OMG I CAN NOT BELIEVE I AM POSTING THIS! MY WEDDING REVIEW AND PICS!!! UM, 23 pages long!

LIW. I have a love/hate relationship with LIW. There are times I used to get so frustrated I wouldn’t post for a while, I couldn’t stand the drama. Then one time a psycho bride posted about me, a whole thread dedicated to just me and my florist and I got so many FMs, and made so many friends because of that, I was addicted ever since. To that psycho bride, I have to give my sincerest thanks. I made friends with Eroxgirl because of it, who just went to my wedding and a quite few others like Jenndale ;). Point being, sometimes there will be a few people you roll your eyes at, or maybe even make fun of, (myself included, I’m sure) and yes I did turn into one of those girls who makes friends on this website and they go to each others weddings, but there are truly amazing people on here. If I could, I would have invited a lot more. Anyone who doesn’t use the website to its complete capacity is truly missing out. I can only hope I can begin to help each and every bride as they have helped me.


The days leading up to my wedding, actually the weekend, I would never take back or re-do. When I get nervous, my stomach will hurt, but this was like I had food poisoning. Every time I tried to bite into something or drink anything, my stomach would surge and I would secretly spit it out. It was horrible. I tried to explain it to my husband, but he of course took it personally thinking it had to do with getting married, but really I have no idea why I was so anxious, nervous, whatever it was. I wasn’t scared of rain, it was gorgeous out, I had faith in all my vendors, and I wasn’t really having wedding nightmares, I don’t know what it was. The only thing I was thinking is that there would be a terrorist attack or a car accident that was the only nervous dreams I had. I think because when a wedding has problems it always makes top news, and I didn’t want to be one of those articles. I could picture it all in my head, the NY Times wedding announcement, pics of us at our rehearsal, our engagement photos, and then something tragic. I guess it just comes along with being a bride, but I wouldn’t want to experience that ever again.


East End Cigar- 246 Larkfield Road East Northport, NY 11731 631-754-6639. Groomsmen and Reader gifts- Turns out the owner works at my husband’s precinct. These were our Groomsmen gifts and they were SUCH a hit! Everyone loved the hand rolled cigars and thought it was such a great idea. I’m not about knickknacks especially now that we live in our little apartment so we wanted to give out something good, manly, but useful. My husband of course didn’t’ give the owner any direction so he took it all upon himself to create these little gift boxes, complete with cutter. Not only did he create the gift boxes, but he made us little bands! Absolutely wonderful on every end. Price, service and thoughtfulness. He even has a handroller, but we didn't have time in the reception to add one. He had the best prices I could find for everything on Long Island.




American Girl Place- $90.00+- This store is the most chaotic place I have ever been. Not in a bad way, just a million little girls screaming they wanted every doll in the store. It’s their only flagship store, on 5th Ave, except for one in Chicago. I took the little doll dress I had bought at Stratsburg and put it on the Kit doll. It fit perfectly and looked awesome! So many guests commented on ‘the custom dress’ and the Kit doll and how cute they were together.

Little Shop of Shamrocks- 173 Islip Ave, Islip NY 631-224-4311 So sweet! The owner is very kind; we bought our wedding rings there. She gave us a little present along with it. I love that little shop.

Arthur Murray- $150. For 4 lessons. Waste of time. We were alone on the dance floor for 5 minutes and when we even started doing the dance routine everyone was invited in to join us already. Not that I wouldn’t have stepped on my dress anyway.

Embroidery Masterworks- 631-858-9080 214D Commack Road, Commack, NY Sweet girls that own this shop, but very slow service. If you rush them, they can do things overnight, like the tanks for our bachelorette party, but otherwise it takes a week. I had lots of things made there that I love.

Maria Morvay Skin Care- 34 East 67th Street 212-585-3773 a lesser expensive option than Elizabeth Arden and a good facial but I stopped after a few months. It’s a small place, but they are sweet and really work hard to get your face clean.

Completely bare salon 764 Madison Ave http://www.completelybare.com/ Thanks Daily Candy! Good price, very professional, clean and friendly. Definitely going back.

Bridal boot camp - Waste of time. I did the one on Wedding Channel down on 18th Street. I guess if I wasn’t eating so dam* much it may have worked. It was an hour a week, between $400-$600. For 3 months. I would say people are better off getting a personal trainer.


Save the Dates- http://www.superiorletterpress.com/ Mike was wonderful to work with. He letterpressed my design into his own stationary. I love how the press came out and it was a much better price than http://www.snowandgraham.com I created the poem and the design and he copied it perfectly. His emails were always a quick return. I want to say it was $130. with his paper, but it was a year ago so it’s hard to remember.
Greenport Tea Company- We had our Bridesmaid High Tea at We had it at the Greenport Tea Company. My parents had a summer house there so I had passed it last year and kept it in mind.
They loved it!
First Jen and Jenny came to my house and Karen and buddy and us all jumped into the explorer and took off out east. We stopped at the outlets where I picked up some cute honeymoon clothes and got gas and went to my parent’s summer house. We hung around there; I showed everyone my china and gave Lana her reader gift. Lana came wearing a big tea hat and suit, perfect tea outfit. She brought me two sachets and a Victorian makeup mirror. It was adorable. Lana, Mom, and Mary and Karen went over to the tea shop to meet Grandma while Jen, Jenny and I waited for Evan's mom and grandma to get to the house. I showed his Grandma the house for a second before we headed out to Greenport to meet up. Diane came in a little while later and I handed out my favors which were little tea bags that said 'Love Is Brewing, Beth and Evan May 30th 2004' wrapped in pink and blue tulle. Everyone loved them. Shortly after that, I handed out the two Mother's Day gifts and both moms were shocked to get Tiffany earrings.
Then I handed out the Tiffany gifts to the girls and they were totally shocked. Everyone was so excited as they opened their little blue bags and took out the heart necklaces.
Finally I gave Diane, my maid of honor, her gifts. One was the heart earrings, then the tiara from The Little Shop of Shamrocks, the Tara collection that she loves, and a box of stationary stuff.
Everyone was so pleased with their gifts and kept telling me how I didn’t have to do that.
So the trays came, they were three tiers high, the top with scones and whipped cream and fresh jelly, the middle with little tea sandwiches and the bottom with all sorts of pastries.
We ate them all up right away, leaving behind all the fruit. LOL. The fresh brewed different flavors of tea kept coming in all different types of pots, there was light music playing in the background, It was just a perfect day.
I loved the tea company and the whole atmosphere. It was so relaxing, everyone just chatted and no one spoke about the wedding. It was beautiful.

My China
Park Ave Crystal- bad review, not recommended at all.
*****It is Park Avenue Gifts in Huntington.
They were supposed to order my china, never did, kept saying there was a problem with Wedgwood in England... long story short, a year after I ordered it I found out they never even tried to get my china, got back my deposit and ordered from www.placesettings.com- Quick, easy and very helpful. :)

Sonic Stef- http://www.sonicstefdesign.com
We all know how incredibly talented Stef is, but she really outdid herself. I used her to do my rehearsal invites, CDs, favor tags…she told me the cheapest place to find the ribbon for my programs and gave me advice on all details of my wedding along the way. There is something about a bride who has her own wedding business that makes the vendor that much better at it. Maybe its experience or being able to sympathize, but she was really a step above everyone else. All the items she made for me provided very tough decisions b/c all of them always looked so good!

Rehearsal
The Gatsby- 712 Main Street, Islip, NY This gorgeous restaurant was an old mansion. It has a stunning appearance when you see and it continues throughout the home. When you walk into the restaurant, there is a gigantic bar to the left and a huge wooden staircase, complete with stain glass windows on the landings in front of you, next to the main fireplace. To the right, the Victorian theme is also carried through out the restaurant. When you climb up the stairs, the private rooms are even prettier, with Queen Anne chairs, Victorian knickknacks, and about 3-4 different rooms. We had the room with the amazing turret, the family sat at that table and the other tables with the bridal party in the rest of the room. It sat about 30 people, but the room next door with a long dinning table complete with lazy susan in the middle, opened into it. (However this was just a door way so you are still separated from the party if you did that) I couldn’t eat that day, but heard the food was great and the service was really quick too. Definitely get the champagne punch bowl, it was pretty and a big hit. The cake looked gorgeous. There are also bigger rooms there that will seat 60+. I highly recommend it for a shower. Such a beautiful and exquisite place. Buffet luncheon $30. pp

Invitations and Favors
Pugliese Vineyards- Usually they do the blush wine or white wine as a favor, but we really enjoy their dessert wine and thought it was nice end of the night favor. I think our favors cost about $700.-$1000. I can’t remember. I know that the wine is 6. a bottle, but with the dessert wine it was 8.99? I forget. Anyway, they wrote the names on the bottle for free with the date. I thought it looked awesome. LOVED the favors.

USPS- Our invites were 83 cents, so that cost me about $35.


Crane and Co. Paper Makers, 30 Rockefellar Plaza, 212-582-6829
$500 +- Easy location, decent prices, best paper.

Tacoma Rubber Stamp www.tacomarubberstamp.com 253-383-5433, Tacoma, WA. I got a rubber stamp (cheap) and an embosser from them for $62.96 all in. I took the monogram off my invites and had a rubber stamp made. Then I stamped the stationary of my reply card with it and printed a vellum insert inside. No one knew I had not had it done by the calligrapher. I used the monogram embosser for the flap of my inner envelopes, and also had an address embosser made for about $30. for the back of my outer envelopes.
Calligraphy- http://www.bloomingquill.com/ I must have drove poor Debi crazy. She did almost everything for my wedding, from the fortune tellers to the menus, hand written invites with the guest’s names on them, escort cards and escort card envelopes, table signs, At Home cards, everything. She was so kind, very accommodating and very complimentary. She liked all my ideas and didn’t charge me when my menu was more like a program. I made my menu have a cover, the inside pages had the entrees and dessert café and the back had a list of the wines. She even thought of a better way to fold my fortune tellers and called me to tell me her idea. I owed her another $732. after the wedding and she wasn’t bugging me for it at all. To top it all off, she created a Victorian Wedding Certificate for me as a gift and I should be getting it shortly. Her work is beautiful, shes timely and a wonderful person, very highly recommended!

Card Store – SO easy! www.cardstore.com I used them to mail out my invites and all I had to do was create a saying and upload the photo and spread sheet with the addresses. What could be better?
John
Old school seals
www.oldschoolseals.com
Sent us a proof for the seals and everything. I loved how it looked, wooden handle and our monogram. I sealed all the back of my envelopes with this and faux wax.



Bridal Party Clothes
Strasburg Children http://www.strasburgchildren.com/
Riverhead, Tanger Outlet Mall 631-369-1296 The total cost of her dress, AND the matching doll dress and 2 sashes to add onto the dress was $156.57. We went to the store during a Martin Luther Day Sale so everything was 15% off!
What are the chances that this flowergirl dress catalog that you see all the time in Brides Magazine has an outlet in Riverhead?! I LOVE New York!

Adrienne’s- I had a very bad experience with them which is what led me to order my moms dress from Netbride.
My review:
http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=105096

Net Bride- Their service was amazing. There was a problem with my mom’s dress; apparently it arrived with speckles on it. Net bride immediately informed us and asked if we wanted a new dress in the same color or wanted them to order the same dress in a different color. End result? They ordered both colors for us, just to be safe. She got the dress she wanted, AND, Netbride took a percentage off the cost because of the amount of time it took to re-order etc. I couldn’t believe how customer service oriented an internet shop could be. I also ordered all my bridesmaid dresses from them.


Craft Shoes:
Jericho Tpke, Commack. They had the best prices. We went to Bridal Shoe Boutique in Carle Place and Craft had the same brands and shoes, at 25 dollars cheaper!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d832b3127cceb06dc8481d8c0000003611

Husband's Clothes
RSVP- FH dealt with them; he went to Rogers and to Victor Talbot’s and liked RSVP the best. Selection wise and service. The best man lost all the cufflinks and suspenders and they didn’t even charge them or keep the deposit. Please make sure the groomsmen try on their tuxes. We had one with high waters because he was coming from upstate and wasn’t measured at the store. We had 3 different people with buttons that popped off but that’s it. $156-$160 a rental I think.

My Wedding Dress and Accessories!
Tiara- swavorski from Macys. I think you can get it cheaper on ebay. I wanted a real crystal one that would shine.

Silk Veil- I really didn’t like the poofiness of veils, I knew I didn’t want a synthetic veil, I wanted the real thing. So I researched for months and got one of my most treasured items. My biggest thrill was when it flew around and landed over my face and created a whole mess on my head, LOL, I heard someone whisper, “It did that because that’s a REAL veil” I was so excited. It was created by www.sewdeb.com and the silk was purchased from http://www.hansson-silks.co.uk/ I found that this was the best route to go through. I got lots of samples from many different places. I felt the US was not up to the standard that the UK silk tulle was but the Australian and UK bridal shops cost an arm and a leg. The best option was to order about 3 or 4 yards from Hanson’s and then ship it off to sew deb. They were very easy to deal with, charged it right to my credit card. Sewdeb charged me 25 dollars I think. AMAZING!

Corset- http://www.meschantes.com/
Pricing starts at $225 for Natural waists up to 34'. This probably took about 2” off my waist, which I needed because I gained 15 pounds during my engagement. The corset was too high for my dress in the back, so I sent it back with a check for $25 and it was tailored perfectly.

http://www.angelthreadsnyc.com/garters.html Loved the garter, but it fell down my leg twice so Evan had to hold it in his pocket. I had 2 so we threw the other.

Shoes- Steve Madden Store. Bought the shoes in pink, loved them and wanted the white for my wedding, but thought it was too stupid to buy Steve Madden for a wedding. Evenedan convinced me to just buy them and they were $79.99. Went back 2 months later, and they were $29.99-figures. I bought a back up pair and thank god I did. I brought one pair to be taken down a half inch. HUGE mistake. Totally messed up my shoes. Thank God I had a second pair (and also the other colors too ) When I was at the wedding salon, the girls were arguing over who made me shoes, Peter Fox? It HAD to be Peter Fox, um. No. Steve Madden :P

The Wedding Salon of Manhasset- I had hardly any complaints. When looking for the dress of my dreams, I had searched probably about 20 different salons all over Manhattan and Long Island, perhaps even more. The service at the wedding salon was definitely the best and I was thrilled when they had my dress. Sania, was a complete doll. They showed me every dress I wanted to see, gave me honest opinions (I hate when EVERY dress looks amazing on me*rolls eyes**) the owner Nancy, I am not too crazy about, but whatever. The alterations went smoothly, although they need to organize the front desk a little better, I did find myself waiting for almost every appointment. All in all a lovely experience!

The Day Of:
The Royal Brass- 66 Kelsey Ave Huntington Station, NY 11746
$600 for pre-ceremony, ceremony, and then cocktail. From what I heard, I really loved them. One of my favorite memories was excitedly running out to the terrace of the suite to listen as they did fanfares when the guests walked up to the door. It was soooooooo amazing! I heard them during cocktail and that sounded really nice too. Very highly recommended, sweet and amazing price.

John Tansey- NY Pipes and Drums, NYPD 718-945-4979 John was a real pleasure to work with. He contacted me various times when I was being a slacker and didn’t call back right away, called me the week before my wedding to check up and showed up right one time with two other bagpipers. I met them out by the piano and ran into to grab Evan, told him he had to sit down right away for a photo. He sat down and we heard the bagpipes coming into the lobby and started to coming through the door. He looks at me and he says “you did this? This is awesome! When did u do this? How did u get it? Everyone is going to think they should have given us more money” I LOL and told him to keep quiet and just stand up and listen. At this point we couldn’t’ even see the bagpipes from our seat because everyone was standing up and clapping and cheering. They marched in a circle, playing and then stopped in place and played one song b4 they called Evan and me into the middle. This part I wasn’t expecting at all. John, took his hat off, put it on Evan’s head and they had us dance in the middle while they played around us. Ahhh another favorite moment, I was so happy. Evan quickly gave the hat back after the song (he was embarrassed) and the bagpipers played 2 more songs. I think the last one was God Bless America, and everyone started singing along, stamping their feet and it was just AMAZING.At the end, they marched in a circle again and left in line and everyone clapped and stood up if they weren’t already standing. I believe it was S100. To S150. Each musician. Most well spent money throughout the whole wedding.

http://www.musicbymichael.com I loved Michael! He was amazing. I saw him at another wedding so I am fortunate enough to have him from my perspective and a guest’s perspective. He is so incredibly thoughtful and talented. First of all, I had the photo montage as a surprise for my family and they LOVED it. My mom told me today that my father has played it every night since I gave a copy to him and he is not a mushy type at all. When I sent Michael the pictures for it, I had them already on the computer so I saved it to a cd. The ones I selected didn’t work but the entire file of pictures from my computer did. So poor Michael the night before my wedding, went through all my pictures and selected a few he thought would be meaningful, which is not easy since he has no clue who anyone is or looks like. I was so pleased he put that much effort into it. Selecting about 80 pictures of us. He put it to a few songs I selected and some he thought I would like.
As a dj, he planned everything so well, he called me before asked me how I feel about certain songs like Shout etc. dance songs with my parents, garter songs, special toasts, everything. He discussed the night with my maitre’d, I really can’t say enough about him. Then the MCing was perfect. I could sit at the sweetheart table (and when I was a guest at the wedding at that table), and just talk to my husband, never once could I not hear the conversation around me. He kept the dance floor packed. When I developed the table cameras, the dance floor was always filled to the limit which made me so excited. AND I even heard him slip in some slow country songs that I loved and So This Is Love, my favorite song since I was a very little girl. People have been complimenting him to us non-stop, and my Mother in law even said she hopes my Sister-in-law books him.
He presented us with a CD that he thought was the mood of our wedding, about 5 songs and my husband and I LOVE it. As if all this wasn’t wonderful enough, I had written him a check for the end of the night with our balance for $1500.00 and it was no where to be found. I think it was in the bridal suite but no one could find it. Without hesitation, he told us to just send one to him in the mail and not to worry about it. I said “are u sure, let me find my Dad” and Michael says “it’s no problem.” I could have hugged him what an amazing vendor. He is worth so much more than what he charges; I would have given him double his fee if we could afford it.

Photography
B rett M atthews- I have read that post before it was posted. I also read some really old bad reviews on them on LIW. Those are the only 2 bad reviews I have seen. I brought them up, and B rett M atthews, Rich, was great about defending themselves and I went with the notion that you really don’t know the people who are complaining and I don't necessarily trust every bride’s opinions. Everyone I have met there have been sooo sweet and nice! They were always quick to call me back with any questions I had and just so accomodating. Sherri, the owner, came out during our engagement pics and she was really friendly and talkative, suggested picture ideas to Chris...
I LOVE my proofs. I just got them last night and I wanted to scream to everyone how much I loved them. Pictures were so important and I was soooo panicky about them.

Chris did a great job; he took a TON of pics. My color ones alone are around 800 proofs and my black and whites I haven’t even counted yet. I picked Rob as my black and white photographer and he was amazing. I reminded B rett M atthews that I wanted Rob right before my wedding and I got him. That day, we had a videographer, Rob, Chris and 2 assistants show up.

I LOVE my pics so much! The pics I thought I didn’t get are more than made up by the pics I got that I wasn’t expecting. He had a great eye, the pictures are truly amazing.

Advice for photo: make sure you have everything ready and laid out for the photographers. I never got a pic of my garter because I’m holding it in my hand in every picture until its going on my leg. How is a photographer supposed to be getting pics of stuff if you’re holding it in ur hand? Or it’s in a bag/suitcase?

ETA:
B rett M atthews

and my album app review:
THanks girls!!!!

I want to add my review of my album appt I had with B rett M atthews.

I dragged my poor DH with me after he had worked all night. BM was very concious of that and worked with us as quickly as possible. When we all sat down, I put my 50 pictures on the table and she said to me 'oh you have your pictures picked out? you dont want to do anymore?' and I said nope, thats fine and she was very ok with it.
We went through the pictures putting them together in page order and the few pictures that didn't go, she helped me trade with the proofs I brought along with me so I never went over my 50. SHe presented us with options, but was alway careful to point out that a panoramic would cost more and to put a picture on the front of the album would cost an extra $50. and be one of the 50 we picked out etc.
She spoke to Sherry (the owner) because the panoramic picture we wanted would be so perfect with this set up, but my DH and myself were not going to be able to spend anymore money. Well guess what, Sherry was sweet enough to just let her put it in! (those are $195.)

Needless to say, we walked out of our appt EXTREMELY happy and SOOOO thrilled!!!!!


Then yesterday the video guy called to clear up some edits I made and I always love talking to him. He is so nice and always end the conversation with a joke like 'go make some trouble now..' lol

When I get the album back I plan to post pictures of it. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish we could have gone over our 50, we love all our proofs, but it just wasn't feasible with our past trip to spain and holiday presents are coming up etc.

WOW!!!

You looked beautiful, everything looked perfect, congratulations!

Hair and Makeup
Hair John at Milaje Salon in Syosset. $750. for 7 girls. He charges a general price to get him out of the salon and I had to split the cost among everyone. I wound up just asking the girls for what I thought was a fair price and then paying the rest. He was great, I really liked him. That day he showed up with an assistant, took 2 girls at once and had everyone done in time. I thought he did a great job, handled everyone really well and all the girls seemed pleased with their results.

Makeup Denise from Angel Eyes Artistry. [email protected]
http://www.liweddings.com/vendors/make-up/angeleyes/
Denise is such a wonderful person and so kind and sweet. I went to sooooo many makeup people before I found her. I think the price was $55 for makeup and then extra for airbrushing. Everyone got airbrushing, but I paid for it myself. I didn’t want the girls to shell out anymore money. I paid her $725.00 that’s for 7 women plus me. What I liked about Denise, aside from her talent is that she is very organized, knew exactly what she was doing and how to time the makeup perfectly. She helped me set up the getting ready schedule for her and the hairdresser. I spoke to her a lot throughout planning and she really was incredibly helpful and most importantly, my mom went for a makeup trial with her and felt comfortable (she never wears makeup) and wanted me to book her. That’s the best recommendation of all.

My Beautiful Flowers!!!!
Filigree Monogram Designs- $34.62 with tax and shipping. www.filigreemonograms.com cute addition to my bo-k.




Flower Michele. Well, I don’t know where to begin. It wasn’t until I started planning my wedding that I realized how much I loved flowers. I began visiting my florist at Oheka every chance I could, just to get ideas for my own wedding day. He was always so friendly and took time out to talk to me and go over his visions for my wedding. We developed a friendship through those times that I never expected from any vendor, In fact, John and his wife attended my wedding. If you haven’t booked a florist and don’t’ think you can afford John for whatever reason; you should definitely, without a single doubt meet with him. If you miss the chance, you will definitely miss out on a lot. He was such an important and influential part of my planning, he made it that much more fun and his flowers was one of the biggest parts I was anticipating. He literally gets excited for your wedding. It’s so cute. He leans in at the table when you first meet, goes over colors you like and already you can envision what he’s describing and sketching. His ideas are always unique as you want them to be. He is not like many florists who just stick 2 dozen roses in a high centerpiece for every single wedding. He actually puts thought and creative input.
The day of my wedding, I was trying to sneak out of the suite to go downstairs and see my flowers but I kept getting caught and everyone would scream NO!!!! But it was KILLING me! Then, I was out on the terrace, having a little breakdown, not a big one, but a little emotional and I looked up and saw John standing there with my bo-k. I was waiting for him all day. I ran into the suite and screamed JOHN! And went to hug him, but he wouldn’t allow me to. He didn’t want to mess up my makeup as he was working really hard. I can’t describe how happy I was to see him. It’s just one of those moments on your wedding day when you see someone who helped you plan so much over the two years, and here you both are. After I looked down from his smiling face, there was my breathtaking bouquet. He was so proud of it and rightly so. I couldn’t believe it was mine. That GORGEOUS bouquet of pink roses in a three dimensional heart shape with stephanotis was MY bouquet! He disappeared to continue working and I was left staring at my amazing heart *I meant to add here that Chelley made my bouquet and designed the handle, and she incorporated the monogrammed fabric into the bouqet that I bought from Filigree mongorams. She did an AMAZING job!

then I saw the flower girl basket. John had actually taken a basket, and put real roses all over it and rose petals inside. It was absolutely amazing. It was sooooo pretty, you would think it was fake. All morning everyone had been describing my flowers telling me how amazing they were and then I finally got to see my personals.

Then, after the ceremony, we stepped into the ballroom to take a few pictures of just us in there. OMG. When I saw the orchids on every place setting, I nearly died. I was soooo happy and thought it was sooo amazing! I was overwhelmed with happiness and excitement.
I can only hope every bride can feel the way I felt at that moment