My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

I don’t even know where to begin, but planning my wedding was such a fun time for me. You’d think I would have ripped my hair out or had myself committed since from the beginning of 2008 I had a lot going on in my life - my mom started chemotherapy, we bought a house, I had 2 uncles pass away and I lost my job and was out of work for 2 months. But this is what kept me sane. DH and I paid for our own wedding too, within 17 months. It wasn’t impossible and we made smart decisions.

Thanks to Ron and Liz for creating this site. If it wasn’t for this site I wouldn’t have met some of the great people I can call friends! So 15 months later, onto the review of our 10.12.08 wedding!

Roma View A+++
E-Party
DH’s family is friends with people at Roma View and since his parent’s wanted to pay for our party, we had it there. (I would have been more than happy with a BBQ, but DH and his family wanted this.) I printed the invitations from a card stock from AC Moore. It was pretty easy to do. I also made cookies as the favors and bought stuff from Autumn themed We used the DJ that Roma View uses and he was great. Our party was the Bayview room (the mid-sized room) and was perfect for our group of just over 100 people. We had buffet style of a lot of different entrees to select from. The food there is great and so is the service!


Davenport Press B+
Bridal Shower
I knew when my shower was taking place because I travel a lot for work. I didn't know where it was so on the day of my shower DH drove me there blindfolded. Even when I got there I still had no clue where I was! We had our own private room, just not sure of the name. The food was great but there was an issue with the soup. The appetizer selection included barley soup but their barley wasn't very fresh and had bugs. Thankfully it only made it to my table and to no one else. (My sister and the rest of the BP were fighting with the waiter about what it was in the soup because it surely wasn't a seasoning!!!) This is common in flour, barley, etc. but still there shouldn't have been an argument about it!


My Bparty
Camelot limos, Calico Jacks, and some club in the city A+
We started out at my house and pregamed then took a limo into the city to Calico Jacks. My sister had something set up for my group and we had a good time. We left there and they wanted to take me to Hunkmania but it had moved to NJ so somehow we ended up where DH was having part of his bachelor party at a club.

Cappy’s A+
We chose wine as our favors. This is our local liquor store and it’s one of the cheapest places around. I picked Swerling Dervish and got a red and a white. They gave us a discount since we bought so many bottles.

Ebay for wine bottle mesh bags, favor tags, garters & gold acrylic monogram cake topper A+
I searched everywhere for these bags at a reasonable price and found them on ebay. I got them quickly and cheap! The favor tags were done by a different vendor. It was basically a thick card stock with a leaf on it along with our names and wedding date. Everywhere I looked for monogram cake toppers were so pricey. I found this one vendor and ordered the size and font I wanted. It was done quickly and I later sold it to an 09 bride. I hope it’s being sold to a 10 bride!

Dazzling Affairs A+
I shopped around everywhere for invitations and sat down with Francesca and selected a Carlson Craft pocketfold invite. I told her exactly what I wanted for the invite and I was able to get it. Since we were getting married at JT we got a discount which turned out to be cheaper than if I ordered the same invitations anywhere else. They came in record time and were easy to assemble. I created new direction cards and info regarding our hotel on stock I bought at the paper store in the city on 15th street (completely drawing a blank on the name).

Regina B. A+
I didn’t think of my jewelry until about 3 months before our wedding and decided to go see Regina B’s pieces. I loved the selections she had and ended up with 2 beautiful pieces – a bracelet and earrings – that matched perfectly with the beading in my dress. I highly recommend seeing her work. It’s all custom handmade and absolutely stunning.

BM gifts
Coach A+, Bath & Body Works A+ and a Local Nail Salon A+
What can I say? I worked for the company for a long time so it helped I had a discount! I got my BMs wristlets and my MOH a bag. My BMs also got lots of stuff from B&BW and my one BM that lives in NJ got a GC to her local nail salon with the help of her mom.

GM gifts
Overstock A+
DH had it in his head he wanted to get his GMs watches from the beginning. I did a lot of research and found a really nice watch for a decent price on Overstock. They came in great time and all the GMs loved them.

Whitman Jewelers A+
DH purchased my e-ring from here with the help of his cousin who is in the business so he got a deal from the beginning. We went there and looked at rings one day and found the ones we liked. I didn’t want anything custom to fit around my e-ring so I went with a plain band with diamond and emerald shaped baguettes. We were happy with the products and the service.

Macy’s Manhasset A+
I had gone through several magazines and websites and found a few that I really liked. Since my mom was going to start chemotherapy in Jan. 08, we went shopping for gowns in Nov. 07. Since the dresses I wanted to try on were Demetrios and available at the Macy’s Bridal Salon in Manhasset, we ventured there. I tried on 3 dresses and found the one. I put my deposit down then since they were giving me a good price but then didn’t order until later. I had gone back in Feb. 08 and they couldn’t find my form in their files and thankfully I had my copy so they copied that (then found mine in their files) and measured me for the dress. They told me the dress should come in Aug. I got a call in July that it was there! I went to pick it up and tried it on and it was great. I just needed a minor adjustment on the top. I didn’t have them do the alterations since my aunt is a professional seamstress so I can’t comment on their work. Otherwise, my dealings with them were professional and I would recommend shopping there.

RK Bridal A+
3 out of the 5 bridesmaids I had were from OOT so it didn’t make sense for me to go to a shop that people would need to get alterations done. I selected an Alfred Angelo dress for the girls and ordered through RK Bridal’s “No Frills” program since it gave the best deal. I gave the option for both of the girls that were in the area to get their alterations done there, but they opted not to. (My sister just used my aunt.) The girls had to all give me their measurements then I went to RK to do the order. I had all the girls give me the money for the dresses and I picked them up and when they came for my shower I gave them their dresses. I only had one issue by doing this and it was DH’s cousin (one of the BMs that lives here) decided that she didn’t like the size she was measuring to be so she ordered a smaller size and when it came in it didn’t fit. This started a whole fiasco with her and basically came down to her finding an AA dress in the same color on ebay in which she used and had sewn into her BM dress so it would fit. The seamstress she used did a fabulous job because you couldn’t even tell and the colors matched perfectly. I didn’t care what shoes my BMs wore. They were in long dresses and no one was going to look at their feet. I just asked not to wear silver since the colors were red and gold. Overall, I was happy with my experience with RK and would recommend using them especially if you have a BP where a lot are from OOT.

Men’s Warehouse B+
We went to Men’s Warehouse because we had GM’s all over the island and one in Pittsburgh. This really was a convenient place to use. Two GMs went to the store in Forest Hills, one went to a place in Suffolk, one went to one in Suffolk and DH and the RB went to the one in Green Acres. (My dad went to the one in Bayside and FIL used the one in Green Acres too.) They have a decent selection to choose from and when you order so many tux’s you get the groom’s free. Shoes are included and overall it was a good deal. I gave them a B+ because one of our GMs and the RB’s pants were too small. I think the RB’s shirt had a hole too or something. They really should have checked this stuff out before giving it to the person. These were at 2 different locations too. They were able to get the correct stuff by the next day so it was just a hassle they had to go back and get the correct sizes.

Charlie Meaney’s A
Rehearsal Dinner
Originally I planned on hosting the RD at our house, but decided last minute I didn’t want to be up late cleaning and such the night before our wedding so we went to local bar restaurants and settled on Charlie Meaney’s. The price was right, the food was great and the service was excellent. The only reason I’m giving them an A is because we were supposed to have another pasta dish and they completely forgot it. They knocked money off the bill, but to me it’s not something you should have forgotten!

Dortoni’s Bakery A++++++++++
JT uses Dortoni as their baker. I didn’t want to use one of the cakes JT has so I went directly to the bakery. Since I wasn’t looking for anything crazy I didn’t get charged anything extra. The cake was absolutely delicious! We had a 4-tier chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Each tier had a different middle. The top was dulce du leche, another was raspberry, another was chocolate mousse and another was strawberry. It was so yummy!

Safie Russell A++++
I shopped around so much for a makeup artist that wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. I just refused to pay a lot for makeup. In reading a review from an 07 bride, I came across Safie. I met with Safie and we talked about the look I was going for and she tried several colors on me. From there I decided to book her. Closer to the wedding she did a full on trial and was absolutely wonderful. She had gotten in some new colors and wanted to try them to see what I thought. I think we did my face 3 times before we decided on the colors. Any of my BMs that used her got a free trial which was awesome. I also paid extra to have her be with us during the day for touch ups, which I thought was totally worth it. There were 5 of us that had her do our makeup and she had a colleague come with her the day of. She stayed with us through pictures at the RH and made sure I was perfect for our entrance into the reception. I highly recommend her!!

Miftar from Adesso Salon A-
I used my regular salon for hair since I really like the work they do. I did a trial and loved it. I am giving Miftar an A because my hair kept falling from one side since it wasn’t secured well with bobby pins. Thankfully Lisa was there to fix it!

Elite Affairs A+++++++++++++
I have to say this was by far the best investment I ever made for our wedding. I decided at the last minute I wanted a DOC and about 2 months prior called every DOC I could think of and found Lisa. She was truly a godsend. Aside from her confirming all of my vendors the week of the wedding and making sure everything was in place at the church and RH, she showed up at my door right when the photographer got there and was at my attention the entire day. She made sure the entire BP had eaten, wasn’t thirsty, etc., carried around my train while we were walking around, made sure my veil was straight, just everything. When we had pictures being taken after the ceremony and at the RH she was running around gathering family members, the BP and just overall made sure everything for us was going well. She really kept things going for us during the reception. We went around to certain tables to take table pics and made sure we kept things on time. At the end of the night she boxed up everything for us – leftover favors, my bouquet, candles from the church, programs, menu, our dinners that we didn’t eat since we didn’t have time, my veil, and other things I know I’m forgetting. If you are looking for that attention to detail, I highly recommend Lisa!

Travel Tom A
There were a lot of glowing reviews for Travel Tom (Tom Varghese) so decided to go with him since I didn’t want to go at this on my own. We had one rule which was to get a stamp in our passports. I thought Australia but DH really wanted Italy. So after speaking with Tom, DH and I decided on Italy and narrowed it down to Venice, Florence and Rome. Tom is very good about working with your budget and is very knowledgeable about Europe. We didn’t want to book up tours everyday so we decided on one tour set up through Tom in each city. We knew once we arrived in the cities we would be able to book other tours through the hotels. We flew into Venice direct from JFK on Delta. We spent 2 nights in Venice and really enjoyed the city. From Venice we took the train to Florence which was about a 2.5 hour ride. We spend 4 nights in Florence and had an amazing time. It is really one of my most favorite cities in Italy. From Florence we took the train to Rome which took about 1.5 hours. We had really nice hotels in great areas. In Venice we were just off the canal by the Rialto Bridge. In Florence we were overlooking Ponte Vecchio and in Rome we had views of all types of ruins with the Coliseum down the road. Going home we flew from Rome on Alitalia. I could do a whole review on the three cities but will keep it short and just cover Tom. We didn’t have that much communication with him but when we did he was good to work with. If you are the type of person that wants to seek out deals and book your own HM, then go for it. He did what I didn’t want to do and knew the locations we went to very well so it was helpful. I definitely recommend him if you’d like to go on a European HM.

Camelot A+
I had heard so many great reviews about Camelot we went directly to them. Joe was really great to work with and does amazing things with prices. I had my heart set on the Cadillac, but someone else had already booked it. We went with the Hummer instead. Joe knew I wasn’t absolutely crazy about it so a few weeks before the wedding he called and told me they had a new Navigator and if I wanted it, it was mine. I switched right away and so happy we did!

Flower Michele A+++++++++++++
I absolutely loved my flowers!!!!! From the day we met John we knew we were going with them. We met with 3 different vendors, including FM and they came in (pricewise) right in between the other two but was giving us so much more. To us, it just made sense. FM is also a JT vendor so he knows the rooms well and is right across the street. John is a Mets fan so DH and he were always talking baseball when we went. He’s such a great guy and does incredible work. I was so happy with the flowers I called John the day after the wedding and left a message saying how much I loved them. I still owe them a picture! When I saw the sample CP he nailed it right on the head. I was so ecstatic!

Starlight Express A-
DH wanted a DJ from the beginning so we visited 3 different vendors, Starlight Express being the last. We met with Vinny and he was great to work with. Turns out one of the guys for Starlight Express and DH grew up in the same neighborhood. We are both pretty open when it comes to music so we talked to Vinny about the music we listen too which is a wide variety. I told Vinny that we wanted to make sure people were on the dance floor. He reassured me that the DJs knew what to do when people weren’t dancing. We created a must play list (which was played) but one of the things I should have done was be more specific about artists that I like. The DJ and emcee (who I’m completely drawing a blank on) were really great but when certain songs were played (newer pop songs) we didn’t have many people dancing or people stopped dancing. He just seemed the keep playing the song and not changing it to something else. This is the only reason I’m giving them an A-. What I did like was how the emcee was not overbearing trying to force people to dance. We did have one big thing that happened and I’m not blaming the DJ at all. The form I had to fill out that lists the BP and our parents only had first names which is what I wanted read. Well the DJ into’d my parents as Mario & Audrey B and then my IL’s as Sal and Fran C. But their last name isn’t C, it’s A because FIL is DH’s step-father. Needless to say FIL was pissed but our videographer was able to edit out the last names so it’s fine now. No one at the wedding paid attention to it, only FIL and his family noticed it. So make sure you are specific about the names!

12th Night Photography A+++++++++++
We had met with one other photographer prior to meeting with 12th Night. We had another one set up for after but ended up cancelling because we just loved the work 12th Night did. Dom was so great to work with. The staff does amazing work and we couldn’t be happier with our photos. We did our epics at Shea Stadium with Dom. (We were the first ones to do it then a few others had done it after us.) For our wedding we had both Dom and Anthony and I love the pictures! They did such an amazing job capturing our day!

Mittermax A+++++++++++
DH wanted video from the get go. I didn’t really care for it but I am so glad we did it. While we were at 12th Night, Dom showed us the work from Mittermax and we loved it so we went ahead and booked it. We did the groom’s sequence as an extra. Jamie was the videographer and he was so fun to work with. He didn’t miss anything. Trevor did an amazing job with the editing and we absolutely love the video. We get requests to watch it all the time!

St. Joseph’s (Hewlett) A++++
I am the member of a Lutheran church in Bayside and have been since a child, but the pastors I grew up with weren’t there anymore and I didn’t feel a connection with the church anymore so I was open to other churches. DH also felt unattached from his childhood parish so we decided to go with a church in our area that DH became a member. The staff was really great to work with during the process. Deacon Tom was our minister and he made the ceremony a lot fun for us.

We did our pre-cana over a weekend at another parish since my travel schedule for work was too hectic. I forget the name of the church we did it with but think it was in the East Rockaway area.

Jericho Terrace A+++++++++++++++++
We started looking at halls about 3 weeks after we were engaged. MIL had rave reviews about Sandcastle (but I had no intention of having my wedding there) so we stopped there (after I confirmed they would be open for us to see it) and the doors were locked. No one was there to let us in, so we left and headed onto Jericho Terrace. We had no idea what to expect but were in complete awe once we walked in. We were greeted by the receptionist and then met with Anthony. He gave us a tour of the entire building including the kitchen, which was preparing for a wedding that day. I fell in love with the place and we booked on the spot. We had a date picked out with the church already but the room we wanted at JT wasn’t available on that date. My birthday is early November and I didn’t want my wedding close my bday but wanted October so days were limited. We ended up going with a Sunday night, but it was the night before Columbus Day and we knew many people are off that day so we were okay with it. Our reception was in the Penthouse Room which is absolutely stunning. Whenever we stopped in to make payments, Anthony always made sure to say hi to us and see how things were going. (DH also knew people Anthony’s knew.) Selecting the CH food was so hard because they have so many delicious items. What I love about JT is that you only have to select the type of meat you want – NY Strip or Filet Mignon. We selected the filet as the meat and our guests were able to select this or another one of the 11 dishes as main course. We had met with another woman a month prior (whose name I’m forgetting) to finalize our menu and details. About 2 weeks before we met with Mike our Maitre’d (who DH knew from someone at work) and finalized everything. Since we had paid off our reception way before this meeting, it turned out that JT owed us like 28 cents. The day of the wedding was perfect. Mike was superb and my bridal attendants never left my side. Whenever DH or I needed something they got it for us immediately. I couldn’t have been happier with JT.

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

I love this!! CONGRATS!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

beautiful! your dress looked perfect on you.
i'm using Flower Michele too! im excite dto hear you loved your experience

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Great review. I'm at JT and using Flower Michele as well.

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

I love reading JT reviews. Your wedding looked absolutely beautiful!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

great review Michelle.

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Thank you for the wonderful review!!! Congrats!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

great review date twin!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Great Review Michelle.

Does this mean its not too late for me to finally do mine?

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Absolutely beautiful and congrats!! Your dress was perfect for you!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

congrats!! i love reading reviews of jt

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

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Posted by anneandchris

Great Review Michelle.

Does this mean its not too late for me to finally do mine?

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absolutely not!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Everything looked amazing!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Very Nice!!!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Great review-you looked beautiful!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Great review. Thank you.

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Love it !!! I'm a JT bride myself!! Congrats

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

everything looked great! congrats!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Every thing looked amazing!!!

Re: My 10.12.08 wedding at ST. JOSEPH'S, JERICHO TERRACE, 12th NIGHT, FLOWER MICHELE and more!

Thank you