My June 19, 2011 Mini-Review.
I'm going to post a more full and detailed review with pics once I am back from my honeymoon, but I wanted to give you girls something before I leave TOMORROW for St. Lucia.
Our Ceremony - Overall A++++
SMGH Church B+
Rabbi Roger Ross A
Since we're interfaith, we crafted our own ceremony from start to finish, weaving the two faiths together. It took a lot of work and thought, but we had two great officiants. I LOVED what we did and if you want a copy of our program, it details the whole ceremony and i can send it. I had a few nightmares with the church about setting up the rehearsal, and then with the organist cancelling on me last minute, but it all worked out and the ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I loved every minute of it and we had great feedback from guests.
Camelot Limo - A+
Arrived on time, Limo was clean. Our driver, Kevin was awesome. They offered to upgrade us to the Bentley Flying Spur, but we stuck with the Princess Rolls. It was a litle HOT in there but it was nice. At the end of the night, Kevin picked us up in an escalade and helped us bring everything into the hotel. Camelot Rocked.
Flowers By Brian - A+ flowers, B service
I don't know exactly how to rate FBB since they did give me some minor heart attacks along the way, but my flowers in the end were AMAZING. They switched consultants on me mid-process and when I met with the 2nd girl she made me another sample CP, which was nice, but it had hte wrong stand, so I had a nightmare about that. This was a meeting to pick out bo-ks and there happenned to be one there that i LOVED with lavendar roses, large green orchids, etc and I asked her to replicate it for my BMs. When I went the day before to look at my bo-ks (HIGHLY recommended), it was totally different, it was this whole green mass of green hydrangea and tiny green orchids. They couldn't even replicate what I wanted since they hadn't ordered the large green orchids, but they did re-do the bo-k right then and there and it was gorgeous. My bo-k was originally supposed to have hot purple roses in it., It did not, but I LOVED it, so I let that go. The next day when the boutonneirs arrived, my DH's bout was a lavendar rose, not the hot purple one. After having the delivery guy call, they said lavendar is the only puirple they had, which is NOT what we discussed. Also, they got the mom's corsages wrong. They offered to re-make them but the delivery truck was already out and I didn't want to delay the church flowers over it. AND when we gave the table count they never took off the 3 centerpieces we were less, so they kept quoting me $500 more than it should have been, but once I went over it with them in person, they corrected it.. My CPs and bo-ks were AMAZING though. I can't even get over them. People said they'd never seen such a huge, full bride's bo-k and such magnificent centerpieces. I was really happy with the finished product.
FM Entertainment - A++++
Frank was amazing. He honored every single request we had, even the ones emailed to him at the last minute or which we threw at him day of. He played everything on our play list, nothing on our do no play list, and kept people dancing all night. He kept checking in with us to make sure we understood where we were in the evening and he pulled FH..oops.. DH!!! aside to ask him about our proposal story so he could tell it the right way for our last dance. They even did the stars on the veiling perfectly. We also paid about $900 LESS than what we would have paid another major vendor. I'm so glad we went with Frank.
Artisan Photo A+ so far
Chuck and Rafi were great to hang out with all day. I'm sure the photos will be phenomenal. hey kept us all laughing and relaxed. One thing I was disappointed by was that we had such a tight schedule, due to our late ceremony time, the ceremony starting late and the receiving line of doom, but Chuck helped me to feel relaxed. I almost wish he would have pushed harder so we could have gotten more shots, but then the stress probably would have shown on my face.
Couped Up A+ so far
Rob and Nelson were also great, though I barely knew they were there. Rob did check in on me a lot, and made me laugh and helped the photographers out with his light. Apparently he shoots with a DSLR now, for anyone wondering. He sent me some stills the next day on facebook, which was just Awesome! And he already sent me the info I needed for editing the video so I can get started on the process as soon as we get back from St. Lucia. Love the follow up. Oh, also, once Rob found out that we weren't on our honeymoon yet and were looking at pics, he posted more.
Ballroom Dance LI A+++++
I love John. What a great personality! DH and I only had 5 lessons and we meant to just learn some moves, but we ended up choregraphing a whole dance. He made us feel so comfortable. People couldn't believe we'd only had a few lessons. I think we did look pretty good and there's a quick video clip on my facebook page.
Finally
The Inn at New Hyde Park A+++++++
What can I say that hasn't already been said? I was greeted at the limo by the maitre'd, Barbara, and 2 of the bridal attendants. They took all of our stuff, actually framed our ketubah for us (we had it in the frame but without glass for the ceremony) and basically attended to our every need from there on out (food, drink, changing my shoes for me, lipstick, you name it). They were awesome. I wish they had wrapped up more food for us though since we barely ate and we had a lot of no shows, as in meals we paid for and did not get served. But the food was great. I saw people's steaks were made exactly to order, since I noticed and commented on my cousin's bloody red steak, and my GM said the porterhouse was the best steak they'd ever tasted. People also couldn't get over the amount of food at the CH. We had miscalculated things by bringing all of our cars to the hotel so we didn't have a way of getting our stuff from the hall home with us, so they held it for us until the morning and helped us out to the car with it then. The service was just exceptional. People could not stop talking about the wedding and how great it was and all of the food. The Inn was so beautiful. Worth evey single penny.
Our Ceremony - Overall A++++
SMGH Church B+
Rabbi Roger Ross A
Since we're interfaith, we crafted our own ceremony from start to finish, weaving the two faiths together. It took a lot of work and thought, but we had two great officiants. I LOVED what we did and if you want a copy of our program, it details the whole ceremony and i can send it. I had a few nightmares with the church about setting up the rehearsal, and then with the organist cancelling on me last minute, but it all worked out and the ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I loved every minute of it and we had great feedback from guests.
Camelot Limo - A+
Arrived on time, Limo was clean. Our driver, Kevin was awesome. They offered to upgrade us to the Bentley Flying Spur, but we stuck with the Princess Rolls. It was a litle HOT in there but it was nice. At the end of the night, Kevin picked us up in an escalade and helped us bring everything into the hotel. Camelot Rocked.
Flowers By Brian - A+ flowers, B service
I don't know exactly how to rate FBB since they did give me some minor heart attacks along the way, but my flowers in the end were AMAZING. They switched consultants on me mid-process and when I met with the 2nd girl she made me another sample CP, which was nice, but it had hte wrong stand, so I had a nightmare about that. This was a meeting to pick out bo-ks and there happenned to be one there that i LOVED with lavendar roses, large green orchids, etc and I asked her to replicate it for my BMs. When I went the day before to look at my bo-ks (HIGHLY recommended), it was totally different, it was this whole green mass of green hydrangea and tiny green orchids. They couldn't even replicate what I wanted since they hadn't ordered the large green orchids, but they did re-do the bo-k right then and there and it was gorgeous. My bo-k was originally supposed to have hot purple roses in it., It did not, but I LOVED it, so I let that go. The next day when the boutonneirs arrived, my DH's bout was a lavendar rose, not the hot purple one. After having the delivery guy call, they said lavendar is the only puirple they had, which is NOT what we discussed. Also, they got the mom's corsages wrong. They offered to re-make them but the delivery truck was already out and I didn't want to delay the church flowers over it. AND when we gave the table count they never took off the 3 centerpieces we were less, so they kept quoting me $500 more than it should have been, but once I went over it with them in person, they corrected it.. My CPs and bo-ks were AMAZING though. I can't even get over them. People said they'd never seen such a huge, full bride's bo-k and such magnificent centerpieces. I was really happy with the finished product.
FM Entertainment - A++++
Frank was amazing. He honored every single request we had, even the ones emailed to him at the last minute or which we threw at him day of. He played everything on our play list, nothing on our do no play list, and kept people dancing all night. He kept checking in with us to make sure we understood where we were in the evening and he pulled FH..oops.. DH!!! aside to ask him about our proposal story so he could tell it the right way for our last dance. They even did the stars on the veiling perfectly. We also paid about $900 LESS than what we would have paid another major vendor. I'm so glad we went with Frank.
Artisan Photo A+ so far
Chuck and Rafi were great to hang out with all day. I'm sure the photos will be phenomenal. hey kept us all laughing and relaxed. One thing I was disappointed by was that we had such a tight schedule, due to our late ceremony time, the ceremony starting late and the receiving line of doom, but Chuck helped me to feel relaxed. I almost wish he would have pushed harder so we could have gotten more shots, but then the stress probably would have shown on my face.
Couped Up A+ so far
Rob and Nelson were also great, though I barely knew they were there. Rob did check in on me a lot, and made me laugh and helped the photographers out with his light. Apparently he shoots with a DSLR now, for anyone wondering. He sent me some stills the next day on facebook, which was just Awesome! And he already sent me the info I needed for editing the video so I can get started on the process as soon as we get back from St. Lucia. Love the follow up. Oh, also, once Rob found out that we weren't on our honeymoon yet and were looking at pics, he posted more.
Ballroom Dance LI A+++++
I love John. What a great personality! DH and I only had 5 lessons and we meant to just learn some moves, but we ended up choregraphing a whole dance. He made us feel so comfortable. People couldn't believe we'd only had a few lessons. I think we did look pretty good and there's a quick video clip on my facebook page.
Finally
The Inn at New Hyde Park A+++++++
What can I say that hasn't already been said? I was greeted at the limo by the maitre'd, Barbara, and 2 of the bridal attendants. They took all of our stuff, actually framed our ketubah for us (we had it in the frame but without glass for the ceremony) and basically attended to our every need from there on out (food, drink, changing my shoes for me, lipstick, you name it). They were awesome. I wish they had wrapped up more food for us though since we barely ate and we had a lot of no shows, as in meals we paid for and did not get served. But the food was great. I saw people's steaks were made exactly to order, since I noticed and commented on my cousin's bloody red steak, and my GM said the porterhouse was the best steak they'd ever tasted. People also couldn't get over the amount of food at the CH. We had miscalculated things by bringing all of our cars to the hotel so we didn't have a way of getting our stuff from the hall home with us, so they held it for us until the morning and helped us out to the car with it then. The service was just exceptional. People could not stop talking about the wedding and how great it was and all of the food. The Inn was so beautiful. Worth evey single penny.
