My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer ETA: VELVET STUDIOS pics!!!

Chateau La Mer (NY)-10+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What everyone else has written before in previous reviews is oh so true. I don’t know what I can really add here…CLM made our day so wonderful. They are SO organized. Everything was laid out exactly how I had asked. The service was insanely good. Anything we or a guest said was done immediately. For example, my sister/MOH wanted her silver flip-flops up in the bridal suite and within three minutes someone came done. All the guests raved about the food and service all night. We had worked with Lou up until the day of with some contact with Nick. Day of, Matt was our maitre’d and Monika was our bridal attendant. They were both so attentive and took care of everything. Matt kept the chocolate fountain going after the party was over since we never got to have anything too. I felt like everyone there was a friend or family member, not someone working there. They run an extremely tight ship! Nothing to worry about if you booked Chateau!

We used one of the included cakes in the package from Black Forest Bakery. It looked beautiful, was exactly what we wanted. One thing though, we asked for cannoli filling and aren’t quite sure that is what we got, it seemed like oreo but it was terrific anyway!

ETA: It was DEFINITELY cannoli...on our one year anniversary we got to enjoy it fully--still tasted wonderful!!!

Rehearsal Dinner: Pomodorino Restaurant Hauppauge (NY)- 9
The only reason I give Pomodorino a 9 is the service wasn’t too great, especially in the beginning of the night. I was the last one to get my drink after several people reminded them that the bride was missing a drink. They forgot to give one person dessert too and we had to remind them. Besides that, the food was great, set up was beautiful and we had a terrific rehearsal dinner.

Tuxes: Men’s Wearhouse (VA-Potomac Yards and NY-Lake Grove)- 9.5
Since we live in VA and were getting married in NY, we wanted to use a national store. We went to the Potomac Yard store on recommendation of a friend. Potomac Yard was pleasant and very easy to work with. The only problem we had with them is that I noticed a data entry error when my DH was getting fitted for his tux. They had the tuxes going to the wrong store in NY. They fixed it and called the GM to let them know that their receipt had the wrong store. I had heard mixed things about the Lake Grove store, but it was the closest to my parents’ house. They were WONDERFUL there. Everything was there by Thursday morning and the tuxes fit all the guys and FOG perfectly. My dad bought a tux and grandfather a suit there as well, both now want to go back there for future purchases. DH shoes felt a little tight (but they were the size he asked for) so they got him a new pair by Friday morning (we were there Thursday afternoon originally).

Makeup: Melinda/MAC (NY)- 10++
I was disappointed that Oksana was booked when I called her in November for our July wedding. My hairdresser referred me to Melinda (LIW vendor). I went for one trial with her and was sold immediately. She is such a sweetheart and a terrific makeup artist. She was on time and extremely professional and all the women looked great. The makeup stayed on wonderfully all day too.

Hair: Joann/John Anthony Salon (NY)- 10+++
I have followed Joann from many salons since I was a child. I wanted to use her for sentimental reasons mainly. I liked my trial with her but wasn’t completely in love with how I looked as I continued to look at the pictures and get feedback. Since I was so comfortable with her I was able to explain what I didn’t really like and I was THRILLED with the end product. I loved my hair and got numerous compliments on it all day. Joann and another stylist (forgot her name) worked on my mothers and all my bridesmaids’ hair as well. I loved them all!

Limos: All Star (NY) 10
We switched from M&V a little over two weeks before the wedding since we got really nervous with all the negative reviews. All Star was terrific! On time, clean cars, very professional….no complaints at all.

Note: M&V was fine when we cancelled, offered to give us a credit but two days before the wedding called me and angrily said I was responsible for the full amount. I told them they needed to talk to my father since I had never seen the contract. When my father talked to them they said we were responsible for the full amount since we didn’t cancel within 45 (I think) days, my dad said “our contract doesn’t say that” (since it didn’t), they said something like Oh well the new ones do….we lost our deposit but that was it. I was really upset by the phone call though and wasn’t what I needed when it was two days before the wedding.

Shuttles: ClassicTran (NY) 10
My dad really wanted to have shuttle buses transport our guests from the hotel to the reception. We had probably 75% out of town guests so this worked out really well. We had two 50 passenger (I think) buses. It turned out one bus was mainly our friends and the other was family and older relatives. ClassicTran was terrific, on time, friendly drivers (changed music to request of passengers). All our guests were really appreciative. We were sorry we didn’t ride back on the bus, heard some great stories…hope there are pictures.

Florist (Fran/Family Friend) 10+++
Fran is a friend of the family and only does the weddings of people she knows now so I won’t write much. I had a vision of what I wanted but wasn’t too picky. She took my ideas and enhanced them. She was amazing. I LOVED our flowers. Guests raved about them all night. She only had 15 minutes to set up at Chateau and did both the cocktail hour room (with little vases with sand, shells, candles), reception room (square vases with roses on top of a mirror with stones in our colors), and the dock (where we arrived by boat).

Photographer/Videographer:Velvet Studios (Gerry, Iris, Jamie, Julia) 10+++++
I was disappointed when I found out that Bob wasn’t going to be shooting our wedding, but that is where the disappointment ended! Gerry was our traditional photographer, Iris did photojournalist shots, Julia shot video, and Jamie was the assistant who also shot candid color shots). Now I haven’t seen pictures yet but all I can say is we had a BLAST with them all day, they were all on time, courteous, sooo nice, and I could sense that we were going to get good pictures from all they did…..more on this later when we get the proofs!

ETA: Draft of our album.....our proofs were amazing...check out the link at end of review!


UPDATE: Our proofs are amazing, about 1,000 of them. We were extremely pleased, one day I'll get to a scanner to post a few but we don't own one. Velvet ROCKS!

DJ: Crystal Blue DJ (Bob) 8.5
If I asked any of my guests to rate our DJ, they would probably give him a 10. The dance floor was packed all night and the guests RAVED about our music. We choose Crystal Blue since being from out of town, it was hard for us to have the opportunity to interview/hear many DJs and they had done my best friends’ wedding and really impressed me. Bob was great to work with, so nice and professional, great DJ/MC, read the crowd well, not intrusive. The reason I give them a 8.5 is we made a CD of the songs we wanted played for certain dances and a few extra of our favorite songs (around 10). I think he forgot about the CD at one point. Our dance songs were all correct but we had to remind him to play the other songs and he never got to them all. He started playing them all within the last hour and I wanted to dance to them all but then the cake and chocolate fountain came and things got a bit hectic. He also played one song from our do not play list. We were satisfied but a little disappointed since we worked hard to organize our song list and CD.

Hotel for Out of Town Guests/Morning After Brunch: Sheraton Hotel (NY)- 9
At the beginning, the Sheraton had some problems, telling our guests that there were no rooms in the block when there still were. People had problems booking rooms but the problems ended there. Just stay on them and follow up if you are using them. Sheraton was really great the weekend of the wedding. They picked my guests up at the airport, offered to drive them to the ceremony if they needed too, threw a terrific brunch, had champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries in our room.

Bridesmaids and MOB dress: Bridal Suite Bayshore (NY)- 7.5
I choose this store since they carried the dress I found for my BM in VA at the best price. When everyone went in to try on the dress and get measured in NOVEMBER, we received great service. We told them we needed the dresses in early since one of my sisters/BM lived in Germany and we would have to mail the dress there to be altered. We still don’t know what exactly happened since the dresses didn’t come in until three weeks before the wedding. They claim it was the manufacturer’s error. We suspect they may not have placed the order in November. We kept getting the run around about the date the dresses would come in. After complaining to the manager, they capped our alterations and did a terrific job in the end. My mother tried on one dress there and ordered it on the spot. She was not pleased with the attitude she received when asking to come in to see the dress but her dress also turned out beautifully.

Brides dress: Rosalins (VA)- 8.5
I went to Rosalins at the recommendation of two friends. I received terrific service and tried on so many dresses there. It came down to two dresses that were quite similar but one was double the price. The main different was the cheaper one did not have the halter strap I always wanted, so Rosalin said she could make it for me.
The dress came in a little later than expected but I only needed one fitting and they arrived in well in time for my family to bring it to NY a month before the wedding. The strap was PERFECT, beautiful, looked like it was made for the dress. The alterations were a bit pricey though (almost cost as much as the dress and all I needed was a hem, bustle, and strap made). Also my bustle did not stay up and needed to be pinned. In all fairness, as a former dancer, I really like to dance and it’s probably partly my own fault by the intensity of how I was dancing but I am not sure. Our maitre’d said to me bustles fall down all the time so who knows. I loved my dress though and would recommend this shop.

Travel Agent: Perfect Honeymoons (Jim Augerinos) (VA) 10+++++
Another recommendation from a friend (that is what happens when you are about the last couple to get married), this was one of the best decisions we made. We kept changing our mind about where we wanted to go on our honeymoon and decided we needed some help. We went in and talked (for two hours!) about what we each wanted in our honeymoon and Jim came up with four places that we might consider. We went home and decided on two possibilities and Jim came up with 2 packages for us to choose from. We ended up at:

Honeymoon: Little Dix Bay in Virgin Gorda, BVI 10++++++++++++++
Our honeymoon was everything we dreamed it would be and more….the resort was so beautiful, service was amazing, Jim read us sooo well. I am a lie on the beach all day kind of girl when my DH likes a little more activity. This place was perfect for us….we had a lot of beach time, but also snorkeled, sailed, hiked, had a private dinner on the beach, two trips to the amazing resort spa, and had some day trips (eg. the Baths, Nail Bay, some off resort lunch and dinner spots). I could go on and on, if anyone wants more information, email me at [email protected]

Pics here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOWTVo3ZtmrhY

Wedding Rings: Quest (VA) 10++++++++++++
My e-ring was bought from Mondera, an online vendor, and it was actually what I designed years ago, but I decided I wanted to deal with a “real” jeweler for our wedding rings and wanted something that would go well with my e-ring. We brought in our ideas and Pete helped us design beautiful rings at a terrific price, they also fixed my e-ring which had be resized with gold (and it’s platinum). Terrific service, terrific jewelry. I told DH he must buy all my jewelry from them and he started by buying me diamond earrings as a wedding present from them, also beautiful and complement my rings so nicely.

Invitations: Greetings and Salutations (VA) 9
We looked at a lot of invitations online and got samples sent, but decided we really wanted to go with a store since I couldn’t get a great idea of what I really wanted. We went to this vendor since they had the books of almost all the companies we were considering ordering invitations from. We went in one morning and about an hour later had placed our order. The proof was faxed promptly and we received our invitations in about 2 weeks from the day we first went in. The invitations looked beautiful and we were pleased. We received them in January and I didn’t start addressing them until March. At this time I noticed that about a third to almost half of the invitations were printed on the wrong side on the paper (silver border was on one side). I made a call to the store and had to bring the invitations in, but they fixed them promptly and mailed them directly to us so I wouldn’t have to go out again. We definitely didn’t get the best price on the invitations, but were pleased overall.

OTHER VENDORS USED/NOTES:
Patchogue Floral Fantasyland (veil, tiara, favor ribbons) NY- Loved this place, had so much variety and good prices
Favors: customglassware.com- Martini glass favors came out wonderfully, good service, no complaints
HCC garters-I wanted a garter with my DH’s band logo and it came out perfectly, everyone loved it.
Freeweddingcameras.com- good price, fast shipment, pictures were a little dark but good
DSW and Varones (shoes)- I had two pairs in case my feet hurt, I kept on my $15 DSW pair most of the day, feet felt great
Wedding Programs: weddingexpressions.com- Got paper from this site, DIY invites, for a great price
Hair pins: tradewindtiaras.com- I had a problem finding simple pins and this site was recommended by someone (I think on one of the knot boards), had exactly what I wanted

Email me ([email protected]) if you want more info or pics of something, I'll be on the boards but for a while need to concentrate on setting up our new house and school!


Some pics here too:
http://mimiandt.homelinux.com:8080/mt/

Honeymoon:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAOWTVo3ZtmrhY Velvet Studios Draft Album Layout

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Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

YAY... great review and Im so excited to hear good things abou CLM

Im sure your wedding was everything you dreamed it to be..CONGRATS

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Jean--beautiful once again. Great review. Does CLM still have their restaurant? I went there years ago but not since. Would love to try it.

Best of luck, love, and happiness to you and Kevin! It was so nice to meet him! Seems like a sweetie!

Oh--PS: you looked so elegant sitting on the chair at church...great posture. very obvious you were a dancer.

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

I'm glad everything went well. You looked beautiful! Congrats!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Great review!!!! Congrats again!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Great review! Congrats! I love your cake.

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Thanks for a great review!!

Congratulations!!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Congrats again!! Thanks for the review! Im glad your day went so well and that you didnt have to pay M&V the total amount due!!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Great review. I'm happy that everything went well. congrats

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Congrats Again and Thanks for sharing Jean I am so excited about CLM I cannot wait

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Great review!!! I am so happy to hear all of the great things about CLM! One question....did CLM have a problem with you using a family friend? did you have to take all liability?? Just wondering...b/c that's what I wanted to do but I was a little hesitant b/c of the insurance issue. Also, did you do the extra hour for viennese???

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Awesome review Jean- glad to hear everything went so well!!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

I'm so happy to hear that you had a beautiful wedding. I hope my review will be as positive as yours!!! Thanks for giving us a review!!!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Congratulations!!! You looked beautiful!!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

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Posted by julybride06

Great review!!! I am so happy to hear all of the great things about CLM! One question....did CLM have a problem with you using a family friend? did you have to take all liability?? Just wondering...b/c that's what I wanted to do but I was a little hesitant b/c of the insurance issue. Also, did you do the extra hour for viennese???

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No, you don't need insurance for the florist, it was totally fine, I was worried about it at first too, no problems at all. We didn't do the extra hour of viennese--we just did the chocolate fountain plus had the cookies/pastries on the table and cake. The viennese hour is amazing there but we thought that was enough after all the eating beforehand !

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

congrats great review i love the dress

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

congratulations and great review.

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Beautiful bride!

Thanks for the review...great to hear that your limos worked out for the best!

Many congratulations!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

Congratulations!!

Re: My Wedding Review-July 9, 2005, Chateau La Mer

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Posted by lanabean

Jean--beautiful once again. Great review. Does CLM still have their restaurant? I went there years ago but not since. Would love to try it.

Best of luck, love, and happiness to you and Kevin! It was so nice to meet him! Seems like a sweetie!

Oh--PS: you looked so elegant sitting on the chair at church...great posture. very obvious you were a dancer.

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Not sure about the restaurant, I think they just have it on special occasions (my parents went there for Easter this year). Thanks Lana!!!!