My wedding! June 16, 2007

Just had my wedding! Things went smashingly well. We lucked out and had amazing weather! June 16, 2007; a 10 o’clock am ceremony and the reception was at noon.

The ceremony was at St. Marks in East Islip. Rev. Rick Simmons married us. He was funny and sweet. We met with him many times prior to the wedding and it really helped, he knew us and we knew him so everything was very comfortable. The church is beautiful!!! And it fit our large bridal party (14) and amount of guests (160).

The reception was at Patchogue Manor. So at first I was scared because the hall is very large and feels empty but they do a great job setting everything up for you and it looked so beautiful. So don’t be fooled by the hall at first. We had drapery hung on the ceiling and little extras like ribbons on the chairs.

The food was AMAZING! We looked so hard for a place that would deviate from the standard menu. They accommodated our wishes and what a barbeque it was. Everything you could imagine at one was there except the pig and I bet they could have done it for us. We had a grill going with mini burgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings. And grilled steak made to order! Corn, beans, sausage and peppers, clams, muscles, calamari, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad and Greek salad were all on the menu and MORE. The hall made the cake as well; we were limited on decorations with frosting so we opted for fresh flowers instead. The cake was amazing, chocolate with cannoli filling. There was a chocolate fountain and pastries. The hall also helped us get blue point beer at the wedding for the toast and to serve during the party.

Jim our banquet manager was so nice and friendly, he helped us every step of the way and dealt with my bridezilla ways the last few days before hand. My one peeve was that there was a subway series the day of my wedding and the bar had the game on. I had to go in a yell at the bartenders to turn it off and that should have been a non-issue. I mean its my day and I don’t care had much money my uncle bet on the game he could wait until 5 to find out if he won!

We used Serenity Limousines, they arrived early and the guys were great. They knew the locations; we arrived on time to everything. They even up graded our town car to a limo at the end of the night, which was a great surprise!

Elaine and Tom from Park Avenue Studio did our pictures. They were great and a lot of fun. I haven’t seen my proofs yes, we go tomorrow, so I will update this part then. I do want to say that matt and I wanted a lot of candid pictures of our guests but I felt she posed us when we were dancing a bit too often. But like I said I haven’t seen the proofs and you aren’t supposed to notice candid pictures…

Finding a florist was the hardest thing for me. I hated everyone’s concepts because no one could be creative with our budget. We went with fake flowers for the centerpieces and Patchogue Manor helped us dress them up with tea lights and a mirrors. They were white orchids in a simple brown vase; we got them from Michael’s for a great price. The Flower Shoppe of Babylon/Sayville did the rest of the flowers. We wanted fancy yet simplistic bouquets and boutonnieres. The one thing that got me was that I wanted crystals and feathers in my bouquet and they weren’t there and the flower girls basket was to be all roses and it wasn’t.

The florist did help us with the cake, which was all done the day before he wedding. The groom didn’t realize that we needed to get the flowers for it… Anyhow she saved his butt. The cake was decorated in pale pick flowers and it was so beautiful.

I had long steam white callas with peacock feathers. My girls had three white roses that just opened with the crystals and pearls and feather. The guys had a white rose against a peacock feather. They all come out stunning! Pictures will be coming very soon.

VJ Entertainment did the music. Vinny was our DJ. HE WAS AMAZING. The dance floor was filled; he kept the music young and lively. He was creative and more helpful then my guest could ever imagine. Our best man has a bit too much before his toast and Vinny help to smooth it over and keep things looking good.

We used seal and send invitations. We thought that they were a fun type of invitation (the RSVP tears off the bottom as a post card). However they were a nightmare! We had to find extra seals for the sides of the invites to keep the direction cards inside. And some got ripped while being sent in the mail; do to the open sides, which lead to 12 guest not getting their invites! We did save on postage though…

Ok so now dresses. This part ******!!

The girls got their dresses from The Bridal Shop of Bayshore. I did change my mind on colors a lot and they were cool with it but when it came down to the final color the messed up. I picked a color off the rack and was told it was Caribbean blue. The dresses came in and oops the color on the rack was marine blue. Caribbean blue was more of a green. It worked out cause its that great blue that’s in vogue right now. However all of my girls dresses were miss sized, either way to big or way to small. And it wasn’t a size/name mix up. The straps, which were sewn in by their seamstress, started ripping by the end of the day.

I got my dress at Paradise Bridal. Now I was either treated like a queen or like dirt. Some of the women that work there are down right snotty. When it came time for my fittings that was where the rudeness came in. I am a bigger girl but not huge, my wedding dress was a 16. It had a corset back, which they didn’t lace up during my first fitting. The seamstresses went nuts telling me a gained weight (I actually lost a lot). They told me that they needed to add material to the sides and they I would most likely lose beading because the panels which they were going to be put in couldn’t have lace and beads to match the trim that went all the way around the top of the dress! I was so upset. My mom clamed me down and brought me to a friend that is a seamstress. She laced up the back and guess what the dress fit, it was the next day. All she did was move the panel in the back over for extra give room but it wasn’t needed.

Also, Paradise Bridal called me to tell me that both my veil and tiara where discontinued and I needed to pick alternates. They called 4 weeks before the wedding. Then the alternate I picked for the tiara was also going to be discontinued so I had to go back and pick another one! Why would you have unavailable items on the racks?

But the dress was amazing. It was a Maggie Sottero. Do not ask me the styles name cause I do not know. Again, pictures coming soon.

So I think I covered it all, I will post pictures once I have them so you can see everyone’s handy work. But I cannot say enough about Patchogue Manor! The food, the staff everything was amazing!! And they were the only place that was fine with make a menu to fit us. And then they helped us fill in the blanks to make the whole menu fit.

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Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

Thank you for the review!! Would love to see pics!!

Congrats!!

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

Congrats!!! I'm so glad to see a review of my DJ. I know he's awesome but to hear another bride say he was great for their wedding adds extra reassurance. Post some pics!!

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

congrats to you! thank you for your review!

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

Hi, I'm considering having my reception there. Were the photographers and the DJ you used part of the package deal? Or did you find them on your own?

Thanks

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

Congrats

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

congrats to you!

Re: My wedding! June 16, 2007

Great review