Julybaby's back! with reviews

Well, I'm back home and can't believe I'm someone's wife! I feel like I'm still a girlfriend. But I love looking at DH's left hand and seeing a wedding band there.

We had so much fun at our wedding! One piece of advice I did follow very well was to eat! I ate every chance I got and there were many chances! Did anyone else pig out at their own wedding!

Here are my reviews:

The Swan Club - A+

I know there were mixed reviews here about the Swan Club and I admit I was a bit nervous, but they were absolutely perfect!!! During the week of my wedding, I called the maitre'd at least once a day and he was very friendly and helpful. During the wedding, he was always there and made sure DH and I ate and drank. He was very humorous which we found to be relaxing, yet professional. The food there was excellent and our guests especially raved about the medallions of filet mignon and the salmon in champagne sauce. We had ice cream eclairs for dessert (in addition to the beautiful wedding cake) and they were out of this world!

Rabbi Renee Feller - A+

We had an interfaith ceremony, yet there was no minister or priest. But Rabbi Feller incorporated my religion (Christianity) beautifully into the service. She also did a little homily about David and I, which was very nice. A lot of our guests commented about how beautiful the service was. It even brought tears to my father's eyes (this is the guy who believes it is not 'manly' to cry!). She was so pleasant to work with and she made sure throughout the whole planning process that she created a ceremony that we wanted!

Milleride Florist - A+

I worked with Laurie and absolutely trusted her! I showed up with a picture of what I liked and she made a sample bouquet that outshined the picture! I changed my colors about 2 months before my wedding and we discuss over the phone what flowers she would use instead that matched my bouquet. I know nothing about flowers so I had to trust her judgement and all I can say is that she outdid herself! I did not stress over this vendor at all because I trusted Laurie so much!

Soul Alone (music) - A+++

This group goes by another name which escapes me at the moment. We hired DH's cousin's boyfriend who used to work for New York City Swing. He knows all about the wedding music business, plus knows many musicians. This particular group is not a wedding band, but they do weddings occasionally. They were terrific and the dance floor was packed the whole time (it doesn't help when you have parents that love to dance!). We told them we like 70's motown and rock music and they stuck with that! The sax player, a personal friend of DH's cousin's boyfriend, toured with Billy Joel for 15 years, so we knew we were getting professional musicians (the sax player is not part of this music group, but joined them because it was easy money for him). Music was very important to us and we had absolutely no worries!

Lillette's (bridal gown) - B

I worked with Gerri who is absolutely amazing! When I was shopping for dresses last fall, she pulled this dress out and asked my to try it (I was not crazy about this dress at first). Needless to say, I gradually fell in love with this dress and bought it! The reason I gave Lillette's a B is because I had some major problems with the train. My dress came with a detachable train and it wouldn't stay hooked. I thought the train would be too heavy with the hooks attached but I was assured that it would not be. However, when we tried to hook the train to the dress when I arrived at the Swan Club, it kept unhooking itself. It took about 15 minutes, several safety pins, and a slew of curse words from my mom to get the train to stay. Then, when I walked and took a turn, it would unhook itself again! I had visions of me walking down the aisle and the train detaching itself halfway down. It got to the point that I wanted to ditch the train before the ceremony because I was getting so frustrated, but my BM and photographer convinced me not to. I did take it off at the receiving line. Moral of the story: if you are buying a dress with a detachable train, walk around the bridal shop to see how long it stays on.

Ed Collins Photography - A+

Another very pleasant vendor to work with! He did all of our formal shots in less than an hour (thank God, too, because it was getting hot outside!). Every time he saw a perfect shot, he had the camera up and clicking! During the reception, every time I wanted another group shot, he was right there. Of course, we have yet to see the proofs, but he deserves an A+ for his professionalism before and during the wedding!

North Shore Video Productions - A+

I worked with Mike and I hardly saw him. He was in the background and from what I saw, in no one's way. Again, I have yet to see the finished product, but he was so professional and unobtrusive that he deserves high marks!

Bessie from Beautiful Girls (hair) - B-

Bessie did hair for 3 BMs, my mom and me in about 2 hours, which was nice because it left us time to relax and get ready (she started at 6am). While fixing our hair, she kept on asking us to look in the mirror and see if there was anything we wanted her to change about our hairstyle. Also, my BM's had no idea how exactly they wanted to wear their hair except up, but Bessie came prepared with a photo album of hiar styles she did and that was very helpful. We all looked beautiful! The only problem we had was that my mother's hair fell before the ceremony, one BM's hair began to fall in the back (which we managed to hold together with major hairspray) and one lock of my hair started to unravel sometime during the ceremony.

Clarin Cohen (makeup) - A+

Clarin is a vendor here and I decided to call her without knowing anything about her (there was nothing written about her at all here). I did a makeup trial at the Bloomingdale's counter at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington and it was amazing! She works for Bobbie Brown, a makeup line that I love, so that was a major bonus for me! I received a lot of compliments about my make-up - people said that I looked like a porcelain doll (I am fair-skinned)! The only thing that needed touching up was my lipstick - everything else stayed perfectly. I highly recommend Clarin!

Hemingway's (rehearsal dinner) - A-

We had an open-bar buffet the night before the wedding and the food was very good! The wait staff there were very friendly and accomodating! Some of them were even playing with my 21-month old niece, who felt that she needed to 'inspect' everything at the restaurant. However, I found the management there to bit a bit gruff when I was booking this dinner.