Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

I was waiting to get all of my proofs on disc before I did my review but I am moving so slow that I figured before my vendors all retire, I should do the review. LOL I promise I will put up more pics when I get the disc!

Let me preface this by saying I can be a difficult customer. I am very demanding and I expect the utmost in customer service. I did a lot of research for my wedding and it paid off. I was very pleased with everything with minimal issues. I’ll add that I’m a chronic complainer as well so for me to not have had (i.e. found LOL) problems, everyone did a stellar job!

STDs/Rehearsal Dinner invitations: Vista Print: www.vistaprint.com A
They were easy to work with, came fast, and best of all..were free! Just had to pay for shipping and envelopes. Sign up for the emails and you will get these offers all the time.

Pre-Cana - Our Lady of Lourdes - Massapequa:
Our parish didn’t have pre-cana so we had to find one. This one was free and we decided to take advantage of the free, one-day pre-cana. It was a fantastic experience. Fr. Tony was so nice and we really enjoyed the day. We actually began going back to church after going to pre-cana (for a while anyway) because we really enjoyed the whole experience.

Irish Coffee Pub - Rehearsal Dinner - A+
My MIL threw us a beautiful RD. The Irish Coffee Pub is such an elegant location. We were in a beautiful room that was private for our occasion. The food was excellent and the service was great. What I liked about the menu was that it was totally different than “the usual”. We had a delicious meal and it was so nice. I would definitely recommend it for any occasion.

Village Bridal, formerly known as Lidia’s Bridal:
Purchasing of the gown: A+
I went to about 5-6 different bridal salons and I think they could all take customer service lessons from this salon. On my initial visit, I didn’t find “the dress” but I knew that I wanted to order my dress through them. Julieta was the nicest, most patient person ever. The girls that work there are super helpful and courteous. I had 10 BM’s and everyone loved them. It was a fantastic experience there.

Alterations: A+
Theresa is amazing. My biggest thing was making sure the strapless top fit snugly to my chest without giving me any type of rolls over the top (I have enough of that naturally...LOL) and I didn’t want it too loose so that I was lifting it up all night. We did so many fittings and my dress fit like a glove on the day of. I was thrilled. Most of my BM’s had their dresses altered there as well and were very happy with the outcome. I’m not kidding you when I tell you all 10 of my BM’s were happy with this salon. I can not recommend them enough.


Sandy’s Shoes - Massapequa - A
The girl saw what I liked, got me a comfy, flattering shoe and that was that. What more could you ask for?

Barons Tri-County Flea Market - A
I got my veil and head piece here. I brought a pic of my gown and the guy there (young, really nice) picked out the perfect headpiece to match. I loved it. I had also gotten a cathedral veil at a consignment sale and he made me a fingertip length veil to match. It came out nice. I also got my FG’s hair clips there. Good quality, easy to work with and an overall great experience.

Blums, Patchogue - C
I got my long line bra there. They get an average grade b/c they were average. Their customer service leaves A LOT left to be desired. However, they did have what I needed and their prices were okay.

MOB Gown - Metamorphosis - St. James - A
They were really nice, helpful and had a nice selection of gowns. My mom was very pleased with them.

Mary Corsetieres, Ltd. - Woodbury - A
My mom got her undergarments here. I wish I knew of them before I went to Blums. They were extremely helpful and patient and my mom was comfy all night.

Bridal Elegance - Dix Hills
This is where we got the FG dress. The dress came in late. I refer you to my FG album to look at the “alterations” that were done to my FG dress. I had to take the dress to a private seamstress to have the dress repaired and to the cleaners b/c there was an oil stain from the sewing machine left on the dress. The owner has yet to respond to phone calls and letters. I will be complaining to the BBB.

Rogers Tuxedo, Babylon - A+
David was great to work with. He was really nice and super accommodating, even when DH was being a jerk (I was so embarrassed! What a ‘tude!). From what I know, there were no problems with the tuxes. The guys all looked great. The dads and grandfathers used them too and were very happy with the service.

Coach - Riverhead - A
I hit a crazy sale there and I got my BM’s Coach bags for a ridiculous value. Shhh...don’t tell them! They made a very nice showing and everyone loved them.

Gunther Gifts - www.gunthergifts.com - B
We got the GM’s leathermans from here. They were a HUGE hit with the guys. I did not think that the engraving or the boxes they came in were so great but guys don’t care. They all carry them around and whenever I see them they tell me how they love it. Guys are so funny and easy to please!

Xperience Days - www.xperiencedays.com - A
We got my parents a gift certificate for a sailing trip through this website. It came fast and was nicely packaged.

Invitations: Printing with Panache - www.printingwithpanache.com - A+
Pat is fabulous. She works out of her home in West Babylon. She has all the books that all the invitation places have. I had picked out my invite and was given quotes of $1,800. Pat saved me more than $700! Uh, hello? Can you believe that mark up?! Also, the invitation stores were all horrified that I had waited so long to order invites (it was the end of July and my invites had to go out by 9/11). Pat made me feel so much better! The invitations came within 1 week of my approving the proof. They were beautiful and I LOVED my invitations. She also did direction cards for my church and to the NRC and they came out great. Love Pat!


Calligraphy: Michele Clark - A+
She was wonderful!!! I never actually spoke to her. We only did things through email. I sent her 175 envelopes on the Thursday prior to Labor Day weekend. The Tuesday after Labor Day I got an email saying she was done. The invitations were at my door by Wednesday! Can we say quick turn around time??? She also did my place cards. Again, I had them back to me within a couple of days. She was so great to work with and everything came out beautiful. I highly recommend her!

Favors: Bamboo plants - A+ to me!
Itslaurie. helped me immensely with this project. Shout out to her! These were a HUGE hit with the guests and many still have them. I made them myself and it took no time at all to make 170 of them. For details on how to make, just FM me.

Nicole D’Angio: A+
I’m not going to lie. I was a little nervous b/c I booked her when I didn’t LOVE my trial. I also wasn’t sure we were “on the same page”. But I had faith in her b/c I always loved what I saw on this site and she was certainly a talented hair stylist. The day of my wedding, she came in and says “I know what I’m doing with your hair. I didn’t like the trial. I have a better idea.” That made me realize we were absolutely on the same page. My hair was awesome. It came out better than I had expected and I was thrilled! She did my FG’s hair and it looked great too. She also re-did one of my BM’s hair after a salon snafu and she was really happy.


In addition, Nicole helped my dad get dressed and cleaned my FG’s earrings! I was hoping she would go wash my car too but that didn’t work out. LOL She was such a pleasure and I really loved her. I hope that some day in the future I’ll get to use her again.

Jacqueline Nicole - A+
In a word...fabulous. She is so nice and just a total pleasure to work with. My make up and all of the girls came out awesome. Everyone looked beautiful. My only regret is I wish I had listened to her about putting on more make up. I was so worried about looking like a street walker that I didn’t really think about needing that to last all day. By the end of the night, my make up had worn off. The moral of the story - listen to the woman! She knows what she’s doing! I highly recommend Jackie.






LA Productions - A+
Ummm helloooo saving grace! Laura is just a necessity as a DOC. She knows her stuff and she was my sanity. Her assistant, Paige, was a total sweetheart too. I really loved both of them. Laura’s smiling face calmed me at all times. I heard there was a bit of a to-do at my church b/c of an earlier christening but I didn’t know anything about it until afterwards. Laura takes the worry away and was well worth every penny. I highly recommend her.

Verbena Designs - A++
I hate playing favorites but I will. Jen is amazing. Flowers were extremely important to me. I saw 11 florists before I met her and she just totally understood my vision without me being able to fully explain, and perhaps understand, my vision. She was so patient with me. She made my wedding be as beautiful as I hoped it would be. My flowers were outstanding. Absolutely gorgeous. She worked with me to plan my 3 different CP’s, my Bo-K’s and my cake. She is the owner and she came to my house the morning of my wedding to make sure I was happy with my bo-k’s. Then she set up my church (beautiful), then she did my RH. I was blown away. It was breathtaking. The flowers in the cp’s lasted over a month as well. I can not say enough good things about her and I would recommend her to everyone.



Imagine Studios - A+
I love Lia. She is the nicest person ever, even when I’m being a PITA. I have to say that when I got my proofs, I was disappointed in what was missed. There were shots that I would think were standard that I didn’t get (i.e. going through the arm arch, a pic of DH watching me come down the aisle, full length shots of the first dance). I was also annoyed with myself for not having been more clear in what I wanted in terms of family pics. I put my proofs away b/c I was annoyed and didn’t want to deal with it.

I just decided to do my album and I pulled them out. In the interim, I have been in 2 friends weddings and have seen their proofs. Looking at my proofs now, I realized how great they are. I may be missing some shots but the other 864 shots I do have are phenomenal. She is extremely talented in terms of lighting and positioning and capturing emotion.

I have also learned that of all my married friends, everyone has been annoyed over missing shots. I guess you don’t realize exactly what you want until you don’t have it. I haven’t gotten my album yet but I don’t expect it to be anything less than spectacular. I would definitely recommend Lia to anyone.

As a word of advice to future brides: Get the 2nd photographer. One photographer just can NOT be in 2 places at the same time. That’s the only thing I would change.




Wild Rose Video - TBD - but so far A+
I still haven’t done my video so I don’t know what it looks like. I do, however, know that Bill was at my house right on time and was so nice to work with. Then, the assistant came. I can’t remember if his name was John or Joe but I remember him clearly b/c he was the first person I saw coming out of the limo to the church- I was so nerved up!- and he had this huge smile and made me laugh right off the bat. I’m not kidding you when I say you wouldn’t even know he was at my wedding. He was totally unobtrusive all night and I’m sure my video will be great. I highly recommend them.

All-Star Limos - A+
We dealt with Debbie pre-wedding and on the day of, all 3 drivers were named Bobby. They were all great. The cars (I had a rolls, the BP had a brand new Tahoe or Yukon) were spotless and the drivers were friendly, courteous and just an overall pleasure to work with on the big day. The 3rd Bobby came to pick us up from the hotel for our HM. He was on time and great. Highly recommend them.

M.A.S. Music - Marie Stack - A+
Marie is so nice. What a pleasure to deal with! I was really overly concerned about ceremony music (thank you type-A persona!) and she really relaxed me. I had all these grand ideas and she actually talked me into using less expensive options and she was fantastic! On the day of the wedding, I remember hearing her play and it sounded beautiful. I was really happy I chose her and was thrilled by the outcome.

VJ Entertainment - A++
My other favorite vendor. Again, not gonna lie. I was nervous. I wanted a band and DH fought me on that like crazy. We booked Vinny right away. We really liked him and he made us feel very comfortable. I had never seen him at a wedding before, which was why I was nervous. The compromise DH and I had was b/c we used a DJ, we would have a percussionist and sax player to play along with the DJ. Vinny said no problem and that was that.

On the day of, Vinny came with a DJ, an MC, a sax player, a percussionist and 2 guys to take pics to live feed into the plasma TV’s. I was really against the plasma thing (I felt it was too Sweet 16) but I’m glad we did it. Vinny put together a really nice photo montage of DH and I and played it during dinner. My biggest thing was I did not want a loud, annoying, goomba MC...and you know what I’m talking about b/c you see it all the time. The MC was great! He was perfect. Not annoying at all. The guys taking pictures got some great shots too.

The DJ was fantastic. Honestly. The party was rocking all night long. My MOH’s mom said to me “I can’t stop dancing! I feel like I’m at a club! I feel so young!” LOL The live element (I think it Boppa was the percussionist) and the sax player added so much to the party. I loved it and was so happy we did that.

Oh, also, I had mentioned to Vinny I would like the Gobo lights for the dance floor. He immediately emailed me some designs and had it all set up for me. It looked awesome. The lighting system he set up was great too. He really made my wedding into the great time that it was and I’m so appreciative for all of his help and efforts. I would absolutely recommend them in a heartbeat. He needs more air time on this site!

Sts. Philip & James, R.C. - St. James - A
Msr. Brian was super easy to work with. The church has minimal rules and restrictions and there was no problem at all. The music director, Margaret, was super easy to work with. I think we had one phone call and it was all done.


North Ritz Club - A+
They were top notch from start to finish. Our BM was Ida. She was great to work with from the get-go. They really worked with us and my wedding was all that I hoped it would be. George was my maitre ‘d and he was terrific. Not a single problem throughout the wedding. If I needed something, it was there before I finished asking for it. The food was excellent but the service was superb. You could barely get ½ a drink down before there was a new one there. I’m not talking about MY service, I’m talking about the service for the guests. So many of my guests have commented on the service at my wedding. They were wonderful. CH and Viennese hour were awesome. I have ZERO complaints about my wedding day which is a total feat in and of itself.

The only time they irritated me was with the tasting. They were really weird about giving us a food tasting and it wasn’t until September (my wedding was in November) that we finally got to go to a tasting. I don’t know what their problem was but whatever. It worked out.

Four Points Sheraton - A-
Very nice hotel. Ryan was very nice to work with. The bar stayed open late for my guests (who should have been cut off way earlier! LOL). We had a problem with the hotel shuttle service at the end of the wedding. I’m not really sure what happened. The only thing I am certain of is there was a miscommunication somewhere. It left me a p.o.’d bride which is kind of a stinky way to end your wedding night but I spoke to Ryan and Michael, the manager, when I came back from my HM and they did right by me. I can’t complain. Overall, I would recommend the hotel. They were very accommodating to my guests with regard to early check-in and late check-out. I was happy with the service.

Honeymoon - Travel Trends in Hauppauge - Peggy A++
Okay, I’ll admit it. She’s my mom but she’s awesome. She deserves a shout out b/c she bore the brunt of a couple of hissy fits along the way too. LOL

We went to Costa Rica. I was not into it at all but DH couldn’t get the time of work to go too far. We heard good things about it so we went with it. I have to tell you, it was amazing. I highly recommend Costa Rica as a romantic vacay or you can take the family. There was so much to do there and we had a great time.

Hotel Villa Caletas - www.hotelvillacaletas.com - A+
Unbelievable. The most beautiful hotel I have stayed in. Our room was gorgeous. We had a beautiful patio with an infiniti-edged plunge pool that overlooked the rainforest and the ocean. We also had a glass enclosed jacuzzi that overlooked the rainforest. The room was exquisite. Then we were upgraded to a room with a closet that was bigger than my bedroom, a gym, a steamroom, a secret passageway to a private art gallery and a view to die for. It was amazing. Highly recommend it.

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

What a BEAUTIFUL wedding! You were a gorgeous bride and everything looked perfect!

I'm so excited because I'm also using Verbena and Imagine and I know I'm in great hands after reading your review and seeing your photos!

Congratulations!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

great review!!! And beautiful wedding! Congrats to you and your husband!!!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Great review! You were such a beautiful bride and all your details looked great!!
Thanks for all the tips along way

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Beautiful wedding! Congratulations! Much happiness to you both!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Congratulations! Beautiful review!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

gorgeous..congratulations!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

great review! you looked beautiful and the flowers come out great!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

congratulations!! you look gorgeous and so happy!!!!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Everything looked beautiful! What a great day you had! Can I ask you where you took your picyures on the beach? I am looking for somewhere in that area to do mine. Thank you!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Congrats. Great review. You looked beautiful. Your flowers were amazing. Wish I would've gone to your florist, since mine suked.! ! !

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

congrats!!! I love your pics!!!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Fabulous, congratulations!!!!!

Re: Sorry so late! 11/11/07 Review: NRC, VJ Entertainment, Imagine, Wild Rose, Verbena Designs, MAS Music, LA Productions and more!

Thank you for such a beautiful and detailed review!!!