The Brides' Review - My wedding review and link to pics

CLovely98 Posted: Feb 17, 2006 04:13 PM+

CLovely98 MEMBER SINCE: 8/05 TOTAL POSTS : 1 WEDDING DATE: Jan 07, 2006

Posted: Feb 17, 2006 04:13 PM

My wedding review and link to pics

My comp has been on the fritz so I'm sorry I haven't posted this sooner. Just want to let everyone on this board that while I haven't posted on here that much (I usually just read) I really appreciate this board and everyone on it. It was invaluable in my planning process and also helped me find my hair and makeup vendors. Good luck to everyone who is still planning their wedding.

And now my reviews -

Invitations: Kinkos on 47th and 6th Ave. – C - Well I posted a pretty in-depth review of my experience with them previously but I think it was deleted by theknot. I had designed my own invites and included mockup and a disc with all necessary files in illustrator and acrobat format to a customer service rep at the store at 1 pm on a Tuesday. I was told that the 80 copies of each (double sided color invites, double sided color rsvp cards, and single sided color direction cards all on cardstock I provided) I would need would be done at noon the next day and that I would get a call from them when they were ready. Since I didn’t hear from them the next day, at 1 I called. At first I got a lot of people who didn’t seem to know what they were doing. However I finally got in touch with someone who helped. After first telling me that the project wasn’t done and that I would have to go down there to approve the project (I had specifically given them the mockup to avoid this) I finally was told that they could do it and it would be ready at 5 PM. When I went to pick it up, it was not ready and had not yet been cut. So I waited until it was all cut, and then noticed it needed to be recut as it was cut crooked. In the end I was there until about 6:30 PM and the manager gave me the project free of charge. A previous knottie had warned me that that particular Kinkos was bad news but I heeded her advice and prepared everything as explicitly as possible so that there would be no problems, but I guess it couldn’t be avoided. The good thing is I saved a few hundred bucks by suffering that drama – so it was sorta worth it.

Program, Menu, and Schedule of Events: My Brother – B – I had created these files and was planning on taking them to another Kinkos however I left this to the week before the wedding and was super stressed. My usually unreliable brother got his act together and did this in his printing company. They all came out great and the only reasons I gave him a B is cause he is usually so unreliable I was a bit stressed that he wouldn’t come through – but he did and it all worked out.

Dresses and Alterations: RK Bridal – A – My Demetrios dress came in less than a week from when I ordered it in perfect condition. I was helped by Sonia who is great. My Mom also ordered her dress from RK and it came in less than a week as well. All my BMs (Save one who was in FL) ordered their dresses from RK and they all came in earlier than expected. We all also saved a lot compared to other vendors. My alterations were pretty OK. I loved my bustle and they worked furiously to get all my other alterations perfect. My Mom also got her alterations done there and she was magnificent in her dress. I also ordered my flower girl dresses from RK and they came in on time.

Lingerie: Herroom.com – B, RK Bridal – A - I ordered my bustier from herroom.com and while I liked it, it was much too big. I ended up getting one from RK Bridal that fit better.

Tiara: PrincessBridetiaras.com – A – Came in on time and was beautiful. I love it!

Veil: Veilshop.com – A – Came in on time and is beautiful. I love my veil and wore it most of the night.

Gloves: store.candlelightmessages.com - A – Everyone was concerned about these gloves and so I ordered a pair of plain gloves that did not work as well with my dress. I’m glad I got these.

Purse: - myglassslipper.com - A– I barely used it, but I really liked it.

Shoes: - myglassslipper.com - A – These were simple and pretty and amazingly comfortable. I forgot I was wearing them until I took them off at the end of the night.

Necklace: VintageBridalJewelry.com - A – So beautiful. I saw this necklace on their site that was perfect except it was two strands and I only wanted one. I spoke with Marcia and she was so helpful. She customized it to me and I came out perfect. I consulted with her on earrings as I was unhappy with some that I purchased. Although she was really helpful, she couldn’t do what I wanted in the time I needed it and so I went to another vendor.

Earrings: MelanieMichelle.com – A – Melanie was great. We consulted for weeks on a design of earrings that would match my necklace. They turned out great and were such a compliment to my dress.

Tuxedos: After Hours in Roosevelt Field Mall – C – So many things went wrong here. When we first went in things seemed ok, but again, armed with the bad experiences of past knotties, I was prepared. When they first mixed up the lavender accessories in the orders, I made sure they were fixed, and when, on the Thursday before my wedding we went to the fittings with 7 people, I expected some things to go wrong – But not so much. My ringbearer’s complete outfit had to be changed as everything came in the wrong size. He was in tears. My Dad’s shirt was the wrong size. One of my reader’s jacket was wrong. And two of the groomsmen had the wrong sized shoes. By the night before the wedding though, it was all worked out. That is until after the ceremony I noticed that the groomsmen who had decided to go to another After Hours (in white plains) got the wrong vest and tie. His lavender was a different shade than everyone else’s. In the end, it was too late to do anything, and I didn’t care that much, but still. They are one of the few chains that has good color selections so if you use them, be careful.

Hair: The Hairgenie - A – I love, love, love the way my hair came out on my wedding day. Jenn did an amazing job, not only on me, but on my mom and cousin as well. There are other stylists that are raved about in NY but I find them also to be super expensive. Jenn is great and well worth the money.

Makeup: Makeup by Oksana– A – Oksana was so fabulous on my wedding day. She made me look so beautiful and I am so thrilled that I selected her for my makeup. While she was making me up, I saw my dad all dressed up and got very emotional and started to cry. She held me together and fixed me up immediately. My mom and my cousin also looked great thanks to her. She and Jenn are a fabulous team.

Flowers: Designs by Rose - A + - Possibly my favorite vendors. I really loved everyone I worked with but in a lot of ways the flowers made my wedding. Rose and Doris understood what I wanted from the very beginning and they delivered. The vibrant colors were exactly what I wanted. In every picture where I am holding my bouquet, those flowers seem to explode. So beautiful. And the arrangements on the tables were so much more than I expected. Absolutely stunning. I got so many compliments on everything. They had even provided me with the flower girl sachets of rose petals, unfortunately my lovely flower girls forgot them at home. Oh well. They were beautiful. I fell in absolute love with my bouquet (which must have weighed 100 pounds they packed so many flowers into it). Because I left to my mini honeymoon the next morning I didn’t get a chance to preserve my flowers but they were still beautiful a week later (as were all the centerpieces as well). I plan on ordering another bouquet on my anniversary to preserve it.

Candles: Cudgenet.com & Ikea - A – The most inexpensive votives were at cudgenet.com and the most inexpensive pillars were at Ikea. A great deal!

Photographer: Nick Carter (nickcarterimages.com) – A – Nick was really the only photographer we felt comfortable with. Everyone else expected too much of our time and acted like they were doing us a favor by even talking to us. Nick came to our house to meet with us, at our availability and customized a package for us at a great price. We got 450 proofs and a digital CD as well as his services all day for an obscenely inexpensive amount of money. We told him we wanted to speed by all the posed shots and he got us done in about 30 minutes - and the pictures came out lovely. We are really happy with how they came out. He is also a really great guy and everyone commented on how nice he was. See some of our pictures at

http://christineanddamieluis.shutterfly.com

Videographer: Tina Flemerer - A – I haven’t watched the whole thing yet, as she recorded about 9 hours of tape but I am happy that she was there and I’m really glad to have everything on tape. Damie and I will edit it on our computer at home.

Officiant: Rev. Hilda M. Gieco – A + - She is fabulous. Ever since we met her we were thrilled with her and had complete confidence in her abilities. The ceremony she created for us was beautiful and we were so happy to have her share in our day. She waited patiently for us to take some pictures before we signed the license and must have mailed it the next day as it arrived to us very shortly.

Rings: Zales - B – I like my rings but the customer service there leaves something to be desired.

Venue: Bruno’s on the Boulevard – B – We got a really good deal compared to other venues in NY and so I am mostly happy with them. There were some issues towards the end about some pricing issues (regarding specifically what would get tax and gratuity and the fees for coat check) but Chris, who helped us, was very helpful and actually upgraded our beef selection to fillet mignon for a very generous flat rate. On the day of, they were very helpful, although some things slipped through the cracks – while my florist had put out the candles, they were not lit, and then I was told that the pillars were not allowed to be lit as it would be a fire hazard (something I was not told about, although I hadn’t actually thought to ask, as they weren’t specific about which candles could be used). They did light the votives though. They did reserve our leftover cake for us and it was ready for us to pick up when possible.

DJ: Ultimate Sound Productions – A – Our DJs were a really good value. We didn’t want our need a lot of favors and or lights and so we did without it. Our DJ (Raphael) played a lot of good songs and our MC (Mariella) really got the crowd started. They played almost everything on our must play list, and nothing from our do not play list.

Cake: Terrizzi Bakery – A – From what I hear, the cake did not arrive on time, so our florist was waiting to decorate it for much longer than expected, but in the end it worked out. The cake was beautiful and delicious. It was a great price as well.

Dance Lessons – PeterJones (peterjones.us) – A – Peter was wonderful and taught my two-left-foot- husband and I to rhumba to our selected song. He was very helpful and choreographed our first dance with much patience. Our dancing was very well received and everyone was surprised at how well it was executed. He was also very accommodating about our difficult schedules.

lcherian Posted: Feb 17, 2006 05:52 PM+

lcherian MEMBER SINCE: 10/04 TOTAL POSTS : 2876 WEDDING DATE: Jun 24, 2006

Posted: Feb 17, 2006 05:52 PM