My 5-21-05 Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!! (Now with More PICS p.2!!)

Before I begin, let me say a heartfelt THANK YOU to all of the brides on LIW for your wonderful and creative ideas, advice, and support. I live in the DC metro area and could not have planned this wedding as easily without your help!! And a very special thank you to Bluesashbride, my wedding twin and fellow DC-area bride, as well as wc0143, ckgmwedding and the May board brides! I’ve SO enjoyed going on this journey with all of you.

MIX OF EMOTIONS
I think it is safe to say that most brides feel a mix of emotions leading up to the Big Day. For me, I felt both excited and a little sad that it would soon be over. What really caught me off guard though is just how emotional I would get two days before the wedding. I broke down when my parents presented my DH and I with their gift the night before the rehearsal dinner. I broke down all morning the day before the wedding over the silliest things. At the church rehearsal, I felt completely preoccupied and found it hard to concentrate. Then, to my surprise, I woke up on the wedding day feeling fairly calm and only a tiny bit nervous. This was the day I had been waiting for, my day to be a bride, and I was going to enjoy every minute of it!







THE MISSING RELATIVES
We were right on schedule when my Dad and I left to go to the church in our limo. On the way there, I passed my middle school, the ballpark where I used to play baseball in second grade, the streets I used to bike and rollerblade down. It was a surreal experience knowing I was traveling past these childhood memories on my way to get married. When we approached my childhood church, my Dad and I immediately realized that there was a problem. The bus transporting all of my relatives from Queens to the church, including my grandparents, was missing! We called the bus company and found out they were lost. We couldn’t start the ceremony with half of the guest list missing! The ceremony was to start at 2:30pm and the relatives did not show until 2:50pm. Meanwhile, our limo hid down the street. Once the relatives were inside, we pulled in front of the church. The limos’ horn rang, “Here Comes the Bride.” It gave me chills in a good way.



SURGE OF JOY
During the year plus of wedding planning, I was sure I was going to feel nervous walking down the aisle. But I didn’t feel nervous at all. Instead, I was itching to get out of that car. We were now a half an hour late and I was ready to get married!!

As we approached the church doors, I was surrounded by my photographers like a celebrity and the paparazzi. I could hear our church soloist singing Ave Maria. It seemed that our mothers had already begun their walk down the aisle! I better hurry in!
The bridal party walked down the aisle to Canon in D. I waited for Trumpet Voluntary to play (my cue) but the organist kept playing Canon in D long after the bridal party walked down the aisle. Our limo driver somehow caught the organist’s attention from across the church and made a swift gesture to switch the music. Thank God for the limo driver. Suddenly I hear the opening of Trumpet Voluntary. My Dad says, “Are you ready?” and we head for the start of the aisle where our guests will see me for the first time. The big moment. The grand entrance. At this point a tremendous surge of joy came over me and engulfed every cell of my body. I have never felt such pure exuberance before. I just felt so lucky and grateful to be marrying such a wonderful man. For years I thought I would never find someone as wonderful as he, but I really hit the jackpot.





I floated down the aisle with my Dad on my arm. I felt myself beaming. I made a point not to look at our guests because I didn’t want to be distracted or choke up. I tried to focus on my Groom. When I was within 10 feet of him, he mouthed the words, “You look so beautiful.” Well, I wasn’t expecting that and I choked up. But I regained my composure quickly and then I heard a female relative on my side of the aisle crying. She was literally heaving and sobbing out loud! I knew I couldn’t look to see who it was or I would choke up or worse – laugh! I just found it so funny and sweet.

Our ceremony was truly wonderful. When we were declared Husband and Wife and kissed, my joy just exploded. I was euphoric. I was so excited to see all of our family and friends there. I will forever remember these emotions. They are one of my favorite memories of the day.







NAUTICAL THEME
I love themes and a nautical wedding was perfectly suited to us since we both work on ocean issues for a living and my DH drives ships for a living. We tried hard to keep our nautical themed details elegant but fun. Here is what we did:

Invitations: Moments of Color – A+
Moments of Color
I wanted our invitations to have a nautical compass motif because I thought it would symbolize our new journey in life but I had the hardest time finding anything I liked until Bluesashbride pointed me to Moments of Color (Christian – thank you again!). I hired them to design something that would set the tone for our wedding. Because they are in Australia and the production schedule was long, I had to rely on email communications and couldn’t see my proofs in person. I viewed them instead on a special website. I was a little nervous about trusting my designer with certain details but the invites came out beautifully. We used a print of an antique nautical chart of Port Jefferson, LI (our reception location) to wrap the invite and inserts in. We also had latitude and longitude coordinates of Port Jeff on our envelope seals to personalize our invited even more. We stamped the RSVP cards with a stamp of the USS Constellation. Our guests absolutely loved them and said they were some of the most creative invitations they had ever seen.





Ceremony Programs: Moments of Color (and us) - A+
I had Moments of Color design the program cover and my DH and I designed and printed the inside pages ourselves. Moments of Color gave us the ribbon to tie the programs with. These were a big hit too and helped carry out our theme.


Menu Cards – DIY project
We had extra copies of the nautical invitation wraps, so I used them as the border for our DIY menus. I designed the menus in Powerpoint because it enabled me to view the layout easily. I printed them at Kinkos in blue ink and cut the papers to size with a paper cutter I had bought at Michaels. The final product was half the size of an 8 ½ by 11 piece of paper.



Seating cards – DIY project
I wanted something nautical for our seating cards, so I came up with the idea of making our seating cards look like sailboats. I asked my friend to make them out of origami paper. We chose pale green and blue papers to coordinate with the wedding colors. They were designed to stand up on their own. My DH then bought clear labels and printed the names and tables in a script font from our computer. These labels were affixed to the hulls of the boats. We placed them on our seating card table in alternating colors with seashells collected in the Outer Banks (my DH’s favorite place) sprinkled around them.



Table Names – DIY project
We named our tables after oceans, bays and harbors and printed out these names on white paper. Then we pasted them onto the same antique nautical chart paper that our invites and menus had. Danfords provided the 5x7 picture frames that these went into.

Reception – Danfords on the Sound, Port Jefferson – A+
Danfords was perfect!! The tasteful and elegant nautical décor was ideally suited for us and the view is amazing. Plus, our OOT guests (many of whom had never been to LI) could book rooms there and explore the cute town. Vincent the catering manager was an absolute pleasure to work with, though a little slow to return calls sometimes. But he and his staff set up our room exactly as we wanted it and made our reception a huge success! We absolutely loved Vicki, our Maitre’D. She always greeted us with a warm hello and hug whenever we stopped by. Our guests raved about the cocktail hour and the courtyard where the CH was held. They said Danfords had a lot of character and charm, which is exactly why DH and I picked it. We are so happy with how our reception went and many of our guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to. We had about 25 rooms booked at Danfords and didn’t run into any trouble with the room block. The next day, we hosted an informal breakfast buffet in the restaurant and Danfords set it up so we were only charged for the guests that showed. Everything went so smoothly at Danfords, it was beyond our wildest dreams!









Cake – Rolling Pin Bakery – B+
Our cake came with our Danfords contract, so we didn’t have a lot of leeway with what we chose. When we went in for a tasting, they only had vanilla and chocolate cake to sample and three different fillings. We decided to go with a vanilla cake with chocolate mousse filling since we knew most people would like this. The cake was very tasty but a tad on the dry side. DH and I cut the cake with a naval sword of his father’s. Dave at Rolling Pin carried out our design as planned. Originally, we had planned a nautical design, but my parents found a cake topper of Winnie the Pooh and Eyore, and this related to our engagement story. So we decided to use that cake topper but add a wave design to the cake and generally keep the cake pretty simple. I think if I had to do it again, I would just have stuck with the wave design and not have used the Winnie the Pooh characters.



Favors – Authentic Models, Inc. – A+
Authentic Models
We gave out sun catchers that are replicas of deck prisms. In the old days before electricity, large glass prisms were embedded in the top decks of sailing vessels so that they would cast light to the decks below. The replicas we found came in small canvas tote bags with a booklet explaining their origin. I wrapped them in white boxes and made favor tags that had a cutout of an anchor. I was a little worried that our guests wouldn’t like them or “get” them, but I have heard so many compliments from so many different people, that I am so glad we got them.





Bridal Party Gifts
Sailor Bags - A+
Sailor Bags
Some of our beach-going BP members received large tote bags made out of real sail cloth. They are perfect for toting beach towels or going on an overnight trip. We also gave our best man flip flops that have a built in bottle opener. We found those at a surf shop in VA Beach.

Oceans Bridge - A+
Oceans Bridge
My MOH is hard to buy for since she has a lot of jewelry and expensive tastes. So I went the sentimental route and gave her a framed, original reproduction of an 1872 painting of Eatons Neck, LI. This is where we used to go boating when we were growing up. Oceansbridge is a great find. Their artists will paint original reproductions of almost any painting and they have a lengthy selection to choose from online. They will also frame your painting. I recommend you check them out!

Nantucket Basketworks - A+
Nantucket Baskets
Nantucket Baskets are collector’s items. They were first created 150 years ago by sailors who passed the time aboard lightships by making these baskets for their wives. My parents had always wanted one, so I hired an artist to make an authentic basket with a special inscription in it for them. The basket came out beautifully and my parents loved it.

AND ALL THE REST

My dress – Macys at Smithhaven Mall – B+
I never had the reaction of “THIS IS THE ONE” that most brides do. I even wondered at one point if I had made the right selection. But I felt great in my Demetrios dress on the wedding day and so many of my guests gushed about the dress that I know I made the right decision. The dress was ordered one year in advance of the wedding and was supposed to be ready by January. Then in January we were told it would not be ready until March. We suspected that Macys had delayed ordering the dress because my wedding was not until May, so we made up a lie and said the wedding had been pushed up a few weeks. The store was very accommodating after this and got the dress in pronto. Word of advice: tell the salon that your wedding is a little earlier than it really is because I think some of them play games.



Alterations – Amy’s Couture Dressmaking and Alterations, Syosset – A+
Amy is such a pro and we knew from the start that the dress was in good hands. I have been to weddings where the bride was always pulling up her strapless dress because it did not fit properly, and Amy made sure mine fit to a T. I cannot rave enough about her!!

Veil and hairpins – Barrons at Tri-County mall – A+
Thanks to LIW, I discovered Barrons and was very pleased with their work. I did not want to spend a lot on my veil, and I got a custom-made veil that was exactly what I was looking for and it was a fraction of the cost of veils sold in many bridal salons. Barrons also had a good variety of hairpins, combs, and tiaras.

Shoes – Sears in Commack – A+
Yep, I got my shoes at Sears of all places! I had actually bought a pair at My Glass Slipper in Arlington, VA, but I had sort of settled on the look and fit of them and kept my eyes out for something better. One day I was at Sears buying towels and I decided to look at their shoes. They had a pair that was just what I had been looking for and they were very comfortable.

Wedding Jewelry – my DH
My DH bought me a sapphire necklace and earrings when we went to St. Thomas, USVI last January. They went perfectly with my dress and my sapphire and diamond E-ring. You can kind of see them in this pic:



Wedding Bands – Libutti Jewelers in Huntington Village – A+
My family has been going to Libutti Jewelers for years and so my DH and I went there to check out their wedding bands. We must have been in the store for 2 hours before finally selecting our rings. Lorraine helped us and she was a pleasure to work with. I also bought my DH a dress watch there as a Christmas gift.



Hair and Makeup – Mya of Cosmetic Artistry – A+
Mya was one of my favorite vendors. She does both hair and makeup and comes to the house. She did hair and makeup on me, my mom and MOH. She was on time, fun to be with, and very patient with my mom, who was very particular about what she wanted. I loved how my hair and makeup came out and cannot say enough good things about her!

BM and FG Dresses
I only had a MOH and one BM, so I let them pick out their own dress as long as it was black and ankle length. I picked black because it seemed the easiest color to match. I also asked our FG to dress in all white. Keep it simple was my motto. I let our wedding colors be reflected in our flowers, invitations and other details.

Flowers – LA Blossom – a strong B+
Laurie is such a pleasure to work with and she did a fantastic job on our CPs, pew bows and altar flowers, but I will have to deviate from most LA Blossom reviews and state that I was somewhat disappointed with my bo-k. I had wanted blue hydrangeas to be the dominant flower and color but I think I had trouble articulating what I wanted to Laurie, so I think the fault lies with me more than anything. I did love how Laurie incorporated mini sand dollars into my bo-k and I would still recommend her in a heartbeat. I feel silly being disappointed, but I had really, really looked forward to my bo-k. Advice: make sure you see a trial of your bo-k before the big day if it is something that you really care about. Laurie made me a trial CP, but I never requested one of my bo-k.







Band – Skyline of Skyline Orchestras – A+
This band literally rocked the house. We had 10 musicians and they were the single best part of the wedding reception! Our guests continue to RAVE about them and have singled out different singers as their favorite, which goes to show that all of the singers in the band were excellent. They learned new songs for our Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dances and sounded exactly like the original artists. Mike the band leader was very easy to work with. After having worked at dozens of weddings when I was in college, I knew that a good band was worth the investment, and it was the single best investment we made during the wedding planning process.



Steel Drum CH Musicians – Des Burke Productions – A+
We hired a steel drum player and a keyboardist for our cocktail hour because we wanted to get our guests in the party mood. We hadn’t seen them perform before hiring them, but Des had provided us with a CD and I had spoken to a couple of brides who had good things to say about his company. Des is extremely professional and easy to work with. He always followed through on everything and met me in person when I wanted. Our guests loved the steel drum music and it fit well with the outdoor cocktail hour.

Photography – Duet – A -
We went with Duet after seeing so many good reviews about them on LIW. We had Woo and Joseph and they were very prompt and courteous. I didn’t exactly feel they were “invisible” or always out of the way as some brides have said, but they were very good about getting all of the pictures we requested. We love our proofs although we were less than impressed with the printing quality. Some of our proofs had a yellow cast or fake color that Duet quickly resolved by reprinting them for us. If I had to do this all over again, I might have chosen a photographer who didn’t use digital photography. I am just not convinced that digital pictures print as nicely or that the colors are as real as with traditional photography. This is just my preference. I still recommend Duet because they take great pics and have a strong customer service ethic.









Ceremony – St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Greenlawn - A
Father Patrick Armshaw officiated at our wedding and he was wonderful to work with. My DH is not Catholic and we both live in DC, so it was important to us to find a church that wasn’t too strict or formal. St. Francis was the church I grew up in. Father Armshaw let us use two New Testament readings instead of one Old and one New when we couldn’t find an Old Testament reading that resonated with us. Father Armshaw also let us write our own Prayer of the Couple which enabled us to customize our ceremony, which is hard to do in Catholic weddings. We did our pre-cana in DC.



Ribbon Wands – DIY project
I got the ribbon wand idea from LIW. I bought the dowels, white caps and ribbon, spray painted the dowels white, and then asked my 93 year old Grandma to assemble them. They came out great!



Limos – Ultimate Class – A-
We booked Ultimate Class because we liked their professionalism and the cleanliness of their cars. We hired a white Rolls for us and a regular stretch limo for our bridal party. Both limos showed up on time and our Rolls was stocked with drinks. However, the other limo apparently was missing beverages. Otherwise, we were very happy with them.

Tuxes – Black Tie Tuxedo, Smithtown – D
We would not recommend this vendor. Three out of the six tuxes we ordered ended up in the wrong size or came with the wrong vest. Then, three weeks after all of the tuxes were returned, they called my brother to say one tux was missing. Nothing was missing, and if it was, why did they wait so long to call him?



OOT Bags – DIY project
I bought plain white bags from Michaels and ordered labels from myownlabels.com. I ordered tissue paper in our wedding colors from www.buygiftwrap.com. I stuffed the bags with chocolate covered biscotti, North Fork potato chips, bottled water, travel-sized toothpaste and toothbrushes, ocean scented potpourri and a LI Travel Guide.



Rehearsal Dinner – The Silver Swan, Centerport - A+
This restaurant has a fantastic view of the Mill Pond in Centerport. We had a large table overlooking the water. The food was good and the service was great.

Honeymoon – Jalousie Hilton, St. Lucia - A
We chose the all-inclusive Hilton because it sits right in between the Piton Mountains and the view is absolutely breathtaking! The Hilton changed ownership while we were there which made us nervous at first, but the transition was seamless and the new owners (who own another resort call Le Sport) have a good reputation. The weather was downright HOT and sticky, but we loved the snorkeling right on the property and our room was an air-conditioned oasis when it got too hot in the afternoon. Our villa came with an 8 x 10 foot plunge pool that was such a treat every day. The roads in St. Lucia can be kind of treacherous, so we flew in by helicopter from the airport to the Hilton’s helipad. What an adventure!

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Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

you looked absolutely stunning! And, I loved your seating sail boats!!!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Everything looked gorgeous, you were a beautiful bride~
Your telling of your emotions gave me chills!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Sounds and looks like you had a magical day! Thank you so much for sharing! Congratulations! Everything was beautiful!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Thank you so much for all of your insights! You looked beautiful!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

congrats mrs!!!!!

what a fantastic review!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

What a wonderul review! Everything was absolutely PERFECTION!!!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Everything looks beautiful including your Bo-k. I love the placecards too!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Danielle!!!! Great review (and thanks for the shout out )!!! From the first time I saw your invites, I was amazed!!! They were so beautiful and with all your nautical items you truly achieved what you set out for - stunning & elegant but fun!!

Your pictures are fantastic and I am so happy you were pleased with Vincent & Vicki and Danford's on the whole.

BTW, too funny!!! Tim & I had the same toasting flutes!!

Congrats again!!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Amazing review!
Congratulations!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Great review! Your theme invitations, programs, menus and place cards were fantastic.

Congrats and best wishes for a happy future

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Absolutely beautiful wedding! You looked gorgeous....glad to see everything went well!!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Danielle, you're pictures are truly beautiful! You are GLOWING at the alter and walking down the aisle! Its clear how happy you are and how blessed you feel, congratulations on having a wonderful day! And I am just SO so glad the invites worked out; when they were running behind during the holidays my stomach was doing flip flops with you! Congrats! You're a gorgeous bride!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

You looked so beautiful
thanks for such a great review.

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Great review!
Everything looked beautiful and you carried out the nautical theme perfectly.

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Beautiful bride, beautiful wedding, congrats!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Your review was GREAT to read. The pictures are beautiful and really illustrate all the great things you said about the vendors. It really looked like it was the perfect day for you and your husband and you certainly 'glow'! Congratulations!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Thanks for a great review!!! I had tears in my eyes reading the beginning!!

Congratulations!!!

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Wow what a great reveiw I felt like I was right there with you the way you explained it all and on your way to the church. Thanks so much for sharing

Re: My 5-21-05 Dream Wedding at Danfords!! LONG with LOTS OF PICS!!

Oh Danielle- You review made me cry- you completely captured how I felt on the big day- You pictures were beautiful! You all, especially you, looked incredible.

I loved you bouquet by the way- I was really disappointed with my flowers, especially my sisters MOH bouquet so you should be really happy with yours believe me. It looked awesome.

I am so glad we got to plan together- you were such an inspirtation- I got so many helpful hints from you. I loved all your special touches- the invites, the favors, your PLACECARDS!, everything looked perfect.

I just can't believe its all over....