My 11/8 Wedding Review! (w/ cake rant and pics)
Hi! I didn't post too much on this liweddings, but I 'lurked' and read A LOT. This board helped me out SO much and reading the wedding reviews was always my favorite part, so here is mine. Pics to come later. Feel free to FM me w/ any questions.
First of all, we had a FANTASTIC wedding day. It was the best day we could have imagined. I had so much fun, that I actually cried when the band played their last song.
The Riviera in Massapequa: A.
They were so attentive, nice to work with, and set everything up exactly as I requested (I think. Not sure about the cocktail hour.) I especially liked working with Vicki, but unfortunately she was not the hostess on the day of pur wedding. Everyone raved about the coktail hour and the food and the view. They would have scored higher except they pulled some creative accounting on me at the last minute. To their benefit, when we noticed and called them on it, they made good.
Code Blue (the band): A+.
Again, a pleasure to work with and the guests raved about them! My only minor complaints is that they didn't play all of the songs that we requested, but I guess there are only so many hours to work with...
Flower Michelle Florist: A++ (Thank you LIW!)
In every picture I've seen I cannot get over how beautiful my flowers came out. They were so vibrant and fresh. John was amazing to work with. This was one of the most difficult decisions that I had, because I visited 4 (!!!) florists before Flower Michelle and only kind of liked any of them. John basically read my mind and put together exactly what I wanted.
All Star Limousines: A+
Arrived early. Very friendly drivers, who went out of their way to help us with all sorts of details. I am standing in the church, having my train attached, when I realized that my MOH was attaching one side and the limo driver was on the other.
My Dress: Macy's Bridal Salon in Manhasset: A
I am not a petite little thing and I knew I wanted long sleeves for my gown. The other bridal salons that I visited came showing me these very traditional, poofy sleeved, overly beaded things which were just not me, and swore that if I wanted long sleeves, that's all I would get. Well, Macy's proved them wrong. They had rows of gorgeous dresses, with and w/o sleeves. I tried on so many dresses I liked there, and the staff was very attentive. They would have scored higher except that I wasn't 100% thrilled with my alterations. Anyway, I LOVED my dress.
BM dresses: David's Bridal in Carle Place. Dresses: A. Service: D.
I can't tell you how much I dislike this store, but having BMs in different states, this was the easiest solution. To their benefit, the dresses were great, they had a wide selection, and I had no problems with delivery or anything. The problem was out initial appointment where, even though I had an appointment, the saleslady would just leave and go help other customers. (And I was trying on wedding gowns at the time too!) She barely gave me the time of day. The store was a mess and the dressing rooms too small. Other David's are much better.
Invitations: Follow Your Heart, A+.
Cathy is a vendor on this site, and really a pleasure to work with. I gave her a few ideas over the phone and she had a dozen or so invitations bookmarked for us when we got there. It's a good thing, because I was practically going blind looking through her 20+ books. She was very affordable, always attentive, and got everything quickly.
Photographer: Patken (Nick), B+
I loved Nick, my mother and MIL really didn't like him. They thought he was too pushy. I thought that was great because we had time constraints and he got everything done. He made me feel like a model, was completely discreet at the ceremony and reception, and had the whole BP laughing. I love the majority of our proofs, and think he has a great eye for details, but some pictures seem out of focus or fuzzy. And those are just the posed BP pictures, not action shots or anything. Still, I'd recommend them.
Videographer: Wild Rose (Thanks again LIW!), A.
I'll save judgement until I see the video, but Marie was so sweet to work with, Bill was very discreet on our wedding day, and I knew when I saw their work that I wanted them.
Now about this cake... I'll try to make this short.
Black Forest Bakery, C-. I'd give them an even worse grade, except the cake tasted good and it was pretty enough. This was included in our package from the Riviera. The Riviera told me that I could work with the bakery directly, or they would handle things. My FI (DH :)) and I decided to go down there and take a look at some samples. Well, we were guven all sorts of conflicting information. One person told us to come on a weekend, the other said NOT to come on a weekend. One person told me over the phone that they'd have a list of flavorings and that we could taste. When we got there, there was no list and we could not taste. I was disappointed but we spoke to someone, who I think was the owner, about options. He showed me pictures and told us that the only options that would be an extra charge were if we requested special shapes or designs. We decided on 2 layers of coconut cake w/ rasberry filling and 2 layers of black forest cake. He told me to tell the Riviera. I also requested dark red and orange flowers to go with my color scheme. Fast forward to our final meeting with the Riviera. I am told by the Riviera staff that the bakery was going to charge an additional $50 because of the coconut cake. Even though we talked to them *specifically* about extra charges and flavourings. We were pretty p*'d off, but agreed to pay the extra $$. Now it's my wedding day. I was quite surprised to see PURPLE flowers on my cake, since I had asked for red and orange. And even MORE surprised when they didn't give us the freakin' coconut cake! They charged us $50 for coconut cake, and we got chocolate cake with rasberry filling. All of the layers were that flavor. We got our $50 and it didn't ruin my day or anything, but I definitely needed to let you know about my experience. Again, everything tasted good, but I would NEVER order anything special from them again.
Well, this is by far the longest post I've ever written. I'll post some amateur photos in a few minutes. Thanks, LIW!
First of all, we had a FANTASTIC wedding day. It was the best day we could have imagined. I had so much fun, that I actually cried when the band played their last song.
The Riviera in Massapequa: A.
They were so attentive, nice to work with, and set everything up exactly as I requested (I think. Not sure about the cocktail hour.) I especially liked working with Vicki, but unfortunately she was not the hostess on the day of pur wedding. Everyone raved about the coktail hour and the food and the view. They would have scored higher except they pulled some creative accounting on me at the last minute. To their benefit, when we noticed and called them on it, they made good.
Code Blue (the band): A+.
Again, a pleasure to work with and the guests raved about them! My only minor complaints is that they didn't play all of the songs that we requested, but I guess there are only so many hours to work with...
Flower Michelle Florist: A++ (Thank you LIW!)
In every picture I've seen I cannot get over how beautiful my flowers came out. They were so vibrant and fresh. John was amazing to work with. This was one of the most difficult decisions that I had, because I visited 4 (!!!) florists before Flower Michelle and only kind of liked any of them. John basically read my mind and put together exactly what I wanted.
All Star Limousines: A+
Arrived early. Very friendly drivers, who went out of their way to help us with all sorts of details. I am standing in the church, having my train attached, when I realized that my MOH was attaching one side and the limo driver was on the other.
My Dress: Macy's Bridal Salon in Manhasset: A
I am not a petite little thing and I knew I wanted long sleeves for my gown. The other bridal salons that I visited came showing me these very traditional, poofy sleeved, overly beaded things which were just not me, and swore that if I wanted long sleeves, that's all I would get. Well, Macy's proved them wrong. They had rows of gorgeous dresses, with and w/o sleeves. I tried on so many dresses I liked there, and the staff was very attentive. They would have scored higher except that I wasn't 100% thrilled with my alterations. Anyway, I LOVED my dress.
BM dresses: David's Bridal in Carle Place. Dresses: A. Service: D.
I can't tell you how much I dislike this store, but having BMs in different states, this was the easiest solution. To their benefit, the dresses were great, they had a wide selection, and I had no problems with delivery or anything. The problem was out initial appointment where, even though I had an appointment, the saleslady would just leave and go help other customers. (And I was trying on wedding gowns at the time too!) She barely gave me the time of day. The store was a mess and the dressing rooms too small. Other David's are much better.
Invitations: Follow Your Heart, A+.
Cathy is a vendor on this site, and really a pleasure to work with. I gave her a few ideas over the phone and she had a dozen or so invitations bookmarked for us when we got there. It's a good thing, because I was practically going blind looking through her 20+ books. She was very affordable, always attentive, and got everything quickly.
Photographer: Patken (Nick), B+
I loved Nick, my mother and MIL really didn't like him. They thought he was too pushy. I thought that was great because we had time constraints and he got everything done. He made me feel like a model, was completely discreet at the ceremony and reception, and had the whole BP laughing. I love the majority of our proofs, and think he has a great eye for details, but some pictures seem out of focus or fuzzy. And those are just the posed BP pictures, not action shots or anything. Still, I'd recommend them.
Videographer: Wild Rose (Thanks again LIW!), A.
I'll save judgement until I see the video, but Marie was so sweet to work with, Bill was very discreet on our wedding day, and I knew when I saw their work that I wanted them.
Now about this cake... I'll try to make this short.
Black Forest Bakery, C-. I'd give them an even worse grade, except the cake tasted good and it was pretty enough. This was included in our package from the Riviera. The Riviera told me that I could work with the bakery directly, or they would handle things. My FI (DH :)) and I decided to go down there and take a look at some samples. Well, we were guven all sorts of conflicting information. One person told us to come on a weekend, the other said NOT to come on a weekend. One person told me over the phone that they'd have a list of flavorings and that we could taste. When we got there, there was no list and we could not taste. I was disappointed but we spoke to someone, who I think was the owner, about options. He showed me pictures and told us that the only options that would be an extra charge were if we requested special shapes or designs. We decided on 2 layers of coconut cake w/ rasberry filling and 2 layers of black forest cake. He told me to tell the Riviera. I also requested dark red and orange flowers to go with my color scheme. Fast forward to our final meeting with the Riviera. I am told by the Riviera staff that the bakery was going to charge an additional $50 because of the coconut cake. Even though we talked to them *specifically* about extra charges and flavourings. We were pretty p*'d off, but agreed to pay the extra $$. Now it's my wedding day. I was quite surprised to see PURPLE flowers on my cake, since I had asked for red and orange. And even MORE surprised when they didn't give us the freakin' coconut cake! They charged us $50 for coconut cake, and we got chocolate cake with rasberry filling. All of the layers were that flavor. We got our $50 and it didn't ruin my day or anything, but I definitely needed to let you know about my experience. Again, everything tasted good, but I would NEVER order anything special from them again.
Well, this is by far the longest post I've ever written. I'll post some amateur photos in a few minutes. Thanks, LIW!
