My OCTOBER 9 SandCastle WEDDING REVIEW! Really Long...with advice! ***NOW UPDATED WITH LINK TO PROOFS AND HM REVIEW & PICS***

A few of our Duet Proofs

Bora Bora Honeymoon Review w/PICS


Okay.... and here begins my review.... this is going to be long and detailed but I have so much to share that I think will be helpful to future brides so I hope you enjoy it and I don’t bore you! I REALLY wanted to wait until I got my proofs... or at least some good pics, but some people (ahem ) kept pressuring me to post it anyway – so here it is, finally!!

First, let me explain my rating system. It’s a scale of 1 - 10 with partial points available. A vendor only gets a ten from me if they go above and beyond and that usually means getting a little something for free, or a really nice deal/discount of some sort. When a vendor does that, it really shows that they are willing to go the extra mile to make a client happy and that’s what matters. And in the end, a lot of it is really about the money (when it comes to vendors, that is) because we all know how expensive weddings are. We pay them a lot of money to make our wedding days awesome, not just adequate, so they really have to earn that 10 from me. I will be a tough critic. But I will try my best to give an “LIW safe”, yet honest & fair review.


My wedding day was amazing and everything went extremely well with only one minor hitch which you will read about. It was the most beautiful day of my life and definitely the happiest so far. I was very happy with the way everything turned out but I must warn you that I am the type of person that can find something to complain about with everything... my “buts” in this case are just the little things that you have to be honest about, they aren’t really complaints. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll understand once your day comes if you are a bride to be and if you are already married, you probably know exactly what I mean. I don’t really have any regrets about my wedding day and I would live the day over again in a heartbeat. All the stress of planning is REALLY all worth it in the end because you’ll never have a day like this again... and it is such a momentous occasion, such a beautiful life event – that it truly deserves all the fuss we make about it.

So that said, lets begin at the beginning. The last 30 days leading up to my wedding day were the most fun, memorable, exciting, and not really as stressful as I would have thought. ENJOY that time girls, because it goes really fast. Try not to fight with your FH during this time and take the little bumps in stride so that you remember what a special and fun time this is. I did and I ended up being amazingly calm the two days before the wedding and didn’t really have any freak outs.... (well, maybe one tiny one). But it’s really an amazing time because everyone finally starts getting excited with you, and you get to see all your hard work slowly falling into place. So enjoy!!

(This is going to take several posts to keep it neat so please be patient)

Tai Show Restaurant, Massapequa - Rehearsal Dinner - 10

Thursday night was our rehearsal and RD. It was a hectic & fun day... all the last OOTs were coming in that day and it was pure madness... the airport lost my Mom’s luggage, my brother (a GM) AND one of my BMs BOTH missed their early morning their flights in to NY. My brother showed up about ½ hour late to the rehearsal but the other BM thankfully made it on time. Yet another BM coming in from Florida that day had her FIRST fitting that day (yep – TWO days before the wedding) but thankfully that worked out perfectly and the gown was ready for pickup the next day. Oh, yeah, and the BEST MAN NEVER showed up for the Rehearsal. I took all this in stride and I was really really fine... nothing got to me at all except when I realized how late my brother was... but just when I starting to really worry, he walked into the church just in time to practice walking down the aisle. I got the whole Bridal Party together at Jim’s house (minus the Best Man of course) for a little pre-rehearsal “meeting” and we had a blast just hanging out, talking and laughing. I’m soooo glad we did that because the day of the wedding I felt like I didn’t get to spend time with any of them and I missed them a lot, especially the OOTs.

We went to the church and I couldn’t believe that they actually made us rehearse saying our vows!! Both Jim and I were a little hesitant but we did it and we almost felt married after the rehearsal. Pretty much the only thing the Deacon didn’t do was say “I pronounce you...” so that’s what kept it from being “official”. It actually helped calm our nerves quite a bit.

Next was on to the Rehearsal Dinner. For anyone who loves Japanese food, this place (Tai Show) is great. We wanted something different, fun and casual for our RD and this place was perfect. They have a small room in the back for parties and we fit about 25 people there. Their party menu is extensive and it included a lot for $30pp: 1 Appetizer, Soup, Salad, an Entree, or Sushi Rolls and one Drink on the house. But they comped us tons of drinks that night! I think everyone was doing Sake Bombs and having a blast. Their service was excellent and the atmosphere is so fun!

Sal’s Fashions, Massapequa - Tuxedos - 9.9 Sal’s Fashions

Jim picked up all the tuxes for the guys on Thursday. Sal’s was great to work with: courteous, knowledgeable and they had a very big selection. Jim wore two tuxes for the wedding: a morning suit for the ceremony and a vested tux for the reception. He loved having a fresh tux to change into after a long, warm day and everyone thought it was so cool for the groom to change. Both his tuxes were free and the GMs got Claiborne tuxes for around $160.00. They were even able to get a tux for my Grandfather who flew in from the Dominican Republic at the last minute, the day before the wedding. Everyone’s tuxes looked and fit well.

Bridal Reflections - Carle Place My Gown - 9.5

Before I knew it, it was Friday, the day before my wedding!! I still get chills thinking of that day.... it was so eerie walking around that day... I was in a fog from an intoxicating mix of utter excitement, a dash of nerves, a nice splash of that “so in love” feeling, a twist of giddyness with a hint of sadness for know it was all going to be over.

And in that fog, I got up early Friday morning to clean out my car and go pick up my GOWN!! Now, from the beginning, I had heard all the horror stories about both BR stores... I never thought I would end up getting my gown there even though the Massapequa store was the first place I went to try on gowns when it was time. Then, when I fell in love with basically all of the St. Pucchi collection, I knew I was in trouble because BR is one of the only places in NY that carries the designer, Rani.

My first experience in the Massapequa store was great. The service was excellent, they treated me kindly, and like a bride... it was everything your first gown shopping experience should be. But once I saw the prices on those St. Pucchi gowns, I almost fainted. I never fathomed I’d spend that much on a gown I only wore once... and so, as many of you know, my gown search continued for several months with no success. In January, I got a call from BR telling me about a St. Pucchi Trunk Show and since I still did not have my gown, I figured I’d go if only to be heart broken again. And sure enough, my heart was broken that day because I tried on what ended up being my gown only to find it was way out of my league in price. So I left....and this time, my first time ever in the Carle Place store, I was also treated wonderfully. A little pressure to buy perhaps, but that was because of the discount I would lose out on from the trunk show.

About a week after that, I got a call from Christina DeMarco of the Carle Place store. She wanted to know if I was unhappy with anything and if I did not want that St. Pucchi gown anymore. I told her that I just couldn’t afford it and she immediately offered to work with me on the price. I was like “Not for nothing, but I’m not going to waste your time because I know there’s no way you can get that gown into my price range.” She insisted that I let her try and she immediately called up Rani, the designer, right there on the phone with me and dropped the price by over $800. I was floored. The St. Pucchi gown of my dreams was mine!!

Fittings and alterations were a breeze. Lee was my seamstress and she was great. My gown and bustle were beautiful and flawless. My only minor issue with them is that I ordered my bra with them and three times I went in for fittings and they still had not ordered it so I actually did fittings without my actual bra – just their floor samples.

There’s one other minor issue which is really not their fault. One week before the wedding my MOH and I realized that the veils I had custom made from Barron’s in Tri-County did not match my gown. This was a semi-disaster I did not need. So BR offered me a floor sample very similar to what I got from Barrons for $300 I felt violated by that price and a little disappointed that no one in the store had thought to mention this to me sooner being that they saw me try on my veil with my gown several times. But I can also understand why they wouldn’t say anything. But that’s really my only complaint about this store (as far as my gown and my personal experience goes). The day of pick up my gown was clean, pressed, and ready to go. They even cleaned my slip (my something borrowed) which was a little dirty on the bottom without me even asking. They gave me great care instructions and treated me well from start to finish. And my gown came in exactly when they said it would, if not a few days earlier.

The only reason why they lose ½ a point is because everything is overpriced there – bras, slips, veils, etc. I visited MANY MANY bridal salons while searching for my gown and almost every single one of them can learn something from the service and quality at Bridal Reflections Carle Place.

Bridal Reflections - Massapequa - Bridesmaids Gowns - 8.0

I have to be honest and say that every time I dealt with the Massapequa store I was treated well. My bridesmaids, on the other hand, don’t feel they were treated as well. It’s third hand info and LIW frowns on that so FM me if you want details. In the end, however, their gowns were beautiful, the alterations were done very well even for one my BMs who lost about 25 lbs and was swimming in her gown when it came in. The gowns arrived about one week earlier than the store predicted and they even did a first fitting for my one of my OOT BMs two days before the wedding and had her gown ready for pick up the next morning. The sizing was done correctly and the color was correct. Shopping for the BM gowns there was an absolute pleasure. They let me and my MOH loose downstairs and we basically played dress up for hours unharrassed. When we needed help, they were there. We ordered Lazaro gowns (2 pieces) and they were around $275.

The area where they lose points does have to do somewhat with their service. I’ll never understand how a bridal salon can be closed on Sundays during summer and close early both FRIDAY and SATURDAY and think that they are providing their clientele with good service. Also, the fact that they won’t do fittings on the weekends even for out-of-town Bridesmaids (except for the very RARE occasion) is just ridiculous. This caused me and some of my BMs a great deal of inconvenience and worry. For that they lose points.


Lidia’s Bridal Boutique, Copiague - Tiara - 10

Remember how I said that “almost every bridal salon” I went to could learn a thing or two from Bridal Reflections? Well, this is the ONE exception. Lidia’s was just so wonderful to me. I went there on many shopping trips... and every time they were helpful, conscientious, friendly, courteous, and treated me very well. The only reason I didn’t buy my gown there was because I didn’t find it there, even though their selection is GREAT (I saw gowns there that I NEVER saw anywhere else) and they are very reasonably priced. They were so patient with me and let me sit there and linger in a gown I was torn over for probably hours. Never rushed me, never pressured me, never kissed my butt in a fake way. They were wonderful. I would highly recommend them as your FIRST stop to any bride. I did end up getting my Ed Berger tiara from there and it was beautiful, and they even dropped the price for me.



Dyeabledeals.com - Maid of Honor Jewelry - 9.9

I ordered a necklace and earring set for my MOH from this website and the shipping was FREE and lightning fast. I actually ordered the Bms jewelry before this and hers arrived first. They were very quick and easy to deal with and their product looked better in person than it does on their website. Would highly recommend.

Whiteaisle.com - Invitations - 7.0

I worked extensively with Rebecca to get my silk scroll invitations just right. She was very quick with her E-mail replies and even took work home with her. I ordered two sets of invites with different times and RSVP dates and they did this at no extra charge. She E-mailed me proofs promptly and correctly.

I also ordered my faux wax seal kit from here and with a personalized monogram seal maker. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected but it did the job nicely. The reason for the loss of points is shipping times. I was pinched for time in making a decision on my invites when I ordered my sample from whiteaisle. Shipping was 2 -3 weeks on a sample and I thought that was pretty bad. Then I ordered the invites and she gave me the same time frame for the invites yet they did not ship until the 4 week mark to the day. Also, I did not like the way the site was set up to order and pay. The shopping cart area is very messy looking and I chose to complete my order with Rebecca via email because of that. They lose points for having a non-user-friendly shopping cart. But the site itself offers many unique and unusual things so that helps balance the score a little.

Well, supposedly, the invitations shipped at the 4 week mark... but I still did not receive them when I should have. This caused me tons of unneeded stress. My first RSVP date was quickly approaching, my invites had not arrived and Rebecca was not returning my emails. Turns out, she left the country and apparently no one else covers her business when she’s on vacation. Hmmm... not too thrilled with that. My invites arrived soon thereafter... about a week and a half shy of my RSVP date.... I had ordered them almost two months in advance of that date. Deplorable. Excuse me.... MOST of my invites arrived. A second batch arrived a few days later... and a few days after that the last 7 or so. BUT... they WERE beautiful and very nicely done. I got so many compliments on them that it brought their score back up. Points are also lost for the fact that they don’t give you any discount for ordering larger quantities.

Now, before we get to the wedding day... some other pre-wedding vendor reviews:

Adesso Albums - Guestbook - 9.9

I worked with Lesley Mattos in ordering my Polaroid Guestbook from Adesso. Their site did not have secure ordering and Lesley worked with me to get the order going. I ordered the beginner kit which came with the Polaroid One camera , the album, and 2 boxes of film but after some research I learned that this package did not offer any discount but at least it was convenient to order from one place. The guestbook arrived in an adequate amount of time and it was very nice. It would be nice if they had a wider selection of colors.

At the wedding, I had my cousin help the guests with the guestbook. I highly recommend putting someone in charge of this if you decide to do a Polaroid guestbook. A lot of guests miss the book entirely so she went around to them and took the photos and had them sign. It is now a treasure keepsake I will always have from the wedding and it was so much fun going through all the pictures the night of the wedding back at the hotel room!



Weddingwinefavors.com aka Valencia Liquors - Wine Favors - 8.0

I was grateful to find a place that you could shop for wine favors online so Valencia fulfilled that need at the very least. They have a decent selection of the more popular wines and a decent selection of personalized labels for the bottles. However, they aren’t the most creative or pretty labels you’ll see but they sufficed. I worked with Sharon and she was accommodating in my ordering of mixed cases and odd quantities. Their method of placing the order is rather unsettling however. You have to fax over the information and give your credit card number over the phone. They fax you the label proof and you have to fax back your signature. Major PIA for me who doesn’t have easy access to a fax. They don’t even have a working email address. For a company that chooses to sell their product over the internet, I find that unacceptable. Anyway, I received my labels several days before the wine bottles arrived, but everything was on time and nothing broke.

Exclusivelyweddings.com - Various Wedding Items - 9.0

I got our toasting goblets, GM gifts, RB gifts, FG gifts and a bunch of things from this site. Easy ordering, very user friendly shopping and purchasing, and prompt delivery. Most of the items were exactly as pictured if not better. A couple were A LOT smaller than I expected... like the piggy banks... but what can you do. The site is overpriced, IMO, though so that’s another area where they lost points with me. But they are reliable so to me it was worth paying the extra couple of dollars to order from a trustworthy site.

theknot.com - Bride to be apparel - 9.9

Much better prices than divabridal or any of the other sites... quality stuff... I ordered my Bride 04 sweatsuit from there, a few caps, a few t-shirts. All great stuff... not cheap or cheesy iron stuff and their prices were very good. Shipping times were fine. Actually, to my surprise, my Bride sweatsuit was one of the best wedding purchases I made. I wore the day of, on our way to our HM and on the way back even!! It got a lot of wear because it was sooooooooo comfy!!!

myglasslipper.com - Shoes - 6.0

I found my dream Vera Wang shoes on this site – on SALE no less!! I ordered them and paid for them only to find out they were SOLD OUT in my size. I was devastated. They could have updated their site to reflect their stock. Of course I was credited back. A few weeks later, they advertised a new designer who had a pair very similar to the Vera Wangs I loved for much less. So I ordered THOSE. Then they told me those wouldn’t be in for months. At this point, I gave up on this site completely. They have an amazing selection of the some of the most gorgeous shoes you’ll ever see, but, at least in my experience, good luck actually getting them.

Sandy’s Shoes, Massapequa - Bridesmaids Shoes & Dying - 9.9

We found super comfy shoes from Coloriffics at Sandy’s. They have the largest selection of dyeables I found on the island (I didn’t go to Craft though, so I can’t compare to that) and their prices are pretty good on *most* shoes. Some of the designer shoes they carry, however, are overpriced (I priced them out with other stores). Their sales people were patient and courteous and the dying was done very well. We were very happy with their service and selection.

Georgette’s, Hicksville - Bra/Corset - 9.9

These are the sweetest women you’ll ever meet. I got the BEST BRA I have ever owned from them. But it wasn’t my wedding bra. Unfortunately, they don’t carry “real” corsets (meaning the steel boned ones). If that’s not the kind of thing you are looking for, you’ll definitely find a good bra here. But I ended up getting my corset from BR, even though I bought a lovely one from them them that I will definitely get a lot of use out of.

Twas the Night before the Wedding...

The night before my wedding I was remarkably calm, but very excited and kind of delicate – you know, easily able to be upset so I was careful to not let things get to me. I had some last minute running around to do, of course, dropping things off at my aunt’s house where I was to get dressed the next day and I still had to pack for Tahiti. Everything was going fine until I suddenly looked up and it was 6:30pm. I wanted to be in bed by 8pm and had not packed anything yet and still had not eaten all day. I was starving and starting to worry that I’d be up all night. Then my cell phone rang.

Three of my BMs were at the salon getting their hair “set” for the next day and my stylist wanted me to come down because she said the hairstyle we’d chosen “wasn’t working out”. I had been called down there once before when one of my BMs did a hair trial and I was livid that it was happening again, now, the night before the wedding. So this was my one freak out. I went down and basically told her “look - you are a hairstylist – figure it out! It’s not that I don’t care what their hair looks like, but I sorta REALLY DON’T CARE!!!” My BMs were utterly confused as to why I was so upset about this.

Now let me explain why this even happened. My BMs were thoroughly incapable of doing practically anything themselves. They forced me to make their decisions for everything from their shoes to their hair style to their makeup, to yes, even their day of nail polish!!! Not because they couldn’t agree, not because I was being a bridezilla, but because they actually WANTED me to!!! I see all these other brides telling their girls to pick their own gowns, etc... my BMs would never have agreed to that. Sigh.

So now you understand why I flipped out about this hair thing. They could not work it out for themselves. Lesson to Be Learned : Tell your BMs well in advance that they are responsible for choosing their own hairstyle, nail polish, makeup colors, etc. You should have seen the nightmare I went through setting up their hair appointments for them! If you can, have them take care of getting their own hair and makeup done... you don’t need this added stress, believe me. Try to make them understand that you need LESS on your plate, not more.

So that was my one bridezilla moment. I went back home, threw things in my suitcase like a wild woman then realized that I simply HAD to have ballet slippers to change into at the reception if my feet got tired. So I dragged my brother with me to the mall, just a few minutes before closing and bought them. I never thought I would need them and as it turned out – I totally did not, but that night, it seemed soooo important!

Lesson to Be Learned : I said this once before but don’t leave those little things for the last minute because at the last minute they will seem like they will make or break your wedding day and you will not rest until you have them.

My mom stopped by and we had a glass of wine together sitting on the front stoop. Highly recommmended. The glass of wine that is! I was finally able to munch on a blueberry muffin, I said to myself that whatever didn’t make it into my suitcase I wouldn’t need in Bora Bora, and passed out at around 11:30pm. Slept like a baby.

The Morning of the Wedding...

I woke up right on time – 5 am and was showered and getting dressed in my comfy Bride04 outfit from the Knot.com when a sudden wave of panic grabbed me. Where the hell was my BRA???? I hadn’t seen it in the bag with my gown the day before and totally forgot to check myself when I picked up the gown at BR.

My now SIL & BM was meeting me at my Aunt’s house to head out to the salon so I could leave my car there (which had to be taken to our hotel). So I decided to stop in and check on my bra. My aunt opened the door in her towel and I practically ran her over as I ran to the room my gown was in to search the dress bag for my bra. It was there!!! Thank goodness! Lesson to Be Learned : Make sure you check EVERYTHING before leaving the Bridal Salon with your gown! But in the bustle... we woke up my Grandmother who I haven’t seen in over a year. I tried to run out of the house before she saw me but it was too late. And the tears began.... I got out of there before I started to cry also, jumped in the car with my SIL and got to the salon right on time. From that point on it was 2 hours under the dryer for me.

During this time I watched each of my BMs come into the salon, get their hair done, make up done, and leave. My SIL (who stayed with me the entire time) said that everytime a BM left, my face dropped and my demeanor changed from giddy, happy bride to “OMG OMG OMG Bride”.


Atris, Opus Beauty Center, Copiague - My Wedding Day Hair - 10

Finally it was my turn to get my hair done. Atris has been my stylist for years and we practiced my hair style twice before the wedding and they day of came out the best. This salon specializes in latino hair (they KNOW how to blow your hair pin straight – no frizz, no flat iron) so I knew I would not go to anyone else for my wedding day. I have my ups and downs with this woman, but she really came through for me on the wedding day - 5 BMs and the Bride??? All ready by 9am – amazing!


Next it was off to my Aunt’s House to get my makeup done and get dressed.

Meanwhile back at Jim's house... the FG was hamming it up!

Clarin Cohen - Makeup - 9.9

(Due to popular demand - here is a link to her page on the vendor board )
Clarin Cohen

When I arrived at my Aunt’s house, Clarin was there, right on time, all set up and patiently waiting for me. She began immediately and even let me try to squeeze in a couple of morsels of food while she worked. Clarin works for Bobbi Brown so all the makeup she used was Bobbi Brown. I was able to purchase the matching lipsticks and powders to have with me on the day of and that was great. She worked fast, she was great to work with up to the day of, and I loved my makeup. Plus my trial was free! She is organized and listens to what you want. Highly recommended. She loses 1/10 of a point because she is higher priced than most of the average & popular makeup people I priced out and did trials with. I had 3 makeup trials prior to Clarin and she was the ONLY one who lined my lips the right way!! Very important.

Here I am just after she finished my makeup - in my 'Bride 04' sweatsuit from the knot. (That's Clarin next to me)




Vilma Santos - Makeup for the BMs - 10

Vilma is a friend of the family and she’s been doing our makeup for special events for a long time. The only reason I didn’t use her myself was because I had too many other girls to take care of. She did a great job on the girls and we got a great deal because she is a friend

Mya - Cosmetic Artistry - Makeup & Hair for the Groom’s Mom, Sister, & FG - 9.7

From what they tell me, they all loved their hair and makeup and Mya was great to work with before the wedding. I did a trial with her also and although I was pleased with the results... I was spreading her too thin (at that time I only had her hired to do EVERYONE) so I ended up continuing trials for myself and kept her on for the Groom’s Mom, his sister, and the FG. I just LOVED my FG hair that day! She is also more reasonably priced for the bridal party than many other makeup people I priced out.

Time to Get Dressed!

So after my makeup was done, it was time to get dressed. I was still on schedule, but just barely. I look around and I realize that my Maid of Honor is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! She’s two hours late. Leave it to her to be two hours late on my wedding day!! But I had no time to get even bother getting upset with her. Duet arrived right on schedule... I shook hands with Eric, Alberto, and Sung (sp?) and immediately felt so much more at ease with my whole day. I saw that everything was falling into place right on schedule.... it was such a relief to see them there. I peek out of the bedroom I was secluded in to see the madhouse that was the rest of my aunt’s house and laughed. GMs running around trying to figure out how to tie bow ties, BMs getting dressed and doing each other’s makeup (some of them, not all used Vilma) - - and I laughed. One of my BMs ran by saying “Sandra, I went and got a manicure & pedicure. I’m sorry, but I felt I had to tell you”. I don’t know how – but she found time to get it done that morning!

Here's three of them after they were ready



One of my flowergirls...





LA Blossom - Flowers - 10

My flowers had arrived while I was at the salon - they arrived early. It’s so relieving to see things falling into place right on schedule on your wedding day. That’s what you should get when you book good vendors, I believe. It allows you to relax and enjoy your wedding day. I got the phone call that our flowers had arrived at the salon and that they were beautiful. I was a little concerned that I could not be there to see them before the driver left, in case anything wasn’t quite right, but I figured – I know Laurie did a great job and didn’t stress it.

My bouquet was gorgeous. Exactly what I wanted. The BMs flowers were even nicer than I expected. The bouts were perfect, and my Centerpieces were so beautiful. What else can I say? She gave me EXACTLY the flowers I wanted and they were beautiful!

I must admit that during the planning stages I got a little concerned when I found out that Laurie had double-booked me & nferrandi’s wedding. She is not a huge business so I was worried that she might not be able to handle both and that one wedding or the other would suffer for it but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. I did send her a panicky email during that time and she told me “remember what I said to you – the one thing you won’t have to worry about on your wedding day is your flowers” ... and she was right. I resolved to let it go and trust Laurie and everything went perfect with my flowers.

She is organized, really listens to AND GETS what you want, answers emails promptly, and is very flexible. I had the pleasure of actually running into Laurie on my wedding day. Jim and I went down to see our ballroom all set up before it got filled up with guests and she was there, just wrapping things up. It was so nice to see her and she was so sweet, she even fixed Jim’s bout for him that he unraveled when he changed tuxes and pinned it back on him.

I also think Laurie deserves all the credit for my wedding cake not being a total disaster (I’ll get to that later). She did a beautiful job on the cake, cake table, place card table, and our sweetheart table.

Here's a good shot of the girls with their flowers... I guess my MOH was taking this pic because she's not in it...




Here's my two RBs with my other FG



Me with my Aunt and her daughter, one of my FGs... she started crying when I asked her to take a picture with me!

Duet - Photograhy & Videography - 10 for the day of (will grade again after I receive proofs)

The moment I saw Eric’s face, I felt so much more at ease with my day. He showed up with my long list of must-take photos and just started banging away at it with the other two photographers. A few minutes after they arrived, his cell phone rang and he told me that our third photographer had arrived at Jim’s house. Everything was going perfectly!! We started doing my getting ready shots and they were so easy to work with. They made me feel completely comfortable and I suddenly felt I didn’t even need that must-take photo list. Or at the very least, it could have been a lot shorter.

Lesson to Be Learned : I said it once before but don’t give your photographer a Must-Take Photo list that is too long. Mine was about 6 pages long and as soon as Duet began working, I realized it was totally unnecessary. The people you hire are professionals. (Hopefully) they’ve been doing weddings for years, so trust them to do the job you are paying them to do. This is coming from a major control freak.

Anyway, for the day of, Duet gets a 10. They were very professional, 90% of the time I didn’t even know they were there and didn’t even realize how good of a job they were doing until someone came up to me at the reception and said – “I can’t believe how amazing your photographers are! If something’s happening, they are THERE. They are all over the place! You are going to have amazing pictures!” I hope this doesn’t offend anyone because it is meant as a compliment: My entire bridal party was calling them “The Ninja Crew” all day - because they would disappear and reappear where the action was in the blink of an eye – they moved stealthily and quietly, never spoiling a moment – totally non-intrusive!!! We had a total of three photographers and one videographer so we totally felt like we had our own little private paparazzi – it was awesome!

Working with Duet up until the day of was also great. They are very organized and upfront about their pricing (unlike some other shady photographers I met with). They let us customize our package when we booked and they were easy to deal with when I changed my date from 4/30/2005 to 10/9/2004. Language was never a problem with us and they were always responsive to emails and phone calls.

Here is one of my BMs with my two 'helpers'... they passed out the programs, tissue packs and ribbon wands that are in those baskets (decorated by my MIL) at the church...

Royalty Limousines - Limos - 10 and 9.0

There’s a reason for the two scores and I will explain.

I got my first taste of Royalty when I booked them for my Bachelorette Party. Manny was great on the phone, matched a coupon price from Atlantis Limos, and even promised to be our stripper if we wanted! We got Mike, instead, as our driver and he was AMAZING. Went totally above and beyond the call. Let’s just say he picked up my sloshed MOH off the driveway in a deadlift and carried her up two flights of stairs in his arms. Mike alone gets a 10 . Mike arrived early, with a fully stocked bar and tons of champagne, the limo was a white 10 passenger even though I only paid for a black 8 passenger. So for that, Royalty gets a perfect score of 10.

Jim booked our limos so I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Manny but Jim is a very good judge of character (if a highly judgmental one) and if he liked him, that means he was great. Prior to the wedding, dealing with them was pretty good. Well, that is to say, Manny was great
Prior to the wedding, dealing with some of the women on the phone though, was not the best. Nothing really bad, just that they could have been more friendly and courteous on the phone, IMO.

On our wedding day the Escalade arrived at Jim’s house early and in good condition. However, the driver left a little to be desired. He didn’t do anything to improve our image of him after that either. He got the groom and the groomsmen to the church on time and then he was supposed to head over to me and pick up my bridesmaids. Meanwhile, back at my aunt’s house where I was getting ready, my Excalibur and driver arrived a bit early (a great thing because it calms your nerves a lot that day to see everything falling into place on time). Before I knew it, it was time to go off to the church to get married.

But, our other limo, the Escalade, was no where to be found . My bridesmaids had no ride even though I was ready to go, right on time. My driver was courteous and very knowledgeable. I feel bad that I don’t remember his name. The first thing he said to me after “Congratulations” was read back our timeline to me for the day and make some suggestions for keeping us on schedule. He knew his way around, and the quickest ways to get there. He did everything he could to find out where the heck our other limo driver was with the Escalade.

At first it didn’t bother me at all because we were still making excellent time... then as the minutes ticked by and it was a few minutes past my scheduled ceremony start time, I started to get worried. But before I let it get to me, I quickly started making fun of the situation. The bridesmaids started pretending to hitch rides to the church (from a passing mail truck for one, who was more than willing to oblige! NOW THAT would have been an entrance!!), I made a little speech to them all thanking them for being ready on time and noting that yes, I would be late to my own WEDDING, but it was NOT our fault!

Soon after, the Escalade pulled up to much cheering from everyone standing on the lawn of my aunts house. The thing that bugged me though, is that he (the driver) was totally unapologetic and even a little cocky... Anyway, so I got to my ceremony 20 minutes late. But that was only thing that went wrong ALL day and for that I am extremely grateful.

Here is me and my MOH waiting for the LATE limo to arrive... she surprised me that day with ancient pictures of us from when we were little... they were so cute... pics of us with funny haircuts, vacations we took together... toys we fought over... and the last pic -- a pic of my late grandmother... she was REALLY TRYING to make me cry!!



Meanwhile...back at the church... Jim had no idea I was running late!




Royalty would have gotten an even lower score from me had it not been for this saving grace. The driver of our Excalibur was excellent and when we went into overtime (which I knew we would) he worked his magic and got us a huge discount on the overtime because of the other driver being late. I said to him – “Wait a minute – YOUR company made me 20 minutes late to my wedding ceremony and now they want to charge me full price for OVERTIME?” He said, “You are absolutely right!” and did his thing!! To the other driver’s credit, he got lost... I don’t know HOW since my aunt’s house is literally FIVE BLOCKS from the church, but he did and that’s why he was late (allegedly). He may have gotten bad directions from the main office or something, but his attitude didn’t win him any points back. Lesson to Be Learned : So another tip for you brides to be – you can haggle with your vendors even ON YOUR WEDDING day!!!

Our return car was a GORGEOUS 10 passenger stretch – the inside was sooo luxurious!!! That was a great surprise at the end of the night! So for our driver, getting us to our locations safely and in luxury, for our return car and keeping us on schedule – Royalty gets a 9.0 that really wants to be higher!

The girls in the Escalade...

The Ceremony begins....and so does the nervousness!

I was pretty calm all day... even after realizing that I was going to be 20 minutes late to my own wedding. But once that Escalade arrived and my BP piled in and when my limo was driving us on our extremely short drive to the church, THAT’s when the nerves finally hit. It was me, my dad, my mom, and my MOH... me and her started singing 'Going to the chapel.... etc' and it was great for keeping me calm... total silence would have made me faint as would have idle chatter. My parents were absolutely silent. Me and Nancy (MOH) SAAAANG at the top of our lungs... until we pulled up to the church...

...the limo played 'here comes the bride' on the horn and I choked on the second chorus of Going to the Chapel... my mouth went completely dry instantaneously... my face started to get hot and a lump was forming in my throat... my heart was pounding... my hands started shaking... I looked over out the window at the church and saw all my groomsmen standing outside the church in perfect formation, hands crossed in front of them like such gentlemen (I'll never forget that view).... and THEN... my stomach did an Olympic somersault like I've never felt before in my life... butterflies is not even the word... I looked at Nancy and she went 'Oh my God!' and covered her eyes for a minute... she looked back up at me and said -- 'Wow! You are GLOWING!'

I somehow managed to squeak out 'Okay, well, I guess that means I'm ready... LET'S GET MARRIED!!!'

And the limo door opened... he opened the other side for me too so I could get some air (thank God for that) and my HAIRDRESSER came running up to the limo. This is the woman who has done my hair for years so she is kind of a friend of the family and I know her very well. I was shocked to see her there. She goes 'I just had to see your hair one last time and make sure it was perfect!' Then she burst into tears and ran away.

Then... my mom got out... then my dad... then Nancy took one last long look at me and smiled and then she got out. Then it was just me...I'm sure it was only 30 seconds that I was in there by myself but it felt like an eternity.

I finally stepped out and the limo driver fixed my train and veil for me and walked me up the stairs and stood me next to my Dad.... now this THIS was the moment ... the PEAK of nervousness...

The bridal party was lined up in front of me and the harpist began playing 'Con Te Partiro'... I started to well up and my legs started to shake uncontrollably... at this point I was thinking 'THANK GOD my dress is so big so no one can see my knees knocking together like this!!!'

... my knees got weak... I linked my arm around my Dad's and that kept me from passing out...then I realized I wasn't breathing... so I took a deep breath and BOOM!

The doors to the church slammed shut! I just caught a tiny glimpse of what seemed like 100 smiling faces then it was just me and my Dad. The limo drivers said 'Are you Ready?' I looked at my Dad who also looked ready to pass out but he smiled and said 'Yes, I'm ready'. Canon in D starts playing and my heart skips a beat...

... And the doors slowly opened... and there it was... my wedding... staring back at me... people smiling, crying, whispering, gasping, cameras flashing, bright, really bright lights and me walking, crawling ever so slowly... taking in every moment...and scanning... scanning looking for....my GROOM!!! Once my eyes met his at the other end of the aisle... the rest of the world fell away completely... there was nothing else. No one else but me and him. My Groom... waiting for his bride at the end of aisle.... and I smiled.... I smiled all the way down the aisle.

Jeanne Goldstein - Harpist (Ceremony Music) - 9.9

Jeanne was recommended to me by my church’s music director who I planned my ceremony music details with. I really wanted a string quartet but the budget just did not allow for it. Jeanne was affordable (I think around $200) and from what little I heard of her playing on my wedding day, she played beautifully. She was great to work with prior to the ceremony and even learned “Con Te Partiro” for my ceremony (I bought her the music). Some of the songs for the ceremony I left completely up to her to decide. When Jim and I lit the Unity Candle, I don’t know what she played but it was sooooo beautiful!!! I can’t wait to see my video so I can really hear her play. Lesson to Be Learned : It’s going to be tough, but try really hard to listen for your ceremony musicians during your ceremony. It’s really weird because your brain almost blocks it out, but if you tell yourself beforehand to pay attention, maybe you’ll get to capture a few notes of the soundtrack to your ceremony! It’ll be so worth it!

Our Lady of the Assumption, Copiague - Ceremony - 9.0

This has been my church for many, many years. They are relatively strict (no petal can be thrown down the aisle, nothing can be thrown outside, shoulders must be covered in the church, etc) but our officiant, Deacon Phil, made the entire process of planning our ceremony there so pleasant and actually fun. I expected much worse from this church but thankfully, our ceremony turned out so beautiful. It was really the BEST PART of our wedding day, Jim and I both agreed. Deacon Phil did a little question and answer session with us a few weeks prior to the wedding to get to know us better so that when he did our homily, it was so personalized to us. It was lovely.

They lose a point for not letting me throw rose petals!! Every bride deserves to walk down a path of rose petals on her wedding day!!!! BUT, in a way, I am thankful for this restriction because it helped create one of the most endearing and memorable things about my wedding. Since I wasn’t allowed to have my flowergirls throwing petals down the aisle, I had to come up with something else. I came up with the idea that my flower girls would each carry a basket of short stemmed individual roses. As they walked down the aisle, they were to hand out an individual rose to each (or every other ) person on the end of the aisles.

As luck would have it, the day of, one of the baskets with the roses went missing. It turned up just as the two flower girls started walking up the aisle (one second too late!). But even this was better. Now, the girls shared one basket between the two of them... IT WAS SOOOOO ADORABLE!!! The church went nuts with “awwwww!” Of course, since there was only one basket now, it meant less roses so they ran out pretty quickly. When they got to the end of the aisle, Cecilia (one of the Fgs), threw her hands up in the air and said to the Priest “I’m sorry! There’s no more flowers!!” And proceeded to give the Priest a HI FIVE!!!! The church burst into laughter! Lesson to Be Learned : The little mishaps on your wedding day will be what makes it uniquely YOUR day. They will contribute to creating those memories about your wedding that will last a lifetime and give you and your guests something to laugh about and talk about for years to come. So don’t fear them – expect them! And when they happen – embrace them!!

And here they are... getting a huge kick out of the fact that the roses ran out!

After The Ceremony....

The ceremony was over in the blink of an eye even though we did a full mass. If anyone is debating between doing the full mass or just the ceremony – I strongly recommend you do the full mass. It was so beautiful and it really went by fast. You get much more music and more time to appreciate the meaning of what you are doing, IMO.




We did a receiving line and it went by really fast too. Only took about ten minutes. Then we ran to our Excalibur. This was one of the most treasured moments of our day. At first I debated with Jim a lot over whether we should ride in the limo with the BP or not but I was so happy to have those few moments on our way to the pictures with my new husband. We cracked open a bottle of champagne, toasted our new marriage, and reminisced over our morning chaos and our beautiful ceremony. Riding with your new husband alone after the ceremony – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

That's my mom in the light purple gown... she ended up getting a different dress! I loved this gown on her...



Here's the BP having a blast in the limo...






Old Westbury Gardens - Photo Location - 9.0

Amazingly, we pulled into OWG only 5 minutes late of our scheduled start time. They give you a guide that day, our guide’s name was Diane (if I remember correctly). It’s a necessary thing to have otherwise you will definitely go over on your time. They keep you moving and away from the other weddings on site that day. But our guide was a little too intrusive with our photographer. She kept telling him what shots to take like “Oh, everybody does this picture, like this, right here”. That was annoying and I just wanted to yell at her “Leave them alone – maybe I DON’T WANT the SAME SHOTS EVERYONE ELSE TAKES!!!” I think me shooting her a couple of looks and commenting that we wanted more photojournalistic shots helped her get the hint.

The time there went by sooooo fast. The ground was a little mushy and wet in some places so my gown and shoes got filthy (only underneath my gown so you couldn’t see it anyway). She recommended me changing into sneakers – I was like HELL NO! But she took us to all the good spots and at the end, when we were out of time, she still let us take a few shots in front of the mansion which I desperately wanted. She carried my train for me and fixed my veil when necessary and I was very thankful for that.

OWG is very expensive ($355 for 1.5hrs ) but I think it was worth it. I think we will have nice photos because of it. One tip here for the brides – HAVE SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF FIXING YOUR TRAIN AND GOWN FOR PICTURES! My BMs were useless for this. You think that your MOH will be on top of it, but she probably won’t even be thinking about it so try to emphasize the importance of this (and keeping an eye on your makeup) early in the day. No one was fixing my veil or train and no one would tell me when I needed more lipstick so I’m a little concerned how I will look in my pics but what can ya do?

On To The Reception!!!

Our limo backed into the SandCastle entrance way and we were immediately met by our TWO Maitre’ds and our TWO bridal attendants. I had tons of junk in the limo and before I even knew it, the bridal attendants had all my stuff in their hands, including my bouquet.

They basically had a whole person assigned to carrying my bouquet around all night! I thought it was hysterical! I felt like J.LO – “um, yes, where is my bo-k carrier?”




After I went to the bridal suite, my Maitre’d took me by the hand and led me through my entire cocktail hour – I saw every station, every delicious looking morsel of food and the beautiful ice sculpture I was completely surprised with. SandCastle’s CH totally blew me away! Our bridal suite was gorgeous and fully stocked with tons of goodies from the CH... what little I got to taste of it, was to DIE FOR!!!




Elegancia Entertainment - DJ - 10!

(Skipping to the DJ review now, since I want to save SandCastle for last). I had the hardest time finding a DJ. We had had some pretty bad experience with other DJ at our pre-wedding parties. Because my family is Latino, big dancers & big partiers while Jim’s family is Italian, a little older and less inclined to boogie – this proved to be a difficult task to find the perfect DJ. At our E-party our DJ played too much disco and not enough latin. At my shower, the DJ played way too much latin and not enough “English” music.

But Elegancia specializes in multi-cultural weddings like ours. They were well worth the LONG drive to Bayridge, Brooklyn (now they moved to Floral Park). Jose and Lucy (the husband and wife team owners) completely understood what we were looking for in a DJ/MC team and their prices were very reasonable. It was one of the few vendors that I came in under budget on. We didn’t want the light show or giveaways, etc so our middle of the line package was $1400.

Louie and his wife were our DJ/MC team and they were excellent. Louie had 30 years experience (no kids Djing with this company!) and spoke both Spanish and English fluently and without accent. You wouldn’t even think it possible but they played the perfect mix of hip hop, reggae, merengue, salsa, bachata, swing, disco, Sinatra, Pop, EVERYTHING!!! You couldn’t even tell the difference in genre sometimes the way they mixed and it was great because it kept the dance floor packed all night.

Elegancia is very professional, very organized, and they listen to what you want. I would highly recommend them even if you aren’t having a multicultural affair and I would DEFINITELY use them again. I got tons of compliments from my guests on them - - that night. Lucy even showed up for a little while to say hello and see how everything was going. The only thing I would do different is that (if I had the money) I would have gotten the live percussion accompaniment they offer. I saw it on video and it is beyond amazing!!!