wedding/vendor review 10/12/02

Hi everyone. Just got back from my honeymoon in Aruba. We stayed at the Divi Divi all inclusive and it was very nice, nicest part was to spend 8 un interrupted days with my new husband. It rained so hard on my wedding day. I give a lot of credit to the people who say the rain on their wedding day didn't bother them. It really affected me a lot, it didn't ruin my day of course, but I was very sad about it. We were absolutely poured on from the time I got up in the morning to have my hair/makeup done, right through the church, pictures, and reception.
dress David's bridal - 500$ - they weren't the nicest there, but I absolutely loved my dress, I was so comfortable in it all day. I had the alterations done at La Bru in Garden City on Franklin Ave., because of all the horror stories I heard about Davids Bridal. I had it hemmed and also taken in at the waist and the shoulders adjusted, for about $145 which I thought was very reasonable. I dealt with the owner.
tuxes Rays formal wear in Franklin Square. There were no problems at all and they were very friendly and courteous all the time.
Limo - Royalty we had only the big party bus/ This was so great and convenient especially since it was pouring rain. The driver was good. All I would say is that for a 14 or so person bridal party, it was a lot for one driver with one umbrella, it would have been nice if he had an assistant.
photography/video-Duval I am going to try and hold my tongue here until I get the proofs back. If you use Duval, do not use Roy. He was awful and had me in tears from beginning to end. He does not have the personality to do a wedding, he ran for his car after the ceremony without taking any pictures outside the church because it was raining, we constantly had to find him to take pictures, it was awful. I don't know our videographers name, but he was very good and didn't mind the rain he was also very unobtrusive. I am very jealous of the brides who said their photographer was unobtrusive. All I remember about my father/daughter dance is him making us stand still to take pictures. So much for holding my tongue. I will post again after seeing my proofs. I went with them because of price, but I can definitley say, I would have gladly payed double to not have that aggravation on my wedding day.
EAB Plaza for pictures - my friends thought I was really going to lose it here. We walk in (afer paying $150 in advance to do so - and there are FOUR HUGE BLOWN UP TURKEY/SCARECROW/ ETC. all over the place. I wanted to die. We had to take pictures in one tiny corner. We should have gone directily to the hall. Nevermind that you go there bc it's raining, and you have to walk 1/2 mile across to get to the front door since the limo can't get up that far. I wouldn't recommend them, at least not for the fall.
Hall-15th and West/Nassau County Bar Assn - all in all everyone was impressed with this place. It was cold so the fireplace was on for the cocktail hour, which was nice. Everyone raved about the food. We wound up with about 185 people and had plenty of room. My only compaint is that there was no bridal attendant or anyone assingend to the bride and groom. No one to get us drinks or make sure we had h'ordoerves and whatever. Also the cake that was included wasn't good. And, I had maple candy shipped from canada to be put on the cookie plates for dessert. they went so fast, everyone loved them. then I get home and am unpacking the stuff from the hall, to find two full boxes of them. She should have put them all out - I didn't get it.
hair/makeup NV Salon in Huntington =- these people did a great job. I never went for a hair trial or anything, and she was able to do exactly what I wanted, it looked great and held all day despite the rain. My makeup also looked good, although I haven't seen many pictures yet. It was pretty bad to have this done at a salon rather than home bc of the rain, but due to family stuff I really didn't have a place to get ready.
I'm getting a little fried so will post again as I remember. I did have a good day, our ceremony was beautiful and I am definitley able to say I had fun at my reception. It wasn';t the perfect day I had worked so hard for - but all that really matters is that I was lucky enough to find the man of my dreams and have him propose and now we are partners for life!