My November 12th Wedding at the Woodlands ('Post-Wedding' Gray Studios REVIEW ADDED)

I would like to apologize in advance if anyone finds my review longwinded,
boring or too detailed. I admit that many of the 'complaints' that I have might
seem like I am being overly critical. I'm really not, I am just trying to give
everyone a real review with all of the details (even the minor ones)

Dress: Bridal Couture of Manhasset/Daniel Thompson

Firstly, I loved, loved, loved my dress!! I probably received more compliments
on my dress than any other part of the wedding.

Daniel Thompson was absolutely fabulous to work with, he did exactly what I
wanted combining lace from one dress with the style of another dress and adding
beads and crystals exactly where I wanted them. The only stress that I had with
Daniel was one day when he called me and left a message asking which lace I had
picked for my dress (he had two different kinds and he didn't remember which one
I had decided on). This drama was settled in about a half hour after he faxed
me samples of both laces and I was easily able to figure it out. My dress
turned out just as I had imagined it. And when I called Daniel two weeks before
the wedding asking if he would be able to make a shawl in time (I had put it off
until then because I was insistent that it would not be cold enough for a shawl
on the day of the wedding), he was extremely accommodating, gave me different
choices and made the shawl just as I wanted it. I highly recommend Daniel
Thompson.

I ordered my dress during a trunk show at Bridal Couture before I had read any
reviews about Bridal Couture. (I didn't discover LIW until after I ordered my
dress). As I said earlier, I combined details from a few different gowns and
they gave me a price that was definitely a lot more than I wanted to spend. I
went to a few different stores, tried on a lot more dresses and knew that I
wanted the Daniel Thompson gown. I went back to Bridal Couture, spoke with them
and got them to lower their price by a few hundred dollars and 'throw in' the
crystals that would be sewn into the lace. My advice to others getting their
gowns at Bridal Couture is that when they give you a price make sure you ask if
it is the best they can do.

I was very worried after I had read some bad reviews and my mom called the store
right away to tell them that we had heard some bad things and wanted to make
sure that there were no problems. They promised us that there would be none.
My dress came in right on time. I went to my first fitting and the dress looked
great...it only needed a few alterations. The one thing that I have to admit
though, is that I was a little taken back by the cost of the alterations (you
would think that when you are measure to have a gown custom made and paying over
$3,000 for it that it would not be an additional $400 for alterations). Like I
said above, make sure you ask if it is the best they can do...they lowered the
cost of alterations by a little after we asked them to.

My seamstress was Eugenia and she said that she would baste everything so that
when I came in for my second fitting we could make sure that it was perfect and
then she would cut and sew and make all the alterations for my final fitting.
Everything seemed fine...Then I went for my second fitting and was not as
impressed. Eugenia had basted everything, but my hem seemed a little uneven and
when my mom and my MOH tried to point out where it didn't look right, she
wouldn't listen to them and couldn't seem to get it right (Bridal Couture later
made excuses saying that usually she is really on the ball but that maybe she
was having problems concentrating and wasn't feeling well (which I thought was
an odd excuse)). Finally, we thought that she had gotten the hem right and we
scheduled my third fitting. Because fittings can only be during the week, I had
to take a day off of work for the fitting. Bridal Couture called the week before
the fitting saying that they needed to
reschedule the fitting for a different date. I told them that this would be
impossible because I couldn't take another day off of work, eventually they
worked with me to reschedule for a different time on the same day. When I got
to Bridal Couture they told me that Eugenia had been in a car accident and had
not been able to do any of the alterations. (I don't mean to sound like a
horrible person and I truly feel bad for Eugenia and I hope that she is doing
better) I had to start over (from scratch) with a new seamstress (Rosa). Rosa
was wonderful and somehow managed to complete all of the alterations with time
to spare and the dress fit perfectly. My gown turned out fabulous and was
exactly how I wanted it.

My only complaint was that no one at Bridal Couture ever apologized to me for
the stress that I had when my dress wasn't finished on the day that it was
supposed to be or for the inconvenience of having to come in for an additional
fitting. No one apologized when I asked them why they didn't tell me that the
alterations had not been done when they called to reschedule my fitting. It
seemed to me like once they had my money, they were no longer concerned about
customer service. Would I buy my dress there again? Honestly, probably because
my gown was fabulous. But I would have to agree with some past brides about the
customer service once you order your gown.

Tuxedos: DiRe Formal Wear

I do not recommend them. My review is on page 2.

Hair & Makeup: Jillian from Gorgeous Faces/Sarah Rock

Jillian did an amazing job (I will not even post my 'before' picture because it
is THAT bad). My make-up was absolutely fabulous and was exactly the colors
that I wanted. My makeup (except my lipstick) stayed on all night long.
Looking back at the pictures from later on in the evening, I wish that someone
would have told me to put some lipstick on (just something you girls should
think about on your wedding day...if you plan on dancing bring powder for your
face (I am definitely red and sweaty in some pics) and lipstick (I kissed so
many people it just kept wearing off). My bridesmaids and my mom looked
absolutely gorgeous all night long. Not only is she super sweet and nice,
Jillian is a true artist with makeup.

I could not get over what a fabulous job Sarah did on my hair (it looked
fabulous if I say so myself) as well as all of my bridesmaids (even the really,
really picky one with short hair...actually especially the really, really picky
one with short hair) Sarah made everyone look like a million dollars...you
could definitely see the difference between the bridesmaids who had gotten their
hair done with Sarah and the ones who had opted to go to their own salons. One
of my bridesmaids who had her hair done at her own salon told me that she wished
that she would have listened to me and let Sarah do her hair. Sarah was
wonderful! And very patient. My hair stayed through the whole night long and I
jumped up and down and danced and sweated and my hair still looked fabulous at
the end of the night.

Limos: Royalty

I definitely recommend Royalty. We had a 1939 Cadillac for my parents and me
and two 10 person Cadillac's for our bridal party. All of the limos showed up
early. The limos were clean and the drivers were friendly. The price was fair
(they did charge us overtime on the groomsman's limo because we went over the 3
hours by like 20 minutes, so don't expect them to give you a break on overtime)
One complaint that I have read on LIW before was that Royalty drivers have
gotten lost and I will admit that the bridesmaids limo got lost on the way from
the gazebo we took photos at to the Woodlands and I think that they should have
checked into directions to get to the reception hall beforehand, but it really
wasn't a big deal at all. I would say that the wrong turn probably caused them
to be between 5 and 10 minutes late, so I might have been more upset about it if
we didn't have a huge amount of time in between the church and the reception.

Band: Franklin Wayne - Heart & Soul

The night of the wedding, the music was fantastic. Heart & Soul kept the dance
floor packed all night long. The music they played was great (I can't even
remember half of the songs, I just remember looking out onto the dance floor and
always seeing people dancing). I think that Heart & Soul played all of the
songs that we had on the 'Must Play' list. We did have to remind them about one
song that my husband had wanted to dance with his niece to and they didn't play
it until really late in the night...but in their defense, as soon as we asked
them to play it they were very accommodating. My point is that if you have
songs that you REALLY want them to play, make sure that you remind them early in
the evening. They were the perfect volume (I'm sure you've all been to weddings
where people complain that the band was too loud...I actually had people call me
to tell me that the volume was perfect). Neither my husband or I are big
dancers and the fact that we spent a lot of
time on the dance floor really says a lot for the band. So many people have
called us to ask what the name of the band was and tell us how great they were.
Before the wedding, my husband said that the band was one thing that he was
worried about because he had been to one of his friends weddings two years
before and the band was absolutely phenomenal and he didn't think that Heart &
Soul would be as good. The night of the wedding, that couple came up to us and
told us that they couldn't believe how great the band was...my husband was
elated.

Going into the wedding I was not happy with our decision to use Heart & Soul,
not because of the band, I really thought that they sounded great, I just wasn't
happy with the management. We had heard Heart & Soul at a showcase and my
parents had been to a wedding and had great things to say about them. There
were three reasons that I was turned off by the management and they may seem
been petty but here they are: First, when we signed the contract, we received a
three page lists of songs that the band knew. We were told that they would send
us a complete list as the wedding date got closer. About 6 weeks before the
wedding we received the same exact list in the mail. When I called Frank Wayne
to ask if they had a bigger list, they said that the band was too busy to
compile a list of all the songs that they knew. I should make a list of songs
that I wanted them to play and they would play them if they knew them. (I
didn't think that it should be my responsibility to
think of songs, I thought that they should have a bigger list...JMO). Second,
they spelled my last name wrong on every single piece of correspondence that
they sent me. It has always been a sore subject for me because my maiden name
had to 'n's at the end and people frequently left one off. When I called Frank
Wayne to specifically ask them to add the 'n' to my last name, the woman that I
spoke to said 'I don't understand what the big deal is'. For me, the 'big deal'
was that I was paying them over $6,000. I thought that this alone warranted
them spelling my name correctly. (They never fixed it on their records and every
letter I received from them had my name misspelled.) My third complaint was
that a few days before the wedding a woman from Frank Wayne called me and left a
message saying that she wanted to go over the final details and 'make sure that
we are all on the same page'. I assumed that she wanted to go over the song
list, 'our' song, father/daughter dance,
etc. When I called her back with the list of songs in front of me and all ready
to go over the woman said 'Your cocktail hour at the Woodlands starts at 7 pm.
Your balance is $4,600. It has to be paid in cash'. I was a little shocked
that this was the ONLY thing that she wanted to talk about and said 'So, that's
all you want to go over, you don't want to talk about any of the songs or
anything?' She said 'No, that's all'. This conversation just left a bad taste
in my mouth.

Photographer: Gray Studios/Prosper

I can't give a full review on Gray because I don't have my proofs yet, but so
far, I am extremely happy with my decision. In my opinion, the best thing that
Prosper said to me when we went in to the studio for our engagement pics was
'Your dress is going to get dirty. As long as you are OK with that, we will
have a great day.' His whole attitude just put me at ease. He was right. I
was walking around on grass and outside in a long white dress. It got dirty.
It got leaves on it. And I kept thinking back to what he said. And I was OK
with it.

Prosper showed up a few minutes early and started taking pictures of me, of me
and my parents, me and my bridesmaids, etc. He was very professional and super
nice. Everyone in my bridal party really liked him. The one thing that I was
worried about when I picked a photographer was that I didn't want him to 'get in
the way' at the wedding. I didn't even know he was there at the church. This
was huge for me. In between the church and the reception, we stopped at a
gazebo to take pictures and we knew that there wasn't much daylight time left.
Prosper took a ton of pictures and made the best of the daylight that we did
have. When we got to the Woodlands, I really think that Prosper used the venue
to take great pics...from the fireplaces, to the piano to the staircase...I
can't wait to see the proofs and I will update my review when we get them.

I was extremely happy with Gray Studios and would definitely recommend them. Our pictures came out absolutely beautiful, the quality of the proofs was amazing, the shots that Prosper got were exactly what I wanted. We had our proofs within 3 weeks of the wedding and there were about 700 proofs in the album. My pictures are very traditional (not many photojournalistic shots, but honestly, I wanted traditional pics) the portraits are beautiful and I can't think of any shots that were missed. My pics are on-line, FM me if you want the password.

We went to go finalize our album and I was terrified that we were going to end up spending a ton more money on 'add ons'. Basically, the only thing that we spent more money on was adding pics to our mom's albums becuase of course they couldn't stay within their alloted number of pics Everything else that we wanted to do was included in our contract price. I have read some bad reviews about Gray and want people to know that we had a great experience!!

Reception: The Woodlands

I cannot say enough good things about the Woodlands. For those of you who have
never heard of it or seen it, the one thing that my guests kept saying to me was
that they felt like it was right out of the Great Gatsby. Which was exactly the
feeling that I was going for, so I was extremely happy. I could honestly tell
that people were impressed with the hall just from the look on their faces
during the cocktail hour. People have commented on the drive up to the hall and
how spectacular it was, the dark wood in the hall, the fireplaces and the piano
(for all of you Woodlands brides, definitely take advantage of the mantle and
the piano...put pictures of your families up...it was a great personal touch).
I guess the thing that I have heard the most is that people hadn't heard of the
Woodlands so they didn't know what to expect...everyone was impressed.

From the moment that we arrived there, we were treated like royalty. My husband
and I, along with our bridal party, arrived at 5 pm to take photos. The bridal
suite was stocked with food and drinks. Our maitre'd was Max and he was
amazing. From carrying my gloves to making sure that my husband and I saw
everything before anyone else (the cocktail hour room, the reception room, the
cake, the Viennese hour) he was on top of everything. Maureen was there to
greet us and kept checking to make sure that we were OK. We were very well
taken care of all night long.

On a whole, the food was out of this world. The cocktail hour was better than
we could have every imagined. I just wish that I would have taken the time to
eat more. Our cocktail hour 'upgrades' were a wok station and a raw bar and we
asked them to add sushi as one of the passed hors d' oeuvres. I honestly don't
even remember what pasta we had, but our carving station was lamb and ham...the
lamb chops were a huge hit. I have heard stories of people standing next to the
carver just eating lamb chop after lamb chop. We also requested chafing dishes
of fried calamari, which was delicious and pierogies (I'm Polish) which I heard
were great). My personal favorites of the passed hors d' oeuvres were the crab
cakes and the pigs in a blanket. Make sure that you ask for things even if you
don't see them on the menu, the chef was great and worked with us to get us
exactly what we wanted. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough room at the
cocktail hour (215 people is a
lot!!) and I know that there were definitely not enough seats for everyone, it
was completely fine. People were fine standing, people were sitting in the
entrance room, sitting in the room with the piano room and sitting in the green
room behind the entrance room. I have not heard any complaints that the
cocktail hour room was too small.

For the meal, we had the Butternut Squash Ravioli as our appetizer, which we
have received tons of compliments about. We also had the Caesar salad. Our
dinner choices were the Parmesan Crusted Chicken, the Filet Mignon and the
Chilean Sea Bass. People have raved about all three. I thought that the
Chilean Sea Bass was out of this world. I actually ordered the Filet Mignon,
which was also delicious, but when I tasted someone else's sea bass, I was very
impressed.

I knew that I wanted a Viennese Hour for my wedding, but was definitely
concerned that people might leave beforehand because it was such a long day.
Our ceremony was at 3 o'clock and the cocktail hour didn't start until 7
o'clock. With the Viennese Hour the wedding went until 1 am. Hardly anyone
went home!!! The Viennese Hour was absolutely spectacular. The chocolate
fountain was a HUGE hit. And you would honestly think that my guests had not
eaten. I couldn't believe how people piled the deserts on to their plates.
People were also very impressed with the flambé station and the ice cream sundae
station was also pretty impressive. (But honestly, people were by far the most
impressed with the chocolate fountain)

The dining room looked beautiful My centerpieces were low (I think that this is
best for the long tables at the Woodlands). Maureen had tied brown ribbons
around each of the napkins which was a great little touch. They also places
candles around the centerpieces and around the cake, which made the entire room
glow in the candlelight. I will definitely add a pic of the whole room if I
ever get one.

Before the wedding I was worried about the dance floor being to small, but it
wasn't. We had 215 people at the wedding and as I said before, Heart & Soul
truly kept the dance floor packed all night long, but there was never a time
when I felt like there wasn't enough room on the dance floor, so for those of
you who are concerned, do not worry about, it, the dance floor can hold a lot of
people!!

One of the other things that I was worried about was that the tables in the
'back' of the room were too far away. People have definitely mentioned the
'odd' setup of the room where it is very long and rectangular. It was
completely fine. The tables in the 'back' of the room did not at all seem like
they were too far away from the dance floor. (And those people were very happy
about being so close to the bar anyway)

Our cake. Oh my God. I loved it. Before the wedding, my husband and I brought
a picture to the Woodlands of the cake that we wanted. They made exactly what
we wanted. When Max brought us into the dining room to see it during the
cocktail hour, I was completely amazed at what a good job they did. And the
cake was absolutely delicious (we had one level of vanilla cake with chocolate
mousse, one of chocolate cake with cherries and one of vanilla cake with cannoli
cream). Everyone has commented on both how beautiful and how delicious the cake
was.

My only two complaints about the Woodlands: (1) the temperature control was a
little off. It seemed like one side of the room was on the warm side and the
other side was on the cool side. I think that some of the problem may have been
attributable to the fact that it was November and was unseasonably warm. I kept
asking them to lower the heat because I was hot from walking around and dancing
and I saw some of my guests fanning themselves. But then when we walked over to
the other side, I saw people who had their jackets on and it was really cool on
that side. (2) they told me beforehand that people would definitely not have
to get up to go to the bar to get drinks. While there was never a line at
either bar (so it isn't really a complaint but more of an honest comment), my
mom said that the waiter never asked them what they wanted to drink and that
they always had to get their drinks at the bar. But when I asked other guests,
they said that the waiter definitely got
them their drinks, so maybe it was just one bad waiter.

I don't want to end the review with complaints because neither of those two
things really bothered me, I just wanted to include them, so all I can say is
that I highly recommend the Woodlands. I really think that the best way to sum
up the way that I feel about my whole experience at the Woodlands is this story.
Since I came back to work this week, people keep asking me how the honeymoon
was (we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii). I keep telling them that the honeymoon was
fabulous, but that I would honestly trade in all 2 weeks if I could have made my
wedding 2 hours longer.

I will try and post pics that show the centerpieces and the bouquets and the boutonnieres tomorrow (I'm not so sure that I have any yet, so if I don't I will post them as soon as I get them). But here's my florist review:

Country Arts in Flowers

I know that Country Arts in Flowers is also not a 'known' vendor. We checked out all of the really popular florists, but honestly, flowers were the one thing that I was willing to pay less for. When we met with Winnie at Country Arts, I knew that they were the right florist for me. She was so concerned with what I wanted. And I was so happy with my flowers at the wedding!!

I wanted low centerpieces (my husband wanted high ones, but this was something that I would not negotiate because I have been to way too many weddings where I habe not been able to see the people across the table from me because of the centerpieces). I wanted fall colors, but I didn't really care about the flowers that were in the centerpieces. Winnie at Country Arts made centerpieces that were 'me'. Honestly, the flowers weren't over the top, they were mums and fall flowers...there were some roses, but not an overpowering amount...they were perfect.

My bridesmaids bouquets were beautiful. They wore brown dresses and basically I wanted the same fall flowers in the centerpieces plus brown roses in the bouquets. She wrapped the bouquets in the extra fabric from the bridesmaid dresses. When they arrived at my house the morning of the wedding I was so happy!

And my bouquet was white calla lillies and white roses. It was perfect.

The only complaint that I had was the boutonnieres. Some of the groomsmen's boutonnieres fell off or fell apart as the night wore on. I am not sure if this was the florists fault or the fault of the groomsmen (especially because the ones that did fall apart were the ones that were getting down on the dancefloor).

Wow great pic's you look beautiful!!!!!!!!!

congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

Jackie, You really look so beautiful in the photos. I'm so happy to read your review. Please send me any more pics that you may have... I would love to see them.

As you know I'm getting married at the Woodlands in June 06. The biggest thing that I'm concerned about is that we will have about 100 to 125 people there, which means that we will most likely have the room halved with the curtain dividing the room. I have never seen a set up where everyone was on one side of the room, instead of on either side of the dance floor.

I do not think we will be able to set up the wedding using the entire room because the tables seat 8 to 10 people, so it doesn't seem logical to have 5 to 8 tables on each side of the room. Instead we will most likely have 10 to 14 tables on one side of the room. Any thoughts on the set up?


I hope you don't mind, but I might copy your cake (tee hee)... it looks spectacular.

I also sent you FM.

Best Wishes, Jeanine