The Brides' Review - Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's (some pictures from Duet included)

Aga Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:20 PM+

Aga MEMBER SINCE: 6/04 TOTAL POSTS : 5455 WEDDING DATE: Sep 03, 2005

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:20 PM

Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's (some pictures from Duet included)

Michelle from Defining Moments – after reading a review from one of the brides on this site regarding how unhappy she was with Leonard’s I decided to book Day of Coordinator to help me. Up to that point I kept thinking that I could handle everything myself. But after a while the stress was getting to me and planning a wedding stopped being fun. Hiring Michelle was the best decision I made. We met couple of times to go over all the details, I told her what our main concerns were and she said she would meet with our banquet manager to make sure everything went smoothly. The day before the wedding I was freaking out because I wasn’t sure where we would go to take pictures, Michelle told me she would find a spot for us. She even drove around to couple of parks to find a nice location. We ended up taking pictures in a small park in Garden City, it had a gazebo and everything. The pictures turned out very nice, it just goes on to show you, you don’t need a huge park to have beautiful photographs. She came to the rehearsal to meet my parents and the bridal party and to help us organize everything in the church. I am so glad she was there because our priest was a bit hyper and hard to follow sometimes. On the day of the wedding she came over with a basket full of bagels and croissants (very nice of her.) When we were getting ready she went to the church to make sure it was not as hot as on previous day when we were there for rehearsal. I could go on and on about her. Thanks to her I could relax and enjoy the day to the fullest. She felt like a part of our family and we truly appreciate everything she did for us.

Leonard’s – after my initial fears and with Michelle’s help everything turned out just perfectly. The food was delicious (or I should say that is what I was told since we didn’t have much time to enjoy it.) The cake was exactly what I wanted, we did have to pay extra for it but it was so worth it. John from Flower Michelle decorated it with real flowers, it looked stunning. Out sweetheart table looked beautiful and the tables looked very elegant. I think everyone was impressed with the staff; they were quick, polite and very helpful. One of the waiters even showed my mom how to fold the napkins. Our bridal attendant (Agnes) was wonderful, she was such a sweetheart. She would bring me different drinks to try throughout the night although honestly I don’t think I drank one whole drink I was so busy. Our maitre d’ was great as well, but I am sorry to say that I cannot remember his name. When we started planning the wedding my dad couldn’t believe how much money the reception would cost. But then when we were dancing together he told me: “It was worth every penny.” I just saw how happy he was and it made our day so much more special.

Flower Michele – I am having a hard time coming up with words to describe John’s work since so many brides used him and praised him. I left a lot of details to John because I trusted him and I didn’t want to stress over every little detail. Couple of days before I even added a request for two baskets of flowers that we wanted to give to our parents at the reception. He said no problem, just pay for the flowers when they deliver it. When I saw my flowers I was speechless, they were so beautiful. I think they exceeded my expectations. I went to see our reception room during the cocktail hour and I was equally amazed. The centerpieces were exactly what I wanted, they just added to the elegance of the room itself, they went perfectly with the setting. He did not forget the flower baskets they were placed on both sides of our cake. They were beautiful. We were so happy that we decided to do it because the flowers were a nice touch and made our parents feel very special and loved.

Duet – we knew we made the right decision after we saw their work and just loved it. We had a great connection with our photographers and I was surprised we were so comfortable with them. They were very creative and seemed to be everywhere. We were just amazed how hard they worked all night. When we danced we had to watch out not to step on them. I am so glad they reminded me to smile, smile, and smile because when I look at the pictures now, they really portray exactly how I felt that day - Overjoyed. Our proofs are amazing. As a matter of fact we are having a difficult time picking pictures for our album, there are so many great pictures to choose from. Our photographers were Scott and Sam.
I cannot write anything about the video yet but I am not worried. The videographer's name was Yoon. Duet is very professional and they know what they are doing, so I am sure the video will be great.

DJanusz – he is an owner of a small music store in Brooklyn and Greg has been buying his CDs there for years. He is exactly what we wanted since we are totally into techno/European dance music. He is Polish and knows all the current hits in Poland and we wanted to make sure to have some Polish songs as well (most of our guests are Polish.) We did not give him a must play, do not play lists. We pretty left music selection to him. He picked the music for entrance, cake cutting etc and he did a wonderful job. We had so much fun with our friends and family on the dance floor. At one point when I was resting at our table I felt the floor shaking – people were really letting it loose lol

Jenn aka Hair Genie – Jenn is such a great and sweet person to have around on your wedding day. I had two trials with her and I just knew that come the big day she would do an awesome job. As a matter of fact my hair looked even much better on my wedding day than at the trial. She likes the challenge too; she is very creative and loves when you show her a hairstyle that she hasn’t done before.

Oksana – is a genius with make-up. My make-up looked great and all I had to do is reapply my lipstick and use powder from time to time. Both Jenn and Oksana said that they wouldn’t leave until they saw me all dressed up in my gown. They liked the fact that my dress was a little bit different. The two are just the nicest people and made my day all the more fun. They were so excited for me and at the same time they had a calming effect on me.

Royal Luxury Limousines – this company was actually recommended by a friend. I have nothing but good things to say about them. They were on time, the limos were clean, stocked, everything as we expected. As it turned out the driver knew my husband’s brother so it was a definite plus for us. We paid for another limo to pick us up from Leonard’s at the end of the night. We only paid for regular 10 pass. Cadillac but instead they gave us 12 pass. Chrysler. This was kind of useful since we ended up taking few extra couples home.

Other notes: my dress was ordered in a small bridal store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The dress was imported from Spain, it is made by Pronovias. My hairpiece and shoes were purchased there as well. My earnings were purchased online from Nordstrom.com.
Girl’s dresses were purchased at David’s Bridal. Yes, the service could be much better and yes the sales people are slow and rude, but the dresses were not that expensive and we loved the color. Surprisingly, the dresses came on time after about a month.
Guy’s tuxedos were rented from Men’s Warehouse. We used the Forest Hills location. Although the service is slow, we were overall happy with the place. Everything came in as ordered, no problems at all.
Wedding favors were ordered from www.theweddingdept.com. We picked the heart shaped aroma therapy ornament. It took about 2 months for the order to come in. The favors were a hit.

Jola Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:29 PM+

Jola MEMBER SINCE: 8/03 TOTAL POSTS : 3365 WEDDING DATE: May 28, 2004

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:29 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

Great Review Agnieszka... I would love to see an up close picture of your dress.. looks pretty..

How did your Hawaii HM trip go?

Swan06 Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:34 PM+

Swan06 MEMBER SINCE: 6/05 TOTAL POSTS : 1612 WEDDING DATE: Jul 03, 2006

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:34 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

Congrats! I'm happy to read that your wedding was great! I would love to see John's work when you get a chance. Once again congrats!

Aga Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:38 PM+

Aga MEMBER SINCE: 6/04 TOTAL POSTS : 5455 WEDDING DATE: Sep 03, 2005

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:38 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

Aga Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:44 PM+

Aga MEMBER SINCE: 6/04 TOTAL POSTS : 5455 WEDDING DATE: Sep 03, 2005

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:44 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

Posted by Jola

Great Review Agnieszka... I would love to see an up close picture of your dress.. looks pretty..

How did your Hawaii HM trip go?

Hawaii was awesome, our favorite trip so far... good thing you reminded me, I totally forgot to write about it

Aga Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:46 PM+

Aga MEMBER SINCE: 6/04 TOTAL POSTS : 5455 WEDDING DATE: Sep 03, 2005

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:46 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

Posted by Swan06

Congrats! I'm happy to read that your wedding was great! I would love to see John's work when you get a chance. Once again congrats!

here are some non-professional pictures of the flowers

Mrs_B Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:51 PM+

Mrs_B MEMBER SINCE: 11/04 TOTAL POSTS : 7153 WEDDING DATE: Sep 17, 2005

Posted: Oct 29, 2005 11:51 PM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

GREAT REVIEW!! Everything looked GORGEOUS! ! Your dress was soooooo pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aga Posted: Oct 30, 2005 12:00 AM+

Aga MEMBER SINCE: 6/04 TOTAL POSTS : 5455 WEDDING DATE: Sep 03, 2005

Posted: Oct 30, 2005 12:00 AM

Re: Our Sept. 3, 2005 wedding review at Leonard's

We spend a week on Big Island; it is really beautiful, it has so many things to offer... Big Island has it all: valleys, black sand beaches, green sand beach, waterfalls, volcanoes, parks... we fell in love with the island and its people...
we stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, we loved it... we have travelled to Caribbean a few times but the beach at the Hapuna was the most beautiful beach we have ever seen... the water (especially in the mornings) is crystal clear and the ocean is so calm most of the time... the hotel was full when we were there and yet we never felt crowded... we didnt have to rush in the morning to find a spot at the pool or on the beach... and the weather was just amazing, constant sunshine...
I am sure you would be disappointed if I didnt post at least a few pictures