Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

First, a bit of “old married lady” advice for the brides-to-be: Your engagement should be a fun, happy, and exciting time in your life. Planning a wedding can be stressful, but don’t let the stress overshadow this wonderful time in your life. In the grand scheme of things, you’ll only be engaged a very short time, so enjoy every moment of it. Celebrate every chance you get, and don’t turn into Bridezilla over the details. Why? Because not 5 minutes after the wedding day is over, those details just don’t matter anymore. Your marriage, your friends, and your family do. Trust me, as your day gets closer and closer, I know that’s more easily said than done. Rest assured that, no matter how the details of your big day plan out, you will wind up married at the end of the day, with a whole married life ahead of you. As you agonize over all the little details that will enhance your big day, don’t lose sight of what’s really important – marrying the man you life and starting a new life together as husband and wife. I had my share of Bridezilla thoughts and momements and, in hindsight, I regret them. Panicking over what other people might wear to my wedding, what date my friend might bring, and how I could control every thing that every vendor did was not productive and took energy away from enjoying wedding planning. Overall, I really did enjoy planning my wedding and took every possible opportunity to celebrate my engagement with my DH. Now that it’s over, though, I wish I hadn’t sweated the small stuff nearly so much. I wish I hadn’t let my family and my ILs and my friends get to me so much… So, while no one can take the stress away and no one can stop you from worrying about the small stuff anyway (no one could have stopped me), at least do this – Every so often, take a step back and just be happy for what you have. Every so often, take a break from wedding planning and just enjoy being engaged. You know the old saying “Life’s a journey, not a destination.” Well, enjoy this part of the journey.

A little wedding day advice and reflection: First, and I wish I were kidding… If your RD is the night before your wedding, don’t get trashed at the after party. Waking up still half buzzed half hung over on the morning of your wedding and having to text one of your bridesmaids “please bring the biggest Gatorade you can find” is not the way to start a very wonderful day. I wouldn’t trade partying with my friends the night before for anything, though. I just wouldn’t have had any shots!

On a more serious note, though… Something (or more likely some things plural) will go wrong on your wedding day. Just go with the flow and don’t freak out. You’ll still wind up married at the end of the day, and that’s all that matters.

And on a slightly sappy note… I think that everyone feels differently on their wedding day, and more importantly, I think that’s okay. My wedding day (especially everything leading up to walking into the church) was an outer body experience. Nothing felt real. I didn’t feel nervous, I didn’t feel thrilled, and in fact, I didn’t feel much of anything. (No, by this time, it was not last night’s vodka cranberries still talking…) I just – well, was there. It felt like practice. It wasn’t bad – in fact, it was fun. I had all my girls and my mom with me getting ready at the salon and getting dressed at the house. We had a great time. I just didn’t feel how I thought I was going to feel right before my wedding. Some people say it doesn’t hit them or feel real until the night before or until the RD. For me, it didn’t feel real until I stepped out of the limo. Once I got out of the limo and my cousin started to play Song for the Bride on the bag pipes, everything rushed over me all at once. It was a thrilling and somewhat nerve wracking feeling of “Oh. My. God. I’m getting MARRIED!” From that instant on, I just lived the entire day in the moment. I am lucky to be someone who can say that the day did not go by in a blur. Sure, it went quickly, but I relished every single moment.

So, my final piece of advice: By the time your wedding day arrives, you will have spent a tremendous amount of time planning all the little details. Your planning ends on your wedding day. Let go of all the planning and let go of all the anxiety and stress and let your vendors take over. Give the details of the day over to them and just enjoy every moment.

Now, thank you for humoring me and on to my review!

I can’t bring myself to “grade” my vendors (and honestly how many +s can you really add to an A on here?) I did, however, give as detailed an account as I could of my experiences with each vendor so that you can have as much information on them as possible. If you have any specific questions about any of my vendors, feel free to FM me.

And, yes... I will eventually post pictures! For now, check out my album.

ETA - I posted my vendors in no particular order, but here's a list of them in the order I reviewed them in case you're looking for someone in particular:

Hair/Makeup - Annastasia Salon in Garden City
Church / Officiant - St. Thomas the Apostle in Garden City
Flowers: Pedestals
Reception Hall: The Metropolitan, Glen Cove
Band - Platinum Band Music
Calligraphy – Michele Clark
Gown, Veil, and Bride’s Alterations: Lillette’s Baldwin
BM Dresses and Alterations: Lillette’s Baldwin
Tuxedos: Bonaventure in Garden City
Limo: Royalty Franklin Square
Shoes: Sandy’s Shoes – Massapequa
Photography: Perceptions – Massapequa
Invitations: Invitations and Beyond in Oceanside
Rehearsal Dinner: Seventh Street Café in Garden City

Mother Nature:
The weather on our wedding day was GORGEOUS. It was bright, sunny, in the low 80s, with no humidity. There was even a slight breeze. I couldn’t have asked for better weather! While I was prepared for rain, I feared 100 degrees and high humidity!

Hair and Makeup - Annastasia Salon in Garden City

My mom and I have both been getting our hair cut by Maria Candi at Anastasia for years now. Maria is wonderful, and I highly recommend HER. I had my makeup done for my shower by Mary at Anastasia and was so pleased with her work. I have ZERO complaints about the quality of the hair / makeup done for my wedding day. All of my BMs, my mom, my MIL, and I got our hair and makeup done there. We all looked beautiful and all work was completed on schedule.

However, the salon was exceeding difficult to work with and dishonest about their pricing. We made the hair / makeup appointments a few months before the wedding and were told that makeup would be $55 per girl. This price was given to us by the makeup artist, in front of me, my mother, and the receptionist/manager (Lydia). At this time, I also made an appointment to have my hair and makeup done for my shower. The day of my shower, they charged me $70 for my makeup. I didn’t notice until later on, as I also had my hair done and wasn’t paying attention while I wrote out the check. As soon as I realized this (three weeks before my wedding), I called the salon to complain and to confirm that the price for my girls on my wedding day would be $55, as we were told when we made the appointments. I was told “No, makeup costs $70. We have a new makeup artist, Mary..” and blah, blah, blah. I had to inform the receptionist that Mary had been there a long time, had just done my makeup a few weeks earlier, and Mary herself was the one who gave me the price of $55 per girl for makeup for my wedding day when I made the appointments months earlier. The receptionist told me that she’d have to check with Mary and call me back. She called me back about 5 minutes before they closed that night. I was at the hospital visiting my father (a couple days after his open heart surgery), so my phone was off. The message said to call her back.

The next day, I called her back and she informed that, while they could do it for $55, they couldn’t do all the girls - 7 bridesmaids, plus me and the mothers was way too many people for makeup, but they could still do the hair. I was absolutely livid. I told her that they took the appointment knowing full well how many girls were to be done and that I expected them to honor the reservation that was made months earlier. This was what I was told: “Well, look, let me tell you what other brides do. They make all these appointments in advance and then only the bride and the mom wind up getting it done, anyway.” I had it at that moment. It was less than 3 weeks before my wedding, my father was in the hospital after emergency open-heart surgery, and this woman was telling me (in a snotty way) that they weren’t going to honor the appointment I made months earlier. Long story short, after much back and forth and attitude from the salon, they DID bring in another makeup artist to do the girls’ makeup and the receptionist DID apologize profusely for upsetting me.

I do not remember the name of the second makeup artist, but she did an amazing job on the BMs and my MIL. Their makeup was all airbrush. My mom and I had appointments with Mary, who did a lovely job. (Mary does not do airbrush. We had traditional makeup.) All of the girls, my MIL, and my mom were charged $55. I was charged $70 – for no other reason than that I was the bride. In fairness to the makeup artist, she did spend a lot more time on my makeup, though I should have been informed of the price ahead of time. Being that it was the morning of my wedding and my hair was more expensive, too, I didn’t notice what they charged me for makeup until after my honeymoon when I had time to think about it.

Overall, the quality of the hair and makeup was wonderful – everyone looked and felt beautiful. However, if you choose to book Anastasia, I would demand a written reservation that includes the price, signed by the manager. We had our appointments written on a card, but not the price. I should also note that the prices advertised on their web site were outdated and they didn’t seem to care.

Church and Officiant - St. Thomas the Apostle in West Hempstead

While I can’t really “rate” a church, I will give an honest assessment of my experiences with St. Thomas. I have been an active member of this parish my entire life, and my parents have been active parishioners for nearly 40 years. From day 1, we had nothing but problems booking our wedding and ironing out the details of the day. Phone calls almost always went unreturned. The receptionist (who I later learned was filling in for the regular receptionist who was out for medical reasons) was exceedingly rude and obnoxious. Here is a sampling of the problems we encountered with them. Please note that I notified the pastor of the church in writing of all of these complaints before my wedding date, so the church is fully aware of the issues.

- It took over 2 weeks of constant phone calls (never returned) to schedule an initial meeting with someone at the church to do the paperwork and schedule the wedding date. Even then, we had to go in person and leave a note in the deacon’s mailbox to get a phone call back to set up a time to meet.

- Phone calls about music, setting up the rehearsal, etc., etc. were all never returned. Because of this, I had to call the organist at his home to pick my wedding music over the phone, only two weeks before the wedding.

- Our Pre-Cana experience was absolutely horrendous. FM me for the name of the couple who led our pre-Cana, as I cannot at all recommend attending any pre-Cana that they run. (There is at least one other wonderful couple at this parish who do pre-Cana, but we could not attend their sessions due to our work schedules.) First, the husband hardly let his wife speak at all. Whenever she did say something, he interrupted her to correct or just tell her she was wrong. He made two anti-semitic comments during pre-Cana. He asked one girl (whose FH was not Catholic – note neither is mine), “Don’t you want to spend eternity with your fiancé? How can you do that if he won’t convert?” He kept repeating, “The doors to hell are wide and the doors to heaven are narrow” and intimated that we’d all be going to hell for our (honest) responses to the various (extremely outdated) moral hypotheticals we had to spend hours answering in front of the whole group. There were few (if any) exercises we worked on one-on-one with our fiancés. We were made to answer very personal questions in front of the entire group (14 couples). He lectured us for over 45 minutes about the evils of abortion in women who have been raped. Almost nothing he said had any direct relation to preparing for marriage. I am extremely jealous of the girls who had such wonderful experiences at pre-Cana. I know the other couples at St. Thomas who run pre-Cana sessions are far better than this couple. In fact, when another couple (actually my parents’ neighbors) learned of the problems we’d had, they came over to apologize personally for our terrible experience. They told me they had awful problems having to “train” with this couple who ran our pre-Cana and that they knew every complaint we had was valid and not exaggerated. I don’t want to post names here, so feel free to FM me for the names of the couple who ran our pre-Cana. FWIW, my brother, friend, and several others I know also had pre-Cana with this same couple at various times over the past 5 years. ALL of them had the very same complaints as we did.

- At the initial meeting with the deacon, we requested Msgr. Lisante to marry us and were told that wouldn’t be a problem, that a note of that had been made. About 2 months before our wedding, I hadn’t heard anything from the priest who was to marry us. I called his secretary to ask when we would come in to go over the details of our ceremony and just meet with the priest and was told that there was no record that Msgr. Lisante was performing our wedding ceremony. In fact, he had another wedding scheduled that evening and just couldn’t do it. (Twice we confirmed that we requested him to marry us – once with the deacon and once that week following when I called Msgr. Lisante’s assistant personally to make note of the date.) I was upset, but stated that we’d then like to ask Deacon Anthony to perform the ceremony. Once again, I was assured the church would take care of that, but I never heard back. I personally left messages at the church for him to call me, and finally had to track him down at his email address to ask if he would marry us. He said he also had another wedding that day and could not perform our ceremony. So here we were two months before our wedding with no priest or deacon to perform the ceremony.

- It was only after I wrote an extremely detailed, 5-page letter that my concerns were addressed. Even then, my phone calls regarding music, etc. continued to be ignored until less than 2 weeks before my wedding date.

Ultimately, Msgr. Lisante performed our ceremony, squeezing it in before his next wedding. Even with the time constraint, no part of our ceremony was rushed or compromised. He did, however, forget to do the hands ceremony after we exchanged rings (something we specifically requested AND brought the prayer with our other wedding materials to our rehearsal to be given to him). Our ceremony was the most beautiful, personal, memorable ceremony EVER. We are STILL getting compliments from everyone who attended that it was the most personal, beautiful ceremony they had ever attended. Kudos to Msgr. Lisante for going out of his way to make up to us all of the frustrations we experienced. (Unfortunately, my brother also got married at St. Thomas and experienced many of the same frustrations we did.)

Outside of the wedding planning, St. Thomas has been an amazing, open, and loving parish. They are very open to helping non-parishioners (e.g., non-parishioners can attend pre-Cana there, etc.) and (with the exception of my pre-Cana experience), welcoming and accepting of non-Catholics. I highly recommend Msgr. Lisante as an officiant, though he’s tough to get with his very busy schedule. (He has at least 1 TV show and travels often, in addition to his regular duties as pastor of St. Thomas.) He goes out of his way to make the ceremony personal and he is a wonderful, accepting person. He performs many inter-faith weddings outside of the church building as well.

Flowers - Pedestals (Nadia was our Florist)

Flowers:

Pedestals – our florist was Nadia
I know very little about flowers and had few ideas as to what I wanted in my flowers for my wedding day. Nadia had many great ideas and worked within our budget. She worked with my likes and dislikes and did not push any ideas I didn’t like on me. I was very worried that some of the flowers that were supposed to be blue (hydrangea / blue delphinium) would look purple, but Nadia assured me they wouldn’t. I was very pleased to see that they were most definitely blue and not purple! They were exactly as I asked!

My sample was gorgeous and the CPs the day of were exact replicas. Perfect! The day I approved my sample, we went over everything I wanted and Nadia threw in a few extras. When I received my price breakdown in the mail, I noticed that, while my final price was the same I was quoted, part of the charge was for cake flowers that I did not order. They were happy to remove the charge and reduce the price accordingly when I went to make my final payment. They were very easy to work with in this regard and very honest about their pricing.

The bouquets and boutonnieres were exactly as ordered and even prettier than I pictured. All of the flowers lasted the entire day. The bouquets were still fresh at midnight when the wedding was over!

Delivery:
The personals and CPs were all delivered on time to the correct location by polite delivery men. My only complaint with Pedestals is that my church flowers were delivered to the wrong church. It is admittedly confusing (I got married at St. Thomas’s chapel, not the main church, and the flowers were delivered to the main church). However, at every meeting I had with them, I reinforced that the wedding was at the chapel and made sure they had the address. As I was instructed, I faxed delivery directions to them a week before my wedding. The directions clearly stated the chapel’s address, directions, and said at least twice “Please do NOT confuse the chapel with the main church located on XXX Road.” Despite this, they still delivered the flowers to the wrong church. Another ceremony was going on right before mine at the main church, so I’m curious to know if they used my altar flowers. LOL! This would not be a big deal, except we were under great pressure to start our ceremony on time b/c our priest had to perform another wedding in NYC after ours. For whatever reason, the organist went with my cousin to pick up our flowers, so we were forced to start about 10 minutes late. (I arrived at the church and was sitting in the limo 15 minutes early. That was a looooong 25 minutes I waited!)

Given that I had given VERY specific and detailed instructions, I believe the delivery error was 100% Pedestals’ fault. As soon as our florist (Nadia, also one of the managers at Pedestals) learned what happened, she called to apologize. She was very sincere and also wanted to make sure that everything else was fine with our wedding day. To make up for the problem, she told us to return around the holidays and she would make us a free arrangement. I was very happy that they apologized and offered to make it up to us. I would still recommend Pedestals highly (my flowers were amazing). If you have a confusing location, however, be sure to give your florist a call a day or two in advance to remind her to make sure the delivery guys know where to go and follow your directions.

Reception Hall - The Metropolitan in Glen Cove (Pan was our Banquet Manager)

I simply cannot say enough good things about The Metropolitan. I have not one complaint about my entire experience there. The reception was literally flawless. From the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left, we and our guests were treated like royalty. Every single detail I asked for was executed flawlessly and beautifully. They did everything I asked, exactly as I requested it, without anyone needing to remind them or stay on top of them.

The food was outstanding. Our guests raved about it – and most of them are extremely picky! The CH food was plentiful and delicious. I highly recommend the mashed potato bar. They told me initially that it normally isn’t too popular, but they nearly ran out of potatoes at mine because everyone was frequenting it! My friends and family still talk about it. ? All of the food, from the CH to the reception food to the cake was delicious! At the reception, we were offered a plate with smaller portions of all the entrée choices so we could sample them all. They were all delicious.

We got the cake that was included in the wedding package. I designed it myself (I’m still not sure what I was thinking, but they executed it exactly as I asked). It was absolutely delicious. Our cake was chocolate with both chocolate mousse and canoli fillings. YUM!!

The service was outstanding. The wait staff was extremely attentive and professional. We had our own personal waitress who catered to our every need. We never had to look for her to ask for anything. She was always on hand, without being in our face or overbearing at all. Our maitre’d (I believe her name was Jeanine) was phenomenal as well. She made sure we had everything we needed or wanted and made sure that our guests were happy. She was on top of every little detail and made sure nothing went wrong. She went above and beyond for sure. One of my friends relies on public transportation and had to leave the hall a little early. She asked the maitre’d if she had a number for a cab. The maitre’d made all of the cab arrangements for her AND even went to find her favor so she could take it with her. (Our favors were to be displayed by the exit after dinner was served.) She also packed up her dinner (since she had to leave before dinner was served) and sent her home with the doggy bag. When I returned from my honeymoon, this friend called and let me know all of this. She said she was so impressed with how the woman handled the situation and wanted to let me know how truly outstanding the service was.

Band - Platinum Band Music

Our band Platinum (www.platinumbandmusic.com) was absolutely AMAZING! They are based out of NJ, but do weddings on LI. They were great to deal with from start to finish and did an exceptional job at the wedding. Everyone is still raving about them! I only have good things to say about them and their band leader, Angel.

We had 2 musicians at our CH and a 9-piece band for the wedding. They were just wonderful and kept the dance floor packed all night. They were a total class act.

Calligraphy - Michele Clark

Michele is one of my favorite vendors. She is responsive, honest, and a dream to work with. I dealt with her entirely via email and mail, though certainly you can contact her by phone or in person. She always promptly responded to all my emails and let me know if she was ever going to be out of town and away from her email. She did absolutely amazing work at a very reasonable price. We were so impressed with the work she did on our invitations that we also had her do our favor tags and place cards. She completed all work for us on time (if not early). She even squeezed in our favor tags and place cards right before her vacation. I was supposed to send them to her a week earlier, but my place cards were on backorder, so I had to go buy new ones. I let her know as soon as possible and she couldn’t have been nicer about it.

I HIGHLY recommend Michele Clark for calligraphy.

Bridal Gown, Veil, and Alterations - Lillette's in Baldwin

I loathed dress shopping – until, at the urging of other LIW brides, I went to Lillettes. The women in the store were very helpful and extremely good at finding dresses that have what you really want AND will flatter your body type. I highly recommend going in there, telling them what you want, trying on some dresses, and then letting the saleswoman pull some dresses for you to try on. This is how I found my gown. I hated it on the hanger, but tried it on to humor the saleswoman. I LOVED it and most of the dresses she pulled for me. Stephanie halped me find my gown, but I don’t believe she works there anymore. Pat helped me pick out my veil and was extremely nice and helpful. No one there was pushy or gave us a “hard sell.” No one tried to give us the song and dance of “you MUST order now b/c the wedding is only 7 months away!” like every other bridal store did. They were very polite, patient, and helpful. Make your appointments in advance because they fill up quickly – especially on weekends and evenings.

My gown came in on time (just when they said it would) in perfect condition. I was appropriately measured and sized, so my gown needed only minimal alterations – hem, bustle, stays for my bra, and having the straps removed. I purchased my slip from Lillette’s (man, those things are expensive) and had the alterations done there. I thought the alterations were expensive, but I had a very elaborate, 7-point French bustle. They also altered my veil (2 veils I had put together) so that the cathedral length portion of the veil was detachable. Francisca was my seamstress and I highly recommend requesting her for alterations if you get your gown through Lillette’s. I had only 2 fittings, as all of my alterations were perfect the first time around. Francisca was very nice, did very good work, and very patiently showed my mother and MOH how to tie the corset back of my gown and how to do the bustle.

The only complaint I have is that, at the second fitting, we had to wait over 30 minutes. We were told that it was my fault b/c I was 5 minutes late. (I called ahead to say I was running late) The store claims the seamstress took another bride ahead of me because I was late. I am still pretty sure that they were running late. I don’t know too many brides who show up 55 minutes early for their fitting. :wink: I probably took it harder than I should have, as my dad had just gotten home from the hospital after his open-heart surgery and it was just weeks before my wedding. They apologized for the wait and in the grand scheme of things, most places keep you waiting.

One complaint I have about my DRESS itself (Maggie Sottero’s en vogue) is that the pick up pleats ripped TWICE before we even got to the CH. Outside the church, someone stepped on the dress and one of the pleats tore. About 9” of fabric was the dragging on the floor (and is visible in some of the pics outside the church). Thank goodness my awesome photographers had TONS of safety pins on hand and my MOH is super-crafty. My MOH got down on her knees in the grass and pinned my dress up exactly the way it was supposed to look. After doing the bustle at the RH, my DH stepped on the back of my dress and another pleat tore. Again, our photographers and my MOH came to the rescue with some expert safety pinning. The pins held all night.

Just remember – things WILL go wrong at your wedding (and everyone and their date will step on your gown at some point!). Don’t let the little things get to you – just enjoy the day!

Bridesmaid Dresses and Alterations - Lillette's in Baldwin

My girls wore a Bill Levkoff dress that I purchased at Lillette’s. The day that we showed up for our BM dress appointment, they were apparently one salesperson short. There was no one to help us except for a young (teenage girl) who worked there as an assistant. She was very polite, but really only pulled dresses for us. We had to be very specific about what we wanted and she was good at finding what we described. I am hoping that this was just an off day for them, as the service when I came for my gown was wonderful. The owner was running around back and forth and did stop in to give suggestions and help as much as she could.

Ultimately, we found the perfect dress and picked the perfect color. My girls all ordered through Lillette’s, including my out of state girls. One drawback to Lillette’s is that they will not have the dresses shipped somewhere other than their store, nor do they take credit cards. My OOS girls were able to pay by check. I picked up the dresses and shipped them to them. One girl who ordered out of state must have been measured improperly because her dress came in HUGE. All of the other girls were appropriately sized. Most dresses needed only a hem. In the grand scheme of things my BM dresses were ordered pretty late (5 months or so beforehand). We were not charged a rush and the dresses arrived on time.

Two of my OOS girls had their dresses altered out of state. Everyone else had Lillette’s do the alterations. It was noticeable to me that the alteration job done by Lillette’s was much, much better than the jobs the OOS girls had done. (Don’t get me wrong, everyone looked beautiful, but Lillette’s work was higher quality.) My MOH had to have some major alterations done to her gown – not due to the fault of Lillette’s in measure her. She is extremely short-waisted, short, and rather busty, so the top of her dress needed extensive work. I believe she required 3fittings to get it right. The first round of work done was rather poor; however, it was noticed immediately at the next fitting by the seamstresses and fixed by the last fitting. Ultimately, the dress was altered perfectly and they did not charge her above the cap for the work that was done.

Tuxedos - Bonaventure in Garden City

I highly recommend Bonaventure in Garden City for tuxedos. Both of my brothers and my cousins have all used them for their weddings and rave about them. Their prices are fair and their service is excellent. Everyone was properly measured. They do alterations on site, too. This means, the guys try on their tux when they pick it up, and if there are any problems, it is altered right there while they wait. This is great if, like us, you have OOS groomsmen (or fathers) whose phoned-in measurements may be less than perfect. We had a large wedding aprty and wound up getting DH’s tux for free, my FIL’s tux for free, and my father’s tux half price. Everyone looked great!

I recommend making the guys in the bridal party rent tux shoes for the day. We had them get shoes, but didn’t care what style. At least this way, though, they all have the shiny shoes on (which helps for uniformity).

Limo - Royalty in Franklin Squre (Drivers both named Chris)

Royalty was great for us. They easily had the best prices around and we were very pleased with our package and the service. Be sure the mention LIW when you book for an additional discount! I have read mixed reviews on LIW about Royalty, but we had a wonderful experience with them. I highly recommend our drivers, too, and would suggest you ask for them by name. Both were named Chris.

Originally, our package included the authentic Excalibur for me and DH and a stretch Cadillac SUV for the bridal party. Early that morning, Royalty called to tell us that the engine in the Excalibur seized. Certainly this was not their fault, and I am very happy that (1) they checked the car early enough so that it didn’t make us late or cause more problems and (2) they called to get our preference instead of showing up with something else. We were offered our choice of any car they had in its place. We opted for a stretch Mercedes for us instead and the BP still got their stretch SUV. Like I said earlier, things will go wrong, but in the grand scheme of things, they are usually very minor things. It was not the company’s fault that the car broke down, and I am very pleased with the way that the company handled it. I would recommend Royalty based on our experiences with them.

Shoes - Sandy's Shoes in Massapequa

Some of my BMs, my mother, and I all got our shoes at Sandy’s. They had a decent selection and nice customer service. They didn’t have the shoes I wanted in my size in stock, and I had my fitting in just a few days. They gave me a pair of the shoes a half size smaller to take to my fitting and just let me bring them back when I picked up the shoes in my size!

My mom and BMs had their shoes dyed there and they did a great job.

While my shoes were beautiful, they were NOT comfortable enough. This is in no way a reflection on this shoe store at all. It’s more of a PSA – Seriously, ladies, get yourself some REALLY comfy shoes for your wedding day!

Also, Sandy's has a small selection of very pretty day of jewelry for anyone who is looking!

Photography - Perceptions in Massapequa (Lisa and Jose were our photographers)

Perceptions shot my brother’s wedding in 2003, and I always adored their pictures. Booking with them was an easy choice for us. We liked their work better than the other photographers we looked at AND we could be confident that the service would be great – b/c my brother and SIL were very happy with their proofs, album, etc.

Anthony, the owner, is wonderful to work with and was very patient with us when we were looking at Perceptions. He stayed with us for a very long time as we were choosing our photographers, too, letting go through the albums over and over again as we made our very difficult decision. (BTW, if you can, book Anthony for your date. He was booked for ours, but we’d have used him in an instant if we could! His photos are amazing!)

Our photographers (Lisa and Jose) and their assistant were a dream to work with on our wedding day. They were on time, professional, polite, and fun to be around. They were incredibly unobtrusive the entire day, yet still got all the shots and portraits we asked for. I did give them a list of portraits to take and they were very careful to make sure all were taken.

When my dress tore, they stepped up big time by having a huge bag of safety pins on hand! They offered it to us immediately so that my MOH could fix our gowns.

I’m very happy with my proofs, too, and excited to make our album now. (We go for our consult in December.) Choosing a photographer is a very personal decision, but I highly recommend Perceptions. They have been wonderful for us and were also wonderful for my brother. I recommended them to a family friend who has also booked them for her wedding in ’08. I hope she is as happy as we were with them!

Invitations - Invitations and Beyond in Oceanside

This is another one of my FAVORITE vendors! We ordered my invitations through them and were so impressed with them that I also went back to order my RD invites through them, too. My mom loved them so much that she went there for my shower invites. Next time I need invitations for something, this will be the first place I go!

They had a huge selection of wedding invitations in every style and price range. Their prices were very good (discounted from other stores for sure) and the quality of their work was great. It was very helpful for me to actually go to a store and actually see and touch the samples. Additionally, the owner and the staff were so helpful with choices in wording, styles, and etiquette suggestions. They were incredibly knowledgeable and well-informed, without being pushy or “know-it-alls.” They were patient with my indecision and my need to pour over the books for what seemed like forever, too! They were a total pleasure to deal with!

All work was completed on time without error. Our proofs were perfect and without error, as were the invites we received.

Also, every time I went in there, they remembered me and were so friendly. That made me feel so much better than just dealing with a web site.

I highly recommend Invitations and Beyond for wedding invites – or for invites for any occasion. Their work is great, their selection is huge, and their service is wonderful!

Rehearsal Dinner - Seventh Street Cafe in Garden City

The year before my wedding (before I was even engaged), my brothers and I threw an anniversary party for my parents at the Seventh Street Café.

The food was delicious and the service was amazing. Knowing what a great party they throw made the decision to book them for our RD easy. They have several packages available, so they can fit just about any budget.

The food and service were outstanding. They set up the room exactly as we asked.

Parties are held in a private room that holds at least up to 50 or 60 people comfortably, I would think. The minimum for a private party (I believe) is 25 people. One thing you may want to know is that their party room is actually downstairs on the basement level, which means that it does not have any windows. This didn’t bother me, as the room is really beautiful, but it might be something that others would take into consideration.

I did my best to evaluate all of my major vendors… If you think I’ve forgotten someone, please let me know!

PICTURES ARE COMING!!

Re: Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

What a thoroughly enjoyable review! Can't wait for pics!

Re: Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

Holy mother of reviews! Great job Kara! Add your pix soon! You were toooooooo gorgeous to not show off

and I totally agree with you 100% on what you said about rating vendors and church! HAH! [but yes of course I did grade mine, just not with ++++++s bc thats rediculous]

Beautiful job. I know what a total PITA it is so I give you HUUUGE credit! CONGRATS AGAIN to you and Todd! WOOOOOOO!

Re: Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

awesome review! i totally agree with you!! congrats.

Re: Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

Wow, I thought my review was long Nice detailed review. Can't wait to you add pics.

Re: Our August 11, 2007 Wedding Review: The Metropolitan, Perceptions, Michele Clark, Invitations and Beyond, Platinum Band Music, Lillette's, Royalty, and MORE!

Great advice and review Kara. You looked great.