My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

My wedding day was THE BEST DAY EVER! It was better than I ever imagined it would be. The whole day, and even today, I think that my wedding is the best wedding- hands down- that I have ever been to!!! HOLY COW– it was amazing!!!!!!

LIW…A+
Thank you to all the brides on LIW who had a bit of advice, a comment or question that helped me out. I didn’t post nearly as much as most people but when I needed info, I got it!!! Thank you to the Bourne Brides. I know there weren’t enough of us to have our own thread but if anyone needs anything from me don’t hesitate to ask!!!! I wish you all the best in your wedding planning and wish you the happiest, most glorious day you could ever imagine. It is really something to see it all come together.

Let me just say that the LA’s (LA Productions – Laura and LA Blossom – Laurie) are a great team!!! They are two amazing women who work amazingly together!!!!!

DOC
Laura from LA Productions – A+++++++++++
WOW!!! She is by far the best in everything she does!!! She is basically a Fairy Godmother getting EVERYTHING you need done. If you think you don’t need one, think again!!!! And for the record, I have seen a few other DOC ‘s in action and NONE of them could have handled my wedding. I had so many details….My details had details!!!! I had so many personal touches and I didn’t want my bridal party, or my mother or anyone to have to work all night and take away from their own experience at the wedding. I just wanted all of us to just have to “show up' and have a great time. Laura made that possible. As another Bourne bride said, “ If you can make room in your budget – go for it!!” Laura is awesome!! The day after the wedding, my husband and I agreed that Laura was the best money we spent!
Laura hand made:
my invites
my programs
my menus
my tearpacks
we ordered our monogrammed cocktail napkins and bathroom towels through her
she had our calligraphy done for us
she designed our seating chart
….EVERYTHING had matching fonts and was done in chocolate brown ink, all the paper was coordinated for ALL paper goods – invites, program, menu, tearpacks and all used the same chocolate brown ribbon as our invites.
She had my card box made---It was a brides gown over the wired mannequin! So unique!
In addition to all that, Laura coordinated the rest of my vendors which included: 2 officients and an interfaith ceremony, 6 entertainers for cocktail hour, one for the ceremony, the dj and howie bongos, video and asst, photographer and asst, limos, hotels, makeup, hair for me, my mom and my girls, placement of 200 candles, 200 pics in frames(My husband and I went through old photo albums and chose about 200 pics from both sides of the family highlighting special people in the family from past to present. We then printed all of them with winkflash, shutterfly and the like, framed them all and had them all over the mansion for viewing during cocktail hour!!! Everyone loved the personal touch.), setting up my head table complete with 'the ring' sculpture, 2 ornate candle holders about a foot high with votives along the edge of the table, the candleabras behind the table, the sign in platter table, the bathroom baskets....the list goes on and on....I know there is more....

FLOWERS……A++++
LA Blossom
Orignally, my husband and I went to Laurie for everything besides centerpieces and other mansion décor (bouquets, boutonnieres, petals down the aisle, flowergirl basket etc) . We planned on fall colors including calla lilies, gerbera daisies and TONS of Swarovski crystals. Needless to say, I loved everything!
I had been working with someone else since February, we’ll call him “John” who was cloning flowering Bonsai trees for my centerpieces and for the mansion décor. About two and a half weeks before the wedding the Bonsai guy (John) called me and basically told me that he pruned the trees too much and the “untrained” eye would probably not appreciate them because they wouldn’t be as “fluffy” with flowers as people expect them to be. Furthermore, 1/3 of them would bloom IN TIME for the wedding, 1/3 would bloom AFTER the wedding and 1/3 would bloom BEFORE the wedding!!!!!!!!! He suggested we move on to a plan B!!!! Can you imagine! LOL!!! UGH!!!! It’s a good thing I have a sense of humor!!! ? Luckily this guy did not want a deposit from us, so we were able to make other plans without incident.
So……It was Laurie to the rescue!!! We came up with doing a simply elegant centerpiece of long stemmed Callas, curly willow (which is like long squiggly-twigs that come out of the vase like medusa!!!!), and some curly willow with crystals to match the bouquets…all of it was in a 16” vase filled with water and crushed cellophane paper. We surrounded the base of the centerpiece with votive candles (no pillars!!! Callas do NOT like heat!) and had about twelve different love quotes written up per table and had them strewn about across the table. The napkin holders were the same brown ribbon used throughout (on invites,menu, program, tearpacks), but a little wider and tied simply around the napkin. My tables looked AWESOME! Laurie decorated everywhere else in the mansion as well!!! I felt there were flowers and candles everywhere you looked in the mansion, up the staircase, on the mantles, on coffee tables and various sitting areas through out the mansion…..o, there was nothing like it!
I also got my satin monogrammed table runner from Laurie. ( It was originally for the unity candle alter/table…then it was moved to our table in the Ballroom for the reception.)
O, and Laurie hung big white tulle bows up the tree lined driveway to the mansion.........breathtaking



CAKE….A++++
Audrey’s Bakery in West Sayville
My wedding cake was amazing. I chose to have Audrey’s because they are the BEST bakery on Long Island!!! Tom, is the greatest guy ever!!! He spent about an hour with us---we hit it off with him immediately. I have never met someone so passionate about his work!!! He truly LOVES what he does…I can’t even imagine him thinking of what he does as work! When I walked into the ballroom and saw the cake, my jaw almost hit the floor!!! He matched the chocolate brown and beige color palette perfectly! Our cake was 4 tiers, each tier had 2 layers - devil food cake and angel food cake, one filling was chocolate mousse, one was raspberry and the whole thing was covered in a chocolate fondant.... IT WAS SO DELICIOUS...EVERYONE RAVED ABOUT HOW GREAT IT WAS...
O! We also had a Swarovski crystal 3 letter Mongram cake topper

FAVORS…A++++
Also Audrey’s!!!!
We had Tom make our favors. We didn’t want to give a knick-knack or something people wouldn’t enjoy. Tom mad us his famous “Silk~n~Satin” cheesecakes. It is made of cheesecake, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse covered in a chocolate ganache and white chocolate ganache shavings!!!!!!! YUMMY!!!!! Tom placed them in clear plastic boxes and tied them with a brown ribbon and a tag with our chocolate brown monogram printed on a light brown marble paper that matched our invites.


COCKTAIL HOUR ENTERTAINMENT…… A++++
Jestmasters – My hubby and I wanted things a little different at our wedding. So, we hired a few actors. We had Uncle Schmendral who acted like a crazy uncle (mad scientist type!). If Uncle Schmendral asked you who you were related to bride or groom? If you said you were related to the bride, he would say he was from the groom’s family and vice versa. He was basically a strolling comedian and magician. He had everyone cracking up! We also had another guy act like a mildly unruly relative (shirt untucked, mismatched suit, unkempt etc). The other person in their group was a woman who acted as though she was paparazzi, and caught a lot of the people on film, reacting to the other actors. It was great! People's faces are priceless!!!
Living Statue- Penny England-
Loved her!!!!!! She caught so many people off guard who really thought she was a statue!!!!!And then every so often she would change position or blink and people would freak!!!! She was covered in head to toe white make-up, dressed in era perfect attire for the mansion (circa1800)
Pianist - Rich Kraback
He did a great job. Rich did our ceremony music and our cocktail hour (3hrs total) He was reasonably priced and blew everyone away.

VIDEO….A++++
Wild Rose Video
Anyone who is familiar with Marie and Bill knows that they are top-notch, the best they come. They made us feel like we were friends forever... not just another bride. They filmd our friends wedding video who got married at Oheka….We watched their video the other night and it is like NOTHING you have ever seen before..It flew by and left you wanting more!!! It is not your typical wedding video. It is more of a documentary of your lives and the day of…it left me speechless. Their Artistry is UNBELIEVEABLE!!!! I can’t wait for ours! Marie filmed our day.

PHOTOGRAPHY (based on proofs)
Patken
My husband and I originally went to Patken on a referral from a friend of mine who used Steve. Steve was booked. So we had Evan instead. The day of, I was actually concerned that I wasn’t getting “my” shots but then I saw the proofs and Evan does breathtaking work. He captured a lot of the Bourne in the pics, as we wanted. (they may knock down the Bourne so we NEEDED these pics to show future generations the most amazing place on long island to get married at ?!!!
He stuck to our must have pic list for the most part , although there were a few key pics that we didn't get, that we wanted. I don't know if that is the norm because time just flies. We are still waiting on our album, as we just did that the other day and we haven't addressed the pics on DVD issue yet. I'll keep you posted on that as it is a DETERMINING issue as to their FINAL, all inclusive review....

DJ
High Voltage Vinny
The music that I picked was great. Vinny played most of the songs I picked. He stuck to the do not play list and was very attentive to phone calls, questions and concerns prior to the wedding. I did however want the dance music to continue through each course, without slowing to dinner music. Others told me they thought it was fine because they could have a little bit of conversation during each course. I wanted the courses to be announced and upbeat music to continue to be played. I figured that if people were hungry they would sit down and eat. If not, they could continue to dance. All in all It was very good. AMENDED 1/6/06 I just watched part of the raw footage of my video. Vinny totally changed our awesome idea to a cheese ball idea,which we didn't know until we watched the video. Jay and I wanted the begining of our grand entrance intro to be the begining clip from the twilight zone.........the actual music and talking from the tv show.......instead Vinny tried to 'do' the voice himself CHEESEBALL!!!!!!!! We had no idea this happened until today. I want to add that we were VERY specific in what we wanted. We even offered to burn that clip onto a cd for him. He declined our offer, stated he could do it NO PROBLEM.
**There was some sort of conflict between Vinny and the Maitre’d regarding when Vinny should play what.

HOWIE BONGOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AWESOME WITH A CAPITAL “A”!!!!!!
The band we wanted was not available so we went with the DJ and Howie Bongo’s combo!!!!!
He was off the charts. I used to frequent the club scene back in the day bigtime and he put you right there. The perfect “LIVE” element if you have a DJ.
Can’t say enough…..other friends have already booked him for their own events.

HAIR….A++++
Ruby – Instyle West Islip, NY
My hair was perfect!!! Ruby does my hair all the time, highlights, cuts. SHE is the only one I let touch my hair. I wore it all up with a beautiful tiara and she sprinkled some sort of fairy-dust that made my hair glisten….. I didn’t have to touch it all night. perfection...

SKINCARE/MAKEUP…..A++++
About Face (Donna) E.Islip NY
I have an ongoing love-hate relationship with my skin. Cystic acne every now and then – just enough to leave a few marks and piss you off!! I did 6 dermabrasion sessions with Donna and switched to a skin care line they carry. My skin looked amazing without makeup!!!!!! I LOVE DONNA!!!!
My makeup was out of this world the day of the wedding. I will be switching to all of their products.

LIMOS…A++++
Dynasty
We used them for everything and still do. 'Arnie' is like a personal driver for us and our friends and their families!!!! We will use them forever.

OFFICIENTS…..A++
Deacon Tom Reilly
Rabbi Ehrlich
We had an interfaith ceremony, as I am Catholic and Jay is Jewish.. It was beautiful. We did a section in the beginning of our program that discussed some of the traditions that were unique to each faith. It helped each side of the families know what was going on. Our original Deacon had to cancel the Wednesday before the wedding but had an immediate fill in, who I spoke to and thought was fine….The Rabbi was off the charts and ran the show. It originally was supposed to be 50/50 Rabbi and Deacon performing the ceremony-- more as a team. But I cannot complain. Rabbi Ehrlich was awesome.

CEREMONY
Not sure where to really put this but , I have to put it somewhere....I had 2 ring bearers. One was 5 and one was 14months. I knew the 14month old would never make it down the aisle so I purchased a radioflyer wagon with the wood slats around the top, had an autobody friend paint over the red and make it white. We decorated the wooden section with tulle and matching fall flowers, strapped him into a white satin covered booster seat, put a huge bowl of goldfish for a snack and had the older ring bearer pull him in the wagon. It was such a hit!!!! He just kept snacking away, as he was pulled down the aisle.
Soooooo CUTE!!!!!
And my niece was a 'mini-me' flower girl.
Everyone was very well behaved and little stars!!!

BRIDAL GOWN AND MAID/MATRON OF HONOR DRESSES
The Commack Wedding Center
It is complete chaos every time I went there. For starters, I had a 10 month engagement. I order my dress in I think Feb??? They tell me “ plenty of time” …the wedding is October 22, 2006.
Let’s see where to begin….They get my dress in, it is stained with a little black blob of something. I spot it before it comes out of the bag. They tell me to try it on for size. It fits. They tell me to bring it to their alteration building and they will “clean” it for me. Well, they proceed to smear the black blob across the dress! They return the dress and have to order another one for me. When I had the sample dress on (Maggie Sotterro Capri Marie) I asked about the asymmetrical design …was it asymmetrical or was it missing beads. They tell me it was missing beads. Well, when the dress comes in it has the same asymmetrical design. I would not have purchased it if it was an asymmetrical bead design. It didn’t look right to me. After some to do, they state that they will order extra clusters of beads to make it symmetrical for me. Excellent, right? But wait …..there’s more! They call me. The new dress is in. I check it out. It is beautiful. I love it. But they tell me there is bad news….My dress is white with white bead clusters. The extra bead clusters that came in are PINK and white!!! UGH!!! So they re-thread all of the bead clusters making them all white by taking some white beads from this cluster, and that cluster…….and FINALLY it is done. I bought it, and got that baby outta there!!!! I brought my dress to my tailor who does all my alterations….my dry cleaner in Islip Joy Cleaners…She is awesome. I get things made from a size 12 to a size 4 if it is the only one left on the rack and I have to have it…..My dress had 16 hooks to bustle it. But it looked BEAUTIFUL!
In conclusion, the dresses were less expensive but I had more aggravation.....It's a trade off.

THE BOURNE MANSION
Pre-Wedding A
Ben was my salesperson from start to finish. I thought he was good. I read a few reviews of other brides who were not overly impressed with Ben’s service. I read all reviews and felt well prepared in doing business with him. I always made him laugh and kept it light. I wanted what I wanted but, I wasn’t a stressed out bride and that is not my personality anyway so I got everything I wanted and was very pleased. :)
Day of Wedding – A++++
Steve was my maitre'd and Danielle was my bridal attendant. Danielle was top notch. Hands down- no complaints. I had heard a lot of negative things about Steve before hand, so I was a little apprehensive. I actually went in requesting Isais because I saw a lot of great things about him, but in the end we met Steve and thought he was great. He was AWESOME the night of the wedding. He was on top of EVERYTHING and kept the night on schedule. The service throughout the whole night was impeccable and we never had to ask for a thing. The Bourne was everything I envisioned and much much more. My guests were floored and still talk about the location, the food, how unique our wedding was and how nothing could top it!!!!
I've received thank you notes FROM my guests about how great a time they had!!!!!
Peter Lessing - The Bourne's Chef worked with us on our menu and made it very 'signature' to our taste. I will post the menu as soon as I can.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOURNE MANSION! Get it while you can.

HONEYMOON....A++++++++++++++
23 DAYS IN AUSTRALIA…..
ENOUGH SAID!

MORE PICS TO COME...my files are too big!

Any questions…email me at [email protected] or fm me.

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Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM ETC ETC

You was a beautiful bride.

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

You looked absolutely stunning!! Congrats

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

GREAT review!!! I am so happy to hear everything turned out so great.

Congrats!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Great Review!! Love your dress. Congrats:

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Thanks girls!!!!
xoxox

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Congratulations! You were a gorgeous bride. Thanks for the great review.

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Congrats..you look beatiful...can't wait to see more. Evan is also my photographer from patken. Can't wait to see his work.

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Wonderful pictures, you look gorgeous. congrats again

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Wow! Beautiful! I'm using Wild Rose too...can't wait!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

YAY!!! CONGRATS!! You look gorgeous! I am sooooo happy to read your review of The Bourne! My wedding is there this September!! I can't wait to see more of your photos!!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Great review and I am so happy to hear you had such a beautiful day! You were a gorgeous bride, and I am so happy for you and DH!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

great review! You looked beautiful!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

GREAT review.

I can't wait to see more pics.
You looked great!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

Beautiful

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

congrats!!!!!

Re: My BOURNE MANSION REVIEW...Finally!!!!! 10/22/06...LA PRODUCTIONS, LA BLOSSOM, HIGH VOLTAGE, DYNASTY LIMOS, PATKEN EVAN, WILD ROSE VIDEO, AUDREY'S... ETC ETC

wow everything looked beautiful!