My June 9, 2006 wedding: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

First - Thank you Ron and Liz for this wonderful site. It was the single most helpful resource in planning my wedding……Every time someone compliments the wedding, I honestly think of how I could not have had such an awesome one without LIW.

Mother Nature: A

Although there were thunder storms and rain during my entire reception, I was soooo happy with the weather throughout the entire day because the sun was shining from the moment I woke up until we were done taking pictures and went inside to start cocktail hour at 7:30pm.


Church - Saint Catherine of Sienna

This is DH’s church – it was pretty, but I LOVE my church (it’s bigger and more cathedral like), but we did not have the ceremony there because DH’s church was much closer to the hall than mine. In retrospect I probably would have just gotten married in the church I grew up in, but I was thinking of our guests and the drive.

Flower Michele A+


John was great. He was so patient. I kept changing my mind and he was so cool about it. When I went to see my sample he told me he would change the whole theme if I wanted (I didn’t). The Flowers were magnificent. I wanted all different flowers in different shades of red. He got me the most gorgeous Peonies, Dahlias, Chocolate cosmos and more. I also wanted black stands, which he had to order and did not charge me extra for. Many people commented on how beautiful the flowers were. They even had someone bring the flowers from the church to the hall when the ceremony was over.


Ceremony Music – Capriccio Ensemble A+

They were wonderful. I used to play the violin, so I knew that I wanted a string quartet for the ceremony and I am so happy that I found Capriccio! I worked with Natalie and she knew exactly what I wanted. She was so on top of keeping in touch with me from the first time I spoke to her up until the day before the wedding. And the best part….They sounded AMAZING – it gave me chills!


Band – Renegade (LI Paramount Productions) A+++

Soooo awesome!!! Countless people came up to me that night and after the wedding to tell me how great they were. They played everything from Black eyed Peas to Dave Mathews to ACDC to Frank Sinatra and they sounded just like the records! They sounded great and most importantly had everyone out of their seats and dancing all night!!! It was an eight piece band and the pianist and sax player played during the cocktail hour too.




Reception – Carlyle on the Green A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WOW – I do not know where to begin with how superb everything was! They well exceeded my expectations. They honestly treated us like royalty. Cynthia was our BM and she was so good to us. We felt like she was there with us every step of planning – she made herself available to us whenever we needed her. Everything was perfect from the way they great you outside when the limos pull up and just make you feel like now your work is done, leave everything from this point on up to them to the end of the night when the bridal attendant helped me put on slippers. Our MD, Gerald was great – just on top of everything. We never had to ask for anything and apparently neither did our guests all the wait staff was great. People kept coming up to me telling me that they “will never forget this wedding”.

My bridal attendant, Danine, was so helpful – I did not bring slippers, so she went and found me a white pair of mesh slippers! She bustled my dress, followed me around holding my glass of water while we took pictures, on and on.

Oh and the food, the food! Wow cocktail hour was outrageous! The mashed potato bar was a huge hit! The panini station was one of my favorite. DH loved the lamb chops, the raspberry and brie, the pasta station, the hot seafood, the Caribbean grill, the Tuscan bistro station (basically he loved it all)!

We wanted to join our cocktail hour to greet the guests, so right before the cocktail hour, we got to eat alone in the bridal suite. They brought us a few of everything from all the stations and the 10 different passed Hors D’ Oeuvres.

For dinner, they brought DH and me one of each of the entrees – Everything was great..

Desert – by far my favorite part of the meal. They set up what they called a “dessert café” in the CH room. It smelled sooooo good in there. They had everything from little chocolate fountains to a flambé and tart station to a cheesecake bar where they scooped cheesecake and toppings into these martini glasses. They had someone making Belgium waffles (one of my favorites) and there was even a cream puff tower! Wow I could go on even more.

The Carlyle definitely knows how to throw an amazing party!!!


Limos – Royalty: B+

They were on time and got us everywhere on time, but a few little things bothered me. First, we had to change our limos a few weeks before and that was a little bit of a problem, but I guess we can’t blame them for that, however, the day of the wedding when they got to my house ( I lived in an apartment building) they just waited down stairs while my BMs carried down all the flowers. I don’t know – maybe I expected too much, but all the weddings I’ve been in , the limo drivers came in and carried out all the flowers and even the BM’s bags. Over all they were okay.

Veil: Nelson D’Leon: A-

I just have to say that they were all great to work with and the A- is for the veil....the service by itself gets and A+. I ordered my veil through the studio because I was having them do my hair and ordering directly through them verse Kleinfelds helped me save a bit of $. I had a cathedral veil and a blusher that were both separate pieces so that I could wear one without the other. The veils came on a T stick so that they could be easily pulled in and out of the hair and I liked that feature, however I have to say that sometimes it would all fall together on one side of my head (I am not sure if it is how it was placed or what). In a few pics I noticed it was all to one side….oh well. It was still beautifully made and came in in about a week!


Hair and Head Piece – Marie D’Leon A+++

Well, originally I had my trial with and booked Marie’s brother Nelson. He has such a good eye and is extremely talented. However, sadly, in December he suffered a stroke and needless to say – was not working for a while. The office manager called me and said that Marie could do my hair and I could have a trial with her right away. I really was unsure of the style that I originally chose, because it had a different look than when Nelson did it, but I still loved Marie’s work and trusted her very much – she even agreed that we should do a different style and so the day before the wedding – she called me and told me she was going to do the perfect style for me and I would need a tiara instead of the hair pins I initially chose from their collection. (originally I did not want a tiara). So the morning of the wedding, she brought a bag full of head pieces for me to choose from. She even brought earrings because the earrings I had would not look right with a tiara. I have to say I am so happy that I trusted her and let her do the style that she did (I was a bit nervous considering that I’d never tried that style before.


Make up – Jill Harth: A+++

She is so much fun – full of energy and very talented! I really loved my makeup. I wanted it to look somewhat natural (I think it was the perfect amount). She even did a little airbrushing on me – it stayed all night. I highly recommend her.

Hair and Makeup for bridesmaids – Mia: C

I have seen many brides use her and loved the way they looked. I know many people have been very happy with her, which is why I chose her. I wanted someone to come to my house to do my BM’s hair and make up and three weeks before the wedding Mia was available. She only did 5 of the BM’s. She wanted to start at 9:00am, which I thought was early being that I told her we were not leaving until 3:00, but I talked the girls into getting to my house for 9:00. Then....just 2 days before the wedding, I called her to confirm and she told me that she has to be somewhere in the afternoon and needs to start at 8:00am….I told her I don’t think I could get the girls there any earlier, however for fear of not wanting her to rush, I convinced a few to get there at 8:00. The morning of she got there bright and early and she brought someone with her and I felt like they rushed a little. A few girls were not too happy with their hair and I felt terrible. I thought they looked okay.

Dress – Kleinfelds: A

This is such a nice place – every bride’s dream of wedding dress shopping. I had the pleasure of going to both the Brooklyn and NYC locations. They have so many different designers and styles. The alterations were great. My only complaint is that I always made an appointment and always had to wait. Also, my hem was too long and I kept walking on it…I even tripped as I was announced into the ballroom.

Bridesmaid Dresses – Designer Loft: B –

I wanted a certain dress made by Siri and after pricing around they had the best prices. They were great to deal with in the beginning, however, when I picked up the dresses there was a slight problem with the Jr. BM dress. It was a different style than I thought I had ordered. When I mentioned it to the sales person , she did not want to deal with me and I thought she was rude. Ended up, the dress looked fine on my Jr. BM and everyone was happy.

Video – Bliss Productions A+++++ (for day of) – Final product to be determined.

Photographer – Maring Photography A+++++++++

I love my photographers. Their names are Charles and Jennifer Maring (Husband and Wife) and I found them through my cousin who also hired them for her wedding. They are based in CT, but have a studio in Manhattan. I cannot say enough nice things about these two. Aside from their amazing talent, they have the best demeanor (other vendors even complimented how “good” they were….they are so unobtrusive I did not even know that they were there half of the time. At one point, they had DH and me walk around the grounds of the Carlyle and Charles was literally in the grass, behind trees taking pics like a paparazzi. They do both portrait and photojournalistic work. I got about 1500 proofs all in chronological order in leather books and when we picked up the proofs, they made a slide show with all the proofs on the link below with fade ins and background music – of course I cried. I cannot wait to make my album.

Invitations – Events New York: A

Great! It is a woman who works out of her house in Bayside (Tina). She had a huge selection and emailed me with a proof in 2 days and had the invites in 10 days!

Place card frames – The Knot: A

For favors we just got a favor box kit from Michaels and filled them with chocolate almonds, so to double as another little favor I ordered pewter scroll picture frames for the place cards. Got them pretty quickly and they were reasonable (I think they came out to $1.60 per frame).


link to non- professional pics



NON-PRO PICS


Here are some of our honeymoon pics from Maui, Kauai and Sonoma

HONEYMOON PICS

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Thanks for writing the review! :) Glad you had a great wedding!...

The proof link doesn't seem to work?

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Just fixed it, but you have to type in the password: Zawoloka, then click view all images

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Absolutely beautiful.

Please update when you see your Bliss video - I am signing my contract with them tomorrow - I LOVE their work!

Again - just beautiful.

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

great review!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Gorgeous gorgeous pictures!!! Congratulations!!!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Congratulations! You looked beautiful!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

I love your dress. The top is beautiful

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

wow your pics were awesome. Congrats

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

wonderful review! your pictures are beautiful, especially the BM dresses and flowers. congratulations!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

You looked gorgeous!!! Congrats

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Your pictures are amazing and everyone and everything looks beautiful! Congrats and best wishes and happiness always!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Great review and you look absolutely stunning. What a beautiful bride you were.

Best of luck to you!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

What a beautiful wedding. You and the whole day look just amazing. Congrats!!!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Beautiful, Beautiful. Everything looked great. Thanks for sharing and the best of luck!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Congrats! Beautiful pictures!!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Congrats! Everything looked so beautiful!!! Love your gown!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Congrats! Your pics came out great!! You were a beautiful bride! I love the BM outfits and flowers!
Your entire wedding looks so elegant!

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Thanks for the review, glad your day was wonderful, sorry your link to proof doesn't work

Re: My Review: Carlyle on the Green, Flower Michele, Renegade and many more......WITH LINK TO PICS

Beautiful beautiful beautiful!!!