My long overdue vendor review!
I can't believe I've been married almost a month! We had a perfect day -- the weather was gorgeous and I had the time of my life. Thank all of you for your wonderful suggestions. I was planning from out of state, and you were all so helpful!
REHEARSAL DINNER LOCATION: Neighborhood House, Setauket, this is a great place for a party if you want to bring in your own caterer.
REHEARSAL DINNER CATERER: Elegant Eating, Smithtown -- B+. The food was really good and the waitstaff was sweet and very efficient. We had a huge rehearsal dinner -- 100 people (it was FI's job to send the invites and he sent them to everyone, instead of the BP, close family and out of towners ... oh well) and we ran out of food! I gave them a head count, and they told me how much food I would need. Their estimate was way off and some people got left eating nothing but pasta salad.
DRESSES, ADRIENNE'S: A-. I was concernd about Adrienne's after reading a lot of negative things on this board. Overall, my experience was good. My dress was perfect, came in on time and needed very few alterations. The girls who work there are great and very helpful. We had a lot of problems with this one seamstress in the Maid's Cottage. I could just go on and on about what a b**ch she was. She wouldn't listen to the girls when they explained what they didn't like about the alteratons, and a week before the wedding we finally requested and got a new seamstress, who did a great job.
HAIR, NICOLE, SYMETTRY/CHAMELEON IN STONY BROOK: A+. Everyone loved their hair and she was super sweet. I even had one of my husband's uncles come up to me and ask if he could take a picture of my hair because he never saw such a cool hair style!
MAKEUP, JACQUELINE NICOLE, A+: She did such an amazing job, and didn't make me look too overdone. I got so many compliments! I wish she could do my make up everyday!
LIMOS, ALL STAR: A. They came on time, the cars were clean. I was a little annoyed because they didn't know how to get to the country club. Also, when we were getting ready to leave one of the drivers made what I thought was a very innappropriate and suggestive comment to me in front of my inlaws.
FLOWERS, FLOWERS BY LIZ: A++++++++. Liz was my absolute favorite! I saw a ton of florists before choosing Liz and it was worth it! The flowers were exactly what I wanted, she did such a good job of working with me and listening to what I wanted. She also worked really hard to keep things in my budget, which I felt a lot of florists weren't willing to do.
PHOTOGRAPHY, HAL LYMAN/FULLVIEW STUDIOS: I'll post a review once we get our proofs.
TUXEDOS, BLACK TIE, SMITHTOWN: A. Everything looked good and fit well.
PROGRAMS/MENUS: A+. One of my bridesmaids is starting up a business custom making invites, programs, etc. She is so creative and did an amzing job! She is located in the DC area, if anyone is interested in her info send me a FM. Because she is just starting out her prices are very good!
OFFICIANT, REV. MARCIAGRACE TROPIN: B. I liked that she worked with us a lot to write our own ceremony, but she was somewhat inflexible. She had an idea of how she wanted the ceremony to be, and was resistant when we wanted something different. In fact, after an entire discussion about not using the word 'God' in the ceremony, she used it anyway. She also did a lot of mumbling to herself (yet, into the microphone) during the ceremony. In the end, our ceremony was beautufl, but there were things that bothered me.
BAND, TIMEPIECE: A. I can't tell you how many comliments we got. They did an amazing job! Every song sounded like the recorded version. So many people asked for their information -- I even had a guest tell me it was 'depressing' that such talented people were singing at my wedding! The only bad thing I have to say is that they completely ignored our play/don't play list -- even the song DH & his mother were supposed to dance to. Towards the end was asked them to play some of thos requests and they fit some of them in.
PORT JEFFERSON COUNTRY CLUB: A-.
Ceremony: It was a beautiful day so we were able to get married outside. I was dissappointed because there was this gaudy toule all over the trees, which I think was left over from an earlier wedding, but still, the location was gorgeous. Even though they knew how many people were coming to the wedding, they didn't have enough chairs out, and about 25 of our guests had to stand for the ceremony. Also, the ceremony started about 30 minutes late -- which set the whole night off schedule -- and I think its because they weren't ready.
Reception: The food was great, from what I hear the service was good. The only problem I had was that everything was behind schedule, so we ended up having to pay overtime to the photographer. My bridal attendant did a great time and tha maitre 'd was a doll. I would definitely recommend this place, I'm sad they are going out of business!
Well, thats all! Thanks again for all of your help! I'll post pictures if I can figure out how to do it...
REHEARSAL DINNER LOCATION: Neighborhood House, Setauket, this is a great place for a party if you want to bring in your own caterer.
REHEARSAL DINNER CATERER: Elegant Eating, Smithtown -- B+. The food was really good and the waitstaff was sweet and very efficient. We had a huge rehearsal dinner -- 100 people (it was FI's job to send the invites and he sent them to everyone, instead of the BP, close family and out of towners ... oh well) and we ran out of food! I gave them a head count, and they told me how much food I would need. Their estimate was way off and some people got left eating nothing but pasta salad.
DRESSES, ADRIENNE'S: A-. I was concernd about Adrienne's after reading a lot of negative things on this board. Overall, my experience was good. My dress was perfect, came in on time and needed very few alterations. The girls who work there are great and very helpful. We had a lot of problems with this one seamstress in the Maid's Cottage. I could just go on and on about what a b**ch she was. She wouldn't listen to the girls when they explained what they didn't like about the alteratons, and a week before the wedding we finally requested and got a new seamstress, who did a great job.
HAIR, NICOLE, SYMETTRY/CHAMELEON IN STONY BROOK: A+. Everyone loved their hair and she was super sweet. I even had one of my husband's uncles come up to me and ask if he could take a picture of my hair because he never saw such a cool hair style!
MAKEUP, JACQUELINE NICOLE, A+: She did such an amazing job, and didn't make me look too overdone. I got so many compliments! I wish she could do my make up everyday!
LIMOS, ALL STAR: A. They came on time, the cars were clean. I was a little annoyed because they didn't know how to get to the country club. Also, when we were getting ready to leave one of the drivers made what I thought was a very innappropriate and suggestive comment to me in front of my inlaws.
FLOWERS, FLOWERS BY LIZ: A++++++++. Liz was my absolute favorite! I saw a ton of florists before choosing Liz and it was worth it! The flowers were exactly what I wanted, she did such a good job of working with me and listening to what I wanted. She also worked really hard to keep things in my budget, which I felt a lot of florists weren't willing to do.
PHOTOGRAPHY, HAL LYMAN/FULLVIEW STUDIOS: I'll post a review once we get our proofs.
TUXEDOS, BLACK TIE, SMITHTOWN: A. Everything looked good and fit well.
PROGRAMS/MENUS: A+. One of my bridesmaids is starting up a business custom making invites, programs, etc. She is so creative and did an amzing job! She is located in the DC area, if anyone is interested in her info send me a FM. Because she is just starting out her prices are very good!
OFFICIANT, REV. MARCIAGRACE TROPIN: B. I liked that she worked with us a lot to write our own ceremony, but she was somewhat inflexible. She had an idea of how she wanted the ceremony to be, and was resistant when we wanted something different. In fact, after an entire discussion about not using the word 'God' in the ceremony, she used it anyway. She also did a lot of mumbling to herself (yet, into the microphone) during the ceremony. In the end, our ceremony was beautufl, but there were things that bothered me.
BAND, TIMEPIECE: A. I can't tell you how many comliments we got. They did an amazing job! Every song sounded like the recorded version. So many people asked for their information -- I even had a guest tell me it was 'depressing' that such talented people were singing at my wedding! The only bad thing I have to say is that they completely ignored our play/don't play list -- even the song DH & his mother were supposed to dance to. Towards the end was asked them to play some of thos requests and they fit some of them in.
PORT JEFFERSON COUNTRY CLUB: A-.
Ceremony: It was a beautiful day so we were able to get married outside. I was dissappointed because there was this gaudy toule all over the trees, which I think was left over from an earlier wedding, but still, the location was gorgeous. Even though they knew how many people were coming to the wedding, they didn't have enough chairs out, and about 25 of our guests had to stand for the ceremony. Also, the ceremony started about 30 minutes late -- which set the whole night off schedule -- and I think its because they weren't ready.
Reception: The food was great, from what I hear the service was good. The only problem I had was that everything was behind schedule, so we ended up having to pay overtime to the photographer. My bridal attendant did a great time and tha maitre 'd was a doll. I would definitely recommend this place, I'm sad they are going out of business!
Well, thats all! Thanks again for all of your help! I'll post pictures if I can figure out how to do it...
