Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

First, I am not the type to do a review, however, I used the website religiously and I feel like I should help other brides out because I got so much help from these reviews when planning my wedding.

Bridal shower: I do not like surprises so I helped plan my shower that was in the end of March with my mom and bridesmaids. It was at Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage state park. We had it in one of their cocktail rooms. The food and service was great, they treated us very well, and the place was beautiful. (see pictures)



Invitations: my bridal shower invites were from Vista print, and so were my Save the date magnets and Rehearsal dinner invites, they were so cute and I got so many compliments on them, they were also a really good price!
My wedding invitations were from The American Wedding, they were a little to plain so I spruced them up with white ribbon and rhinestone buckles (I had to order them from a company in NYC, they were pricey but I had to get them), they came out great.


Bridal party gifts: I got my girls black peal earrings from Ross-Simon, mani/pedi gift certificates and I made survival kits in makeup bags for the day of the wedding, which helped my out more then them! I kept taking stuff out of their bags. lol
for the boys we got them personalized flasks, shot glasses, and a bottle of Jack (were are not big drinkers but its an inside joke)

Rehearsal dinner: Filomena's in Franklin Sq. It was a nice place, the food was good. We were in a private room, the set up could have been better and music was really needed because it was so quiet, but overall it is a nice place with good service and good food.

Dress: my dress was from RK bridal in NYC. The designer was Private Label by G (1226 ). I went to other bridal shops and RK bridal had the best prices, I also went to a place that told me they were the only ones that carried the dress I liked, and I found it at RK bridal!!! so remember to shop around when you find the dress you want and not to settle in one store. I also got my veil and headpiece from them as well. They were really nice there, a little fast paced, but overall I had a good experience with them.



Bridesmaids gowns: Davinci style 9122, we got them from Bridal elegance in Huntington. I went to 100 places with my maid of honor and could not find anything I liked, I knew I wanted black because I could not decided on a color. So I let my maid of honor and another bridesmaid look on their own. They picked the dress and I liked it so we ordered it. They originally found it at RK bridal, where I got my gown but I did research and found it cheaper at Bridal elegance. Bridal elegance were so nice to work with and they made things really easy for me and my bridesmaids. (which I know can be a challenge with other places out there).


Shoes: they were from Sandys in Massapequa, they were so cute, I am only 4'11' so I needed really high heels, so they were able to give me 3' heels without looking too trashy, I loved my shoes, but they hurt and my husband and I both wound up changing into our all star cons, his were black, mine were white, by the end of the night. (my ring bearers also wore cons down the aisle-they were a big hit)



Flowers: my flowers for my shower and wedding were done by my mothers friend and, coincidentally, an old high school friend of my worked with her (he was the floral designer for the Waldorf Astoria). They came out great and I got a better price then the other 'popular' florist quoted me (they will remain unnamed). If you are interested in my florist let me know and I will give you the contact number.



Makeup: My makeup was done by Makeup by Marisa. My makeup came out great and my mother in law also had her makeup done by her and was very happy. She is very sweet and came to my house and was on time. you can check out her website http://**************.com

Nails: Tiffany's in Valley Stream on Rockaway ave. I dont like the way I look with false nails, and my husband hates them. so I grew my nails and got a french. on my toes I used an essie pink to switch things up, called Hard to Get. I love that color. My nails came out great. Tip: if you are trying to grow your own nails, go once a week to get a manicure for 2 months and your nails will grow nicely for your wedding.

Hair: my hair was done by Kim at Brittany and co in Franklin sq. Now they didnt come to my home, but that was ok and its not a fancy salon, BUT I loved loved loved my hair and KIm did an amazing job. my hair stayed the same throughout the entire day and night. I also had extensions put in by Kim for the day of and they looked great as well. Kim is the best and I highly recommend her, she also did my mothers hair as well and it came out great.


Church: Blessed Sacrament Church in Valley Stream. Both my husband and I grew up in this Church and we had to get married there. Its a beautiful church. We did our precana in Huntington. We got it done it two days on a weeknd, and they let us out early! so that was good if you are like us and wanted to get it over with.

Limos: Royalty Limos in Franklin Sq, they were great, on time and the drivers were really really nice. we had no issue with them, they were just great.

Jericho Terrace: Chad was my BM, he was great, plus he happens to be my old boss from another reception hall where I worked as a bridal attendant while I was a freshman in college lol. Linda was my M'd and she was wonderful as well. (Billy and Camille were our bridal attendants and were super nice) . Everything was beautiful and they took good care of us. Supposedly there were wedding crashers from another wedding trying to come in and Linda and our DJ got them right out of there without us even knowing, my brother told me like a week later! So I am glad they took care of stuff without involving us. The food was great and everyone said they LOVED cocktail hour. they have 9 choices for dinner which is also a bonus. The only downside is there is no outdoors area for cocktail hour if that is important to you, if not, then this place was great and worth checking out, if you go to their website they have free showcases with vendors and food, plus free wine, so its worth going. We were in the skylight room, but all their rooms are really nice.


Duet Photography: AMAZING!!!! I found them from doing so much research using liweddings.com and reading reviews. They were great and everyone loves our pics, we still have not seen the video yet. (its almost a year but it is our fault for procrastinating on getting them what they needed). They were on time and they are perfectionist. We used Tj's team and we just loved them. Our guests were so impressed by them, even before seeing the photos, I highly recommend them. I know our friends are all using them now because of our wedding. (Most of the pics in here are taken from them, some are non professionals.)

DJ: AMAZING!!!!! we used MRG Productions. Marty is the owner and was our MC. We saw them at a wedding we went to and knew that when its our time to plan our wedding we would use them, they also were coincidentally recommended by Jericho Terrace, but we were going with them either way. My husband and I prefer a DJ over a band and MRG were great, they played great music, everyone was up and dancing and we got so many compliments on them as well, We also upgraded our package to get intelligent lighting, which was very worth it, and I am not one for spending extra money. I highly recommend them as well. They also let us pick the entire list of songs for cocktail hour and didnt give us a hard time about anything. it was great working with them.




Live Band: My husband and his friends used to be in a band and would play local venues in the city and long island. Since they are all grown up they dont have time to play anymore, I demanded they play at our wedding. My husband was hesitant at first about playing at his own wedding, he does the vocals and plays the guitar, but he agreed after I begged. It was the best part of the wedding, they played cover songs and one original. Every single person at the wedding was up on the dance floor and was going crazy, it made the wedding personal and added that something extra. The DJ also worked with my husband and his friends about setting up and was very accommodating when using his equipment. Also Jericho Terrace helped up out a lot with storing the band equipment and letting the band set up prior to the reception. Everyone still talks about my husband performance, it made it truly special.




Favors: Being that our wedding was the day before the 4th of July, we ordered sparklers from Skylighter.com and I tied them together with ribbon and attached a pack of matches to each bundle that we ordered and personalized from theknot.com. they came out great. We also ordered small round glass vases that held the place cards from Ross- Simons. I had the florist put a white rose in each one so each couple got to take one home with them. they came out really nice (see pictures). The hall gave us a hard time about putting out the vases but I didn't bend and they gave in.


Honeymoon: Aruba at the Occidental Grand. We had a great time, its the first time we went to a tropical island together and it was beautiful and relaxing. The weather is perfect there and it hardly rains, that is why we chose Aruba during the month of July. If you are looking to party like spring break, this is not the place for you. its a very relaxing island and not much to do, which was fine with us. the hotel was really nice, we wanted all inclusive because we didn't want to worry about our meals and drinks so that was a plus. We went out to eat on the island two nights, one time at the restaurant by the lighthouse, it was good and had awesome views of the sunset, and we went to Papiamento, which I Highly recommend, it was so romantic and the food was excellent. I do not recommend the jeep tour, it was so scary I thought I was going to drive off the cliff and die on my honeymoon! But we went to Depalm island which is a very tiny island off of Aruba for a day and that was a really nice excursion.

I am pretty sure I covered everything, if you have any questions feel free to ask me, I am very honest and willing to help out a new bride, I know I needed a lot of help when I was doing this so feel free to ask me anything. good luck with your planning and remember to not let ANYTHING stress you out the day of. I didnt and I had the best time. Also a tip, stay on the dance floor the entire time, your guests will have more fun if they see the bride and groom are having fun, My husband and I were smiling the entire time that it hurt, and we didnt let anything bother us. Also, if you have a tight budget, like we did, dont get too many upgrades or extra little things that arent really needed (ie trumpet players, plasma screens, flowers all over the church, etc), it really wont make a difference in the end except in your bank account. I learned that you can still cut corners and have a beautiful, fun wedding. ENJOY!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

honeymoon in Aruba pics

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

apparently my pics are too big to post, I will have to figure out another way to upload them for all you to see

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Honeymoon pics in Aruba redo

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

does anyone know a trick to getting pics on this!?

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Put the pictures in an LIW album. Then right click on the image from your album and get the image URL. Then click on Insert Web Image (you'll see it below all the faces/emote-icons in the reply area) and paste in the URL.

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Thank you for the review!!! I can't wait to see pics!!! Congrats!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

thank you so much! and thanks for the advice about the pics, it worked!!!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Beautiful and congrats!!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

YAY! You added the pics!!! That's my room, too!! I can't wait for it! You look beautiful, I love the pic of you looking down in the empty Skylight room. Just gorgeous! And your RBs in their black converse!!! Love it! My GMs and the groom are all wearing converse, too!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

congrats! Everything looks great!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Great Review!! You looked GREAT!!!!!!!!!

Re: Review: 7/3/09 Jericho Terrace, Duet, MRG, Royalty Limo, etc.

Thank you for the review! You look amazing!!!