Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

First, I would like to thank Ron and Liz for creating this site. I could not have planned our wedding without this site and I am thankful for all of the advice I have received during my time here. I've had the honor of meeting some of you ladies and I am thankful for all of the support I've received throughout the planning process. You ladies are the best!

For the most part, everything worked out on our wedding day. Mother Nature didn't exactly cooperate though...it was pouring rain the whole day, but I didn't let that dampen the most important day of my life. I finally married the love of my life and I couldn't be happier!

Now for the review...

Make-Up: Jacqueline Nicole: 10+

What can I say that hasn’t been said before? Jacqueline Nicole is amazing! She does great work and she is so nice to talk to and be around. Kudos to her!

Hair: Colleen (Formerly of Nubest now works out of her home): 10+

Colleen does my sister’s hair and I knew from the get go that I wanted her to do my hair the day of my wedding. I went to one trial with her about six weeks prior to my wedding and I loved how she did my hair. I was worried that it wasn’t going to be long enough for an updo, but Colleen worked her magic and I loved the outcome. She also did my mom’s hair, my sister’s and my niece as well as doing my mom’s and my sister’s make up and they were all very pleased as well.

My Gown: Bridal Reflections-Massapequa: 9

I know there have been some mixed reviews about Bridal Reflections lately, but overall, I had a good experience with them. When I began looking for my gown, I went to Bridal Reflections twice and was treated really well both times. The first time Jennifer assisted me and the second time (when I actually found “the one”) Kathy assisted me and both of them were really nice. Zizi was my seamstress and she was amazing. She did a really good job on all of my alterations especially given the fact that I had gained weight and my gown had to be taken out. They lose a point because sometimes the women on the phone and at the front desk aren’t always the most pleasant people to deal with.

Bridesmaids Gowns: Phyllis Limmer from gownfind.com: 7

It’s very hard for me to say anything bad about Phyllis because she’s a really nice lady; however, I wasn’t too happy about certain things. I found Phyllis through recommendations from other brides on this site and went with her because she had the best price for the BM gown that I chose and was also very reasonable as far as her prices for alterations. There were a few times when I called and left messages for her and I would never hear back from her and had to continuously call her until I got her on the phone. We ordered Euro Pink Bill Levkoff gowns from her at the end of October and they arrived the beginning of February, so no complaints there. When the gowns arrived, she was great about shipping one of them to me (for my out of town BM) and there were no problems with the gown at that point, however, when the rest of the BMs went for their first fittings in May, two of the skirts (the gowns were two-piece) did not match the top half of the gown. While this is not her fault, I just felt as if she should have looked at the gowns a little closer when they arrived in February. Everything worked out in the end, but this was one piece of stress that I didn’t need 6 weeks before the wedding. She also did the alterations on my mother’s gown and when we went to pick it up, my mom tried it on and the pins were still in it from our first visit…she hadn’t taken the gown in at all so we had to wait there while she did it. The day of the wedding, my day of coordinator had to pin it because it fell apart. Again, not the end of the world, but I certainly didn’t need to worry on the day of my wedding that my mother’s gown was falling apart.

Church: St. Vincent De Paul, Elmont: 5

While the ceremony and music were really beautiful, the headaches we endured prior to the wedding have left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not even going to get into it here, but if any of you are getting married here and have specific questions, please feel free to FM me.

Limos: Royalty: 10

Royalty was great. It was pouring rain on our wedding day and both limo drivers showed up extra early so we didn’t need to worry about traffic or any other issues due to the weather. I can’t remember either driver’s name, but they were both really good. We had an Escalade come to my sister’s house to pick up myself, my parents, my FG and RB, my MOH and my 4 BMs. The driver was so patient with us and walked each one of us out of the house with a golf umbrella so we wouldn’t get soaked and then did the same when we arrived at church and it was still raining. The other limo was an 8 passenger (I think) Cadillac and that picked up the guys from our apartment. Again, they were early and got us everywhere without getting soaked. We also went over our time limit by 15 minutes and they didn’t charge us. At the end of the wedding, they had another limo pick us up (again, I can’t remember the driver’s name) and bring us back to our apartment. We had so much stuff to bring upstairs and the driver was so nice and helped us with everything.

Photographer/Video: Fine Art: 10 for day of-still waiting for the proofs

I’m still waiting for my proofs, so I’ll make any changes once I receive them. We had Frank and Luisa as our photographers and they were really great. They arrived to my sister’s house right on time and started snapping away. I can’t wait to see the pics! Once I have them, I’ll modify my score if necessary. We also used them for video though I can’t remember the videographer’s name. He was very unobtrusive…another plus!

Flowers: John from Flower Michele: 10+++++++++++++++++++++++

John was one of my favorite vendors throughout the whole planning process. We had met with two other florists, but as soon as we met John, we knew we would book with him. He is so personable. Every time Joe and I went to meet with him, we always wound up being there a long time because we ended up chatting so much. I had high expectations and John did not disappoint me. Our flowers were beautiful and we’ve received so many compliments since the wedding. Everything arrived early as well.

DJ: Bravura: 7

We had a few issues, although as I stated earlier, none that our guests would have noticed.

Hotel for OOT Guests: Holiday Inn Ronkonkoma: 8

We dealt with Geena when securing the hotel block for our out of town guests. She was pleasant to deal with and always responded promptly if we had any questions or concerns. My one gripe was when we were getting ready to mail out our invitations we called them to have direction cards sent to us and they told us they could only send us about 50 of them when we needed over 100. It wasn’t a big deal as I was able to make copies at work, but it was a little annoying. Another issue was with the front desk. There seemed to be a communication gap regarding the shuttle service from the hotel to Villa Lombardi’s. Both my DH and Jodi confirmed the arrangements about a week before the wedding, (there were to be two shuttles one at 6:45 for parents and close relatives who were needed at Villa Lombardi’s for early pictures and another at 7:45 for any remaining guests), but no one at the front desk knew this. It didn’t cause any problems because everyone (for the most part) showed up on time, I just thought the front desk should have been made aware of this.

Invitations: Laura from LA Productions:10+

After a lot of research, we wound up finding a beautiful Encore invitation and ordered through Laura as she gave us the best price. Laura is a doll to work with. She has such good attention to detail and the invitations came out stunning. When there was a problem with the assembling of the invitations, Laura stepped in and sent them back to Encore and had them assemble them at no extra charge. We were so thankful for this. As I said before, the invitations were stunning and we received so many compliments from our family and friends.

Calligraphy: Artistic Addressing 10+

I found Artistic Addressing through Jodi from Simplicity Planning. Kathy was very easy to work with and matched the font of the calligraphy perfectly to our wedding invitations. Another plus, we sent our envelopes to her on a Monday and they were done by Friday. We also received many compliments on the calligraphy.

Place cards/Table Numbers: eiffelprintdesign.com: 10+

Thanks to Bunnymonkey, I found Brittany from Eiffel Print Design. She’s located in Seattle, but we were able to do everything via e-mail. I e-mailed her a picture of our invitation and she was able to find paper that matched perfectly to use for our Place cards and Table Numbers. She used computer calligraphy on the place cards and they came out beautiful. Her prices were reasonable as well and everything was completed within a week

Whiteaisle.com:10

I ordered a monogrammed ring pillow from here. No problems whatsoever with the ordering process and the pillow looked really beautiful with our monogram and wedding date on it.

Amysbridalaccessories.com:10

I ordered my jewelry and my BMs jewelry from here. Ordering was very easy and I received everything in a little over a week.

Wedding Rings: Elsa’s: 10+

We worked with Elsa and had both of our wedding rings custom made. They both came out stunning and we were very pleased with everything.

Groom’s Cake: Jackie’s Cake Boutique (www.jackiescakeboutique.com):10+

Jackie was another one of my favorite vendors to work with. I found her website from another bride on theknot.com and as soon as I saw her work, I knew I wanted her to make DH’s groom’s cake. One of my BMs and I met with her back in October to view some of her work and also taste her cakes. She’s so sweet and her cakes are delicious! She’s a bit on the pricey side (DH will kill me if he ever finds out how much I paid for his cake!) but well worth it. She made a New York Jets stadium cake and it looked and tasted amazing! DH loved it and I’m so happy I did this for him.

Reception: Villa Lombardi’s: 10+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Villa Lombardi’s was great! I can’t say enough good things about them. The food is outstanding as is the service. They treated Joe and I and all of our guests wonderfully. Our drinks were always full and they made sure we didn’t want for anything. Kathy was our Maitre’D and she was great. Everything ran very smoothly and we didn’t have to worry about a thing. Future Villa brides have nothing to worry about!

I think that's all for now. If I left anything out, I'll add it later on. I promise I'll post some pics soon. If anyone has any questions, please FM me.

Here's a link to my album...there's only 3 pics, but I'll try to add more soon.
Album ]

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congrats Donna!!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

COngrats! Great review!! What is what DJs sometimes? (ours had similar type problems)...can't wait for pics!!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Great review!!! Can't wait to see pics!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congratulations!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to seeing pictures. I can understand your DJ issues....I had a very similar experience with them.

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Great review Donna!!! COngratulations - can't wait to see pics!!!!

Welcome back!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

so happy to hear a Villa.

Congrats!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Great news!!! Love the write up on Jodi! She is the BEST!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congrats! Great review!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congrats can't waiti to see pics

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

congrats Donna! Fantastic review!

Can't wait to see pics!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Great review! I can't wait to see pictures...many congratulations!

ETA: So pretty! Everything looked great...congrats!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

HI!
Congrats!!!

I can't wait to see your pics from Fine Art. Frank did my engagment pics and did an excellent job...

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congratulations Terrific review! Looking forward to seeing some pics.

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Great review and congrats!
I cant wait to see some pics of you two.

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Wonderful review! Can't wait to see pics. Congratulations!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

congrats great review

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congrats!!!!!

ETA: you looked GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Our July 8th Villa Lombardi's Wedding Review!

Congrats! Cant wait to see pics!!