My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

I should definitely be sleeping by now, but will start my review and add to it when I wake up later.

GOWNS AND BM DRESSES
Angel Bridal in East Islip: B-

I was hoping to recommend them highly because I really like the shop owners, but there were several problems. First, ALL of our dresses were late. My gown was about 3 weeks late and the BM's dresses came in about 10 days before the wedding and that's only because I bugged them to death to make some phone calls. Then all of the girls' dresses were way too big. Finally, we got overcharged on one girl's alterations (they double-charged us for the extra material she needed) and I still have to go back to get a refund on it. Seamstress was very good and the ladies in the shop are very nice, but it got very stressful in the end!

PHOTOG & VIDEOG
Duet
(REVISED RATING!: D)

Revising this on 2/8/05:

It's been 8 months and I have no albums and no DVD.

On the positive side, the guys were great-- they stayed with us for 13 HOURS, never sat down, never took breaks, and were a lot of fun. But to have to wait more than 8 months to get the albums and DVD? Totally ridiculous.

MAKEUP
Jacqueline Nicole: A

A total angel and a total professional. My girls loved her, my mom's going to take makeup lessons from her, and the airbrushing looked great on everybody. The only reason for no A+ is that my lipstick wore off in 5 minutes and my eyeliner made my eyes tear (Don't know why- it didn't happen in the trial), so it's kind of running in some of the early shots. I wound up applying my own eyeliner later and it held up fine.

HAIR
Mya: C

She did a fantastic job on me. And that's the only compliment I can give. She and her 'assistant' were 45 minutes late and offered one lame apology. Her 'assistant' was awful. She kept asking Mya for instructions on what kinds of products to use and what to do... she was obviously very inexperienced and didn't belong doing a wedding party! Got to the point where my sister washed out her hair and had to start over.

HALL
Villa Lombardi's: A

Food was outstanding, service was very good. They broke my toasting flutes but offered to replace them. Only dumb rule was that I wasn't allowed to leave the bridal suite without getting permission! I had gone to the regular bathroom to get something out of my basket, and it turns out the other bride complained because she was in the main area taking pictures and I walked past (couldn't stand seeing another bride?). After that, they scolded me and told me that the rule was that we were never supposed to see each other and I needed permission to leave the suite. Silliness. But a small detail. Everything else was great.

Will finish tomorrow, but will leave you with a photo to tide you over.

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

you both look terrific!!!! congratulations!!!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

you look great love the flowers

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

You look beautiful! Congrats!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

You guys are a gorgeous couple and both look so happy. Congratulations. And your dress is amazing!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Absolutely beautiful! congrats!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Beautiful!!!

Congratulations!!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Congratulations! You looked great!

That's too bad about the hairdressers!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

you looked beautiful! sounds like a wonderful day, overall! Love to hear the great review on DUET .. I'm so excited to be using them!!

CONGRATS!! Hope to see more pics soon!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Wow! You looked fantastic! Congrats!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

now I want to see more pictures, that one is absolutely beautiful... we booked Duet last night and are very excited...
Congratulations

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

You look beautiful!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Very Nice! Congrats!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

You look sooo beautiful and HAPPY!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time..
Many Blessings!!

~jen

ETA: More pics please :)

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

THAT PICTURE IS BEAUTIFUL...a tease...BUT BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats and Thanks!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Great review! I am glad to hear about Duet.
You looked so beautiful
I want to see more pictures!!!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

You look beautiful!!! Congrats!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Thanks! OK, continuing my review...

LIMOS
#1 Limousine: A

On time, clean limos, nice drivers. The owner took forever to return phone calls (I'd leave a message and he wouldn't call me back for 4 or 5 days) but everything was solid on the day of the wedding.

CARRIAGE
Eagle Carriage Company: A+

Amazing!! My dad hired this company as a surprise and they worked with him to orchestrate it all. The horses and carriage were beautiful, the experience was amazing... on our way to the church, everyone we passed honked and waved and wished me luck... so cool. They had t-shirts for us in the carriage imprinted with our names and wedding date, but in all the confusion, we lost them. I e-mailed them to ask if I could buy another pair, and they sent them to us for free! Great people, highly recommended.

FLORIST
The Towne Florist, E. Islip: B+

Very nice owner, really good about working within a budget-- didn't try to talk me into anything expensive. Did a great job on centerpieces and my bouquet, but even though he kept promising, he never showed me a sample of the BM bouquets before the wedding, and the colors didn't go well with their dresses. Nothing horrible, but it could have been avoided if he'd followed through. Kept postponing our appointments because of his kids' activities. (Very much a family business.) And the fabric sleeves over all the bouquets wouldn't stay on, so we all ended up tossing them.

THE WEATHER
A+++!

Good gracious, it was perfect.


REHEARSAL DINNER
Irish Coffee Pub: A

Great place for an RD! Good menu, decent prices, good service.

BAND
Red Hot Rhythm: B+

They were actually fantastic. But they get a B+ for pretty much ignoring our worksheet. They played songs on the 'do not play' list, never played the cake-cutting song, didn't pay any attention to our list of favorite artists, etc. Nonetheless, our guests went crazy for them. Every single person in the band was musically wonderful. I was so picky about the music, and they did sound fabulous.

TIARA
From the Attias Flea Market-- A+. You so have to go there. Great selection and just about all of them are less than $60.

-----
I think I'm forgetting some vendors... will add them in later.

Wanted to say this: As you can see from the review, there were a lot of little screw-ups. And you know what? None of it mattered on the Big Day. I felt so happy one end of the day to the other. We try so hard to make everything 'perfect,' but my best advice to share is that once that day comes, let go. You've done all you can, now just enjoy it, come what may.

We somehow lost our guestbook, and a guest ran out and bought us two spiral notebooks to use. They worked just fine. Somehow our programs never got handed out. Who cares? Stuff like that.

We have gotten letters and phone calls ever since from people saying that it was the best and most romantic wedding they'd ever been to. I believe it, too.

OK, time for more photos!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Absolutly gorgues pic!!! You both look sooooo happy! congratulations!

Re: My June 12th Villa Lombardi's review

Oops. Pics were too big. Trying again.