Wedding review and pic's!

Unfortunately, I haven't posted on LI Weddings until now but I visited the site daily and found the posts very helpful. Returned from our honeymoon in Italy this weekend and figured it was about time I posted about our wedding! Onto to the vendor reviews:

Sail Harbor- I've been a daily reader of both the local Knot and LI Wedding message boards for over a year but for some reason never came across a single review of this reception hall save for some negative experiences in checking out the place. I'm not sure if this is because people who use this place don't post on either site but, at any rate, this was one of the best decisions we made. We loved our reception hall--it's a really nice space, quite elegant, with two separate rooms with ocean views for the cocktail hour and reception. True, unfortunately the hall doesn't front the ocean (instead it fronts a parking lot behind the building) but unless you're close to the window, all you see is the ocean from both floors. At any rate, besides being a really nice place, the food is great, and the service is quite good. The location is also great--it's located in Oyster Bay, L.I., one of the nicest parts of L.I. I've seen and while there are few photo ops at the hall itself, there is a beach on the same block along with several botanical gardens nearby, including the location we chose, Planting Fields Arboretum (a great park with photos containing both a mansion and a number of gardens). My only complaint was that we had dropped off a bunch of things the day before our wedding which either they or our day of wedding coordinator neglected to take care of (namely putting out the yarmulkes and giving the cd with our final ceremony music selection to our DJ).

Spin Around Sound (Tom, DJ)- Tom did a great job--we knew we wanted him to DJ our wedding the moment we met him because of his extensive knowledge of music which was only affirmed when saw a member of one of our favorite bands sitting in the waiting area on our way out who was there with his fiance to drop off a cd for their wedding the following week! (and this is a band we had played with the idea of asking to play at our wedding!) Anyway, Tom impressed us when he pulled out a few surprise songs that fit into with the rest of the music we had picked out for our wedding--he said he had to dig (my husband's into ska and I'm into punk and alternative music) but he did a great job!

Lina Jang- We lucked out with Lina because when we booked her, she was still kind of starting out and her fees I'm guessing are considerably lower than they are now. Put it this way--when we booked her she walked over from her home to our apt (she lives near us) where she was working out of and had one or two albums to show us. When we met with her shortly before our wedding we met her in her new office at the Empire State Building where she had about five really impressive albums to show us along with a great cd-rom incorporating the photos she had taken for a wedding! She was good at moving things along and about making sure to take all the shots I had requested without being intrusive at all. We haven't seen our photos yet but I'm quite confident she did a great job!

Bliss Productions- Another good choice--in fact they used to share an office with Lina before she moved to her office in the Empire State Bldg! We haven't seen the video yet but I'm also confident they did a good job.

Carol Ann Carney- The one vendor I was very disappointed with. She used to work for Mormile Florists on L.I., then she left and we decided to use her instead of Mormile because she seemed so good about working closely with me. I spent a lot of time picking out the flowers for our wedding and I mean a lot of time. I must've spent at least 20 hours doing endless searches of flower arrangements for our wedding which I shared with her from the moment we booked her which we did, btw, because she did a great job recreating the centerpiece I wanted when she created a sample. I gave her photos of every flower arrangement I wanted and while I acquiesed when she asked if she could have some flexibility, I didn't realize she would completely change nearly every arrangement I had given her photos of. As soon as I walked in and saw the centerpieces I was upset--they were nothing like the sample centerpiece she had created and in fact were a completely different color palatte from the one I had requested. I was very upset about this--the arch was also totally different from what I had requested, along with my bouquet, the entrance table flowers, and the card table flowers. The only arrangements she made that I liked were the boutonnieres which is not exactly what we had hired her for.

Rabbi Burt Aaron- He made a great impression on us when we first met him which is why we booked him. He's a pretty liberal rabbi, quite erudite, and in fact seems very well liked by his congregation (I attended one of his services just out of curiosity). When we met with him before our wedding most of these initial impressions were affirmed. Then he came to the wedding and it just seemed like a business to him. As soon as he arrived he asked us to fill out the marriage license. While a lot of our guests liked the ceremony he conducted because it was short and lighthearted we were chagrined that he just read off the information sheet I had given him when we met earlier that week and some of what he said was inaccurate because he didn't bother adapting what I had written. He had said he wanted to stay for the cocktail hour so he could get a chance to meet our families but instead of sticking around he asked if he could go in front of the line to get some food and left immediately after. I suspect he became less interested in us when we did not express an interest in attending his services (keep in mind that his synagogue is in the LES, we're all the way out in inner Queens).

Tarale- I had over five hair trials and Tarale is the only one who did a good job with my hair. I love curls but my hair is naturally straight and even with a fresh perm my hair does not have all the curls and body I want it to and this is what I wanted (and got) for the wedding.

Desmond Fladger- I first met Desmond when I wandered into Henri Bendel's one day (where he works) looking for lipstick for the wedding because one of the make-up artists I had a trial with mentioned that I needed to bring my own. I had had several make-up trials before I met Desmond including with Jennifer from Fairytale Makeovers who everyone seems to rave about on the LI Wedding message boards but who I did not think did a good job on me and, like Tarale, Desmond was the first make-up person who did a trial I liked. Desmond is good in that he works at Bendel's and because he does so he does not charge for trials (though I did feel obliged to buy some products when he did my first trial). However, my experience was that he was not particularly good at returning e-mails or calls and this became especially aggravating when I asked for a contract. This was the only vendor I experienced stress with because he took forever to get this to me. Even when I finally got the contract, I wasn't even sure he'd show but, luckily, he did and I was pleased with the results.

Judith Garner- When I saw a post about Judith on the LI Wedding message boards which mentioned that her fee was only $150 I decided to contact her immediately. We were taking our photos before the wedding and I wanted to make sure that all our vendors arrived at the reception hall on time and I knew a day-of wedding coordinator would provide that assurance along with making sure things ran smoothly in general and Judith did exactly that.

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Re: Wedding review and pic's!

More pic's that didn't post the first time around.

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Sorry, one last pic!

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Re: Wedding review and pic's!

What a BEAUTIFUL bride! Your gown is stunning, and i love your bridesmaids gowns as well! Thanks for sharing!!!

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You look beautiful! Thanks for sharing your pics. I went to a wedding there- it was awesome! Congratulations!

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Congrats! Nice pictures!

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You look beautiful. Congratulations!

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congratulations!!!! and welcome! lol
THe pics are gorgeous!
Thats great to hear about Judy! Im using her as well

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The pictures are gorgeous. I love your dress!
I'm so excited because the Bm dresses are the same color as mine and they look awesome!
Congratulations.

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Congrats!!! you looked so beautiful. I SO LOVE your dress. Thanks for sharing.

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You look so beautiful!!! Congrats and thanks for the review!!! I'm glad to see a review of Sail Harbor also... and the place looks really beautiful in your pics!

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you look beautiful... congratulations!

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Congrats Jennifer

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Beautiful!!!!

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Very pretty

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Congrats!

Love your dress!

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Cngratulations! You look like you had a wonderful day!

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Beautiful!!!!!!

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wow, I know what you mean about hair-curly, I'm korean and would love to have those natural bouncy curls but with my pin straight hair - I dont think thats happening!! Thanks for your detailed review!!