The Brides' Review - my VERY initial 9.9.07 mini-review - with non-pro PICS

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my VERY initial 9.9.07 mini-review - with non-pro PICS

FlowerBride Posted: Sep 11, 2007 10:14 AM+

FlowerBride MEMBER SINCE: 7/06 TOTAL POSTS : 845 WEDDING DATE: Sep 09, 2007

Posted: Sep 11, 2007 10:14 AM

my VERY initial 9.9.07 mini-review - with non-pro PICS

OK..here are some non-pro pics and an early mini review. I will have an ultra-detailed review inclusive of the so many more vendors and my DIY’s and what not over the next few weeks before my honeymoon in October.

Overall I had a ridiculously amazing day. I was so happy throughout the day and so sad when it ended. DH CRIED so hard as I walked down the aisle!! So girls who are worried about losing “the moment” by seeing your FH before the ceremony, I am living proof that it makes NO difference as far as the emotion you both feel walking down the aisle.

Everything they say about your day is true…it goes by ABSURDLY quick. I cried when I had to take my dress off at the end of the day. But most important to me, DH who hates weddings and affairs in general, said it was the best day of his life. And its needless to say that it was the best day of mine. Everyone seemed to have a great time, and it showed cause seriously I don’t think a single guest left early!! I am sad now as I write this cause it was such a whirlwind that I can’t remember every detail and every second, and I want to relive it over and over again! After 1.5 years (and my whole childhood) of planning - it went by in the blink of an eye! But now I am beginning the rest of my life with my perfect other half and despite some hard core wedding withdrawal – I am SO happy with the way everything turned out!

SO – here goes!!
(sorry girls - DH HATES having is pic ANYWHERE on the internet so im trying to show the ones without his face

)

Glen Cove Mansion -
Hotel Accomodations, Ceremony, Reception
Overall they did a great job. The grounds were gorgeous and meticulous, the inhouse bridal attendant was SUPER sweet, the food was OUT OF THIS WORLD amazingly great, basically as far as the actual wedding went everything was smooth. There were a few issues with the rooms and their overall organization leaves a bit to be desired, but I don’t have enough details to really post since my personal experience was great. They even brought our food back to the room and arranged the flowers and rose petals and candles everywhere. Everything I brought was set up and I was constantly asked if everything was all right. Overall I feel they did a great job – but I will get more detailed in my final review. In the end I would recommend them to other brides.

Flower Michele
I love John!! My flowers were exquisite and more importantly, as close as possible to what I asked for. All of the personal flowers were flawless. I LOVE my bouquet!!
I need to preface this by saying that I AM a florist. It was hard to trust ANYONE else to convey what I had in my brain. John gave 110% and he gave me the best price in the industry. My chuppah was phenomenal. The urns and placecard table arrangements (which I gave him free-range as far as design) were perfect. I had one small criticism, and its only that I was hoping the floating pool arrangement would be a bit larger. Mechanically though I’m not sure it would work if it was bigger so I’ll cut John some slack!! Also, at no fault of Johns (and he warned me a few days in advance), my CP’s were sampled with cherries in the vases with cranberries as a backup – but BOTH happen to be out of season right now – so he subbed red grapes. Overall same effect, although I personally liked the cherries & berries better.

Code Bleu
Outstanding!! My guests RAVED about Code Bleu. The most common comments were “they sound just like the album versions” which is why I chose them. Code Bleu was very fairly priced for LI, I feel like they were a steal and I would recommend them to everyone!!

Gina & Maureen – DOC’s from Knot2Be4Gotten
Seriously these women are fabulous. They must have fixed my bustle seriously a dozen times. Finally they sewed it in cause it kept coming out. They pinned my dress so FH wouldn’t step on the hem during our first dance. They even managed to mask the mess that occurred when my moms dyed red shoes BLED ALLLLLL OVER MY TRAIN during pics – PRIOR TO THE CEREMONY!! Ten minutes, some kind of cleanser, and a jar of white out later and you couldn’t even see it! Among about 100 other things – they are really amazing!! Specifically with ANY and ALL dress related issues. They are worth the $$ for that alone!!

Oksana Makeup and Jenn the Hair Genie
They did hair and makeup for me, my 4 BM’s, flower girl, and my mom. Amazing. Even after I requested they come 2 hours later than they wanted to so I could sleep a bit later. They showed up and got me and all of my girls done within 2.5 hours. I pretty much changed my mind about my hair 5 days before the wedding. It didn’t look exactly like the pic I showed – the top was a bit higher, but really girls, in the end they will make you look so beautiful you wont even remember what you showed them. My curls even stayed in ALL day even though my hair is thin and stick straight. Don’t know how she did it, but they were even there the next morning after I slept on them!! And Oksana – she is just magnificent. I swear she could make a pig look like a princess. She knew exactly what I wanted and did a great job – even though she was pressed to get all the girls done in time. She really came through with flying colors.

B rett M atthews Photo and Video
Note - None of these photos are from them.
Chris was my photographer and he was great. Really efficient. No single shot had to be done more than 3 times at most. He made a HUGE effort to get every single shot I requested - even the weirder ones and the group shot that required a ladder!! He was awesome and SO patient. The photojournalist was EVERYWHERE!! I swear I saw him laying under tables and jumping over people and really capturing some ridiculous angles!! I cannot wait to see these shots since I have NO idea where he was taking them from half of the time!! So excited to get my proofs – hopefully sometime after we return from our honeymoon in October. And I am sure my video will be equally as amazing because they all traveled as a group and got some really nice shots and angles. I can’t wait to see our first dance on video!!

There was ONE significant flaw of the day - I’m not sure who’s at fault, so I’ll post if/when I find out more – BUT basically an entire tub of my stuff went “missing”. SO I had NO GUEST BOOK, NO SAND CEREMONY FRAME, NO PETAL CONES OR TOSS.

I am a scrapbooker and very sentimental, we even had a photo booth and I wanted the guests to put the photos in the book. That is something I will NEVER get back. I will never again have the opportunity to be the receiver of a petal toss, nor will I get back the hours of labor I put into the guest book and cones. The sand ceremony was fairly worthless since I had to put it into a CUP since my vessel went missing. Overall they were insignificant to the guests but to me my day was slightly incomplete.

BUT since I don’t want to end this on a negative I will give my final shout out –
The Weather!!
Amazing. As you ALL know, the weather was very iffy going into about Saturday. Then the front that was supposed to start on Sunday was pushed back a day to Monday – and it was seriously the best weather I could have asked for for my outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour. There was NOT A CLOUD in the sky. I was a bit HOT for some of my guests, but really, as I said for months leading up to the wedding, better hot than raining!! I would like to thank Mother Nature. God, and all the people who prayed for great weather. YOU ALL ROCK!!