Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

Our June 27, 2009 Wedding: The Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals…

Hello all, I can’t believe it has come time for me to write my review! I hope you find this information to be helpful!

Dress: Demetrios Bridal Salon in Macy’s Manhasset- A+
I already knew the dress I wanted to try on, but the staff is extremely polite and helpful and the dress and alterations were all on time. He makes beautiful dresses; amazing quality!


Veil and headpiece: Denise Leli- A-
Denise makes headpieces and combs to your specifications based on numerous samples with Swarovski crystals. The pieces are stunning; just make sure you leave yourself enough time as it can be difficult to get in touch.

Garter: Mygarter.com A+
They customize, are reasonable and ship super fast

Jewelry: Good Old Gold, Massapequa A++++
Their knowledge of diamonds and jewelry in general is amazing and the quality is beautiful!


Church: St. Barnabas, Bellmore A
St. Barnabas was able to accommodate us after there was a last minute conflict at my home parish! The church is beautiful with high ceilings and details and a long aisle! The deacon from my parish, Deacon Bob O’Donovan was amazing and we are so grateful that he came to St. Barnabas for our wedding!
Rehearsal Dinner: Per Un Angelo, Jones Beach Hotel, Wantagh A-
The food was great but they promised us a larger area in the back of the restaurant and when we showed up, they put us in the smaller room and they did not have enough chairs set up. After that though the service was great!
Bridal Shower: Fox Hollow, Woodbury A++++++++++++++++++
I was totally surprised so props to my mom, MOH, DH and bridal party! The atmosphere was absolutely beautiful, food was raved about way after the shower and service was impeccable!
Flowers: Pedestals, Garden City Park B
While people raved about our centerpieces and bouquets, we went through a lot of aggravation, mainly due to miscommunication and in the end our cp and mantle piece were not what we had pictured. The cp were close, the mantle was completely different than we had described. My bouquet was amazing and all other flowers were done nicely so I guess see for yourself ?



Hair- Michael at Metromodes A+++++++++++++++++++
Michael is my regular stylist and did one perfect trial and replicated it the day of! It was like a piece of artwork ?
Makeup- Phyllis from Bobby Brown, Walt Whitman Mall A+
Phyllis did several trials with me and came to my house day of just for my makeup! She is perfect if you are looking for natural, long-lasting makeup.
Shoes- Sandy’s Shoes Massapequa A
Their selection, especially in the new store (in same strip) is huge and now is nicely spaced out! The staff (except Andrea) can be a little snippy and opinionated but the selection is worth the attitude.

Reception- The Woodlands A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We both fell in love with The Woodlands because it is only one wedding at a time, is a beautifully elegant mansion and it feels like it is truly yours for the day. Our banquet coordinator Nicole W. is amazing and truly went above and beyond. Every detail imaginable was attended to without hesitation. We received so many compliments on the cocktail hour food and dinner!


Music- Bravura A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bravura is an amazing! They offer a true hybrid experience (live music and DJ seamlessly combined) We had the live jazz trio inside at the cocktail hour, steel drums outside and DJ at the reception enhanced with drums and keyboard. The singer Paul sang our wedding song for our first dance and my DHs dance with my MIL. He also sang some songs during dinner (some we requested and some within the genre we requested). They were absolutely fabulous! They offer just DJ with MC as well and other options!

Cake and pastries: Franceso’s Bakery, Hicksville A++++++++++++++++++++
Everything from here was delicious! We met with the owner himself at our tasting and I showed him a picture of the detailing I liked and he replicated it if not made it even more beautiful on our cake! We did a modified dessert spread with our chocolate fountain so we got miniature pastries from here that were put out in the room with the chocolate fountain and stuff to dip in the fountain.



Invitations and Favors- Casa della Bomboniera A++++++++++++++++
If you are willing to make the trek to SI they have a wonderful selection and quality of invitations and favors and are pleasant to work with!
Place card holders- “Be Seated” from AmericanBridal.com A++++++++++++++
These came in sets of four Victorian style chairs with votives. There were four varieties of chairs. The only downside was placecards were not included so we had to find ones that went with them (I just did basic ivory ones with an ivory boarder that you could type on)


Menus-DIY I bought pearlescent paper from paperandmore.com (they DO NOT print well in regular printers) I had to have someone print it out at work for me
I bought the cardstock version, perhaps regular paper would be better or you could do an overlay. They came out beautiful and I glued a little rhinestones within our initials at the top of the menu. I downloaded free wedding-style fonts for word online.


Church programs-DIY I used Microsoft Publisher and ordered velum paper from paperandmore.com. I used linen paper from there for the pages within and bought sheer, wired ribbon from A.C. Moore.
Bubbles- Wrapwithus.com (you can pick up from warehouse in LI instead of having shipping) I got the wedding cake bubbles, they were cute.


The Inn at the Fox Hollow-A++++++++++++++++++++
This is an all suite hotel, recently redecorated (even though they just opened in early 2000s!) We had roses on our pillow along with truffles. They had a full American-style buffet breakfast, free for guests and I think only a small additional fee for anyone else who wanted to join us that morning. For bags for the room I bought chocolate brown reusable shopping bags (1bagatatime.com) and filled them with water bottles, biscotti, candy, chips, cookies etc (costco ?) I made little notes on cardstock and tied to the bag with raffia and put a little note attached inside explaining what the bags were for (I’m somewhat of a tree hugger).
Honeymoon- Athens, Mykonos, Crete & Santorini
We used a travel agent but honestly if I could do it again we would have booked it ourselves. If you are not internet savvy then they are a huge help but we had planned and booked a trip to St. Barths & Anguilla complete with multiple plane and ferry transfers without a hitch so for us we were a little disappointed at the amount of legwork we still had to do while paying someone. If you are interested in the Greek Islands we loved Mykonos and Santorini! The views are just breathtaking! Athens is good for a day to see the Pantheon at the Acropolis but not much else in our opinion. Crete we were a little disappointed with as it is a huge island and our agent told us to stay in Heraklion (near Minoan ruins yes but no good beaches- on the southwest coast is where the great beaches are). We were also a little disappointed with the food on Crete. The other two, I would go back in a heartbeat!!!


Happy planning!

Re: Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

I just booked Bravura last week! Thanks for this review. Now it makes it MORE exciting...

Re: Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

Congrats!!

Re: Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

thanks for the review

Re: Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

Congrats!! Thanks for the review!

Re: Our June 27, 2009 Woodlands, Bravura, Pedestals Wedding

Michael at metro Modes is my friends BIL. He did her hair for her wedding too. It was gorgeous!