9-24-04 Huntington Townhouse Wedding Review w/Pics!

Rehearsal Dinner
Rating: 95
La Famiglia
250 West Main Street
Smithtown, NY 11787
La Famiglia Website

We had the “rehearsal dinner” on Thursday September 23. We didn’t do an actual rehearsal, we only had the dinner. The dinner was held at La Famiglia in Smithtown. We had 40 people and had the family style catering. They had 4 tables set up for us ( 10 people each). They way it worked was we picked some dishes off their menu and they made 1 of each per table and everyone at the table shared. If you go to their website you can see the menu. Here are the items we had: Appetizers: fried calamari, mozzarella sticks, baked clams, eggplant rollatini, tri-color salad.
Pastas: Campagnola and Penne alla vodka.
Entrees: Chicken Marsala, Sole Oreganata, Eggplant Parmigiana.
Dessert: Fresh pastries.
Full Bar.
For all 40 people the total price including full bar was $1200. They don't charge per person, they charge per dish of food. The drinks were at least 1/2 of the bill so my suggestion to save money would not to have the full bar and just do wine and soda. The food was excellent! One of my concerns when booking the place was we were going to run out of food because of the family style way of serving... I though some people would take more then their fair share and other people would be left with nothing. That didn't happen! There was MORE than enough food to go around. They packed up all of the leftovers for us which was great because my MIL had family from OOT staying at her house. The service was excellent. And we had 1/2 of the restaurant to ourselves .

Wedding Day 9/24/04
I went to bed on Thursday night around Midnight. I was very calm and relaxed! I woke up on Friday pretty early, about 7 am, because of a loud bird chirping outside of my window. I wanted to sleep a little longer but couldn’t fall back asleep because I was so excited. I got out of bed and my mom was already awake. A few minutes later my sister and her husband got to my house. They brought me a bagel which I ate up right away. I ate almost the whole thing and it felt like a rock in my stomach. Some of you may know I have really bad stomach problems so I was a little worried at this point about my stomach, but everything ended up being OK. At this point it was only about 8 am. My hair and make-up people were coming to my house at 11 am. I was going STIR CRAZY for those 3 hours. First my sister and I looked at pictures on her laptop for a while. Then I put on Elvis and was dancing with Gizmo to Burning Love over and over. Finally I just gave in a logged on to Liweddings. I was so bored and it really helped occupy my time and keep me relaxed. A few of you yelled at me though for being on the website on my wedding day! I went outside and yelled “I’m getting married today!!!” and did a cartwheel! Which brings me to the weather.

Weather
Rating: 100
Beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky! The temperature was in the 70’s with no humidity. It was the perfect weather for a wedding. I couldn’t have imagined a better day!

Danielle
Rating: 95
Danielle is one of my good friends that recently started working at Ulta doing make-up. She is not a certified make-up artist, but her make-up always looks perfect. She does eyes similar to Oksana. She offered to do my bridesmaids and families make-up for the wedding. She did my mom, my grandmother, my aunt, and my bridesmaid Kelly. All 4 of them looked great! The only reason why I didn’t give her 100 is because since she is just starting out she didn’t have in her collection all the colors of make-up we wanted. I went to the store with her a week before and bought the colors she was missing, but she did the make-up for free so it was a fair trade. I don’t have any close up pictures of their make-up right now but you can see it is the regular pictures. If anyone wants Danielle’s information FM me J

My Make-Up and Hair
Jillian from Gorgeous Faces and Sarah Rock
Rating: 90
Website
When I saw Xelindrya's hair and make-up trial pictures I knew I had to schedule a trial with Jillian and Sarah. Here are the pics from my hair and make-up trial.
Hair and Make-up trial post Originally I was supposed to have my hair and make-up done at Cactus hair salon in Commack where Jillian and Sarah work. About a month before the wedding Jillian called me and said that she quit the salon because she was now strictly working on brides. Instead of me going to the salon they were going to come to my house the day of the wedding. The problem with that is I was supposed to pay cactus salon prices which are about 1/2 of what they charge when they come to the house. Unfortunately they wanted more money than the salon prices since they were coming to me, but they gave me a great discount compared to what they usually charge. This is the only reason why they didn't score a 100 because my hair and make-up were both absolutely perfect. Jillian and Sarah both took my suggestions from the trial and on the wedding day everything was just how I imagined it would be. My hair was a little on the big side but I have so much thick hair! Jillian, Sarah, and I had such a great time together! They said I was one of the most relaxed and happiest brides they have ever seen! And that was definitely true. We had such a great time that we made plans to go out when I returned from the honeymoon! My sister (MOH) also used Sarah for hair. I thought her hair looked really cute! It took me 1 hour for my hair and 1 hour for my make-up. Here are some unprofessional pics of hair and make-up. If you look in the link under photographer you can see some of the professional pictures.
Hair in progress:



All done







My sister… her hair was so cute! It was ½ up and ½ down. The top was all twists and knots and the ends hung out in the back. My sister’s hair is very thick and long also, obviously!

Veil
Veilshop
Rating: 85
Veil Shop
I ordered the veil and it was at my house in less than a week. The price was reasonable… I forgot the exact amount but it was around $40. The veil was ivory, single layer, fingertip length, with fine embroidered edge. I ordered a swatch from veilshop first and it came quickly also. I was very happy with the website and their service. I give them an 80 though because in some pictures the veil looks very white and shiny! In person it was ivory and matte and looked much better quality than in the pictures.

Tiara
Ebay. Seller: eden_jewel
Rating: 80
Here is the picture from ebay:
I can’t remember exactly how much I paid but it was about $12 with shipping. I had no problems with the seller. To be honest the bottom of the tiara looked a little cheap the way it was lined with rhinestones, but the top was exactly what I was looking for. I was hoping the height of my hair would draw the eyes up to the top of the tiara. Overall I was very pleased!
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Now it was about 1:30. Laurie from LA Blossom came over with the flowers. When I saw the flowers I almost started crying!
Flowers
LA Blossom
Rating: 100
LA Blossom
LA Blossom was probably my BEST vendor. The first time I met Laurie she stayed over for about 2 hours discussing flowers with Ray and I. I was so indecisive about what I wanted and Laurie was always very patient with me and had such great ideas. In fact I was so indecisive that I never could find a picture or even describe a bouquet that I would want for myself. I finally told Laurie to mix the same light pink callas from the bridesmaids bouquet with white ones to tie in our centerpiece, and add light pink and ivory roses to that. I trusted her to come up with something beautiful and that is what she did!
The bouquets... mine is on the top.

MOH bouquet:

Look at the way it as tied... I loved that!!! She was perfect down to every detail! I don't have a picture of my bouquet alone but you will see me holding it in all the rest of the pictures. You will also see the bouts and corsages in pictures to come.
I am going to jump ahead for a second to the reception... the centerpieces were so simple but elegant at the same time.


Throwaway bouquet (a mini version of mine)

There are some more flower pictures if you look at the link to wedding proofs below.

After Laurie left, Duet arrived.

Photography and Videography
Duet
Casual Day Shoot Rating: 100
Wedding Day Rating: 100
Quality of pictures rating: 100
Video rating: Pending
Album rating: Pending
Duet website
We had Alberto and Charlie for photos. Hong was our videographer.
Alberto came to my house about 1:45 to take pictures of me getting ready. Charlie did the same at Rays house. I was a bad bride and never gave them a list of must take pictures. That day I kept on saying “Oh yeah Alberto, can you get a picture of xxx?” He did everything I asked. They were on time a prepared. Their accents were not a problem at all. The only thing is Alberto is a little soft spoken for my rowdy bridal party. I had to keep yelling at them to be quiet because I couldn’t hear Alberto speak! The videographer was not in the way at all. We took pictures at the Planting Fields Arboretum before heading to the Huntington Townhouse. As far as the casual day shoot goes, I had a blast with Alberto and I loved all of my proofs.
Link to my Casual Day pictures.
Link to some wedding proofs!
What goes along with the casual day pics was the signing board. It was a big hit at the wedding. Some of my guests said to me that we looked like models and 3 different couples asked for their information that night!
Here is the signing board.


They brought a silver pen with the signing board. That pen wasn't showing up and didn't work that well. One of my pens from the guest book that was black became the new pen. That would be the only thing I would be concerned about with Duet...ask for a black pen! As far as pre-wedding relations go, Nicole was always there to answer any questions by email within a day or two. It was a pleasure dealing with them. And in my opinion they have the best value for the money. I couldn’t believe how inexpensive their packages were because I really loved their work. The other inexpensive photographers I saw had very cheesy looking pictures. Overall I am very happy with my choice of photographer. I will edit the rating for video after I receive the video, and I will update a rating for the album.
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UPDATE:
I recieved my video on May 31st. I thought it was really quick since I just gave them the songs and photos for the montage on May5th. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way the video came out. We had these chapters:
I had:
- Baby/Dating Photo Montage
- Preparation
- Ceremony
- Photo shoot
- Reception
- Recap
- Honeymoon Photo Montage
Everything was perfect! My mom said it was the best wedding video she ever saw, and my sister who was married last year asked if Duet would re-edit her raw footage for her because she loved my video so much.
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When I started getting dressed I was still very calm and relaxed. My sister helped and I can’t wait to see my proofs! me get dressed while Alberto photographed. I LOVED MY DRESS! Some of you may remember me not liking it during the fittings but once I put it on that day it was really my dream wedding dress. The dress was Mon Cheri 23243.



It was ivory and spun gold which I call champagne. It was actually the first dress I tried on and right when I got it on I knew it was the one. I tried on about 10 more dresses after that to make sure though. Me in my dress



I ordered my dress and the bridesmaid dresses from the Commack Wedding Center.
Bride Gown and Bridesmaid Dresses
The Commack Wedding Center
Rating: 80
The wedding center Website
My dress was hollow to hem. The length came in perfectly! Helene was the woman there who helped me. She is the sweetest lady there. She also was the one to help my family for my sister’s wedding in March of 2004. The bridesmaid dresses were also ordered correctly. I had no problems and the prices couldn’t be beat. The only reason they got an 80 was for their lack of friendliness. Helene was super nice, but everyone else was grouchy. JMO! I also want to add when we got the alterations done there for my sister’s wedding all the alterations were screwed up. For that reason I went somewhere else for my alterations.
Here is a picture of the bridesmaid dresses. They are Dessy/After 6 in the color shown, Rose.

This dress was only $130 and all of my BMs loved it and say they will wear it again. I received so many compliments on the dresses. Me and my beautiful Bridesmaids

While I am on the topic of dresses, here is my mothers dress.
MOB Dress
Dorothy Walsh
Rating: 100

She got it in the color shown, sand. It was very soft and beautiful in person. I don’t know the designer or style number of the dress… sorry! But I can tell you she purchased it at Dorothy Walsh, a store located in Northport. My mom was very happy with the service there. Dorothy Walsh actually recommended my seamstress to me also! Pic of my mom in her dress:

I’ll finish up attire…
Flowergirl dress
ebay. Seller: glambagirl
Rating: 100
Great price ~$50. Quick shipment, exactly as described. Would use again!



Tuxes
Men's Wearhouse near Smithhaven Mall
Rating: 100
We had no problems with the tuxes. Everything was the right size and exactly what we ordered. The staff was very nice and helpful when we went to choose the tuxes. I am very happy with our choice.

Shoes
JC Penney
Raing: 100
My shoes were not wedding-y at all! They were made by Mudd, the style was Annette. You can see them in the garter removal pictures. They were champagne and match ed my dress perfectly. They were very comfortable, I actally had a pair in black first so I knew they would be. And the best part is they were only $25!

Jewelry
Macys
Rating 85
I was on the search for the pefect jewelry for months! I finally found it a few days before my wedding. The only problem is, it was real pearls and diamonds. So although I loved my jewelry the price was a little steep, even with the 50% and 15% off sale Macys had. My jewelry (earrings and necklace) cost about $600!!!!But I will have them forever! You can see my jewelry in pictures to follow.

Jets Garter
ebay Seller: bonniebelle13
Rating: 100
This was a little surprise for Ray since he is a big Jets fan. This garter was about $12 including shipping. Shipping was quick, no problems whatsoever.


Seamstress
Nives
Rating: 90
Phone number: 631-269-4532
Nives was recommended by Dorothy Walsh (where my mom got her dress). She used towork there but recently retired and now works out of her home in Kings Park. Everything turned out just the way I wanted it. She was insisting on not doing the bustle the way I wanted because she was afraid the dress would rip or get dirty. She did it her way and I made her change it to my way because I hated it the way she did it! That is why she got a 90 and not 100. She was very quick and available around my schedule. Alterations including cups were only $80 J If you call her please say I recommended you! She gave me permission to give out her name and number.
From 1:45-2:30 Alberto took pictures of me, me with my family, and me with my bridesmaids. At 2:30 the Limo picked up Ray and the boys and brought them to my house. When I saw the clock approaching 2:30 I started to get nervous for the first time in the day. Suddenly the clock struck 2:30 and I went into a panic. I was so hot but I was also in a cold sweat. I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe or stand anymore. I swear I almost fainted. I was so worried about seeing Ray for the first time. What if he thought I was hideous?

Limos
Sir Oliver
Rating: 95
Sir Oliver website
In my experiences limo companies are very shady! From the moment I met Rich I knew we were going to book Sir Oliver. He was very upfront, honest, and to the point. He didn’t have any of the bull that I have seen at limo companies before. We booked the 2004 Stretch Hummer limo and a 10 passenger limo. When we later changed out minds about the 10 passenger limo (we got it for our parents and they didn’t want it, they wanted to drive) he removed it from the contract with no problem. Taryn was always available to answer questions through Forum Mail. The day of the wedding, Rich was our driver and he called to say he would be 10 minutes late arriving to Ray’s house. The car was clean and stocked with alcohol. He drove the boys to my house, then all of us to Planting Fields Arboretum, then to the Huntington Townhouse. Rich was very helpful when it came time to exit or enter the limo. Without him I probably would have fell out! Besides the 10 minutes late which was really no big deal, everything else was perfect!

Officiant
Rev. Michael Callahan
Rating: 50
Rev. Callahan was suppossed to be our officiant. We met with him because of recommendations from LIW brides. When we met him, Ray and I knew right away he would be perfect to perform our ceremony. He was such a nice guy and easy to talk to. I usually feel really uncomfortable around priests or reverends but with him I was totally fine. He was always helful answering questions over email. I was very excited to use him, I even recommended him to a friend/ride from here Kim425. We were at their ceremony in April and he did a great job!
The night before our wedding right before we were leaving for the rehearsal dinner, I got a call from Rev. Callahan. He said he was very sick and would not be able to perform our ceremony. He said a friend of him, Rev. Tom McCormick, would be there in his place Then he asked me if we picked out a reading yet, who was doing the reading, etc...I was like WHAT!!! We just went over this a few days ago and yu have everything summarized in an email (since I am anal). I am so glad I typed out the ceremony outline because we immediately called the new reverend and got his email address and sent him over the outine. Then later Rev. Callahan 'remembered' what we discussed and 'found' the email. I really believe he was delerious from being sick because he was never like this before. He was always so great to deal with. So needless to say I was very nervous about the ceremony, escpeially since we never met the officiant before.

Officiant
Rev. Tom McCormick
Rating: 100
As soon as we pulled up to the HTH Rev. McCormick approached us in the lobby and introduced himself. He was so friendly and put our minds at ease. He performed the ceremony exactly as I pictured it. I was very happy with him. Coming last minute like that and getting every detail right. I don't have any contact info for him at the moment but I would definitely recommend him. I will get the info from Ray ASAP!

Ceremony Music - String Trio
Counterpoint
Rating Before Ceremony: 50
Rating day of: 90
[email protected]
Christina Sprague is who I dealt with.
I have a mixed review for Counterpoint. The charged $100 per instrument per hour, but that is only 1/2 hour ceremony, that includes set up and leaving. I got a string trio so it was $300 plus $25 travel fee. It can be up to $75 depending on distance. I was dealing with Christina. She was always so nice and helpful though email and phone. When it came time to book she mailed me a contract. It took over 2 weeks to recieve the contract, and the contract I recieved was all wrong. It was 1/2 my info and 1/2 someone elses. I spoke to her about it and she said she must have not saved it after she entered my info in over the other persons, she was so sorry, and she would send me a new contract today. I was like OK, thats an easy mistake to make, I forgave her...Well it took over 2 weeks to recieve the new one. Then my hall said they required proof of insurance, so before I would mail the check back I was verifying she had insurance and we ended up fighting, she was telling me I am wrong string trios don't need insurance, and I said well thats what my hall told me. In the end she worked it out with the hall. SO FYI she doesn't have insurance. The day of the trio perfromed beautifully. When I heard them I wanted to cry! But since HTH is on a busy road they werent quite loud enough, and they don't use microphones. So keep all that in mind.

Reception Hall
Huntington Townhouse
Rating: 80
Everyone on here knows the HUntington Townhouse was not my first choice in reception halls. We both come from big families and have a lot of close friends that we wanted at the wedding. We were torn between having the wedding at a fancier more expensive place but inviting less people, or inviting everyone and having it at somewhere less expensive. We ended up going with the Huntington Townhouse to accomodate all of our guests at a rate of $55 per person. This was the best rate we got for September and we looked at over 10 places. We were dealing with Steven Silver. I have heard some bad refiews about him in the past but for us he was great. We had the ceremony there... it cost $500 for that. Valet parking was an additional $2 per person. When we chose our menu Danae added in a free ice cream bar. Later when we recommended a friend there Steven also added in pastires for each table. Leading up to the wedding it was a pleasure dealing with Steven and Danae.
When I arrived at the HTH on the wedding day I was treated like a queen. Pat, the bridal attendant, was wonderful. She took excellent care of me. You should request her for your bridal attendant if you are getting married there. I forgot our MaitreD's name, but she was a woman of what seemed like Spanish descent. I am very happy with her also. From the brides point of view, the HTH gets a 100! I talked to my LIW table and some close family and friends about the HTH when I returned from the honeymoon to help me write a more accurate review. Everyone said the food was excellent, except for my mom who said her food was cold. I don't know if it really was cold, or if they served it while my mom was up and all around the room, so by the time she ate it it was cold. No one else said that except for my mom. The one thing I noticed that bothered me slightly was long lines at the bar. We had a large crowd of friends who are all big drinkers so we assumed thats why the lines were long. It turns out that my uncle knew one of the bartenders and found out it was his first night!!!! My mother complained to Steven and he offered to throw our family a small party of 35 people as a gift. We said no. So he offered to mail us a $1000 refund for our troubles. The thing is he knows I am coming on here to write a review so I think that is why he was so quick to offer money without me asking for it. That was 2 weeks ago and so far no check is here... TO BE CONTINUED!

Honeymoon
Hawaii
Was a gift from my BIL and SIL
we had the BEST TIME! Here is a link to my honeymoon review!

There will be more to come!
Stay tuned for:::::
*Invitations
*RD invites
*Cry Packs
*Programs
*Huntington Hilton
*Tommys Tunes!!!
*Bridal Party and Parent Gifts!

Graet review

congrats... you looked beautiful...

looking forward to reading the rest of the review...

Embroidered Hoodie
Rating: 100

Embroidery Masterworks Ltd
Address: 214 Commack Rd # D, Commack, NY 11725
Phone: (631) 858-9080

It cost me $15 for 2 lines of embroidery with the choice of font and color. I got 'Just Married' and then the date in slightly smaller letters underneath that. I bought the shirt at Forever 21. Not the BEST quality but I am not going to be wearing this forever. The hoodie was $13! The pants that go with it were $10. I got them both in black and the embroidery in pink.



It ususally takes 1 week for the embroidery but they rushed mine... 6 days! I was very happy with the way it came out and the staff was so nice.

Guestbook
My Publisher
Rating: 100
My Publisher Website
All my guests loved this guestbook. At first I was going to make a collage of us through the years but I decided on this because it is something the guests could sign something longer than they would on the signing board, and we can keep it forever. The book was between $20-30 ( I forgot exactly how much). It arrived quickly and exactly how I wanted it. There have been a lot of deals for my publisher lately, if you search for a coupon code you will probably find one. Here is my post about the guestbook with pictures.

I realized that I did a lot of reviews already in other posts. I am going to post the rating and link to that post here.

Rings
David S. Diamonds
Rating: 90
Very happy with the rings, quality and prices. It took them a few tries to make the wax version on my wedding band exactly right, which was OK, except for the fact that I had to go to the Diamond Distict in NYC numerous times to try it on, and that is far for me being in Suffolk County. Overall Ray and I are both very happy with our rings.
Rings Post
Here is my e-ring, also from the same place.

I will post our actual ring shot from the wedding later, I still have to upload the picture.

Favors
We did a donation to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. These pics show the finished product. The scroll stated we had made a donation. Inside the box was candy (how ironic!)




BOXES and RIBBON
Papermart
Papermart Link
Rating: 100
The boxes and ribbon were from papermart. Definitely the best prices around. The same ribbon at Michaels was more than double the price of these! I received my order quickly and am very happy with the quality.


CALLA LILLY FLOWERS
Michaels
Rating: 80
I used the 40% off coupon every week for these so I got them for a pretty good price. It was about $2-3 for a bag of maybe 40 of them? They were great for attaching the scrolls to the ribbon but everynow and then a flower would fall off. I don't think they are made to be touched a lot, they are very delicate.

CANDY
Costco
Rating: 100
I wanted to do fun candy and candy I liked for the favor. I bought huge bags of mini snickers, twix, milky way, etc. and bags of variety candy. It was $6.99 a bag. I needed about 5 bags for 220 boxes.

Here is a pic of my scroll. I printed them myself, 4 to a page. I cut them out by folding the page in half and in half again to make straight lines, then I used decroative scissors I got from Michaels, onsale for $0.39.

Great Review Julz
Again you guys look so happy together!!!
Congratulations

Julz ...

Great review!!

and you are absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!

Great reveiw julz thanks for the detail in it. You looked beautiful CONGRATULATIONS.

Julie, as usual you put the rest of us to shame!

Thanks for the EXCELLENT review full of details and honest opinions. I'm sure that all the bride-2-be appreciate you taking the time to write it, and even us old married ladies appreciate hearing about your experiences, both pre-wedding and during the wedding day

You were a beautiful bride and everything looked gorgeous.

Overall, you have provided this website and these forums with so much enthusiasm and helpful assistance along the way, and we should thank you for that! One of the reasons LIWs is so great is due to ladies such as yourself, who always go out of their way to lend support and just be a friend to everyone

Thank you for being you! and congratulations again on your marriage I wish you many many happy years together with Ray