My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Michele

First off I want to thank Sharron70 for uploading all my pictures for me which I know must have taken forever. I also want to thank Carolinep24 for explaining to me how to even post this review and the pictures.

March 1st, 2008 was the best day of my life. I couldn’t ask for a better wedding. I married my best friend and had the time of my life! The day went by sooooo fast it’s hard for me to remember all the details. I wish I could do it all over. When I went into the planning process I had no idea how expensive it would all get but I soon realized that I would need to spend some real money to get the type of wedding I wanted. Stephen and I are not quite people. We are both over the top, flashy people, and we need the WOW factor which equals $$$$. The budget did grow out of control and at some points I did doubt my decisions to spend so much but in the end it was well worth it and I would do it all over again.

Dance classes, American Ballroom Dance, A
Stephen and I had never really slow danced before so I was a little worried about the first dance. I didn’t want to be up there doing the two step. So I decided we should take one dance class just to make sure we didn’t embarrass ourselves. With only two weeks left until out wedding I wasn’t sure if it was too late. American Ballroom Dance Instruction is a LIW’s vendor and they were more than willing to do a cram session with us. At our lesson the instructor, Michael, listened to our first song (which wasn’t a popular one) and after one listen he had a whole routine for us. He immediately started teaching us. It was a little more complicated than I originally wanted but he took his time and we got it down. I was actually really bad at first and Stephen was great. He suggested that we come back one more time to polish it up and this time we would work with his wife, Emese. We returned about 5 days before the wedding for our second lesson and by the end of the hour we were perfect. Our first dance went off great and every one liked it.

Teeth whitening, Laser Plus Spa, B
Stephen and I wanted to get our teeth whitened before the wedding. I originally was going to get the Zoom teeth whitening because I heard it was the best out there. However, after talking to a few people both on LIWs and off I heard it was very painful and made it hard to eat for a week or so. Since it was the week before the wedding I didn’t want to risk being in pain and uncomfortable. So I punked out. Instead we went to Laser Plus Spa in Bellmore for the BriteWhite procedure after someone on here said they were having a special. It was completely painless and only took about one hour. FH and I were in the same room and we both looked like fools! It was also about $300 cheaper than the Zoom teeth whitening. I definitely saw results in a few hours and FH said he did too (even though I didn’t see a difference on his teeth like I saw on mines). The only reason I’m giving them a B is because the ladies at the front desk weren’t exactly the nicest.


Guy’s gifts,
Thingsremembered.com, A
I ordered the guys personalized flask and money clips from thingsremembered.com. I got their names engraved in them. It got a 20% coupon out of a Brides magazine which saved me like $300. Everything came in just a few days. If your groomsmen and FH are drinkers like mines are the flask will be a big hit, lol.

Parent Gifts, Persoanlizationmall.com, A
I ordered the parent gifts from personalizationmall.com. I ordered glass picture frames that had a poem and our names engraved on one half and the other half I inserted a picture of us and the parent it went to. Steve’s dad almost cried. They were really nice.


Day of Outfits, AdvantageBridal.com & TheKnot.com, A
I ordered my day of outfit from AdvantageBridal.com. I ordered a sweat suit that said “Soon to Be Mrs. Bowen” on the back of the top and Tiffany on the front. The pants said “Soon to be Mrs. 72” on the bump. Everyone in my house thought it was cute but I really didn’t go anywhere except to Dunkin Donuts the Day of so no one really saw it. I also got a hoodie that said “The New Mrs. Bowen” on the back for the next day and the plane ride. All the letters were done in rhinestone. While all the pieces were nice it was a little pricey.
I also got a robe that said “Soon to be Mrs. Bowen” that I wore when I was getting my hair and makeup done from TheKnot.com.




Toasting Flutes and Cake Knife/Serving Set, Theknot.com, A
I ordered the flutes and cake knife set from TheKnot.com. They were personalized. It was nothing fancy. They served their purpose.

Broom, Ebay seller: zazasweddingbabycollections, C
If I was crafty I would have done the broom has as DIY but I’m not so I decided I should stay away from the DYIs. I ordered the broom from the eBay seller zazasweddingbabycollections. The broom was nice when it came but it took entirely too long to arrive. Good thing I ordered it like 8 months before the wedding because it took about a month to come. Maybe I ordered it too much in advance because during the 8 months it was sitting in my house the silk flowers were falling off. It was okay on wedding day but I’ve seen ones that were better quality.




Garter, EBay seller: creativelycraftedweddings, A
I ordered the garter on eBay from seller creativelycraftedweddings. I knew I had to get a Dallas Cowboys garter and when DH saw it he was shocked. He loved it! It was shipped really fast and it was perfect. It came with a throw away garter. It was a little tight the day of but I dealt with it.


Hair and makeup, B R I D A L L O U N G E, Mia A++++
I love Mia!!! She’s professional, prompt, and super nice. I went to two other hair and makeup trails before I had a trail with Mia in November and was so disappointed. I hated the way I looked. I didn’t even bother posting pictures of the trails up here. It seemed like the more you said you hated makeup the more the piled on my face. I told Mia that I didn’t regularly wear any makeup and I wanted to look as natural as possible. She airbrushed my makeup and it was perfect. I never felt the need to wipe some off or alter it. She also did a great job with my hair. She is truly talented to be able to do both hair and makeup and she works with all types of hair. She also did my moms hair and makeup as well as a few of my bridesmaids. She came all the way to my mother’s house in the Bronx and was there bright and early at 8 am. She brought her assistant to help with the others but her assistant didn’t work with me. Lastly, from what I experienced and from what I see, a lot of makeup artist do the same thing on all brides. It’s boring. But Mia works with your style and no two people look the same.







Dress/alterations/ jewelry/ shoes/ Undergarments, Bridal Reflections, A-
I got my dress from Bridal Reflections in Carle Place. I saw the dress in a magazine like 2 years ago (b4 I was engaged) and fell in love with it. It’s by Amaila Carrera (A division of Eve of Milady). I looked on their website and found out that Bridal Reflections carried their dresses. I walked into Bridal Reflections without an appointment but surprisingly they worked with me, let me try on the dress, and put down the deposit. They told me it would take about 6-8 months to come in. In November, I still hadn’t received d a call from them so I called them and they said the dress had come in. When where they going to call me? Who Knows? But I went in to try it on and NOT to my surprise it didn’t zip. It was totally my fault. Between the time I had ordered the dress to the time it came in I had gained 15 pounds. I tried to workout but gave up so they took the dress out and it was fine. It fit me perfectly the day of. I had three fittings. They did a French bustle which I loved b/c it went with the dress and you couldn’t even tell me dress had a train. I loved the people there. They took their time with me. They helped me pick out shoes and earrings. They pressed my veil even though I didn’t get it there. Three days before the wedding I picked the dress up. I have no complaints. I paid a heck of a lot for my dress and I felt hat it was worth it. The only reason I’m giving them a A- is because they never called me when the dress came in.




Headpiece and Veil, Dense Lili, A++++
I knew I wanted a Denise Leli headpiece when I saw them at Bridal Reflections. They were so high so I wasn’t sure about it. One day I went to meet with Knot to Be Forgotten (Leonard’s suggested wedding invite and coordinating service) just to see what they had I didn’t use their services). When I was talking to the lady she mentioned that she had Denise Leli’s home phone number! She said calling Denise directly would be a lot cheaper. I felt weird calling her but she was so nice. She told me to come over that night and I drove all the way out there at night to meet her (I was determined to get one of her headpieces). I pulled up to her beautiful home and was a little nervous….She was sooo nice! I brought a picture of my gown and she took it from there. She showed me samples of her pieces. I picked a soft metal piece, something she created, that can be worn as a necklace later. She spent over 2 hours with me. She tried on different length veils with me and we decided a cathedral veil would be the most appropriate with my gown and the formality of my ceremony. She told me it would take a few months which was fine because I had so much time. I even met with her husband who is a photographer. I def. considered him because his work was great but picked another cheaper photographer (I ended up regretting this which I will go into later). A couple of months later she called me and said my piece were ready. I was taking a class at Hofstra on Tuesdays at the time and she met me at Hofstra after my class to deliver my headpiece. She and her daughter are the best. I loveeeddd my headpiece…it went perfect with my dress.




Bridesmaid dresses, RK Bridal, C
I didn’t want to pick expensive dresses because I know everyone has different monetary obligations. So I wanted to pick something that was under $150 and that would flatter everyone’s different shapes and sizes. I choose a gold Alfred Angelo dress after I went to the big Alfred Angelo store in Dallas. I found out that RK Bridal carried the dress. While RK Bridal is a inexpensive store and great if you’re on a budget it reminds me of a dress factory. The service is impersonal and a little rushed. I see the difference in a store like Bridal Reflections (where I got my dress) and a store like RK Bridal but I also know that you get what you pay for. I ordered and paid for the shawls myself from RK Bridal and about two weeks before the wedding I called them and told them I wouldn’t be able to pick them up and requested the ship them to me. They said it was no problem however; some of the shawls were missing. After arguing with the man, he said he would take shawls out of someone else’s order and sent me all the shawls (sorry for the next person but that’s not my fault). Some of the girls got their alterations done at RK Bridal while the out of town girls got the dresses shipped to them and got alterations done at their local cleaners. RK Bridal caps their alterations at $65 so that no matter how much needs to be done it won’t go over $65. Well surprise, surprise all the girls who got their alterations done at RK Bridal paid the full $65. All the girls’ dresses came 5 sizes to big and I think they do that on purpose so that they have to do a lot of alterations and get to charge them the full $65. If you want personalized, friendly service this is not the shop for you. However, if you’re on a budget they have great prices.



Bridesmaids Shoes, Shoebuy.com, A
I brought the girls shoes for them after things started adding up. I ordered them from shoebuy.com. They were the Coloriffic Godiva’s which are dyeable. They had a 40% of sale going on so I got the shoes for about $40 each. What I love about shoebuy.com is that there’s no tax, no shipping, and free returns. One of my girl’s shoes was to small and I was able to exchange the shoes without paying for shipping. Then I brought the shoe to my local shoe maker to get them dyed. Since the shoe was gold and its pretty hard to exactly match a gold dress the shoe was a little bit darker than the dress but it all blended in and they looked great.

Bridesmaids Jewelry, Swarovski Store @ Roosevelt Field Mall, A
I brought the girls earrings and necklace from the Swarovski store in Roosevelt Field Mall. I presented it to them at the rehearsal dinner as their thank you gift. They were really happy with the jewelry because they could wear it over and over. The manager helped me pick out the right pieces and she packaged everything for me in nice Swarovski bags while I walked around the mall.

Guys Tux, Tuxedo Park, A
I went to Tuxedo Park in Carle Place which is right next to Bridal Reflections. I originally went to them because I thought they were connected to Bridal Reflections, which I later learned was wrong. I loved Tuxedo Park. Its first class service all the way. They sat down with Stephen and me while we drank champagne. They even offer to buy you a full meal if you want to have lunch while picking everything out. The lady (I forgot her name) walked with me next door to Bridal Reflections to see my dress so we could pick out a vest that’s an exact match (since my dress what Diamond White it was hard to match the whites) . But she took her time and Stephens vest matched perfectly to my dress. We picked a nice gold vest for the guys to match the girl’s dresses. I even picked my dads and Steve’s dads tuxes out because I’m so anal. The people at Tuxedo Park wrote down everything and the guys and dads were able to go in one by one over the following months to get fitted and pay. The Thursday before the wedding all the guys went to pick everything up. One guy’s shirt was too small and they gave him a replacement right away. Even though the tuxes were a little more expensive then your average tux rental it was worth it because the customer service was great and everything came together (shoes, cufflinks, ect.).



Mother of the Bride Dress, Nordstroms.com, A
My mom got her dress half off at Nordstroms.com. She orders something from them at least once a week anyway so ordering the dress was nothing different. One thing we did learn is that if you order something from the website you can bring it into the store for a free pressing. We did that a week before the wedding and the dress was perfect. They also have a few wedding dresses on their site. I was considering ordering one to change into half way through the reception but my mother got mad so that idea went out the window.

Broom Bearers Dress and Card Boxes, David’s Bridal, C
I brought my cousins broom bearers dress from David’s Bridal in Yonkers. The dress was about $100 which is about normal for children attendant dresses but the alterations were another $100 which is ridiculous. If I had more time I would have definitely got it altered somewhere else. The people that work there all seemed to be miserable and had attitudes. I’ve heard bad reviews about David’s Bridals all over the country and my experience was the same.
I got the card boxes from David’s Bridal too because I saw them by the cash register, lol. They looked great and were full at the end of the night (the best part!!), lol.


Wedding rings, Ice.com, A-
Honestly, rings where the last thing on my mind. I don’t know why I wasn’t concerned with them. By the time I thought about the rings it was a week before my wedding and I had little money left. I was so busy that last week that I didn’t have time to run around to different stores. I looked on Ice.com, found something cheap and ordered it without much though. I got two rings…one on the top for the engagement ring and one on the bottom. Stephen wanted a plain ring so that was easy. The rings came fast and they did the job. The quality of the diamonds is okay…they sure aren’t VVS but it was cheap and fast. We can always upgrade our rings later.



Aisle runner and Cake table sign, customizedweddingcreations.com, A
I ordered the aisle runners and cake table signs from customizedweddingcreations.com. I previously saw some aisle runners that looked thin and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want people to see right through them. Even though they were pricey I loved the aisle runners. The material was not thin or cheap at all. They came rolled in long boxes. Since my church has two aisles instead of one center aisle I got two…one with a monogram and date and the other with the “Love is patient” quote. I also got the cake table sign with our monogram on it. It completed the look and monogram theme. If you want to use Curstomizedweddingcreations.com please tell them at checkout that I ([email protected], Tiffany Johnson) referred you.






Limo, Royalty Limos, A
I really like Royalty Limos. I felt their price was reasonable. I originally ordered 2 Chrysler 300s (one for the guys, one for the girls) and an old school Rolls Royce. The day of someone called me and told me that they would upgrade one of the limos to a Mercedes Benz. So I had one Mercedes, 1 Chrysler 300, and the Old School Rolls. They were on time….the guys even came upstairs in my moms buildings to get my bridesmaids luggage (some of them had spent the night). In the Rolls Royce he had a navigation system and a special horn that played “here comes the bride” which I loved so he played it over and over! They helped with my dress getting in and out of the car.







Charter Bus, Academy Bus, A
I decided to get a charter bus about three weeks before the wedding. Many people from my neighborhood in the Bronx didn’t have cars to get to Long Island, and others wanted to be able to drink without worrying about driving. Lastly, and most important my mother is in a wheelchair and I was concerned about getting her around the day of (I usually drive her around and know how to handle her and her wheelchair best…but since I was going to be busy I was worried because no one knows the way we do things except me and her) Anyway, I found out online that Academy has buses with wheelchair lifts. The bus was on time and the guest who wanted to take the bus met in front of my mothers building. When my mother came downstairs the driver took his time with putting her on the lift and putting her on the bus, he strapped her down, and they were on their way. He followed the limos and the limo drivers were nice enough to make sure they didn’t loose him. I had the bus from 1 PM to 1 AM. I paid a little more than $1000 which I thought was a great price for a 52 passenger bus, with a wheelchair lift, for 12 hours.

Ceremony Location, The Abyssinian Baptist Church, A++++++
I don’t really know how to judge a church, lol but I love mines. I am a member there and feel very close to my church. It is a famous historic African American church located in Harlem. Many legends have gotten married there. My pastor Dr. Rev. Calvin Butts is also a famous pastor as well as the president of SUNY Old Westbury. However, he such a busy man and couldn’t marry us. The assistant pastor, Rev. Violet Dease counseled and married us. We attended premarital counseling for about a year leading up to the wedding. We had about 10 sessions in total. We had homework assignments. Even though we thought it would be a little annoying we actually enjoyed the sessions. We were able to get a lot out on the table and we grew closer because of them. The fee for the church included a soloist and organist. We used the church organist but I already had my own soloist picked out…a member of the choir whose voice I love. The church had a coordinator who worked with my coordinator. They orchestrated the rehearsal and ceremony together. Rev. Dease even came to the reception and we had a great time. She said the prayer before we ate and I appreciated that.



Bouquets/corsages/boutonnieres/church arrangements, Westchester Floral Decorators, F
This is the only vendor that I actually despise. I booked them way to soon, when we first got engaged and didn’t look around enough. After I booked them and came on this site and saw what some of the other girls were paying I felt jipped. I didn’t want to loose my $500 deposit with them so I decided I would use them for the personal flowers (bouquets, boutonnieres) and the church alter flowers. I explained to them that I had found cheaper centerpieces but they weren’t willing to come down so I told them I would only be using them for the personals and church flowers. They were fine with that and said they would make me a sample bouquet. A few weeks before the wedding I called them to set up a time when I could see my sample bouquet and they said they didn’t do sample bouquets. I explained to them that they told me previously that they would do one for me. After arguing with them for 10 minutes they gave in. When I went to see the flowers I knew we were going to have the problem…my bouquet was pink and the girls were orange! Were the heck did they get that from???? I wanted all white vendella roses! I was so pissed. They assured me that the color was not going to be the same they were just letting me get the idea (they were full of it). The day of the flowers were delivered to my house and they were the right roses but the bouquets were small. I paid $185 for mines and it was not big at all. The girl’s were tiny. I even noticed some of the roses edges browning and we had not even left the house yet. After we were at the church I’m standing at the alter and out the corner of my eye (it’s hard to get a good look when 400 people are staring at you…I’m supposed to be looking at my husband lol) I see the alter arrangements. They were horrible. They were full of greenery and I hate greenery. My flowers fell out one by one through the day. When we were taking our formal pictures at Leonard’s I had to try to hide all the missing roses….there were blank spaces in my bouquet from roses that fell out. Same thing happened to my girls bouquets. As I look through my wedding proofs there are several pictures that I love and would like to use for my thank you card but I can’t because the flowers are clearly dead. I have written them a letter demanding a refund. If not I will take them to small claims court (I know this sounds extreme but those flowers were unacceptable…at this point its not even the money its about the fact that they are ripping people off with flowers like that for the price they are charging. So look for me on a upcoming episode of Judge Judy..j/k!) (look at my flower on the ground in the first pic)




Wedding Planner, Pampered Bride Weddings/ Jenny Orsini and assistants, A+++
I first learned of Jenny when she planned one of Stephen's teammates wedding. I also knew her from the show “Whose Wedding is it Anyway” on the Style Network. I met with her about a year before the wedding and I fell in love. She was exciting, upbeat, and organized. She was one of the first people I met who was as organized as me. She had great ideas. We went over her packages and I have to admit I was a little sticker shocked over the prices, but she is one of the best in the business. I knew that since I don’t work and I already had booked Leonard’s I really didn’t need her full package. So I got the package that was right under the full one….it allowed for unlimited meetings and consultations, and the actual orchestration of the rehearsal and day of. We met about 5 times throughout the year and emailed each other about every other week. She answered any questions I had, got me discounts at some vendors she had relationships with, and kept me on track with the budget (reminding me of due dates, ect.) She came with me to my final meetings, including picking out the menu at Leonard’s and going to Flower Michele for the sample centerpiece. She also helped out tremendously when my first photographer/videographer went bankrupt (we will go more into that later) with finding a new, reasonably price photographer. At the rehearsal she worked with the church coordinator to go over everything. We went through the line up and ceremony twice. On the day of she brought 3 assistants, so there was a total of 4 coordinators. They oversaw and helped set up the ceremony and the reception. She had her emergency kit on hand for beauty products. She paid all the vendors. She knew what I wanted and made sure that it was set up perfectly before I saw the room. She even wrote Stephens speech in only a few seconds right before he was supposed to say it (thanking everyone for coming, and a toast to his bride). She and her team rock!


Stationary: Invitations/ OOT Boxes Labels/ Programs/ Menu Cards, Katie&Chris2006, A++++
I knew I wanted envelopment invites and was planning on ordering them from MyGatsby.com. I was going to spent thousands of dollars on that site, as they are way expensive. Then I saw Katie’s (Katie&Chris2006) review when I first joined the LIWs. She had so many great DYIs and I was amazed at how great they all came out. I sent her FM asking her if she would be willing to do my invites, programs, and menu cards for me, not really expecting her to say yes. She FMed me back and said that she had already started a small business due to everyone from LIW requesting her work. I had a large order…I needed 260 invites, and 360 menu cards and programs so I thought it would be expensive. Surprisingly she came back with a very reasonable quote. I saved at least $2000 or more by using her. She communicated with me regularly about what I wanted and made any changes that I requested. She mailed me samples of everything and sent me pictures via email of the final product before she printed anything. She even printed the names and addresses on both the outside and inside envelopes and stamped them. She had her DH hand deliver the invites to my mom’s house in the Bronx (all the way from CT). Everything came perfectly. All the guest talked about how beautiful the invites where. I liked the fact that the invites set the tone and from the invites the guest could tell what type of wedding we were having. She also made me the cards to go on the front of the OOT boxes. I ordered gable boxes from papermart.com and pasted the cards on the front. I filled them with water, crackers, cookies, shower gels, and pens and pads. I hand delivered them to 11 hotels including 3 on LI, 3 in Times Square, and the rest scattered around Westchester and NYC! It was worth it because guest were impressed (I told them they were hand delivered, I left out the part that I was the delivery guy, lol). When it came to the programs and menu cards I was short on time. I was in Dallas up until a month before the wedding so I hadn’t had my final meetings with the church or Leonard’s to pick out the food. When I finally got back to NY and had my meetings it was only 3 weeks left to the wedding. Katie had no problems. She printed all 360 programs and menu cards in only a few days and overnighted everything to me. Again everything came packed perfectly and looked wonderful. I think that it’s the little details that makes a wedding over the top and all the stationary really made that happen. You can contact Katie by emailed her at [email protected] or sending her FM.





Reception, Leonard’s of Great Neck, A-
I first discovered Leonard’s when I used to work in Great Neck. On my way to work I would pass by it. I always admired it and thought it was so grand looking. When we got engaged I knew I wanted to get married at Leonard’s right away. I looked at a few other places just for the sake of it but none of them impressed me the way Leonard’s did. Also, many places couldn’t accommodate the size of wedding I had. When I went in Maurizio showed me around. For the size of my wedding I really didn’t have a choice of rooms so we got all the lower level rooms and they removed the walls to make it one big room. I knew that I wanted a full wedding with open bar, cocktail hour, and Venetian hour. We even upgraded a few menu items such as top shelf liquor, and we got two carving stations and a seafood station at the cocktail hour. I thought Maurizio was going to quote me $150 pp person but he actually quoted by $50 less than that, which was a big relief. I brought Stephen back a few weeks later and we gave Leonard’s our deposit. Throughout the year I called Maurizio with a few questions here and there and he was always accommodating.

About two months before the wedding I received a call from Ian to have our final meeting and to pick out a menu. We were in Dallas and I couldn’t meet with him for another month which I think frustrated him. When we finally returned to New York we had the meeting. A lot of the foods Ian suggested were nice but in my opinion too fancy. A lot of our guest our not used to fancy foods…I mean I’m not even used to fancy foods. So I was worried they wouldn’t like it. I tried to pick out the simplest foods. What Ian did suggest that I realized was true was that people can get regular foods every day. Give them something different and a little more than usual. So I tried to do a good mixture of plain/simple foods and more fancy foods. I originally planned on getting my cake from Audrey’s Fine Baked Goods because I really like their cakes and I had heard some bad things about Leonard’s cakes and seen some suspect pictures. However, towards the end I was running low on funds and it was one of the few things I was willing to sacrifice on. Instead for a small fee Leonard’s allowed me to upgrade to a fondant cake. I was worried but the cake came out beautiful and it saved me over $1000 by using Leonard’s cake. A lot of people didn’t get to taste it because there was so much food at the Venetian Hour; the cake was sort of overlooked. So I can’t really tell you how it tasted…but it looked great and that’s all that mattered to me in the end.

What I really admired about Leonard’s was their organization. They had a good system. The Thursday before the wedding we dropped off all the favors, menu cards, cake topper, ect. And we dropped off the final payment---Which I thought would cause me a little bit of a heart attach but I survived. They labeled everything we dropped off and took care of it from there. Maurizio talked to the lighting company and photo booth company about where and when they would set up the room (I think there was a luncheon in the room earlier). He even sat down with me to figure out my messed up seating chart. He took his time with me and I really appreciated that.

The day of the wedding Drew our Maitre D met us outside at the Limos. He carried my dress and veil inside and introduced us to our Bridal Attendants. There were two of them, I don’t remember their names. They showed us to our bridal suite which was huge! We had a pretty big bridal party and the guys were big so we needed a big one. We had our own mini buffet in the bridal suite and some drinks (I told them to only bring beers; I didn’t want the guys drunk before we had the introductions).

From what I hear cocktail hour was great. People said there was soooooo much food. More food they could ever eat. There was an ice sculpture in the middle of the cocktail hour rotating which I heard a lot about. When it was time for introductions all the guys and girls were introduced. There was a curtain that opened and closed behind each couple. Then when it was me and Stephen’s turn the curtain was supposed to open and there was supposed to be a white sheet where the guest would just see a silhouette of Stephen and me. Well when the curtain opened there was no white sheet so we were facing the guest….so we just walked out. Luckily the guest didn’t know… but we did. We were disappointed and Drew apologized over and over.

I really didn’t get to eat the food I was so busy but I hear it was great. We had the full cocktail hour with carving stations, salad, pasta, the main course with 6 choices, and the cake and Venetian hour. At 11 O'clock they opened the wall up where cocktail hour had been (it was connected to the reception room) and the Venetian hour room was revealed. There were ice scream stations, a cookie and milk station, conolis, cakes and pies. I can’t even name it all. Leonard’s did have boxes so people were able to bring some home. The Bridal Attendants kept asking me if I wanted anything but I never got a moment to drink or eat. Every time I came to my seat there was different foods waiting there but I never touched it. I was so busy on the dance floor and trying to talk to everyone.

At the end of the night our bridal attendants packed up all our gifts and packed the limo up and we were on our way. All the guest loved the food and were very impressed. I’ve heard so many times that people have never seen a nicer more extravagant wedding. The only reason I gave Leonard’s an A- was because of the malfunctioning grand entrance.












Cocktail Hour Band, Jah-Pan Steel Drum Band, A
My wedding planner thought this would be a good way to incorporate my DHs culture into the day. Since his dad’s family is Jamaican I thought it would be nice too. I decided on two players. They only played during the cocktail hour but everyone seemed to love them. Since I wasn’t at the cocktail hour I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to see them but I hear they were great.

DJ, Music Mixed Intelligently/ Raphael Gordon, A++++
I had previously hired another DJ but they were expensive and I was not confident if they were really what I was looking for. Raphael is an Ebony Bridal Planner (LIWs sister site) vendor so I decided to call him. I also saw another LIWs brides review and she raved about him. So I met up with him and he brought his laptop and showed me videos of his previous wedding. Once I saw him in action I knew he was just what I was looking for. I have him a deposit right there and lost my deposit with the other company. He kept in contact with me throughout the year and about a month before the wedding Stephen and I met with him to go over everything one last time. He had worksheets for us to complete and a list of some of the most popular songs so that we could check off what we wanted. He even remixed a song for us to make our grand entrance to (a mix of Jay Z’s “Bring It Out” and Neo “You Make Me Better”). He did a wonderful job. Everyone was on the dance floor from the beginning all the way to the last song. I honestly thought that after we got introduced and got the first dance and speeches over with it would take a little while for people to get out on the dance floor but before I could blink they were out there. From the 1st song he played the dance floor was packed! I was worried about the mixture of music because Stephen and I love Hip Hop but unfortunately because of the language I knew we wouldn’t be able to play everything. Raphael had the right mix for both the old and young. The young people were dancing to the old school songs and the older people were even dancing to hip hop. All of the songs he played were the edited, clean versions. Everyone talks about what a great party it was….the atmosphere was just right and people were dancing all night long.







Photobooth, Partybooths.com, A++++
I’m not sure if it was my idea or my wedding planners to get the photo booth but once I saw it I knew I had to get it. It was such a hit. It was so popular…I wish I had gotten two because the line was always so long. I decided to have the photo booth from 9 pm to 12 pm (the second half of the reception). This allowed everyone to get drinks in them and once they were feeling nice the photo booth opened. Let me tell you….that led to some interesting pictures. I don’t think those guest knew Stephen and I got copies of those pictures. But it was funny to look at. There were people that I didn’t even see that night but I saw their photo booth pictures and that’s how I knew they were even present. The guest took 4 shots and they came out in 40 seconds. The package even came with an attendant who explained everything to the guest. At the bottom of the pictures it says “Stephen and Tiffany’s Wedding. March 1st, 2008.” So it seconds has a favor also.




Reception Centerpieces, Flower Michele, A++++
Flower Michele rocks! I love John! He’s so nice. After discovering Flower Michele through this site I went to their website and saw a centerpiece that I wanted and made an appointment. I thought the centerpiece would be so expensive since it had Orchards in it. But it was actually cheaper than the centerpieces I picked at the original florist and they were way nicer. I went to see my centerpiece a few weeks before the wedding. They told me that I had to pick either the high one or low one for the sample but when I got their John had done both for me. They were exactly what I wanted. Everyone talked about how lavish they looked. At the end of the night the DJ did a game and whoever won at each table got to take home the centerpiece. Everyone was thrilled. He even threw in flowers for the card table, powder room, and rose petals for the cocktail hour tables for free.





Lighting, World of Illuminations, Chris A+++
My planner told me that lighting would give the room the special WOW factor that I was looking for. I received a few quotes for over $5000 and was beginning to think that it may be too expensive. I was determined to get the lighting so I did some more searching. I found World of Illuminations through either a Google search or through partypop.com, I don’t remember. They are located in Plainview. Their prices were great and way lower than their competitors since they had all the equipment in their warehouse. The other companies were so much more expensive because they would have to rent their equipment were has World of Illuminations owned all of their stuff. I ended up getting a gobo (monogram in lights on the dance floor), Pin spotting on all 35 centerpieces (to make them glow), and LED lights around the room (which changes the colors of the walls throughout the night). They also provided us with two 51 inch plasma screens for the dance floors with live shots of the dance floor and they brought a man to walk around and take pictures throughout the night and the pictures were put up on the screens. I also mailed them pictures of Stephen and I and they put together a slideshow which was shown during dinner. I must have called Chris at Illuminations every other day but he was always pleasant and did anything I asked. The room was beautiful and the lighting is what really made it over the top. When the curtains opened and the room was unveiled all you heard was a big “WOW” from the crowd….exactly what I wanted.



Cigar Roller, La Rosa Cubana, A
Stephen smokes cigars on occasion so he wanted this. I got it for the Venetian Hour. When I first started looking I found a few companies but they were kind of expensive. When I saw another LIWs brides review she used La Rosa Cubana and said they were not to expensive so I looked into them. She was right…it was one of the least expensive things I did! And the guest loved it. He was set up in the Venetian hour room and the guest that wanted it went to him and got two hand rolled cigars. He had a lot already rolled so guest didn’t have to wait but he sat their and rolled new ones for the people that wanted to watch.



Favors and Place Cards, weddingsbydezign.com, A
I ordered the seating cards from….I got the idea from my wedding planner. Since I already had the photo booth pictures I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on favors. They were perfect because they doubled as both seating cards and little favors. The seat box was filled with Hersey kisses wrapped in gold foil that my wedding planner ordered online. I ordered stickers with our names on them and put them on the front of the seat. One of my bridesmaids mom has beautiful handwriting and wrote all the seating cards out in one day for me (370 people=too many seating cards). They were cute and cheap.


Signature Wedding Frames, EBay Seller: memoriesaretimeless, A
I ordered two signature wedding frames to use instead of the traditional guest book. Most of the time the guest book collects dust in a closet. I looked around for a signature frame that had a gold frame instead of the regular black ones you see. I finally found the eBay seller memoriesaretimeless who sells personalized mats with different frames. The mat is a fabric mat that is embroidered with our monogram and wedding date. Since the mat is fabric I had to find these special pens that would write on the fabric. I finally found them at Joann’s Craft Store in Dallas, which was a little annoying. I ordered two frames since we had so many guests. It will look great on our walls.



Photographer and Videographer, Jasmine Photo/Vito Kwan, A-
My photo/video story is a crazy one. I looked for a photo/video service for a while. After many meetings I choose Celebration Studios. A few years ago my godsister used them and her stuff came out beautiful. They had a good reputation and had been around for years. They had a policy that if you paid in full at the time of booking your would get 20% off….my god sister did the same thing and it saved her a lot of money. So I gave them the full $6000. Anyway, months went by and everything was fine. About three months before the wedding I emailed them about something and got no response. I thought since it was right before Christmas they might be out of the office. I called them after New Years and still got no response. I didn’t think much of it…it never dawned on me that something was wrong. A few weeks later my wedding planner called me and told me that a person that she knows that worked for celebration studios told her the company went under! Right after that the story got out and it was all over the news. Hundreds of brides had lost money. The owner was no where to be found. The worst part was that many brides never got their pictures! So I’m out $6000. Since I was so close to my wedding many companies were already booked. I also was getting low on funds since I had already paid for everything…it wasn’t in my budget to have to come up with another $6000. My wedding planner suggested Jasmine Photo, a company that she worked with before and that had the date free. I didn’t know much about them but my back was against the wall. I had a meeting with Vito at Jasmine Photo and his work looked great so I booked. He was a little cheaper than my original company so I was happy about that too.
We had 2 photographers and 2 videographers for 12 hours. 1 photographer and videographer went to Steve’s parent's house on L.I. and the other 2 came to my mom’s house in the Bronx. They were busy that day and I have to admit a little annoying. It seemed like everyone moment they wanted us to pause for a picture, which seems normal but on the day of sometimes you just want to breath and be with your friends and family. Every time we kissed he wanted us to do it again but longer…stuff like that can get annoying. We even had to tell them No at some points…we needed a breather. Stephen was really annoyed…as he has no patience…lol. But in the end their work came out beautiful. They took almost 1400 pictures. It took two weeks for the proofs. And I think I will get the albums and video in another month…Ill let you know how they come out. The only reason I gave them an A- because they were a little annoying the day of but their work came out great.







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Wedding Night and Honeymoon

Wedding Night Hotel, The W Hotel Times Square, C
I wasn’t impressed with the hotel. Stephen and I stayed in The W Hotel in Dallas for our anniversary and it was so nice so we thought since the one in Times Square is the flagship hotel it would be even nicer. It wasn’t. They did upgrade us to a suite but it wasn’t anything like our suite in Dallas. When we checked in they wanted $500 a night extra for incidentals. I know they usually want to hold something incase you order room service or make a phone call but it’s usually nothing more than $100. That was very strange to me. The staff was mediocre.

Honeymoon, Palm Beach Aruba/ Marriott Surf Club, A
My honeymoon was cut short...really short. We came back after three days. Stephen got the flu in Aruba! I took him to hospital over there but we weren’t really confident in their Doctor (not to sound mean or anything) and all of our medicine was in Dutch so we didn’t really feel comfortable. We tried to wait two days thinking he may get better but on the third day his fever shot up to 103 and he was throwing up everywhere (how romantic) and I thought we needed to return. We were able to get a flight out that day and we checked out. The hotel was nice enough to not charge us for the rest of the week. I can’t really give a fair review of Aruba but from what I saw it was a beautiful island and the people were super nice. The hotel suite was beautiful also. It had a full kitchen, living room, Jacuzzi, and master bed. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun by far is the nicest place I’ve stayed at…this hotel was right under that (which for the price is good). I set up a honeymoon photo shoot on the beach with Robert Arenz, a professional photographer in Aruba. Another LIWs bride used him and I decided it was a good idea. I had to cancel and he was very nice and understanding (and we didn’t loose any money). The most disappointing part of it all was wasting my first experience flying in First Class on this vacation. To say the least Stephen was not a pleasant passenger to sit next to. Hopefully we will return soon and try again.




Pre Wedding Celebrations

Bridal Shower, Opia Restaurant NYC, Audrey’s Fine Baked Goods, A
My bridal shower was not really a surprise. I knew it was going to be on birthday because like the bridezilla I was I requested that day. What was surprise was the location. My bridesmaids did everything and they did a wonderful job. I’m not saying I doubted them (okay, I did a little bit) but it came out so beautifully. It was really elegant but at the same time really fun. The food was great. They had little menu cards made out, pins, and even an interesting ice sculpture. The cake was from Audrey’s Fine Baked Goods which they knew was my favorite bakery (even though its’ far as heck for me!). The theme was Tiffany Blue and Audrey’s made a beautiful cake to match. All the bridesmaids presented me with a different piece of Tiffany’s jewelry and they gave me a group gift Dorian Baxter Spa which I used the day before the wedding.





Bachelorette Party, NYPoleDancing.com and Random Stripper, A
This was a surprise the Thursday before my wedding. My girls picked me up and took me to pole dancing class in the city (www.nypoledancing.com). They were able to reserve the whole studio and we had a private lesson which to say the least…was interesting. It was fun though….it was much harder than I even would have thought it. I have a new respect for strippers, lol. Then we went back to one of my bridesmaids apartments and when I got there a lot of my other friends were already there (the pole lesson was just for bridesmaids). We had a “pleasure presentation” where a lady came and tried to sell us toys. It was fun but I think everyone was scared to buy anything in front of each other…lol. Then the surprise popped out of the room and we had a Brazilian Firefighter come, lol. It was lots of laughs. I highly recommend the pole dancing. It’s a great bachelorette party activity. I would suggest having your bachelorette party at least a week before the wedding because I was exhausted and I think I would have had way more fun if I wasn’t so tired. I barley could keep my eyes open that day b/c I had been up for like 3 days straight.

Re: My ridiculously long review...March 1st, 2008…Leonard’s of Great Neck, Royalty Limos, Mia @ *************, Bridal Reflections, Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli, Music Mixed Intelligently, Flower Michel

I've been waiting for this review! Congrats. Great review; very nice and detailed. I'm also getting married at Leonard's in the Tiffany Room. Which room were you in? You actually answered a question that my FMIL keeps asking me and i keep forgetting to ask Maurizio about the dessert. She wanted to know if she can doogie bag any of it. She LOVES her desserts! Thank you and congrats to you and ur husband.

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

congrats!!!! thanks for the great review. everything looked great.

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Congratulations!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

GORGEOUS! What great details. Congratulations.

Denise LELI is amazing, isn't she?
So glad you had a good experience with Flower Michele. He is my florist as well!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Everything looks stunning, thank you so much for your review!

I'm especially happy to hear that Leonards was a great experience!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

You made a beautiful bride!!!!!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Great Review and Beautiful pics.....u were really a beautiful bride

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

CONGRATULATIONS!!! thanks for a great review - you were a BEAUTIFUL bride and everything was perfect!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

I love reading these long reviews with such great details, thank you
You two are a gorgeous couple and look so happy. Sorry you had a few setbacks, but it looks like you took it in stride and still had your dream wedding! I totally sympathize about the stomach flu-- my fiance just had it for a week Definitely try Aruba again-- it's a lot of fun with the casinos and great beaches.
Congratulations!!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

you had such a lovely wedding. congrats!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

the best review by far this year!! congrats!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

thanks for the review!!!...Ur wedding was lovely!!!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

aww congrats--- what a beautiful weddinggg--

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Congrats, your wedding was RIDICULOUS, you have me so excited about mine now, i'm glad everything went well! You were gorgeous, and you had the best leonards cake i've ever seen...I guess i'll stick with them for the cake now!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

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Posted by kslmbuggie

the best review by far this year!! congrats!

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I agree!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

BIG CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!!!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Everything looks like it came out perfect. What a beautiful wedding and great review! I am totally in love with your dress and the lighting you had done at the reception. I'm also a Leonard's bride...can't wait!!

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

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Posted by WinterBride08

Congrats, your wedding was RIDICULOUS, you have me so excited about mine now, i'm glad everything went well! You were gorgeous, and you had the best leonards cake i've ever seen...I guess i'll stick with them for the cake now!

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Congratulations from another Leonard's bride!! Beautiful review and you looked beautiful too!!! I feel the same way about the cake too! That was one of my biggest reservations at Leonards.

Re: My ridiculously long review,March 1st, 2008,Leonard’s of Great Neck,Royalty Limos,Mia @ B R I D A L L O U N G E,Bridal Reflections,Katie&Chris2006,Denise Leli,Music Mixed Intelligently,Flower Mich

Great review! You looked fabulous and every detail was awesome. Congrats to you and DH!!