Crest Hollow wedding review

Hi folks -

I've never posted on this site before but have used the advice here sooo much, I figure I owe you guys a good review. I'm going to try to be super detailed, because I know these reviews helped me (and sometimes calmed me) in my wedding planning. I also will try to put in tips when I can on bargain shopping, and if you FM me, I can give you prices and more details.

Here goes ...


CREST HOLLOW COUNTRY CLUB: A

The place was awesome. In fact, I would've given them an A+++++ but for a couple minor details. I actually only looked at two places -- Crest Hollow and Swan Club. I'd narrowed my choices down by talking to friends and family and calling places for quotes (by the way, you CAN haggle over the phone; they don't want to quote you prices, but if you say you can't possibly make it out to Long Island, they'll sell the place to you over the phone -- if vendors didn't make the sale, I didn't bother with them. I figured that was their job.) Crest Hollow was more conveniently located and had more space as a whole, so parties wouldn't be crammed on top of eachother. I wasn't picky about being the only event. Because we were off-season and during the day, we were the first event of the day and the only wedding, anyway, so I never saw another bride or anything (they're very very good about that anyway -- the maitre d' has a headset and checks first before you go ANYWHERE). There was a sweet sixteen and bar mitvah, but it was kind of cute, especially if you've grown up on Long Island.

My banquet managers kept changing, so I can't recommend one entirely. Jeff Saber was quite good, though he did misinform me about one thing (whether we could close the curtains in the Starlight Room - he said we couldn't, but we could). BUT he did add a filling to our wedding cake, at no extra cost, and he gave reassuring advice on our other choices.

The maitre d', Mike, was excellent and attentive. The bridal attendant Donna was AMAZING -- she sewed buttons, made sure I didn't see the groom before the ceremony, and just ran things smoothly for us. While we were taking pictures during the cocktail hour, she brought us food outside. She had warming plates in the bridal suite during the cocktail hour too. She bustled my gown, showed me how to hold it over my arm, made sure we had time to eat and time alone before heading into the reception. It was so smooth -- we had time even to go to the cocktail hour because they were so organized. And the whole day I felt like a princess - she would make sure I was the only one in the elevator (I took precedence over the bar mitzvah kids hahaha).

We had the ceremony in the Plaza Room, the cocktail hour in the upper terrace, then the reception in the Starlight. It worked out very nicely, since we had the upper floor basically to ourselves and the guests moved seamlessly from one event to the next. The ceremony was beautifully set up -- they threw in tulle and lights which really made the difference. Before the ceremony, we had a hospitality table with coffee and danishes in the back of the Plaza Room -- it was really excellent and nicely presented, and gave people a chance to mingle and check out the pretty ceremony room.

The ceremony went well -- one thing that was odd was that bridal attendant incorrectly switched me and my father's arms so that I was basically leading my father. It looks odd in the pictures, and I didn't notice it until too late. A minor detail, though.

The cocktail food was abundant and delicious. Liquor was premium -- I know people have complained on this board, so I had checked with Jeff and he reassured me it would be top-shelf. I had somebody check it out, and they had all the usual premium brands. I don't know about beer, since I think people tend not to drink beers at a wedding, but as far as the hard liquor went, they had everything.

Overall, service was excellent -- guests told me over and over again how attentive the waiters were, kept asking them if they needed anything. They also noted how well-run the wedding was, how smoothly everythign went. The only complaint I heard was that one waiter dropped plates a bit abruptly -- very very minor comment from a very very picky person. Otherwise, great. My sister (very picky) said her drink would be refilled without her even realizing it. In addition to the stationery bar, they had rolling carts which people thought were cool and they rotated through the room very well.

Food was also good -- I was nervous about this because we didn't do a tasting, but the chicken medallions were yummy and the prime rib got compliments.

[ETA: I forgot to mention one gripe I had. I ordered a kosher meal (beef) and a few vegetarian meals for people. The vegetarian meal was fine, but the kosher meal came in a foil wrapped partitioned plate (like frozen dinners, yknow?), which was in a plastic bag. Apparently, it was awful. I felt so badly and i didn't know at the time or I would have complained. If I had known, I would've told the guest to just stick with the salmon or a vegetarian meal.]

The hall cake was yummy too -- don't be afraid to ask for fillings that look like you have to pay extra for, like french cream. It's weird because they don't let you do a tasting and the picture of the hall cake we were shown was just ghastly. But the cake we got was good -- just get it stacked and smoothed. We had the yellow cake with strawberry filling and french cream, and vanilla frosting. We bought (organic) roses and gave them and a picture to CHCC to decorate the cake and it came out quite nicely and a lot cheaper than my florist would have charged. I would have liked a slightly smoother cake, but it came out well in pictures.

One nice touch was when we entered the reception, Mike the maitre d' had the bridesmaids and groomsmen hold their hands up, connected with the bouquets, to make a little archway of our bridal party for us to enter through. It was really cute and made for great pictures, and a surprise. Those little things were what made the day so nice and special and why I just loved Crest Hollow.

Ours was a day wedding and one thing I would suggest is that halfway through the reception, after all the toasts, etc. are over, you should close the curtains and dim the lights. My banquet manager had told me this was not possible, but I noticed partway through the reception that there WERE curtains. Mike was like, sure we'll close them and do you want us to dim the lights? This made for a better 'dance' atmosphere and also broke up the event into different moods.

One thing is that the entrees come out pretty late in the event. We started the reception at 1:30 and the entrees didn't come out until 3 or so. BUT it worked out well for us because people were so stuffed from the cocktail hour and it gave me and my fiance a chance to first mingle with the crowd and then eat!! which most people don't do at the wedding! I thought two hours of dancing (first half, somewhat more adult-oriented, then broken up by the cake-cutting, then lights dimmed and more party atmosphere) would not be enough, but it actually ended up being more than enough, and the party ended on a high note.

One final thing -- we had a coffee bar which was really cool (came with our package, we didn't pay extra); but nobody saw it and we forgot about it. It was by the entrance, near our gift and signing book and photo table, so you'd think people would notice it, but they didn't. Maybe I'd have asked the maitre d' to put it in a more conspicuous place? I was a little sad about it, since my sister said it was really good and it was one thing I was excited about. But you know, it was just there was so much we were offering at our wedding and people were having so much fun, some of the extras got overlooked. In any case, it wasn't CHCC's fault.

Again, just amazing job, if you have booked Crest Hollow, do not have any worries, they know what they're doing.

JEANNE GOLDSTEIN - A+++++
She was a CHCC recommended vendor and less expensive than some other harpists. Very lovely to work with -- she came early to play during the coffee/danish time, played for the ceremony, and afterwards. She knew I loved this one piece, Arioso, for the candle lighting ceremony, and was sad that the candlelighting didn't last long enough for people to hear the whole thing. So at the ceremony she kept playing even after the candlelighting. It was actually kind of funny because we didn't expect the mini-solo, but it ended up being a nice touch (we had a short ceremony). In any case, the harpist was a splurge for us, and it certainly got noticed! If you have live music, I would do it for the ceremony where you do want that intimate feel.

PEDESTALS - A++++++++++++++
Book Robert Herzog. He is sooo great to work with; obviously got a good sense of what my personality was like. The centerpieces were just lovely -- 2.5 dozen lavender, white, and pink roses at an amazing price. The rose bouquets were stunning -- roses and calla lilies (mine were all lavender calla lilies). And he threw in all sorts of extras -- corasages, and an extra boutonnieer in case my fiance's wilted. I will try to post pictures (have to redact the faces). Now, we had a mix of oval tables (up to 16 people) and round (up to 12 people), which made seating arrangements easier. Robert created subtly oval arrangements for the oval tables, and round ones for the round tables. It was great. The centerpieces were placed on pedestals for the ceremony by CHCC and so I got a lot out of what I paid for and there was a continuity of style and theme. The bouquets Donna and Mike arranged on our sweetheart table.

VINNY FROM HIGH VOLTAGE SOUNDS: A+
He's got extremely reasonable rates, and he does exactly what you want him to. He doesn't try to pressure you into adding things to your package that you don't want, and doesn't tell you how a 'wedding' should be (which honestly, for a lot of Long Island djs, seems to be a cheesy more expensive sweet sixteen). His dj booth is set up behind a black, tasteful screen, so you don't even see him. He brought a light even though we didn't pay for extra lights (was great when we dimmed the lights). We gave him a list and he stuck to it pretty well. We had asked him to play some 'adult-friendly' music in the beginning, but realized quickly that the adults were leaving early anyway and weren't the dancing type (my folks' friends are pretty old now), so we asked him to switch back into the hiphop/pop/eighties list and he transitioned very smoothly. When he picked music, he picked really appropriate stuff, and he seemed to have a good sense the mood of the crowd. It's really important to have vendors you trust, because on the day of the wedding you just can't be everywhere at once, and Vinny was just perfect, a true professional.
Lots of people danced even tho it was a daytime wedding. (we had a lot of young people tho)

Studio Hong - A+++ a Korean vendor, so this is only for the Korean girls (their English is somewhat broken, tho my non-Korean bridesmaids got on okay with our translations). They are just great and better prices than MyWeddingOne. Our casual pictures at South Street Seaport were so great (and that takes a lot, since both me and my fiance are so stiff). We had a sepia picture blown up for our signing board, which people noticed and liked. We still have to see our final prints, but they really did seem to be there at every important moment -- I don't know how they got around so fast!

DAVID'S BRIDAL (Carle Place) - B
Okay, you can't beat the prices and it's easy to find bridesmaid dresses that everyone will like. BUT service was not so great. They couldn't find the dresses when my bridesmaid went to go pick them up; they claimed somebody had already picked them up. I had to call them and INSIST they hadn't been picked up, and then they found them in the back. They kept mixing my file up and filing my info under one of my bridesmaid's names.

So go there because the styles and prices are good and it's easy in that sense, BUT always give deadlines that are a month ahead of when you really want it (David's Bridal figured out I did that, and the sales lady got annoyed, but whatever, you know they would've been late if I hadn't done that), i.e. if your wedding is in March, say it's in February. And make your bridesmaids pick their dresses up early in case there are problems.

Btw, they say to order dresses in lots so the color matches, but it actually worked out okay when I didn't do that with one dress (out of towner - my MOH tho so I figured I could just pretend it was a special dress if it didn't match). The color matched. Maybe I was lucky though.

PAYLESS - A++++ I bought silver sandals during summer season for only $15 and they were sooo comfortable. AND I can wear them after the wedding!

ORCHARD CORSET - A++++ In Soho, this dude will look at you and figure out your size, and give you a good price. I could NOT find a corset anywhere else that sucked everything in where I wanted it to, and in my size (I'm pretty small), but he has everything and found one for me in two minutes.

Gartner Studio - B This is a company that makes blank programs you can print out. Pretty designs, good idea, but the problem is, when print them in a laser printer, and then you try to fold their programs, the paper cracks. It must be the heat or the thickness of the paper or something. We did things gingerly and tied the whole thing with ribbon, and it came out very prettily, but just beware. Tho Staples was really nice, refunded our money, and gave two new packs for free when the first batch cracked.

The thank you cards tho are much better. They actually have invitation kits too, but that would have been too much work for me to bother with =)

EBAY is also great for things like favor bags

COD Wholesale - A++ bought ribbon here for my programs; very fast delivery and unbeatable prices

Tangers Outlet has a Lindt outlet where you can buy truffles in bulk for favors. I think the best favors are edible, because people actually take them home and eat them.

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Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Congratulations! I am glad you had a wonderful experience with the CHCC. Looking forward to pictures.

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Congrats, sounds like everything went really well for you! :)

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Congratulations! Everything sounded great!

Do you have any other pictures you can share? I would love to see how the starlight room looked all set-up - that's the room I'm having my reception in.

Thanks!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Yep -- I'm going in to look at my professional pictures and see if there's anything good I can download. The pictures I already have (from friends' cameras, etc.) are of people, so it blocks the room too much to really see.

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

That would be great, I'll check back! Thank you!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Congratulations! What a detailed review of Crest Hollow! Can't wait to see more pictures!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Hi -- I know it's hard not to see picturse of Crest Hollow before the wedding

But I feel uncomfortable posting them online, so if you'd like to see some, please feel free to FM me and i'll send them to you personally

[ETA: here are some without people in them]

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

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Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Send more pictures!!!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Thank you so much for posting and Congratulations!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

Congrats!!!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

pics, pics, pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Crest Hollow wedding review

congrats!