Hi I'm New!

Hello and welcome!

I am also new! I read your post and had to reply. I am getting married at Chateau La Mer on Sept. 20, 2008. I live in Yonkers and I also love Long Island. We are also duing the whole beach theme, so maybe we can help eachother out somehow. Do you find a hotel for your out of town guest yet? We went to the new Marriott that Nick told us about and we loved it!
Tara

We should talk and share some ideas on beach theme weddings. I think my mom posted something about this, but we put together message in a bottle invitations for our bridal party to invite them to be in our wedding. They are really cute! They have sand and shells in the bottom and a tropical drink umbrella in there. I made up a verse and typed it on parchment paper in this old looking aqua font. I put a seashell graphic at the top. We did not hand them out yet.

I am inviting all my bridesmaids to a special tea with finger sandwiches and petite desserts. It is at a museum and they are having a bridal show featuring old bridal gowns from the 1800s through the early 1900s. They are also going to talk about where different wedding customs came from. I thought it sounded really cool, so I am inviting everyone to this and paying for them as my 'bridesmaids luncheon'. I am going to hand out their bottles at the luncheon.

I figured it is better to do this now and get them together to meet each other and also to talk about what is involved with being in the wedding. One of my friends just got laid off from work and already dropped out, so I just want to make sure everyone is cool with what I am doing for dresses, hotel, etc.

Do you have any cool ideas???

Debi

Congrats and welcome!!!!!!!

Welcome to the boards!! Happy Planning!! You'll be addicted in now time

WElcome. Everyone here is really helpful so you will have a great time here!!

Wow! Manheim and E-Town are really close to me. My address is actually Lancaster, but I do not live in the city. Yeah, Long Island weddings kick butt! Lancaster is absolutely horrible. I tried looking at places here and found only one or two I would even consider. After going to look in Long Island I was so completely blown away by the food, service, amazing venues, etc. I think my PA guests will be really excited and impressed!

It is super funny, but when I went to LI to look for a venue the catering hall people were asking why I did not want to get married in Lancaster. I guess they think it is cool getting married in a barn surrounded by cows and horse manure??? Yeah right!! All the really wealthy people in this area go to Philadelphia to get married or have big tent weddings set up outside of their huge mansions.

I just went to a new catering hall in Lancaster for kicks and asked them how much they are charging. I think they told me $110 a head. When I told them I was paying $75 a head for a NY wedding, the woman's jaw just dropped. She could not believe what a good deal I was getting for the money. I cannot imagine anyone paying that amount for the type of place this will be. It is going to have gardens and fountains, but nothing compared to LI.

Good luck with your wedding!

Debi

Yeah, just wanted to reply regarding you booking at the Marriott in Farmingdale. It is a wonderful hotel, but I have to say they irritated me a little in the past couple of weeks.

Firstly, our wonderful rep. left right after they opened. The new person that took over is nice, but I am getting conflicting info. from them. For one thing they told us we could use our Marriott Rewards Points towards a free night's stay. Now they are saying we can't because we are already getting a group rate. One of the main reasons we picked this hotel is to use the rewards points.

Also, I was very upset because the national sales manager emailed me to see why I did not book with them. This was two months after I submitted my contract and gave them my credit card info. to hold the Honeymoon Suite. Needless to say, I was pretty panicked since they are filling up quickly and thought perhaps they had given my suite to someone else, even though I booked with them before the hotel was even open. I hope they do not think I am a bridezilla, but I let them know I was upset! Everything worked out all right though. It turns out the national sales guy did not know I was dealing directly with the hotel and not with him.

Also, they told me that they will provide us with free shuttle buses to transport guests back and forth. I do not want guests to drink and drive, so I am happy about that. I just hope they do not suddenly change that too.

One cool thing is that they do give you a free personal website for the hotel info. that you can link to your LI weddings website. It is supposed to take 10 days to put the info. up and email you a web address. I sent mine about two weeks ago and am still waiting...

Also, let your guests know that just because you have rooms blocked out for them, does not mean they automatically have a room reservation. They need to give them a card no. to hold the room. They do release the rooms to other guests one month prior to your wedding and recommend booking ASAP, so your guests are all in the same hallway or floor of the hotel.

They told me that they want my guests to start booking now for my June 08 wedding. I told them I have not even sent out my save the dates yet. What the heck are they thinking with that? If nobody knows I am getting married and my invitations are only going out three months before, how in the world are they supposed to book a room now?

Anyway, good luck with everything and let me know how it goes.

Debi

welcome and congrats

I am also fairly new but am slowly getting ADDICTED. You'll see.

I am also doing a beach theme wedding.

welcome & congrats!!

Hi Debi,
I love the message in a bottle idea for the bridal party. I might have to use that.
I really just started planning this week, so as I get ideas, I will of course pass them along to you. One great site I found for beach favors it TheWeddingFavorBar.com. Dan, my future husband, wants these beach gel candles and I found them on that site for cheap.
I am also a little bothered by the Marriott. I am during with the sale mang. and she is not e-mailing me back. If you don't mind me asking, how much are the rooms they blocked off for you. She quoted me 179.00 for a reg. room and 259.00 for the suite. It just seems like a lot of money. I was wondering what they give the rooms to you for. Also, keep in mind, I am getting married in Sept. which I don't think is a busy hotel month
What are you thinking about doing for centerpieces? I am not a flower person, so I want to find something to fit the beach theme.
Also, are you having the ceremony there? I am at 7:00pm.
Tara