My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Westbury Manor-A+
From the moment we walked into WM we fell in love. We booked 15 months in advance with them and they had hardly any dates for October left. We booked it for Columbus Day Monday and received a discount on the price, I found out later, it was the same price they were offering for a Sunday wedding, so it wasn’t all that discounted, but still a great price for what we got!
We had Mel as our banquet manager, which after booking I didn’t really deal with him much more. WM did such an amazing job, better then we could have ever asked for, or dreamed of!!! They really worked with me on everything and anything I needed. I cannot say enough great things about them. My Bridal attendant-Kathy and matre d- Sandra Seriously made everything go smoothly! Kathy tended to my every need especially when I needed to pee 900 times!! I could not thank them enough at the end of the day. From the second they got me out of the limo, to the last thing to go home with us into the limo, they really made me feel like they were doing it because they cared, not because it was their job. I felt like I knew them for years, yet I only had just met them that day. I feel they exceeded what was required of them the day of, and I am so thankful for it!
As for WM the grounds looked amazing, at one point Mel actually was showing our room to people and I asked the matre D if that was necessary during my wedding (even though we were just taking pics in the room before everyone came in) And she ushered them all out right away. I did buy 20 mum plants to line the aisle with, which in the end were not necessary because you couldn’t even see them, since WM had amazing plants lining the aisle. I have to say though, there was another ceremony just 30 mins prior to mine, that we were not told about, I was told by Mel I was the only ceremony of the day. I guess it wasn’t a big deal, but the other ceremony used my mums since WM had put them out early. They also ran late causing us to run late, and my CH to be cut short. Again not that big of deal but it was my stuff and time I paid for. Also, I made custom coloring books and bought big boxes of crayons for the kids table, and somehow they never put them out. And they told us we would have the option to either box up and take home the dinners we paid for which in the end it was 9 or donate them, and we were going to take them home to give them to DH’s grandparents that are ill, and live alone, and we never got the meals, or an option. Other then those minor things it was an amazing day, and most of those things weren’t noticed really till the end of the day.

















Cake-Westbury Manor A
It was the cake that was built into our pp price so we went with it. They had a lot of options for shape, flavor and filling, that weren’t extra. I didn’t eat much of it, but it tasted like any other wedding cake I’ve eaten. I heard a lot of reviews on their cake being extremely dry; I didn’t find it all that bad. We did the marble cake with chocolate and vanilla pudding.



Cake topper- Lenox
My mom bought it for us, she thought it looked like us.



Skyline Orchestra A+
http://www.skylineorchestras.com/
From the moment I began working with Maureen from Skyline, I never had one bit of doubt with them. They were so great to work with from beginning to end! They made exceptions for us and all!!! Mike Abbott I think he’s the band leader, helped me so much with my song list, and was so great to work with. The day of they were amazing, they played many of the songs we wanted to hear, and nothing we didn’t. I HIGHLY recommend them, as they get our vote for our favorite and easiest vendor to work with!



M & V Limos A
www.mvlimo.com
I heard so many negative things about them just weeks before my wedding that I was a little nervous, but there really were no problems. We switched the pickup time the week of, because the hall said they would need to start packing the limo with our stuff at 5:30, but somehow the driver never got that message and we had to call them, but he showed up within mins, he was already waiting around the corner. We booked the 35 passenger Limo Bus for both ways.
We also used M & V for a wineries tour 2 days before the wedding. We originally had booked the 35 passenger limo bus for that as well, it was a 7 hour package, but days before so many people who were coming dropped out, and it wasn’t necessary anymore, so I called to see if I could downgrade, and shockingly they allowed us!! Also that was really great!
The cars were very clean the drivers extremely nice, especially the wineries driver! He went while we were in one of the wineries, and got a few of the guys cigarettes and ice and restocked their beer!! He was awesome!!

Pictures-Sunken Meadow Beach A
Well your supposed to have a permit to take pics at any state Park, but we figured since it will be October, and the beach isn’t open, who will know. Well we also didn’t plan for it to be 85 degrees. Since it was so warm, they opened the beach. Go figure. So we had to tell the guy at the booth a story about having to pick someone up. They never thought twice and since it was pretty early in the morning and there weren’t to many beach goers yet, no one ever stopped us. I’m glad we got some great pictures, including our thank you card.






Officiant Captain Arnold-A+
http://www.nauticalweddingbells.com
We found him on here as well and from the moment I first contacted him I knew he was exactly what we were looking for. People are still commenting on how beautiful the ceremony was!! He incorporated everything we wanted and made the ceremony so personal. I highly recommend him. He’s very organized especially the day of, telling everyone including the photog and video people where to stand how to do their job and exactly how things were to go. Only downside was since he was standing in the gazebo, he didn’t want to the photog to be behind his ear clicking away, so there aren’t really any pictures of us head on during the ceremony. If I realized this before I would have explained that I would like a few pictures of it. Our picture is featured on his site, as he does with every bride and groom he marries. He was great!!




Dress & Veil Macys- Demetrios-C
Smithhaven Mall-Lake Grove
My sister got her dress from them 7 years ago. The dress was fine just all the customer service people are not that helpful, until you make a big deal out of everything. Also-words to the wise-after buying my dress and veil, I went home to print off a picture of the veil, I found it on the actual vendors website for $107, and we paid $250. I told them and they said they can’t compete with online stores, I told them it was the actual vendor, they said since I paid in full their were no refunds or cancellations allowed. Once again, I’d shop around; I would have gladly bought my veil off the website and saved more the $100. I didn’t need any alterations just a bustle and we have a family friend who did it for $50.





Bridesmaid Dresses- Macys B
We used Macy’s for the bridal party dresses as well. Jim Helm, all different dresses in Euro red with black sashes. I have a very tall bridesmaid, and they never checked her height, and the dress was too short. There was nothing we could do since she didn’t pick it up till 2 weeks before the wedding and never tried it on when picking it up because she was running late. And you basically sign off the dress is perfect when you leave, so we had to let this one go. But it should not have happened. And as for my MOH’s dress, they had to do so many alterations, it was ridiculous. They charge $140 which I think was way to much. I do not recommend their seamstress, seeing I went to school for fashion apparel design and sew myself, they really did a crappy job on seams and stuff. But I guess we shouldn’t have expected that much.




Shoes-Payless A
I didn’t want to spend a lot on these, I love shoes and could have gone crazy but I’d rather spend the extra somewhere else. They worked out great. They were comfortable and I wore them the entire day without issue. They were $20! I can’t say I recommend them, because there shoes, and everyone’s feet are different, but for me they worked out well.

Day Of Jewlery-Macys
I bought my necklace there. Everything else was borrowed or my own. I really wanted exactly this and was looking for awhile, finally I was at Macy’s trying on my dress and said let me try and take a look, and found it. It was perfect!!!

Hair & Makeup Heidi from Borte Salon & Day Spa A+
1912 East Jericho Turnpike East Northport, NY 11731 (631)499-0001
She does my hair for everything, and as expected she did an amazing job the day of. She put clip in hair extensions in it to make my hair more full and they worked out great!!! My makeup looked flawless! I cannot say enough about her. She had to start at 3:45 am, and showed up on time and did so many girls hair in no time!! She brought an assistant to help and she did all the girls makeup except mine. Her name was Lindsey, she did a great job, all the girls loved their makeup!




Photog & Video-Proline-A+
Prolinestudios.com
We had some doubts the few weeks leading up to the day, and met with Luis the week before. He was our main photog, and he eased every single fear. We had Karen (I think that’s her name) as our photojournalist, and I think the video person was Steve. Well I have to say, they by far exceeded our expectations the day of. They were quick, fun and all around a complete pleasure to work with. I wish I never spent a minute worrying or doubting them. They were so much fun, like friends at our wedding! We were running behind because of the flower issues and they got all the pictures taken and had time left over to take fun pictures!!! Amazing people and I think they are extremely talented. Only 2 weeks later and all our proofs were online, and ready to be picked up along with the unedited video!! They really are great, I don’t know how were going to pick from all the great pictures!






Invitations-Printedstar.com-A+
My friend had just started her own company and is an AMAZING graphic artist, so I asked if she would help me make an invitation that I fell in love with but someone else had just made it themselves, so it would need to be recreated. She did such a great job, from the second I started with her, it was such a pleasant experience.





Tux’s-RSVP Commack A-
http://www.rsvptuxedos.com/index.html
I worked with Gene and he was great. I even had worked with him to try and get a color very similar to the color of the girls dresses, and we had matched it to a tiny swatch about 1”x1” But when we went to pick them up the Friday before the wedding, they were so the wrong red!! I was so upset, they were like a fire engine red, and looked horrible next to the ties. But gene called the other location and had the new ones the next day without a problem. The reason I give them an A- was because they didn’t measure one of the best men correctly, so his tie was to short and his vest didn’t cover his belly, so when he took his jacket off he had to take the vest off too, I mean it wasn’t the end of the world but a little annoying. He also quoted us a price for the ring bearer’s tux’s, and then gave us another price when we were ready to place the order, but when we told him what he told us, he said he didn’t remember that price but if that’s what he said he would honor it. Other then these MINOR issues they really were great to work with, I highly recommend them.



Rehearsal Dinner La Famiglia Smithtown C-
http://www.lafamiglia-ny.com/
Everything was served family style, including appetizers, all the food was great. I just wasn’t pleased with the service. I wouldn’t use them again for a party. They weren’t ready for over 20 mins after the party was to start due to another party running late, so all our guests had to crowd in the tiny front of the restaurant, the room was not air conditioned well enough, our guests had to keep asking for more air, and they didn’t bring seconds as they told us they would if plates became empty, there were a few people who got hardly any food. They also cleaned up and removed tables that we were paying for so dining guests could eat there, and the guests that were sitting at that table weren’t even gone yet, just up and talking to other guests! They also completely rushed us out. They told us it wouldn’t be busy so we could have as much time as we wanted, but that was clearly not the case. The food was good, but everything else poor.


Aisle Runner –A++++++
Made by another LIweddings bride Babygirl71777
She did such an amazing job she couldn’t be left out! We bought all the supplies at AC Moore, and I believe she printed the text that I wanted on it, very large then just traced it on, with sharpie markers we bought. She also saved me a ton of $$ the hall told me to be careful it would be slippery, but it wasn’t at all. It came out so beautiful!





Rings- Jewelry by Theo A+
5970 Jericho Tpke, Commack 631-499-0640
He is a good friend of ours, and he did a great job. For my e-ring my DH wanted a heart shaped diamond and a setting that was different and I think it came out great. I had it for almost 2 years before the day of our wedding so about a week before we gave it to Theo to get all the scratches out and clean it up. It looked like it did the first day again. As for my wedding band, I didn’t want it to take away from my e-ring, its an antique looking band, and I think its perfect. His prices were so reasonable, and he’s such a trust worthy guy, very happy we used him.



DIY STUFF

Programs-designed my own template and printed all of them on my computer. I brought them to staples to have them cut, and they cut them all wrong and cut the words off. So they had to take my file from my computer and print them all over again. The quality was horrible, and I highly recommend you NOT using Staples (In Commack) for anything wedding related. They didn’t get anything right that they did.




Cry Packets- I bought vellum envelopes from papermart.com and a few boxes of tissues and then clear labels and thin red ribbon. I printed “for your tears of Joy” on the clear labels, and then on another set of clear labels our name and date and put that on the back to seal the envelopes. I put the ribbon around them and then stuck the label “for your tears of Joy” over it. They were pain to put together, but looked great, and I got a lot of complements (from a lot of the older people) that there great for your pocketbook! I think they were worth the trouble. The clear labels were a bit smaller then I wanted that’s why I had to put our names separately.



Flower Girl Baskets- I bought 2 baskets at Michaels, DH spay pained them white (it took 3 or 4 coats) and then I used a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon around it. I found the pearl accents at the Dollar Tree (they were fro scrap booking) and I glued them on. It was simple.



Ring bearer Pillows- I bought white satin fabric and made them myself. Same red ribbon as on the FG baskets, and a black satin string to tie the rings on with.




Flower Cones- Bought the red cover stock from officemax.com, bought a circle template from Michaels and printed the monogram (thanks to Diva7531) on the paper. DH cut every single one out, and I glued them together.




Menus-same red coverstock as flower cones, and I printed the menu’s on cardstock, and glued on. Very simple.



Table # candles- Another bride emailed me the template (Sorry who ever you are can’t remember, but thank you!) I changed it up a little, and printed on vellum paper. I double sided taped them to glass cylinders that I bought at the Dollar tree. I also bough the candles to go inside them there. And hot glued red riboon around the tops.




Favors- Made by me. Heart shaped sugar cookies, and a donation to a fund we started in my mom’s honor, Lung Transplant patient Assistance fund. As most of you know, my mom received a double lung transplant Dec 1, 2006. While she was going through all the aftermath, we realized how hard it is financially. And there wasn’t anything out there to help the patients. So we knew we were going to donate to something in the transplant area, but after talking to the staff at Mt. Sinai Hospital they created this fund for us.
As for the cookies-complete PIA. I was originally was going to decorate them but I could not get the right consistency for the frosting, it was such a mess, so at the last minute the cookies just went plain. I made the tags on my computer, and printed the info on the donation on one side and thank you on the top side. I attached them to bags that I got at target with red ribbon.





Place Cards- Card stock, I just printed each persons name on the front and their table on the inside, and folded it over. Very easy, looked cute.




Slipper Basket-basket is MIL, and I printed the sign, attached it with tulle. The flip flops are old navy.com, got them for $1 a piece and found a coupon for free shipping on the internet. I bought 25 pairs and almost all of them went.



Card Box -Bird cage MIL, I forgot to do anything for this so DH cleaned it up and we used her’s.
Send us your Pics Cards- printed this on the computer and we provided our email address, it worked out great. We got a lot of pics while we were on our HM.

Save The Dates- Vistaprint A
www.Vistaprint.com
We made a card and a magnet and then I double sided taped them inside the card. I think they came out great, and everyone loved them. The magnets are a bit on the thin side, but seriously they were so cheap, and I saved a lot of $ when we were to busy saving for the wedding, it was a great alternative. If I had a lot more $$ to spend on this I would have used a better quality magnet, but it served its purpose and worked out just fine.





Flower Girl Dresses- Atias Flea market A
Someone else recommended this shop inside there to me, and the dresses were great, I think the price was $79 each. They came with the crinoline skirt underneath. The older FG needed a big size I think a 10, so they ordered it and within a week it was there. I did take off the original sash that the dress came with, I didn’t like it, so I had taken extra material from on of the BM dresses and each one had a new sash made when they did their alterations.



Sand Ceremony A
Glass jar www.fantasyglassworks.com
Sand- Michaels Craft Store
I saw another bride used them and I checked them out. They have several sizes and they engrave your names and date on it. It looks great. And as for the sand I bought red and white, and put them in 2 small glass jars that I bought at Michaels and they both worked out great.




Garter-EBay A
My DH loves Nascar, it’s the only sport he watches so I thought it would be cute to surprise him with a Nascar themed garter. It was #8 Kasey Kane, his favorite driver. I placed the order online and within a week I had it. Its quality was great!





Travel Agent for HM Liberty travel Commack- Donna
We had no idea where we wanted to go, except for it to be in Blue water, have direct flights since we are both terrible fliers, and we wanted to go for 2 weeks, and DH wanted one of those weeks to be a cruise. She helped us plan such a great HM, we had the best time. And I’m glad we went to Aruba but once you go IMO, you’ve kind of seen it all, but it was nice to go to relax and we did have a great time. The second week we took a cruise on royal Caribbean and that was amazing. It was our first Cruise. HM review to follow.

heres a few pics from it though

heres our hotel in Aruba The Renissance Ocean Suites





Us in Aruba




Week 2 Cruise royal carribean











Our Favorite Island- St. John


And we got to drive with the captain while leaving St. Thomas, DH favorite part of the whole trip!




And that’s all I can remember, my day was amazing besides the small issues, we had amazing weather, and I married the man of my dreams after 7 years! I couldn’t have asked for better.

edited post to update pictures

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

beautifu!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Congrats Great Pictures

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

What a great review!!!!! Love the pics Heather!!!!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Congrats! Everything looked beautiful!!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Great Review. You were a beautiful bride. Everything looked great. I'm so sorry to hear about your flowers. I can totally relate.

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Congrats!!!! You were a beautiful bride

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Great review! Everything looked beautiful!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Thank you for the great review! Everything looked great! Congrats!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

what a great review!! you look beautiful

sorry about the flowers... im glad you had an amazing day anyways!! congrats!!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

I really enjoyed your review. Great pics, you looked stunning!! Congrats

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Great review! I'm sorry about the problems you had with your florist, but everything really looked beautiful and you looked stunning! Congrats!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

beautiful

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Congratulations! Everything looked great!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

AWESOME review Heather! Everything looks beautiful despite your flower issues.... I would not have noticed if i was your guest! Happy life together!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Hey date twin... We definately had gorgeous weather!!!!! Your photos came out beautiful!!!!! THis is too funny, what cruise were you on because we had the same ship captain on Adventures of the Seas for our honeymoon!!!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

we were on Adventures of the seas, that left out of PR on 10/14/07, and if its the same guy then you were probally on my cruise, or went another week, thats so funny Captain Tommy was very cool

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

You look beautiful. That was a terrific, honest review, much appreciated. And great ideas in there too!

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

great review!!! you did a great job

Re: My Review 10-8-07 Wedding Review! Westbury Manor, Skyline, Proline Studios, Captain Arnold, Flower michele, M&V Limos, RSVP Tuxs, etc.

Our cruise left out of PR on 10/21 yep that was captain Tommy ........Did you have Mike as your cruise director??? Just thought that was funny..Wishing you and your new husband all the best... Congrats!!!!: