The Brides' Review - My Wonderful Irish/Italian Wedding on January 4th 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!

mrspalomino148 Posted: Feb 17, 2008 06:03 PM+

mrspalomino148 MEMBER SINCE: 4/07 TOTAL POSTS : 3761 WEDDING DATE: Jan 04, 2008

Posted: Feb 17, 2008 06:03 PM

My Wonderful Irish/Italian Wedding on January 4th 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before I signed up I would lurk A LOT, I grew up on LI but I thought because I wasn’t getting married in LI, that nobody would accept me. I was so entirely wrong; all of you girls were so sweet and welcomed me with open arms. I am so grateful for that, because I’m not sure what I would have done throughout all the tears, all the drama, and of course all the happiness! Nobody understands a bride better than a bride!!
They say if you have a stressful time planning the wedding and you get through it, your marriage will last a lifetime. I truly hope this is true! Weddings truly bring out the BEST and sadly the WORST in people. We went from having 156 people one week from the wedding, down to 81 people the week of. My DH lost his best man, and I lost 2 bridesmaids a week before the wedding. It really took a toll on us, but we got through it, and we leaned on each other for comfort. Its times like these you learn who should be in your life and who doesn’t deserve to be there. DH has been there for me through the best of times and the worst of times, and I know I can always count on him, and I hope to always look back on these moments, even if they were hard on us, but to see that we always came up on top TOGETHER, and we can always count on each other. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have met my soul mate so young, and to start our lives together!!
I also have to say, and yes I know it’s been said soo many times before, but yes little things will go wrong, DH forgot the unity candle and he made his best man drive the pastors car to go get it ((even though we had a limo out front haha)) and we forgot the long stem red roses for the rose ceremony, but I ripped out 2 roses from my b0-k and used those, and you know what those little things I won’t ever forget! They made our day OUR DAY and I wouldn’t take those things back for the world. The only thing that matters is you and DH are confessing your love for one another in the eyes of family, friends and most of all god! You’re making the ultimate bond that you will be there for one another through good times and bad times, so long as you both shall live! Remember your vows and really pay attention to your vows because that is what it really is ALL about!

LIW A+++++++++++++++
Love this site! Thank you Ron and Liz for creating such a wonderful site!
My 08er’s you girls rock! You were there from day one wishing me the best, to putting smiles on my face when I had tears running down my face. I don’t know any of you personally, but I feel like I made so many wonderful friends through this site, and I can’t wait to see each and every one of your weddings!! Thank you!!!!

Rehearsal- Panico’s A++++++
We are big fans of great food, and what is better than Italian food? DH and I used to go to a little pizza place in New Brunswick when we first started dating every time we would visit my brother at school, and it just so happened to be about 5 min from the church. We were going to just have a casual rehearsal dinner, but then we realized that Panico’s had an AMAZING restaurant across the street that was the exact atmosphere we were going for. We had the back room all to ourselves with personal waiters. We went in, totally under dressed and I kept apologizing but the Maître D kept telling me it was ok, and we spent a while trying to figure out what we wanted and in the price range we wanted. He was so great! We finally came to an agreement for the back room with 4 waiters, for 20 people, with Beer and Wine, salad, fresh homemade bread, either chicken, salmon, pasta, or eggplant parm to choose from, and a canolli or sorbet for dessert. The dinner was DELICIOUS! Our waiters were amazing, and we got a GREAT price, we couldn’t have asked for more! And now this will be our anniversary dinner place and we will stay at the hyatt across the street =)

Weather A+
Although it was a little chilly the sun was shining down on us that day! Although it was freezing when we got out of the church, my poor guests standing with their sparklers lol.. I’m also glad it was a little chilly because I got to wear my fur bolero!

Photo/video- Glenmar
Before the wedding- C
They kept giving us the run around when we wanted to meet with our photographer, and this drove me so insane! We showed up there numerous times where we thought we were meeting the photographer, but they ended up not showing. I really didn’t like that they weren’t very nice to me when I spent so much money in there, but what can ya do.

On the day- B So far
I had Eileen and Sue. They showed up on time, both my photographers. They really helped me get ready, and when my makeup artist’s kid spilt all the coffee she helped clean up the hotel room. DH LOVED Sue, she was soo sweet, and she really did take some great pictures, but I wish she had a little more ideas of her own. I still feel like so many of the pictures aren’t candid and look very “picturey” lol I know that’s not a word, but it works. I am still VERY upset that they left at 11:30 pm, when my reception wasn’t over till 12:30 am, and that was the hour we got the cigar roller in, and she only took 2 posed pictures over there… Overall I have to say we got a lot of great pictures!

Videographer- Glenmar- A so far!
Everyone thought he was so sweet, and he really did a great job on the day. I have to see the completed dvd though =) .. He even joked with me about saying “sh*t” when DH was having a hard time putting my ring on my finger haha, I totally forgot that DH had a little microphone on his lapel! Oh well, he said he will play music during that part ;)

Ceremony- Kirkpatrick Chapel A+
We had the best girl helping us for the rehearsal as well as the day of. She helped us with the music, and let us stay a little longer for pictures and everything. She even helped pick up the pew bows and such.
I was EARLY for our ceremony, and the photographers kept taking me out of the limo to take pictures and I kept getting upset that guests were seeing me lol, but we started on time it was perfect! We LOVED our church! It meant a lot for us to bring Dh’s pastor into our ceremony, and with the Kirkpatrick Chapel he was able to do the entire ceremony! It was a gorgeous church and has such a great history behind it! I loooved that the aisle was long 75 feet! Although it felt much longer that day when I was getting up to my DH!

Hair- Rose from Second Glance
She wouldn’t do a trial, but I had gone to her salon for a while and always went there for my updos so I knew she would do a great job. She came on time and did myself, my mom, and my one BM all in about 2 hours. She first set my hair, then did my BM, then my mom, then finished mine. She did a great job! My hair stayed up all night long!

Makeup- Taniasha from TBE artistry- D-
Although my makeup came out really nice, and she did a great job on my mom and BM, I have quite a number amount of bad things. First she shows up at my hotel with her baby, now I understand sometimes things happen, but I dunno seems very unprofessional to me, especially since she didn’t even warn me. But then her baby knocks down coffee EVERYWHERE, and ruined my soon to be mrs. Palomino sweatshirt and sweatpants. I also have a little more serious matter with her that I won’t discuss in an open forum that you can FM if you’d like.

Hotel for Guests-
Hilton Edison NJ- A
All of our guests were raving about the rooms and the service they got! They were VERY helpful, and we got a good price for my OOTers. They took sooo many trips to and from the reception hall to shuttle my guests as well! I was very thankful for this, because we didn’t want anybody drinking and driving.

Hotel for Us-
Hyatt- New Brunswick A+++
Gorgeous hotel! We got some great pictures of me walking down the huge flight of stairs to see DH for the first time! And the service was by far the best I have ever gotten. I swear the following day when we were leaving everybody knew we were the newlyweds and made sure we had everything we needed or wanted, and made sure someone came up immediately to bring down all of our luggage. The night before DH and I had 2 separate rooms and they were gorgeous! Although I was a little upset that he had a balcony and I didn’t! haha, but I had the bigger bathroom! And I was lucky to have that when I had soo many girls trying to get ready at once. They even let me have a very late check out and didn’t even charge me for it. The night of, we had gotten there presidential suite and it was gorgeous! When we arrived there was champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in the living room as well as our bedroom! The following morning we had breakfast in bed, and It was delicious, we also had a late checkout, and when we got to our car it was decorated with all just married stuff ((my MIL and her sister came and did it, it was adorable)) but they had tied cans to the exhaust and the bellhop actually went inside and got scissors to cut it off for us, because we wouldn’t be able to drive on highways with that. I felt so bad because he was in a suit and here he is on the dirty ground, he was the nicest and we made sure we took care of him as well. It was a great hotel and we can’t wait to go back!

Limo- NJLimobus A+++
They by far went above my expectations! He arrived early to pick us up, and was soo sweet when we were over 2 hours late ((totally had to skip one of our photo stops)) , he kept telling me not to worry to take our time. The escalade was gorgeous! And soo clean! When we got to the church he made sure I got out of the limo ok, and even helped bustle my dress!! Because my lovely MOH forgot to haha. He kept holding my train outside so that I didn’t get it dirty, and he even reminded me to walk slow down the aisle! The champagne toast was yummy and he got us to the RH pretty fast. At the end of the night we were only supposed to have a 10 passenger limo, but he came back with a stretch navigator!! We were soo happy because we ended up having to take back a lot more people at the end of the night than we thought lol. Only good things about this vendor, and I would totally recommend them fully!

DJ- Elite entertainment – 103.5
We had the wonderful Johnny Buds, and Anthony as our MC and Dj
They were amazing before and on that day! They both kept joking with me months before the wedding that I was way too nice of a bride and that they can’t wait for me to turn into the evil bride monster haha. I still remember the meeting with Anthony a week before the wedding when we gave him our final songs, I told him I was a little nervous that “Pour some sugar on me” for the cake cutting was going to be a little much for our crowd of people but he reassured me that nobody would even hear it except us! But then I told him our garter removal song “like a virgin” and he just giggled and said “ok now I understand you two” we really wanted to have a fun time at our wedding and funny songs like that are just us haha and he totally got it .. We had to change a lot of things about 2 days before the wedding and Anthony gave me his personal cell phone number and always picked up his phone and was very nice to me and was so understanding. I felt so bad changing all of our bridal party at the last minute but what can ya do? Lol .. He kept saying so long as I keep the same Groom its all good =).. On the day of, they both came up to me and kept saying how beautiful I looked and that I really am a nice bride haha. They were the sweetest guys, and they really played the best music. We had a lot of older people at the wedding, so a lot of the time it was just me and DH on the dance floor ((it was perfect for us, because we don’t mind being the center of attention and we had an amazing time!!)) They really did a great job and we couldn’t of had a better DJ!!

Flowers- Alans Florist B-
My MOH's father works there, and I got an AMAZING price. But that day, I didn't exactly like my b0-k but oh well. Also the center flower in the vase was missing from all the centerpieces at the hall. They were also supposed to put tulle all the way up the aisle and tie it off at the end, but yeah apparently they forgot? ha I dunno. I guess with them you get what you pay for.

Cigar Roller-
A++++
This was my special surprise for DH and he LOVED it! He still raves about how great it was .. The roller was excellent! Although he didn’t speak much English lol, but DH and him were speaking Spanish to eachother for a lot of the night so that was funny considering I had no idea DH spoke Spanish that well lol… All of our guests LOVED them, and they tasted great! Plus he gave us a few Cubans ((very nice touch!!))

Reception Hall- Grand Marquis A-
We had an amazing day!!! The Grand Marquis was a gorgeous hall with its piano, fireplace, dome ceiling, and frozen waterfalls! It was gorgeous and I love that we had our wedding there! We were supposed to have the wedding at the Valley Regency, but they had really messed up and lost our contract and actually had 2 weddings on our wedding day when they can only hold 1, it was ridiculous 6 months before the wedding we had to search for a new venue, but I’m soo glad that happened because we found a hall that was really US and was so much more gorgeous than I could ever imagine! The cocktail hour was amazing I hear, I didn’t get a chance to really eat besides the sushi lol, our ice sculptures were so cute, and DH and his guys loved the ice luge! My brother loved it a little too much haha he wound up drunk by the time the cocktail hour was over hah. I really loved that we went to the cocktail hour because we got to talk to a lot of guests, and we got to see how everything looked!
Loved our Matire D, Joe, and our Captain, they were very nice and made sure we always had what we wanted. I swear I would have a drink for about 2 seconds and the bartender would send someone over with a fresh one it was quite nice hah. I really felt like I was royalty haha.
Now my only bad review about them, which is why they wouldn’t have received an A++++, is our cakes. I was soooo upset when I saw this thing they called my cake. I asked and showed pictures to the baker of the cake I wanted. I wanted a white cake with red roses between the layers. The cake they showed was extremely yummy, but soo ugly I could have baked a better one and I mean that very literally. Also my grooms cake was supposed to be an Eagle helmet, with a yankee jersey, and towel that said 23, they gave him a sheet cake with sport stuff on it??!!! Urg still pisses me off so bad. I was really upset, but DH still said he liked it, although I think he’s just saying it so I don’t cry lol. And my other complaint, which I really can’t blame on them to much, is that my parents card was taken that night =(… This really upsets me because not only was there a lot of cash in there, but it was my Parents card on my wedding day and I can never get it back.. those waiters knew that was the head table and they knew it was where my mother was sitting and that just gives me an awful feeling that someone could be that cruel as to take it. But like I said I will never know if it was a worker or a guest, and I really hope to god it was not a guest. .. If only my mom turned around and put it in the card box =(

THe rest of the little odds and ends-

DIY-
DH and I did the invites, programs, and favors together. It was fun and I loved it!

Ebay-
I got an eagles garter for DH since its his favorite team and it was soo cute, he hung it up in his review mirror hah..

I also got my fur bolero from there- I looove it! Its so comfortable and so warm!

DOJ- My necklace which I LOVED was from whitehall jewelers. it was an aquamarine pendant in the center with diamonds surrounding, with a filagri (sp?) around the outer-edge, soo gorgeous. I also got diamond earrings that matched perfectly!

DH got me my diamond pendant bracelet from Whitehall as well without me knowing, it was part of my gift that morning!

Shoes- I got them at an online store, and I was able to return them if I didn't like them for free, but I liked the first ones I got!

Honestly though overall my wedding day might have had a few things go wrong, but it was OUR wedding day!! And I have to say that if the only thing that was messed up was a cake is still pretty darn good!! Lol .. I still get giddy when I say husband and he calls me wife =) I still giggle to myself when I type DH, and when I write Mayghen Palomino! It was the absolute best day and I wouldn’t change it for the world! I cannot wait for our wedding albums and my dvd so we can relive that day for the rest of our lives!!
To all you brides to be, may on your wedding day you smile as bright as I did, and may you be as happy as I was! I can’t even tell you how many guests came up to us and told us we were the happiest couple they have ever seen and I soo agree with them, nothing got me upset that day, and everything made me smile!! The 2 best parts of the day was when DH saw me for the first time and he cried! And when we were saying our vows and I cried, those moments are so dear to me, and those are the moments I will treasure for a lifetime!

If you have any questions feel free to FM me!

Love,
The new Mrs. Palomino!!!!