At Long Last - MY Wedding Review

Well, ladies after 18 months of planning, I married my Keith on 7/5/03. It was a beautiful day - for those of you who may have forgotten yesterday's weather It was, however, excruciatingly HOT when we took pics outside.

Now for a quick review before we take my parents out to dinner.

JN - A. I loved my make-up. It was me, only better. Not an overly made-up stranger. People were complimenting me all day.

Cactus Salon (Islandia) - B+. They were a little late getting there to open early. They did my hair and the hair and make-up for all of my girls. They did an excellent job on the hair and make-up. We were allowed to bring in food and drink and they were fine with JN coming in to do my make-up. But they were much SLOWER than they had estimated and some of the girls were running in to get dressed as the photographer was setting up. They also charged more for some things than they had told me. I left money with my Mom to pay so I didn't know until later. Also they told me it was $25 to open early and they charged $25 for each hour they opened early. But everyone looked great, which I suppose was the point.

St. Margaret of Scotland Church - F. They are a nightmare. Nearly every experience I had with them was miserable. They at first told me I could have my rehearsal on Fri, then a few months before the wedding realized that would be July Fourth and told me I had to do it on Thursday. They gave me a hard time about that, changed the person performing the ceremony, wouldn't let us take pics inside the church after the ceremony... the list goes on. The kicker was when the organ died as the result of a power surge so half of my bridal party walked down the isle in total silence. They did get the back-up organ working for my entrance.

Flower Michelle - A-. John was awesome. I was a total flower moron and he did a wonderful job despite my almost complete lack of direction. I highly recommend him to someone who knows nothing about flowers and has no idea what kind of flowers / what color of flowers she wants. He was a pleasure to work with. The reason he has a minus is that I went through the trouble of collecting a few BM wraps (which we weren't using) becuase he was supposed to wrap them aroung the material he was wrapping the bouqets in to mimc the dress - and that never happened.

Laurie Studio - I will wait until after I see my proofs/album, but Ken was awesome. He was fun and he did not grab anyone to move them - which I hate. Everyone was very comfortable with him and I did not see him after we took our formals except for when he asked my Dad and I to pause during our dance to look at him and smile.

Wild Rose - Pretty much the same as Ken. I was very comfortable with Bill and I literally didn't see him once after we took our formals until he came up to say good-bye. I was amazed that videograpy could be that unobtrusive.

In the Mood DJ - B. Mike was our MC. He was great to deal with during the planning and the day of the wedding. However, he convinced us that we needed a DJ and an MC and there was some girl with him who I did not see do one single thing and I think I could have spent less money and gotten the same result if it was just him working. Everyone danced all night. But I had a dancing crowd to begin with. He did a good job of selecting songs that kept people wanting to dance. BUT, I gave him a modest must play list and he did not play about HALF of those songs. He did not play the sing I requested when the bridal party entered and he started to play When I'm 64 during the cake cutting and then caught himself and changed to the song to what I had requested. I feel like a lot of what I wanted was blatantly ignored. I would have been open to suggestions if he felt that I was making poor song choices, but that is not what happened. Bottom line, I would chose them again, but I would be more of a control freak with them and I would have had one person as the DJ/MC.

Hamlet Wind Watch - A+. They were wonderful. The food was amazing and there was so much of it. People were raving and have been calling us all day to tell us how much fun they had and how impressed they were with the food and the service. They did everything that I had wanted and I did not have to do one single thing at the reception except enjoy myself. I would highly recommend the Hamlet to anyone.

My day was wonderful. It was so much better than I ever expected. And I was actually so calm and relaxed all day, even when the organ died at the church, which is also something I never expected. Keith and I rode by ourselves in the limo to the hall which was one of the best decisions we made. We opened a bottle of champagne and just enjoyed each others company. We actually sat out in front of the Hamlet for another glass before we got out of the limo because we wanted more time. After the pics we spent some time alone in the Bridal Suite. Those were some of my favorite moments. I would suggest to all Brides-To-Be to find some moments alone with your husband during your wedding day.

I will try to post pics as I get them.

I can't believe it is over, but I am so happy to finally be married.