HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & MORE!

At the risk of sounding cliché…. July 14, 2007 was the BEST day of our lives! To give a little background, Steve and I started dating in December of 2000, when I was in 11th grade…. so I feel like we have grown up together. We talked about marriage in highschool, college, and graduate school – and finally decided that once we both finished our master’s, we’d be able to support ourselves and live “happily ever after.” Fast forward to two months before the wedding – Steve was in a near-fatal accident…. Hit by a car, while riding his bicycle. He was in intensive care for 2 days in critical condition – but luckily, he was so healthy and active that he was able to recover. This unfortunate incident made the day we would be married so much more emotional.

I’m grading my vendors with letter grades: A+ down to F, with A+ being reserved only for those vendors whose service was flawless. When necessary, I also grade their pre-wedding services as well as their day-of service -- some of my vendors services differed greatly. I’m starting with vendors we used for events before the wedding, and continuing from there.


PRE-WEDDING:

LIW: A+
LIW has been such a blessing. I have gotten to know so many wonderful people through this website, and have found renewed faith in the kindness of strangers. I’ve gotten countless great ideas, DIY projects, and vendor recommendations from here – and was so touched when Ron, Liz, and the whole crew sent Steve and I a “breakfast-in-bed” basket after he came home from the hospital. Thanks again LIW!!

STDs – Invitation Consultants A+

We ordered our STDs from here, and they came quickly and were just as pictured on the website. The picture above is the sample – I don’t have a picture of ours! Just a note: you have to put the magnets in the slits of the card (they don’t come pre-inserted)

Engagement Ring – Custom Made from family friend A+

My father has a friend in the jewelry business. Steve and my dad designed the ring based on a few pictures they liked, and my dad’s friend made it. It was perfect!

Engagement Party -- Seventh Street Cafe in Garden City. A+



The food here was FANTASTIC, prices were very affordable, and the cake was sooo delicious (we ate ALL of the leftovers!) I highly recommend this place for an eparty, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, or any occasion! Also, they never made us feel rushed at all even though we went over our allotted time.

Groom’s Cake -- The Cake Studio, NYC A+
Jill from the Cake Studio was such a sweetheart. She drew up a few sketches of designs for me, based on Steve’s hobbies and interests and we came up with one that was in my budget. The cake was exactly like the sketch she drew, was absolutely delicious, and had our families cheering!

Everything on the cake was edible.... and it incorporated things that steve loves -- soccer, starbucks, and the jeep wrangler.

the only thing that wasn't edible was the funny cake topper i added. i used the wilton 'oh no you don't' cake topper from Michael's and added a little bicycle cake topper that I ordered online from Fancy Flours. I wanted it to look like the groom was reaching for the bicycle and that the bride (me) wouldn't let him get it ... so i thought it was kind of appropriate because i never want to let my stevie get on a bike again!

the cake toppers--


the whole cake --


and close up of the details --





haha eating the cleat!


the inside... (the cake was one tier - but stacked double so it was huge!)


i highly recommend jill from the cake studio -- her work, although pricey, is worth every penny! (and they deliver the cake!)

Hotel for Night Before Wedding – Glen Cove Mansion A+
We got the bridal suite for the night before and night of the wedding, along with a few other rooms for my family. The bridal suite was nicely sized, and the staff at Glen Cove were so sweet. They were very willing to help, and were always extremely nice and professional. If you stay here, make sure you go to Kitchen Kabaret at some point! It’s located close to the mansion and has amazing pastries!

Invitations – Not From A Box A+
I forgot to bring an invitation the day of the wedding, so I don’t have any professional pictures of our invites – but here are some I took before the wedding.


Service was prompt, and we had no problems with our invitations at all.

Calligrapher – Michele Clark ([email protected]) A+
Michele Clark is a DOLL! I don’t have any pictures of her work, unfortunately – but there have been many girls who posted pictures of their invites. We used the “fine chancery” style, and Michele was extremely speedy in her work and very thorough (e.g., e-mailed me asking if certain names were spelled correctly). She books up very early, and although we booked her for April, she did a few envelopes for us in January because they had to go to Ecuador (so Steve’s family could apply for visas), and she even did our “joke” place cards (we thought we’d “reserve seats” for Anthony Soprano and Michael Corleone). I highly recommend her.

BM Gifts – A+
Don’t have pictures of these either! We got the girls tote bags from JCrew that I had monogrammed at “Stitch It’ in Roosevelt Field Mall. We filled them with makeup, goodies from bath and body works, and a personalized frame for each girl. The frames were custom-made by Rissy Lyn who is a beautifully talented artist! Each frame is handmade and therefore one of a kind, and we had the girls names put on them as well. I don’t have a picture of the exact frames, but here is a sample from her website. *You can customize the colors and designs


Groom’s Gifts -- A+
We got the GMs and Best Man cufflinks from Banana Republic, and had them engraved at Things Remembered in Roosevelt Field Mall.

WEDDING APPAREL, HAIR, and MAKEUP:

Hair (for me) – Mya, Cosmetic Artistry A+
Mya did my makeup, my hair, and the makeup for my mom and the bridesmaids. Mya is an absolute sweetheart and was a true blessing on my wedding day! She was calm, professional, sweet, and funny, and does amazing work. I felt beautiful ALL day – even through the many many tears.





Makeup (for myself and BMs) – Mya, Cosmetic Artistry
A+ See above.

Hair for the BMs – Randy from “A Touch of Class”
Pre-wedding: D-
Day of wedding: C
My BM’s sister used Randy for a wedding she was in, and said that she was very affordable and did great work. We decided to have one of my BMs go for a trial. After a few styles that we didn’t care for… we finally picked a style. The NIGHT BEFORE the wedding, Randy decides that she would like to raise the price (this happened less than 12 hours before we were supposed to start getting ready). She called my bridesmaid, and said tried to find excuses as to why she was raising the price. At first, she said it was because of how many people we had (2 less people than we originally had) – but when we told her that we would add 2 more people, she said she still needed to raise the price, because if we added more people, we’d have to start at 4am instead of 5am, and that means a higher price. To top it all off, she began screaming at my bridesmaid when she was told that we were very unhappy with her GREED and lack of professionalism. PLUS, her boyfriend was screaming in the background that we were “rich” and drove up to the trial in “an expensive car” and “how could we not be able to afford it?” It was extremely rude!!! On the day of the wedding, she showed up late, and made the girls pay upfront. Their hair looked nice (at first) but within an hour, it was falling out. Luckily my DOC brought along tons of bobby pins!
(nonpro)
(back to pro)


Dress – Kleinfeld, Justina McCaffrey (combination of two dresses, with some changes made) A+
I had a wonderful experience at Kleinfled. Samantha Fortune was the salesperson that helped me, and she seemed to intuit my likes/dislikes before I even said a word. Together, we found my DREAM dress, that brought tears to my eyes as I put it on! My seamstress was Marielena (I think that’s her name – or something very close to that!) and she was a sweetheart. She made all of the necessary changes to my dress in a short amount of time (my dress was 10-12 weeks late from the designer!). I highly recommend Kleinfeld!


bustled...


Tiara – Kleinfeld A+


Day of Jewelry – A+
Bracelet was my “something borrowed” from my best friend Jennie.


The earrings were from Kleinfeld also (and VERY affordable!)




Veil – Kleinfeld A+
I loved this veil from the moment I saw it!



MOB gown – Bette Bass (in Woodmere) A+
This is a very small store and is not a “wedding” store – but my mom was able to find this beautiful dress there… the service and alterations were great, and we were very pleased!


Shoes – Blue Tux shoes, ordered from ShoeBuy.com A+

Don't pay full price! Sign up for their emails, and they constantly send you coupons. I got these shoes for 20% off, with free shjpping. The shoes were so affordable and very comfy!




Garter – Angel Threads A-
The garter was white silk chameuse with silver lettering, embroidered with our monogram (HJS) and our wedding date. It was beautiful! – But, I put it on the day of the wedding, and as soon as I stood up, it slipped right off! It was VERY VERY big… and wouldn’t stay up – so I wore it for the picture, and then it stayed in the hotel room.



Tuxedos – Dante Zeller (Westbury) A+
We went to the Westbury location and their service was prompt and efficient. No complaints here.


BM Dresses – Bill Levkoff #966, ordered from Bridal Reflections of Massapequa B+
The salespeople at Bridal Reflections tried to push the BMs to get larger dresses than they need (for example, one wears a street size 2 and they made her order a size 10!) Overall, they did a pretty good job, but the girls’ dresses were beginning to fall apart during the wedding!






WEDDING CEREMONY/COCKTAIL HOUR:

The ceremony was held at -- The Crescent Beach Club. A+
I hadn’t seen too many pictures of ceremonies at the CBC. The staff there are truly AMAZING (Denise, Stacey, Campbell and the whole crew). They treat you like a queen all day and are constantly checking to make sure all of your needs/wants are met. I highly recommend the crescent beach club! This was the ONLY place we looked at, and we were thrilled with our day!



Officiant – Father Robert Allman (aka Father Bob) A+
Father Bob is a wonderful man! From the moment I met him, I felt so comfortable – he felt like an old friend. He even came to my home to meet with us. His ceremony was beautiful and so touching. I highly recommend him.


String Quartet -- Vintage String Quartet A+
Very easy to work with … and I started to tear as soon as I heard them playing! I had told them about Steve’s accident, and the band leader gave me a hug the morning of the wedding! They were very nice people to work with, and played beautifully!


Florist – Flowers By Brian
Pre-wedding: A+
Day of wedding: D-
Prior to the wedding, I was VERY confident in FBB. I met with Brian, and found him to be very nice and willing to please. I didn’t know too much about flowers, but I knew what I DIDN’T want. I wanted our centerpieces to be VERY full and have NO green. I’ve seen a lot of high centerpieces before, and I didn’t really care for them – but he assured me that my centerpieces would be very full. Also, Steve really wanted to have an arch (which I’m usually not too fond of, typically because they are very green) and Brian again assured me that it would be full of flowers with little to no green.

I’m typically not one to throw out prices on things… but I feel it’s important to this story to say that we paid $7500 for flowers. About $1500 of that was on the arch alone, and the rest was for the 17 centerpieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, flowers to decorate the dessert trays, flowers for the cocktail hour tables, a large arrangement for the placecard table, and two large urns placed at both ends of the aisle. The arch was to be moved from the ceremony to the reception room during the cocktail hour, and placed behind our sweetheart table.

When I came in to see my sample centerpiece, it was GREEN CITY! I asked them to please make it more full with more flowers and no green – and they did. Lisa, the woman who helped me that day, wrote on the contract FIVE times: “VERY FULL, NO GREEN” – and she told me that the person in the back took a picture of the sample with his cell phone, so that he’d make sure to make it that way the day of the wedding. I looooved our sample CP.
Here are a few pictures I took of our SAMPLE CP:


Now, please compare that with our day-of centerpieces:


I know I'm being very repetitive... but these are NOT full... and are full of GREEN!

Here is the urn (from the ceremony) -- also, not full, and has tons of green.



When I saw the arch, the only words that came out of my mouth were 'I hope they aren't done' -- and they were. I was expecting SO MANY more flowers! This arch was green green green! The person who worked for FBB came up to me because my DOC and banquet manager told him I was upset. I described the arch that I wanted... and he said 'well sweetie, i'm sorry but that's a $1500 arch you're talking about' -- and I said, 'well. that's what we paid' -- and after the surprised look left his face, he said he'd do his best. It obviously wasn't that person's fault, and he used all of the flowers that he could, but I was extremely unhappy with the arch -- So much so, that I asked them to PLEASE not bring it up to the reception afterward.


Another (minor) problem was that they forgot the flowers for the girls’ hair on the day of the wedding, which caused a big delay with our pictures. They said “it wasn’t in the contract” which was true; however, I was told that it wouldn’t be a problem and didn’t need to be added to the contract when I met with the people there before the wedding.

The only reason that I’m giving FBB a D- instead of an F, is because they did a good job with my bouquet and the bouquets for the bridesmaids.


I just want to add that they did NOT provide the flowers for our cake.

Steel Drum Band – Jahpan A+
Unfortunately, due to the delays caused by the flowers, we began our pictures late and did not get to finish them before the ceremony. I was VERY upset about this (we chose to see each other before the ceremony to get the pictures out of the way, then we ended up having to miss the entire CH anyway. We extended the CH by 15 minutes, but the steel drum band could not stay).
From what I was told by guests, family, and the bridal party… Jahpan did a great job. They were easy to work with before the wedding, and everyone said they were great on the wedding day.



Limos -- Camelot Limos A+

We worked with Joe from Camelot Limos and he was very nice. We didn't have any problems with the limos -- they were clean and on time.



Wedding Bands – Custom made by family friend. A+




Unity Candle – Jean M A+
No complaints here!



Aisle Runner – Lorilis A+




Birdcage – We got this from a random store in Huntington. It was a gardening store. A+


WEDDING RECEPTION:

Reception Hall -- The Crescent Beach Club A+
I have no complains about CBC! They really go above and beyond to make your day spectacular. After the ceremony, they set us up in the bridal suite with a spread of food the likes of which I have NEVER seen! They gave us plates and plates filled with the passed hors d’oeuvres from the CH and food from each of the stations we had. I wish I had a picture! It was unbelievable. They made sure we got to spend that little bit of time by ourselves, because they knew we’d spend the rest of the day with all of our families and guests. Throughout the reception, they were constantly checking up on us and getting us whatever drinks/food we wanted. We got to taste each entrée choice for dinner, and again they gave us plates and plates of desserts from the Viennese. The VH was unbelievable! I have the hugest sweet tooth, and this was like a dream come true. I gave favors to the staff at the end of the night – they felt like old friends! I have nothing but compliments and praise for Crescent Beach Club – they turned my dream wedding into reality.


Photographer – The Velvet Studio A

Videographer – The Velvet Studio TBD

DJ and MC – Double G Productions A+
This was not a LIW vendor, but we loved Double G! We wanted a DJ that could find some way to elegantly mix current music with classic Spanish music, and Double G did just that. The MC, Steve, was wonderful – he got everyone up and dancing in the beginning, and then stayed quiet until he was needed! The DJ played great music that kept everyone dancing, and the percussionist was so much fun! I highly recommend them!





Favors – Discount Mugs A
We ordered 'soup cup' mugs from discount mugs... (the only reason they get an A instead of A+ is because the font was smaller than I had wanted, but they were still great!)

one side said:

Hayley and Steve
July 14, 2007

and the other said:

'A cup of coffee shared with a friend is happiness tasted and time well spent'

Unfortunately I don't have a picture! We ordered the bags, tissue paper, and ribbon from Paper Mart and the tags from My Wedding Labels -- we had no problems with any of these sites.



Cake topper – Advantage Bridal A+



Signature Platter – Pottery Piazza A+

We ordered our signature platter from here, and were 100% happy. We wanted something that we could use later on, and this was perfect!



Menus – DIY


There's a drop of water on it.. but you get the idea!


Wedding Cake – Collette Foley A+
Collette is the best! We had the most delicious and beautiful cake, and we could not be happier! It was chocolate cake, filled with two layers of chocolate mousse, and one layer of strawberries with pastry cream. It was superb! We wanted to eat the whole top tier (but we didn’t!) Collette did the flowers on her own, after seeing pictures from our sample CP, and she matched the flowers perfectly! She added our monogram and some sugar sea elements to the flower beds, to add to our subtle beachy theme. We were absolutely thrilled with our cake! I highly recommend Collette.



Day Of Coordinator (DOC) -- Melissa from Fabulous Affairs A

Melissa is a new LIW vendor, and an '06 bride. Before the wedding, she met with Steve and I for over an hour and went over all of the details of our wedding -- she was VERY thorough and super sweet. We emailed back and forth with ideas, checklists, and helpful hints... and she was very on top of everything! My only complaint in her services before the wedding was that the night before the wedding, I couldn't get in touch with her for numerous hours (she had another affair, which is understandable, but I just wish she would have told me that I wouldnt be able to reach her). This wouldnt have been a problem if it wasn't for Randy (the hair person for the BMs) raising the prices the night before the wedding - I just wanted the DOC to handle the problem instead of me and my bridesmaids. Other than that minor issue, she was wonderful before the wedding!

The day of the wedding, she seemed a little frazzled in the morning (her assistant couldn't make it), but she was a superstar throughout the wedding. She made sure myself & Steve, our families, and our bridal party were taken care of all day... and made sure that all of my details were set up the way I wanted them. My only issue with her day-of service is that I feel like she really hounded Velvet Studio to take certain pictures (I had specified about 5 pictures that I really wanted to take, but they were just IDEAS for things that I liked, not ones that had to be exactly replicated. It was probably miscommunication on my part, but I felt like she annoyed our photog, which made him a little less nice than I think he would have been otherwise when it came to taking those specific pictures). Overall, I would recommend Melissa as a DOC -- although I feel like DOCs in general (not her specifically) aren't all they are cracked up to be.

Well I think that covers everyone!

Marrying the love of my life: A+

Here are some more pictures….
There are a bunch more in MY ALBUM



Steve first seeing me...

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

thanks for such a great review
you looked beautiful!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

you look gorgeous!!! Great Review! Looks like your day was perfect~~ CONGRATS !!!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

what a beautiful wedding! the picture of you two crying made my eyes water lol.. CONGRATS!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Everything looks so beautiful!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Absolutely beautiful!! Thanks for sharing. It looks like your day was very special!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

thanks for the review. Everything looked beautiful!!!
Your flowers were still really nice but I would be angry too. The sample CP is much more expensive looking then the day of. I wonder if every place does that. Oh well, sorry. Everything else seemed perfect

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

You looked gorgeous! THanks for such a wonderful review!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Gorgeous wedding! Congratulations!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Beautiful!!! You looked gorgeous!!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Great review hayley

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

everything looked beautiful, great review...

FBB did a wonderful job!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Such a pretty review, you guys looks so happy, thanks for sharing your story and photos. Wishing you both all the best

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

wow what a GREAT review! Everything was beautiful! congratulations!!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Hayley your review is incredible! Gorgeous pics....what an amazing looking wedding you had- CONGRATS!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Congrats!!!!!!!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Fabulous review!!! LOVE your wedding cake!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Wonderful review! You looked beautiful!

Re: HAYLEYANDSTEVE's extenstive wedding review!: CRESCENT BEACH CLUB, Velvet Studio, Mya of Cosmetic Artistry, Double G, Flowers by Brian, Collette Foley, Vintage String Quartet, Jahpan, Camelot & M

Hayley, I have to say that is one of the best reviews I have ever read on these boards! You took so much time to write it, and gave so many details, and great advice too!

Best of luck to you both!