OK You asked for it!! My 2/2005/ Wedding review & Proofs!! Fair warning its REALLY REALLY long!! UPDATED// Page 3 Wedding Advice UPDATED// Scanned more pics on Page 6!!!

Ok well it is FINALLY my time to write my review and share my wedding pictures with all of you!
I have been waiting for this day forever!! Literally!
First I have to thank one of the most sweet hearted, helpful, and honest chick on this website. Sandra a.k.a. Jimmysbride introduced me to LIW when we bonded over the knot. I got so many of my best ideas, vendor information, pictures, and most importantly a lot of great friendships with the wonderful people on this site.
If it were not for her introducing me to LIW I would have missed out on all these things and more.
I am going to rate all my vendors on a scale from 1 - 10. I am going to be TOTALLY honest. Some vendors might dislike me a little after they read this ( because we all know they read everything!) but I feel like it is only right to all the other bride 2 be's to hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Too many times I have read a review where everything is A++++++++++ and 100 on a scale of 1-10 when I know for a fact they are editing a few things out here or there that if I were a bride looking to book a vendor I would want to know about.

I spent 2 years of my life planning for this one day. In the last few Weeks before the wedding my Husband ( wow its been a month and it still gives me chills when I say it) kept trying to tell me that no matter how long or hard you plan or how much research you do, not everything goes according to plan. I told him he was crazy and pushed the idea of having something other then a PERFECT wedding out of my head. Well I hate to say it ladies but he was right. Luckily it was nothing major just little things here and there that as a control freak made me a little crazy but before I got upset I just had to remind myself to smile, have fun, and enjoy every minute b/c there is plenty of time to be mad, upset, cry, and vent later but this day comes only once and you really have to cherish every second b/c if you blink your going to miss it, and you can never get that back.
MyGatsby.com - RD Invitations * 10 *
Mygatsby.com -Rehearsal Dinner invitations * 10 * I ordered my Rehearsal dinner invitations from this website. I was able to find a really cute invitation that you could order blank and print yourself to save money. I thought this was the perfect way to go although everyone else thought I was crazy for even bothering doing them. They came out GREAT and everyone thought they had been professionally done. This was kind of a last minute idea to even have invitations so they really earned their rating due to the fact that it only took 2 -3 business days for everything to arrive.Once I got the format down I had them all printed and assembled in about an hour. I got a tun of compliments and they only cost approx. $2.00 an Invitation set. I took two different invite poems I had found on the knot.com but I wasn't really crazy about either so I meshed them together and edited some things out, changed a few things around. I will try to scan a pic of the final product at the end of my review.

Nappa & Sonoma Steak House - Rehearsal Dinner location * 9 * ( Whitestone, Queens) My hubby and I love this place. It so warm and cozy and the food is great. Plus its right around the corner from the church so we thought it would be the perfect place for our rehearsal dinner. They don't have a private room but gave us our own section of the restaurant and luckily it wasn't that busy esp. For a Friday night. Nappa & Sonoma was a little pricey and I was a little upset when we ordered family style appetizers for the whole table ( we only had our parents and the bridal party so it was 20 people plus 2 kids) and for what we were paying I expected there to be a little more on the plates! So we wound up ordering almost double the appetizers we expected too. The main courses however were really large portions and everything looked and tasted really good. I think the best part of the whole night was that they had a live singer who walked around singing frank Sinatra songs and a lot of oldies but goodies that everyone could enjoy! He even sang personally to my son and my nephew ( both 2 years old) and they were in heaven dancing away like they were at their own private concert LOL. That really made my night it was such a nice touch.

BJ'S Bakery - RD Cake * 8.5 * Yes you read right BJ's bakery. Originally I was going to get my husband a really cute BMW or Yankee cake but the quotes I was getting were kind of crazy and in the last few Weeks before the wedding money was really tight and it just seemed like a waste of money for us. For our Son's birthday we have always gone to BJ's and gotten a sheet cake and my husband loves the way they taste so much he even wanted our wedding to be a BJ's sheet cake!! We gave the lady at the bakery section our favorite engagement picture and specific instructions on what to write on the cake. Well I went to pick it up the night before the rehearsal dinner and at first glance it looked awesome!! I was so happy with it and the picture across the front was just too cute. Well as I was on line waiting to pay I noticed that the wording was a little messed up. I guess they realized it after it was done and you could actually see where they smudged it a little trying to fix it. At that point it was too late to have it redone and I was pretty sure no one would even notice so I let it go, but it did annoy me. Well no one noticed it, it tasted amazing ( a million times better then my actual wedding cake! But more of that later) and everyone was running up to look at the cake. One of our groomsmen is actually getting married in a few months and said his fiance would love to do something like that. He asked me where I got it and I was a little embarrassed to tell him but hey It was huge, tasted great, and only cost me $20 bucks so how can I complain?

Bell Formal - Tuxedos * 8 * Someone from this website responded to my post about where to go for Tux's in Queens. Im sorry I cant think who right now but thank you so much for answering! Bell Formal was near by, had everything in stock to try on ( definitely a HUGE plus), had a lot of selection, and was very reasonably priced. I think for everything the guys came out to $125 including the shoes. The reason they only got an 8 was b/c the owners wife who is also the seamstress and does all the measuring had no patience for my 2 year old son who wasn't thrilled about being measured and stuffed into a tuxedo and shoes 2 sizes too small. She was always nice but that day she was very rude to us. Maybe it was b/c she was busy, or doesn't like the sound of a crying baby but I am sure no ring bearer is thrilled about the process and she could have handled it much better. Customer service is just as important as the product IMO

Commack Wedding Center - My wedding dress * 10 * Ok there are a lot of horrible things said about CWC but when it came to my wedding dress they get a 10 ( bridesmaids are another story listed below) I had already been to Macy's bridal that had hardly any plus sized samples to try on or at least none that I really liked. Same thing with bridal reflections plus most the dresses there were a little bit out of my budget. I went to a bridal expo. Where commack wedding center put on a 'fashion show' I thought the owner was annoying and tacky but I was told they had a large selection of plus sized dresses and I was sick and tired of trying to squeeze into these little samples and being told to 'imagine' how it would look if it actually fit.
I want on a Saturday morning with my mom and we got there when they first opened and it really wasn't busy at all. The saleslady I had was WONDERFUL. She was plus sized herself and had been in this business for more years then I have been alive. I straight out told her that I had no idea what would look good on me, told her that my only rule was nothing with sleeves, and asked her if she knew what would look the best on my body type. We picked out about 4 or 5 dresses together and it seemed like the more I loved it on the hanger the more I hated it on myself. I was getting really depressed and felt like I would never find a dress that just fit me. I was happy however that ALL of the dresses she showed me actually fit me, most were even big on me which was a first. And they were all different styles of dresses not the typical 'plus size line' some of the other stores carried. I also have to say that the saleswoman was SO honest with me and I really really appreciated that. I mean if I walked out in a dress that didn't look right on me and my mom was just looking at me not knowing what to say she would just say Hun that's not the dress for you lets keep looking. I told her my budget and the dresses she brought me were all well UNDER what I had told her ( as opposed to bridal reflections who brought me dresses THOUSANDS of dollars over what I told them I was willing to spend) Well when she finally brought me my dress and took it out of the bag to show me my jaw dropped - - But not in a good way!! The first thing I noticed was long sleeves and it just did not look like something I would ever wear. Since it was a Saturday and you only have a certain number of dresses you are allowed to try on before you go back to the bottom of the list ( and by this time it was getting busy) I told her I didn't want to 'Waste' my last dress on this one. She kept insisting and I kept telling her no. Well I gave in and tried it on just so she would leave me alone. I came out looked in the mirror and I knew right away no doubt in my mind this was it. I probably would have NEVER considered my dress in a million years if it weren't for that saleswoman at commack wedding center and she saved me a bundle since it was a lot less then I was willing to pay.
Barron's Tri County- My veil * 9.5 * I found a veil I loved at Macy's bridal. Simple, plain, 2 layer fingertip, poofy with a thing edge. It was perfect.... And then I saw the price tag! $350 for that?!?!? I was like you gotta be kidding me. Just b/c Im a bride to be does not mean it says sucker across my forehead. I got the EXACT same veil at barrons and it cost me $80 it looked great and the price was right. The only reason they got a 9 instead of a 10 was b/c they told me it would be ready on a certain date. I went that day to pick it up and it wasn't ready. Tri county isn't exactly 5 min. From my house so I was a little annoyed that I had to make a total of 3 trips to get my veil but it was also a little my fault b/c I should have called ahead to make sure it was ready before I drove out there.
Commack Wedding Center - Bridesmaid dresses * 5 *Ok well here comes my not so nice review of commack wedding center. As most of you know I had the most difficult time of all deciding on a bridesmaid dress. All my 6 bridesmaids are all so different and all wanted different things. Me trying my hardest not to be a bridezilla and make everyone happy turned into a nightmare. We literally waited till the last second to order the bm dresses. Commack wedding center is little bit of a drive for myself and all my bms who live in queens but I had a very good experience with my dress and they quoted me $133 for my bm dress when other places were quoting me $215 and up.
Well the ladies in the bridesmaid dept. Are pretty rude and weren't always that nice to all of my girls. There was also a problem with one of my bridesmaids. She was in another wedding party and that bride was originally going to get her bm dresses from commack wedding center. Well the bride changed her mind and called to cancel the order. Well by accident they canceled that bridesmaids dress for MY WEDDING instead of the other brides!!!!! As it was we were cutting it close and I don't understand why they waited over a week to call and tell me this!!! I was literally freaking out about to drive to commack wedding center and cause a huge scene when I called my bm and told her everything. She said she would call them and handle it. Well the next think I knew one of the ladies at commack wedding center was calling me to apologize and saying they would order the dresses that day and we would have them 3-4 Weeks before the wedding.
Well 3 Weeks before the wedding and still no dresses!!! I called commack wedding center every single day and all they would tell me was it will be in tomorrow. I was freaking out, my bridesmaids were in a panic. It wasn't pretty. Finally with only 2 Weeks to go my dresses came in and we all took the day off of work to get the dresses, and bring them somewhere else to get them altered. The dresses themselves were beautiful and my girls looked great in them - but that's thanks to bill levkoff not commack wedding center!

Macy's Bridal of Manhasset - MOB Dresses* 6.5 * My fmil was having a hard time finding a dress, we had been to about 6 different stores with no luck. On a whim one day I asked her if she wanted to try Macy's ( I mean she goes there for everything else why not this? :) ) For some reason she was really against it and swore she wouldn't like anything and it was a waste of time. My DH finally talked her into it and what would you know? She found her dress! It wasn't the style she was originally looking for but it looked great on her and is so different from anything she would normally wear. The next weekend I went looking with my mom and she found her dress as well!! My mom was also having a hard time since she is a 'young mom' and thought all the mob dresses were old farty and not her. We tried a few bm dresses which she liked b/c they were younger and more her but most were either too plain or too bridesmaid dress looking for a MOB. She tried on like 30 dresses and we had given up and about to go home when one of the ladies at Macy's brought out a manican with this gorgeous dress on it! It was so perfect it wasn't funny. My mom practically ripped it off the manican and ran into the dressing room. It fit perfect, the style was perfect, even the color was perfect. The saleslady then told us it was really a Wedding dress!!! For ' informal or second weddings' and came in white,ivory, and the soft pink the sample was in. My mom didnt care and since it wasn't white or ivory and my mom looked fantastic in it neither did I. But when she went for the alterations she had the train cut a little shorter into more of a little tail so it wouldn't look too much like a wedding dress. Both of our moms looked fantastic. We have never seen them look more beautiful.
The reason I gave Macy's a 6.5 is for 2 reasons. One my moms dress since it was technically a wedding dress they charged her wedding dress alteration prices instead of MOB alteration prices which I thought was absurd. Second my MIL's dress was supposed to take approx. 12 Weeks to come in. She ordered it July 8th and it didn't come in until the week after Thanksgiving! My poor MIL was having a nervous break down and even went out and bought a gown at another store b/c she was so nervous she would be stuck without a dress. Then when it finally did come in it was the wrong shawl! The color matched but it didn't have any of the beading like the sample had. They gave my MIL 5% off the cost of her dress and apologized. At that point there was nothing more we could do.