My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

EDITED WITH PROOFS: I added some of my proofs, but I don't think anyone can see them but me, so I also added a link to them on ofoto. Unfortunately, the quality is REALLY poor because I scanned them and my parent's scanner stinks...but you'll get the idea.

I don’t post too frequently but I am an excessive lurker. I have found this website to be so helpful to me in my planning, especially the reviews, so I felt I needed to give back with my own thorough review! Thank you to everyone who helped me out with your ideas and advice.

NETBRIDE, MAGGIE SOTTERO GRACE: A+
My experience with Netbride was nothing but wonderful. I read reviews and only heard good things, but was still nervous. My dress arrived one week prior to the guaranteed date and the price was right! I received a price quote for my dress in July or August but did not order until December due to my excessive indecisiveness. By the time I was ready to order, Maggie Sottero had stopped allowing vendors to discount dresses so most vendors (online and bridal salons) had increased their prices by at least $100 including Netbride; however, Netbride honored my quote and let me order the dress at significant savings! Highly recommended.

The Dress:



Some detail:



PHYLLIS FROM GOWNFIND, ALTERATIONS: Lifesaver, A+++++++
Because I ordered by dress from Netbride, I had to get my own alterations. My family has used a seamstress for years and she has worked on numerous wedding and bridesmaid dresses for family members. So, of course, I followed suit. BAD IDEA. (There is no need for me to give her name because she is retired and only does alterations for our small group of family friends.) I think she is just getting old and starting to lose it because what she did to my dress is absolutely outrageous and this is a woman who used to be the lifesaver! Anyway, all of the problems with my dress (4 gaping holes in the lace, uneven and messy hem, butchered bustle, etc.) led me to Phyllis. 2 weeks prior to the wedding, when I discovered all these problems, I called her immediately. She told me to come right away so we grabbed our dresses (my mom’s was a disaster as well) and were off. From the moment we walked in, Phyllis exuded confidence. She was horrified by the “work” done on our dresses but was certain she could fix it…and she did. In less than 2 weeks, she restored our dresses back to their original form with no indication of any damage. AMAZING! She also gave me the most beautiful bustle and my mom a great shawl-of sorts to cover her “shoulder boobs”! I will definitely return to Phyllis if I ever need a BM dress altered and will recommend her to any engaged friend.

VISION VEILS: A
I found this vendor on LIW. I just happened to see it on the vendor list and figured I would check them out. There were very few reviews and they were from 2003 but their prices were great and they sent free swatches, so I gave it a shot. The swatches arrived in a timely fashion as did the veil once I ordered. I got a very simple ivory, one-tiered, veil with 1/8-inch ribbon trim on a comb. The only negative was that I didn’t think the veil was attached to the comb very neatly, but it didn’t really matter much because my hair was going to cover it.

BRIDAL SUITE OF MANHATTAN, GRACE SHOES: A+
I had procrastinated in buying my shoes so I needed to find a place in Manhattan that carried a bunch of brands plus Maggie Sottero dresses so that I had a big selection and could match color. Bridal Suite of Manhattan had both. I went after work during the week so it was pretty quiet. The salesperson was very helpful in matching the color to the dress, which required us going through all the dresses to find a MS in diamond white/light gold. I loved my Grace Shoes, but they were taller than I planned so I bought 3.5inch flip-flops too (which was the best thing I ever did.) from Mydivascloset.com. They were $12!

I love this pic...plus you can see the flip flops I ordered. I haven't scanned any of my 'real' shoes yet, but they were beautiful.



FRANCINE'S COSMETIQUE (Sayville, NY), JEWELRY, DAY OF MAKEUP, WAXING, TIARA: A+++++++
Francine is amazing! I had heard wonderful things about her from my cousin and aunt but she was even more wonderful than I imagined. Her little shop offers a lot (veils, headpieces, shoes, jewelry-wedding and non, makeup, waxing, nails and more). She is so helpful in helping you find just what you need to accent your dress and everything is really affordable. My earrings, necklace, and bracelet were less than $50 together! She even made me the bracelet from 2 anklets because one didn’t come with the earring and necklace set! She also did my makeup the day of (and my mom’s) and did an awesome job. I had 2 other trials with other makeup artists and was really unhappy, but Francine knew exactly what I would love and I did! Another woman in the shop does waxing and nails and is really sweet as well. I highly recommend checking her out. You won’t be disappointed!

SALON ON MAIN (Sayville, NY), HAIR, BMs HAIR: A+
This is the salon I typically go to for haircuts and highlighting. I travel there from the city because I have gone there for over 10 years and they are nice and affordable. Anna did my hair for the wedding and I loved it. All of my BMs got their hair done there too and they were all very happy as far as I know!

THE MAIN EVENT (Sayville, NY), INVITATIONS: C
This is pretty irrelevant now since they went out of business 1-2 months after we got our invitations (I hear she was arrested for writing bad checks :-0. But here it is anyway. Ordering went smoothly and the price was average (although we could have gotten them cheaper online). The problems arose when they were supposed to come in. Long story short, we kept getting the run-around and was told “by the end of the week” for several weeks. I was even told they were “shipped and tracked to be delivered on Saturday”, but when they still didn’t arrive, I was told by the owner that they never said that because they don’t get deliveries on Saturday (this message was left on my voicemail by the owner so I have proof). They kept reassuring me I had time but I did not because they had convinced me to give 6 weeks prior to wedding for RSVP deadline. Also, a family friend was going to be doing the calligraphy for free for a gift and I ordered in advance because I knew this friend was going on vacation. Well, everything was delayed so long that the family friend was no longer able to do calligraphy!!! After much complaining and harassing by me, they ultimately agreed to get my calligraphy done for free but often made me feel that it was my fault that the calligrapher was rushed! Penandpapercalligraphy.com did the calligraphy and it was beautiful! I don’t know how it is to work with this vendor directly because I didn’t, but her work was gorgeous and I would urge others to check it out.



ELEGANT JEWELERS (ATTIAS FLEA MARKET, Sayville, NY), ENGAGEMENT RING AND WEDDING BANDS: A
My DH got my engagement ring here by recommendation from his aunt who gets all her jewelry here and has very expensive taste. We decided to go back for our bands. They are affordable, nice, and helpful.

DEACON STEVE FROM OUR LADY OF THE SNOW (Blue Point, NY); A++++++
Deacon Steve is the best! We booked him on the spot at my cousin’s wedding because he was so great. We are an interfaith couple (I’m Jewish, DH is Catholic) and DH never envisioned 2 officiants so Deacon Steve made a great choice because he is a Deacon and speaks Hebrew so he could do both parts. He is a really down to earth guy and always made me feel comfortable and accepted even though I wasn’t Catholic. Everyone raves about our ceremony!



FLOWERS BY BURTON: B+
Our experience with Flowers by Burton was very good. I really liked the one price for any flower policy. It ensured that our initial quote was pretty much in the same ballpark as the ending balance regardless of how many changes I made. We worked with John and he was great. There were only a couple things that I was unhappy with. First, 2 days before the wedding, I went to check out the sample and it was not what I wanted. In our design session, I stated that I wanted very minimal greens (if any) and all roses (cream and light pink) and hydrangea (cream and light pink). I even showed pictures. But the sample had fuchsia hydrangea with lots of greens. It looked like the roses were just thrown in. I had wanted it tight with little space between flowers but instead there was lots of space with tons of green and baby’s breath. After some discussion, they added a bunch more hydrangea and almost 2 dozen roses and switched the hydrangea to light pink. The CP looked much better and was beautiful but was still not exactly what I had in mind. The day of I was a lot less stressed about it and thought they looked beautiful. Second, I was told my bouquet would have 48 roses and the BM 36!! When I saw the bouquets, they were exactly what I wanted but definitely didn’t have that many roses (I counted, of course). I didn’t really care because they were still gorgeous but it was just the fact that I was told I would have more without even asking for it. Two other minor things…the ribbon on my bouquet was white when it should have been ivory and they made my MOH bouquet all pink when it should have been all ivory. The bridal attendant at the Carlyle called when we realized it and they sent a new one over, but we still didn’t have the right bouquet for pictures. Overall, everything was gorgeous and I would use them again! The piece on the chuppah was huge and after the ceremony, it was placed in front of our sweetheart table so it got put to good use. People commented all night on all the flowers. Nobody knew about or noticed any of this stuff except ME!

High CP:


Low CP:


Cake Flowers. Flowers by Burton only provided the flowers. Carlyle decorated it. I didn't provide any direction and it was exactly what I wanted!:


Here's an ok pic of my bouquet and an adorable pic of my neice:


The BMs bouquest were all pink except for my MOH whose was all ivory. I don't have any good pics of them scanned though.

MARK KAUFFMAN/ANGELICA STUDIOS – B+;
PHOTOGRAPHER/PROOFS– Jodi and Angela: A+
I had worked with Jodi when I was in my cousin’s wedding and I loved her and her work. So, when it was time to book a photographer, we went straight to MK Studios and requested Jodi. In our initial meeting with Mark, he was somewhat pushy and we didn't click, but we tolerated it because we knew we would be satisfied with the quality of work and we were going to have Jodi as our photographer. I am glad we did because he warmed up and Jodi was AMAZING. She was so much fun and her work was above and beyond. Also, another positive…we requested a different second photographer (candid/black and white photographer) but he ended up not being available so Mark upgraded us to the “Fine Art” candid/B&W photographer (Angela) which typically costs an additional $500! Angela was so sweet too! The only reason MK Studios gets a B+ is because it took us 2 months to get our proofs, which caused me much stress! It is a long story but there appears to have been a miscommunication between Jodi, MK, and the lab (FM for details if interested), but we did get them and Mark plans to “make it up to us!” He assured me that he wants me to be happy so I am confident that I will be more than satisfied with how he compensates us. We love our proofs and have over 1500 of them!! Now, if only I could choose a thank you pic!

UPDATE: Although Mark handled my 'delayed' proofs to my satisfaction to this point, I recently had an additional issue that has left with a really sour taste in my mouth. On Dec 4 I contacted the office manager at MK Studios to order and enlargement for a Xmas gift. I was assured it would be ready in time as I was planning to give the gift on xmas eve. The monday before Xmas I still hadn't heard on it so I called. I wasn't called back. I called on Tuesday and Mark answered. He told me he was going over the lab's 'xmas list' and it would be ready by later that day or the next and they would overnight it to me (I live in NYC) or my DH could pick it up on Friday. Wednesday I call to check. The office manager tells me the lab wants to confirm they have the right picture. ***? It is 3 days before I have to give it and you are checking now? Fine. I email it while we are on the phone and I give her my parents address for it to be overnight stressing that I HAD to have it on Saturday. Friday, I call to check to see if it was sent out. The office manager assures me that it will be sent out before she leaves that day but will call me when it goes out. She calls at about 4 and leaves me a message saying that Mark was going to mail it and she 'pounded into his head' that I needed to have it the next day. I left Mark a message on his cell phone confirming this and asked him to call if there was a problem. Well...Saturday comes and goes and there is no photo delivered. At about 4pm, I leave 2 messages (cell and office) expressing my EXTREME disappointment and frustration. I receive a message back late that night saying that he sent out the photo as promised but it could not be delivered overnight due to the holiday and would arrive on Sunday--the day after I needed to have it. (if that is true, don't you think you could have called). So, Sunday comes and the photo arrives. I look on the overnight envelope and the postage was purchased on 12/24/05, which means he totally LIED to me. It was sent out on the day I was supposed to receive it!!!!! I am so angry that I have yet to call and bawl him out because I know I will be totally rude and I still haven't made my albums yet. I am so happy he told me that he would do anything to make me satisfied after the proof incident because now I need a LOT of freebies to make me even close to satisfied.

SYOSSET LIMOUSINE: A
The owners are my DH’s mother’s boyfriend’s brothers (can you follow that?). I didn’t really deal with them directly (my DH’s mom’s boyfriend did all the coordinating) and we didn’t pay for it so I don’t know how reasonable they are, but we were very satisfied with their service. They were early for all pick-ups and the buses were very clean. We had the ceremony at the Carlyle so we just got 2 (1 for guys/groom, 1 for girls and me and my family) buses to transport the wedding party to the Carlyle. Then, the buses returned to the hotel to transport our guests. They also provided a bus after the wedding for the wedding party and guests. The only reason they didn’t get an A+ is that the A/C in my bus wasn’t working.

MUSIC BY MICHAELl: A+
I heard about Music by Michael through LIWeddings. We were looking for a DJ who played great music without any cheeziness. As soon as we met Michael, we knew he was the one. He was really nice and down to earth. His approach is that he complements the wedding and doesn’t become the party…exactly what we were looking for. Michael’s full-time job is as a guidance counselor, and I truly think this makes him a better DJ. He knows how to deal with and read people. He is a PC DJ meaning all his music is on a computer making transitions between songs really smooth and he can edit any songs if necessary. Also, all his worksheets (song requests, etc.) are online, which makes it really convenient. As soon as you book, you get a log in and can work on it whenever a song comes to you. It was great. Michael honors your “play” and “do not play” lists and is able to get a good sense of who you are and play songs accordingly. If he feels something isn’t working and your dance floor is a little empty, he will ask you BEFORE deviating. Michael was everything we wanted in a DJ! We completely trusted him and he did an AWESOME job. I highly recommend him!

MEN'S WEARHOUSE: C
We chose to use MW purely due to convenience because we had groomsmen in 5 states. We don’t have any absolute horror stories like many have had but overall it was not a pleasant experience. They were always too busy and not very accommodating. Whenever we had a question, we got different answers from different people. They entered the wrong measurements for one GM…thank goodness my DH happened to look at the sheet and noticed that it didn’t make sense so we were able to get it changed in time. Also, I requested ivory shirts and none of the GMs got them except one, which made it look yellow in comparison to the white shirt. If you can avoid MW, do so!

Doesn't my DH look like he could be a Men's Wearhouse model in this pic:



HILTON GARDEN INN-RONKONKOMA: A-
This hotel is pretty new so it was in good condition and the rooms were nice. Overall, it was good experience but I did not have to deal with them much because my aunt is a travel agent and struck a deal with them that had all my guests booking through her so we could get a lower rate. The only negative I have is that they were not very good about giving out my gift bags to the right person or at all.

E-ANNOUNCEMENTSANDINVITATIONS.COM: A+
I ordered my rehearsal dinner invites from E-Announcements and Invitations.com. Quick, easy, and affordable. I would definitely use them again.

OTHER MINOR VENDORS:
Paperandmore.com, Vellum paper for votive placecards: A+
Patchogue Fantasyland, Ribbon for menus and programs: A+ The woman there were wonderful. They helped me find the perfect ribbon and taught me the easiest and quickest way to tie bows.
AC Moore, Votives and other miscellaneous items: A+ They special ordered my votives and they came in just a couple days later.

Our Programs: I pretty much designed them and a friend of ours who is a Graphic Designer printed them.



Our Menus: I designed, friend printed.




AND NOW THE BEST FOR LAST…

CARLYLE ON THE GREEN: A++++++++++++++++++
I cannot even express how absolutely wonderful Carlyle on the Green was! I cannot say one negative thing about the Carlyle. From the moment we visited and met with Sue to the moment, our bus pulled away at 1:30am, we were treated as royalty. The day of, everything was perfect and ran smoothly. The setting/atmosphere sets the stage for a classy affair and the service exceeds it. My bridal attendant, Janet, was AMAZING. She could read my mind and anticipate my needs. She constantly retouched my lipstick, refreshed my drink (never 1./2 full!), fixed my dress, etc. I only wish I could hire her on a day-to-day basis. Our Maitre’D was great too (Jared) but he tended to my DH more so I interacted less with him. The food was awesome as well! Everyone still talks about the mashed potato bar and the dessert cafe!! They were also really accommodating to our special requests. DH wanted to add an extra station to the dessert café…a cereal bar, and it wasn’t a problem at all. They even took his special cereal requests. We also had the after hour with live Jazz, cigars, cordials, and more food, and it was great. We hesitated about spending the money but are so happy we did. It really made our wedding unique. Plus, more people stayed than would have gone to a hotel bar. The only regret I have is that I haven’t (yet) been a guest at the Carlyle!!

And here are a bunch of other proofs:













































That's enough for now. I scanned about 200 of my 1500 proofs so if you want you can see a few more here:http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=621795708205

And some non-prof pics in my LIW album:
http://www.liweddings.com/community/album/main.aspx?ID=1336

Our honeymoon was incredible. We went to Hawaii and stayed at the Hyatts in Maui and Kauai. They have a different feel but both are awesome. I would recommend staying at the Maui Hyatt first though because the pool at Kauai is so amazing that you will be disappoint by Maui if you go there 2nd!
I also want to thank MindyL28 whose review was AWESOME and helped guide our trip. I actually printed it out and brought it along. I highly recommend it to future hawaii honeymooners. It is right on target and very detailed.

Here are a couple of my recommendations:

In general, get Maui Revealed and the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook (they are both part of the Revealed series). They are so helpful and accurate. We had a couple of other books the people lent us and the Revealed books were by far the best.

MAUI:
1. Eat at Mama's Fish House. It was our best meal and we had many really great ones to compare it to.
2. Go on the sunrise bike ride down Mt. Halekala. We used Maui Mountain Riders.
3. Wear sneakers on the Road to Hana...some of the hiking is treacherous with flip flops (which I was wearing)
4. Don't stop at all the early sights on the Road to Hana because you will end up running out of time and missing the really good stuff toward the end (i.e., the Seven Pools) like we did.
5. Put your towels on the pool chairs before going to breakfast so you get a good spot (especially in Maui!).

Kauai:
1. Eat at the Beach House and get a reservation for around 6ish so you are there for the sunset.
2. Eat at Tidepools at the Hotel
3. Sit at the Adult pool.
4. Go night swimming.
5. Do a sunset snorkeling cruise of the napali coast. The sunset is beautiful and they feed you lots of drinks! And we saw dolphins. They swam with our Catamaran! We use Captain Andy's because another couple we met recommended it. We really liked it. The snorkeling was ok but the sights and sunset were well worth it.

Check out some pics here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=738038795205&page=1&sort_order=0

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!


So glad u had a great time working with the Carlyle.....we can not wait...we LOVE hearing great things! CONGRATS!!!!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Everything looked beautiful, Congrats!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Great review!!! You were a beautiful bride! Thanks for the great review.

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Awesome! Everything looks maginficent - love your bouquet!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Congratulations! THank you so much for your review (i'm sorry I didn't see any pics in the album )

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

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i'm sorry I didn't see any pics in the album )

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I messed up the link so it doesn't go straight to the album but you can access the pics by clicking 'all albums by sjm71505' and it takes you to them. Sorry.

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Beautiful pics! You looked terrific and your dress is gorgeous. Congratulations and thanks for sharing your review!!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

Congratulations!!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

You look beautiful, and I graduated w/ your brother how funny, great review

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

GREAT Reveiw, thanks so much for taking the time out to write all this, very helpful, you look so incredibly happy..I am THRILLED for you!

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

great review. we wanna see your proofs please

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

great rivew, you looked beuatiful.
Did u take a picture before the ceremony or after and where?

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05)

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Did u take a picture before the ceremony or after and where?

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We took our pics before the ceremony at the Carlyle.

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

Bump--I added proofs and link to HM pics

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

I don't see any pics

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

You don't??? When I look they are there!! Anyone else???

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

i dont see the pictures either. here are some of your pics! if you get your pictures to work again, i'll take these down. what i did was i went to each picture, right clicked and went to properties. i copied the url link in the properties box, and then hit 'insert web image' and pasted the link in there.

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

That's what I did and I can see them!!!! I give up. I am just going to leave the link and everyone can look that way .

Re: My VERY LONG review--Carlyle on the Green (7/15/05) NOW WITH PROOFS!

Thanks for adding the pics...and I see my cute Christopher in there, in the bartender pics, how funny!

You really had a beautiful wedding, makes me very excited for mine!