My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

I know everyone says their wedding day was magical and the best day of their lives and I am no different – IT WAS AMAZING!!!!! I had the best time and of course think my wedding was the best wedding in the history of weddings EVER!!!
All kidding aside, it was such a fantastic day and I have honestly been a little sad ever since because I miss it so much!!

But we are now MOVING INTO THE NEW HOUSE THAT MY WONDERFUL DH GUTTED AND REBUILT FOR US SO I CAN’T BE SAD ANYMORE!!!! But seriously, I really really really really miss my wedding!! I didn’t think that I would feel this way but it was soooo great.
People are still telling us and our families that it was the best wedding they have EVER been to!!! I LOVE HEARING THAT!!!
And guests have also said they have never seen a bride have so much fun at her own wedding – I DID!!!! That was my plan the whole time!!!

Ok, down to business!! I can’t believe it took me this long to post this but I wanted to wait for my Pro pictures to put in along with the non pro pictures BUT I am having a really hard time pasting the pictures so they will all eventually be in my album or at the end of my post if I can figure it out!!!!!!!!

I don’t know what order I should go in but here goes …

Weather - AAAAA+++++++
I was very nervous because the WHOLE week before and up until 3 pm the day before it had been raining non stop!!!!! I tried to keep telling myself that there was nothing I could do about it and to forget it, but the fact that it ended up being 70 and SUNNY was just the cherry on the cake!

LIWeddings – Obviously A+
This website was incredibly helpful and I got a lot of really great ideas from girls on this site so thank you fellow LIW girls for not being selfish and hording all of your wonderfully creative ideas to yourselves!!! LOL
I really appreciate all of the ideas and support ?

Church – A+
St. Catherine’s of Sienna- Franklin Square
Everything was great and we loved our Deacon, Deacon Joe Benincasa.

Brookeville Planting Field Arboretum – D
I booked to have pictures taken there about 5 months before my wedding, sent in the application, paid the $120 fee and I thought all was good. Then the week before my wedding the coordinator calls and leaves a message on my cell that there will be people there filming but not to worry it won’t interfere with my pictures.
We get there, get EVERYONE off the bus and as we’re walking towards the hall we see a ton of people and film cameras, etc and 4 people with clip boards came RUNNING up to us telling all of us to be quiet, etc that they were shooting an episode of All My Children and we’re going to have to stay away.
I said NO WAY, I paid to be here too and they told me this was not going to be a problem so sorry but tough S**T
But of course we were too loud as a group and they kept interrupting us so I just sent the bridal party back and Pete and I got a FEW picture there – but I was really pissed.
We took a few pictures there and I spoke to someone there and hopefully I’ll get most or all of my money back – it’s not the money, just the point!!

Hair A+ A+
Brenda of Creative Impressions, East Meadow 516-542-0446
One of my very good friends, Brenda, has been doing my hair for years and she, along with Mary in her salon did my hair, my Mom and 3 of my bridesmaids.
She had told me from the start that she wanted to put extensions in my hair for volume. So we did a hair trial before my bachelorette party in AC in February and it looked AWESOME.


So, since they came out SOOOO awesome, I decided to wear my hair half up/half down for the wedding instead of all up.

Day of the wedding
Brenda put my extensions in the day before the wedding so when I went to the salon in the morning of the wedding, all she had to do was curl it, put it up, put my hair pins in and then put my veil on.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!
She is great and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a hair dresser (she is the BEST colorist I know) or a stylist for the day of your wedding.


Makeup A++++++
Anne DeMarco 516-367-2077
Anne is great! She came to Brenda’s salon and did my makeup (airbrush), my Mom (airbrush) and 2 of my bridesmaids (regular makeup). She is sweet, funny and totally professional. She listens to what you want, deals well with corrections and criticism (my Mom is one of the MOST picky/difficult people when it comes to the way she looks and even SHE was happy!!!!) and also helps you if you don’t know how/what you want.
Angiebeeen, another LIWer on here, is also using her for her wedding in August and is VERY happy with her too!

Sandy’s Shoes A+ A+
Sunrise Highway in Massapequa 516-799-5450
I originally just went there for my shoes but I kept going back and got my bag, earrings, necklace, hair pins and veil there too!!!!!
Caroline is the sweetest woman and when my veil came in 2 weeks before my wedding in the wrong color, she totally put me at ease and made sure I got it in time in the right color!!!
I know a lot of girls have gone to Tri County but Caroline charged me over $100 LESS for the same veil at Tri County. My veil was 2 tier and lined with crystals. The first tier was 35 inches and the 2nd was 45 inches.
Definitely go see them – everyone that works there is great and so helpful!!!
This is the necklace and earrings I wore.

I bought from Sandy’s Shoes too – they say “Just” on one foot and “Married” on the other! They are the most COMFORTABLE slippers and I still wear them around the house!

The bracelet I wore was a gift from one of my bridesmaids, Tara, and she got it at Look Twice in Rockville Centre. It’s a really cute bohemian chic type of boutique!

Tuxes - A
Ray’s Tuxedo in Franklin Square 516-775-5794
DH Is from Franklin Square and all of his friends have used Ray’s so we went there too. They gave us a good deal since we had a total of 17 tuxes including the fathers. The selection is good but I chose brown to match my girls’ dresses and I wish I had more to choose from but that was not the store’s fault.
Everyone had a good experience and the owner is really nice. Plus, it’s right across the street from the church so it was convenient.

Dresses- My bridal gown and the MOH and BM dresses
Lillette’s in Baldwin C
Seamstress LAURA - A
Okay so here goes…
I give them a C because of all the crap I had to deal with!!!
I would have given them an F if things didn’t turn out okay and if Laura didn’t end up making my dress GORGEOUS!!!
First, my dress.
I went in thinking I was going to get a Maggie Sottero but ended up trying on the most BEAUTIFUL Jasmine Couture dress. I know some people say “they KNOW the minute they try it on” but future brides out there, don’t be alarmed – I didn’t KNOW! Actually, I was EXTREMELY torn between 2 dresses, my Jasmine Couture and the Maggie “Michelle” dress; but the biggest problem was that the dresses were at 2 DIFFERENT stores so I had to keep driving back and forth to try to make my decision!!!! I finally chose the Jasmine dress because I thought it was more elegant and my Mom said that when I came out of the dressing room I looked like Cinderella!!! ?
Next issue with Lilllette’s – the SIZE of the dress.
Now I know ALL brides tell the stores that they are going to lose weight, blah blah blah, and of course I said the same thing but I DID LOSE IT!!!
But the sales woman scared me so much that they ended up ordering the dress 4 sizes bigger than my normal size!!!!!!
Future brides do not be scared, wedding gowns run at least 1-2 sizes SMALLER than your normal size so don’t get upset like I did!! But the MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE I can give is KNOW YOURSELF!! If you have willpower and know you will lose weight don’t let the store bully you into a size too big for you – fight for your size!!! LOL
So my dress comes in and it was literally 4 inches off of my body – the crinoline (sp?) in the bottom of the dress was holding it up because it was so HUGE on me. This of course freaked me out b/c I didn’t’ think they were going to be able to make it fit me correctly but Laura did!!!!!! I was very happy with the final product but NERVOUS the whole time because there were other screw ups with the bridesmaid’s dresses
Okay, so here goes for the Bridesmaid’s dresses – TOTAL F!!!!!
I got married April 20th, I brought my girls in to get measured and order their dresses OCTOBER 10th!!!!!! This was over a month earlier than the store told me I needed to be there!!
So EVERYONE orders their dress, pays the deposit and we’re good to go, right???? WRONG WRONG WRONG
Thank GOD I was as organized and neurotic as I was because the 2 MOH dresses that were the same designer, (Bill Levkoff) and ordered on the same day as the BM dresses, (Bill Levkoff# 966), came in about 9 or 10 weeks before the wedding- perfect. I asked why the BM dresses didn’t come in too and they said b/c they were different dresses they may come in at a different time but not to worry. Okay, so I didn’t worry. 2 more weeks go by with no phone call about the BM dresses so I call Lillette’s again and ask for someone to look into it. They told me that they would look into it and that I shouldn’t worry. I call again the following week and I ask why they haven’t come in and the girl said that the woman who does the ordering was out for surgery so maybe they were in the back and haven’t been logged or something and they were going to “leave my file out” and look into it and get back to me. Okay. No call back from them again. I call AGAIN the following week on Tuesday and speak with Donna, the woman who does the ordering and was out the week before; she said she would look into it and although they were closed on Wednesday, would DEFINITELY call me back. Fast forward to THURSDAY with NO CALL from Donna – needless to say I am worried and getting PISSED. I call and Donna had just gotten in and said the manufacturer was supposed to call her back and did not so that is why she didn’t call me and that she would call him again and call me back. Keep in mind, this is 6 WEEKS before my wedding when ALL dresses are supposed to be IN. Donna calls me back about an hour later and tells me the bridesmaids dresses were NEVER ORDERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH
If you couldn’t have already guessed by my bold, caps and underlining, I FLIPPED OUT ON DONNA – I mean REALLY FLIPPED OUT ON HER!!!! I am surprised my whole company didn’t come to my office to see what was wrong because I was screaming so loud on the phone at her.
But in the end, the dresses were ordered, a rush was put on them and they all came in 2 weeks before the wedding; oh and by the way, one had to be shipped to Connecticut which didn’t make matters easier.
They wouldn’t even give my girls a discount on the dresses or a discount for me because of all the BS they put me through – WHATEVER!!!!
NOT MY FAVORITE VENDOR
But my girls looked gorgeous and that is all that really mattered!!!


Photography/Video
RIGHT ANGLE STUDIOS – George Spiers A+
Plainview 516-932-2022
GEORGE IS PHENOMENAL!!!!!
I give him an A+ because he was just so AWESOME – he was the first photographer I met and I knew the day I met him he was the one!! We sat and chatted for 2 ½ hours at our first meeting!!! He is TOP NOTCH!!! He never even gave me a hard time even though I gave him a 4 page list of “Must take” pictures and about 80 pages of printouts from this website of other people’s pictures so he could understand “the look” I wanted!!! LOL LOL
We just laughed about it!!! At that point I really needed to get over myself – HA HAHAH AHAHAH It’s so funny, you have this whole idea of how you think it’s going to go and honestly, everyone is right – it FLIES BY AND IS A BIG BLUR
It’s really sad but it’s the truth!!! But I got OVER 1300 proofs to help me remember!!!
The day of the wedding, George and the guys were great! I had a 2nd photojournalist photographer, named Joe, who went to Pete’s house to take pics of his family and the guys before the ceremony and George had an assistant, Damien and Pete the videographer. Everyone was wonderful and I can only hope the proofs and video come out as great as I remember my day was!!! My pictures are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and everyone keeps commenting on what great pics they took and the moments they captured and all of the details.
George is AWESOME and I cannot speak highly enough of him!! We still talk all the time!! HA HA

Band
Skyline Orchestras – CODE BLEU A
They rocked!!!!
I was nervous at first because I really wanted a DJ because, like many other girls on here, I like club dance music – I gave them must play club songs and BOY DID THEY PLAY THEM!!! They blew my friends and I AWAY!!!!!!
The dance floor was packed ALL night and that is what I wanted and what Sean, the band leader promised me and delivered!!!! One of my guests asked me if we paid them extra money NOT to let people eat because they just kept playing such great music!!!
We added on a second female singer, Pam, and another horn so we had a 10 piece band but it was worth it. We requested a few Italian songs because most of Pete’s older family members are all from Italy and they learned all of the Italian songs and the “club” dance songs I requested and played them perfectly!!!!
People are still calling us and our parents and telling us that Code Bleu was the best band they have EVER heard!!!!
I HIGHLY recommend CODE BLEU – they were great to work with, sounded awesome, had fun and had the dance floor packed all night.

Limos – Royalty – A
Franklin Square – 516-326-9100
We dealt with Manny during the planning but our drivers were great.
They were polite, friendly, helpful and EARLY!!
And they were all in the vestibule of the church with my father and I before we walked down and were joking with us and calming us down ?
We got the 1958 Rolls, a 14 passenger limo to drop the girls off at church and then the whole bridal party went into the 30 passenger bus.
Everything was great

Flower Michele – A
Mineola 516-663-5100
I know most people on here work and rave about John but I worked with Barbara and she was AWESOME!!
They were the only florist I went to because Barbara and I clicked right away and at our first meeting sat and talked for over 2 hours!!!
She told me her background and how she got started, we looked through flower books and websites and she really got a grasp on what I wanted!
PLUS, she named the new “pew bow” creation we came up with after me and called them CION POSIES!!!!
I wanted something different instead of pew bows for my church so we used the petal cone concept and made pew cones instead and she had never done that before so she named them CION POSIES after me!!! LOVE HER
My bouquet was peonies, cala lilies and roses – I didn’t want all white so she threw in beautiful shades of pink!

The girls bouquets were gorgeous too and she incorporated my wedding theme colors, chocolate brown and pink, and she wrapped the girls bouquets in those ribbon colors!!!
Oh and you can see my favors, they were small wine bottles wrapped in chocolate brown organza wrappers with pink ties!!!

At first we were going to go ½ high and ½ low but decided to go all high and I am so glad we did – EVERYONE made a comment on the centerpieces!!!
The only small problem was that the day of the wedding all of the girls bouquets were delivered to my apartment and I was getting ready at my DAD’S HOUSE!!! Thank God it was only 15 minutes away!!!!! After a small heart attack, I gave the delivery guy directions and the flowers showed up in plenty of time. So make sure you go over those details!! (I did go over that and it still got messed up but oh well!!!)
All in all, Barbara and Flower Michele did and AMAZING job and worked within the budget I gave them which was great!!!! I couldn’t have been happier with the way the room looked and all of the flowers came out!

NORTH RITZ CLUB – AAAAA+++++++++++
Syosset 516-921-4000
This was ALWAYS my first choice and I couldn’t have been happier! Everything was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT
This place is a hidden gem and I DEFINITLEY ENCOURAGE future brides to go look there. My 2 big things when looking for my hall were that I wanted to be the ONLY bride and I wanted to go to a place that most of our guests have never been before. With the exception of 4 people, no one else at our wedding had EVER been there before!!!!!! The hall and grounds are beautiful and the service is impeccable! No one EVER waited for anything!!! The food is AMAZING!!
At our cocktail hour we had a Mashed Potato bar and a MARTINI ICE SLIDE!!! People were totally amazed by everything.
My bridal attendant, Monica, was great. She was always there but not in the way and was such a sweet heart and our Maitre’ D George was great too.
I did get a little nervous before the wedding about having enough room because we ended up inviting about 321 people and 260 showed up – BIG WEDDING but it was great.
The room was packed but not “tight”. There was enough room for people to dance and walk around too.
Everyone said all of the food, not just the cocktail hour food, was GREAT, and Pete and I ACTUALLY ATE!!!! We stuffed our faces quickly, but we made sure to eat!! ? And they came around with 2nds of everything too.
Our cake and desserts were amazing too. I had chocolate devil food cake with white chocolate mousse filling and ice cream on the cake slices too! And we had an assortment of cookies and pastries and chocolate covered strawberries on the tables as well.
This place is absolutely TOP NOTCH and anyone who goes here will be more than happy!

Invitations, STDs, Favors, Menus, Programs, Cake Monogram, Cake Knife, Chocolate Kisses and Tic Tacs – A+++
My wonderful stepmom, JoAnn, did all of my “stationary” and little extra touches
She handled my Save the Date magnets, Invitations, Menus, Programs, Place Cards, Table numbers, Heart Shaped flower petal holders for the church and helped me with my “little touches” – we put personalized Tic Tacs and Hershey kisses on each table. I went to Harmon drug store and bought 14 bags of the pink breast cancer chocolate kisses because the matched my color theme of chocolate brown and pink!!!! We got stickers to put on the bottom that read “A room full of love, A spoonful of kisses, Now Kristin and Peter are Mr. & Mrs!” SO CUTE
We got the labels made for the chocolate kisses, my wine bottle favors and the tic tac labels from a company called “By Design Creations” they are a Canadian company and the woman was so nice and the labels came out great. The email is [email protected]
Here is a picture of the tic tacs, chocolate kisses and wine bottle favors.

Photo Cube – A+
Of course I am going to give the Photo Cube and A+, my Mom and I made it!!! LOL
I got the idea from girls on this website, of course, thanks girls!!!!
I bought 9x11 white picture frames from AC Moore and put brown matte backing inside the frames to match my color theme. 2 of the sides I kept at the 8x10 size and blew up 2 of my favorite engagement pictures for those and then the other 2 sides I used 5x7 mattes and overlapped them to make 2 openings for pictures in the frame and used 4 of my favorite picture of Pete and I over the past 3 years and put them in those.
My Mom is incredibly handy and I could not have made this DIY project without her. I used instructions I found under the DIY forum on this website and tailored them to my cube.
I had the NRC put it on a small table in front of the dais that Pete and I sat at and everyone thought it was such a great idea and EVERYONE came up to see it!! I also placed it on a plastic lazy susan so people could spin it and see all of the sides. I am very proud of it – I just have to find a use for it in my new house now!!! LOL


Flower Girl Dress – Estelle’s in Farmingdale on 110 – A
They had a really big selection and the dress was not expensive at all!!!

MOB Dress – Sugarplum, Lynbrook – B
They only get a B because they are a little pricey but I didn’t care – my Mom looked STUNNING!!! I have never seen her look so beautiful!! ?

Gifts
I used Exclusively Weddings for a lot of gifts:
I got the flower girl an earring and necklace set, the 2 RB’s engraved silver piggy banks, the bags for my BM gifts which had a really cute hand drawn picture of girls in a bridal party and then I had their names written on them in pink calligraphy, my “Father of the Bride” cuff links that my Dad FLIPPED over, a silver picture frame for my Dad with a poem on the opposite side that read “I’ll Always Be Daddy’s Little Girl”, pink and chocolate brown tissue paper to wrap all of the gifts and I bought 2 cards, one that was “For My Mother on My Wedding Day” and “For My Father on my Wedding Day”.
I bought the girls earring and necklace sets from David’s Bridal, flip flops and fur slippers in brown to match their dresses and then I gave them Visa check cards to help pay for their hair and/or makeup.
I bought both of our Mother’s Precious Moments statues and they both cried when they opened them. I bought my Mom, “My Baby is Now a Bride” and his Mom “A Mother’s Arms are Always Open”.
We bought my FIL a beautiful Kenneth Cole watch and we also bought my Dad and StepMom tickets to see “The Producers”.
I bought all of the guys awesome white heavy terry cloth robes from Fortunoff’s with their first name’s embroidered on them and I got one for my DH!


GlamGirl.com – B+
They get a B+ because I love my cotton boy shorts – I got pink cotton boy shorts underwear that had “Pete’s Girl” in rhinestones on the butt – totally cute.
But I was disappointed in the bikini I ordered because I got the top in a large and honestly, it wouldn’t hold ONE of my boobs, forget about both of them!! The top was VERY FLIMSY, and I am not HUGE, I am a C cup. But the bottoms came out cute – they said “Mrs. Mastroserio” in crystals but I couldn’t wear it to the pool because my boobs would have been ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! LOL
But it was still cute
The website was easy to use and they came quickly so that was good
And I got a discount because there is usually a code in the back of BRIDE’s magazine for 10% off so look there before you order.

HONEYMOON A+++++++++
Sandals Royal Bahamian, Nassau Bahamas 6 nights Windsor Honeymoon Concierge Suite
This place was GREAT
You don’t lift a finger to do ANYTHING
It’s so relaxing and the FOOD IS AMAZING!!!
I have heard that at some of the Sandals, the food is only “okay” but I am SOO happy that we went to the Royal Bahamian – food is really important to me, not the QUANTITY but the QUALITY and it was amazing! Every restaurant was great!
The people are really friendly and there are plenty of activities to do, or you can do NOTHING!!
Even the bar in the room got replenished every day!! Pete and I had our own champagne happy hour in the room every day while we got ready for dinner and the next day there was another bottle of champagne waiting for us!!! LOVED IT

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Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

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Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

I am going to put more pics in my Album - I don't have the patience to keep resizing!!!

I'll repost when I finish putting all the pics in my album but go check it out!!!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Thanks for the great review!

And you look amazing!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

ok so i had to come on before i make my way to work to check out how many more pics u attempted to put on after we spoke actually u did really good girlie!!!!!!....i love ur review and ur pics are beautiful! and i guess u looked beautiful

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Congrats. That weekend was the best!!!!!!!!!!The weather was great.

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

beautiful pics!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Thank you all very much!!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

pictures are amazing , real amazing

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

You look so beautiful

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

You look beautiful, I love your bouquet! Thanks for taking the time to write the review!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Congratulations! I'm so glad all went well at the North Ritz. Now I'm extra excited!!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Oh you SHOULD BE
They are absolutely amazing
Everything was PERFECT
and it was different than other weddings I've been to because they offer things no one has ever seen before

FM me if you need any ideas/help

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Awesome review! You looked GORGEOUS! So glad you had a beautiful day. So sorry about the stress with Lillette's! They were scaring me too about when my dress is coming in...I'm glad it worked out in the end for you though!

CONGRATS!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Amazing review...I am so excited to hear great things about NRC....I am so excited to get married there!!! Thanks for the review...Your pics are amazing....

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

You had a beautiful wedding. Gorgeous pics!!!
Congrats.

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Congrats!!! you looked beautiful!! thanks for the review!!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Great review, Thanks and you look so beautiful. Congratulations!!!!

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

You look beautiful...you two make a good couple. CONGRATS have a happy life 2gether.

Re: My Amazing 4/20/07 Wedding

Great review! You looked amazing! Congratulations