My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

I want to thank each & every one of you for your help & suggestions during this process. I can’t tell you how many times a day I was on this site. This is my second marriage and things have changed since I last got married back in 1981! It was so exciting to plan a wedding and getting such great ideas from you!!

Because FH & I were on a very tight budget, we had to cut corners wherever we could. We are lucky enough to have friends who were able to help us out on certain things. As much as I would have loved to have some of the extra little touches for our day, we just could not swing it. I did do some DIY projects and was able to find vendors that were willing to work with us and to stay within our budget so we could have a beautiful day

Save the Dates: Me! I bought a kit in Michaels & printed them out myself and added a “heart” sticker on them. They were adorable and I received a lot of compliments on them. I was very proud of myself since I have no creative talent at all.



Bridal Bags
I found them on Amazon. Com. I thought they were so cute & my MOH & Bridesmaid loved them


Day of Hoodies:
I bought them online @ oldnavy.com and then went to the tri-county to be personalized. I gave a good friend of mine her own title as 'special attendant' because she just wanted to help out with the wedding & not walk down the aisle.



Invitations: - A

Whenever I am hosting a party that I need invitations for, I always go to an invitation store in Whitestone “Utopia Party Center”. They have so many books of wedding invitations to choose from and their prices are always great. We wanted something very simple but elegant and, it was a tough choice. Once we ordered them, they came within a 2 week period & they were perfect!


Photography:
I am not going to give her a grade as she is a personal friend of mine, and a College photography student. She does amazing still photography and offered her services to me at no cost. Knowing that we did not have the funds for a professional photographer we jumped on her offer. She was there from early morning on and just snapped away all day & night. Her pictures turned out great; however, she missed taking a few shots of hubby & I during the reception which I really miss not having. Other than that, she a great job

Make-up: - B+
A good friend of mine recommended her cousin that used to work for MAC and is a professional make-up artist. I had made an appointment for a trial back in February. She did wonders with me as I had a terrible head cold. I booked her right on the spot. My only problem was that it was very difficult to get in touch with her. It would take her days to return phone calls and even up until the night before she still was not clear as to where she needed to be in the morning. She made me very nervous, as I was thinking that she would not show up. She was there in the morning on time and started working right away. I wanted my make-up to look natural but that you could tell it would not look like my everyday look as I have to wear my glasses. She did an excellent job and overall all 5 of us were so pleased with her work.



Sandy’s Shoes: - A
Knowing that I wanted a “hot pink” wedding theme, I also wanted the shoes to be dyed to my girl’s hot pink dresses. I went to “Sandy’s shoes” and found a great shoe –They were so helpful since I was so undecided about the style of shoe I wanted since I can never find a comfortable shoe. I had them dyed to exact match of my girl’s dresses. They came out beautiful! Not as comfy as I hoped they would be even after I broke them in. I had 2 other pairs of shoes with me “just in case” and those also were uncomfortable. So in the end, I had no choice but to dance barefooted. I should have just bought a pair of ballet slippers. My mistake.




Bridal World – Baldwin – B-
Through a recommendation, I went to “The Bridal World” in Baldwin. It is a “no frills” store and knowing that I was on a very tight budget & could not spend a fortune on my dress, I could not believe how reasonable their prices were. They had many styles to choose from in my price range. I ordered my dress in early January & by luck it came two weeks later!!! I also ordered my MOH & Bridesmaid dress in March here and they came in with plenty of time for alterations. My 2 girls used two different dress designers but I was lucky that they use the same swatch colors and they matched perfectly.





Alterations – C

Alterations were a little tricky. I was not happy with the outcome of my dress. I believe that the dress should have been ordered 1 size bigger than it was because my back looks like it has a big a** crack in it after 3 fittings. I can’t look at any pictures showing my back. I was so disappointed. However, the front looked amazing. My bridesmaid also had to go for several fittings, and it still was not right.

Gabriel’s Jewelers Tri-County - A
With the recommendations from many of LIW girls for their wedding rings, we went to the Tri-County, and went to “Gabriel’s” we were able to stay within our budget & find exactly what we wanted. The saleswoman there was very helpful in finding me a match to my e-ring.

Economy Candy 108 Rivington Street NYC – A
FH & I knew we wanted to have a candy buffet for the favors, so we made the trip to the city and even though it’s a tiny store, it is filled with lots of old-time candy and a lot of it in bulk! I highly recommend checking them out if you are having a candy buffet. I also found good deals on assorted candy at CVS & Walmart. Our guests loved it & could not stop raving about it.

Candy Scoopers & bowls – Various stores
I had the hardest time find scoopers in any of the stores. I knew I could get them online, but I wanted to see them before buying them. I had checked several different stores & finally I saw them at Michaels & Party City. I made several trips to buy a bunch – because they did not carry a large stock of them. I got the various bowls & dishes at Michaels, Christmas Tree Shoppe & the General Dollar store.

Day of Jewelry for me: Stephanie from Mer-Made Designs - A
Again, a personal friend of mine. Stephanie is an amazing Jewelry Designer. She does everything by hand & she uses quality pearls and stones and does exactly what you request. When I told her what I had in mind she did exactly what I asked for. She does all types of Jewelry and is very reasonable I would highly recommend her if you wanted something designed your own way.


Day of Jewelry for my MOH & Bridesmaid: A
I went to a booth in the Tri-County on the 1st floor. A very nice husband & wife own it and they worked with me as I had to bring the girls separately. They were very reasonable as well. I’m sorry I don’t remember their names.

Bonaventure Tuxedos – A
FH originally did not want to wear a Tux. After I came back from the LIW Bridal Extravaganza and met with Andrew he offered a great promotion that FH changed his mind. Andrew provided amazing service & was extremely helpful – when it was time for the pick-ups there were a few things that needed alterations – but, they were done on the spot and perfectly too!

Hair – Kara from Salon Diva in Bayside – A++
Anytime my daughter (MOH) needs an updo, she always uses Kara. Since I knew my daughter would want to use her for the day of, I made an appt for a trial and I love what she suggested. With me having to wear glasses, I thought that it would look silly for me to have an updo. I have never had an updo before and really needed to see what different styles to choose from. When I went for my trial, she did my hair 3 different ways and she was amazing the day of. She was prompt and ready to go. She did all 5 of us and we loved the work that she did. I highly recommend her!!! Kara was one of the easiest vendors to work with.

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Hotel: Homewood Suites in Plainview: - A
I wanted to splurge t& stay at a hotel & get dressed. I checkout out prices back in January of different hotels and found that the Homewood Suites had a price promotion special for June. I took it immediately. Check-in was great, I was hoping for an upgrade but, unfortunately they had a Lacrosse tournament going on that weekend so they did not have any upgrades to offer. We put up signs 'Here comes the Bride' and put balloons on the door handle which was so cute for people to see! The room accommodated 4 people (it was a studio room) and it was clean and comfortable. They offer a yummy free breakfast as well. DH & I stayed on the wedding night also.




Rehearsal Dinner:
So Far so Good in Lynbrook – A
The always have great Chinese food and service. There were 9 of us and they were very accommodating and relatively inexpensive.

Reverend Deb A+
Since it is a second marriage for both of us and FH wanted to go to City Hall to have a civil ceremony and I did not but, he was willing to compromise with me as long as it was a short non-religious ceremony. After reading all the reviews here about Rev. Deb & a personal recommendation to meet with her, we all ready had it in mind that we would book her after my first phone call with her. During the first meeting, she understood our vision of what we wanted in a simple civil ceremony with a touch of personalization. It did take a couple of rewrites of the ceremony but she did it perfectly for us. We also decided to do a “sand ceremony” which many of our guests have never seen and it just added a bit more to our ceremony than just us saying our vows & pronouncing us.


Pedestals A++
Since flowers were very important to me but we were on a limited budget we met with 2 other floral designers before we went to Pedestals thinking that they would be the most expensive. WRONG!! They were the least expensive out of the 3. After reading some of the mixed reviews here, I was very nervous about meeting with them. However, when we first walked into the showroom I was in love with the displays of what was in the reception area! We met with Nadia, who had gotten my vision immediately! She was so helpful and suggested flowers that I never would have even though of! The day before the wedding I went to see all of the bok’s and they were just as I beautiful as I envisioned them to be. I got so many compliments from my guests. The centerpieces had such vibrant colors and the flowers were so fresh they lasted over a week after the wedding. I loved working with them! I would highly recommend them.



Swan Club – A+ (Booking)
Because we were having a very small wedding (50 people) we checked out several catering halls. Some of them would not even allow us to schedule an appointment with them because our maximum number was for not enough guests. We went to 5 catering halls before we went to the Swan Club. When we met with Vanessa (she was a pleasure to work with) she took us on tour of the ceremony room & the “afterdeck” room for the reception, and after seeing the menu we thought that the price would be way out of our price range. WRONG (again!) When she told us the price, FH & I kept asking if this number was correct - & we booked it right on the spot!! We negotiated with her on certain items and she did not push us into anything more than what was within our budget. She even included the ceremony room for us at no charge. During the wedding process, she always answered my e-mails & phone calls promptly and accommodated our special requests. When we went there for the tastings & the showcase and several times after that, she always made it a point to come out & greet us and made us feel very welcomed.

Wedding Day: - A
On the day of, the Swan Club allowed us to arrive early because everyone in the BP including FH & I wanted to get dressed there. We were immediately welcomed by our Maître ‘D and the bridal attendant Mya. She was very helpful with getting everyone dressed quickly so we would have plenty of time to take pictures in the garden. They treated us like royalty there. Mya could not do enough for us with serving us drinks & snacks before the ceremony.


Me & MOH - my daughter


My 2 step-daughters & daughter



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Hubby & I and all our children



The ceremony was just beautiful & Rev. Deb did an amazing job. She was able to do the ceremony civil but also added the personal touch that I was looking for. It was not just about saying our vows and pronouncing us. The ceremony room is just so pretty I felt that it did not need any extra flowers other than the rose petals that I had them scatter the floor.



My son walking me down the aisle



Cocktail Hour – B-
This is where I get very teary-eyed about when I think of my Swan Club experience: Don’t get me wrong, I loved the SC, but I have to be honest here.

The cocktail hour was contracted to be outside by the gardens. We had alternate plans in case of inclement weather of rain to have the CH in another room, but we never discussed heat or humidify.

Unfortunately for us on that day, it was extremely hot & humid where our guests basically could not sit outside to enjoy the cocktail hour & the beauty of the gardens. It was so hot out that some of the food started to melt. Unfortunately for our guests, they had to have a quick bite to eat and then head back into the lobby for some cool relief. Our Bridal attendant moved DH & I to another outdoor area that is covered by a tent so we could eat alone, and after a few minutes when we went to see how our guests were doing, there was not 1 guest out there. They had all gone inside to wait for the reception to start.

Because we were “contracted” to have the CH outside, the staff of the Swan Club did not offer us to the opportunity to change the location.

To this day, I still get upset thinking of this. When DH & I returned back from our honeymoon, I contacted them letting them know how disappointed we were over this. I immediately received a letter from the Swan Club with their apologies.

Reception: - A++

The reception was better than what we could have asked for. We had a blast & the food was so delicious! We are still receiving compliments from our guests about how good the food was. Every detail was just done so elegantly. We had the smallest room the “Afterdeck” and it was perfect for our size party and so pretty too. Our bridal attendant used some of the CP flowers and decorated our cake. It looked so pretty after she did that. And even though you know there were other weddings going on at the same time, they made it felt like you were the only bride there. DH & I plan on going to have lunch there whenever we can because the food is so yummy!!
They also did an amazing job setting up the “candy buffet” for us. Everything was just fantastic that I can’t say enough about the service and the food.






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In the Mix, DJ’s – A

When FH & I went to the Swan Club’s showcase back in January, we still had not even started to interview DJ’s during that time. Knowing that “In the Mix” is a house DJ for the Swan Club we wanted to wait to talk to them first. We knew that it was risky for us to wait so long, but by that time FH was so “wedding vendor shopped out” that he did not want to shop around. They offered us a great deal and we booked them that night.

I had read mixed reviews about them on this site, but I knew other brides who had booked them and they were so happy with them. I have to admit our DJ David was terrific!! We sat with him 2 weeks before the wedding – to go over the playlist. After meeting with him that night, I requested him because he knew what kind of music we wanted. Since FH & I are somewhat older, we preferred more of an “Oldies” mix of music. He is young, but he rocked it!! He played every song on our play list & much more. The ceremony music that I choose to walk down the aisle to was “This Magic Moment” by Jay Black & the Americans and Hubby & I walked out to “Then he kissed me” by the Crystals. Our guests loved it because they were such different songs!!

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[Honeymoon!! 5 days in Disney & a 7 night Carnival Western Caribbean Cruise! We enjoyed every minute of it. Disney was extra “magical” because my 4 step-children had sent us on the 1st day of arrival the wedding “Mickey & Minnie” ears and then on the 2nd night, we came to the room at night to find the bed covered with rose petals in different colors and candles on the bed, a dozen roses, rose petals leading up to the bed, 2 monogrammed “Mickey” towels with our names on them, an personalized autographed photo o Mickey & Minnie & a bath set containing salts, and scented lotions. What a surprise that was!!









I think I covered it all and If I can give anyone advice who plans a “summer wedding” please make sure that your Reception Hall can work with you for any inclement weather and can adjust rooms if they have to that day.

Thanks for reading!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Congrats!!! Sounds like you had a great day!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Congrats!! Cant wait to see it with the pics!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Great review.

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Congratulations!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Congratulations! You looked beautiful! I really loved your dress and I loved your colors...you flowers were beautiful!!

Much happiness to you!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

beautiful!!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding - Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Everything looks fantastic! I love your dress! Can you FM me the info on it? Thanks!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with alot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Great Photos!!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with alot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Beautiful wedding!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with alot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Stunning pictures!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with alot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Thank you for your review! Congratulations!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Great review ! Your flowers were stunning, I love all the beautiful,pink shades! Congrats!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

you look beautiful! congrats!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

beautiful review!!!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Great review Nancy!!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Very Beautiful!!! Congrats

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Thank you!!!

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

I love how you incorporated your children into the BP... great way to start your new life with FH ... and an amazing wedding review!!!!! :

Re: My June 27, 2010 Wedding -REVISED with a lot of pictures now!! Pedestals, Swan Club, Rev Deb & more!

Everything looked great. Sorry about the cocktail hour experience but all in all it seemed to be wonderful!