08/14/09 Wedding at Sans Souci

I didn't do a lot of posting, but I got some great ideas and lots of help from this site - thank you to everyone! I'll get some pictures on soon, but here are the reviews:

Bridal Dress - Bridals By Roma: A
I wanted a very simple, elegant wedding dress. I went to a bunch of places on LI and couldn't find anything that quite fit what I was looking for. I ended up at Bridals by Roma, a place in NJ near my apartment. They didn't have the exact dress I wanted either, but they worked with me to construct the dress I wanted. Maria (the seamstress) was great to work with.


MOB Dress - Macy's Bridal Salon, Manhasset: A+
My mother and I went to every place we could find on LI and in NJ to look for her MOB dress (sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not). After trying on countless dresses in countless stores, we ended up at Macy's Bridal Salon. They had a great selection of non-frumpy really beautiful MOB dresses. Great job with the alterations too.

Bridesmaid Dresses - PerfectBridal.com: A+
My bridesmaids lived in 3 different states, so after we picked a dress (Alfred Angelo), we looked for the cheapest way for them to all get the dress and get it altered. After reading a bunch of reviews for perfectbridal.com, we decided to go with them since it was by far the cheapest option. The dresses arrived exactly when they said they would, and they looked great!

Tuxedos - Dante Zeller: C
We chose Dante Zeller because my husband liked the tuxes and vests there best and because they only needed 24 hours to get tuxes for 3 members of the bridal party who were coming from out of the country. However, they were very disappointing. During the fitting, my husband's tux and vest were way too big and the shirt they gave him was discolored. They were able to fix the tux a little (although it was still a bit big), and my husband ended up wearing his own shirt the day of the wedding). My grandfather's tux was also all messed up during the fitting - the shirt was ripped, the vest was too small, the pants were too big. Although there were not problems with the rest of the bridal party, our experience with Dante Zeller was fairly negative. We would not use them again.

Makeup - Makeup By Diana: A++
I can't say enough good things about Diana. I heard about her from a recommendation on one of these boards - and what a great recommendation! I am one of those people who don't wear a whole lot of makeup normally, and she was so patient during the trial while we found an amount of makeup that I was comfortable with and a lip color that I liked. I loved how the makeup turned out the day of, and I loved the way my mother and sister's turned out too. Reasonably priced, extremely accommodating, and GREAT results. Diana was really fantastic!

Hair - Hair Designs by Renee: A+
Renee was also very patient. After two trials were we tried every up-do imaginable, I decided on the morning of the wedding to wear my hair done. I LOVED the way it turned out. She did hair for my mom, sister and entire bridal party - everyone was really happy with her.

Flowers - Flowers and Designs by Gina: A+
The reception hall provided the centerpieces, so all I needed were bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. I came across a picture of one of Gina's bouquets, and it was exactly what I had in mind for my flowers. She was easy to work with and the prices were really reasonable. The bottom line: the flowers were absolutely gorgeous and exactly what I wanted. Everyone commented on them. She also did a few pieces for my mom's house which were amazing.

Church - St. Vincent de Paul: A
This was the church where my parents got married, so we chose to get married there partly for sentimental reasons and partly because we'd been to a few services and really liked the priest.

Limos - Royalty Limos: A+
I was last minute about a lot of things, but this one was the worst - my mother and I went 4 days before the wedding and rented a 12-person limo and a convertible. Both drivers arrived on time and were very professional and helpful. I would definitely use Royalty again.

Photography - Golden Moments: A+
Dan was fantastic. He arrived early and stayed for the entire reception. We LOVE his pictures (still trying to figure out how to get the files a little smaller so I can post some on here).

Reception - Sans Souci: A-
The location is beautiful and we loved the coziness of the room and the fact that we were the only party. The food was fantastic (the sea bass is incredible!) and even the wedding cake (which I normal hate) was delicious. I had one little problem with the place. We met with the maitre d several times before the wedding to finalize the menu, things like that. He was always 100% helpful and accommodating. During our last meeting he was describing the day of the wedding and went on in some detail about how he would be there anticipating my every need...water if I needed on the dance floor, drinks at the table, etc. The day of, I didn't see any of that. To be honest, I probably would not have noticed it if he hadn't made such a big deal out of it before. But I certainly didn't feel like I got any special treatment because I was the bride.

DJ - In the Mix: B+
Overall, they were good. People were up and dancing the entire night. Just two comments. (1) I had requested about 12 songs be played, must of them pretty up beat, dance songs. They did play all of them (which was great), but some of the Spanish dance songs we asked for they played during dinner, which I thought was strange. (2) I was walking around visiting with guests when the MC called me and my husband to the dance floor. We went out (not sure what I was expecting), and the MC wanted us to get in the middle of this circle. I get that this is not unusual, but I am not at all the kind of person who likes to dance in the middle of a circle, even at my own wedding. The MC didn't do it again, but I thought that might have been a useful thing to check BEFORE doing it.