We're Married!!! Review (LONG)

It was so worth every minute of planning! The day was so wonderful. I was worried that I would be nervous, but I wasn’t! I enjoyed every minute – not even the rain could dampen our spirits.

I have to first say thank you all for your help and support along the way. As you will see in my review, many of my vendors I heard about from liweddings.

OK - Here goes my loooonnnggg review:

Hair and Make up - Fairytale Makeovers – Rating: A+++++++ - My most AMAZING vendor. Jen was absolutely terrific – I really could go on and on about her all day. She brought an assistant to do hair and makeup for me and my Mom, and hair for my maid of honor, flower girl and bridesmaid. They were a lot of fun to be with, I felt so calm. My hair was perfect! My makeup was so stunning! I never wear make up. I looked like me - only enhanced. The look was terrific. Jen also came back and met me at the reception hall in between the ceremony and before the reception to touch up all our hair and make-up. We did not really need all that much touching up – but for me it was a great comfort to know she was going to be there. If you have not booked hair and makeup I highly recommend Jen – she is a true professional who really goes above and beyond.

Reception – The Riviera – Rating: A – our hall was so beautifully decorated for the holiday. The staff was very courteous and responsive to all our needs. I had a lot of “extras” that I asked for help with. The staff was so terrific in ensuring the whole day went perfectly. My guests were raving that he food was abundant and delicious. (Personally, I never sat down long enough to eat!). I would highly recommend the Riviera to all.

Photographer – Richard O’Conner Photographers – Rating – A++ - I did not find really any information on Richard on liweddings. I first saw and fell in love with his photos at my Hall (he is a recommended photographer at my hall). My DH was hesitant at first because he is a bit expensive. But the day of the wedding, he was my DH favorite vendor. Richard was great – he knew everyone’s name – he was able to show us some beautiful pictures right away that were taken with a digital camera. I am so excited to see my proofs! I would highly recommend Richard.

Flowers - Burtons Flowers – Rating: B – My flowers were beautiful red roses with berries – a great holiday theme. I was very happy with them. Burtons also decorated two Christmas Trees for me at the Hall – they were beautiful and elegant. There were two things that I was not happy with, but in all honesty I am not sure if they were Burton’s responsibility. One was my throw away bouquet. I assumed that the throw away bouquet would look like my bouquet, or at least go with all my other flowers. It did not. The throw away bouquet was some white and yellow flowers that, to me, were ugly. I hated it so much that I did not do the Anniversary Dance because I was embarrassed to give it away. The second thing I did not like, was that my arrangements at the Church were but next to the altar in front of other arrangements that were already there. So you could see the other arrangements behind my arrangements that did not match my arrangements. I am not sure if the Church or Burtons was responsible for this.

Limos - All Star Limos – Rating: A - a very professional vendor. The limos were early and the cars were absolutely beautiful. The drivers were courteous and worked with my entire wedding party to ensure that we did not get drenched in the rain. I would highly recommend this vendor.

DJ - Spin Around Sound – Rating: A – Tom and Rob did a great job with a challenging audience. One-third of my guests are deaf and Tom and Rob were able to keep the dance floor going. This is another vendor that I would highly recommend.

Wedding Dress - Beautiful Bride – – Rating: B - I loved my dress. My one complaint is that the day of the wedding my straps kept falling down whenever I sat down. Needless to say, during the fittings I never sat down. I think the shop should have known this could happen and asked that I sit down. But all in all, I was happy with their service.

Church – Cure of Ars Church – - Rating: F - If there is one thing I could change about my wedding, it would be that I would NOT get married at this Church. This was really the one mar on an otherwise perfect day. I will not go into details here (if anyone is getting married at Cure of Ars – you can forum mail me to find out what not to do!), but I will say I am so disappointed in this Church. All my vendors were responsive, if only the Church could learn to be responsive to its constituents.

Bridesmaid Dresses – David’s Bridal - Rating: B – This vendor actually worked well for my bridal party. My bridesmaids were from six different states, so this national vendor provided great flexibility. We ordered all our dresses from the Hartford, CT store since I had heard about problems with the Carle Place Store. My only suggestion for this store would be that they have more samples in their stores for the bridesmaids to try on, some of my bridesmaids had to “guess” their size since there were no samples to try on.

Invitations and Programs – Lizard Designs – A++ - This is a wonderful vendor, who I found on the web, who supplies top-notch quality invitations. They were truly a pleasure to work with.

Favor boxes and supplies - Hayden Impressions – Rating: A – great personalized favor boxes and supplies at a reasonable cost.

Thanks again!