The Happiest Day of My Life a.k.a. Our Glorious 10/7 Wedding

It was a beautiful sunny fall morning, the birds were singing and a wedding was about to begin... hehe. OK, I`ll get to the point - but this is gonna be long, so be forewarned! :) Our wedding, in a word, was fantastic!! We received so very many compliments on everything from the ceremony, to the food, to the color-coordinated organza favor bags and ladies room basket!! All of our vendors were incredibly professional and truly a delight to work with! In no particular order, here they are! The Day Before: 'Rehearsal' dinner: Outback Steakhouse in Merrick - fantastic! Great service and food - everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! The biggest hit was the surprise Groom`s cake with a fishing scene that I had made for my husband. Incredibly beautiful and delicious! And SO reasonable!! $65.00 (including delivery) fo 30 people. If anyone is interested in the baker`s info., let me know and I`ll post it - she put a picture of our cake on her website!! The BIG day: Hair/Makeup: Michele at Salon Menage didn`t let us down! She opened at 7 a.m. for us and I looked radiant if I do say so myself. I will say that I either brought her too many heads to do (11) or she didn`t have enough staff on hand. My mom and 2 sisters ran 45 minutes late for pictures. Reception: Coral House. From start to finish - Amazing! Our guests are still raving about the cocktail hour, the service and the view. I`ll be honest and say that I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see how well-run it was and while I wasn`t the only bride there, just one other wedding going on, I felt like it! I never saw the other bride - just a few guests. Ceremony: The best part of the day for us. Absolutely, unbelievably, beautiful! Father Steve from St. William the Abbot and Rabbi Applestone were terrific. We had no rehearsal and didn`t need it. I didn`t cry once and I wasn`t the slightest bit nervous - it was like a dream! I can`t tell you how many guests (Jewish and Catholic) complimented us on how beautiful and tasteful it was. Interfaith brides, feel free to ask any questions about our ceremony content, etc. Ceremony/Cocktail Hour Musicians: Island Classical Ensembles. Flute, Violin and Cello trio - $750 for 2 hours. They were wonderful. I got chills when I heard them play my bridal party recessional - Canon in D and my song, Trumpet Voluntary. They made one small mistake during the ceremony by playing Ave Maria at the time of the memorial candle lighting instead of the unity candly lighting. They caught their mistake and played a different song during the unity candle. No one but me noticed. Very professional. DJ: D-Jay Joey and Co. - Great!! We didn`t have a 'dancing' crowd but he knew what to play and when. Since we had 18 kids there, we made sure to have plenty of giveaways, which the adults loved, too. He played every single song we requested, got all of our dedications right and even made some great suggestions along the way!! Videographer - Wild Rose. Bill and Marie, the owners, were not available to shoot but we worked with Dave and he was fabulous!! We never knew where he was. Marie even showed up at our reception to make sure that everything was going well and to congratulate us. I can't wait for our video!! Photographer - THE BEST!!!! (Jenny B will be SO happy!!) Ed Collins. Incredible!! Patient, professional and completely unobtrusive. We should be seeing our proofs within a week and I know we won`t be disappointed. So many of our guests mentioned how good they thought he was - he was everywhere and I hardly ever saw him!! Florist: Colonial Flowers in Bellmore. We worked with Irene and our flowers were EXACTLY what we wanted!! We saw our centerpieces the night before and they were incredible - a mix of fall flowers. Some guests told us that with the exception of the roses, the flowers lasted until this weekend!! Wedding night: Garden City Hotel. SO worth the $300!! We were going to stay in our apartment that night to save the money, but I`m so glad we didn`t! It was nice to show up there in my gown and get the smiles and applause! :) Honeymoon: 10-day cruise on Royal Caribbean to Canada and New England. We had a wonderful and relaxing time - the foliage was incredible and we truly lucked out with the weather!! Just 1 rainy day last Wednesday, which happened to be my birthday!! So, I think that`s it! We`re back at work, looking for a house so we can start our family and we`re married!!! Oh, one last thing...all throughout the planning, my husband was in awe of how much work I put into it and often told me not to stress the small stuff. I always said, wait until October 7th and you go to the best party you've ever been to! I have no regrets - every detail mattered to me and it showed. The best part of the day - besides the pronouncement of our marriage - was when he told me how very proud he was of me - for planning our beautiful wedding and for making him the happiest man in the world!! :)

Congrats! So glad to hear your day was wonderful :) *NM*

What a beautiful recap - congratulations and best wishes!! *NM*

It all sounds wonderful...good luck and congrats! *NM*

TI AM SOOOOO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!

Sounds like ti was truly wonderful and I am indeed sincererly happy for you. Its so good to hear that the details actually mattered and all your hard work paid off. Your husband sounds like a gem for noticing and tell you he was proud of you. Also I am so happy to hear about ED! I cant wait til our wedding in 13 days!!! I spoke to him today and everytime I do I just am so happy with my choice. I cant wait to see the pics. Congrats and May God bless your marriage. Jen PS Please continue to stick around and give us all your married women's wisdom!!

Kathi..Please tell me about the ceremony.. Thanks & Congrats

Kathi, Could you please tell me more about your ceremony. I am also an interfaith bride. Thanks so much...

Kathi!! That is so awesome! Congrats! And all the Best! *NM*

Congratulations - It Sounds Beautiful! *NM*

The Happiest Day of My Life a.k.a. Our Glorious 10/7 Wedding

Congratulations. I too was a detail maniac for my wedding (Sept 15th) and we had to postpone our reception because of the tragic events of that week. This Sunday is our new reception date and the details are still hanging over my head, but it will still be awesome and I can't wait to wear my dress all over again!

Congratulations!!!! Sound awesome!!!! *NM*

Thank you everyone!!! :) *NM*

Hello2fun: About the ceremony...

Hi! I worked the hardest on our ceremony to incorporate traditions from both of our faiths and keep it under 30 minutes - it was only 20!! This is the order of our ceremony and who said/did what: Greeting and Introduction- Priest Remembering those who have died and Memorial Candle lighting - Priest 1st Reading - Apache Marriage Blessing (my brother) 2nd Reading - 1 Corinthians 13 (my best friends) Vows - Priest Rings - Rabbi Seven Hebrew Blessings - Rabbi Unity Candle lighting - Priest Blessing of Aaron - Priest and Rabbi (in English and Hebrew) Declaration of Marriage - Rabbi Breaking the Glass - Rabbi ~ The Kiss ~ Bride 'n Groom (heehee) Let me know if you have any other questions! Good luck!! :)

The Happiest Day of My Life a.k.a. Our Glorious 10/7 Wedding

Kathi, I am so happy for you and your new husband. I'm so glad you truly enjoyed your big day. I have six months to go-it's going so fast, but not fast enough, you know? Anyway, if you could post info on rehearsal dinner cake, I would really appreciate it. I would love to surprise my fi with a fishing theme cake. Thanks, Helen

Congratulations Kathi !!! Your day sounds perfect!! *NM*

Springbride: My fishing cake!!

Hi! Micheline is wonderful!! Her e-mail address is: [email protected] The cake was absolutely delicious. A picture of my cake was on there the other day and I don't see it now! :( Anyway, my husband loved it and he thought I spent $200 on it!! Here are some pictures of her work: http://members6.clubphoto.com/micheline429640/461352/owner-e3b0.phtml Good luck! :)

Kathi... one question

Hi, Did you have the part of giving your parents flowers in your ceremony? Also, did you offer yammakas (spelled wrong) at the doors? Thanks so much for the help. Nicolle

Hello2Fun...

Hi Nicolle: We didn't have the 'Rose Ceremony' because we both had our mothers give us away. Our mom's also lit the unity candle tapers. We felt that's how we wanted to honor them. Both of our father's are deceased and we remembered them w/ our memorial candle, in the program and made donations in their memory to the AHA and ADA. The yarmulkes :) were on the table at the door. We also had a basket w/ our programs in it there, too. Feel free to ask any other questions! Kathi

Congratulations!! You gave me the chills!! So happy for you *NM*

Congrats & Best wishes, from the other Oct 7th Bride!!

Kathi, I'm so happy everything worked out for you and your new husband,now what's the next big step for you guys? Don't you wish you can do it all over again or at least have it last until the morning!! lol

Thanks, Nicky!! Did I miss your review?!? :)

I'm sure you had a beautiful day!! We were SO blessed with the weather!! I was actually praying for a cool day since my husband tends to sweat under pressure! HEHE We're looking for a house now - a little uncertain since prices are so high and we're not even sure where we want to live!! My husband says we should move out of New York altogether!! I'm also considering a career change, but I can't do that until I KNOW WHERE I'M LIVING!!!!!! Whew! That felt good! :)