…and obviously a key color to most fall weddings! So when my bouquets arrived the morning of the wedding, they were red, light red, and yellow. DEFINITELY not the same color I saw in January. I’m assuming, looking back, that things probably grow in different variations depending on the time of the year. If I had known that in October, the “orange” rose, would actually be a red-ish rose, I would have gone in a different direction with the selection of orange flowers. I brushed it off at that moment because there was obviously nothing that could be done at that point. It was what it was. I tried not to let it upset me but the more I looked at my flowers as the day went on, the sadder I got. Especially since DH LOVESSSS orange and it was far from it. Everything was still very pretty and great quality….just sad about the color issue. You can tell by the pictures that there was no orange anywhere!



DJ- High Energy Entertainment- A
Ralph was very nice throughout the planning process. Towards the end, I did find it a little difficult to get in contact with him at times but it was what it was. Everyone was dancing, and had a great time! I was a little disappointed that about half of my “must play” list, didn’t get played. The reception started a little late (not his fault) and there was a lot of down time for dinner & dessert, which interrupted the amount of must play songs I guess he was able to play. Overall, he did a great job!

Bakery- Rolling Pin, Setauket- A
The cake was very good, they did a perfect job on getting my design right on target. I don’t like that they only communicate via e-mail. That is seriously annoying. Especially the week of my wedding, trying to get an answer from them on final details…took 7 days- 3 emails, 2 phone messages…before I got a response. At the end of the day, it came out great and everyone loved it!

Smithtown Landing County Club- A++++++++
Perfection. We are so happy that we booked at SLCC. The venue itself is not your traditional reception hall, which was one of the selling points we enjoyed. We had our ceremony outside on the deck, it accommodated all of our 100 guests, even though it looked like it was going to be tight, it was perfect. I drove them soooo crazy (although they would never admit it) with all of my notes, specifications, and little details. They went above and beyond to achieve my desired atmosphere. They carved pumpkins, gave us a surprise cocktail Oktoberfest station, and accommodated every single guest need! SLCC is extremely reasonably priced as well, and currently running an incredible deal for 2012, that I am super jealous of! Our Maitre D Joe was fantastic…very nice and helpful!! He gets extra points because he was a German teacher and my grandma from Germany doesn’t know 1 word of English and he was her bestfriend! Pat was my bridal attendant and she was superrrr sweet! She had my drinks flowing all night and had safety pins and bobby pins available quicker than you can tell her that you needed one! DH and I were joking that we should get our vows renewed every few years at SLCC, just to have a big party with them again. I think it will take Rich about 5 years to recover from me!





Limo- Camelot Limo- A++++
Whats left to be said that hasn’t been said before? Joe worked within my budget, was very helpful and accommodating. The limo/shuttle arrived promptly, everything went very smoothly! No complaints here!

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Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

Thanks for your review! You looked beautiful!

Congratulations!

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

Congrats!! Great review and sorry that some things didn't work out.

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

great review, thanks! can't wait to see pics!!

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

Great Review! Congratulations!

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

so glad everything worked out for you!
who did you end up using for your make up the day becuase of what happened with Kelly?

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose and MORE wedding!!!

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Posted by Moonmist09

so glad everything worked out for you!
who did you end up using for your make up the day becuase of what happened with Kelly?

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I did my own make up ...I shouldve included that sorry lol

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Love the review!!!

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

My congratulations were removed? Because I said sorry about what happened with the makeup? Seriously?

Kristen- great review and congratulations. And sorry you had to deal with those bumps

Re: My Fall-tastic Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Thanks for the great review! In all your day went wonderful! YAY!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Beautiful! Congrats!!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Congrats! You looked beautiful!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

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Posted by IrishAli

My congratulations were removed? Because I said sorry about what happened with the makeup? Seriously?

Kristen- great review and congratulations. And sorry you had to deal with those bumps

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THATS COMPLETELY F'ing ridiculous that it got pulled...

But, Congrats!!! Great review. So scary about the flowers. Thats something that I'd be the same with... FH fav color is yellow and if thats one of our main colors. I'd be upset too! Cant wait to see pics!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

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Posted by linda_art

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Posted by IrishAli

My congratulations were removed? Because I said sorry about what happened with the makeup? Seriously?

Kristen- great review and congratulations. And sorry you had to deal with those bumps

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THATS COMPLETELY F'ing ridiculous that it got pulled...

But, Congrats!!! Great review. So scary about the flowers. Thats something that I'd be the same with... FH fav color is yellow and if thats one of our main colors. I'd be upset too! Cant wait to see pics!

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CS is getting alil Big Brother with stalking and pulling posts lately, what's the point of a review if you have to be worried what you can and can't write in it


But back to the topic

CONGRATS!!! So sorry to hear what you had to go through but you looked beautiful!!!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Holy Crap, Kristen! How did you beat me to my review?!?!?

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

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Posted by jovigirl414

Holy Crap, Kristen! How did you beat me to my review?!?!?

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haha! if i waited, i probably would have either never gotten around to it or forgot alot of key details!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

love the review everything looked awesome and you looked stunning!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

wonderful review and you looked amazing!!

Re: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

Great Review! Congrats

Re: UPDATED: My Fall-tastic 10/2/11 Smithtown Landing, Fairy Tale Events, J'Adore Love, Wild Rose, Esquire and MORE wedding!!!

bump for pro pics added