UPDATED W/ PICS!!Smithtown Landing CC Wedding 9/25/2010

Go to my profile and check out my album for the wedding, etc...

I want to keep this post short, sweet and to the point. As anyone knows planning a wedding there are simply too many things to research, plan and implement. Here's my official wedding and vendor review(s).

VENUE: Smithtown Landing Country Club. A+++ This was the 3rd place we looked at. Instantly decided on having our venue there upon seeing it. If you want to have a wedding outside, especially in the fall this place is it. We had our ceremony outside the Nissequogue Room on the deck under the trees. The weather was 90 degrees for the end of Sept. but gorgeous. There are plenty of picture opportunities under the willow trees and on the course itself that are breathtaking if outside pics are what you want. If it was to rain, they have another ceremony site overlooking the putting green/golf course that's tented. The bridal suite is in the same building as the Nissequogue Room, which is where we had our reception. Our guest list was only 62 people. The room was perfect for our wedding. Rich worked around me as far as what time the ceremony and festivities started. Heck, let's just say he worked around us for everything. We wanted a raw seafood bar instead of the in house cake. Done. I wanted to have the ceremony at 3pm. Done. I wanted to arrive at 9:30am to get my hair and makeup done at the bridal suite with my girls. Done and with breakfast. We wanted a candy bar and they were there to set it up during the reception. Rich and the staff truly went above and beyond whatever I expected. The bridal attendants and the maitre d were absolutely wonderful. I would recommend this place to anyone for any festivity hands down. Loved it!!
Food A+ I am a foodie and would never put myself and the people I love under any circumstance of foul eating. It's blasphemy. So yeah the food was excellent.

CAKE: A+++ Jacqueline's Patisserie, Babylon NY. We live right down the block and have gotten cakes and pastries for years, so it was a given to get our wedding cake from there. We spoke with Jacqueline she knows her stuff. I trusted her to recreate a cake I saw on The Knot (which was executed beautifully) and tasted like heaven - raspberry /dark chocolate mousse with vanilla cake flavored with Chambord. This place is legit.

PHOTOGRAPHER: A+++Twelfth Night Photography, Garden City Park. It was imperative that we had a quality photojournalistic photographer, being we didn't want a videographer. This vendor had us sold when we sat down and spoke with Dominic who just tells it like it is (and is hysterical). Everything is state of the art, digital and you get to keep all the shots on a disc for your own use along with the prints. They have excellent graphic artists that will eliminate the seeds in your smile or the razor burn on your husband. My husband and I are artists by nature and we wanted someone to capture the little genuine moments in a crisp modern way. They got all the traditional shots and everything else you can possibly think of. Mike was my photographer and we were so comfortable around him. It just seemed like himself and his staff were just other guests we invited to the wedding. My sister used him too for her wedding last March and the pics were insane. Can't wait to get our pictures back.

DJ: Parties Alive Entertainment: A- The minus is for the cocktail music which got messed up when a speaker blew out or something as the guests were walking in, which soon after got resolved. Also, I just found it a little weird that the DJ stopped all the music completely right after we got announced and everyone got invited on the dance floor. It was like awkward silence as the MC was talking. The music needs to be there to rev the people up! But alas, I diverge from the true point which is that I do recommend them to anyone. Our MC was phenomenal (I think his name was Mike too). For the ceremony I walked out to 'Ice Dance' from the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack, they actually found it for me. I put down a crap load of songs I wanted them to play and used a lot more than the recommended 1 page. They played all the music we loved for both cocktail and reception. And handed out the party accessories I bought on ebay. They were an in house DJ we got from the venue, and I am a picky person when it comes to music but my husband and I both agree that they were great.

HAIR: Roseanna Amador A+++ Roseanna, what can I say? She rules. She knows what she's doing, she's honest, and she will work with you until you are hair ecstatic. I was extremely indecisive about my hair and went for a trial 6 months before the wedding. She played around with my hair for 2+ hours trying to find something I liked. Then, flighty me finds another style, loves it and goes back to her the end of Aug. She does a superb job and I want to send her endless fruit/gift baskets in gratitude. Bottom line: You get what you pay for. Roseanna's rates were not as cheap as the salons by me but she was sooo worth it. And she traveled to my venue site to do my hair there the morning of. She was extremely professional and dependable. My hairstyle was a complex, interwoven entity but she was able to pull it off and more. Plus my girls looked like freakin models. If you are considering her services, do yourself a favor and go for it.

MAKEUP: A+++ Andrea from Lola Loves Makeup. I heart Lola loves makeup. This woman is a truly talented, professional individual who will make you look like a goddess. I went for a trial, also 6 months before the wedding, then ended up changing my mind the day of. Know what? My makeup looked awesome the whole day into night. I opted for the airbrush with fake eyelashes cause who wants to deal with mascara tears? She made it look completely flawless and natural yet sexy and bold. Who knew there was a happy medium between the two?



FLOWERS: A+++Bayport Flower House, Bayport, NY. I have gotten compliments till this day of how beautiful my flowers were. They were so fresh, the dew on them was evidence. Joann worked with me when I went in for a consultation. She actually had most of the flowers in stock that day so I was able to see what they were going to look like (I went a year before my wedding, around the same time). I have a lot of favorite things about my wedding, but I have to say I think that the flowers were the best. Bayport was also extremely reasonable pricewise and organized.

DRESS: A+ David's Bridal. Ok so I wasn't screaming or crying hysterically in glee when I picked out my dress. I had a limited budget and the first place I went to was DB. Very uncharacteristically of me, I picked my dress out at the 1st fitting/store I had been to. I saw it on the hanger and said, 'bleh'. Then out of boredom, I put it on and what do you know, it rules. Plus the salesgirl told me it was discontinued therefore on sale. Me likey.

VEIL: A DB. Tried it on with the dress to see if it matched and it did at a good price.

ALTERATIONS: Cathy Fiorenti A+++ Ok another person to add to my team of people/things who rule is Cathy. I found her on the vendor page here on liweddings. I didn't want to go to DB for alts. as I've heard nightmare stories. So I went to Cathy's house, at expert pace she knew what to do and my dress was ship shape done. And it looked awesome. I had cups put in bc I didn't want to deal with suffocating bra/torture device all night. This woman is the real deal ladies. If you have a complicated pressing garment issue as one of my bms did last minute she will take good care of you. She did my dress, my mom's and almost all of my bridesmaids. I truly recommend her to anyone.

BM's DRESS B+: Commack Wedding Center This place has a huge selection of BMs dresses and lets you look at the entire collections through catalogs first so you don't have to maneuver your way through mountains of taffeta. I went here with one of my BMs and we were there for at least 4 hours going through the catalogs and trying on dresses. We went on a weekday so that helped. One of my BMs who lives in CA, came here last min. and they let her do alts. when she came to pick up the dress. They royally messed up the dress however and she couldn't even fasten the zipper. Do NOT bring your stuff to get alts. there. Fortunately, she brought the dress to Cathy Fiorenti and she worked her magic so the dress was eventually saved. Bottom line: good selection/prices, awful alts.

TRANSPORTATION: A+++ Super Shuttle. Had an SUV pick up my husband and the rest of the groomsmen to bring to the venue. Shuttle vans picked up my guests roundtrip from the hotel to venue and back. They were prompt, on time, waited for my husband and I to say goodbye and take all our stuff, and very reasonably priced.

HAIR ACCESSORY/PIN: Barron's Tri County. $40 'nuff said

SHOES: A+++ Sandy's Shoes, Massapequa

BAG: A David's Bridal

OFFICIANT: Ed Simeone, retired judge: Fine, straight forward to the point ceremony.

INVITATIONS: MOH My maid of honor made my invitations as a graphic designer. We printed them at Sir Speedy Printing in Bayshore. Things got ugly when my name was spelled wrong after the first batch was printed. I should've however looked more closely at the proof but instead was too excited. Oh well. After the bunk batch, the real batch, the rsvp cards and envelopes all came out to be 230 bucks. Would've been $160. In the end, I was very happy with them.

FAVORS: A+++ Candy Buffet. Yes it was a lot of work but it was really fun. I did it all myself. I got apothecary jars and glass vessels at Home Goods for dirt cheap. I also got some smaller extra ones at the dollar store. Got the candy from Bulkfoods.com. Got the scoops and personalized inscribed paper bags from Oriental Trading. Smithtown Landing staff set up for me following the small labels I left for them. All the candy, except for some leftover pixi stix and taffy went.

RINGS: Ricky and Co. Attia's Flea Market. My brother in law knows the owner so my husband got my engagement ring and our wedding rings there. No complaints, I got the match to my engagement ring. White gold is starting to turn yellow, but can bring back to him to clean or whatever at no charge anytime.

REHEARSAL DINNER: Harborcrab Company, Patchogue. I like the luau/ beachy vibe of this place so we went here for our RD. We got the upstairs private room all to ourselves, the food and the service was excellent and the chocolate cake was to die for. Reasonably priced. Great seafood restaurant.

RD Invitations: Weddingpaperdivas.com. Nice selection, good prices.

Hope this helps you ladies out there somewhere. I will post up some more pics when I get them. Feel free to contact me with any q's or concerns.

You can find my uploaded pics in my album....

• 
• 
• 
• 

Re: Smithtown Landing CC Wedding 9/25/2010

Re: Smithtown Landing CC Wedding 9/25/2010

thanks for the review of SLCC! Not many SLCC reviews up here

Congrats!!

Re: Smithtown Landing CC Wedding 9/25/2010

Congratulations! I'm getting married there next August ... Not too many SLCC Brides to chat with here ... would you happen to have pictures to share?

Re: Smithtown Landing CC Wedding 9/25/2010

Congrats...