UPDATED with PENNYLANE film LINK Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven,and more!

***Please note a MAJORITY of the pics are from PATKEN PHOTOGRAPHER. My scanner is kinda cheap so some look a little fuzzy. Other pics were taken by guests***

LIW
My sanity my savior! I joined this site with 722 days until I was getting married. It became a staple in my life. It helped me through so many decisions and gave me so many ideas. It also introduced me to so many great people. FH even joined and became quite addicted himself! I made some great friends on this site and am very thankful and appreciative of it. This site really is amazing and I don’t know how girls plan weddings without it. Thank you so much Ron, Liz and Kim

A quick piece of advice to stay organized. MAKE A BINDER!! People laughed at my huge hot pink binder but it helped me so much. I had bought one of those wedding binders in the bookstore but it wasn’t for me. It’s marketed for the whole country so there were a lot of things in it that didn’t apply to NY weddings and things I needed that weren’t in there. I bought a binder from Staples and inserted my own tabs and it worked very well. I was able to keep all my contracts, deposit receipts, ideas and quotes all in one place. It made it very easy to stay on top of things. I also kept an excel spreadsheet with a gazillion tabs. I had my engagement party guestlist/gift/thank you sent, wedding guestlist/gift/thank you sent, shower guestlist/gifts, RD dinner info, registry info, STD list and of course my grand total sheet that showed cost of vendors and recorded all payments and had equations to show what I still owed and what we had saved. I really couldn’t have planned my wedding without this organization.
FM me if you want some help with making your own or want me to send you mine.

Oh also, if you plan on writing a review…I advise you to start now! I started my review when I started planning. It was a lot easier and more accurate to write as I experienced. As I re-read my review there were things I wrote that I didn’t even remember so if I waited until after I was married I would have left those details out. Plus it will be easier to update your review after the wedding with just the day of details as oppose to writing up the entire thing.


Engagement Party
Marconi Manor, Islip – A+
We had our engagement party at Marconi Manor in Islip. We had gone to my great uncles 70th birthday party there and thought it would be a good fit for our party. I made my own CP’s that were vases with a Betta fish in it and a floating flower. We taped a scratch off ticket to the bottom of one chair per table and the person who found the ticket took the CP home, it was quite a hit. We also made trivia cards of multiple choice questions about us and put them on every table.
The food was buffet style and they let us add things that weren’t on the menu. The staff was easy to work with and they even whipped up some kid food on the spot for us when we needed.










Save The Dates: MagnetQueen.com A+
For our favors we gave out save the date magnets that I ordered from magnet queen. They were easy to order and sent me a draft via email in 1 day. I was able to use a coupon code I got from LIW and got a great deal. They came with envelopes and weren’t flimsy. I bought custom candy wrappers from an ebay seller (forgot the username) to go on Nestle treasures and put them in organza bags and attached it to the magnets.

Engagement Photos A+
Patken - Jessie
So we wanted a different type of location for our e-pics. We decided to take them at 300 Long Island in Melville. Jessie had shot some wedding photos there and liked the lighting so we thought it would be fun for both Jessie and us to take the pics in the bowling alley. John is also a bowler and the first time we hung out was at that exact bowling alley (the one before it became 300) so we wanted to take pics on the lanes where we first hung out.
I loved our e-pics. I thought they came out great. We had a great mix of traditional and non traditional shots. The coloring was awesome. I would recommend 300 as a fun spot to take some pics!












Bridal Shower
La Famiglia in Plainview A
My bridal shower was a sort of surprise. I knew the date but not the place or time. La Famiglia was great. We had 6 choices of an entrée and the 2 salad choices tasted phenomenal. It was so good. Their service was great, no complaints here. The only thing I had a small issue with was when I walked in, the man at the front asked if I was here for the bridal shower or baby shower. Had I not known it was my shower that would have given it away.
The wait staff there was great though. They helped load up the cars in no time. They were such a help. The reason for the A and not A+ was my mom told me when she went to give some extra tips to the waiters that helped us, the owner said he would take it and do it himself. It seemed kind of shady so my mom told the waiters that she had given extra money to the owner and the waiters asked if she could tell them how much was owed to them. That made me think that the owner has shafted them from their tips before.
My amazing MOH made my favors. They were recipes in a jar. I had won favor tags at TWOTY 09 from eleven 18 design studio and she allowed my MOH to use them for my shower. They came out beautiful and she was such a pleasure to work with. I would def do business with her again.








Rehearsal Dinner and Invites
Blue Lagoon in West Babylon A-
MyExpression.com A+
I ordered my invites from a site called MyExpression.com. The site had a ton to choose from and you can have them print the invites or you can save money and print them yourself. I chose the cheaper option. Printing them was relatively simple as soon as we were able to make ourselves a template.
We booked at Blue Lagoon. We originally wanted to book Lily Flanagans but had a bad experience with them so chose something a little closer to home. They gave us a choice of 2 rooms and the price was great. They seemed to be the cheapest around for adding alcohol onto the package.
Our Rehearsal at FF ended up being shorter than expected so I called to see if we could come earlier and they had no problem with it, which was great. The food was good but I think they only had 1 waitress for the whole party and we had about 30 people. I would have liked to have a few additional wait staff. Also, I didn’t like the way the tables were set up. They had a bunch of tables of 6 or 8. That made it difficult to separate friends and family members. Ideally I would have wanted one or two long tables. They did however stay open late for us. They normally close at 10 and we were there until 11’ish.

BM and GM Gifts and Parent Gifts
What a hard decision. We had a large bridal party (22 people in total) so it was hard to appeal to everyone.
For the girls – I bought them a spa wrap/robe and then made up a form for them to fill out for a spa. It gave them a listing of treatments they could choose and they gave me the completed card and I picked up the gift cards the next day and gave it to them on the wedding day. I let my MOH choose 2. It was a real hit. After all, what girl doesn’t like to be pampered with a massage, facial or mani pedi?
For the guys – the guys are all sports fanatics so we got them a duffle bag in their favorite team as well as a sports t-shirt. We also stuck in a bottle of Captain Morgans and the sneakers they were to wear the day of. The best men (there were 2) got extra sweatshirts and DH took them to a hockey game.
For the kids – all the kids had t-shirts made up for them. I don’t have pics of all the shirts. The flower Girl one said “Perfectly Picked Flower Girl” and the other shirts were for the ring bearers and they said “king of the bling” and “official bling bearer”. We also got them gift cards to Toys-r-Us.
For the parents – I got my mom a mother and bride Lenox statue and a book about moms and daughters. For my dad I got him a wall hanging as well as a book about fathers and daughters. We got DH’s parents a nice frame.







Wedding Band
Elsa Designs A+
FH and I originally bought our wedding bands in St. Thomas. I had gotten a white gold band with channel set diamonds and FH got a plain white gold band. After a few months I tried my ring on again and hated the way it looked. I have a weird band with curved bars and 3 little diamonds in between each bar and it was hard to find a ring that matched. I saw Elsa at a showcase and a co-worker had used them also so I decided to check them out. I gave them an idea of what I wanted and we tweaked some rings they had there to choose a ring that would be perfect with mine. I gave them a budget and they started the process. I was able to go there and see a wax model of the band which I tried on and they did some more tweaking on it. The next time I went back they had the diamonds placed in the wax mold. The next visit the ring was actually made of white gold and I tried it on against my e-ring. Once I gave that an OK the next step is diamonds! Lastly was the final product. I went to pick it up and fell in love. It was perfect. Not too flashy and not too plain. The whole process was pleasant and fun and the people at Elsa are so sweet. I would definitely recommend them. Oh and they came in under budget. Cant beat that!




My Gown (Maggie Sottero Aurelie), MOB Gown (Mon Cheri I believe), BM dresses (Bill Levkoff 2 different styles)
Shoes – Coloriffics from Sandy’s Shoes (dyed there also)
Bridal Suite of Bayshore A Alterations - B
I got my dress, my mother’s dress and my BM dresses here. I worked with Jennifer and she was amazing. She was so helpful and patient with all the corset dresses I tried on. She tied them up and untied them and tied them up again. She was great!
They had the BM dresses there for a higher price than I had found elsewhere but they were willing to work with me on the price so we decided to order them there.
My fittings were a breeze. I didn’t need much, just a hem. What annoyed me was that some how with just a hem I still hit my cap amount and also my bustle hit a cap amount. I guess even if I needed it taken in it would be the same price? That annoyed me quite a bit. Also my girls hit the cap amount on alterations too. If you are going to charge the same amount then don’t put a “cap” on it…just say its going to cost $70!
When I went in for my 2nd fitting it was the perfect length. Everything went so smooth. I had to go back a third time because we were choreographing our first dance and I had to check that I could walk backwards in the dress. They had originally left a sweep with the bustle. They added 3 more points to the bustle so I could have it all up for the first dance and then untie those 3 and have the sweep for the rest of the reception.
However, when I went back I also noticed that my hem was crooked. Had I not gone back to check my bustle I wouldn’t have known and it wouldn’t have been fixed.
Also, they really messed up one of the BM’s dresses. They made her look like she had cone boobs and in the 3 attempts made to fix it, they ended up making the seam down the boobs look bunchy. There was also an iron mark on the front of the dress!
I bought my shoes at Sandys. I opted for a low heel so I could wear them longer. I dyed them there to match the red in my BM dresses. I loved my shoes and I was able to wear them from 1:30pm-2:30am with hardly any problems.












Veil and Slip – Ebay A+
There was no way I was spending lots of money on my veil and slip. I perused ebay and scored the exact veil I wanted for $16.99 and the slip I needed for $30. They worked perfect and I would recommend Ebay for those items.



Flower Girl Dress and Ring Bearer Tux’s – Charlotte’s Kids in Massapequa A
My SIL found this place and bought my niece’s dress there for about $100. My twin nephews got their tux’s there for about $50. they are only 3 and it was cheaper to buy than rent. The FG dress came in with the wrong color roses at first so they had to re-order the little flowers. Then they wouldn’t stay on so I think they ordered a whole new dress where the little flowers were actually sewn on. Day of, she looked like a little princess. She wore ruby red slippers too that were from Target.





Tuxedo’s – VIP Formals – A+
We have used this place before for other weddings and its so close to our house, right up the block. We went to a few places and VIP beat everyone’s prices. They even gave us John’s tux as well as his 2 son’s tux’s free. They gave us free ties for my nephews and discounted my dad’s tux as well. Their service is great and I would def use them again.





Groomsmen Sneakers – Ebay Seller A+
Again, we wanted to be a little different and quirky so we decided to do red and black Adidas sneakers for the GM and black and white ones for John. The ebay seller let me negotiate a deal so we bought them all for the guys and made it part of their gifts as well.


Day Of Jewelry (DOJ) and children’s ID Bracelets A+
Tri-County
I didn’t want to spend a lot on jewelry I would never wear again so I headed to Tri-County. I bought earrings, necklace and a bracelet for $150. They looked great in the pics and served their purpose.
We also bought ID bracelets for John’s 2 sons to be used in the children’s ceremony, which talks about the uniting of one family.
The hair pins I wore in my hair were borrowed from my SIL who borrowed them from her friend. As you can guess, that was my something borrowed.






Weather A+
So we chose to get married in February for a few reasons. DH pretty much gave me the choice of February or March due to sports. There are no sports he enjoys watching on at that time so when we were away on our HM he wouldn’t miss play offs or anything. Crazy right?! Oh and we are both pretty hot blooded and don’t mine the cold. Well it worked out in our favor because we got such great deals on everything. The only thing out of our hands was the weather eeeek. Sure we wanted some snow flurries but what if we got hit with a bad storm? Our hall is 40 minutes from our house. It could have been a disaster. Well Mother Nature spared our souls. She blessed us with insane weather! It was in the upper 40’s and sunny and crisp. There was snow on the ground and love in the air! It was so perfect. We were able to take pictures outside for about an hour and we had our BP with us for a good chunk of time without killing them with the cold. I couldn’t have asked for better.



Hair/Makeup
Hair – Nicole D’Angio A+
Makeup- Kristin Mavroson (FM for info) A+

I fell in love with Nicole’s work before I even knew it was hers. I had seen pics of hair that I loved but didn’t know who the stylist was and then when I stumbled upon her site I saw the same pics. She does take a while to respond to emails which drives me nuts because I like to be very on top of things but in all fairness it does state that on her site.
She was very accommodating with the hair trial. She had to cancel and was willing to reschedule me on the day of my shower at 8am! She even offered to do it at 5am if need be. She is a total sweetheart and she is running a great business.
The day of, Nicole arrived at 6:15am! Did I mention she lives about 50 minutes away from me?! She was doing me and 5 other girls so we had to start early. I was nervous at first that my hair wouldn’t hold up all day but it did and it was perfect. The only thing I had to do was readjust one bobby pin before the reception.
Some girls brought pictures of what they wanted and she replicated them with ease. My mom and one of the BM’s have thinner hair and she brought a product that she sprayed in that made their hair look so dark and full. She made all my girls look gorgeous.
Nicole all around is just such a sweet person. She really made everyone feel at ease and she did different styles for each girl that worked so well on them. She was a true pleasure to work with.

Kristin is marrying my 2nd cousin so that is how I found her. She offered to do my make up and I took her up on it. I used my e-pics as a trial and I loved it. She nailed it on the first try.
The day of she was doing me and 5 girls as well. She changed my color a tad from my trial and I loved it even more! What I really like about her is that she made each girl look different. I’ve seen some make up artists that do the same thing for everyone and I hate that. She really pays attention to what each girl looks like and what colors they like and she did an amazing job on everyone. She even touched up my SIL even though she got her make up done elsewhere. Kristin was also a guest at my wedding so she brought her stuff with her and touched us all up before the reception. She’s awesome and I would highly recommend her.









Invitations –Tessa from ev e n st a r pa pe ri e .com (no spaces) A+
So I know people have mixed reviews in regards to her process but I enjoyed the whole process. I did start with about 15 months to go until my wedding. I like being ahead of the game. I moved through her process smoothly. She is excellent with returning emails and her designs were the only ones I fell in love with. I think she is well worth the wait.
I got seriously addicted to reading her blog everyday and even won some things that I was able to add to my invites. She was such a doll throughout the whole process.
My invites were so gorgeous, I loved them. I received numerous compliments on how different and classy my invites were and a few people even inquired where I had them done so they could pass on the info. I highly recommend her.


Menus – Meaghan from Fruition Events A+
Meaghan started out as my banquet manager for Flowerfield but then left to start her own company. I originally wanted to do my own menus but realized I am not super creative and I could easily mess this up so I decided to outsource. She gave me a great price and the finished product looked great. She matched my fonts and graphics from my invite.
She also dropped my menus off at the hall for me so I didn’t have to go pick them up. Kudos for Meaghan!



Programs – Myself, my uncle and a coworker A+
We wanted something different and personalized for our program. My uncle is an artist so we had him draw cartoon caricatures of everyone in the bridal party. DH and I then wrote little blurbs about each member. We also included our story as well as a thank you to all guests. We handed the programs out to our BP at the RD and they were a hit. My coworker did the layout on PhotoShop for us. It came out just as we wanted.




Place Cards and Table Numbers – DH
DH is a big Buffalo Bills fan so we decided to name our tables after his favorite players from the team, past and present. We printed and framed them and then made little jersey place cards and stood them in wheat grass. It was just a little touch of “us” to add to the wedding.




Cardbox – Me and my MOH
I decided to make my own since I had an idea in my head. I bought everything at Joannes and got to work. It was a little tedious but I was pleased with how it all came out.



Cruise Control Limousine A
I was originally going to wait until a few months before the wedding to book limos but I had called for some quotes just to get an idea of prices. We were looking for a bus for 24 people and a small stretch for my parents and me. Cruise Control not only gave the best price but it was hundreds less than everyone else. They also store all their cars in a garage, which I loved. I did only need the limos for a pick up and drop off, not for a span of several hours since we got married at the hall so I believe that’s why we got such a great price.
My stretch was right on time and the driver was nice and friendly. He loaded up the car and we were good to go. The bus was a little late. It was supposed to be there at 2:45 and showed up after 3. It wasn’t a big deal though because it gave us all more time at my house. The bus was picking up the guys at one house and then coming to my house to get the girls so them being a little late gave us more time to take pics outside before they headed over.


Reverend Donald Doctor from A Beautiful Affair of The Heart
I emailed them since they were a vendor on here. They immediately responded and sent me a huge outline of possible ceremony passages, prayers, songs, readings etc. FH and I went through it and tweaked it to our liking. We met with Rev Don and it was a painless meeting. I gave him a copy of what we wanted, he went through some basic info and we were done.
The day of he showed up right on time. The ceremony went smooth and without any glitches. He did a good job.



Beer Pong – um yea
So my BP loves beer pong and thought it would be fun to play while John and I took pics. Since we had them there for 3 hours for pictures prior to the ceremony, we didn’t mind too much. They played in the back in the grooms lounge before guests arrive. We’re classy right lol



LI Sound (Long Island Sound) A-
MC – Chris
DJ – Unknown

Songs we Used:
BP Down the Aisle: Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Isreal something (Hawaiian song)
Me down the aisle : Canon in D
After ceremony walking back down aisle: I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
Parent Entrance: Let It Rock by Kevin Rudolf
BP Entrance: Calabria by Enur
Our Entrance: Fox NFL Football Theme
First Dance: Come What May by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (from Moulin Rouge)
Dance With Grandfather: What a Wonderful World by Sam Cooke?
Dance With Father: My Wish by Rascal Flatts
Dance With Mother: Mama by Boys 2 Men
Anniversary Dance Song: Love of My Life by Jim Brickman
Cake Cutting: You’re My Best Friend by Queen
2 Last Dance Songs: Send Me on My Way by Rusted Root and Forever by Chris Brown

LI Sound was the 3rd DJ we met with. We were actually settled on our first DJ and I was going to cancel my appointment with LI Sound but didn’t. Good thing we didn’t because we instantly loved them! We met with Chris the owner and I was giddy at the meeting. He explained what they offered then took us into another room to show us some of the stuff set up. We told him we were interested in using the NFL entrance song and he came back with both choices we were thinking of and put it on. He announced us into those songs so we could hear it and he did a great job. When it came to pricing he worked with us because we were getting married in the off season. I had really wanted uplighting (color kinetics) and he made it affordable in our package. He was the vendor I was most excited and confident about.

Well the day of they ROCKED IT! They did such a ridiculously amazing job that I was giddy about them once again. I was never crazy about our ballroom but they made the room look so sick! I have seen uplighting done with big barrels. LI Sound uses these flat panels that are much more attractive lol. We couldn’t decide on one color so we had him do a rotation all night and then he also coordinated the lighting with the beat of the music. Between the uplighting and the spot lighting on our CP’s our room looked hot!
Chris was great. He had just enough crowd involvement. He started a best man dance off (we had 2 best men) and it was hysterical. He also did like a roll call for the BP and I loved that too. I don’t recall one moment where the dance floor wasn’t packed.
We had the plasma tv’s and by the time we returned home from our HM we had a CD of pics. They did a good job of getting pics of almost every guest. It’s a nice addition to our collection of pictures.
The minus comes from the percussionist. I was really excited to have one and we were supposed to have this one guy but he was on tour the weekend of our wedding so they gave us one of his students. He was good but I didn’t feel that he stood out like a percussionist should have.
All in all however I couldn’t have been happier with LI Sound and I would recommend tem 1000 times over again.








Dance Lessons – John from Ballroom Dance LI A+
We didn’t want to rock back and forth for our first dance so we chose to take dance lessons. John is a LIW vendor and that’s how I found him. He was the most reasonably priced. We did a free introductory lesson around Christmas time and then had family members buy us lessons for Christmas. We ended up only having to pay for 1 lesson ourselves so it worked out perfect.
John makes it very easy to learn the steps and makes it not intimidating at all. We actually had a lot of fun and wished lessons were cheaper so we could keep going.
He choreographed our first dance for us and even did our last lesson at Flowerfield so we could get a feel for the dancefloor.





Lovin Oven Floral Designs (Centerpieces and Linens) A+
My hall included centerpieces from Lovin Oven so I went to meet with them to get a quote for my personal flowers as well. I met with Keyth who was really nice and had some ides for me. Although I didn’t end up booking with him for my personal flowers, I was still using him for my CP’s.
I also used them for my linens. We discussed some options and decided to go with runners and sashes and to cut costs, instead of doing napkins we decided on using a small rose inserted in the napkin in front of the menus. The roses would add the splash of color I was looking for without me having to spend the money on napkins.
My day of CP’s looked just like my sample. Just what I wanted. With the spot lights aimed at them, they looked so sleek and sophisticated. The linens looked even better than I had pictured. I was a little weary of using the table runners on round tables but they looked great. It gave just the right amount of popping color. And the small spray roses in the napkins were quite the hit. Everyone was wearing them in their ears and pockets lol.




Flower Michele A
Who knew that flowers were going to be the hardest vendor?? I met with a few before really feeling confident in one. My hall provided Centerpieces from their house florist, Lovin Oven, so I only needed personal flowers. Flower Michele was the last florist I met with. I met with Rich. He listened to my ideas and even gave me an awesome suggestion to go along with our mini theme. He was negotiable which was key for me because I really didn’t want to spend a lot on flowers. He informed me that they will keep doing samples until I am satisfied and told me I could even go down to their room where they keep all their flowers and pick them myself.
A few months before my wedding I found out Rich was no longer with Flower Michele. I got a little nervous but then went and met with John and walked out of there even more confident then when I booked. He had so many great ideas and he helped me complete my vision. I don’t know much about flowers so he explained what would work and what wouldn’t.
He also offered to set up our place cards since the idea we came up with was pretty time consuming.
I loved my Bo-k. At first I thought it was smaller than I had imagined but as I started to see pictures I realized it was perfect size for me. I’m pretty short so the size suited me without overpowering my dress or me. The girls bo-k’s were just as discussed as well. The reason for the lack of a plus on his rating was because he had come up with an idea for our place cards and was going to set them up like stadium seating, staggered at a few different heights. When I saw them, they were all the same height and kind of just spread around. They looked a little messy but it wasn’t anything too detrimental.








Photographer
Patken-Jessie & Nick
Photography was the first vendor I wanted to book. I had a few on my list but Flowerfield offered us a basic package with Patken as part of a winter promotion they were doing. We met with I think Mary the first time. We had heard that Patken was expensive and we were afraid to hear the price of our upgrades but surprisingly they were reasonable. We walked out not booking but FH said that we aren’t going to find a better price since we were already getting free things so we called from the car and booked them. I was concerned with my choice of photographer because I have seen some of their work on friends weddings and wasn’t blown away. I decided I wanted a 2nd photographer there that day because I had heard that many girls regretted not getting different angles and different emotional shots. So I went back and altered my contract and they were accommodating.
We were assigned with Jessie and I couldn’t be happier. She is very sweet. We met with her to talk our ideas over and she was very excited to hear what we wanted and even gave us some ideas. We didn’t want very traditional photos. We wanted some photojournalistic and some not so common shots. She totally saw my vision and erased any doubt I may have had in my decision.

So on the day of, things went just as planned. Jessie is so easygoing so I knew she would get along great with our BP. Our BP is a bunch of crazies and she was able to just roll with it and even kept them on their toes by throwing jokes their way. She made the tedious process of picture taking a breeze. She was great at getting everyone together quickly and keeping the kids attention. Nick was our 2nd photographer and he was great too. I didn’t work hand in hand with him because he was sent to where John was in the morning but John liked the fact that he was there and they were able to get a lot of pictures out of the way before we had our reveal moment together.
We were told that Patken normally gives about 400 proofs…well we got over 1,000! I couldn’t believe how many pics they took. I love every pic. They did some traditional and some photojournalistic. I loved that having 2 photogs gave us the same scene but from a different angle. It really changes the picture. As I had mentioned earlier, I was a little nervous booking them. I thought their style wouldn’t be what I wanted but I just love my proofs. They did such a phenomenal job. I even had to upgrade my album to add more pictures because we have so many to choose from. I posted a bunch of pics at the end of the review from them as well.










Videographer
Pennylane Productions – Adam A++
This was a last minute decision about 6 months prior to the wedding. A fellow LIW bride posted her highlight reel and trailer and I instantly fell in love. I took FH there to see some of his work and he was hooked! We just had to have him. Adam is great. He is so creative and he really sold us his work without even trying to sell it. His videos really speak for themselves.
Most of the day I didn’t even know Adam was there. I would turn around and he would be laying on the ground getting a shot. His work is amazing and I cant wait to get my video.
UPDATE: We received our video and im in love! he did such an amazing job choosing moving songs and his editing skills are just amazing. he really makes the film so interesting by shooting things in his surroundings to really capture every aspect of the day. i would recommend him 100 times over again. he is well worth every penny.
i will post a link to my online video next week when i get it.
here is the trailer
Pennylane Trailer
here is the wedding film
pennylane film


here is a list of the songs used in our video
Life After You - Daughtry
into the blue - sarah Jackson-Holman
best days - graham colton
halfway gone - lifehouse
come what may - from moulin rouge (our wedding song)
sexy b*tch - david guetta and akon (reception/dancing)
tik tok - kesha (reception/dancing)
sweet and low - augustana
love is gone - david guetta (more reception/dancing)
bad romance - lady gaga (reception/dancing)
all around me - flyleaf

Cake
Audrey’s – A+
Audreys is the house baker for FF. our cake was included with our package and it was DELICIOUS if I do say so myself. We chose red velvet to match our red, black and white color scheme. We had cream cheese frosting in the inside and butter cream on the outside with red fondant ribbon on the bottom. It was so tasty and I can’t wait to eat the top layer.






Favors
Crumbs Bakery in Woodbury A+
I had a really hard time trying to figure out favors. I didn’t want something that people would just throw out so I decided to do food or drink. After doing research I came across Crumbs bakery. Their cupcakes are fabulous and HUGE. Booking with them was a breeze. I booked about 2 weeks in advance. They delivered them to the hall on time, boxed and ribboned.
I don’t have pics of the cupcakes since they came out late in the night and were sealed in boxes but here’s a pic of ones I had at home to get an idea of how tasty they are!


Flowerfield – INFINITE A+’s
Banquet Manager – Hallie
Maitre’d – Andy
Bridal Attendant – Danielle

The banquet Manager at Flowerfield married a friend of mine so we attended their wedding at Flowerfield in October 2007 and FH fell in love with the place. We went to see 3 halls before and FH suggested we go see FF but I told him we couldn’t afford it. We went to see it anyway. Because we chose to get married in February we got hooked up with a great promotional package they were doing there. They reduced the price and guarantee plus included a photo package form Patken, Centerpieces from Lovin Oven, an upgraded wedding cake and 2 ice sculptures. We were sold!! We decided to get married at the hall since FH didn’t make his confirmation and when I heard that my aisle was to be the bridge I figured that was dramatic enough for me! Dealing with them through this process has been a pleasure. Anytime I send them an email I get instant friendly responses. I had a few requests like substituting things and also scheduling a rehearsal there as well and they took care of that no problem.
My banquet manager was changed on me 3 times. The first one left to start her own business. Then right before my final menu appointment I was informed that my newest BM was no longer with FF. I got a little nervous since she had been handling all my issues and details over the previous months. I was assigned Hallie and I couldn’t be happier. She is lightning fast on email and just a total sweetheart. I have enjoyed working with her.
FF holds their tasting as a large group. They invite all upcoming brides there and serve it sort of family style. Their food is soooo good and the dessert even better. They had new items on their menu and I was ecstatic. It was pretty hard for us to choose a menu since
everything there is so darn good!

Ok so the wedding day…words just cant describe how I feel about FF. Their service is in a league of their own. They are on the expensive side but I think they deserve every penny. Our day ran like a well-oiled machine. From the minute we got there we felt like celebrities. Danielle was my BA and she was at my side all day. She carried my train, untied and retied my corset about 4 times. She aired out my dress when I was sweating. She fixed my flowers, fixed my veil, fixed my moms stuff. She whipped out bobby pins when I needed them. She even threw together a bout for us when we realized we were short one. She was great!
Andy was awesome as well. He had the whole night running on point. He always was there yet you never noticed he was there. He had our drinks refreshed and on our table at all times. He also gave us pointers all night like how to properly navigate our CH to get the most of it.
The food was outrageous. They gave John and I one of everything. My favorites were the filet mignon (OMG!), mashed potato bar, jalapeno corn cake and sweet onion waffle. Ok that was a lot but so much of it was so good. My dad said one of the pastas was a little cold but as far as I know, that was the only food problem.
Guests told me numerous times how beautiful FF was. They raved about the waiter service as well. FF does one waiter per table so the waiters were keeping the tables stocked with their drinks so guests didn’t have to go to the bar. They own 2 swans and they even came for the festivities. They hung out outside the door and the guests got to take pictures with them lol.
The whole planning process with FF was a great experience. I’m sad that I no longer have to work with them. They exceeded my expectations and I regret nothing with them. My day was so perfect and I would recommend them a million times over again. They were totally worth us living on a budget for 2 years. I miss them so much already!






Guest Accomodations
Mariott Islandia (off the LIE) A
This hotel gave us a great rate for February. I dealt with Keri and she was very sweet. The rooms were nice enough and served their purpose. They even sent me a detailed booking list of all guests who booked there.
The reason for just an A was because we were supposed to get a discounted upgraded room if we booked over 10 rooms, which we did. The room we actually got was a regular room, which was no big deal since it was 3am and we were exhausted anyway. We found out the next morning that our BM and MOH actually got our upgraded room! It was more than fine though since they totally deserved it.

Shuttles
Winston C
Winston was the cheapest transportation that I found. I called them up and rented 2 vans. One was a 14 passenger and the other was an 11. I told them I wouldn’t know for sure the amount I needed until January when I see how many people are staying at the hotel. They told me no problem that the contract could be adjusted. I didn’t have to leave a deposit, everything gets paid day of.
We ended up booking two 11 passengers to the hall and two 14 passengers back to the hotel. I had asked them to leave the hotel at 6:45 and they left after 7 which got my guests to our ceremony at 7:25 and it started at 7:30. Not cool!! Also, I am pretty positive that I told them that the bride and groom would be returning in the vans at the end of the night and they left without us! We had another 6 people with us who also planned on using the van. Our maitre’d called them up for us and had them send out another van to pick up the 8 of us. So we had to wait about 20-25 minutes for the van to return.



Honeymoon
Dawn’s Honeymoon Specialists (CruiseOne)
I love love love her! FH and I had such a hard time deciding where to go. We changed our minds from cruises, Tahiti, Jamaica, Hawaii…it took forever to agree. Every time we were hooked on a place Dawn did the research for me and emailed me quotes. She was always so timely and super friendly. She even allowed us to book before the new rates came out. She was also able to save us money by applying discounts as they came out.
Anytime I emailed her with an annoyance of mine, she took care of it quickly. She was even so sweet as to have a bottle of wine delivered to us on our HM.

Couples in Negril Jamaica – B
Cruise to Mexican Riviera (Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas) A

We booked Couples for 5 days. Its an all inclusive resort which was great. Even drinks were free! We have always been cruisers so this was our first resort in a long time and we just found it quite boring. There isn’t much nightlife and they don’t do daily activities. It was pretty much pool or beach and that was it. We could have ventured off the resort but we didn’t really want to do that. The food was ok. There was one place we ate lunch at every day that was so good. Real Jamaican food. It was tasty. The accommodations were spacious enough but definitely showed wear and tear.

We flew to LA and stayed overnight at the Hilton which was really nice. No complaints there. The next day we went to San Pedro to catch the cruise. We love cruises and have cruised Royal before so there were no surprises there. The ports were nice. We didn’t book excursions on all of them so we just navigated ourselves. I wouldn’t suggest doing that. Having things booked is more fun. We did a whale watching tour in Cabo and it was amazing to see such large animals so close. Cabo was def a fun time and I would enjoy going back.

Here’s just a bunch of other pics I love.


























Ok so I know this review was looonngggg but I always found them helpful in my planning and I loved looking at the pictures. I hope this has helped at least one person during their wedding planning process. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Thanks for that awesome review!! Everything was gorgeous and I loved your menus. I may have to contact her to check out her prices. Ok, so now I have to ask you. The picture with Colleen in it....the woman behind her looks like the president of the PTA in the school I work at. Could it be? If so, what a small world

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

what school do you work at? thats John's aunt and she lives in copiague so i think her kids go to that school district. her name is Dawn

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

BY FAR THE BEST REVIEW I HAVE READ!!!!!!


congrats you two!!!!!!!!!!!!


amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! simply amazing!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Congrats!!!

I loved that you darkened your hair, it really brings out your gorgeous eyes!!

You're a mrs!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Yep, that's her That's my elementary school. She's our PTA president and I know her son Kevin. Really is such a small world!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

This is a great review!!! Everything looked so beautiful!!!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Great review

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

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Posted by KrisD72310

Yep, that's her That's my elementary school. She's our PTA president and I know her son Kevin. Really is such a small world!!

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lol thats so funny! odder thing is that you are the 2nd person to recognize her from our wedding pics. my coworker recognized her cuz her husband graduated with her lol

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

this was one of the BEST weddings I have ever been too! Flowerfield Girls you are in such great hands the food was A++++++ and I dont think I went to the bar once during the reception every time I came back the waiter got me another drink.

Jackie you were gorgous and thank you for such a great time. Your pictures are amazing

love ya!!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

CONGRATS!!! Everything looks amazing and you were such a beautiful bride..

PS. great idea for epics!! different and unique!!! I loveeeeeee!!!!

Again Congrats!!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

awesome review jackie!!!! amazing pics!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

love it!! great review!!!

and i agree-your hair looks wonderful!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Great review! Everything looked gorgeous!!!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Jackie, I love your review. I was waiting on your wedding because we had the same colors and was dying to see the vision. I love the fact you add red for the table runner. Thanks for again for sharing your design and vision.

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Congrats! Everything looked so beautiful! Great review

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Great Review! I read every word..>Congrats!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

It looks like you had a beautiful,special day!!! The review was great too- so informative and detailed.
Huge congrats !

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Congrats Jackie!!!! Love your review and all the pics are gorgeous... everyone looked beautiful!

Re: Cloudnine's 2/20/10 Flowerfield Review! LOADS of PICS! LI Sound, Flower Michele, Patken,Lovin Oven, Ballroom Dance LI, Audreys and more!

Awesome review, thanks for all of the beautiful photos!!! Jackie, looks like you had an amazing day!!! Congratulations!!!!! I love your pictures!!!