6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

I have to say, my day was perfect. All that I ever imagined it could be.

Weather... 10
There was a threat of showers all week and I tried not to let myself get upset. I kept telling myself that the one thing that I can’t control about this day is the weather. Well, it ended up pouring the day before (during the RD) and was overcast the morning of. The clouds broke around 11 and the sun came out. The temperature was perfect. Not too hot or humid.

Invitations... 10
We ordered the invites through Samantha at the Watermill. She is the personal party planner that they have on site. She was great. The invitations were simple yet elegant. Just what we were looking for. My aunt does calligraphy, so she did our envelopes for us. She did a beautiful job. FM me if you want her info.

Rings
Bailey, Banks and Biddle (Bride)... 10
Fortunoff’s (Groom)...10
I fell in love with the Tacori brand when we went looking at rings. DH picked the perfect set. He had a harder time finding a ring that he liked for himself, but finally found one in Fortunoff. Both places had good customer service.

BM and MOB Dresses
Bridal Suite in Centereach... 10
I decided to go with the Bill Levkoff #966 dress. I had my MOH in lilac with an ivory sash and the rest of the girls were in the lilac/lilac dress. My girls had no problem ordering the dresses. They all came in quickly. They were more beautiful in person. All the sales ladies were so helpful and kind. The seamstresses... Vera in particular, was great. The alterations came out beautiful. I had the train and the sashes cut even with the floor and they looked beautiful. I had a bridesmaid that had a baby 2 weeks before my wedding and the Bridal Suite had no problem squeezing her in for alterations even though they were busy. I highly recommend them.

Bridal Dress
Adrienne’s in Islip... 9.5
Now I know that Adrienne’s sometimes gets negative reviews. But I had hardly any problems with them. I didn’t particularly like the sales girl that sold me the dress, but she ended up leaving anyway (I’m not surprised). My dress came in after a few months. I had to do a hollow to hem measurement before the dress was ordered due to the beading on the bottom, and the measurement came out perfect. The dress practically fit like a glove when I tried it on. I had to take a little in at the bust. I had a simple French bustle that was held together by ribbons. I also purchased my veil there, which was my favorite part of the whole outfit. I took off some minor points because my bustle dragged just a little, but it didn’t do that in the shop, so I don’t know what happened. Also, my first veil had a small hole in the tulle (almost the size of a cigarette burn). The store promptly ordered me a new one and the second one was fine. I have to admit, I didn’t buy by BM dresses here due to the negative reviews, but I had no real problems with the bridal side.

Tuxes
Tony’s Tuxedo’s in Miller Place... 8.5
Sal (Tony’s son) was great throughout the whole process. He helped us pick out the tuxes and made great suggestions as to what would look good. My DH had an ivory vest and tie. The boys had black on black and the Dad’s had and ivory tie and a black vest. That was Tony’s suggestion and I have to say, I loved the way it looked. I would have never thought of that myself. All the men went with the tie with the thicker knot. I took some points off because I do not feel that the tuxes were cleaned as well as they could have been. We found some spots on the jackets during the night and one guy even pulled a prom CD out of his coat pocket. I feel if the jackets were dry cleaned, the CD would have at least been melted or cracked. It was in perfect condition. So I question the cleaning process. Also, some of the guys were having problems with the buttons coming off. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because I know he was crazy busy with other weddings and proms. They looked great in the pics... so that’s what means the most. No one noticed but me and the guys.

Attendant Gifts
Things Remembered...10
I got all the girls Swvarski crystal necklaces. Like the “past, present, future” necklaces. They came in a silver box that I had engraved with their monogram. They came out real nice and I figured it was something they can wear again.

DH got all the boys baseball tix. All the guys really liked that.

Rehearsal Dinner
Setauket Pastaria... 10
DH and I eat there ALL THE TIME. We love this place so it was a no brainer as to where to hold our RD. Food was great, as usual. Service was great. We love this place. Prices were very reasonable.

Hair
Stephanie from That’s Me! In Middle Island... 10
She was great. She did my hair just how I wanted it. It stayed in all night and people kept saying how beautiful it was. She is my regular hairdresser. I just didn’t see the need to go to someone who specializes in “bridal hair”. I feel like I got the same product for half the price.

Head piece
Macy’s Bridal, Smithaven Mall... 10
I knew that I didn’t want a tiara. It’s just not me. I got a simple but elegant comb to go in the back of my hair. It was perfect.

Makeup
Jacqueline Nicole...10
Jacqueline was great. It was really important to me that my makeup did not make me look like a clown. I wanted to look like an enhanced version of myself that day. I normally do not wear much make up so I was a little nervous. Jacqueline did my make up perfectly. She also did my mothers and most of the girls. They all looked beautiful. I had the airbrush and it stayed beautiful all night. Jacqueline is such a nice person and was so enjoyable to spend time with that morning. I highly recommend her.

Limos
Legend Limos... 10
We looked at a lot of limos. It was the one area that I did not have an idea who to book. Royalty wanted to charge a “travel fee” because I live in eastern Suffolk (not paying it, no thank you) and Sir Oliver was booked. After looking in LIW... I came across Legend. We sat down with Bobby, and we hit it off immediately. We had the stretch escalade. It was beautiful. Mark, our driver, was wonderful. So helpful and calming. They also sent us a limo at the end of the night rather than a town car. We also used them for the airport for our HM and the town cars were clean and on time.

Flowers
James Cress Florist... 10
We sat down with Richie for our first meeting. He was very nice and also very funny. We hit it off right away. Richie understood exactly what my vision was. I wanted low rose centerpieces. When the original idea I had was too expensive, he suggested a beautiful alternative that I actually liked better. The Bo-K’s were perfect, as well as the centerpieces. They lit votive candles everywhere, which made the room so romantic. I loved the flowers.

DJ
Sound Choice...10
We had Mike (the owner) as our MC and Dave as our DJ. They both did a great job. Dave played all the music we requested as well as some other great songs. We had lights and a plasma with zap shots. The set up looked awesome. The zaps on the plasma were so cool. We are so happy that we got them. They had the dance floor packed all night long. I don’t think I sat down once. Everyone was dancing all night.

Photographer and Video
Patken... 10+
By far the best decision that we made for the whole wedding planning process. We sat down with two or three other photographers, but when we sat down with Doug from Patken, we knew we had to get them to shoot our wedding. The pictures they showed us were amazing. Their office is very impressive. Doug is a cool, funny guy, and we didn’t feel like we were getting a “sales pitch” from him. We were very confident in our choice, and our beliefs were confirmed when we did our engagement shoot. We had Vinny as our photographer. He was amazing. So nice and not “in your face” like some other photographers could be. He showed up to my house early, staked out the backyard and found an amazing angle to take pictures. I don’t think I am a very photogenic person, but somehow he made me look great in the pictures. During the ceremony and the reception, you didn’t even know he was there. The proofs were so amazing that we had such a hard time choosing our albums. We are SO happy we choose them. We highly recommend them.

We had Tim as our videographer. Again, he was great. Such a nice guy. Not in your face. I’m confident that the video will be as great as the pictures.

Ceremony
St. Mark’s Church, Shoreham...10
This is the church that I made my confirmation in. Decon Pat did our ceremony. He was great. The church was beautiful.

Reception
Watermill...10+
We looked at several halls and knew the minute we walked into the Watermill that it was the one. We had Brian as our BM. He was great and attended to every question and concern that we had. We booked the upstairs (Astor) room. The room was set up beautifully. The cocktail hour was outside. Oh my god... there was SO much food. What I got to try was delicious!!! People are still raving about the food, both cocktail and dinner.

Sean was our M’D. He was great. He was so helpful and nice. He attended to our every need. We felt like a king a queen. Every time we turned around, our glasses were filled. Everyone was asking if we needed anything. They also treated our parents with the same level of professionalism. Marie was the bridal attendant. She was great. She was there whenever I needed her.

I highly recommend the Watermill. I know some people are turned off by there being more than one wedding at a time, but I have to say, I never saw the other bride. I felt like the only bride there.

Accommodations
Holiday Inn Express... 5
This hotel is house at the Watermill. They are SUPPOSED to provide a free shuttle to and from the reception. We had no problems booking the rooms but we found it a little confusing because they did not notify our guests as to when the shuttle would pick them up to and drop them off. When I made the arrangements I was under the impression that they would send the guests a letter, but they never did. I had to personally call all who blocked rooms to tell them the plans. Then, at the end of the night, the shuttle came but took guests FROM THE OTHER WEDDING. They never asked what wedding and they never came back. After the reception, the Watermill called there and they said they would come in 20 minutes. I did not want to make my guests wait that long (it was already 1:15 am) so we just had everyone hop in our limo that was supposed to just be for me and my DH.

Once we got to the hotel, the guy at the door did not offer to help with all of our stuff. He just stood and watched as me, DH, and my parents loaded my truck with everything from the reception. When we got to the desk to check-in, the lady seemed to care less about the shuttle.

We did not get a special room because we couldn’t justify spending an extra $150 for a room that we wouldn’t get to until 2 am. The regular room was fine, but the air conditioner was so loud that I could not sleep. As soon as DH woke up in the morning, we checked out... 8 a.m. I couldn’t stand being there anymore. I don’t recommend this place. I feel I would have been better off going with another hotel and arranging my own shuttle for the guests.

DIY
Menus
Programs
CDs and Cases

I can’t really grade myself, but I think I did a good job...lol. I was particularly impressed with how the menus and programs (my MOH helped) came out. It was such a nice, personalized touch, and it was so inexpensive.

Some of my favorite pics are included in my album.

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

thanx for the review!!!1pictures are beautiful.

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Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Congrats. Thanks for sharing!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Congrats!!! Your Pics are beautiful.

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

great review!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Congratulations!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Thank you for the review!! Congrats on your big day!

Great pictures- you looked great!!!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Thanks for the great review! You looked beautiful!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Gorgeous photos!! Congrats on your wedding day!!

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

You look amazing, wonderul review and photos, thank you for sharing it with all of us.....
All the best, congratulations

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Thanks for the great review! Good to know about the hotel. We are having ours at Watermill too and were considering that hotel b/c of the transportation. I think you helped narrow it down to some place closer to where we live.

Re: 6/29/07 Watermill; Patken; James Cress; Legend Limos; Sound Choice DJ (Very Long...Sorry)

Great review, thanks for sharing!