I won a dress, some $300 dj coupons and and engagement shoot!

I went to the LI Bridal Expo last Thursday night and won a 'free' wedding dress (up to $300) from the Wedding Center of Commack. I was really excited until I read the fine print which said you have to have all alterations on the dress done there...and I haven't read good things about their alterations. So, I don't know if I'll end up with a dress from there or not, but I guess it's still worth checking out.

I also won several $300 coupons from Variety DJ's at the expo if anyone is considering using them. They can't be 'stacked' together though. Just FM me if you can use one and I'll mail it to you.

Tonight, I won a free engagement shoot with Silver Fox. This I am excited about because there doesn't seem to be a catch. Yay! In pretty much every way, the mixer at Westbury Manor was a much better experience than the expo. There weren't many people so almost every couple won something. Kelly from Dazzling Moments answered a bunch of my questions. FH finally saw the venue. And we got to try more of the cocktail food. Score!

Yay, glad you enjoyed the mixer.
Did they have the fried calamari? If so, what is the verdict?

Thanks everyone!

Stephanie - The calamari was very tasty. The 'rings' had good texture but there wasn't much breading on them. I don't know if that's because they were lightly breaded and then they sweat some of the breading off as they sat in the tray? I've only ever eaten calamari when it was just fried and piping hot. Even though the rings weren't crispy, the seasoning and dipping sauce were very good. There were a lot of 'tentacle' pieces in the calamari. FH and I loved that, but I'm not sure if the majority of our guests would eat it. So, we're keeping this as a 'backup' choice and plan to review the menu again and each of us pick our top 3 dishes (we get a total of 6 because we're in the Hill Room).

Kristin - I thought I recognized you and your FH. You sat right across from us and I think when they called the nubmers for the Hotel raffle (the first time around), you and I both muttered 'ah, we're two numbers off' at the same time. LOL. Glad you won it! I was excited to be there too. We chatted with the waitstaff and the bartender to try to get their opinions on which foods to include, etc. They eat the leftover wedding food all the time so I felt like they were the best people to ask, lol. It made me feel good to hear that they all love the mashed potato bar and the smokehouse station because those are the two add-on items we're planning to have. And my FH and I loved the bartender so we are going to request him for the night of our wedding. :)

Jaime & Melissa - We spoke with Justin from Silverfox for like 20 minutes! We clicked with him and loved that he had 3 albums for us to look at that were all shots of Westbury Manor weddings. This made my photographer decision harder because I went there having pretty much decided on who I want to use. But since we won the e-pics shoot, I want to see how that goes. If we love them, then I'm flipping a coin! We were going to wait a few months until we did an e-pics session, but now I want to do it asap so I can book photography and finally relax about the major 'checks.'

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Posted by simba301

Thanks everyone!

Stephanie - The calamari was very tasty. The 'rings' had good texture but there wasn't much breading on them. I don't know if that's because they were lightly breaded and then they sweat some of the breading off as they sat in the tray? I've only ever eaten calamari when it was just fried and piping hot. Even though the rings weren't crispy, the seasoning and dipping sauce were very good. There were a lot of 'tentacle' pieces in the calamari. FH and I loved that, but I'm not sure if the majority of our guests would eat it. So, we're keeping this as a 'backup' choice and plan to review the menu again and each of us pick our top 3 dishes (we get a total of 6 because we're in the Hill Room).

Kristin - I thought I recognized you and your FH. You sat right across from us and I think when they called the nubmers for the Hotel raffle (the first time around), you and I both muttered 'ah, we're two numbers off' at the same time. LOL. Glad you won it! I was excited to be there too. We chatted with the waitstaff and the bartender to try to get their opinions on which foods to include, etc. They eat the leftover wedding food all the time so I felt like they were the best people to ask, lol. It made me feel good to hear that they all love the mashed potato bar and the smokehouse station because those are the two add-on items we're planning to have. And my FH and I loved the bartender so we are going to request him for the night of our wedding. :)

Jaime & Melissa - We spoke with Justin from Silverfox for like 20 minutes! We clicked with him and loved that he had 3 albums for us to look at that were all shots of Westbury Manor weddings. This made my photographer decision harder because I went there having pretty much decided on who I want to use. But since we won the e-pics shoot, I want to see how that goes. If we love them, then I'm flipping a coin! We were going to wait a few months until we did an e-pics session, but now I want to do it asap so I can book photography and finally relax about the major 'checks.'

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Justin is the BEST! We met with him for hours and asked specifically for him to be our photographer following our meeting. He made us feel so comfortable and that is what we wanted most in a photographer. SilverFox is fantastic!