4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review...TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs! Aventura Spa Palace, Open House Country Florist, Tommys Tunes, Rev.Deb & more...UPDATED w/ album layout pg 3

I wonder if there is a page limit to reviews, because I feel as though I might top it here. Our wedding day was amazing. I’m so sad that it is over. I wish I could go back so bad. I was super stressed at the end, but it was well worth it. They morning of our wedding, I let go of all stresses and tried my hardest to enjoy every minute of my day. Yes, it rained, well it poured actually (and we even had a bit of hail), but I didn’t get upset, because there was nothing I could do about the weather. Besides, they say it is good luck when it rains on your wedding day. Anyway, here is my review. I would have had it up sooner, but I wanted to wait for pictures. My favorite reviews are always ones with tons of pictures. And I did have to take a weeks vacation from LIW, some tradition called a honeymoon or something.... I tried to put in every vendor possible, because I know how much these reviews and this web site helped me. If you don’t want to read all the detail, just skip over it and look at the pretty pictures. I don’t know what our wedding would have been like without LIWeddings, and even DH can now admit that too. LIweddings even helped me get a $10,000 grant toward the purchase of our first home (someone posted info on it on the home board, and we happened to quality!) I tried to put the review in chronological order, but I lost that order some where on here so here goes, I hope it helps!

Engagement Party:
Three Village Inn, Stony Brook (LIW Vendor) A+
www.threevillageinn.com
631-751-0555
I have always loved the Three Village Inn, and it is one of my favorite places to go to dinner. For the evening of our e-party, everything went great. Danny and Paul were awesome and I don’t have one complaint. The food was amazing… everyone raved about it! They even gave us great rates on rooms for our OOT guests. It was an absolute pleasure and I would have a party again here in a heartbeat!

E-Party DJ:
High Voltage (LIW Vendor) A+
www.highvoltagesounds.com
(516) 520-7921
Vinny gave us a great price, and I booked him all through email/fm based on the raves that everyone gives him on here… We had Pete come and he was great! The music was always fun, and everyone had a great time. There was not one song that he played that I didn’t like, which was great because we did not give him much of a song list to go by.

E-Party Invites, Menus, STDs, Placecards:
Me
www.cjbdesigns.com
I am an art teacher and I do graphic design on the side, so this was my first opportunity to make stuff for my own wedding. I printed everything on my home computer.

Invites:
I printed 4 to a letter size page and printed them out on white card stock:


Menus:
I printed two to a letter size piece of white cardstock, and instead of cutting them down, i just folded them in half and placed a few standing up on each table.



Save The Dates:
I gave these out as my favors. I designed them in PhotoShop, then printed them out onto glossy photo paper. I cut them down, then put business card size sticky magnets (from Staples) on to the back of them.


Placecards:


Thank you cards:
I decided to match them to everything else:


Dress Shopping
I first went to Fantasia Bridal in Rocky Point. They were so nice and helpful there and really helped me narrow down what style dress I was looking for (plus you don’t need an appt). They let you take pictures in the dress and don't cut out any of the labels. My next trip was to Paradise Bridal in Patchogue. I was helped by Liz who was absolutely great! Paradise had a great selection and I narrowed my dresses down to a handful. I decided to check out Adrienne’s in Islip as well. I wasn’t impressed with their selection at all. When my mom flew up from Fla for our e-party I brought her to Paradise to help me narrow down my dress. We choose Maggie Sottero’s Bethani. Paradise price matched Burton’s price for me, so I ordered my dress from there.

Dress Purchasing & BM Alterations
Paradise Bridal, Patchogue F
After ordering my dress, my BM’s picked theirs out and had a good experience, and my FMIL also found her dress here as well and had a great experience as well. However, after my orders were in, I soon became not so happy with Paradise… one of my BMs (whose wedding was a few months before mine) also ordered her wedding dress and our BMs dresses from here…when it came time for alterations, there were snags and runs all over our BM gowns, and the seamstress lied to my friend and said they had hemmed her dress, when they had not…they also tried to charge her the cap, when her charges were actually underneath that…everything turned out ok in the end, but this experience but a bad taste in my mouth, so when my dress came in, I decided to pick it up and take it to Fantasia to have it altered, which was also MUCH closer to my house… Paradise also promised to call as the dresses came in, and they did not. A saleswoman was also extremely rude to me when I asked her to show me the dress that my FMIL picked up (I had the style number and everything) but she refused to show it to me, saying that it was against their policy! My MOH and FMIL planned on picking their dresses up and taking them elsewhere to be altered as well, but when FMIL’s super expensive dress came in she decided to try it on before she took it… they ordered it 2 sizes too big and it was hanging off of her. She decided to have them alter it since it was their mistake… she ended up having a nightmare of an experience and even tried to look elsewhere for another dress, but there wasn’t enough time. MOH’s dress had all sorts of runs in it after they altered it and was ordered a size too small. They ended up needing way too many fittings, then told them they couldn’t fit them in. Their last fitting was the Thursday before my wedding! When my MOH went to her last appt. They almost didn’t let her take her dress because whoever made the appt, never wrote it down in the appt book and the dress wasn’t ready. Everything was great with Paradise until we placed our dress order. I would not use them again except to just try on dresses because they do have a good selection.

Alterations, Tiara & Veil
Fantasia Bridal, Rocky Point
www.fantasiabridalcenter.com
(631) 744-7200
Fantasia has great customer service! I ordered my veil and tiara so last minute and it came in so fast! All of my fittings were easy and quick. Everyone was always so nice. I highly recommend them! They even held my dress there for me until the day before my wedding so it wouldn’t get wrinkled! I would highly recommend them to anyone! I ended up not wearing my headpiece, so if anyone likes it and needs one, let me know! The picture doesn't do it justice... it is much more sparkly...







Tuxes:
Men's Wearhouse, Lake Grove
I went with DH and his BM to pick out the tuxes… it was an easy enough experience… no problems… I picked this place since they had locations outside of NY and my little brother was going to get measured in Fla and pick his tux up here… as far as I know, there weren’t any problems or issues… and if there were they were all taken care of when the tuxes came in and the guys tried them on when they picked them up…the boys don’t really share customer service information as well as us girls seem to…

E-Ring & Wedding Bands
Ecolin Jewelers, Pt Jefferson F
This was not a good experience from the beginning. I’m going to try to explain the situation as clear and concise as I can, and hopefully it makes sense. FH bought my e-ring from here. From the start, they promised to send us the appraisal, but never did… A few months after having my ring a stone popped out of the band… we brought it in, they replaced it. A few months later another stone popped out… we brought it in, they replaced the stone and we asked if this would keep happening. He told us that he would replace the setting entirely and that we would hear from him after the holidays… we never heard anything (and still was never given the appraisal). Months go by and the third stone popped out! So we brought the ring back in… explained that this was not something that was making me happy. It was suggested to me that with pave bands, stones pop out all the time and that since I was an art teacher who worked with my hands a lot, that I should consider a different setting and that they would save the diamonds from my band to go into my wedding band (which I was later told wasn’t a possibility). OK… fine… so we get a plain solitaire setting and pick out a simple channel-set wedding band. They take my measurements for my ring and tell me that it will be ready in a few days… so FH picks the ring up and brings it home… it doesn’t even remotely fit over my knuckle! So I bring it back in. The guy laughs at me, and says he will size it on the spot. So he does. I get home and I notice that now I see a huge mark where he added the material on the back of the ring and scratches on the band next to the diamond. I stop by to check on the wedding rings because I hadn’t heard anything. I was told to come back after the holidays again… I said, no, im here now, please check… they cant find the order, then they do, and tell me that it should be in shortly. I get a call saying that it was in, but the size was wrong and that she wanted to send it in to the city to get sized correctly. It gets sized correctly, so we go in to check on it… it was the completely wrong ring! Not even close to what I picked out. I felt the tears coming. So I looked in the case to find the one that I choose and it wasn’t there. I was told that this was impossible because they hadn’t changed the rings and they never take them out of the case (even though I saw them put the ring I picked into an envelope). I also showed them the problem with my e-ring. They said that would be fixed. FH checks on his ring. His didn’t fit either, and then they realized they put his back in the case and the sample in his envelope. So I picked out another ring, one that I didn’t love as much as the other and was also told that they could change something on it. My finger was sized again. A few days later we go back… the ring is the wrong size and that change was never made. At this point I just gave up. When the ring was ready, FH picked it up and brought it home. It fit this time, but that change was never made, which I knew was going to happen and my e-ring was never properly fixed. Usually I am pretty good at sticking up for myself, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I felt that every time I went into this place I was nice and polite and they just made it out to be like I was lying about which ring I choose, what my ring size was etc. And to make matters worse, we were dealing with the owners. I just felt like there was nothing else we could do. I will never step foot into that place again. They made me feel awful and I left in tears practically every time I went in there.



Oh, and while there is a shot of my hands, I would like to thank Sally Hansen's Miracle Nail Growth (gold bottle) Im a chronic nail biter and picker, and i decided i didnt want fake nails at my wedding... so i bought this stuff and a long with a friend we both used it religiously and it worked!! (except my ring finger nail broke a week before the wedding) Unfortunately, now that the wedding is over, the nails are long gone... i just couldnt resist!!

DJ
Tommy's Tunes, Selden (LIW Vendor)
www.djtommystunes.com
631-732-5886
They were the only DJ vendor we looked at and booked right away. We had Joe E. for our MC. I think they did a fine job. The wedding was kind of a blur, now that I think back to it. Maybe when I watch the video I will remember more! I don't remember thinking, wow they were amazing, but I also dont remember thinking that they stunk... the dance floor wasnt as packed as I would have liked, but people keep swearing to me that they had a great time.

Florist
Open House Country, Stony Brook
631-751-3842
I can’t say enough great things about Nancy… she was the only florist that I visited with and I knew I was in good hands… she was doing one of my BM’s weddings, and did her sister’s wedding before that… she was also the parent of one of my kindergarteners so I was comfortable starting and ending my search with her. Nancy’s attention to detail is amazing and has such a passion for what she is doing. The flowers were amazing and exactly what I asked for. They even lasted until we got back from the HM. She helped to make my cake look amazing as well. For my mom and MIL, she made a mini bo-k instead of a corsage, and they absolutley loved it! My FAVORITE vendor by far!!

my bo-k the day after




BM & My Bo-k


This was on our card table:


Upclose of BM Bo-k


We also rented our arch for the ceremony from Nancy


Our Cake that Nancy decorated. It was AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL! We got SO many compliments! I gave her the votives, she did the rest!! Although, one votive did get too hot and melted right off the cake!


Hair & Make up
Denise Lee Salon & Spa, Setauket (LIW Vendor) A+
(631) 941-3505
www.denise-lee.com
I procrastinated on booking hair and make up. I waited too long and by the time I got around to it, all the recommended girls that travel were all booked… so my FMIL made us all appointments at Denise Lee, which is also a LIW vendor and the place where I regularly get my hair done. Aimee does my highlights and always does an awesome job. The day of Lisa (one of the owners) did my hair. She was great. I didn’t even go for a trial. She looked at all of my pictures and it came out great. They also called in a special make up person to come do our faces… Evie did an awesome job on everybody… my MOH looked beautiful! I love loved her make up. It was a great way to start the wedding day off. Greg (the other owner, Lisa’s husband) even squeezed extra people in the day of to get their hair and make up done. It was a fun morning having all of us girls in there hanging out getting all beautiful together! If I were to do anything different, I would have booked them for Friday afternoon too and went with my girls for massages, facials, manicures and pedicures! I highly recommend them to anyone!

These are pictures that we took of each other at the salon:



















Limos
Jennie’s Limos, Pt Jeff Station
631-928-2800
They had the best prices for a pick up and drop off. One of my BM’s used them for her wedding and they were great. We were running super late and our driver was so patient with us. They were also great when they picked us back up... we had to take SO much stuff and the drivers were SO helpful!! Amazing service!



Officiant
Ceremonies of the Heart, Rev. Deb Viola (LIW Vendor) A+
(631) 427-1103
This was the one vendor that I was really procrastinating with booking… here I was 3 months before the wedding and still had no one to marry us. Neither DH nor I are very religious and are both different religions, so I thought this was going to be my most challenging vendor to book…After doing some LIW research, I first contacted Pastor April, from the Church of Ancient Ways… after receiving my first email from Pastor April, by the time I wrote back to her, she had booked an appt for our date but was nice enough to recommend Rev. Deb. Rev Deb was great from our first meeting with her DH opened up to her immediately so I knew she was the one to book! She actually made me excited about our ceremony and made me feel like it was actually going to be special… I was so nervous that it was going to be boring since we didn’t want to involve anything religious… She gave us a huge packet of non-religious readings that was so hard to pick from, because they were all beautiful and she shared the idea of having a sand ceremony. Well, our ceremony was very special and when Rev. Deb got there, she gave me a big hug and I knew everything was going to be great. She even gave us a copy of what she read for our ceremony. It was really beautiful.



Our Sand Ceremony:
I bought 3 hurricane lamps from Michaels... one big one and two small ones (I figured i could reuse this in our house after the wedding) I bought red and blue sand thinking that the two would mix to create purple, which was my wedding color... yeah, it dosn't mix that much... I should have just bought purple and white sand!! oh well!



Ceremony Music
Cynthia Marcus
www.cynthiamarcus.com DH had three jobs. One was to get his passport, two to get a haircut for the wedding and three to book ceremony music. Guess which three things were not done a week before the wedding? The passport arrived two days before the wedding. The haircut happened the morning of at some random place around the corner from our house and the ceremony music, I ended up taking care of. Cynthia Marcus came to the rescue! I literally booked her a week before the wedding. She played for our ceremony and through the cocktail hour. I was nervous about having a single violinist, but everyone said that it sounded like there was more than one! I probably didnt need her for the cocktail hour, since it was so loud, but i thought it would be nice... She was great and I highly recommend her as well!



OOT Hotel:
Danfords on the Sound, Pt Jefferson

We chose to block rooms at Danfords because it was a nice place for OOT guests to stay since there is so much right in that area. It was also about the same price as the Holiday Inn on 347. (we got rooms for $129) I dealt with a lady all through email. She was very helpful. She must have left, and someone else took over because I never got responses to some of my emails. But no damage was done. We decided to stay there our wedding night as well and booked a regular room. When I checked in, everything was nuts. It was raining. I was running late. I was searching for our photog… the list goes on and on. I ran into the front desk to grab a room key. My cell phone was going off and I signed all the papers. When we got to the room it was a suite overlooking the water with an awesome deck (that we couldn’t even use because of the rain) I thought that they upgraded us because we were the bride and groom. The next day I went to check out and they wanted to charge me almost $300… I almost fell over. I told them that that was NOT the room I requested and I thought that they just upgraded us as a courtesy. After speaking with the manager he fixed the fee… but he did say that I should have noticed when I checked in, because I signed the sheet for the higher fee… Everything else was great. The next morning we all walked over to Toast for brunch. Later I did find out that there was a leak in my uncle’s room, and my aunt’s makeup got soaked under the sink. They told my uncle that they would replace it all. So my uncle replaced all of my aunt’s mac make up brushes. When the manager saw that it was about $200 he freaked and refused to pay for it. He said he called the mac store and they said that the brushes wouldn’t be ruined if they got wet. My uncle had a problem with the fact that they were sitting in dirty drain water and the brushes were supposed to be hypo-allergenic. He was running late for their flight, so he just asked for the GM’s phone number and was going to deal with it when they got home…

Wedding Invitations:
The American Wedding Album.com F
I had debated on making my own invites or having them done… I ended up finding a really simple invite that wasn’t too expensive from theamericanweddingalbum.com, so I decided to go that route and save me some stress…. hahaha!! Wrong decision!! Everything that happened with this company was a total nightmare that I ended up last minute having to do my invites myself. To make a long story short, there was a weird mark on my invites, that when I inquired about it, I was told that all invites have this “gripper mark” which was completely untrue because they ended up having to reprint something and miraculously the reprints didn’t have this mark. They told me I could keep my invites at half price or return them, but they refused to re-print them… after dealing with these people and always getting different answers for more than 2 ½ months, I finally ending up getting most of my money back… I paid to keep the envelopes so I could make my own invites… if you want more details of this nightmare, do a search on BHB, because I posted my story there when it had happened…

Travel Agent:
Dawn from Cruise One (LIW Vendor)
Another issue that I procrastinated on! Dawn was amazing!! She dealt with me all by phone and over email… I couldn’t have asked for anything more from a travel agent… she was patient with my many requests and really went above and beyond for us.

Airline:
American Airlines
I’m officially not a fan. I’m just posting this because I hope it helps someone and possibly saves them some money… I knew that some airlines started to charge if your bag weighed over a certain amount, and being a chronic overpacker, I was never nabbed with this, and I used to fly a lot in college and after. Anyway, on the way out at JFK Airport my bag was over the weight limit. So we had to pay $25. On the way back I knew my bag would be over again, so I wanted to make sure DH’s bag wasn’t over, so we put more stuff in my bag (it was a big bag) Well, we get to the airport and my bag wasn’t just over, it was over over, and they wanted to charge us more than $100!!! So the lady suggested that we spread out the stuff in the bags… so they we are in the middle of Cancun airport, with a line out the door, (people were nearly missing flights) and the lady is having us open our bags to redistribute the weight. So apparently, they would rather you check in TWO bags at 50-60lbs each, then ONE bag at 100 lbs… this makes no sense to me because isn’t having two bags on the flight more work for them in the long run?? So I guess buying the super big bag that was in our luggage set was a waste of money…. I hope this helps someone… by the way, did you know they now charge for snack packs… you get only a drink and not even peanuts!

Honeymoon:
Aventura Spa Palace, Mexico
It was absolutely beautiful! A little different looking than the pictures… there is no real beach… it has amazing pools overlooking the water and lagoons, but no actual beach… which on their website, it looks like there is a beach. DH absolutely loved it. It wasn’t too crowded at all, and we could always find a place to lay out. The food was decent (my favorite was breakfast) and the staff was so nice. The only thing that I found confusing was checking in. You have to check in with three to four different people and unless you are fully paying attention you could miss out. First we checked in with the hotel. Then we were supposed to go to a honeymoon desk, then to guest services, then to our tour guide desk… it was confusing but we finally figured it out. It was a great, relaxing week away. Our room even had a hammock on the balcony!

This was attached to the wall in the room... they refilled this and the fridge every two days


Our Messy room with the jacuzzi:


The Lagoon:






Our Balcony with hammock:


Tequilla with WORMS in it!!




Reception Hall Search
After calling a bazillion halls for average prices, we ended up visiting three halls: Hamlet Willow Creek, Georgios and East Wind. I was a bit put off with our visit to Georgios because, although Georgio himself was great to speak with, they made an appt with us for a time that we couldn’t even tour the place. Then he offered us a complimentary dinner there, so DH and I took up the offer… when the bill came we explained to the waiter that Georgio had sent us down… the waiter said we still had to pay… so we did… a few days later we got a call from Georgio apologizing saying that we should not have paid since we were his guests… and that he would send us a check to cover the cost of our dinner… we never got anything…

[b]Reception Hall & Ceremony Location:
Hamlet Willow Creek, Mt. Sinai A+++++++++++
From the moment we went to HWC, we fell in love with the place, even though at the time it wasn’t much to look at… Barbara was great. Now that the wedding is over, I can truly say that we picked the right place. The food was amazing… everything was amazing. I don’t have one complaint at all. Even our cake tasted awesome, and usually I don’t even like cake! My only regret is that it was raining when we took our picts, so we missed out on the beautiful property… My bridal attendant Kristen did a great job. She was always there when I needed her, but never in our faces. Barbara kept the night moving and kept my family in line as we were getting ready to start the ceremony (and that is not an easy task) Barbara didn't even get mad when DH accidentally through the garder into the chandelier, and they returned it the next week when they changed the lightbulbs! Everything was beautiful. All of our guests have been raving about how it is the best wedding they have ever been too… even one of DH’s old bosses, who works in the catering business hasn’t been able to stop gushing about the place. They did an amazing job. The service was awesome. Guests barely had to get up to the bar to get drinks. Cocktail Hour had the perfect amount of food and awesome looking sushi... i only got a chance to have the pigs in a blanket!! I only hope that I will be lucky enough to be a guest here one day. Anyone who gets married here is truly lucky!!!








DIY’s & Small Details:

Center Pieces:
I made these myself because flowers were out of my budget. After doing much searching, I found the least expensive pillar candles at Michaels. They were $3 for the large ones, $2 for the medium-sizes and $1 for the small ones. The only problem was, some of the candles leaked really bad and had to be blown out or just created a huge mess. I don’t know what caused this, maybe I should have trimmed the wicks on all of the candles first…I got the mirror tiles at Home Depot. They came in a box of six for $10 I think. I ordered the petals from www.wpetals.com They came so fast and were also the best price that I could find! I think they looked great. I even used the fake petals in the flowergirl baskets.







Newsletters:
This is something that I have been doing for friends who have been getting married. They contain info such as a did you know section, where we were going on our honeymoon, a relationship timeline, bridal party explanation and a bit more. They always seem to be such a hit! I rolled them up and tied them and placed them at everyone’s place setting at the table. You can see an upclose version of them here: http://www.cjbdesigns.com/pages/wg_news_ca.html







Menus:
The menus I designed using QuarkXPress, which is a graphic design program, which most people do not have, so unfortunately I do not have a template to share. I printed them out two to a page, then cut them in half. I printed them on watercolor paper, like my invitations and used the same fonts.





Invites & Envelopes
After having a difficult time with an invitation company (see above) I decided to make my own.. I used a font called Scriptina, which i downloaded from dafont.com. I printed them out on watercolor paper to give the invite a texture.





Upclose of our envelopes. I did these using my inkjet printer and QuarkXPress.


Memory Candles:
I purchased the pillar candles from Michaels (which did end up leaking everywhere) and used vellum from either Michaels or Staples. When you buy your vellum make sure you check which printer it works best with. The first time I bought the laserjet ones, and I have an inkjet and the ink rubbed right off onto my hand. I printed my design onto the vellum, cut the vellum down, then wrapped it around the candle and attached it with double stick tape, then took out the handy glue gun to glue ribbon to the edge of the vellum on both the top and the bottom.







Votive Placecards:
The cheapest place that I was able to find the votive candles was at Michaels when their party pack went on sale. I think it was $3.99 or $4.99 for a pack of 12 votives with the candles in it. First, I played with a piece of paper to get it to be the right size and have the right curve for my glass votives. I traced the edge with black sharpie, and scanned it into the computer. I was able to fit four to a page. I added my names, then printed them out onto vellum. I then cut them all out, making sure to cut off the black frame and then used both double stick tape and invisible tape to attach them to the votive.







Signature Frame:
Got this on sale at Michaels… not too many people signed it though…
Maybe it wasn't worth doing...



Guest Book:
I originally wanted to make a photo book using mypublisher.com but ran out of time. So I scanned in and printed out all photos of DH & I that I could find. I put them in chronological order, then rubber cemented them into a scrap book with black pages. I bought gold and silver sharpie pens so people could sign the blank pages. I feel like this is actually a guest book that I will look at again!



The framed poem that we put next to the guestbook:


Activity Books:
I got this idea from LIW… one of the 06 girls emailed me a template, and I kind of made it my own using QuarkXPress, a graphic design program. Some of the images I drew myself, others were wedding clipart from the Internet or Microsoft word. There was a little story inside, and even some mazes, crosswords and matching games.












Petal Cones:
I bought 12x12 scrap book paper on sale from Michaels. I cut it down to 6x6 and made it into a cone. First I took blank paper and played with it until I got the perfect curve. I think put them all through the printer, printed our monogram on it, then used a template to cut them all down so that they would be curved on top. I used both double stick tape and invisible tape to roll them into cones. (the invisible tape went on the inside)





Bridesmaid Jewelry:
Being a jewelry designer, you would think that this would have been easy for me, but it wasn’t. I made the girls their bracelets, but then had no idea what to do for necklace and earrings, so I ended up ordering the girl’s necklaces from QVC.com. They were a great price and came really fast as well. They were dimondnique and super sparkly! I made them 3 different pairs of earrings and let them choose which ones they wanted to wear the day of. They ended up picking the same pair to wear.









Flowergirl Jewelry & Presents:
This was another challenge for me because I had 6 flowergirls ranging from age 1 ½ to 7… I ended up making different variations of a flower pendant necklace and little dangling earrings. I really wanted to make them bracelets, but had a hard time using expensive swarovski beads, knowing that they would grow out of it so soon, so I made them bracelets with little extender chains on them… they all looked adorable!

I also got the older girls different barbies, and the younger ones my first care bears. I also made them T-shirts.













I made these T-shirts for them using transfer sheets that i got at Staples... you put them through the printer then iron them on!


Garter:
Cathy’s Concepts
www.cathysconcepts.com/
I ordered my garter online, last minute. It was here in a couple of days, nice and quick. I think it was less expensive to order it online, then it was to buy them in the store. It also came with a toss-away one, which is a good thing, because DH threw it into the chandelier!!



Shoes:
Payless!!!
I never ever buy shoes here and they always hurt me, but since I was on a budget, I figured I would try it out… I found a cute white pair in their dyable section and believe it or not, they lasted all night!! I didn’t take them off until the end of the night when we were getting in the limo!




Bridal Jewelry:
I found the perfect pair of earrings at Macy’s… which I can usually never find anything! I made my own bracelet based on one that I made for another bride Gina (curliegirl) Thanks for the idea girl! It was super sparkly and I loved it. My something borrowed was an anklet I had made for my FMIL with swarovski crystals on it.







Favors:
www.lancearmstrong.com
Since my father passed away from cancer, we decided to give out the livestrong bracelets as our favor. I ordered them online and they came super fast. I tied a little card around each one so that everyone would understand why we were handing them out.



Camera Tags:
The cameras were definitely not all filled... but some of our guests seemed to have a lot of fun following the scavenger hunt... We put different cards with a different list on each table...i'll let you all know if these were worth it or not once we get the film all developed.



Rehearsal Dinner
Mauricio’s Orlando’s II in St. James
YUMMY! They did an awesome job. I ate more here than out our wedding… which probably had more to do with nerves than with anything… Orlando’s did an awesome job, and I would recommend them to anyone!

our RD invite:


Favors at RD:
I am so proud of my MOH! She bought these little tins at Michaels, filled them with yummy candies, then printed out labels to go on top of them. They were the perfect little favor for our rehersal dinner.



Bathroom Basket Poem:
FMIL made the baskets and I made these poems to go next to them:


Thank You Cards
I added the borders on photoshop and then printed them out onto watercolor paper to stay with my theme... my invites and menus were on water color paper as well!



I made these return address labels for our thank yous... i also used the same ones for my shower, but it just had a bride on it and only my name...


Bridal Shower:
Gasho of Japan, Hauppauge
What a great place for a shower! Everyone thought it was so much fun!!
These were the favors. They got the cookies made at the Rolling Pin Bakery in Setauket and tied heart cookie cutters to them.


This is the towel cake my MOH made for me. Our kitten kept trying to attack it!


Photography & Videography
Almost 6 years later and I still have not received my video... many others in the same boat!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our day:

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Wonderful review....Sounds like everything was great!!! You looked beautiful!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Great review.

You looked beautiful!!!


FH have been to the Adventure Spa Palace and loved it also. We were also surprised about the beach there.

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

AMAZING REVIEW
Looks like you had a beautiful day & I love all of your DIY projects
You girls amaze me with that DIY stuff

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

OMG..... AWESOME review!!!

LOVED all the details in your wedding. WONDERFUL

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

gorgeous pictures!!

and you are so crafty! all of your DIY projects were awesome!!!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

What a great review! Glad to hear that Gary kept you calm - I'm using him too. Scriptina is my font too - love all your DIY projects!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Congrats Courtney!!!! Loved your review! Your so talented! Just know that I really appreciated your help. Even with so many DIY projects and weeks before your very own wedding, you extended yourself to help me. I really appreciated that! Thanks soooooo much! I wish you lots of happiness as a Mrs.!!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

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Posted by Swan06

Congrats Courtney!!!! Loved your review! Your so talented! Just know that I really appreciated your help. Even with so many DIY projects and weeks before your very own wedding, you extended yourself to help me. I really appreciated that! Thanks soooooo much! I wish you lots of happiness as a Mrs.!!!!!

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Awww thanks!! And it was my pleasure!! I love doing this stuff!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Wow - I have been waiting for your review and I am teary eyed after reading it!!!!! What a comprehensive review....and every time I read a HWC brides review, I get the best feeling inside. Making the decision to have my wedding there was not an easy one, being that we booked when they had had only 1 or 2 weddings there. However, it seems as if Barbara and her staff at HWC are surpassing people's expectations. I am thrilled to be one of the brides to be having my wedding there. I am so happy that your day was so beautiful! Congratulations!!!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

wow what an awesome review!! you looked gorgeous!! i'm ready to hire you for all my DIY projects, you do such a great job i wish i was as talented as you.

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

A great review! I am glad you were so happy with the HWC.....thanks for all your details. I love all the DIY projects you created. Congrats!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

such detail and GREAT pics!!!...congrats!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

great review ! you looked gorgeous...i think im stealing your idea for the petal cones!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

wonderful review, you looked gorgeous. Congrats again.

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

wonderful review!!! you are so beautiful!!! I love your wedding gown!!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Amazing review and wonderful pics -- thank you !

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Congrats!!! Your review was great!!! You looked absolutely stunning!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Great review! Congratulations!! Your pictures look amazing!!!

Re: 4/8/06 Hamlet Willow Creek Wedding Review... Warning SUPER long with TONS of Pictures! Lots of DIYs & Gary Leli Proofs!

Wonderful Review!! It looks like you had a beautiful day! Congrats