My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

LIW---A++++
I didn't post much, (Closet LIW bride, like maybride06 would say) but I definitely browsed around and got plenty of ideas. I'm sooo happy my friend (azoodie) put me on to this website. It was very helpful!!!! And I have definitely recommended this website to any other bride I know.


Weather: A++++++
I couldn’t ask for a better day. It was perfect.

Macy’s Bridal—Manhassett-- A
My Dress
I went all over searching for the perfect dress and finally I was steered to Macy’s Bridal in Manhasset. They were great as far as customer service. Initially I brought some pictures of some Demetrios dresses that I loved and asked to see them. The woman (Fay) told me I don’t think those are going to look good on you, at first I was shocked and then she told me “Hey, I’m not trying to sell you just anything I want you to be totally happy with what you purchase.” She got me the dresses I had requested and she explained to me the reason why she thought they didn’t look good and I came to agree with her. She picked out some dresses that she believed would look great on me and all of them definitely did. The last dress she brought out I just tried it on and just felt like it was right.
The dress arrived on time and in perfect condition. It was ordered hollow-to-hem, so I didn’t need a hem. When it came to alterations though, they were definitely on the pricey side. That’s when I decided to take my dress to Phyllis from “Bridal Elegance” to get it altered on the bust area and the bustle.

Bridal Elegance—A
My Dress and Bridesmaids
Phyllis did a great job with my dress and in a timely fashion. The bridesmaid dresses I ordered directly from her. I went shopping around for the best price possible for the Jim Hjelm dresses. She gave me the best price for the dresses and the alterations. We also ordered all of our shoes from her. The bms just ordered gold shoes, because the color is a tough one to match, and I’m all about wearing them for a different occasion.
My mother also ordered her dress from Phyllis as well and the alterations went well.

After Hours---A-
Tuxedos
Since all of the groomsmen and fathers lived all over we decided to go with after hours. All of the men went to their perspective store and got fitted. When the tuxes arrived is when problems arose. I had to pick up my Father’s and my Husband’s tuxes without them. My father lives in Virginia and wasn’t arriving in New York until the day before the wedding. My husband lived in Westchester and was busy with school. At this point I was very nervous because my brother-in-law went to pick up his tux and they ordered the wrong size for him and it he said his tux looked grey instead of black. So I went to the Smith Haven mall and started to check out the tuxedos everything seemed fine until I saw another wedding party trying on their tuxes and started questioning about the so called ivory shirts. They had three different shades of Ivory, but failed to show me this upon ordering them. Luckily the ivory that was picked turned out to be perfect and the tuxes fit my husband and my dad fine.

Flowers:
Brentwood Florist---A++
I shopped all around for flowers because I refused to spend a lot of money on flowers. Eileen was wonderful to work with. Initially I picked Hot pink and yellow Gerbera Daisies then once I had my swatch I changed to hot pink and orange Gerbera daisies for the bridesmaids. For my bouquet I initially picked hot pink roses with hot pink gerberas. Eileen called me the weekend before the wedding frantic that she didn’t think that the colors went well and that she wanted me to come in immediately. I went there and she showed me a pink gerbera that matched exactly with the bridesmaid’s dresses and a peachy color rose with a pink tinge for my bouquet. I was perfect and the day of most people complemented on the colors and how they went so well.

Invitations:
Donaghue Printing---A+
There a family owned business in Centereach and actually friends with my Uncle. They gave me a great price and did wonderful work.


Transportation:
NJL Limosines---A+
I have rented from them a couple of times and Mary is fabulous to work with. I initially rented the 14-passenger excursion and they ended up up-grading me to the Hummer the day of at no additional cost. Everyone that I’ve worked with in this company has been great. They were on time and very friendly.


Hair:
Zoily’s Hair Salon in Brentwood----B+
I loved my hair and they did a great job with it. But, some of the bridesmaids were not happy with their hair. I brought in a picture of the bun I wanted and the bms were okay with it until they did a “Cow Lick” across their heads. Overall, I guess that is a typical bridesmaid look, because I did like the actual bun, but if they wanted it to stay put with the humidity in August, I guess it had to be done…lol. They almost didn’t finish us up on time….but in the end everything worked out.


Make-Up:
***, *************----A+
*** did a wonderful job. She was on time and finished everyone on time for the photographer. I had many people complement that I looked natural and didn’t look too done up, which is exactly what I wanted. Only the maid of honor and one of the bridesmaids also had their make up done as well and loved it. The air-brush makeup definitely felt light on the face and I didn’t have a shine in the pictures like I usually do…=)

Music:
Ebony Entertainment----A+
The first wedding that I went to when they played, I wasn’t even engaged and just knew I wanted them for my wedding. I could definitely say they did an awesome job. They had the dance floor packed the entire night, I was very pleased. This was my biggest concern, I wanted people to enjoy themselves and eat, drink and dance the night away.


Church: Can’t grade
The River of Life Gospel Church in Bay Shore
This is the church I am a member of. It was very important to me to get married there. The only thing the church is so small and the air conditioner they have is not great. So it was hot from all the people that came…..but overall it was wonderful!!!!

Photography
MBN Studios----B+
Royal Entertainment (Video)—haven’t seen it yet

I found this free lance photographer and his partner (video) on guru.com. He did take beautiful pictures but I wish he was a little more creative and took more pictures. He also got my proofs to me within 2weeks of the wedding, but he would not give me the actual negatives….which still makes me furious. About 2 and a half hours before even cutting the cake the videographer tells me he has to leave….boy was I fuming!!!!! I had to actually pay him to stay an additional hour til at least the cake was cut. To top it off the photographer joined in and said he also had to charge me for staying longer…ugh!!!!!! I haven’t received the video yet….so I can’t really grade him yet, but as far as customer service…=( Technically in my contract it did say that they were both contracted for 8 hours each, but I had assumed that they would stay until the cake was cut at least. I guess so much for assumptions.




Reception:
Meditteranean Manor—A++++++

They did a wonderful job. Working with them from the very beginning was very pleasant. My husband and I met on a carnival cruise and initially wanted a destination wedding, but we wanted our families to be a part of it and knew that all of them could not attend if we did that. We both have large families, so it was important to look for a place that was definitely within our budget. I had read mixed reviews on the website, so it made me a little nervous, but I think that it can be like that with any place…hit or miss. Everything went perfect though!!!! We wanted to have a Carribean Cruise theme….so they served tropical drinks upon arrival to the guests. We had a life preserver with our names and date on display along with a blow-up Carnival Cruise ship. The place card holders were mini palm trees (ebay seller, can’t remember though) that said: Mr. & Mrs.
Smith will cruise to the Bahamas. They set up everything they way I wanted it. For the cocktail hour they made an ice sculpture of a cruise ship and made little ships from watermelons. They also served some ethnic foods such as curry chicken with rice and some samosas with chutney (Indian appetizer), my favorite. I had guests tell me their wait staff was very attentive and constantly either serving them drinks or rolling their napkins. I was a little disappointed in my bridal attendant though, I felt she could have paid more attention to us. In a way I guess… did it really matter though I was barely going to eat or drink anyway. She did take care of me though in the bridal suite right before we were announced by bringing me a whole tray of samosas to stuff my face with.
My food was wrapped up, so at least I did get to eat it the next day and it was very good (Sole Oregenata). The cake was awesome and very tasty basically a Strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. We just had them put some orange and pink gerbera daisies and I thought it looked fabulous.
Overall I had an excellent experience with the Meditteranean Manor!!!!

I hope this review helped some out….and my wedding was truly one of the best days of my life!!!! I’m really glad I enjoyed myself…..that’s one thing I could say….don’t let anyone convince you rather; “It’s your day and enjoy it!!!”


More pictures in My Community Album...I'm having a hard time uploading the pictures

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Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

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Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

i love your cake :)

And you look so pretty!!!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Some more pics:

Ugh!!!! I can't get them to resize...

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Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Congratulations!!!! Looks like you had an AMAZING day!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Congrats!! You looked beautiful. Thank you for sharing!!!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

beautiful flowers. you looked great.

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Congrats. You looked georgous. I love your BM dresses.
Sorry about your photography experience.

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Love you choice of flowers, so different

You looked gorgeous

Best of luck and Congrats

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Love your flowers....beautiful gown.

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

WOW! everything was so beautiful.....i'm guessing the BM dresses were bari jay of B2? i was looking at those dresses

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Love the cake! You picked great colors! Congratulations!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

You looked great! Congrats

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Nadia, Your day was amazing and I am glad we was a part of it ...You closet LIW bride! Everything was amazing and the service at the Mediterrean Manor was fabulous. You did such a wonderful job on all of the details but most importantly...you and Mark looked so happy! Love you both!!!!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Beautiful review and congrats on everything! You looked stunning!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

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Posted by JennyAl

WOW! everything was so beautiful.....i'm guessing the BM dresses were bari jay of B2? i was looking at those dresses

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I initially was looking at bari jay in a coral color but one of bms, since she's so pale didn't look too great in it...so I changed the color.
The dresses are actually by jim hjelm in the rouge terracotta color.

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

Congrats! Thank you for sharing!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

You look so beautiful! Seems like you had a great day! Congrats!!!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

i LOVE your flowers and bm dresses!
you looekd gorgeous! you and dh are a knockout couple!!!!! congratulations!!

Re: My Amazing August 5, 2006 Wedding Review

You look beautiful! The flower colors are stunning! Congratulations!!!!