My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

My day was a mix of emotions and a mix of good and somewhat annoying things, but overall it was great to see friends and family who were truly happy for us and to marry FH, now DH . I’m not going to give ratings and instead just give my comments on each. No pics yet but will update when they come.

Rehearsal Dinner – GW Manor
GW Manor was great. We ate in the Paul Revere Room and everyone was very impressed by it, it looked beautiful with a fire place going and flowers, etc. The food was great too – if you’re getting married here you have nothing to worry about. Everyone loved everything. And they did a great job on the cake – I just asked for something with the Yankees – and it was awesome, FH loved it! It was delicious too. Reasonable price and the service was great.

Day Of Coordinator – Coordinated To Perfection
It is definitely worth having a DOC. She was very helpful at the beginning giving me lists of where I should be in the planning process and she was accessible. At the ceremony she was great. At the reception hall, I was glad she was there but felt like she could have done more. My mom on the other hand thought she was great as did her friend who took her card for her own daughter. I had mixed feeling b/c of how the day flowed.
Definitely make sure if you have a DOC, she should connect with the Matri D beforehand to ensure proper flow of the evening.

Hair by Diana
Diana is so sweet and funny. At the trial she did about 3-4 styles and was willing to do more if needed. She did my mom, sisters, and one BM – all looked great. I had tons of pics for her for what I wanted and I was very happy with the results.

Makeup – Denise from Angel Eyes
Another sweetie. She was great – my sisters and mom were very happy b/c they don’t usually wear a lot of make up and they looked awesome. For me too – I was very pleased, I wanted natural but still enough for pics and that’s what she did. People commented how good it looked b/c I still looked like me.

Flowers – White Iris (in Islip)
Jim from White Iris is awesome. He’s very nice, listened to me and my mom debate about things, and was very practical. If I asked about something, he told me what would look nice and what would be a waste of money, which we appreciated. Everyone raved about the quality of the flowers. He also gave me 2 flowers for my hair in case one died or broke and called the morning of to see if he should bring extras. My CPs were going to be peach tulips, all he could get that day were French parrot tulips (much more expensive), so I got those instead with no extra charge. Some things the day of didn’t look quite as I expected, but that’s more my fault b/c I didn’t ask for a specific description of what things would look like. Overall, he was great and the flowers were beautiful!

Photography – Spelman Studios
Christine and her team are great. Right away they made everyone feel comfortable and my entire BP was bragging about them. My BP, and I, also loved that they are all women there. I just think women photographers capture more detail and have a good eye for things. I haven’t seen proofs yet, but I’m excited to. She also was great with DH’s large family, which included quite a few children and babies, and my family’s lack of coordination. When we chose our engagement picture, she sent me a copy in time for the wedding and said b/c it was slightly off centered (we didn’t notice) she’d send me a better one after the wedding – so now we have 2 copies b/c she’s a perfectionist. At the wedding she also came over and pointed out to us about some things not flowing right, which at the time we were appreciative of b/c she didn’t want to see things not go right when we paid for them a certain way.

Video – Timeless Treasures
Its been said many times here that Ray is just awesome. He is sweet and professional and very discreet - no one even knew he was there, he was never obtrusive in any way. We don’t have our video yet of course, but I am really excited about it b/c the work I have seen is so beautiful. His prices are reasonable too.

Limos – Royalty
Royalty was very good. They arrived pretty much on time, given the rain and the limos were clean. I think we had Joe and Manny (not sure though). For the BP and me, the driver helped us all in without any of us getting wet – including me in my dress and one pregnant BP who especially had to be helped in and out of the limo. We had the antique coach to take just us after the ceremony to the reception. It was so cute and it can really go pretty fast – that was a lot of fun! The driver (Manny?) was so sweet telling us about his family and advice for enjoying marriage.

Cake - Black Forest Bakery
Black Forest is the house baker for The Bayview House. Each time I went I bought a pastry and it was delicious. The cake itself was delicious too! The owner though is a bit arrogant to deal with. Also I specifically told him my FMIL got me the cake topper and it must be on top, he insisted I’d change my mind that most brides want flowers and put the topper next to it only. I said I don’t care – my FMIL bought it and expects it on top of the cake. We get to the reception and it wasn’t on top of the cake. I know my MIL noticed, although she didn’t say anything – so far.

The Bayview House
We chose this for a few reasons: it was a little different, high ceilings and beautiful lit room with large windows, and it was a great restaurant so we knew the food would be good. The food was amazing – everyone is still talking about it - how fresh it all was, the taste, the size of the shrimp at cocktail hour... That was great and what we wanted. They also set up the room how I asked. Our Matri’D however spent the cocktail hour in the kitchen helping prepare the trays – maybe its us, but we didn’t think that was right – we thought maybe they were short staffed. DH and I had to get our own drinks and I had to search for appetizers. Later she brought over a tray of appetizers AFTER the cocktail hour. Throughout the night when she would pay attention she would stay on issues rather than moving along. I can’t explain, but let’s just say she was annoying rather than helpful. DH and I just felt we had to do more of the running of the show than we should have been.

Band – Soul Revival
I was very excited about them b/c they’re young and energetic and they really do sound awesome! The things that we weren’t pleased with however, was they seemed to take more breaks than they were supposed to and the MC wasn’t that great at making the evening flow despite a very detailed timeline I had given them. They did however, learn most of the songs we requested and our First Dance song “Song Bird by Eva Cassidy from the Love Actually Soundtrack” sounded amazing. The singers are great!

Dress- Adrienne’s
I had read mixed reviews about Adrienne’s but went anyway. I had a very hard time picking out a gown and even once I did I was still hesitant about my choice. The day of though – I loved it and know that it was the dress meant for me! Adriennes however, I would not recommend. The owner was snotty to me on several occasions, the seamstress while nice and the dress fit perfectly – she did not add the loop for when you hold up the dress when you dance, even though I asked 3 times about it, so I just held the train while I danced. The day we went to pick it up, 2 days before the wedding, they were so snotty to my mom and I. At each fitting we asked if any balance was owed and they said no – then when we picked it up they said we owed $400! I had to run to the ATM machine or they wouldn’t give me my dress. We were pissed b/c we had asked 3 times if we owed anything, including alterations, and they said no each time. I just left with a really negative experience with them overall.

BM dresses
The dresses were Bari Jay and we got them at MeMes in Mamaroneck. The price was reasonable and the owner was very helpful. We didn’t do alterations there, my MIL is a seamstress so she did most of them – including taking a non maternity dress and creating a very cute one!

Other random places I used for DIYs, etc.
PaperMart for Ribbon – great prices and selection
Exclusively Weddings and Beaucoup – BM gifts, came nicely packaged
Ebay – Ring pillows, awesome seller customizes the pillows and very reasonable. Economy Candy – awesome selection, great prices
Save-on-Crafts.com – great for crafts and wedding supplies
White Aisle – awesome for gifts and other supplies, fast delivery
Inkspun – Good guy, good prices.
OOT Hotel – Melville Marriott – nice rooms, reasonable price
Barron’s in TriCounty – Awesome! She did exactly what I wanted and the price is so reasonable!

Also - we had a signature drink (mojitos) and had a sign placed at the bar. It was a big hit and was so much fun to hear people tell me they tried it! Its just a small thing, but fun!

Overall we had a lot of fun dancing and seeing everyone that day and were so happy to finally be married. We both think back and wonder why things didn’t flow better than they did, but so far our guests have claimed to not have noticed the things we did – which is good. Everyone has been saying it was a lovely wedding, which makes us happy about it. I am glad the planning and stress is over, what I’ll miss most is looking at bridal magazines – so I still may do that from time to time! I'm thrilled to be married, although we lived together before and dated for 6 years – something about it changes things and makes it even better! We had a great time on our HM in HI – and definitely felt relaxed. I’ll try to do a review of HI on the HM board. I’ve said it before, but I was so thankful for this site – for ideas, venting, and great advice! To future brides, as often as its said - the day really does go fast so enjoy every moment!

Go to http://www.spelmanstudios.com

Click on View and Order in the right hand corner.

The code is 1000-9940-0014

Pages 5-8 are my favorites.

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Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congratulations!!! I can't wait to see your pictures.

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

congrats, can't wait to see pictures also.

I too got my gown from adriennes and had quite a few issues with the owner, when I first tried on dresses she was pretty much slamming gowns over my head and was becoming impatient with me.

Thanks for sharing your review

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congrats Sweetie

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

congrats!!!! cant wait to see pics!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

great review Sarah- i cant wait to see some pics!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

congrats, I remember you from Adreinne's! Sounds like a great day, can't wait for pictures!!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

~Sarah~

I love the review!! I cant wait to see the pics from Spelman...We got Christine as well and I am so excited!!! Ill be on the lookout for some pics!!! How is it being a married woman? congrats!!!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congratulations Sarah!

You look amazing! I am so impressed that you have your review up already. How was your HM?

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congrats!!! Great review... can't wait to see pics!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congrats!! You Look Beautiful!!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06

Congrats!!!!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

Sarah, your Spelman images are stunning! I love your church and you look fabulous.

LOVE the streamers!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

I posted some proofs in my album - here's the link!

http://www.liweddings.com/community/album/?ID=3361


OK, I don't know how to do the thing where you rename the linky.

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

You look beautiful!


Congrats!!!

Here's the link: Community Album - Wedding Proofs

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

here you go!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

thanks for the review! congrats!!!! and post some more pics!!

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

CONGRATS!!!!! love all the pcitures. great review

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

I love Christine...your pictures came out so beautiful!!! So how is it being married?

Re: My Wedding Review -4/23/06 UPDATED with Link to Pics

Congrats-you looked great and I am glad you had such a nice day. Good luck with married life!