Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

I didn't post much, but loved reading all of the wedding reviews and found them most helpful, so here is mine.

First and foremost, my wedding planner, Venessa Amoroso, Timeless Events www.timelessevents.com
Without Venessa, my dream wedding wouldn't have happened. Hiring her was the first thing we did after we got engaged. I knew I always wanted a wedding planner even before we were engaged. Our wedding was very large (invited 400, had about 250), all of our parents are divorced and remarried, so we have many different families to juggle, and we are busy with work, so I knew we needed help. Venessa was there from the beginning - she came to most of the vendor meetings (there were many), helped us narrow down what we were looking for in terms of the vendors, the look and feel of the wedding, she also did all of our flowers (she is a floral designer as well - more on that later), and most importantly she was a great person to bounce ideas off of or vent to. I found it to be one of the best things to be able to call her at anytime and get an unbiased (non-family) point of view. She made all of our menus, wrapped our favors, did the organza bags with flower petals, for our e-party, she did our centerpieces and invitations. I can go on and on about her - she is absolutely amazing, the best decision I made and now I have a wonderful friend. Unfortunately she moved to PA and isn't doing wedding right now, but may get back into it one day. I think she may be doing just flowers for now.

Ceremony and Reception - Florentine Gardens, River Vale, NJ www.florentinegardens.com
This hall was just amazing. From the minute we first went to see this place we fell in love with it. The decor and location was just perfect for what we were looking for. We didn't want to get married in SI (where we grew up), or in Bklyn (where we both live) or in NYC (where we spend most of our time). We wanted a place nearby, but in a quiet area. We wanted one wedding at a time, an estate/mansion feel, excellent food, beautiful setting, gardens for the ceremony. We got all of this and more with FG. The staff were amazing, Julian, the maitre'd was wonderful, the bridal attendant Lubiane was doing everything for us. All of our guests loved the setting, the food, the service, everything. If you want more details, feel free to page me on the boards.

Band - The Times Square Orchestra -www.timessquaremusic.com
This was the first band we heard and booked them practically on the spot. They are amazing. I had a very long list of bands to go see between my own research and who my wedding planner recommended. We went to their showcase and that was it. I second guessed myself for quite a long time because I am a very thorough person and I like to explore many options before I decide on something. But, I just didn't want to take the chance of losing my date, so we booked them the morning after we saw them. My DH also reassured me since he flt a DJ could only play the songs like the artist, but after he saw them he said you are right, an excellent band can as well and they are it. Well, I didn't have to worry about a thing. They were just fantastic at the wedding. They learned our song for the first dance perfectly and also learned another song I wanted that was special to me. We used this as a spotlight dance after the cake cutting - kind of a song from me to my DH. They also learned the Black Eyed Peas song, Don't Phunk w/ my heart, after I just asked them if they knew it. The song sounded awesome!! They had people on the dance floor all night and they didn't take any breaks. During the meals, there would always be one or two of them playing light dinner music. People haven't stopped raving about them yet.

Flowers - Venessa Amoroso, my wedding planner
All I can say if that my mouth dropped when I saw my bo-k and when I saw the ballroom set-up. I loved everything she did. My bo-k was black calla lillies and it was just magnificent. My Bm bo-k's were green cymbidium orchids with purple freesia, my Maid and Matron of Honor also had some bugundy color in theirs to be a bit different. The bouts complimented the girls bo-ks. The ceremony decor was simple and beautiful since we were in gardens. We has balls of bells of ireland and I think freesia hanging off of the aisle chairs, similar to the famous hanging hydrangea in the Martha Stewart catalog. We also had two large arrangements on columns at the start of the aisle. The cocktail hour tables had small round bowls with a floating rose in each one. The ballroom had high and low arrangments. The low tables had 3 different size square/rectangle vases with green and purple flowers in them (I cannot remember what) and the high centerpieces were wrought-iron stands that had hanging votives and a dish on top that held the flowers - orchids, bells of ireland, and prob some other flowers. She also made a guest book 'tree'. Branches of dogwood (I think) that people wrote their messages to us and then hung on the branches. She also put a ton of candles and petals all over the hall, hung tulle and flowers on a staircase in the foyer and on the balcony in the ballroom. Everything looked so amazing and just how I envisioned my wedding

Photographer - Willi Wong, NYC www.williwongphotography.com
He is just wonderful - very laid back, patient and kind. Our e-pics were amazing and I cannot wait to see our proofs. We also hired the digital photographer he works with, Robert. I wanted as many pictures as possible!!!! He took almost 800 pictures!!! You can check them out on Shutterfly here:
http://vittoriawedding.shutterfly.com/action/pictu
res?a=67b0de21b30fe45f4518
They both, and their asst, got to the hotel where we were getting ready a half-hour early and just starting taking shots. They didn't stop all night and stayed until the very end.
I will post some of the professional pics Willi took when I get them, but I have no doubt they will be amazing :)

Video - Wilson Fontaine, based in Jersey City, NJ www.wilsonfontaine.com
I wanted a different type of wedding video. Not a 3-hour version, something intersting to watch and just not the 'typical' video. I found Wilson and fell in love with her and her work. She is very soft-spoken and just so sweet. She shoots with digital video and super-8, then edits both together. Then she adds music that just fits each couple perfectly. She and her husband, who shoots with her, got to the hotel early as well and also started shooting right away. I expect to get the video sometime in Oct, so I can report back then, but I am sure it will be wonderful.

Ceremony and cocktail musicians - provided by the hall
I was in another world, so I didn't even hear the music during the ceremony and we never made it to our cocktail hour, so I cannot comment. But others told me it sounded great.

Dress and veil - Kleinfeld's, Bklyn
My dress was by Rivigni. I ended up picking the exact opposite of what I thought I would want! I loved my dress and my veil. All of my interactions with them were great. I spent 2.5 hours on the day of a sample sale and even was there past closing ordering my dress! It came in early, had Ellie for alterations, just needed to be taking in a few inches and a hem. I picked it up 2 days before the wedding and it was perfect.

Shoes - Alan's Fine Footwear in Edison, NJ
Great price, great selection
Longline Bra - store next to Alan's - cannot remember name - great personal service and great price. Bought regular bras there as well!

Hair Pins and MOB, MOG, GOB, GOG dresses - Ivory and Co. SI, NY
Hair pins were a little pricy but just what I was looking for. All the dresses came in on time, looked great, alterations were fine. But the day of, my mother's zipper broke and she ran out to a seamstress the hotel found for her and had it fixed. It caused a lot of stress for a bit, but at least she was happy when they fixed it. Unfortunately she missed me getting dressed. I then heard about other small problems with the dresses, but it's the manufacturer's fault, not the store. They have sent the dresses back to get fixed. Not a big deal and didn't ruin the day.

BM Dresses - RK Bridal, NYC
Used the no frills program. Dresses came in very early and just as we ordered them. No complaints there. Girls all got alterations on their own.

Tuxedos - Dante Zeller
Used the stores in Bklyn, NJ and SI. A family member owns them so we got a great deal and had great service all around.

Hair - Jennifer (Jay) from Classique, SI
Jay has been doing my hair for about 8 yrs now so I didn't think twice about her doing my hair for the wedding. She and another stylist from Classique, Danielle, came to the hotel we were staying at in NJ, at 10:30am the morning of the wedding and spent the next 8 hours doing my hair, the 9 girls in my BP, the mom's/stepmom's, and one grandmother. They were fantastic - everyone looked beautiful and loved their hair. They were also wonderful to have around for the day. I invited Jay to the wedding since I have known her for so long. She and Danielle (as her guest) were only able to come for a short while, but Jay was fantastic - after the first dance and second song, she took off my veil and added the hair pins to my hair. I really couldn't have asked for more from her! I know most of what she did was because she know me so well, but she was just amazing.

Makeup - Lily from Bridalgal and her sister www.bridalgal.com
Lily is just amazing - not just as amakeup artist, but also as a person. My makeup was flawless. I got many compliements from all of my guests. Her sistser was there as well because I had a lot of people getting there makeup done. Most of my BM's and the mom's got theirs done. Everyone loved their makeup.

Couldn't have asked for better ladies to be with you on your wedding day!!!!

Invitations - uptowndowntownshopping.com
I picked an invite from Elite. This site discounts them. I loved the invitations. I had a lot to order and ordered printed directions and hotel accomodation cards as well. All came our perfect and they rushed them to me as I ordered them late.

Votive placecards, cocktail napkins, programs, STD magnets - LA Productions in LI
Laura is just fantastic. She has amazing prices, is just so sweet and gets it all done so fast. I got a lot of info to her at the last minute and she had it all done very quick and shipped everything to my wedding planner. I probably would've hired her for day of planning if I didn't already have a planner. She is just fabulous.

Favors - little white fabric with rose design photo albums with a wallet size picture of us from e-shoot in the front window
Cannot remember which site we ordered these from. My MOH found them in her search for stuff for my shower. I ordered the pics from Shutterfly and sent it all to my planner - she cut the pics to fit in the opening and wrapped all the albums in purple and gold tissue paper. They looked so pretty on the tables. If you are interested in these page me I can prob dig up the site.

Hotel - Hilton Woodcliff Lake, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
This hotel was about 15 minuted from FG. We ended up making a weekend out of it. Me, most of the parents, most of the bridal party and veen some guests went up to the hotel Fri and stayed until Sun. I am so glad we did this. It gave us more time to spend with those closest to us. The rooms were all great, reservations were there as expected. We got the bridal suite (which was huge) for free Fri and Sat night because of how many rooms were booked. All of the girls, Mom's, Grandmothers spend Sat in the suite with me getting ready - it turned into a salon!!! The hotel also helped arrange shuttles to and from FG. Buses were there on-time and didn't get lost, so no complaints there. We used a driver who our family uses all of the time to take me and DH to/from the hall, so we didn't use the buses, but everyone said they were fine. We also hosted a breakfast the day after the wedding and that was great. Good chance to say goodbye to everyone before we left for our honeymoon.

Honeymoon - 3 weeks in England and France. We didn't plan for much of it and booked airfare on our own. We did use a travel agent to help with hotels and some other stuff and she was fantastic. Sybil Ford at Luxury Lovers Travel [email protected] Was receommended to her on the boards.

All in all the wedding was amazing. I couldn't have dreamed it better. It was a fairytale brought to life. During the day we did have some mishpas, like my mother's zipper breaking, the flowers arriving late to us at hotel due to traffic and bad weather (which you cannot plan for), but it didn't ruin the day or interfere with anything except some picture taking, which we got in anyway. The best advice I can give is what all brides say - the day of let it all go. Whatever will happen is going to happen and you don't have control over it anymore. Let the people you hired do their job and sit back and enjoy your wedding day. Try and grab your DH a few times throughout the night and stop to take it all in. We also went out into the gardens at night and took some pics and video just the two us. It was nice to do that while everyone was inside eating/dancing. It was nice downtime and a bit of peace and quiet for 20 minutes!

I think that's everything.

Thanks for reading!

Gabby

Edited because I forgot these two:

Officiant - Rev Allan Lokos
He was just wonderful. We got so many compliments on him and our ceremony. He made it so personal and all about us - exactly what we wanted. We wanted a loving, spiritual ceremony - nothing religious. He has such a great speaking voice and presence. He also brought along his wife who is also a rev. and she helped get my very large bridal party in order. He is an interfaith minister who also has services at the Interfaith Spiritual Community in Manhattan.

Dance Lessons - Kerensa www.ballroomdancenyc.com
Kerensa is just wonderful. She is sweet, patient and just so nice to be around. We took lessons for 4 months before the wedding. She taught us rhumba for our first dance and foxtrot and swing for other dances. We wanted to look good past the first 5 minutes of the party out there on the dance floor!!!! My DH ended up really enjoying himself after many unsucessfully attempts to go for lessons.

I think that's everything!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

I only went through about 400 pics (whew!) But you looked amazing!!!! Congratulations - I loved your whole 'look.'

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Thank you!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Your pictures are amazing!!!!!!!!! Congrats!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Beautiful pictures! Your flower girl is precious! Congratulations

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

what a gorgeous bride you made!!! willi wong did an excellent job capturing the emotions of your day!!! congratulations!!!

eta: oops i didnt realize that willi wong's assistant took these pics! i cant even imagine how willi's pictures will look like! be sure to post em when you get them!!!

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Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Beautiful! Congrats again!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

You looked gorgeous and your wedding was beautiful. One of my BMs got married at Florentine Garden and it was great!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Thank you all for your kind words!!!! and taking the time to read through the review and look at my many pics!!!!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Great review and your pics are amazing!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

Great review and the pictures posted are beautiful. Can you post a link, I couldn't get your page to come up. Thanks

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

wow gorgeous pics!!! you look beautiful! Congrats!

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

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Posted by shamrock12472

Great review and the pictures posted are beautiful. Can you post a link, I couldn't get your page to come up. Thanks

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Here is the link to the pics - hope it works

Wedding Pics

Re: Wedding in NJ, but used some LI vendors - LA Productions and Times Square Orchestra

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Posted by fairy

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Posted by shamrock12472

Great review and the pictures posted are beautiful. Can you post a link, I couldn't get your page to come up. Thanks

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Here is the link to the pics - hope it works

Wedding Pics

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Thank you ... What beautiful pictures. The ones of you while you two are exchanging vows are stunning. The photographer got a lot of you making cute little faces!