I`m back and married!! Vendor reviews etc.... long

February 17, 2002 will replay in my mind forever... it was absolutely perfect! All the stress and running around was worth every second. I`ll list all my vendors now, this way if you aren`t using any of them you won`t have to continue reading..... Chateau Briand, Royalty Limos, Top Hat Entertainment, Sherwood Triart, Berkery Inc (flowers), Bridal Reflections (wedding dress), Lestans (bridesmaids and mothers dresses)..... Chateau Briand - We had the Europa and Normandy rooms. Everyone is raving about the food and how beautiful the place is. The service was fantastic! Our maitre`d was Julio - sweetest guy, did anything we asked and made everything run smoothly. We came up from the floor - everyone talked about how different that was the whole night! I thought it might be tacky but surprisingly it went over really well!! One negative comment - they pick up your plates too quick...if you`re not at the table when one of the courses are served, the waiters take it away. Royalty Limos - We rented the Rolls Royce and the 2002 Escalade. No complaints. The drivers were wonderful - on time, pulled out the red carpet, champagne toast - the works! Cars were clean and in great condition! Top Hat Entertainment (DJ) - DJ Bob did a magnificent job! I haven`t heard much about them on this site, so I was a little worried, but he had everyone on the dance floor all night. He was extremely professional and played a variety of music that truly pleased everyone. All our guests LOVED him! I was so happy with him! Sherwood Triart - We used Sherwood triart for both photography and video. Our photographer was Karen and our videographer was Eric. Both were extremely friendly and professional. I can`t say anything just yet about the pics or the video.. we won`t have anything for a few weeks! I can`t wait though!! Berkery Inc - Maureen is wonderful!! I would never have gone with silk flowers, but I went to a wedding about a year ago and fell in love with the brides/bridesmaids flowers... I thought they were fresh, later to find out they were silk! It didn`t matter because I HAD to have them! Berkery is located in Staten island. Maureen was great, I went back so many times and made changes to all my flowers until they were exactly what I wanted. No one could believe they were silk....they were so real! I`m sure some of you are thinking 'I would never get silk flowers'... I thought the same thing... but getting silk flowers was the best decision I made! Bridal Reflections - I got my wedding gown from them in Carle Place. Always very nice, they did a great job on the alterations. One complaint - when i went to pick up my gown the woman who brought it out dragged the whole bottom on the floor. Thank god I saw her do it - the bottom was filthy so they had to go back and clean it. Make sure you inspect the whole thing!! Once she cleaned it she put it in the bag, when i got it home it was wrinkled at the bottom from the way she put it in the bag, so I had to iron the bottom of it (huge pain!) Lestans - Although everything came out fine and the price was good for the bridal party dresses and mothers dresses, they have horrible manners! Once they got our money and it was time for alterations they never wanted to do anything... it was always - 'That`s the way the dress is supposed to be'. They definitely need some help on how to treat their clients, but....everything came out fine. Honeymoon was in Anguilla, a small island in the Carribean. We stayed at Cap Juluca. It was paradise! They treated us as if we were the only 2 people there. So romantic. I would definitely go back and absolutely would recommend to honeymooners! One piece of advice about the honeymoon - DON`T SKIMP on anything!! After all the wedding planning - you need to be treated like a million dollars!! The day goes fast - enjoy yourself. Enjoy eachother! Sorry this is so long! Good luck to everyone planning!!

Wish you tons of happiness *NM* *NM*

Congrats and best wishes!!!! *NM*

Wish you tons of happiness *NM* *NM*

We are having our reception at th Chateau Briand too. Same room for cocktail and reception. I can't wait, I am so glad that everything went great. Cogratulations!

SO happy for you! Please post again when you get your pics.

We are using Sherwood as well!

Februarybride, I would love to hear more about...

I am getting married at CB in November in the same rooms as you. I know you are probably very busy, but when you get a chance, I would love to hear more about CB in detail. I have a million questions that I would be forever grateful to get the answers to when you have the time, if you don't mind. It would really help me out alot. Here goes- I am undecided as to whether to come up from the floor (think it might be tacky) did people really like it? How did you feel when you were doing it? Where did you go to take your formals? Did you have a piano player for the Cocktail hour? Did they have a piano player in the lobby when your guests arrived? How did you work the paying for kids? Who was your banquet manager? Do you have any regrets or warnings about the place in general? Is there anything that I should request from them in advance to be on the safe side? Any and all info you could give would be really appreciated. Thank you so much, and good luck. May you and your new husband have a wonderful life filled with love and happiness. My email address is [email protected]

Yes...Please post more about CB...

I am very interested in hearing the answer to taralisa's questions. I would also like ot know whether you decorated the cocktail room or was it already decorated. I am still debating between the garden or europa.

Glad to hear you had the perfect day, Congrats!! NM *NM*

Chateau Briand...... more details

Ok... to answer those questions you posted - Coming up from the floor.... I never wanted to do it, but my fiance was REALLY into it, so we did it. I thought people would think it was tacky, but they LOVED IT! All our guests talked about it all night - which made me happy since I really didn`t want to do it in the first place. Almost everyone had never seen that done before so it was a nice surprise! Honestly, it was a little weird when we were coming up. Everyone was talking and looking down and watching us. We weren`t sure what to do - do we just stand there, dance, just hold hands.... We ended up holding hands, smiling, hugging. It went quickly, it was fun - looking back i`m glad we did it. Pictures - We took our pictures in the studio at the catering hall. We requested the Monet room (the one with all the paintings) and were told when we were going to have it. When it came to the actual day we ended up with the other studio - the one with the book shelves, piano and fire place. Which was fine - a minor thing. Piano Player - The piano player was in the lobby as promised. I hired a piano player for the cocktail hour. I went to the cocktail hour for about 10 minutes, everything was set up beautifully. The piano player was a really nice touch - however, I`m not sure everyone noticed him or appreciated him as much as I thought he was so important when planning. I think that if you can swing it...do it. If not, it`s not a big deal at all - no one will miss him! Originally we dealt with Loula - (she now does corporate bookings) she is the person who we did the initial contract with when we booked the place. We did our final menu with Diane. Our last appointment when we dropped our favors, place cards etc was with our Maitre`d who was Julio. He was wonderful! He listened to everything we wanted and came through!Definitley recommend him!!! Paying for kids - For kids under 11 yrs i think it was like $20 less than the adults, however you have to meet your guarantee before you can start paying the discounted price. Regrets/Comments etc - Overall I was VERY happy. They had a few surprises that were really nice. My menu was the basic one, the only upgrade I had were the vienese trays. I went back and forth about adding more fish to the cocktail hour and other upgrades, but decided we couldn`t afford it. Talking with everyone afterward... it was perfect. The food was delicious and no one felt it was missing a thing. Some advice.....when you give your final count - tell them less! I guaranteed 175, I told them I had 175 (but I really knew 179 were coming). I still made out place cards and stuff for the 179, but I explained that I had some physicians who are on call and may not be able to attend. I didn`t pay for them in my final payment. The maitre`d made sure there were place settings for them and I told him if they showed up we would pay at the end of the night- he was fine with that. Good thing I did that - 8 people ended up not showing up who said they were coming! I NEVER would have thought that would happen - but it did! Cocktail hour - We had the Europa, we didn`t decorate it. Chateau Briand had a floating flower on each table which was fine. I didn`t have any ice sculptures or anything either. They do the carvings with the fruit and cheeses. People were commenting on how beautiful they were. I didn`t get to see them, but they said there was a huge castle and something else that was just amazing.

Congrats! Sounds like a wonderful day!!

I'm especially interested in your Cap Juluca trip. I've heard such rave reviews for CJ, but I'm afraid we won't be able to work it into our budget. Did you see/tour any other hotels on Anguilla? Any you'd recommend?? I've heard that Frangipani and Cinnamon Reef are a bit less expensive and very nice. Did you fly NY-San Juan-AXA or NY-St. Martin, then ferry?? LOL-I'm enjoying planning our honeymoon more than planning our wedding!!

Thanks for Sharing Your Review! All the Best! *NM*

Congrats!! See you on the newlywed side! *NM*

Sherwood Triart

Congratulations glad everything went smoothly for you. Thats exactly how it should be. Would you mind posting your package from Sherwood? My FH and I are deciding b/w them and JoVon right now and I am really having a difficult time. We have been thinking about this for 2 weeks now and unfortunately want to make our decision by next week otherwise i would wait to see how your pictures came out. I am sure they will be beautiful. Any info would help. Thanks:)

Congrats Best of Luck *NM*

Best of luck for a bright future! *NM*

I`m back and married!! Vendor reviews etc.... long

I am using bob from top hat too I heard he does do a great job and his prices are reasonable...

Congratulations! Best of luck to you! *NM*