UPDATED: now with Slideshow!!! My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Ensemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

So as every bride does, I wanted my day to be PERFECT. My advice, aim for great, not perfect. Something is bound to go wrong but you will be in such a good mood that you seriously will not care (Like when my sister cut her BM dress into a minidress - Lol)

Also, if you are leery about having a beach wedding, my advice is GO FOR IT. I was worried that people would show up in flip flops & sundresses since it wasa day wedding on the beach. But honestly, people are not as stupid as you think.


First off, I wanted to wait until I got all my proofs to post so you could have more photos of stuff but I wanted to get this up sooner rather than later. Right now, I only have a few pics that my photographer posted on her blog. When I have my proofs, I will update. There are also non pro pics in my album... UPDATED: I added a few proofs!!!


Save The Dates – DIY A+
I rock the Kasbah. Just kidding… I bought empty bottles online from www.SandArtSupplies.com, bought sand & jute rope & coconut oil (smells like suntan lotion!) at Michaels, ordered shells from Shell Horizons, bought parchment paper @ Staples, wrapped it all up, dropped in a touch of the scented oil, & mailed them just like that. Total cost was about $150 (not including postage). Pics here:
Message In a Bottle Save the Dates


Stamps – PhotoStamps.com – A
I uploaded a photo of DH & we had our stamps in about 10 days. It costs extra but it was worth it. People noticed.

Invites: Party City – A-
Party City is one of those chains of party supply places in the New England area. They give you 20-30% off the book prices & they carry all the standard names. They don’t get an A because they forgot to line my envelopes BUT they took another 20% off my entire order for making the mistake! So we got our invites for like 40% less than they should have been! It was $200 for 125 invitations, reply cards, and envelopes with return address. Can’t beat it.

RD Invites: www.announcingit.com - A+
They were like $30 for 20 invites & SO CUTE!!!!


Shells – www.shellhorizons.com – A+
They have every shell you can imagine. They ship quickly. Everything comes very carefully packaged. I spent about $150 and I had shells EVERYWHERE. I lined the aisle with huge starfish (which my train grabbed & dragged & made this scraping noise as I walked – whoops!); I had shells for my place cards; I had them in the bathroom…. Everywhere.


Rehearsal Dinner: Indian Cove – A
We had the back patio to ourselves for drinks & apps on a gorgeous June evening. Dinner was a nice 3 course for $50 a head, including wine & beer & soda. You couldn’t beat it. The food was decent. The service was very good. Meghan, the manager was VERY easygoing & nice to work with. In retrospect, I would have liked something a little more fancy &/or intimate but hey – I wasn’t paying.

Ceremony & Reception - Atlantica - A++++++++++++++++++++++

Jenn Jacobs & Lisa Phillips are my favorite people in the world. I think I like them better than DH (just kidding… kind of). They gave me the wedding of my dreams. They worked with me on so many things. They became a part of my life. Jenn was one of the first people we emailed when we had the baby. The staff at Atlantica was in on naming her!
Everything was perfect on our big day. I had brought in a huge box of shells & asked Lisa to just decorate wherever with them. The place looked AMAZING. My ceremony was set up SO BEAUTIFULLY. My place card table was amazing. Everything looked great.


The food was amazing. Atlantica is not one of those RHs that is going to overdo food. They keep it simple. There is quantity but the QUALITY of the food is amazing. We had jumbo shrimp for the CH that were U7s. That means there are 7 per pound. Guests were saying they had never seen shrimp so big. I had a gorgeous ice sculpture. I didn’t want hearts & doves & stuff so they made a striped bass with the shrimp coming out of its mouth. SO cute. The raw bar was staffed with 2 guys who just kept shucking the oysters & clams... it was fabulous!
Our salad, appetizer & entrees were first class meals. You know how sometimes the entree at weddings isn’t great? NOT OURS. My filet was the best I ever had, Seriously.


Lisa was our Maitre’D & she was fabulous. When bad things happened (like my sister being an a$$hole), she completely shielded me from it & let me enjoy my day.
Our bridal attendant was Nicole & I loved her as well. She was the bustle queen! People kept stepping on my dress & pulling the bustle out & she was always right there to fix it. She was also a great server & kept me filled up on frozen mudslides & champagne at all times. She even saw me naked a few times & she was totally professional. (This was because when I had to go to the ladies room, I chose to just take the whole dress off, which is MUCH EASIER than trying to pee with it on. Just a tip.)
The cake was by Have Your Cake & it was an exact replica of the picture I gave (from TWOTY) . EXACT. Maybe even better.
Our guests raved about the amazing service. I can go on & ON & ON. FM me if you need further convincing that this is the best place to get married



Aisle Runner – Lorilis.com – A+
Lori created my monogram (which I used on everything), sent me the picture file & turned my runner around in about 3 weeks. And get this – it was under $100. LOVE HER!!!!


Table Numbers – Shell Horizons & Jane Parillo Calligraphy (www.janeparilloscribe.com) – A+
I bought shells from Shell Horizons & had Jane write the names & table numbers inside them. Rave reviews. People loved it


Flowers: White Iris Florist, Babylon – A+
Jim has been doing our families flowers for as long as I can remember so naturally we chose him. I gave my mother & Jim carte blanche on the centerpieces & BM bouquet and they were beautiful. The flowers on our sweetheart table were RIDICULOUS! My only request was for my bouquet to be all hybrid cattleya orchids, which Jim nailed. My bouquet was GORGEOUS.





Photographer – Mariann Szucs – Blue Daisy Weddings – A++++++++
Amazing. Talented. Sweet. Professional. Unobtrusive. The photos speak for themselves. I could not be any happier. I will post more pictures when I get my proofs. You can see some of our proofs on her blog
WE LOVE BLUE DAISY
CLICK HERE FOR SLIDESHOW







Day Of Jewelry – Macy’s – A
$38 for the bracelet. $22 for the earrings. Everyone thought they were real. Tee hee hee…


Video – Rambling Rose – TBA
We went with the standard package for like $1000. We had Nick there on our wedding day & he was adorable. He was also invisible (a good thing.) I haven’t seen the video yet so I can’t give a rating but I can say he was very sweet & easy to deal with. Great vendor.

Hair & Makeup – Khouloud’s Beauty – A+
I have had my hair & makeup done professionally a million times for photos (I used to be a singer ) so I am very picky. I was going to hire one of the very expensive big names to make me up for the big day like my sister did. But I was also planning a wedding in 8 months and many people were booked.
But I got an FM from Kasey after posting on the Vendor board. Her prices were really good so I figured I’d go for a trial, what the heck. Upon meeting her, I really liked her & booked her on the spot. I met with her twice to get my look just right for the big day (again, I am picky). She was so cool, so nice, so accommodating & so not offended when I said I didn’t like things. I told her exactly what I wanted & she did it. I loved my hair & makeup on my wedding day. My hair stayed all day (and night). I woke up & it was still perfect & the flowers were still in. Rose Mary accompanied her on the big day & she did all of my bridesmaid’s hair in record time & they all looked great. I have nothing but great things to say about the both of them.

Band – The Projekt – A+
Ok, so I was a wedding band singer in the Boston area for many years. I wanted to book Creations, fronted by an old friend (Kim Sozzi) but they were performing in Maryland on my day. She suggested The Projekt. I was skeptical: I had never seen them live & I was living 5 hours away & unable to see a showcase. I saw their video, but I am acutely aware of the edits that can be made in the production of videos. But Kim & her dad, who I have known for years, swore that they were good. I took a deep breath, threw caution to the wind & booked them.
I spoke to their band leader a few times. I made several annoying requests of songs for them to learn & I did it like 4 weeks before the wedding, which is SO awful to do to a band and I should have known better. (Don’t do that. It’s rude. Get your requests in early.) But Mark was so cool about it & they learned EVERYTHING I asked, including a rare version of a song for me to sing to FH.
On my big day, they were great, or at least I think. My head was SPINNING that day & honestly… I can only remember about 5 songs they played! But everyone told me how great they were. They even learned Purple Rain for my last dance which was AWESOME. Even my mom was belting our “Purple Rain, Purple Rain!” at the end of the night. It was hysterical. I’ll know more once I see my video.

Ceremony Music - Capriccio Ensemble – A+
Natalie was a pleasure to work with. Very accommodating & a complete professional. I hired a string trio for play at the ceremony & cocktail hour. Their prices were a little more than some other string ensembles, but they truly were so much better than the others I heard.
Natalie even created an arrangement of “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys for me to walk down the aisle to and she sent me the sheet music of her arrangement for me to frame as a keepsake. She is a class act. A++

Mother of The Bride Dress – Nordstrom – A
My mom didn’t want a big old sequined thing. She went to all the bridal shops around (Commack, bridal Suite of Bay Shore, Lilette’s, etc.) She said they all looked like dresses she should be buried in – Lol! She eventually found this outfit at Nordstrom & it looked great on her.


BM dresses – Alvina Valenta – C
from Sueno Bridal in Rhode Island. – A+
The dresses were gorgeous. The color was great. BUT the dresses were late from the manufacturer & arrived 2 weeks before the wedding & EVERYONE’S dress was tight. EVERYONE. It was a real nightmare. Melanie at Sueno was awesome & her mom took out some of the girl’s dresses for free and shipped them back to each girl for free. If you ever need a dress in RI, call Melanie. She’s great.



My dress – VOWS Bridal Outlet, Newton, MA (a.k.a. www.bridepower.com) - A
Ok, so my first gown that I ordered was chosen while I was 5 months pregnant. I was convinced by the salespeople that “you can always take it in”. You can’t. They convinced me to order me a size 16 even though I knew I’d lose the weight. 8 weeks after the baby, I was back in my size 6 jeans. As hard as the seamstress tried, the size 16 dress was just never going to look good on me. SO… I scrapped the dress (which will be on eBay soon) and I went to Vows & bought a $3800 Melissa Sweet sample gown (style: Carmela) for $1500. The people there were really nice. If you are ever in the Boston area, I highly recommend Vows. They have literally 1000 dresses, all high end names. They have one wall of just Vera Wang. And they are all samples & overstocks gowns. If there is a dress that you know you want, check their website. They ship gowns all over the country. You can search hundreds of dresses their site.
The price includes cleaning & minor repairs. They don’t get an A+ because some beads were missing & they were supposed to repair them. I never checked the dress over myself for missing beads, I asked them to do it when I called & said “I want that dress” & I had it shipped to me. They may have missed them. I realized this 2 days before the wedding & it cost me $50 to replace about 10 little beads with another seamstress down in NY. Really not a big deal, but annoying.

Veil – Paloma Blanca – A
I ordered this veil to go with my original dress but it matched the new gown just fine. It was pricey ($250 or $300) but I got many compliments. I ripped it out after the first dance though.



Slipper Basket – Old Navy - A
I bought 2 for $5 of women’s white flip flops & out them in a huge white basket from Michaels & put them next to the dance floor. I bought about 25 pairs & they were all gone. Such an easy, nice touch. People loved them.

DIY
Programs Fans – A+
Me, my MOH & her neighbors put these together in about 1 hour. I printed them out on blue cardstock, brought them to Kinkos & had them cut to size for $3. Then I bought craft sticks & glue sticks & we slapped them together. Another simple, easy personal touch that people loved.

Cry packs – C
Annoying, harder to make & no one really made a fuss over them. I bought the vellum envelopes from www.envelopemall.com for $10. Then I bought labels & put our monogram on them & “for your tears of joy.” Then I got ribbon & crystals & a glue gun & went to work. These were such a pain to make. If you are going to skip anything, skip these. It took me days to get these done and I only made about 40 & gave up. My fingers were burned from the glue. That’s several hours of my life that I will never get back…

Sand Ceremony Items- www.FantasyGlassworks.com - A+
Michael's - A
Someone had posted a rave so I bought from them & I agree that they were great, My glass apothecary jar was here in under a week, engraved with our names, date & a starfish for like $20 or so. I got our 2 cylinders & sand that we poured at Michaels & glued on some starfish from Shell Horizons.
Pics of my cry packs & sand items here:
My DIY



Toasting Flutes - www.bloomeryweddings.com - A
We got cute flutes with starfish that were covere3d in some sparkly dust & a pearl. Sounds cheesy, but they really weren't. We had them engraved with our names for $30.

Cake Knife & Server - www.bllomeryweddings.com - A
We got the matching set to our flutes. Shipping was quick, cheap &^ it was all very safely packaged. Highly recommend

Gifts for Mothers - Embroidered hankies from www.personalizedpresents.com - A
They came within DAYS & they were very cute. I forget how much I paid but it was NOT a lot at all.

Table Numbers - EBay vendor jbrazzi - A
I didn't give her an A+ because they were expensive but they were VERY nice. I had her make up table numbers 1 thru 20 in the silver mirrored look with a few light blue crystals. I have pictures somewhere that I will add. They were very nice but I expected them to be much bigger. They stood only about 4 tall & I paid over $200.


Favors - Beach Towels - United Textile Supply (www.unitedtextilesupply.com) - A+
I ordered 100 blue & white striped beach towels for $650 including shipping and they came within 5 days. They are good quality & really soft. MOH & her neighbors helped again by rolling them & tying them with stain ribbon & tulle. People LOVED it. All my friends have been using their towels every weekend.
Word to the wise - only get these as favors if you have STORAGE & a big truck to bring them to you RH in. 100 towels takes up a LOT of room!!!

Best Western East End – D
Ok, Kristin, who does the blocking of rooms & deals with the brides, is cool. Unfortunately, she works with a bunch of monkeys. She is the only decent one there. I had a lot of trouble leading up to the wedding & on my wedding day with this hotel. First, a girl who no longer works there would only let me block 20 rooms even though I assured her I would need 30 or 40 or more. I was assured I could “always add more!” Guess what – I couldn’t. And the “more” rooms were given to other weddings (who were able to mysteriously book 30 rooms each.) I was devastated, as this was basically a destination wedding for our guests. 70% do not live in NY. Kristin got us some rooms at the Holiday Inn Express up the road. She also hooked me up with a conference room for me & my girls to get ready in the morning of. She’s a good egg.
For the day of my wedding, we had reserved the 2 free shuttle buses (that you get when you block rooms) to bring the BP to Atlantica at 8 am for pictures. The boys grabbed one & headed for the RH. I was running a little late. We (me & my BMs) went to get in our shuttle & it was GONE. I was told it waited 20 minutes & it LEFT. I was then told by the ditz at the front desk that if I wanted it to come back, it would cost an additional $250 and it would take 30 minutes. I was standing there in my veil, holding my gown, and basically being extorted for money on my wedding day. I was near tears. They KNEW I was in the conference room next door & they didn’t come say to me “hey – your ride to your wedding is LEAVING.” This was unacceptable. My BMs & I wound up piling in cars & driving ourselves. Not exactly how I imagined my wedding day to start off.
No one ever apologized and in the end, they billed me an extra $189, for what, I have no idea. I have left several messages for Kristy, the General Manager, but she is not returning my calls.

Transportation for guests – luxury bus rental - WORST VENDOR EVER. FM me for details.

Officiant – Father Bob Allmen – A
We loved Father Bob. For some reason, people on this site seem to think he’s not a valid Catholic priest. I don’t understand why they say this but I am here to tell you that HE IS. Our marriage is valid and legal with the state and with Catholic Church.
The ONLY reason I didn’t give him an A+ was because I emailed him the vows I wanted him to recite a few days before & when we were standing up there, he recited the traditional ones. I was disappointed. BUT in all fairness, I should have double checked with him as he had told me he wasn’t great with email but I assumed he got them. I should have brought a copy with me just in case but oh well, who cares… we’re married!

Mini-Moon – The Maidstone Arms Inn – East Hampton – A
Lovely little inn that treated us so well! They gave us the suite for the cost of a regular room since we were newlyweds. We just relaxed in the Hamptons for a few days & had a LOVELY time.

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Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

great review!
And beautiful picture

Congrats!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Congratulations ~ Great Review! Just Gorgeous! You looked AMAZING!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Thanks for the review. I love Blue Daisy, thanks for telling me about her!!!

Congratulations on your amazing wedding!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Great review - you looked wonderful and your photographer's work is amazing! Can't wait to see the rest of your proofs.

Congratulations!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

You had such a beautiful wedding! Stunning!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

You were such a beautiful bride! congrats!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

great review!beautiful pictures!!!!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Congratulations! You looked beautiful!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

amazing pics! thanks for the great review!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Congrats. Your pictures so so beautiful.

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Everything looked beautiful! Congratulations

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Great review! Beautiful!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

How beautiful!

congrats! thanks sooooooooooooo much for sharing~

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Love it! Your daughter is beautiful BTW!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

gorgeous. thanks for sharing with us!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Emsemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

Congrats. Your pictures came out great. Sorry you had a bad experience with the Best Western East End . I used them and I agree the other girls at the desk are a little off.

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Ensemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

You looked gorgeous! Congratulations!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Ensemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!

What a beautiful wedding!!! I love the shells!!!

You looked gorgeous!!!

Re: My 6/2/07 wedding! Atlantica, Blue Daisy Photography, Capriccio Ensemble, The Projekt, White Iris Florist. Khoulouds, Rambling Rose Vdieo & More!!!