My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

My wedding day was almost three months ago and I still think about it a lot. It was without a doubt, the best day of my life. I got to marry my high school sweetheart finally, and I got to celebrate with all of our friends and family. The weather turned out beautifully for us, it was just chilly, but I did not care. There could have been a blizzard or a rainstorm that day; nothing would have ruined my day. Things went really well, there were only a few minor slip ups by one or two vendors, but they were things only me, my husband, and our parents even realized. I was so laid back and having too much fun at my wedding to care.

The Day Of:

Weather-cold, breezy, and SUNNY! I got up, went and got some bagels for breakfast for all of us. I wanted to get out of the house for a little bit in the morning. I got home and showered and waited to be beautified. We had also ordered some lunch in from a nearby deli. I highly recommend this so you and your ladies are not starving late in the day.

Hair/Make-Up: Claudia and Maureen Pedala (A+) I love these women. Not only are they very talented, they are fun to be around; especially on your wedding day. They arrived early and got to work on me and my bridesmaids. They did me, 6 bridesmaid’s hair, 5 bridesmaids and my Mom’s make-up, all in 4 hours. We laughed, chatted, and had a great time. It was very calm in the house and I was so glad to have my parents and all my girls with me while getting primped. Claudia and Maureen were also great because after my initial trial and booking them, I went back for another hair trail and brought my Mom for a make-up trial, free of charge. (Not sure if they do this anymore.) On the day of my wedding, we went with another different hairstyle and more dramatic make-up, and they handled the changes seamlessly. My hair and make-up stayed put all night….all I had to do was blot my face and touch up my lipstick. I felt very pretty all night. I received many compliments on my hair and make-up from our guests.



Flower Michele for flowers – (A+) The fantastic John did our flowers. When I met him and he told me he could get peonies in March, I knew he was the florist for me. This is almost “unheard” of (as told to me by an acquaintance who works for a big time NYC florist), but he promised and delivered. Let me say, I could have spent an unlimited amount of $$ on flowers, I love them so much. I love neutral colored flowers with a lot of texture. I’m all about “fluffy” flowers. John actually wrote that on my contract. I wanted low, full centerpieces that our guests would be able to enjoy, rather than high centerpieces. The flowers were beautiful and perfect, considering the changes we made 2 weeks before. The peonies were coming in too hot pink for my taste so we were going to nix them altogether. But, they ended up coming in a beautiful shade of pink. We also added some green hydrangea to the cp’s and changed my bo-k altogether. It ended up being an all white bouquet of Vendela roses and Ranunculus with it with seeded eucalyptus for greenery. The wrapping was white satin; with some lace I gave John that matched my dress. I simply loved it; it was the perfect size, not too big or small. I love that John takes everything into consideration when designing your flowers, the dresses, the hall, etc. And apparently the guests were fighting over the centerpieces to take them home at the end of the reception.

Spelman Studios for Photos – (A+) I love the way Christine and her group shoot a wedding. We had Christine for our main photographer, plus Judy the lighting assistant and Fran was our photojournalist. They work so well together and are completely unobtrusive. In fact, my Mom thought they left the wedding at 930p, b/c she didn’t see them after that, they blended in with the crowd so well and were there basically until the end. They work fast too….we finished up our posed shots with 40 minutes to spare before our cocktail hour began. They were troopers too…they took pics outside in the freezing cold because I really wanted some outdoor shots.
I first saw a sampling of my proofs that they posted online for us and I was happy with them. But, I did think some of the proofs were unflattering of us and started getting really nervous. Then, we were picked to put our announcement in the NY Post and I needed to get the paper some pictures of us ASAP, and Christine and her group handled that no problem. I thought it was so nice of them to do that. I didn’t have to worry at all, they worked with the layout editors at the Post and got us a great picture in the paper that we loved. Once I saw that picture, I worried less. Then I finally saw my proofs and did my album layout and I am SO HAPPY that we went with Spelman. The pictures are beautiful and they got so many different shots. Once I get around to actually scanning my proofs, I’ll add them to my review.

All Star Limos- (B) They were good, not great, and kind of pricey. We rented their 50 person limo-bus because we wanted a big bus for the whole bridal party and our parents to fit in. They got us all to the church on time, and that’s what mattered. The reason I’m saying they were good, not great is as follows. We had planned on doing a shuttle bus for our guests through All Star, but decided not to use them at the last minute because they were charging what we thought was too much and the vans they wanted to give us were too small and would have had to make many trips to get all of our OOTers to the Carlyle. Well, when we cancelled that, apparently they cancelled our limo pick up for the end of the night…..it’s partially our fault because we never confirmed our pick up that didn’t exist. So, even though it was written on our original contract, we were not picked up. We should have asked for a revised contract, but I feel like All Star should have double checked with us or given us a revised contract. Thankfully, we made it back to the hotel that night because we booked…..

Alert Bus (A+) to take our guests to and from the Carlyle. And yes, it was a school bus. Ok, so, once we decided to book with them DH was EXCITED about the school bus, I was apprehensive. I was hoping for the nicer coach bus, but DH was adamant that we go with the school bus because a) it was funny b) it was half the price of the coach c) this is a courtesy we are providing to our guests, if they don’t like it, then tough they don’t need to take it. He was right, totally right. So it’s not classy, but they got all of our guests to and from the reception on time and safely as well as us at the end of the night along with our parents and some more family members when All Star didn’t send us our limo.

Our Lady Of Grace-I’m not going to rate my church, but wanted to mention that this may not be the prettiest of churches, but all the people who work in the office and organize the weddings there are great. This church means a lot to DH and I because it’s the church we both grew up going to and made all of our sacraments at. The organist was very good and the service was very meaningful to us.

Full House for music-(A) DH and I saw so many bands, I think we saw 11 in all. We are huge music fans, so we were looking for a band that played a variety of music and played it well. We also like rock music a little more than most people and once we saw Full House, we knew they were the band for us. I gave Joe, the bandleader, a ton of songs we wanted to hear at our wedding (not necessarily must plays, but songs we liked to dance to) and they played most of them. Some of the highlights they played for us were Angel of Harlem by U2, which we walked into the ballroom too (the horns sounded AMAZING), our first dance Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts, Since U Been Gone by (yes, they played that song, DH and I and our friends just love Kelly Clarkson) and U2’s version of Everlasting Love as our last song. They sounded incredible. The floor was packed all night long, from the first dance on. My bridesmaids were like groupies, they did not sit down all night and were dancing right in front of the band for most of the wedding.
I only gave them an A, not an A+ because a few details slipped through the cracks.
The lights they brought with them were just too much, I had a family member ask them to tone them down, when we saw them at showcases, there was no lighting, they were pretty no frills and that’s why we liked them. Also, we were supposed to dance our first dance completely alone, but halfway in, Joe invited our parent’s/bridal party/ guests up to dance. In hinsdsight, it worked out better, b/c DH and I would have been up there twirling around for what I felt was a LONG time. These are details that I really didn’t care about on the day of, they fixed the lights and we shared the dance floor with everyone.

Carlyle on the Green-(A+ and beyond) Ah, the Carlyle. I knew all about the Carlyle from the many Saturday’s DH spends playing golf at Bethpage and the many times I’ve heard about the fabulous weddings that go on there. The place is just beautiful and although we were convinced it was out of our price range, we went to take a look at it. Once we walked through the doors, we knew it was the place for us. Thankfully, it was within our price range, largely due to the fact that we had our wedding in their off-season. I love the way the CH is set up, in a few different rooms plus the hallways, it felt very homey to us, the rooms feel like your living rooms. There are fireplaces, beautiful furniture, and little touches everywhere. Then you walk into the ballroom, and it is just magnificent with high ceilings and huge windows that go all the way around the room. I love all of our pictures near the big windows, they’re my favorites. Outside is just as beautiful. Unfortunately, we were married in March and the Black course was not open for us to take pictures on, but that’s ok. We did get some nice shots out there, and I actually preferred having our reception there when the courses are closed because we didn’t have to deal with mobs of golfers who would not be happy with us taking pictures as they were teeing off.
We were treated so well, as were all of our guests, from the first time we saw the Carlyle until the end of our wedding. They really know customer service there. And they have their act together…they think of everything in terms of how the wedding is run, all the enhancements and little details you request, and how to throw a good party. We booked with Gary who was great, and on the day of we had Cindy as our Maitre De and Janet as our bridal attendant, both were phenomenal. We had a signature drink waiting for our guests at the CH along with champagne and a fully stocked, top shelf bar. You can request specific beers you want as well, which we did. Once we got there with the bridal party, they began bringing us drinks and had some food waiting for us all while we took pictures. A half hour before the CH started, they brought us into our own bridal suite and brought us all of our CH food, DH and I gorged ourselves, and got to the cocktail hour shortly after it began and were able to mingle with our guests. We thought that was great. They also started the CH 15 minutes early for our guests who were arriving prior to 7p …..The menu was out of this world….a few highlights of our cocktail hour were the Mashed Potato Par (fitting since our wedding was the day after St. Patty’s Day) and the Bourbon Street Café, both were a huge hit and delicious. Some of our passed Hors drovers were Mini Beef Wellingtons, Lamb Chops, and Pigs in a Blanket of course.
The ballroom looked so beautiful. The staff set everything up perfectly, the table names, the menus folded in the napkins, etc. We had a duet course as our first course, the Tuscan Bistro, then we picked our entrees of Filet Mignon, Macadamia Nut encrusted Mahi Mahi, and Long Island Duck…all delicious, we had all three as did our parents. And the desert café, oh my gosh, I wish I wasn’t so full when desert was served. The made to order waffles and sundae bar were big hits, as was the fondue station. Luckily for us, the folks at the Carlyle packed up some deserts for us to take home. We had arranged for the staff to hand out take home boxes we had dropped off in order for our guests to be able to take home some sweets.
I was so impressed with the Carlyle and the staff at there, it really is a phenomenal place to have your wedding.
Many of our guests have told us what an elegant and fun wedding it was, the best they’ve ever been to. I certainly feel that way. I’m so glad we went with the Carlyle, we really enjoyed having our wedding there

The Details:

Clothing First:

Amsale Wedding Gown Purchased from Kleinfeld’s (A+) My mother and I trekked to Brooklyn in Jan of 05 during a SNOWSTORM for an Amsale trunk show. The day after I got engaged, of course I went out and bought all the bridal magazines I could find and kept buying them. I started ripping out pics of gowns I liked and a lot of them were Amsale. So, once I saw that Kleinfeld’s was having a trunk show, I called for an appointment. The snowstorm worked in our favor, I think, because it was a Saturday and the place is normally a madhouse, and kept some folks away. The appointment was in the old location, thankfully they moved to NYC and I did all my fittings there and was much easier for us. We worked with Vivian when looking at dresses.
Let me mention, this was my first day out looking at dresses and over a year before my wedding. I did not plan on buying anything, but of course, once I started trying on the gowns, I started thinking I would be buying a gown that day (especially with the discount and the free veil they tossed in). My dress was the third I tried on, but I tried many more Amsale gowns, as well as different designers. I kept going back to my dress, but wanted to add some straps, so we looked at other Amsale gowns with straps and decided I’d go with my gown and have straps from another style added on….they didn’t charge us for that, which they normally do. I just loved my dress, it fit me so well. Nine months later, I start second guessing my gown and I keep seeing dropped-waist gowns in magazines, on LIW brides, wishing I had gone with a dropped waist, not the natural waist gown I bought. My mother assured me over and over that my dress was gorgeous and the drop waist gowns I tried on did not look nearly as good on me……my dress comes in 3 months before the wedding, I go try it on, and I’m still not crazy about it. But, of course I will be wearing it. We start the fittings and I fall completely in love with my dress again and it’s natural waist! Future brides….don’t fret when you think you hate your gown, if you had “the feeling” when you picked it, you will love it when it comes in. My dress is still hanging up at my parents and I wear it around the house when I go home from time to time.
My seamstress was Anna and she did a great job with the straps, bustle, and hem. I had to have the top taken in a bit due to weight loss and she also did a great job with that.
The new NYC location is beautiful and very large. The customer service was great and I’d recommend them to anyone.

My Glass Slipper for Shoes and Purse-(A+) I bought my shoes from My Glass Slipper online, after trying them on in their store…reason being, they were on sale online for $100 cheaper than the store (go figure). They were fast and the shoes were fab, Cynthia Rowley with a blue sole for my something blue. I can dye them too, which I plan on doing so I can use them again. I also bought a white satin purse that never left our bridal suite and stayed inside the bigger bag I brought along with me that day. Oh well….

Blum’s for undergarments-(A+) I got my long line bra at Blum’s and my underwear at Victoria’s Secret. Comfort was key for me. The salesperson at Blums’ was really helpful and helped me find a nice long lined bra. And, they have great prices.

Bridesmaid Dresses-Bridal Reflections, Massapequa store- (A) We decided on a two piece Dessy dress that is now discontinued. They took $20 off the price because we’d be ordering so many, which I thought was a good discount considering I didn’t buy my gown there. The girls all looked great in the dresses and the women at Bridal Reflections were helpful. They don’t have the best alteration hours, but they did a good job on the girl’s dresses.

Cathy Fiorenti for girls shrugs-(A+) We were getting one week before spring and the weather is essentially a crapshoot in March, so I wanted to get my girls some sort of cover up because I knew I’d be making them stand outside for pics no matter what the weather (yes, evil, I know.) I wanted to get them shrugs instead of a wrap. I found Cathy on LIW and started working with her. She made each girl a beautiful shrug out of satin measured to fit them all. And now they have them and can use them again.

Omnibus for Mom’s Dress-(A+) My Mom and I looked all over for her dress; it was harder to find her gown than my own. After being all over LI and NYC, she ended up at Omnibus in Babylon village. She went with a Navy Blue Jovani gown. The staff at Omnibus is great and they do have fair prices. Her alterations went well too. My MIL got her gown at Macy’s in the city and it was beautiful as well, she didn’t need any alterations.

Victor Talbots for Tuxedos-(A) All of our groomsmen had their own tuxes. So we had them wear their jackets, pants, shoes, and own shirts and we rented their vests. We also bought them their ties at Macy’s (in a champagne color) for the day of which was part of their gift. We rented DH tux and the Dad’s complete tuxes (DH wanted a nicer tux for the day of than the one he has). This place is very expensive, but the service is great. What I really liked was they have a tailor in the store, so we had alterations done while we waited. That saved us a lot of stress and time. We worked with Mark.

SonicStef- (A+) Stefanie is so incredibly talented and creative. We used her for our Save the Dates, ceremony programs, menus, placecards, and table names. I gave her the most random assortment of information on our color scheme and the little details we wanted to do. I thought either she wouldn’t be able to capture what I wanted or would say we were crazy and couldn’t work with us. Well, the work she did for us went above and beyond my expectations. You can see some of the design options she made for us here:

http://www.sonicstefdesign.com/Powers.html

We were thrilled to work with Stefanie, she is so easy going and really pays attention to detail. All of the little details and the how all of our paper products matched did not go unnoticed. So, if you think no one notices your special touches, don’t think that. These things get noticed.
We paid Stefanie to design everything, and my fabulous MIL printed it all. Stefanie was also kind enough to design (free of charge) labels for our OOT boxes as well as the boxes we used at the reception for our guests to take desert home in.

Paper Presentation-(A) We live/work in NYC so it was easy for us to get to this store. Man, do they have a lot of paper. They have so many options for placecards, menus, invitations, etc. We bought paper from there and printed out all of Stephanie’s designs on them. We also made our own menus for our day after brunch at the Hilton, pretty simple to do in Word, and then we printed on nice green paper from Paper Presentation.
The store isn’t cheap, and you could probably get better deals elsewhere, but the layout of the store made it so easy, we just bought the paper there and didn’t feel like shopping around (we did a lot of last minute things printing wise and just needed to get the paper!)

Invitations-our invites were by Regency, but a friend of ours got them for us for basically nothing, so I won’t bother posting how we ordered. Nice invites, though. I didn’t really care about the invites so much, felt we could spend $$ elsewhere. My MIL printed all of our envelopes (inner and outer) and they looked great.

AC Moore, Michael’s, Papertmart.com, Beau-coup.com- (A)I used all of these stores for the details such as the OOT Gable boxes, take-home boxes for desert, easels for our table names, pew wreaths, etc. All were fairly priced and had what I needed.

Hotel-Huntington Hilton (A+)
We blocked rooms at the Huntington Hilton for our guests and stayed there the night of the wedding in the Jr. Bridal Suite. We also had a brunch for everyone the day after. We dealt with Laurie, and she was a pleasure to deal with. We dropped off our OOT boxes the Friday morning before our wedding and Laurie was nice enough to call me when she saw some names on the blocked rooms list that didn't have a box to go with them (we did one box per couple). We got what I thought was a good rate, $119/night and the brunch was really good, and definitely needed by my hungover, sleepy guests....

Rehearsal Dinner-(A+)
The Bridge Restaurant in West Islip- I like the Bridge a lot, it’s a very nice place. There is a private room upstairs with it’s own bar. My MIL really did a great job with this. They allowed her to play around with their many menu options to include Corned Beef and Cabbage, a MUST for my Irish family on St. Patrick’s Day. The desert was delicious too. The Bridge also allowed MIL to bring in a slideshow on a disc, which they displayed on a large screen with their A/V equipment that was in the room. It was a montage of pictures of me and my hubby, and our families. It was very sweet, and a surprise to us put together by our Mom’s and my sister in law.

My advice to all future brides, make sure to enjoy the planning process. Even though you may have a long engagement, it goes by so fast! Before you know it, you’re day will be here and you’ll get to see the outcome of all your hard work! Most of all, make sure to enjoy your day, and spend a little time with your new husband. I saw my husband about 3 times at our wedding, before the cocktail hour, when we ate, and at the end of the night on the dance floor. I wish we had stayed together a little more, because I don’t have a lot of pics of us actually at our reception enjoying ourselves.

Hope my review helps! All of my non-professional pics are in my album.

ETA: Hotel info

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Great review! You made a beautiful bride!!!!!! Thanks for sharing your special day

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

great review! i loved the bridesmaid dresses you chose! the girls will definitely use those again!!!!

your hair & makeup looked gorgeous and so did your amsale dress

congratulations !!!!!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congrats!!!! You looked absolutely gorgeous!!!!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

You looked beautiful! Great review.

Sonicstef is great, i had never heard of them before!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

congrats!!!! cant wait to see some more pics!!1

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

great review....cant wait to see some pics from the wedding...we got Christine as our photographer too...

you looked abslutely beautiful!!!!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congrats!!! and all the best!!!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

congrats on your wedding.

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congratulations Jill! You looked absolutely stunning.

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congratulations! Your review was so thoughtful and well written!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congrats! I love Carlyle on the green and you looked beautiful! Good Luck.

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Thanks for all the compliments ladies! I really need to get my proofs scanned!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Congratulations! Great review!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Great review!
I'm the one that had my bachlorette party the night of your wedding and I saw you at the bar at the Hilton. You looked stunning!! Congrats

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

BUMP. I put some proofs in my album.

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

You were such a beautiful bride!!!

Re: My Belated Review of my 3/18/06 Wedding at Carlyle on the Green

Great Review!