I hope the image shows up since you know I don't usually post messages but I wanted to share my thank you card with everyone. I ordered the 3x5 notecards from Shutterfly and they came out fabulous (and really fast), now all I have to do is sit down and write a hundred thank you notes! Thanks to everyone who wrote such lovely replies.
Hi Everyone! I haven’t posted on the boards before because of the unique vendors of my wedding but I’ve had so much fun and inspiration reading about everyone else’s weddings that I had to share my review with everyone. Mostly this is also a blatant advertisement for my photographer, who happens to be an acquaintance of the family and who did such a wonderful job that I had to share his pictures with the world. A little background about my wedding- My husband and I wanted a really small, intimate, Jewish wedding in NYC with high end vendors so we decided to pay for it ourselves so we could have everything our way. However, I wanted to honor my parents and my Chinese heritage with a large reception where they could celebrate with their friends. Luckily, my dad’s good friend is the general manager of a private country club in Nassau County, so we could have a second reception with all the seafood and pork that we wanted at a great price. There wouldn’t be another ceremony, just a cocktail hour and reception with sit-down dinner and dancing. But because the country club is private (aka members-only weddings) which we aren’t, I can’t mention the name of it. I can say that it was wonderful with delicious food and tons of it. So, in addition to the deal we got at the country club, I sought out low-cost local vendors to help my parents out for paying for the reception. So here they are:
Photographer: Paul Chu, Bellmore, NY – A+
e-mail:
[email protected]www.studiochu.com
(516)582-8141
Paul is a friend of my mom’s who spent years as a studio print ad photographer in NYC who decided to go into wedding photography. Since I hired an expensive, well-know city photographer for my first wedding, I wasn’t sure how Paul was going to work out. But he spent all day photographing the reception and he was relaxed and easy-going. He also listens to any ideas or suggestions that you might have for pictures without acting like you’re imposing on his artistic vision. He had an assistant photographer there, which was an added bonus, and took around 700 digital photos. I got most of them in 4x6 color proofs and photo cds. The pictures are all digital, but it’s great in that it allows him to modify them in photoshop – changing them into black and white, and making photo collages. And he has lots of albums to choose from. I’m getting the new SOHO album where the pictures are printed directly onto the thick cardboard-like pages. I think his pictures are great and are on-par with many of the photographers on Long Island and since he’s just starting out, he’s probably flexible with his pricing. So please contact him to find out if you might be interested.
Florist: National Floral, Bellmore, NY – A-
(516)679-3034
Ana is the floral designer with a good vision when it comes to flowers. I wasn’t too picky about the flowers, just that they be white and include roses. I loved my bouquet, except that the stems were too long and I had to cut them myself! I didn’t have time to cut the bridesmaid, so I just left them long and the bridesmaid bouquets had too much baby’s breath. But the centerpieces came out beautiful, and full like my mother wanted. During our samples, we had a much smaller vase, so in the last week before the reception, my mother went to Jack’s 99 cent store in the city and bought 18 cut-crystal oval bowls for $10 each and we took them to Ana who added more flowers to each centerpiece to fill them out. The guests loved them and thought they were so extravagant b/c we had crystal bowls.
DJ: New Direction, East Meadow, NY – A
Tony is the owner and was my MC. He was great- I didn’t want him to rally the guests, just to set an elegant tone, which he did. All the scheduled events like the bridal party entrance, first dance, parent’s dance, toasts and cake cutting, went off smoothly. For all his work to set an elegant tone, his DJ worked to get the party going. I had requested Motown and Disco because they are classic staples, but my guests didn’t get up to dance until the hip-hop started to play. Not only our friends but all of my parent’s friends got up for the hip-hop. It was hilarious but also so much fun. I also requested a special mother-daughter dance to Josh Groban’s “You Raised Me Up” and it was a beautiful moment. I wanted to include my mother (since the fathers always get a dance) and to make her cry. Not only did she cry, but I cried, and many of the guests teared up too. I suggest this song for any bride and her mother.
Dress: Stuart Fashions, 6th Floor, Bridal Building, NY – A
I got a White 1 by Pronovias dress after I decided that I wasn’t going to pay $3,000 for a simple white dress with no embellishments. My dress did have lace on it and I got it for a great price last August when I think the sample first came out. The dress came in early in December, and I left it there until Jan. when I went back to get alterations with their seamstress Marisol. She was great and it took only one fitting to fix the dress. I picked it up only 2 weeks later in Feb. and the dress hung in my mother’s room until June. My weight doesn’t fluctuate so I knew I could do that. Oh, and I got the dress for cheaper than it was at RK Bridals.
Veil: E-bay baby! I got a cathedral length veil with pencil edge that was white tulle for $20 from one of the vendors on e-bay and it looked and felt like bridal illusion to me. It wasn’t stiff at all and it looked beautiful. I didn’t even buy from the vendor who wanted $60 for the bridal illusion cathedral length veil and am completely happy with my decision.
Shoes: Sandy Shoes, Massapequa, NY – A
I went in knowing what I wanted – satin, closed-toe with ankle-strap and a wide heel (need stability) and found it within 5 minutes. I could have walked out with the pair there, but I found a tiny blemish on the tip so I had them order another pair for me. It got there in two weeks and I was very happy with them.
Hair: Cheryl from Salon G, Bellmore, NY – A-
Cheryl gets a minus because of her perfectionism which means she takes a about an hour on your hair. I know most brides appreciate the extra care, but after a half an hour of someone playing with my hair, I get very ancy. In addition, at my hair trial, I brought a picture of the hair style that I wanted, which was a pretty simple bun. Cheryl made a more complicated weave pattern, while although very pretty, wasn’t exactly what I wanted. But I stuck with her b/c she came highly recommended by the women in my town and went on the wedding day with the same picture and the directions to just make it simpler. Lo, and behold, it came out exactly like the picture and how I wanted it. So I would definitely recommend her, but you will have to travel to the salon.
Makeup: Myself
I went to a couple of makeup trials, even one with a well known vendor here on the boards, and it seemed that everyone’s idea of glamorous was just too much eye makeup for my Asian eyes. So I decided that if I was going to do a natural look, I might as well just do it myself, since I would spend the most time blending my foundation just right, as well as agonizing over each stroke of blush. I put on fake eyelashes by myself and everything. I think it came out pretty good.
Video: none – We decided not to get a videographer since we knew we weren’t going to watch the video and b/c we felt the pictures were enough. It was the right decision for us and I don’t regret it.
Tuxes: Men’s Wearhouse – B+
We had one groomsmen out-of-state so going to Men’s Wearhouse was convenient. I went to the Great Bridal Expo just to get the discount package of $70 for tux with vest and shoes. And since we had two weddings a week a part, we had the groomsmen rent them for a week and the cost was $120. Not bad. My husband actually bought his own tux from Syms (as well as my daddy) but we had enough tux rentals to get the free one for my father-in-law.
Invitations: Write Impressions, Merrick, NY – A
I know people rave about Have You Heard? in Bellmore and how nice the owners are, but even though the salesladies at Write Impressions may be intimidating/snobby, they beat the price I was quoted at Have You Heard and I got a better package (nicer paper, lined envelopes) on my C’est Papier invitations. I offered to pay cash at both and Write Impressions was the best price. Oh, and never pay for them to do computer addressing when you can do it yourself. I bought the Canon 850 photo printer for $150 and downloaded fonts (“Beautiful” font) from dafont.com and it came out looking like hand calligraphy. I say this b/c my friend had her store do the computer addressing for $1.50 an invitation and they didn’t use nearly as pretty a font and it looked like it was done by a computer.
I hope this review helps someone and good luck with all your wedding planning!
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