**UPDATED WITH MORE PRO-PICS** our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Man, I don’t even know where to begin! The last year and a half of my life has completely just flown by and somehow I’m supposed to sum it up, complete with pics. I think I’m up to the challenge!

LIW – A++++++ - I would’ve been nowhere without this site. Because I was always crunched for time when I was in NY, I could only make so many appointments and meet with so many possible vendors. This site really helped me narrow down my choices and reading everyone’s reviews helped me have peace of mind when I booked. While the site made me nuts at time (making me think I wasn’t doing enough, not being creative enough, etc), overall, this was a huge resource for an OOT girl!

Mom & Dad – no words
I can’t write my review without mentioning my parents. As usual, their generosity was more than I ever could’ve asked. They are my two best friends and I don’t know how I ended up with the two coolest people in the world as parents.



Save the Dates – Semi DIY/Kinkos – C
Blah, I didn’t like how these turned out. I collaborated with my graphic designer cousin and we didn’t quite agree on things, plus Kinkos couldn’t color match black and white.


Invites – mygatsby.com – A++++++
I always wanted to order from mygatsby because everything is very customizable. Right around the time I went to order, someone posted on the boards that the colors on the website didn’t look them same on paper. I got nervous because I never ordered paper samples. I posted a plea for help and Dalito322 graciously sent me some of her leftover paper samples, so I was able to pick the right colors. The service was great! We ordered our invites on a Thursday night. Due to my haste in ordering, I made a typo and immediately emailed the company (I placed my order at 11:30pm and couldn’t call them). The next morning, I had two emails waiting for me, one with a proof and one with a correction! I approved my proofs on a Sunday night and my box of invites arrived (unassembled) the following Thursday. I couldn’t believe the quick turn around time and not only that, the paper quality was fab. I absolutely loved my invites and the little starfish decal put on my invites (from their website) ended up being my theme. We put the invites together over the course of a week, using those glue dot things and tied the pockets shut with raffia. I printed out the envelopes on my home computer in the same color and font as the invites.


BMs Gifts – I purchased photo-totes on clearance from Bed, Bath and Beyond for $2.99 a piece and I got my MOH a bigger one for $3.99. Someone on these boards mentioned the totes on clearance (I forgot who) but thank you, whoever you are! I gave each BM specialty coffee or tea, depending on what they like best and a Philosophy “Bridal Party” shower gel gift set. I also tried to get an individual gift for each one of them. Ex, one of my girls loved the Lobster flip-flops I have from JCrew, so I bought her a pair. Another is getting married May 2008 and is always highly stressed, so I got her a “how to plan your wedding stress free!” book. My Mom also made wind chimes in our wedding colors with our starfish logo and wedding date, discreetly placed. Everyone LOVED them. Lastly, my awesome, amazing MOH made everyone matching DOJ. She did fabulous job and the jewelry went perfectly with their dresses.
my MOH and the jewelery she made


GM Gifts – Engraved Cigar Humidors, Things Remembered – A++++++++++ - DH, a cigar lover, wanted to get his guys humidors, especially since he knew most of them also love cigars. We found the perfect humidors on clearance on Things Remembered’s website. They were only $59.99, held up to 100 cigars and you could have them engraved! Of course, we waited a few days before we ordered and low and behold, they were sold out. We called the 800# and discovered that they had discontinued the humidors but a store in Washington state still had enough for our order. We called the store to make our purchase but were told they do not take phone orders – you have to pick them up! Being in AZ, not WA, we couldn’t do that, so again, DH explained why we needed them and the woman decided to take our order over the phone and ship them to my parents’ house in NY. They were a HUGE hit! DH also included a few special cigars (from a place we’re not allowed to get them from), which the guys greatly appreciated!



Gift for DH – Cufflinks, Executive Gift Shoppe.com – A++++ - DH and I decided not to get each other wedding gifts. Of course, we did anyway. While searching online for humidors for the GMs, I came across this website. They had a set of cufflinks that said “Cuban Cigar” on them. Being that DH is Cuban and he adores cigars, I had to get them for him! They were only $40.00 and arrived in about a week. DH loved them!

Bride’s Dress, Veil and Headpiece – Dress – Lazaro A++++++, purchased from Paradise Bridal - D –The only reason they didn’t get an F is because eventually, my dress came and I had no problems with my BM dresses. I originally went to Paradise Bridal on a whim. I was home in NY and thought it would be the only chance to shop for my wedding dress with my Mom. Of course, the very first dress I tried on, I had to have it. Although we said didn’t want to purchase here, we were in the moment and bought a dress, headpiece and veil. I didn’t even want a veil, but somehow, they (the salespeople and my Mom) convinced me. We purchased everything on Sept 10th, 2006 for my Sept 9, 2007 wedding. We were very clear that I lived in AZ and would be coming home in June and July for fittings. We were told, don’t worry, your dress will be in sometime in March – you’ll have plenty of time! Of course, that didn’t happen. We called numerous times throughout March and April, but to no avail and there were plenty of salespeople who were VERY rude to us about the situation. Finally, in mid-May, my Mom went the shop and finds out THEY NEVER ORDERED MY DRESS. Of course, they tried to hide that from us and blame the designer, but my Mom saw the order sheet, which had an order date sometime at the end of March – a full 6 months after we “ordered” it. To make a long story short, it was very stressful and they were NOT easy to deal with. My dress arrived at the very end of July, only 3 days before my first fitting (which I did NOT have done there). I had to book a special flight home in August because the dress arrived later than planned. We also had numerous veil problems. My dress was ivory, so I ordered an ivory veil, with no detailing. When my veil arrived, it was white and had beads. A second veil arrives – it’s diamond white! In the end, I picked out a completely different veil that. It was more expensive than my original veil, but since they screwed up so much, they didn’t charge us anything extra. I wouldn’t really recommend going there, unless you are extremely forceful from the get-go. Get the order # and designer’s phone number if you can! Luckily though, I LOVED my dress. It was well made and I’d like to wear it a million more times. I loved my headpiece too, but it had a point on it that dug into my head throughout the day and I was very happy to take it off at the end of the night. But I’d wear it again. With regards to my veil, I’m still either way about it. I would’ve been perfectly happy without it and almost decided the morning of the wedding not to wear it. It was a perfectly nice veil - it’s just that veils aren’t my thing. I know DH was happy I wore it though.


Shoes – C - After much drama, purchasing 7 pairs and returning all of them, I went to the one and only bridal shop in Tucson and found shoes. They were Coloriffics and while I thought they would be comfortable, they absolutely were not! I went barefoot most of the day, or wore my reef flip flops. I thought it would be great to get a dyeable shoe, so I could dye them black to wear again, but they were so uncomfortable the first time around, why bother?

DOJ – Pina – B- - I loved my DOJ. I can’t wait to wear it again sometime. However, I’m nervous. The first pair of earrings broke. I had a hair trial and when I went to put on the earrings to see how I looked, the post fell off. Pina was able to replace them without question, however my Mom also purchased her DOJ there and the morning of the wedding, the post fell off of one of her earring!! The stuff we bought was NOT cheap. In fact, it was probably grossly overpriced. It was gorgeous, but I’m rather annoyed that two pairs of earrings fell apart. Luckily, we replaced mine, but I don’t think my Mom ever went back to have hers fixed. If you’re going to go there, make sure you shop in the cheaper section. That way, you don’t feel ripped off when/if it breaks.

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Guy’s Attire – Men’s Warehouse – all over the country – A – Living in Tucson, we picked out the tuxes here. We had no problems whatsoever. None of the groomsmen lived in NY either, so they all went to stores in their respective states for fittings and again, everything went smoothly. When we arrived in NY, everyone went to pick up their tuxes, tried them on and we were good to go. They were clean and fit well. The only issue we had was that they forgot to put the shoes back in the bag for my FIL’s tux after he tried it on, so as he’s getting ready to get in the limo for the wedding, he can’t find his shoes! Luckily, he had a shiny pair of dress shoes with him, or else he would’ve been in sneakers all day! Other than that though, things went well.


Rehearsal Dinner – Sonoma Grill – A+++ - Sonoma really gave us a lovely package. The food was plentiful and tasty and we had a private room. No complaints here!

Makeup – Jillian from Gorgeous Faces – A+++++++++ - I loved Jillian! Again, I looked at tons of recommendations on this site and decided to have a trial with Jillian first. We had a hard time trying to set up a trial, because my schedule when I came to NY was always so ridiculous, so she actually came to my house for a trial. That impressed me right off the bat. Then, she did a fabulous job on my makeup! I didn’t book right away because I had my e-pics the same day and thought I’d wait until I received the e-pic proofs. The second they arrived, I called and booked. She was great on the day of the wedding as well. She arrived on time and made all of us look fantastic!


SIL:


Hair – my MOH – A++++++ infinity!! – I won’t bore you with this long story, but let’s just say I cancelled the girl I booked for my hair the week of my wedding for numerous reason. My MOH swooped in and did a FABULOUS job! She is the most awesome person in the whole world!

Flowers – LA Blossom – A+++++++++++++ - Due to time constraints, I could only meet with two florists. I spent hours reading reviews and looking at websites to narrow my choices down to LA Blossom and one other popular florist. I was unimpressed after meeting with the other florist, but from the second I met Laurie, I LOVED her! We met at a Starbucks, drank some coffee and shot around ideas. I really wanted her to be creative because overall, I had no CLUE what I wanted when it came to flowers, other than I wanted things to look natural and “organic” - a lot of greens, grasses, buds – things most brides specifically DON’T want! Laurie really understood the look I was going for, too. She really had my utmost confidence. When my bouquets arrived, I was taken aback by how gorgeous they were. They were EXACTLY what I wanted! My centerpieces were also great – low, vibrant, natural. People were practically fighting over them to take them home. The flowers lasted quite awhile, too, which was a bonus for those who took them home. She was always really easy to talk to and willing to make any changes I asked. I would recommend her to anyone!!!

Music – Hank Lane Orchestra – A++++++++++++++ - Being a musicians, I absolutely did not want a DJ and my Dad had a suggestion right off the bat. He used Hank Lane for some functions in the past and really thought they’d be perfect for the wedding. With my father being a way better musician than I, I really trust his opinion when it comes to things like this and I’m glad I did. They were FABULOUS! They could play anything and everything. The singers had amazing voices and they really knew how to play to the crowd. I even had a few people ask for their contact information after the wedding. A few of my older relatives said they were a little too loud, but I didn’t agree. And what’s more, they let my Dad play a few songs with them and he gave quite a show – some of the best guitar I’ve ever seen my Dad play! But this isn’t a review of my Dad :-P Overall, I loved the band and wanted them to keep playing and never stop!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Limo – Cavalier - A+++++++++++++ and American Luxury Bus – B- – My family has used Cavalier for years and as usual, they didn’t disappoint. We only used them to take me and my parents to the reception hall, while everyone else took the Party Bus (that way, I wouldn’t see DH until we had our special moment). As usual, they arrived about 15 minutes early and got us to the Crescent in perfect time. We decided to get a party bus for everyone else because we had a large bridal party and a lot of older family, all staying about an hour away from the Crescent. It seemed like the perfect way to accommodate everyone. The bus was very clean and stocked with tasty snacks, plus they made multiple trips between the Comfort Inn in Medford (where everyone was staying), and the Crescent in Bayville. Unfortunately, the driver didn’t know how to get to Bayville. The bus was too big to fit under the overpass to get into Bayville. When my parents met with the company the first time, the owners knew about this and explained the alternate route for buses. It seems though, that they neglected to tell the bus driver! I left in the Cavalier limo the same time the Bus left from the hotel but the bus didn’t arrive until almost an HOUR after I did. The bus driver even had to pull over and ask for directions! Then, on the way home (although this isn’t the buses fault), because both the Southern State and Expressway were closed for construction, the bus had to take local roads the entire way back to Medford. Because of all the windy roads, sudden stops and hills, there were a few of us who got sick. Again, it wasn’t the buses fault that the roads were closed, but it left a sour taste in my mouth, no pun intended.

Officiant – Father Bob – B – Father Bob did a great job with our ceremony, except for one little part. During the opening prayer, he welcomed everyone to the marriage of “Randi Jean and Christopher”, which would’ve been great if I was marrying a Christopher. DH’s name is CHRISTIAN! There was an audible gasp in the crowd and I immediately (yet discreetly) corrected him. We all managed to laugh it off, but it bugged me a bit! He was NEVER able to meet with us when we came home to NY. He was always too busy with other weddings. DH only met him once before the wedding and only for about 20 minutes. I met him one other time, again for about 15 minutes. He was never easy to reach by phone, either. I imagine, if you’re local, you wouldn’t have as many problems as we did, but it was a little stressful, at times!

Photography – Velvet Studio – A+++++++++++++++++++++ - Photography was super important to me. I must’ve called/emailed at least 12 photographers before choosing to meet with Velvet and one other. While I liked the photog we met with before Velvet, they didn’t have me sold. However, I didn’t rule them out until I met with Bob from Velvet. He stayed open late so we could meet with him and before we walked out of our meeting, I wanted to book! It was one of the best decisions I made. Bob was a ton of fun to work with. He had me laughing during our e-pics session and kept me laughing through my wedding day. And I have some amazing pictures. He also thoroughly surprised me with 1400 proofs. We received our proofs about 5 weeks after the wedding, which is exactly when we were told we would receive them. We received both a DVD of high resolution proofs and hard copies of all 1400. I’m still struggling to pick photos for our TYs and album. I have so many favorites that it’s really hard to choose between them. Recently, a few girls have said they hoped he would have been a little more creative with their shots, but I was pleased with his creativity. Also, a few months before the wedding, Bob was photographing a party at which my Dad was playing. He and my Dad recognized each other and although my Dad was just part of the band, he sent my Dad a disk of shots of his performance – my Dad didn’t even ask! It just shows how awesome Bob is. I’m definitely looking forward to getting my album, if I ever pick out pics.

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Ceremony/Reception – Crescent Beach Club – A++++++++++++ - I can’t say anything bad about this place. I visited 7-8 places in a span of 2 days (because that’s all I had!) and was getting really discouraged. I couldn’t find a single place that met my expectations. The Crescent was the very last place went to look at and I was so discouraged, I figured I’d hate it. However, before even walking inside the Crescent, I knew we had to get married. Just pulling into the parking lot, it looked perfect! Once we walked inside, I didn’t feel any different. We had a very nice meeting with Denise and were thoroughly impressed with everything – the beach, the view, the food options, the size/layout of the main ballroom, the layout of the cocktail hour and the fact that they had a separate room for the ceremony (in case of rain). Everything was exactly what I was looking for in a reception hall and it did not disappoint one bit! Denise was great to work with the entire time, answering any questions we had and getting us any materials we needed. Our bridal attendant, Campbell, was a sweetheart! She didn’t leave our sides the entire day, yet I didn’t feel like she was hovering or overbearing. She was just awesome! Really, everyone there was great. They definitely made us feel special. And of course, the place is gorgeous. I loved getting married overlooking the water. The food was also delicious. We tried everything at the cocktail hour. I couldn’t stop stuffing my face full of the tasty foods! For entrees, we had a choice of Filet Mignon, Stuffed Chicken and a Swordfish – and they brought us one of each! (well, except no Filet for me because I don’t eat red meat) Both the Chicken and Swordfish were delicious – if I was hungry enough, I would’ve cleaned my plate. DH did! The cake was fabulous. It looked awesome and tasted even better. We selected a chocolate cake with a cappuccino-raspberry filling, interlaced with fresh berries. People are still raving about how delicious it was. We didn’t opt for the Vienese hour, but we didn’t need to. There were plenty of desserts – besides cake, we had trays of pastries and chocolate dipped strawberries on each table, as well as an ice cream bar, which was a big hit. They also gave us three, huge “doggie bags” filled with the pastries and chocolate dipped strawberries, which we ate the next night after dinner (we still had a houseful of about 20!). I wish I could get married there again and again!


















Favors – Personalized Cookbooks from cookbookpulishers.com – A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - I am in love with my cookbooks. This was something I’ve wanted to do as our wedding favors since we first started dating – we always found ourselves in the kitchen, cooking and trying new things. It’s just what DH and I have always done. Nothing said “Randi & Chris” like a cookbook! We tossed around the idea for a long time and then finally, when we realized if we didn’t order within a week, we wouldn’t receive them in time, we just decided to do it! I compiled all of my information as quickly as possible, including the information for our “free pages” (each cookbook comes with a title page, acknowledgements page, picture page and an officers/committee page for free). We included a “thank you” letter to our guests, one of our engagement pictures and as opposed to an officers/committee page we included tips on pairing wine with your food (they allowed us to substitute, since we weren’t a group). The company also includes a table of contents, 12 pages of low-fat nutrition information and an index for no additional charge. There are a ton of options if you want to pay extra money, but they were already a little pricey, so we skipped out on them. They came out GREAT and we even received them weeks before they said we would. Every time I needed to speak with someone at the company, they were always extremely helpful and they even threw in a few features for free that you would normally have to pay for. I am SO happy we decided to make these.



DIYs – Menus, Placecards, Programs, Candy Favors, Table Numbers, OOT Bags, Bathroom basket – yay me! – Can’t give myself a poor grade here! I had a great time designing all this stuff for myself. I made a wedding “logo” using that starfish motif from mygatsby and incorporated it into each of the items listed above. For the menus, I found great scrapbook paper at Target. I purchased 4 packages of 12x12 sheets, in packages of 12 for $2.99 a piece. Super Cheap! I cut each of those into 4 squares and printed my menus in the same color and font as my invites. I

used the placecards provided by the Crescent and printed each name, table # and my wedding logo on each.

For the programs, I purchased the paper from mygatsby for $28 with shipping. I also purchased “sashes” in the scrapbook section of Target (3 packs for $2.99 a piece) and added those to my programs as the “binding”. I didn’t want that a bulky program, so I just printed on the front and back of the 8.5x11 sheets, folded them in half and covered the fold with the sashes from Target.




For the candy favors, I purchased favor box kits from Michaels. I found a “25% off your entire wedding purchase” coupon and that gave me 1 of my 4 favor kits for free - saved me $19.99! I printed my wedding logo on the included tags, attached them to each box, filled them with sweedish fish and tied the ribbon shut.

For my table numbers, I altered my wedding logo and using the starfish motif, I enlarged it, put a number inside and printed them.

For the OOT bags, I found some cute, rustic looking bags at the Paper outlet store in the Bellport outlets, for less than $1 a piece. We went to Sams and bought treats to fill the bags. I printed out welcome letters, again using our wedding logo and font, and included them in each of the bags.

My Mom gets full credit for the bathroom basket! I wasn’t going to do one, but at the last minute, my Mom thought it was the right thing to do and put it together. It looked great and was chock full of useful items. Thanks, Mom!

Guestbook – Mypublisher – A+++ - I always wanted to do one of the Polaroid photo guest books, but in the end, I decided that was too much effort. I decided to use mypublisher instead. It was a great decision! Not only was the book cheaper than a lot of standard guest books (I think I paid $29 with shipping), it’s something I’m much more apt to look at. Some people didn’t really understand what they were supposed to do with it (which was partially my fault because I forgot to put out pens. . .), but we got some nice notes from our friends and family and it’s a great look back on our first 5 yrs together, before marriage.


Jeez, I think that’s all I’ve got! I can’t believe it’s all completely over, especially now that I’ve written this. Congrats to everyone who makes it through reading this and thanks again to everyone on this site for being such an amazing help!!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

nice long review!! you looked beautiful and it sounds like you had a great day!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

thanks for sharing all your details. Thanks for the review! Gorgeous pictures! congrats!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

This is a great review!!! Your family looks like a lot of fun and your dad was rockin'!!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Congrats!!!!!!
glad your day was amazing! you both look great and soo happy!!!!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Congrats! You made a STUNNING bride. Thanks for sharing!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Congrats again Randi!!!

Great review!!!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Thanks for a wonderfully detailed review!! Love your pics!! You were a gorgeous bride! You and your hubby make a beautiful couple!!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Yay I really enjoyed your review, espeically the pics. You and your family and new DH seem like fun, goofy people who like to have fun and are easy to luv. The picture of your family being goofballs is great. I wish we'd taken more fun shots but we just had NO time!

Thanks for a great review!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Great review!!! Thanks for sharing, it seems like alot of brides have had problems with Paradise Bridal (myself included) you looked beautiful regardless!

Congrats to you and DH!!! Again

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

What a beautiful Reveiw and wedding~ Great job!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

great review ... nice pics ...

everything looked beautiful!!

CBC rocks!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Thanks for the great review! Your wedding looks like it was absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

looks like you had a beautiful wedding..........you looked gorgeous!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

thanks for all of the nice comments, everyone!

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

Beautiful Review

Re: our awesome 9/9/07 wedding with tons and tons of pics! - crescent beach club, velvet stuido, la blossom, hank lane, jillian from gorgeous faces and more!

new pics added!