A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, *******, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

I’ve read many reviews and I really liked when other brides would include a little bit about themselves… so here goes.
Keith and I dated for about 3 years before we got engaged. I knew I would marry him 7 months into our relationship but it really wasn’t much of a discussion until about 2 years in. I never once realized that planning a wedding would be so time consuming and involve a ton of details. We really thought since we planned the date two years in advance that the stress would be non-existent. Boy we were wrong!!!
In the time span of two years, we booked all of our vendors (that was a breeze), I found this site (thankfully) and had many events unravel. Which leads me to the next part.

THE UGLIES:
We had a groomsmen back out, or really he was kicked out. This left an open space, which was resolved with asking one of my brother in laws. Which lead to the other brother in law being “upset” he was not included. This was “settled” and then erupted again the day BEFORE the wedding. And again at the wedding. Oh well live and learn I guess.
Then two months prior to the wedding, I get the “Dear John” email from my bm deciding she no longer wants part of the wedding or my life!!! Which would have been one thing to handle, but instead this caused me to find a new hair girl. (she is friends with my previous girl so it just wasn’t a comfortable situation for me). It worked out in the end.
Lastly my in laws were possibly closing on a new home… the week pretty much before the wedding!!! That caused major unneeded stress.

THE TRUTHS:
Time doesn’t stop for your wedding. This is something that every bride must realize. I am sure we all do, it’s just that when the wedding gets close things tend to get very nuts.

MY ADVICE:
It does not matter who is paying for the wedding. You and your fh could save for months or years and someone will still tell you how to spend that money. Just practice saying “Ok sounds good” or “Let me look into that”… it will save you grief.

Bridezilla moments: It doesn’t matter if you think you are or you aren’t. Have one day of PMS and someone will tell you that you are one. Just take it with a grain of salt. Chances are you aren’t a bridezilla at all and if you are, do you really care what people think?

WONDERFUL THINGS:
I do thank Ron and Liz for being creative and making this website. I also thank the past, present and future brides that come and share their ideas. It’s been a great help with finding vendors, getting pointers on situations and ideas on what to implement in my own wedding.
I am glad that I was able to meet some of the girls from the site and become actual friends with them. Pegalega, Trinap3440, and Kns11 you will forever be my girls. Love yas!!!

Thankfully I met Novemberbride06 and she sold me the decorations that she used for her wedding. I have now sold to another bride to pass on the tradition. They were beautiful.



When I needed help duplicating Twinkletoes8070 monogram, Nina_m74 & Mrsbartontobe took their time to help. Thanks ladies.




Gettinghutched, Lizzie913, and Vintagegirl answered all my questions I had on honeymoon location. Thanks again ladies, it was worth all the advice. It was a great time.

ENGAGEMENT PARTY:
BELLA VERDE:
We originally went to Papa Joe’s and they told us about their other site Bella Verde. It was really beautiful. The food was fantastic and everything went as planned.
We used HIGH ENERGY for our DJ, who was great. (more on him later in the wedding portion)
I used VISTAPRINT for my invitations so I don’t think I have a picture. But I use them a lot and never have a problem.
And VERONICA TREATS(www.veronicastreats.com) did our cookie favors. She was fast and very easy to work with.


SAVE THE DATES:
A GIFTFUL HEART: So great to work with, and so easy. I found them online, I got a sample and my mind was made up. They were a great price and a thick magnet.



BRIDAL SHOWER:
MILK AND SUGAR CAFÉ

WOW WOW WOW!!! Originally I wanted a “Tea Party” themed bridal shower. That really didn’t work out because we had a lot of people. However my sister still kept with the original venue. This place is amazing. It doesn’t need much of your owm decorations since there are so many decorations already there. Everything was perfect. The service was great and they give you ALL of the food that is left over. We had so much leftover that when we went home to re open gifts there was enough to feed all the family that came back to my house AND send them home with some.

The shower invites were a DIY. I didn’t want my sister (MOH) to spend much when I knew I could make them just as nice. She gave me a budget of $100.00, I spent $15.00 lol

Sorry I don’t have a picture of the invite for some reason???

My favors were ordered from a vendor that is not on the site. I found her about two years ago at a craft fair in Setauket. She made cookie favors for my sister's baby shower and my sister used her for my shower. Her contact info if you are interested is [email protected]. Email her for pricing she is very reasonable and very talented.






BACHLORETTE PARTY:

ON THREE Glen head:
The food was great the service was horrendous. Go to Eatoutlongisland.com look up the restaurant for my entire review. Disaster.

SIR OLIVER LIMOS:
We had Rachel. She rocked our socks. Limo was clean and we went everywhere we needed to go.

KATRA NYC and LE CAIRE LOUNGE:
WARNING !! DON”T SMOKE HOOKAH. Yuck… I figured this would be nice to do since it was different. It was nice to have some places to go, with belly dancers and great décor. The hookah itself was great for the first 15 mins… then it hits you like a ton of bricks. Needless to say I was sick and left NYC at 12:30am to come home. All in all it was a fun night.


REHEARSAL DINNER:

EAST SETAUKET PASTERIA: Keith and I go here a lot. We even got engaged in its parking lot. So it figured we would be here for the RD. It was great and the food was as always excellent. The pricing is very reasonable too.


DIY INVITES: I purchased them from Target and followed the instructions from the Gardner Studio website. I asked my friend to make up a poem for me to let everyone know the reason why we chose this venue.




GROOMS CAKE: my brother in law’s girlfriend took on the task like a trooper. Keith is in love with superheroes. I opened the can of worms and told him about the grooms cakes and he right away knew what he would want for one…. THOR”S HAMMER.
She did a great job.








BRIDAL PARTY GIFTS:
I bought the girls make up bags from DSW, leaf necklaces from TRISHA’S TEMPTATIONS, earrings from 1928 Jewelry, shoes for the reception and pocketbook holders from a website online.










We purchased pilsners for the guys on EWEDDINGS.com and had their initials placed on them, we also included a gift card to various places.



We got the best man a different gift.




FREEZE DRIED ROSE PETALS: Since I felt I didn’t want to worry on when to stuff the petals in there bags, I opted to go for freezed dried petals. I ordered them over the summer and didn’t stuff the bags until two weeks before the wedding. I still have tons left that are still in perfect condition. If you want rose petals and don’t want to worry about the hassle of when to stuff the bags or petal cones, this is the way to go. I got a great deal at FLYBOYNATURALS.COM.





TABLECARDS: I don’t have any pictures of the finished item but here is one. I ordered them from an ebay vendor. Since my wedding had a “leaf” theme we used tree names as our table names.
All I changed was I added three silk leaves to the top of all of them.




PLACECARDS:
I had great idea at first to make a bed tray style box, fill it with mulch and then place leaf shaped papers in it with my guests seat information. That never panned out and I opted for good old Martha Stewart place cards that I purchased at Michaels. I put everyone’s name and table name on it, gave my RH votives and silk leaves and called it a day.



COASTERS AND NAPKINS:
Until I found this website I never knew either existed. I ordered the coasters from Charmingweddings.com and the napkins through ebay. I received great deals on both and was quite happy. I haven’t a clue if anyone noticed. The coasters were used in the reception under everyone’s champagne glass and the napkins were at the cocktail hour.





FAVORS:
About a year and a half before the wedding I was in a gift store in Pennsylvania. I saw these ornaments there and knew it was what I wanted the wedding to be designed around. I found a lot of websites, got a lot of samples but the quality of them weren’t as good as they were through Trisha’s temptations. I ordered these literally a year before our wedding. They were a bit on the higher end in pricing, but I knew this is what I really wanted. You can get them boxed or unboxed. I chose boxed since it was easier and placed a label on them.






ALL LABELS: I used an ebay vendor again for this SJJE-BARGAINS. They were cheap and had a logo I loved. I used them for favors, petal bags and out of town gift boxes.







PROGRAMS:
DIY:
I bought regular ivory programs from Staples and cut out leaves from Papersource.com. I printed them, glued on the leaf, and tied yarn around them.



MENUS:
DIY:
I purchase parchment paper, printed and cut them.



GABLE BOXES DIY
(I’LL GET BACK TO YOU ON WEBSITE)
Since we were getting married at a hotel, I thought it would be nice to make them for the guests that stayed. They were a great hit.





I DO LETTERS: Another DIY



WISH JAR:
I originally saw this in a Martha Stewart magazine. I used my rendition instead and a poem I found on LIW =).







AISLE RUNNER: DIY
I purchased the runner on EBAY, used a saying that Keith and I say to each other, traced it on, painted it with puff paint and called it a day.



CARD BOX:
DIY I purchased a chest from Michaels, glued it shut, painted it, stamped with leaf stamps and glued on the date of the wedding.





CAKE TOPPER:
Keith made these copper stick figures years back. My aunt gave me the idea to incorporate them into our wedding. We had this tree from a family prank and I used it all together to be our cake topper.







SHOES:
Zappos. I highly recommend them. I purchased these at 10pm one night and 10am the next day they were there.



They were white and I had gotten them dyed at Lenny’s in Port Jefferson. No complaints



TUXES
BLACK TIE TUXEDO SMITHTOWN
Mark was awesome. We met him at a bridal show at the Hyatt where we first saw the pin striped brown tux. I knew I didn’t like the way that black tuxes looked with brown dresses so when I saw this I was so happy. Everything went off with out a hitch. Mark is a really nice guy.


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DRESSES:
BAY SHORE BRIDAL

BRIDESMAIDS
BARI JAY
I knew it would be a little cold but I figured they were just such a unique dress at a great price. They were ordered in brown with a gold sash. No problems here.



FLOWER GIRL:
This was ordered online from Dresskids.com. The dress was super cheap and fit in perfectly with the color scheme.




MAGGIE SOTTERO GRACE KELLY
I knew this was the dress from day one. I saw it on the site and no one had it. A friend of mine mentioned that Bay Shore Bridal would order it and if you didn’t like it when it came in your deposit was transferable to another dress. This is what I did. It worked out and I didn’t have to transfer the deposit. My dress was light gold with diamond white overlay. It was beautiful. I received a veil in ivory and a slip from Bay Shore Bridal too. No complaints. It was a typical bridal store, some issues but nothing to really complain about.





RINGS
MINE ZALES
HIS http://www.titaniumkay.com/
I have much to say about Zales but FM if you are thinking about getting a ring from there. Not a good experience. His ring was great. He saw it, loved it and we ordered it. I had it the next day.





DAY OF JEWELRY:

I have always loved cameos. I had very old cameo earrings from a great aunt and through much research I had won a cameo bracelet on ebay. I just loved the vintage feel of using them.



CUFFLINKS:
Originally we were going to get all the groomsmen their own cufflinks as gifts but we decided against it. Keith still wanted his own. He purchased these online somewhere. It was his own little original touch to the wedding. =).



INVITATIONS
PIPPY SWEETS
Diana was such a pleasure to work with and very patient. She is very talented and is willing to create what you want. I must have ordered about 30 invite samples from other vendors. As soon as I received her sample, I knew that she was the person I wanted to use. I loved the idea that you receive an actual sample of what your invite will look like when it’s finished. I highly recommend using her.


FLOWERS
*******
Flowers were really just not my thing. I was not having floral centerpiece and my DH really didn’t want bouts. I went and met with John to sign up with and Mike to go over flowers. I came in with a picture that I took out of a Martha Steward magazine and was advised they couldn’t do it. I was a bit frustrated and picked other flowers. I used the same arrangement for my girls, our mothers and myself. The only difference is that my bo k had orchids in it. I also had them deliver rose petals to the Hyatt to decorate the tables. There was a little issue with the pricing that I was told, but in the end Mike did right by me and all was fine.
When I received the flowers I was blown away. You never know what you are going to get with flowers unless you see them. And from what I read from other reviews even when you see them it may not be what you get on that day. ******* did a great job; they lasted the entire day (even days later) and were on time with delivery. What more can you want?




CENTERPIECES:
I knew I wanted to use mosaic hurricanes and I searched for them online. I finally found them from Dillard’s and ordered 20 of them two years before the wedding. They were $20.00 each and came with a candle. My RH put votives and rose petals around them as well. They were perfect.




LOVE/DIAS TABLE DECORATIONS

I used the same centerpiece from the other tables and bought some mosaic votive holders from Wal-Mart. Nice and romantic and did the trick.



RING BEARER PILLOW AND FLOWER GIRL BASKET
EBAY
I purchased these both from a vendor on ebay that had used them at her wedding. They fit in perfectly




MAKE UP
JACQUELINE NICOLE
She is top notch and down to earth. I had two trials with her, one with air brushing one with out. The day of the wedding we used my bare minerals lol.. She was great.


HAIR
INDUSTRY 80 PATCHOGUE
When one of my bm dropped out, I had to find a new hair girl since it was her friend who was originally doing my hair. My sister suggested Linnie at Industry 80. The salon is very cool looking and has great prices. I had two hair trials with Linnie and the day of she did a great job. I continue to use her now. She is very young but very talented.

LIMOS
SIR OLIVER
They are the nicest company ever. We used them for our b parties, wedding and for the pick up from the airport from our honeymoon. Every driver we had was very professional and very helpful. One of the drivers lined us up at our church because no one knew what was going on lol. They are very reasonable; the cars are spotless and very personable.




DJ
HIGH ENERGY
We used Ralph for our e party, so it was a no brainer that we would book him for our wedding. He is reasonably priced and open to work with anyone’s music preferences. He provides you with a great mix of music or you can tell him specific songs you want to be played. He also supplied us with the monogram that spun above our dias table. It was a great touch.


PHOTO/VIDEO
VELVET STUDIO
My aunt gave me a sample of a thank you card that she had seen about a year before my wedding that Bob shot. It was beautiful and the colors were so vivid. I wanted to spend a good amount on photo but I didn’t want to go overboard. A friend of mine happened to have booked him for her wedding. I spoke with Bob and he told me that he shot Camacho’s wedding and told me where to view the pictures online. I was blown away when I saw them. This was great that he did this since I didn’t feel as if he was just showing me his “best” work. This was a review from an actual bride and she chose the pictures she wanted to show. They were great.
I will admit when I met with Bob I wasn’t blown away. But when we took our e shoot he was just so nice and so easy to work with that I knew I had made the correct decision.

He was great on the day of the wedding. I had given him my must take list, which of course he made fun of me for it. But he took every shot I asked him to take. He captured the day wonderfully. My only regret is that I didn’t choose a better location to take pictures. We did the before’s at my home and the rest at the Hyatt. The grounds are beautiful at the Hyatt. But I know if I would have gone to a park or anywhere with a great back ground my pictures would have been more of what I really wanted. Not Bob’s fault either. Just make sure you pick a great location for your pictures.

CHURCH
HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN CHURCH RONKONKOMA
My aunt and uncle belong to this church. Pastor Raggie is a very warm and welcoming. It was with out a doubt that we wanted her to marry us. We met with her a few times and felt completely comfortable. They did a great job with supplying us with someone to play the cd we made for the ceremony. It’s a beautiful church.





HYATT WINDWATCH:
We had been all over Long Island looking for a venue. We really wanted to have our reception in the city but one of my aunts put a kabash on that very quick.(example on how people tell you to spend your money lol) I wasn’t thrilled with anything that we saw and one day my mom had suggested I look at the hotels on Long Island. I didn’t think that any would have want I wanted, but I was wrong. I called the Hyatt and spoke to Doris. She was so nice. We set up and appointment that night and I went to see the hotel. Every person who walked by me greeted me and the aroma of the candle when you walked in made me feel as if I was at home. Doris was the only person who asked me one simple question, “How do you picture your wedding to look?”. At first I had to think, then when I rattled off what I wanted and the colorings it all became clear to her… she then showed me around. Now it became clear to me on where I wanted my wedding. She showed me the Terrace Ballroom, which was not a typical ballroom. It was a very long room and it being a hotel everything was made to scale for you. It was hard to picture where the dance floor or tables would be. But I just knew that was it. It had a complete Manhattan vibe. We booked the reception hall two years before the wedding. Doris was a doll to work with the entire time. She was so patient and the day of the wedding she pulled it all off for me. I haven’t a clue on who my matre’d was or my bridal attendant, but I really didn’t need them. The food was excellent, the service was great and the entire hotel staff was very accommodating to my guests.
They even upgraded my and my dh to the presidential suite for the evening. Which was amazing. The room is huge.
The cake was not my favorite in the way it looked, but I refused to pay extra for something in my opinion people may have not eaten. It was good though.








ETA HM : Excellence Riveria Maya
This place was great and completely relaxing. There are many excursions you could do while you stay there but DH and I chose to spend our money on the spa. We ate, drank, treated ourselves to massages, relaxed by the pool and were newlyweds.
The only thing I can say I didn't like was the coffee and the food although it was good, was not like the food we have here. NY has outstanding places to eat and I am a bit spoiled when it comes to good food.


That’s a wrap ladies hope you enjoyed !!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

well, you know what I think!
We had a blast at your wedding, you looked beautiful, the girls and guys looked beautiful...of course Keith was handsome as hell!!!!

I wish you both nothing but LOTS OF BABIES and love for the rest of your lives.!

B squared

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great Review, beautiful pics. I love your fall theme and colors. Also you looked gorgeous.

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

THANKS FOR SHARING!!! BEAUTIFULLLL WEDDING!!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great review! You looked beautiful, and I love how you had the fall theme running through everything. You were so creative with the leaves!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great review. The cake topper was one of my favorite personal touches. You did a great job with running the theme throughout and you looked gorgeous of course. Congrats!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great review. Best of Luck.

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

BEAUTIFUL review... Loved your dress & flowers. CONGRATS to you & DH!!!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Beautiful Review!!!!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great review! Love all your DIY's!
You look beautiful!
Congrats!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Beautiful! I love your colors!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

GORGEOUS wedding....I love love love how you had a theme and really carried it through.
You and DH are a very beautiful couple.....
Your children will be gorgeous!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

everything looked wonderful congrads !!! I had my shower at milk and sugar also .. that place rocks !!!!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Great Review!!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Your wedding was beautiful!! Nice attention to detail

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

i love the review

we are like 2 peas in a pod: same color scheme, time of year, etc. i hope mine is 1/3rd as fabulous as yours!

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

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Posted by tinabella7780

i love the review

we are like 2 peas in a pod: same color scheme, time of year, etc. i hope mine is 1/3rd as fabulous as yours!

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Your wedding will be absolutley beautiful. And I FM'd you before but I promise those pew decorations will be out next week. I apologize again. Can't wait to see your pics in a few months

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

You thought of everything, and the details looked amazing! What a great job. Thanks for the review.

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Beautiful wedding weekend twin!
Love all the details. Really like your linens.

Re: A Review of truths, uglies and wonderful things… Including Hyatt Windwatch, Jac Nicole, Velvet, High Energy, Burtons, Pippy Sweets and a bunch more…

Everything lookd fantastic and you looked beautiful. Thanks so much for lots of helpful ideas. I'm sure I'll take away a lot but I already wrote in my notes Dresskids.com for my flowergirls, they are twins and I want them to look cute but not have their mom who is also in my wedding spend to much. Great site.

Congrats!!!!!!!!1