June 24th, 2006. Ladakins, Dan Wagner Photography, Karen Strauss Harpist, Suzanne's Hair Studio, Lou Saxxon Entertainment, Rico's Clothing, David's Bridal

This day had been a long one in the making! My fiance and I were engaged for about a year and a half before our big day came, and I'm glad to say it went smoothly! I will do my best to review all the vendors involved and other details.

Hotel Block for Guests: B
Holiday Inn Ronkonkoma. I'm giving them a B because they were rather stingy when some of my in-laws called asking for a smoking room instead of a non-smoking room and were not able to block it off at the block price until my family called and had them change some of the blocked rooms over. That was rather silly I thought, and could have easily just been done by saying 'ok this party wants 10 rooms, one of them is now smoking instead' without having to talk to us. Our guests had to pay 130 with the block rate.

Weather: B-
It rained... while I'd like to put this as a lower number, my boss tells me that it's lucky when it rains on your wedding day! So I can't completely rate the weather *that* bad... and besides, it did stop and let me go outside while our guests blew bubbles around us. Plus it was kind of fun having my dad always hold an umbrella over me whenever I wanted to go somewhere.

Ceremony Music: Harpist- Karen Strauss: A
I'm giving her an A and not an A+ only because she started playing the bridal party's song as soon as they lined up, instead of waiting for the groom and best man to come out of hiding first... which slightly confused my bridesmaids and they ended up walking up before the groom and best man were out. But it was ok in the end. Her playing was very elegant, I had always dreamed of a harp at my wedding, and she lived up to expectations. She was also extremely helpful in picking songs and knew all of the ones I wanted her to play.



Hair: Millie at Suzanne's Hair Studio in Center Moriches, NY: A+
I was thrilled with the way my hair turned out. It truly was gorgeous. I had her twist the front and put curls in the back. I'll attach a picture so you can see it. It stayed in place perfectly all day, and the only downside was that it took a good 10-15 minutes to get all the pins out and untwist the hair before hopping into the shower that evening. It was so beautiful though that my husband even commented on how much of a shame it was that we had to take something so nice down already! He's not one to make comments on appearances normally, so that really says something!



Dress: David's Bridal (in Indiana): A
I've been in love with my dress since the day I tried it on over a year ago. It's just the type of dress that I love.



Alterations: David's Bridal (in Indiana): B
My dress cost 350... my alterations cost 300... does anyone else see something wrong with these numbers? Also they forgot to fix the beads on my dress until after I came in... and they were supposed to do that before. Aside from that though it fit wonderfully the day of the wedding.

Tuxedos: Rico's Clothing in Center Moriches: A
They did a great job considering that 6 of the 9 tuxes we were renting out were being rented to people who arrived a day or two before the wedding. They let us call in sizes and styles for everyone and everything fit great when they picked them up. The grooms tux was of course free! It was just under 150 total for tux and shoes for everyone else.



Bridesmaid Dresses: David's Bridal: A
Since we had gotten my dress from David's Bridal my BM's were able to save some money on their dresses and ended up only paying 84 after taxes on this discontinued beauty of a dress. I think it complimented my dress nicely :)



Photography: Dan Wagner Photography: A++
As someone who is never seen without her camera glued to her side, it was very important to me that I choose a good photographer for my special day, as my family and friends were not going to let me near my camera that day. I am happy and able to say that Dan was a fantastic choice for a photographer. He was very professional, but not dry and could make you laugh and come up with creative shots easily. All photos you see in this review were done by him. Also I love that only 9 days after the wedding he already had my online gallery online and 11 days later my DVD with all the original files was in my mailbox too! (especially impressive considering I live in Indiana!) He is able to capture all sorts of emotions, from romance to completely candid and I couldn't be happier. He brought with him Luis as an assistant, who was able to capture shots that Dan couldn't while being in other places, though hands down Dan's pictures outshine those of his assistant. :) Oh and being someone who uses email obsessively, Dan is a great communicator by way of email and replies rather quickly most of the time.
Total number of shots: 1,024 (of those only 155 were taken by the assistant, the rest were taken by Dan)
Dan and his assistant arrived at my house at 9am, and stayed through to the end of the reception a little after 5pm.



Ceremony: Christ Lutheran Evangelical Church in East Moriches. B+
I love how small this church is, but had I had many more people at my wedding it would have been too small. I only had 80 people, so it was just right, with people not on top of each other, I probably wouldn't try more than 100 in this church though. Also, there is no air conditioning so it's very hot despite the fans on the ceiling. After the ceremony was over I was thrilled when my mom tossed me a mini battery operated fan to cool off with. So either a winter wedding or a skimpy wedding dress in the summer would be recommended if you wish to stay cool.



Pastor: John Fleischmann (sermon) and Pastor Peter Hoffman (officiant - also my father-in-law): A
I went to grade school with Pastor John, and so since we were using his church we asked him to do the homily (sermon). His sermon was very nice, and knowing I study Japanese he even looked up the Japanese word for love so he could talk about that.
Pastor Pete or as I call him 'dad' now, did the actual officiating of our wedding. Joel's dad had also married Joel's 2 sisters, so it was only natural that he would marry us and finish the family up that way :). As was to be expected from his other family weddings he did a fantastic job.

Our Rings: A+
We got our rings through JB Robinson. We both are quite pleased by them, and mine is really neat since it's a wrap making my engagement ring + wedding wrap look like one seemless beautiful ring. Joel really likes the shiny but jewel-less appearance of his ring, and his groomsmen joked with him how it could be used like a nail file with all those grooves... it's a very classy two tone ring.


Catering & Reception: Ladakins on the Mill Pond in Moriches, NY: A
Ladakins did a fantastic job with my reception. They have experience in weddings, and having been there for other formal parties in the past with my karate school, I knew I liked their food already. One thing I really enjoyed (which I guess most places do, but still I think it's neat) is that you drop off all your decorations the week of the wedding and then they will set it all up for you. I chose the buffet option for our meal, as it was quite affordable (about 27 a head I believe?) and my in-laws paid for beer and wine (at 9 a head). We also had a champagne toast, which was only a little over 200 dollars.
I really liked the way they decorated the head table up, and although I was a little skeptical at first when Vinny (owner) said he was going to put the cake on our table-- it actually looked really nice on there!




Flowers (Fake): Lori: A+
My dad's friend's sister (gotta love those connections) is Lori. She and her brother went to school for flower arrangement and you can really tell. My mother is allergic to most pollens, so we decided to go with fake flowers for the wedding and Lori offered to put them together. She did am amazing job and I am truly grateful to her for all the time and energy she saved us. Plus I get to keep my fantastic bouquet forever now!



Cake: Ladakins: A
Ladakins did all our catering and the cake itself. It looked and tasted delicious though the only part I ate was what Joel fed me...



DJ: Lou Saxxon Entertainment: (Perfect Touch was our DJ's name I think...): B+
I give him an B+ because while he was great at keeping people up and on the dance floor, he did a few things different from what I was expecting. For one: the first dance was the VERY first thing we did after being introduced (before eating even). We were not expecting that. Also he had the garter catcher put the garter on the bouquet catcher... cute idea but a) they did not know one another and b) the bouquet catcher was only 16, so that was a little wierd to watch. Also one other thing that was not cool was that while we were all eating, the DJ went who knows where to eat his plate (which is fine for him to eat but...) the cd he was playing ended and there was dead silence. Thankfully one of my bridesmaids saved the day and sat herself down next to me and started serenading me with 'At Last' (she is a fantastic singer) which was AWESOME because the entire room became dead silent, everyone stopped eating and talking to listen to her amazing voice. :) She saved the moment, and when she was done with the song the DJ was ready to start playing again.



A few more shots from the day:




Edited after initial post to add in a Tuxedo review and a Bridesmaid dress review.
Edited again later to update the subject so it actually has vendors names.

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

congrats to you!

I also used Dan Wagner for my wedding and ABSOLUTELY LOVED HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he took the most amazing pics, I still find myself staring at them - 8 months later (today actually ) I just love his work!!

you were a beautiful bride

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Everything looked beautiful! Congrats!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Very pretty. Congrats!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

wonderful pictures, you look gorgeous. congrats again.

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

congratulations!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Everything is gorgeous! I LOVE your hair! Congrats!!!!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Very Pretty ~ love your wedding dress ~ Congratulations....

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Congrats!!!!!!!!! You look beautiful!!!!!!!!!! Your photos are wonderful!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Everything looked great

Would have never known the flowers were not real, they looked gorgeous

Congrats

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

Congratulations!!!!

Re: June 24th, 2006. East Moriches & Moriches

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Posted by D's Girl

Everything looked great

Would have never known the flowers were not real, they looked gorgeous

Congrats

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Had they been real my mom would have been having allergic reaction fits all day. I'm glad we did it this way too since now I get to keep my bouqet forever! :)