My Wedding on 9/16/01--Long

Oct 03, 2001 09:36 AM

Hi everyone, I'm back and wanted to give you a review of everything as well as thank all of you for your helpful imput and advice given while I was planning.
My day was fantastic. Absolutely the best day of my life! I wish I could do it all over again! When people tell you that the day will fly by, believe them-because it is true--it felt like 20 minutes in all!
Vendor Review:
Ceremony/Reception: We had both our ceremony and reception at Flowerfield which was spectacular! The staff there was incredible, Scott knows his stuff and was extremely helpful to everyone. If anything went wrong on the day, I certainly didn't know it and that is probably because of Scott. The food was great, we are still getting rave reviews about it and have people telling us it was the best they have had at any wedding. Also, as a side note, they were extremely gracious in only charging us for the number of people who attended (instead of the required minimum) due to the fact that so many guests couldn't make it. I hope that all wedding facilities did this that weekend but I was pleased with Flowerfield, in that we did not even have to request it.

Officiants: Rabbi Swerdlow from E. Northport and Monsignior Beckman from Woodbury. They worked extremely well together in our Jewish/Catholic ceremony. Everyone has said that it was a beautiful one, I was in a bit of an emotional daze and can't remember much but I will wait to see the video.

Band: We used a Hank Lane Band, The Arthur Stewart Orchestra, and they were fabulous. Played non-stop and the dance floor was always packed. Again, nothing but rave reviews.

Photography: We used Lynn and Mark (not Kauffman) from Mark Kauffman Photography and they were amazing. They were all over the place but hardly noticeable. The only thing I regret was not having set enough time aside before the wedding for all of our posed pictures. We had wanted to get them done so that we could enjoy the cocktail hour, but because we didn't get them done before hand, we had to miss the cocktail hour. I would suggest to everyone that is taking photos before hand for that reason, allow yourselves an extra hour more than you think you need. On the bright side, we already got our proofs back (2 weeks!!!) and love them. Most of them are great. It will be hard work selecting the album ones. I highly recommend both Lynn and Mark to anyone and will be glad to post pictures if anyone is interested.

Hair/Makeup: I used Elena and she was great. I was really pleased with both my hair and makeup and everyone said I looked great. She also did my sister and one of my bridesmaids, and my mother. She came to the hotel on the morning of (was a bit later than she said she would be which got me off to a very nervous start but everything turned out fine) then she followed us to Flowerfield. She normally stays through the first dance but I'm not the type to like being fussed over and told her she could go. She was great, we all looked good except my 13 year old sister looked too old, too much makeup, etc...

Bridesmaid Dresses: We used Burtons Bridals and the dresses were fine but the service there is not to be commended. One of my bridesmaids was pregnant at the time we ordered and so getting her size right was difficult. When the dresses came in, she had already had her baby, and one of the woman there took a look at her and said, you better go lose some weight, starve yourself or something. Not very nice. It turned out that the dress fit perfectly.

Videographer: We used Motion Pictures, David the owner is fantastic and we got a video for our rehearsal dinner where we were interviewed about how we met and our engagement. Everyone loved it so I can't wait for the wedding video. For anyone looking for a superior videographer, Motion Pictures is definitely it. The lights were not in your face, they were very unobtrusive and they were great to work with.

Dance Lessons: We took dance lessons from Marianne at Steppin Out. She was awesome and we actually learned a whole routine for our first dance. Everyone said we looked great, like we'd been dancing for years but I will wait to see the video before believing them! I do have to say Marianne was great and really taught us tons of steps given that we knew nothing from the start! We are actually going to go back to her for more lessons!

Florist: North Shore Floral in Woodbury. John, the owner, was great. He put together really creative centerpieces and bouquets. They were truly beautiful. I will gladly email photos to anyone interested. We also used little bud vases with picture holders for our favors (great deal at Spiegel!) and he filled them all with beautiful blue/purple orchids. They looked great.

Hotel: Our guests and us stayed at the Wyndham Windwatch in Hauppage and they were exceptional. The rates were $139/night and they went out of their way to make sure we were happy with everything. They kept the bar open for us when we got back from the wedding Sunday night and they had a gift basket with champagne and lots of goodies for us when we got back.

Limo: We used a small company called Michael R Limos and he was fabulous. Michael was there plenty of time ahead of schedule (I actually kept him waiting) and the limo was beautiful. He also took us to the airport on Monday in his 10 passenger stretch. We looked pretty important! He also had someone at the airport when we returned from our honeymoon, with no problems. Highly recommended!

All in all, the day was magnificent. With everything that happened the week of it, things started not mattering as much to me, which I think helped in not being so stressed. We had about 40 guests not able to make it in but all trying so hard to. I just kept thinking how lucky I was to have everyone near to me alive and how important it is to treasure every day and every person in your life and take nothing for granted.

I will post another message about my honeymoon later but this is long enough for now. I will gladly answer any questions I can!