07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI SandCastle, That's Entertainment, Dj Serg, Bach Party in SoBe

Princess Cut Bride
Anna & Joe
July 12th, 2008

Ratings: 1 (worst) - 10 (best)

LIWeddings : 10 I stumbled upon this site while I searched our RH SandCastle. I lurked for a couple of weeks and then just couldn't resist I had become addicted to LIWeddings!!!!! For a yr and a half I spent a lot of time on this site and got to chat with such great people who were also planning their weddings! LIWeddings for me has been many things...a place to chat with other brides who were also planning their weddings...to share ideas....give my own advice....a place where I have developed great relationships....a place where I could come for advice....I place I could come to for prayers when times where tough...a place where I could come to for entertainment when I was bored (EALS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

'08 Brides Rock!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Ron, Liz and Kim for making this site possible!

Weather : 10
The weather was perfect...the sun was shining and it wasn't too hot or humid.


STD : 10
I designed the STD with Powerpoint and ordered Postcards with the design from VistaPrint. They came fast and were great quality and a reasonable price. I didn't know about all the different coupon codes....so FYI...search the web for discount codes for the best rate!



Bridal Shower -10

Graziella's
95 S. Broadway
White Plains, NY
(914) 761-5721
Graziella's

A surprise shower was given by my mother and sister-in-law. Graziella's was a really nice place and the food was delicious. My mother and sil did a great job... I could not have asked for anything more!

Original post
















Bachelorette getaway 10

Location : South Beach, Florida
June 20 - 22, 2008


Full review of Bachelorette getaway

More pics



Rehearsal dinner 10

Louis Seafood
3478 East Tremont Ave
Bronx, NY 10465
Tel:718.822.4600

Hosted by my in-laws. Great place, food and atmosphere.

Here is the link to the original post:

Rehearsal



Invitations : 10

My uncle has his own print shop in the Bronx...he did our invitations for us.




Calligrapher: 10 Inkspun :

I really wanted hand calligraphy but after pricing out different available calligraphers it was just way too expensive. There was one woman who did gorgeous calligraphy but wanted $4.00 for the inner and outer set.(204 invites = $816.00 )

So I found a company called Inkspun online.
The owner Bill was sooo helpful. I emailed him my addresses and within a couple of hours he had already sent me the formatted copy to edit. I dropped off my envelopes on Saturday afternoon. He helped me pick out the font that was almost identical to the font on my invites. He has a lot more fonts to chose from other than the ones on his site. He had everything completed by Monday afternoon.

They came out beautiful! I highly recommend Inkspun. Excellent customer communication, quality and super fast!




I also used Inkspun for my place cards. I emailed Bill the list and he had all 170 of them completed by that afternoon!

inkspun

Rehearsal Dinner Invites DIY
I created the invite on Powerpoint and had them printed out at Staples.



Limos: 2

Our DJ recommended Exotic Limousine...he called the owner and told him to write our names and date in his book. DH & I went to pick out the limos 1 month before the wedding. Luckily he had our date down in the book already and he had cars available. We had picked the '39 Caddy in white for us, the Crystler 300 for the bridal party and another for our parents and OOT family.
My main concern was getting everyone picked up on time and allowing enough time in between dropping the guys off and picking the girls up.
The owner called DH two days before the wedding and said there was something wrong with the Caddy and that he would have to give us the Rolls for the day of the wedding. Fine...well at 2 o'clock the car shows up and it was not a Rolls!



The 300 was running late...so we had to pack 4 of us in my car (me, my mom, dad & moh)...whatever it was...and the rest of the girls had to go in the parent/oot limo. What a disaster...I was really upset...I think this pic captures my emotion best!



It was about 1,000 degrees in the car...I told the guy we were dying back there...he said it would take time for the AC to kick in...he pulled the car over and took the top down. It was a little cooler.

After the ceremony I had told DH that if the AC wasn't pumping I did not want to drive to LI in that car. Luckily after we were done with our pics the car was nice and cool. One thing that annoyed me was that all the driver had was a bottle of champagne, 1 bottle of water and 1 can of soda! WTH?!?!?

Overall I would NOT recommend anyone use the services of this company!


Dress, Veil & Tiara : 10

The 1st place I went to look for my wedding dress was the Macy's Bridal Salon in Manhasset in April '07. I went with my mom and MOH. I worked with a woman named Barbara. I showed her a few pictures of dresses that I had cut out of bridal magazines. After she looked at them she pulled about 12 different dresses off the rack and brought me into a fitting room. All of the dresses Barbara picked out were gorgeous...but I fell in love with the very 1st dress I tried on and so did my mother and moh! Barbara had picked out a veil that matched the beading on my dress exactly. I wanted to take a picture so badly so we put a $100 deposit down without even looking anywhere else.
Since I live in Westchester I decided to go to a local Bridal Salon which would be better for me when it came time for fittings. I went to Amelia's Bridal located in the Fleetwood section of Mount Vernon. My sil (moh) had gotten her bridesmaid dresses here in 2004. I was set on getting the Demetrios dress I saw at Macy's so I asked the woman at the salon (Maria) if they had it. She said since it was a new style she didn't have it yet but she'd be getting it in a few weeks and I'd be able to order it that day. So I ordered my dress at Amelia's. I also ordered my bridesmaid dresses here since all of my bridesmaids except 1 live in the Westchester/Bronx area. One of my BMs lives in Arizona she went to a place by her house that does alterations and had her measurements taken. She sent her deposit as well as her measurements to Maria at Amelia's and the full order was placed.
The only problem I had with the BM dresses was a minor problem. My OOT BM found out she was pregnant 4 months before my wedding. It was already too late to change the order. Some of the girls switched dresses and everything worked out. Luckily my aunt is a seamstress so she was able to take care of last minute alterations. Thank God for her!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amelia's Bridal
532 Gramatan Avenue
Fletwood - Mt.Vernon, NY 10552
Tel/Fax (914) 699-4128

Amelia's








Forever Yours #76215 Dress color: Primrose Sash color: Latte




Since I had put a deposit down at Macy's I used it towards my veil and ordered my veil from there as well as my tiara.





Jewelry

My DOJ:
Purchased at Macy's. I bought the necklace first and went crazy trying to find earrings to match. I ended up buying three different pairs before I found the perfect match. Both pieces are by Elliot Danori. My bracelet was my something borrowed from my mother.





Garter
Made by my wonderful aunt Franca! (The same aunt who did my bm's last minute alterations)



Hair: Angela @ Mirage Salon : 10

I never really get my hair done when I have to go to a party. I usually do it or if I need an updo my mom would usually do it. I could NOT have my mom do my hair for my wedding. I used Angela for my brother's wedding in 2004. I really liked what she did. So I had a trial in January. I wasn't really crazy about the style I had picked or at least how it came out on me....but I decided to book her anyway and hope that it would come out good the day of my wedding.
I got to the salon at 8:30 and I had found another style I wanted her to do. She was done really quick and it came out great!

Mirage Hair Studio Inc
Angela
698 McLean Ave
Yonkers, NY 10704-3841
914-969-2382




Makeup -done by ME! 10 of course!

I was very unsure as to whether I wanted to do my makeup myself or get it done. I was getting mixed opinions from everyone...some saying do it yourself...others saying oh no you can't do it yourself it's your wedding day. My main concern was how I'd be that morning...would I be nervous and shaking? So I decided to have a trial with a girl that I had worked with at Macy's for several years. It was very low key...she came to my house and did a trial for me. The first set of shades she put on me were Totally not a wedding look! So I had her try purples. It looked nice but nothing spectacular. So a few weeks before my wedding I decided that since I had 9 yrs of experience in makeup doing countless brides makeup for their special day...I knew what I liked and what looked nice on me so I decided to do it myself.
After I got home from the hair salon I did my mom's makeup 1st.



After I finished her makeup I shut my door took a few deep breaths and did my makeup.










Church 10
Chapel of the Immaculate Conception
College of Mount Saint Vincent

I always wanted to get married in the chapel at the college I had attended. The chapel is gorgeous and the campus is beautiful for pics. If anyone saw the movie Doubt starring Meryl Streep...the chapel in the movie was the chapel I got married in!














Florist 8

Columbia Florist
208 W. 231st St.
Bronx, NY 10463
(718) 543-3753

I found this florist through one of my customer's from MACY'S. She has been working for this florist for many years. A few of my friends used them for their weddings so I knew they did beautiful arrangements.
I was very happy with my bouquet...it came out gorgeous. I was just a little disappointed with the size of my BM bouquets. Also my centerpieces didn't look exactly like my sample. I felt that the sample had more roses and less green.








SAMPLE






Favors 10
Cerini
2334 Arthur Avenue
Bronx, NY 10458
718-584-3449

I had originally picked out a different favor but about two months before the wedding I decided to change our favor. I went to Cerini's with a particular favor in mind and Giovanna, the owner, called the company to see what was in stock.
The favors were beautifully wrapped and everyone loved it.



Tuxes 10

Tuxedo by Giovanni
2164 Central Park Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10710
914-779-TUXS (8897)

DH found a tux he really liked by Demetrios that only select places carried. Tuxedo by Giovanni used to actually be downstair's from amelia's bridal, the salon I purchased my gown and BM dresses from. I knew they would have excellent customer service because they were affilated with Amelia's. They did not have the tux at their location for DH to try on but they ordered one for him to try. DH also got his GM tuxes and our dad's tuxes from Giovanni's.














MUSIC 10

DJ SERG ENTERTAINMENT
2024 Williamsbridge Road
Bronx, NY 10461
(718) 822-2731
DJ SERG
My family has been using DJ Serg for almost 20 yrs. He has deejayed all of our family parties and know that it's not a party unless we have them there.







There were four plasma screens in the front of the dance floor. Throughout the night it played various pics. Our photographer had already uploaded some pics from that morning at my house and some pics from the ceremony. The DJ also created two slideshows for us...one of our baby pics and another of us through the years.



PHOTO/VIDEO 10

That's Entertainment
141 Halstead Avenue
Harrison, NY 10528
800.579.0899 / 914.381.7150

Carlo and the whole team were excellent. We took sooooo many pictures that day but there were still a few pics that I had envisioned of taking on my wedding day but forgot about because I was just so overwhelmed. Ladies don't feel like your being a bridezilla...make sure you prepare a must take photo list to make sure you get all the shots you want. There was one pic that I wanted to take in the RH before the guests went into the ballroom but I was so tired and hungry after taking pics after the ceremony that once we got to the reception hall we went straight to the bridal suite to eat and totally forgot about that picture. (That was the only time I ate all night!)
While we were on our honeymoon Carlo gave my parents a highlights slideshow with pics from the wedding. He made several copies for us and even for my family from Italy to bring back home with them.
My proofs were ready to be picked up once we got back from our HM. (2 weeks after wedding) All the pics were edited and looked amazing!















Album: (3/27/09) We picked out our pictures for the album in January. About a month later we received the album layout and a month after that we got our album, 4 mini albums and our parent's albums. They came out amazing! I love the mini album because I can carry it in my bag and show everyone without having to lug the big heavy album all over the place.
































Reception Hall - 10

SandCastle
519 Franklin Ave
Franklin Square, NY

(516) 354-7263

DH & I had looked at a few places in the Bronx and Westchester before booking SandCastle. Neither of us had ever been there before but we heard good things about the place from several people. So we went to check it out Dec 2006. It was definitely not like any other place I had been to. DH fell in love with the place right away because of how different it was to all the other halls we had looked at.
Our BM was Ron up until right before the wedding. (Tammy took care of us the final month before the wedding.) We were happy because he said he was going to try to make our wedding the only party there that day. (He kept his word....we had the whole place to ourselves) Now they have made this a permanent feature for all their weddings.
Everytime we would go and make a payment I'd fall in love with the place even more. I liked going on Saturdays hoping there was a wedding booked so we could get a look at our reception room all done up with flowers. I loved the renovations that they did. It made the place even more perfect.
Ron was really nice and made sure we were happy with everything. The one thing I didn't like was when we brought our parents to see the place my mother asked 'When do we get to taste the food?' (We are Italian...you know good food is the most important part at any event) Ron said they can taste the food at the wedding and that they would not be disappointed. This was the only thing I was nervous about. Being from a big Italian family I didn't want to hear that we brought everyone out to Long Island to have nasty food.
Well...Ron was right! Everyone was talking about how much food there was and how delicious everything tasted. Our guests said they had never been to a wedding like ours and that they were even offered seconds during the main course.
FH & I did not go to the cocktail hour. We stayed in the bridal suite. There was tons of food and our Maitre'D Muhammad offered to go and get us anything else that might not have been in the bridal suite already.
It was pretty cool that they have a TV in there with a camera on the cocktail room so we could see our guests.
I'm so glad I ate during the cocktail hour because I didn't eat anything else the rest of the night. I took the opportunity of everyone being seated for pasta to go around and say hello to everyone.



The veineisse hour was outrageous. There were sooooo many different things to choose from. People were going crazy...so much that someone spilt some fondue on my dress...I didn't even care...I was just soooo happy it happened at the end of the night and not earlier in the reception! A few of my co-workers said they felt like they died and went to heaven.




I was really happy with the way our cake came out. It was beautiful and tasted delicious.





Our final count was 286...we had 12 people not show up. I was pissed but didn't let it ruin my day.
Mohammad actually gave those dinners to my parents to take home.
















Honeymoon - 10

We had a great time on our honeymoon. It was two weeks of utter bliss! On our way home from Miami I lost my camera that had 1,000 pics from our 2 week honeymoon. I'm so upset but am glad we splurged on the ship and bought almost every pic they snapped of us!

Sandals -St. Lucia - Regency
July 13-19









Beautiful resort....perfect way for us to just relax and unwind after all the stress of wedding planning and house hunting!

Western Caribbean Cruise
Royal Caribbean- Freedom of the Seas
July 20-27
From FL, to Labadee, Haiti, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, George Town, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico

This was our first cruise....and it will definitely not be the last. It was simply amazing! The ship was beautiful and we never got bored!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

GREAT REVIEW! You looked beautiful! congratulations! xoxo

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Congrats..you looked gorgeous and your review was excellent

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Such a beautiful wedding! Love the cake!!!!!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Honestly this has been one of the best reviews that I've read on this site... I love all the pictures....

Especially you HM pics.. You look soo happy and it looks like you had lots of fun!!!

Congratulations!!!!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

great review congrats

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Hi, Anna!!!!!! You have just the sweetest face and smile!!!!!! I'm really enjoying your pictures!!!!!! How are you? Much Love!!!!!!! Mary MOB

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

great detailed review! sorry to hear about your camera, but all the pics from your cruise are very cute!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

great review! you look very happy! congratulations and best wishes!!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Fantastic Review!!

Everything was amazing!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Great review! I am a Sandcastle bride, and love to read about how great it is!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Great review, Anna! You were such a gorgeous bride!!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

congrats!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

great review! your make up turned out awesome!
congrats! sorry to hear about the camera

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Great review!!!!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Great review Anna!!! Congratulations! Your pictures are beautiful!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

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Posted by donnasmom09

Hi, Anna!!!!!! You have just the sweetest face and smile!!!!!! I'm really enjoying your pictures!!!!!! How are you? Much Love!!!!!!! Mary MOB

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Mary you are so sweet! I'm doing well...hope all is well with you too!
xoxo

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

Thank you ladies! Hope my review helps!

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

beautiful wedding and wonderful review

Re: 07-12-08 Wedding review - Tons of pics!!!! Vendors from Westchester, Bronx & LI

BEAUTIFUL Anna!!!!!!!!!! What a great review!!! Everything looked wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!