My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Andreas Rentsch, Cakes By Jay, *****************, and many others!! UPDATED WITH MORE PRO PICS AND HONEYMOON PICS ON PAGE 3 and 4!!

I would like to start off by thanking Long Island Weddings for existing! It truly made my planning process much easier!! And I’d like to thank all you ladies for all of your wonderful ideas and input.

My wedding day was amazing! I had such a wonderful time! I think we threw a fun party!! My guests seem to have had a good time! It wasn’t a warm and sunny day, but we were still able to get a few pictures outside. It was a little cool and damp, and cloudy, but it really didn’t matter to me. I admit I was a little stressed out before we started doing pictures, but once the ceremony started, I was as cool as can be!

My favorite part of LIweddings is the reviews. I always get excited when I see there is a new review that someone has posted. I found them extremely helpful and I hope my review will in return be helpful to some of you.

I will grade my vendors on a scale of 1-10. 10 will be the highest! Enjoy and FM me if you have questions! Sorry this is super long!

Rehearsal Dinner - Davenport Press Restaurant
9
The room we used was beautiful! Very cozy. The dinner was very good! Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The only thing I noticed that could have been changed was that there was only one waitress, so it was hard for her to get drinks and take orders for 40 people. Eventually they brought someone else in, but only after we asked them to. And they set up for like 3 or 4 less people than we had, so that caused a little confusion, but really wasn’t a big deal at all. It ended up being an excellent dinner and a great location!


Makeup - Laura D’Angelo from Bobbi Brown
10
I found Laura at the Bloomingdales Bobbi Brown counter in Roosevelt Field. I was worried about makeup because I am not a flashy person and wanted to still look like me. I also didn’t want to pay for a bunch of trials. So I decided early on I would try to find someone at a makeup counter. Laura was the second person I tried and I loved how she did my makeup! It felt light and didn’t look like too much- but enough to look good in photos. I had my trial with her in August and I had a tan, so I went back in January and she did a whole other trial with me. Again I was very happy! The day of she showed up on time and ready to go. She took her time and made sure everything looked perfect. She made my eyelashes look awesome! My mom did her own makeup, but Laura added to her eyes and lightened her up a bit. It was very nice of her! I was very happy and would recommend her to anyone!


Photography -Andreas Rentsch
10
Andreas is an amazing photographer! Photography was the most important thing to us. My husband does photography and knows a lot about it. I knew I didn’t want anything too posed or touched up. We both wanted pictures that would capture the true moments of the day. We also agreed that we wanted 2 photographers. Andreas was a perfect match for us! He showed up on time the day of with his wife, who was his second photographer. They were both very nice and professional. Andreas had our proofs ready to view by the time we were back from our honeymoon. It was a great thing to come back to! We were beyond happy with the pictures!

Ceremony/Reception - Fox Hollow
Before wedding 7
Day of 9
When I first saw the Winter Garden Pavilion in a bridal magazine years ago, I said that I wanted to get married somewhere like that. Well, I made it happen! We went and looked at Fox Hollow, and knew it would be the perfect place for us to get married. We both loved that room! We also liked that there were a decent amount of accommodations in the immediate area as we were having a lot of people from out of town. And we liked that we could have our ceremony onsite as well.
The reason I gave them a 7 for before the wedding was because I felt like there were times I was not treated very well. When this happened there was usually someone to make up for it, but I don’t think it should have happened in the first place. Most of the situations happened after our meeting with Lindsay for the final details. Everyone always stresses to get things in writing, so I made up a sheet of my questions and asked her to put the answers in writing for me. Well all she did was check marks and a few answers here and there. But otherwise I thought she was very helpful at our meeting. She told me to email her or call her with questions from that point on. Well, to make a long story short, she ended up contradicting herself numerous times. She told me they would set up my centerpieces, and then she wrote me an inappropriate email saying they are not in the flower business and can’t help me with that. And then she told me I could have a specialty drink menu. Well when I brought it up again, she said I had to pay $500 to have the bar tender make mixed drinks! I finally spoke to a Manager, Eric, about these things, and he was very helpful and made everything right. Another confusion we had was right before the wedding- like days before. When we booked, we were told that the recommended officiants were included in the price of the chapel. Well, a few days before the wedding, they tell me we owe another $350 for the officiant. It was just a lack of communication on their part and caused unneeded stress. We didn’t mind paying our Reverend, as we would have had to pay someone else anyway. We were just mad that they told us one thing, and marked it as included on our contract, and then turned around and said that was a mistake and we had to pay. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, the day of the wedding was pretty great! But it started out a little rough with the Fox Hollow. We were getting ready and were starting pictures shortly and one of the managers came to our room and spoke to my photographer. He told Andreas that we were not allowed to use the photo studio before the wedding. I had it in writing that we had access to it before my ceremony. He told my photographer that we could only use it during my cocktail hour. Which was totally pointless because we were not missing our cocktail hour. So we had to take over the Inn’s lobby because it was too cold to make everyone else go outside for pictures. So that really stressed me out and I wanted to cry at first, but my makeup lady told me not to cus it would ruin my eye makeup! LOL! Anyway, the ceremony room was absolutely stunning! I loved it! The flowers they provide for the room looked great! And they set it up beautifully! The cocktail hour food was good- but I barely ate anything during it! But everyone said it was great! My only complaint during cocktail hour was that I didn’t see one passed Hors’ Dourve (sp?). But some of my bridesmaids said they saw a couple going around. I just expected them to be more constant, and to at least offer me one. I had passed champagne and belinis upon arrival and everyone said they were great! I was supposed to have passed wine and iced tea and lemonade during cocktail hour, but never saw them. I’m not sure if they did them in the beginning or not- I never asked anyone! The little centerpieces they provided during cocktail hour looked very nice. As for our recpetion, Our Matre'D, George, really went out of his way to make sure the tables were set up right. I had DIY centerpieces and he did a great job setting them up! And they really looked amazing in that room. I think that room was made for candles, so it was important to me to have a lot of candles on the tables. The food during the reception was awesome- especially the veal chop! I highly recommend that and I barely eat veal! My Matre’D was George, and he really put in a lot of work and did an excellent job! And my attendant was Cindy, and she was very nice and also did a great job! They both really made sure everything was going smooth and looked good. Guests of mine have commented about the service being top notch. Saying they always had a drink and could always find a waiter right there when they needed one. this is great to know!

Overall I am happy with Fox Hollow and wouldn’t have changed having my reception there. I just think there were a few employees who didn’t know much about the company’s policies and were giving out wrong information. Whenever I spoke to a manager or someone higher up, they were always able to take care of the situation in a professional manner. If the hall can work out their communication problems, then they would be one of the most amazing reception halls! I just wish my planning with them had been less stressful.

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Reverend - Rev. Nick Montanino
10
Rev. Nick does a beautiful ceremony! He makes it personal and did exactly what we wanted. And he doesn’t make the ceremony cheesy at all. We had met with him once before we booked him, and knew he would be a great person to perform our ceremony. He has a great personality and really took care to give us what we wanted. I highly recommend him!


DJ - Starlight Express
10
Our MC was Vinny, and I apologize, but I don’t know who our DJ was! I’ll ask my husband and change this when he tells me. Anyway, these guys made our party! They did an amazing job! People are still commenting about how good they were! Vinny wasn’t cheesy at all and did exactly what we wanted. The music was a great mix and again was exactly what we wanted! We couldn’t have been happier! We asked them to do an 80’s happy hour bar mix, and they did a wonderful job with it! Everyone, adults and kids, was singing along and dancing and loved it!! Again, I highly recommend them!


Flowers -B urtons & Son
8.5
B urtons is the only florist I met with. I didn’t want to go too crazy financially with flowers. But I do love flowers, and as the planning went on, they became more important to me. I knew I didn’t want roses. Not because I don’t like them, because I do, but because I knew I wanted white Tulips, French Anemones, and Lily of the Valley. I felt like they kept trying to push roses on me and it was sort of annoying. But they didn’t say no to what I wanted, so it was fine. At our final meeting, I brought in photos of what I wanted. I told them that I wanted ONLY white French anemones for the bridesmaids- no other flowers. But the day of they gave me anemones, but with (what my mom calls) cheap fillers. The bo-k’s looked beautiful, but it was not what I asked for. My bo-k I asked for mostly lily of the valley with a little bit of ranocalous and stephanotis. I brought in a photo of what I wanted. And then I followed up with an email stressing that I wanted it to be mostly lily of the valley. Well the day of they got it pretty close, but it was A LOT less lily of the valley than I expected. So I was a little upset by that. But it was still really pretty, so I let it go. I know I could have told them what was wrong and had them fix it, but we were doing pictures less than an hour from that time, so I would have stressed out more if they weren’t back in time.

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Dress - My Grandmothers
Veil - Custom Made
10
I wore my grandmothers dress from the 1940’s. I had a few updates made on it. But it fit me perfect, so I didn’t have to have anything altered on it. We were going to have her create a bustle because we didn’t think it had one, and she discovered it had a French bustle, which was very neat. She also thinks the dress was hand made- we didn’t know this either! The woman who worked on my dress is from a tailor shop in Maine in the town where I grew up. I’d recommend her, except she is so far away! Hehe! But I was 100% happy with my dress! This woman also made my veil and I loved it! She dos great work! And her prices were very fair! A lot less than what I would have spent here for the same work!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Accommodations - Inn at Fox Hollow
9.5
Beautiful accommodations! The rooms were clean and comfortable. The evening dinner was very good- we tried a little before the rehearsal dinner because we were starving! LOL! And the morning breakfast was great! And everyone got their oot bags! So that was good! I think I prefer this hotel to The Garden City Hotel. (Although, Garden City Hotel still has the best service!) The only thing was that they got very annoyed with us when we were taking pictures in the lobby. But we literally had nowhere else to go since we got kicked out of the photo studio. But it ended up being fine- I just don’t think the hall had explained to them that they told us we couldn’t use their studio, otherwise they would have been prepared for us to be in the lobby.

Accommodations – Executive Inn
9.5
This place was very convenient to Fox Hollow. The rooms are not fancy, but they are clean! And the shuttle service is great!!! My only thing is that they didn’t show up during the scheduled time after the wedding. So the receptionist at Fox Hollow called them and they came. But I had confirmed the times beforehand, so I’m not sure what happened. Everyone said they got their oot bag and had a good stay!


Wedding Cake - Cakes By Jay
9
I love Jay! And I love his cakes!! And his butter cream is to die for!! We got a small discount for being a fox hollow bride, but it was still very expensive. But the cake was important to me since its in so many pictures. He made us a beautiful cake with key lime flavored butter cream! And the top was carrot cake. It was close to what we wanted. We gave him a picture and he got it pretty close! He even decorated it with the flowers I had my florist provide. And the cake tasted amazing!!! It was so moist!! I wish I could eat some now! LOL! The reason I gave him a 9 and not a 10 was for one thing- which I didn’t even notice till I got my pictures back 2 weeks later. And then I realized something was missing and it looked a bit plain... we were supposed to have swiss dots throughout the whole cake and they didn’t do any. I had given him a picture of the cake I wanted and it was close except for the missing swiss dots. But it tasted and looked good so I didn't even notice till 13 days later. LOL. I’d recommend him!!


Videography - NY Video Group
9.5
We won our video package at a wedding event at The Fox Hollow one year before our wedding! We wanted a video so badly, but it wasn’t in our budget. We were beyond thrilled when we won- so was my dad! LOL! We had Michael from NY Video Group the day of the wedding! He was very nice and seemed to be getting all the great moments on camera! We are very excited to see the video!!! And it was nice knowing we had the video- especially since my 2 grandfathers ended up not being able to attend the wedding for health reasons. So now I know they can at least watch the video!
We got back the raw footage of the video! So much fun to watch!!! We havn't gotten teh edited version yet- but to my husband and I the raw footage is more important anyway. They seemed to get all the important moments and did a very good job. My only lil thing is somtimes they take awhile to return phone calls, but it all worked out just fine! We are so happy to have a video of our wedding! And its so much fun to watch!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Ceremony Music – Stan Weist
9.5
We hired a Harpist and Cellist. I could barely remember the music, but I remember it sounded beautiful. My husband said it was very nice, but they messed up a little, but he thinks one of them dropped their music and was playing by ear and that’s why. Everyone said it sounded beautiful!

Ceremony Music – Friend and sister
10
My sister sang the Beatles song “I Will” and our friend played the guitar for her. It was really beautiful! We did this instead of having two readings. I think everyone enjoyed it! They both did an excellent job!

Save the Dates - Wedding Paper Divas
10
This was very easy. They shipped on time and arrived in perfect condition. No complaints here!

Invitations - Wedding Invitation Consultants
8
I placed my order and tripled checked the spelling and had other people check it to. Well when they arrived my husbands name was spelled wrong on the return address. It was correct everywhere else. I went back and checked the proof and it was correct on the proof. They tried to charge me to replace them! I was so angry because it was obviously their fault. I told them I was sending back the entire order if they did not replace them and finally they said they would replace them. I was happy with the quality of paper and printing. I thoguht they looked very nice!

Calligraphy - 3 Good Friends and Husbands Aunt
10
My 3 friends, Jess, Irene, and Lindsay came over and wrote out most of our invitations. And my husbands aunt did the rest. They all have beautiful writing. We even got comments on how nice they looked! I wish I had a pic of them, but I don't. But when snowcutie82 (Irene) writes her review after her November wedding, you will at least see a pic of the ones our friend Jess did.

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Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Reception Entertainment – My Husband
10
This was a total surprise! My husband and the MC plotted to surprise me with my husband singing to me. It was adorable! He did such a great job- I always love it when he sings!

Shoes - Ann Taylor Celebrations
10
I knew I didn’t want white shoes, and wanted something I’d wear again. Gold seemed like a good option. I found these online and got them on sale for a great price! They looked great! And I was able to leave them on all night!


MOB Dress – Talbots
10
My mom had gotten a dress at Talbots, but it was knee length and my sister told her it wasn’t dressy enough for a LI wedding. It would have been fine for Maine and other places, but it was too casual for a wedding here from what we have seen. So she wore it to the rehearsal dinner. LOL. Anyway she found another one and it was perfect! It looked awesome on her!! She was nervous it would be too dressy and not look good, but everyone thought she looked awesome! I hope I look like her when I’m 59 years old!!

Bridesmaid Dresses – Jcrew
10
I love the JCrew dresses! I like that you can get the same color dress in different necklines. I didn’t want my girls all in the same dress, I wanted them to choose their own dress and feel comfortable and not hate it. Hehe. SO Jcrew was a good option for me.

Hair Piece – Something Borrowed
After cocktail hour I took off my veil and put in the hair flower my sister wore at her wedding. I thought it looked perfect with my dress!


Tuxedos - Forestos
10
The guys all looked so handsome in their tuxes! Forestos made the process very easy and had a nice selection. We liked that they have an in house tailor incase anyone gained or lost weight. It was very stress free! We recommend them!


Hair – My Favorite Haircutters, Mineola
10
A couple of woman from here did hair for our moms, and my husbands aunt and grandmother. They also did hair for 3 bridesmaids and the flower girl. Everyone’s hair came out great!!! And still looked great at 1am! Rosa did my hair. She did exactly what I asked! I showed her a picture and she just does it. They have some excellent people there who do great work!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

DIY – Programs, favors, seating cards, OOT bags, unity candle, ring pillow, card bag
10
Me, my husband, my mom, and my dad did the programs and seating cards. My husband wrote out our programs, which were normal on one side, but on the other we wrote a thank you and made it into a “wedlib.” Everyone thought it was funny! We had golf pencils handed out with them at the wedding. For seating cards I typed everyone’s into a template and then my dad printed them. All of us attached them to the corks. It was a hectic last minute process that worked out fine.
For favors, my husband’s aunt and mother made Brazilian candies called brigadeiros and my husband’s mom ordered little boxes and labels. They were amazing and were a huge hit! My husband and I constructed our out of town bags. We just got simple brown bag gift bags and filled them with a welcome letter, directions, granola bars, water, gum, chips, and cookies.
My mom made our unity candle. All the ones I found in stores were tacky and/or way too much money! So she made me one and it was perfect!
My grandma made my ring pillow, which turned out great! She used one of her old handkerchiefs and it looked beautiful!
My husbands grandma made our card bag because all the ones we found were insanely expensive for what they were. So she made me one and it was beautiful!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Travel Agent - Fred at Le Petite Travel
10
We went to Fred thinking we would not be able to afford our dream honeymoon. He got it for us within our budget! And he negotiated all of our nights being in a bungalow for the same price as only a few nights being in the bungalow. He is very knowledgeable on many locations and is a very nice person! Highly recommended!


Honeymoon Tour Agent - VIP Brazil
10
This is the tour operator our agent used to book our trip. They also made themselves accessible to us. They were on top of things when we missed our connecting flight and made sure the car would still be there to pick us up. They were very nice and helpful!!!


Honeymoon - Nannai Muro Alto Beach Resort, Porto de Galinhas, Brazil
10
This was such an amazing trip! It was my first international flight. So this was a very big deal for me! The hotel had a driver greet us at the airport and drive us to the resort. The resort was like heaven! Pictures do not do it justice! There are palm trees everywhere and a sprawling pool throughout! And our room was so nice! The service was amazing! And the food was beyond great! It was really a top of the line place! Everything was perfect!

Our first day we sat on the beach and had drinks and snacks and then we spent time at the pool. We also had massages, which were heaven! They were in huts overlooking the ocean and there was a constant warm breeze and it was amazing!

Okay now I remember what we did. But not what days we did it on. I had no sense of time while we were there, and the clocks were military time, and I’m just not good with that! Hehe. I think we spent a few days just at the resort and other days we went on little half-day trips and 2 full day trips. But I think this is the order…

We went into the nearby town and walked on the reefs and swam with the fish in the natural pools. The fish made me nervous because there were soooo many, and I had never done anything like that before. But it was still cool! Then we sat on the beach there and had a snack and went in the ocean. Then we went into a couple of the shops in town. It is a total resort town. All tourist shops and restaurants. It was a very cool place!

Another trip we did was we got a beach buggy driver to drive us to where the ocean and river meet. And we took a jangada and they bring you to see seahorses. It was neat to see them in their natural habitat. He also brought us to see some nearby beaches. We stopped and had some snacks and some drinks. We also stopped back in town and had lunch and did a little bit of shopping.

One of our longer trips was we had a driver pick us up and we took about a 45 minute drive and got on a little motor boat and went to a beach called Cairneiros. It was stunning!! Caribbean pale blue water! And there was another natural pool and we swam with fish again. And everywhere we went had warm water, but the water here was really warm! It was a beautiful place! We sat at the beach bar and had drinks and food and just enjoyed our surroundings!

Our last day we got a driver to take us to the cities- Reciefe and Olinda. My husband wanted to buy a guitar while we were there because they are significantly less money there (well the one he wanted). So the driver took us to the music shops and he got his guitar. We also went to a mall. It was built in an old jail where they held prisoners and slaves. The cells were all the little shops where local artisans sold their goods. I got a great leather bag and a dress. Then the driver took us to lunch in Olinda at a good restaurant that overlooked the water. Then we went into Olinda and went to a store that sells all local crafts. We bought some Havaianas cus they are super cheap in Brazil. Hehe. Olinda is famous for its numerous churches. There are so many and they are all beautiful!!! We visited two of them. They were absolutely stunning!

Anyway, the other days and afternoons were spent laying in a beach bed or lounging on a chaise and going in the pool and ocean. We kayaked at the hotel and played pool and just relaxed and had an amazing time. And of course we drank caipirinhas!! And we drank Brazilian beer, which I think is pretty good!!

So after 8 nights at the resort we had to leave. We already miss it so much and can’t wait to go back!! Sorry there aren’t too many pics- I’ll post more in a few days!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, *******, and many others!!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

GORGEOUS - - I could not wait for your review.
The room at the fox hollow is beautiful - I love your hair and dress and Bk. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

everything looks beautiful!!! CONGRATS!!!

Thanks for posting your review!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

Everything lokked beautiful! You all look like the days was as perfect as perfect could get. God Blessings

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

Congratulations! You had a beautiful wedding! I love that you wore your grandma's gown. I also love your flower choices and creative centerpieces!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

Your wedding looked like it was amazing! Congrats and great review!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

all the stress and hard work paid off...the wedding was great and obv u know i had a good time with no complaints...other than the day came and went wayyyyy tooo fast

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

Your wedding was beautiful, you made such a pretty, classic bride!

Re: My March 28,2008 wedding with Fox Hollow, Starlight Express, Cakes By Jay, Burtons, and many others!!

congrats.....great review