7.12.08 RexCorp Plaza, Patken, Party Up, Alexis Limo, Bayview Florist, North Shore Engagements, St. Matthew Church
The Schnabel Wedding
July 12, 2008
I must start by saying wedding planning was a very stressful, draining process, but in the end, it’s all about the moments you can never plan. I come from a blended family, and it was very challenging to make everyone happy. There were many times I wanted to elope, and John helped me through it by saying, “If this is our biggest problem in wedding planning, we are lucky!’
That being said, my husband John and I did not want a traditional wedding in the least. We had been to so many weddings at the time of our engagement, and wanted to give our guests an experience to remember. I hope we achieved it!
Before we even got engaged, I was reading the Newsday weddings magazine while getting my hair highlighted. I spotted a half page advertisement for Reckson Plaza (the former EAB Plaza) and thought it would be a cool venue.
We looked at the venue as soon as we got engaged, and fell in love with its potential. I honestly had my heart set on the Brooklyn Museum, but it would be under renovations for the time period we were looking for. Reckson was a great alternative. There were many times I wish I would have just chosen a traditional venue, just for the sake of giving an easy answer when people asked where we getting married! NOBODY understood why or where the reception would be there…
So, here goes.
Wedding Coordinator – A+
Kristen Herbert-Delaney
www.nsengagements.com
Kristen was an absolute Godsend. I knew I wanted a coordinator since we were getting married at a nontraditional site. It was important that someone could coordinate the little details before we got there. We met with Kristen at least 5 times before the wedding, received helpful personalized timelines and documents from her, and were completely confident every personal touch would be executed properly thanks to her help. She came to our rehearsal to make sure she knew everyone and every detail, and collected everything at the end of the night, loaded our cars for us, and offered to drop it off at our house herself if we didn’t even want to deal with it.
At one point, my sister’s dress had a malfunction; I walked in my house to see construction on the dress, and didn’t even flinch. She fixed it perfectly. She fixed my make-up when necessary throughout the night and was right there when I needed her with my replacement shoes. It was like she knew what I was thinking before I even could think it. The next day, she emailed me hundreds of photos from the day. Thanks to Kristen, everything was perfect, and I NEVER worried about anything. She even brought an assistant with her, Lauren, who was an absolute doll as well.
Church – A+
St. Matthew’s Church
http://www.mychurchandtown.com/parishes/index.asp?pid=RC028
35 North Service Road, Dix Hills, NY 11746
My grandfather was a deacon here, and married everyone in my family prior to his passing in ’02. I knew this is where I wanted to get married, and his close friend Father Chadwick was the person to do it. John and I hit it off with Father Chadwick right away, and everything went so smoothly.
Pre-Cana was fine; I found it to be a little late – 6 Mondays, 7:30 until 9:30. To me, that’s late for working couples, but maybe I’m just a nerd!
The one thing they do not let you do is aisle runners, and since I was so set on putting that darn monogram everywhere, I was trying my hardest to get one in. But Father Chadwick gave me some good advice – K-I-S-S, meaning, “Keep it simple sweetheart.” And you know what, he was right. I had this elaborate plan in mind to get an aisle runner involved, and it would have been more of a hassle than anything, probably taking away from the ceremony. So I got some rose petals from the Dollar Tree, Kristen threw them down the aisle, and it was perfect.
Since I really wanted to integrate our personal touches as much as possible, it was really important to me to have the organist/cantor play/sing Fools Rush In by Elvis as I entered with my dad. They confirmed it with me when I sat in the limo, and I trusted they would do it the right way. I couldn’t be any more happy I chose to walk down the aisle to this song. It was absolutely beautiful. YOU CAN CHOOSE NONTRADITIONAL SONGS IN A CHURCH! Discuss with your priest and your musicians.
Reception – A
RexCorp Plaza
Uniondale, New York 11556
Caterer: Sterling Affair
Contact: Peter Fazio
http://www.sterlingaffair.com/RecksonPlaza/
The first wedding we saw take place at Reckson was in August. We were so impressed that despite all of the action, the head honchos from the caterer were completely relaxed and walking us around. We went for a tasting in August and the food was outstanding! We went through a few changes of hands with Sterling, which was a little frustrating. Overall, everything worked out beautifully. Of course, there were a couple things that weren’t exactly what we expected! We didn’t eat, but we heard the food was GREAT! We had cupcakes instead of a cake, and despite asking 3 times for them to pack some up for us, they didn’t. We addressed this, and they are making us a batch to have and were very apologetic.
Photography – A+
Patken Photography
Jesse
www.patkenphotographer.com
John and I only booked vendors through word of mouth. Our friends recently used Patken, and I have a friend who is a personal friend of Doug’s. We wanted to use Doug, but he was unavailable. In fact, everyone was, but Jesse just had a cancellation.
We were impressed with the offering considering we needed 3 parent albums. They worked with us on what we needed for our specific scenario, and told us we could always add on later when we had more money.
Photography is really important to me and I felt it was critical Jesse stayed until the end of the night (most photogs leave after the cake cutting). I also was almost embarrassed to ask her to do so (the receptionist told us she would if we asked) because there was really no justification for staying. Kristen also clued us in that by the end of the night we will not want photos taken of us in the condition we will be in!
When I saw someone else’s review that included a picture of the bridal party hanging out on a bench at a stadium, I knew I wanted a nontraditional photo site. After much deliberation, we booked the private bowling alley at 300 Long Island. Jesse’s creativity in the bowling alley was indescribable.
Well, mid-wedding planning John and I decided that as a big bang at the end of the night were going to run through the fountain. It was the perfect ending to the wedding. First everyone lit sparklers behind us, then we ran through. Jesse set up the most unbelievable shots. I couldn’t believe that I laid in the fountain in my wedding gown, but it was a great finale. Jesse even stepped in the fountain with us.
We told Jesse we wanted photos more edgy than the traditional wedding photos. She exceeded our expectations, and I think she was happy to get as creative as possible.
Videography
Patken Photography
Damien
www.patkenphotographer.com
We had minimal interaction with Damien through the night. We are supposed to get the video in 6 months, so I will update when I get it. We did book the basic video at the time of purchase, and we did decide to go with the deluxe after the wedding. They gave us a deal to add it on, but we approached them about adding it on, so if you do change your mind, be sure to call them. The deluxe includes a recap and some honeymoon photos. Truthfully, the reason we wanted the recap is because they reminded us that people who want to see our video do not want to watch the 3 hour video, they want to see a 10 minute recap. We agreed.
DJ – A+
Party Up Entertainment
Jay Bencivenga
www.partyupproductions.com
I think it’s only fair that we say upfront that Jay is a personal friend of John’s; however, it is also necessary to say that I have seen Jay DJ at least ten parties, and the dance floor is always packed.
You will NEVER meet a nicer guy than Jay. He wants your party to be exactly what you anticipate, and will make sure it is. He has a very professional staff that works constantly to prepare a Gobo, slideshow, etc. whatever you need.
Lighting was very important at our venue, and Jay worked with us throughout the past 9 months to perfect the plan. He met us at the location and investigated many elements in advance. Jay emceed, and he brought 4 other staff: two lighting technicians, an emcee, and a Zapshots photographer.
Jay was the perfect emcee, and his DJ ROCKED. The only bad thing was that barely anyone saw the GOBO on the dance floor because it was always packed! But that’s really a good thing! The Zapshots were waiting for us at home when we arrived from our HM.
We can’t say enough good things about Jay. In fact, my family has booked him for two parties as well based on our recommendations and they are crazy about his work.
Limousines – A+
Alexis Limousines
http://www.alexislimousine.com/
John and I looked all over because we wanted the Phantom Bentley to drive my dad and me to the church, and then John and me to the reception. Alexis had that but did not have the Hummer we wanted for the BP.
Additionally, the Bentley was booked. You would think this would make us move on the next company. But something told us to keep looking there-they had a Maserati, so we went to check it out. But the Bentley was a better fit for us. They told us they were purchasing a new one, but it would be more money. Some how we convinced them to upgrade the bride previously booked for the Bentley, and give us the one we fell in love with.
The package we booked included the Bentley, Escalade, and a Lincoln town car pick up at the end of the night- and a dinner at 7th Street café. We really needed another limo in there for a pick up from my mom’s house early in the day. We were able to negotiate to eliminate the dinner and the town car, and they gave us a pick up-drop off in a Lincoln.
A couple months later, they called to confirm times and I asked if we could also book a drop off to the airport for our HM. They threw it in for no charge since we booked a large package, and coincidentally they also were calling to upgrade the Lincoln to an Excursion.
A couple months after that, I realized that we definitely would need the overtime for the limos, and thought if we negotiated early, we could get a better deal. We did, and we did get a better deal, including adding in a pick up from the airport.
I must throw in two weird things that happened-but please do not let these change your mind about using them, just make sure you are very clear on the contracts-
We received the updated contracts in the mail, where they wrote on each of the airport runs “If possible, please tip driver $75.” I was mystified, because that to me is the COST of an airport run. I didn’t want bad relations with the company though, so I ignored it, and said, we will do what we can when the time comes.
The second weird part was that the original package brochure clearly stated that all gratuities were included. They are very wishy washy about this policy. I asked when I dropped off the final balance, just to clarify, and they told me, each driver receives a service charge that was built in to our package, and we can tip on top of that if we like.
When Kristen called to confirm all details, they told her gratuities were not included. I listened to what I heard from the “horse’s mouth”, the manager, and tipped according to what we wanted, not based on the 20% rule or anything.
Then, when we were brought home from the airport, the driver said to us after we tipped him $50, “Excuse me, I was supposed to be paid $75 on this?” I said, “actually no, it said, if possible, and no, it’s not possible.”
After going back and forth a million times, it turned out the company told him his pay was the tip, and we were mortified because we built the cost of that price into our package that we already paid for. I called the company and told them how uncomfortable we were made to feel and they were completely apologetic, and mortified themselves that the driver made us feel that way. I emphasized that it wasn’t completely the driver’s fault-if he should be paid that much, it shouldn’t be by us, and I saw the sheet they gave him which told him that we were responsible for it.
But, those were the only two negatives that happened. All the limos were gorgeous, clean, on time, and absolutely professional. Request Brendan, who I have had as a driver on another occasion. He is absolutely professional, knowledgeable, and reliable. He drove our Bentley.
Hair
Monica
Monica has been doing my updos for years. She is the only one who can curl it and make it last for days. Ironically, I became so hot the day of the wedding the curls pretty much came out by the end of the night (but that was not her fault at all)! Everyone looked gorgeous, and she does beautiful work. Everyone stayed tight all night. She did my hair in 45 minutes, and did everyone else in like 30 minutes or less. I know she was, and don’t know if she is still, the house hair dresser for the Scotto Brothers, so she can rock bridal parties like you have never seen.
Make-Up
Lauren Hauser
Lauren is my personal friend and is an incredibly experienced MAC make-up artist. My make up lasted until Monday (and would have lasted longer if I didn’t take it off) and she made me FEEL beautiful. I even “let” her do fake eyelashes! I hate letting anyone touch my eyes but she is so gentle! All our make up looked unbelievable.
Dresses
Adrienne’s
Sofia
www.adriennesny.com
Adrienne’s doesn’t get the best of reviews on here but I had a great experience. I first tried Bridal Reflections and hated it. It actually made me not want to shop for a dress.
I then went to Adrienne’s and felt like royalty. Sofia was the best. She was honest, knowledgeable and incredibly helpful. I put on “the dress” and my mom didn’t flinch to hand over her CC. She knew it was the one.
There was only one catch. I was a size 16, but I knew in my heart, and I think we all knew, that the dress would not look good in a size 16. It was a mermaid gown, and I am very petite, so everything was all out of proportion.
Fast forward to July-John and I trained with a trainer for 5 months, and I went down to a 6.
I found a seamstress that agreed to reconstruct the dress for me, and low and behold, it was my dream wedding gown once again.
My seamstress made my flower girl dress to be a replica of my dress. It was showstopping!
Favors
Wine Bottles
My dad’s former printing company made the labels to match the invitations, and my mom’s friend is a wine wholesaler who got us the wine. We went with Jacob’s Creek, and Australian wine, and went with red, so the label would “pop”.
Air fresheners
Joletta San Nicolas
Make Perfect Scents Promotions
These were such a hit. We had the valet parkers insert them in the cars as the guests left. While I don’t know if they did a great job of doing that, the guests that got them raved.
Veil
Barron’s - Tri-County Flea Market
There’s nothing to say that hasn’t been already said on this site. It was so reasonable it’s insane. All I can say is, please, under any circumstances, do NOT buy the veil from your place of gown purchase. You will spend so much more money than necessary.
Valet Parking – B+
Executive Parking
Greenvale, New York
516-484-4600
They were a little hard to work with because they were a little lax. I would try to get my payments in on time, but it was impossible because we were playing phone tag. Also, I asked the parkers to put the fresheners in the car, and I don’t think they all got one. I KNOW some people didn’t get one. So I don’t know what happened there, but it wasn’t in their job description to do that, so I can’t complain. It was just a “favor” I asked of them. But I do know that in addition to the tip I gave them at the end of the night, my dad tipped them in the beginning of the night…
Gifts for Bridal Attendants
Bridesmaids
I only had two so it was easy.
Blue Tulip- Bridesmaid Survival Kits
Earrings from Tri-County (the booth next to Barron’s) – The woman was really helpful and even gave me a penny for my shoe. She negotiated a lot, and had to create a special order for me. She got everything exactly on time and was so wonderful to deal with. I also bought earrings for my flower girl here.
Coach-I bought my sister, MOH, Coach sunglasses.
Groomsmen
John thought it would be nice to get everyone cuff links tailored to each groomsmen’s interests. I will say though, it wasn’t easy with 9 groomsmen, and we got them through several different venues.
Most of the cuff-links - Cuffdaddy.com
So incredibly reasonable, and they give you a discount if you order more than one pair, and they don’t have to be the same. Very fast. We ordered guns for the cops, golf clubs for the golfers, skis for the skiers, etc. The quality was great and they all came in really nice boxes.
Penn State football helmets (ebay member vjmoreno)
Great communication, nice quality.
Pittsburgh Penguins cufflinks (ebay member tbone066)
Wouldn’t recommend this seller. Made a mistake on his end which really inconvenienced me and took a really long time. But the cuff links were beautiful.
Kenneth Cole watches for best men – Costco
You can get gorgeous watches at Costco. We got them engraved at our jeweler (see review on bottom).
Yankees watch for ring bearer
Ebay seller: sportslockerplus
http://myworld.ebay.com/sportslockerplus
Nice quality, came quickly, less than $30. A great idea for our ring bearer.
Wrapping
I took a lot of time and pride in the wrapping. I wanted it all to coordinate with the wedding colors, so I worked on this for a long time!
Gift Bags, Tulle from Dollar Tree
Tissue Paper from Costco
Wrapping paper, flowers, Ribbon from Wal-mart
Invitations-A+ of course
Made by Dad
My dad’s former printing company made the invitations. He had a graphic designer create them, and then they printed them on a high gloss special card stock. We were going for an urban chic club feel, and she captured our vision perfectly.
We did postcards for response cards, and they were awesome! If I had to do it again, I would have had the text a little higher up on the bottom left hand corner where the guests write. It gets cancelled over there, and it’s a little hard to read.
Daniela, the designer, also sent me the files of the images, so I was able to do a lot of DIY’s with them.
Custom Card Box – A+
Ebay Seller: Modern Bride
Forthemodernbride.com
[email protected]
Another seller that gets a lot of exposure on there. The contact is minimal, and I wish the wait wasn’t so long, but it was worth the wait. I loved the result, and am designing a room in my house to include it.
to be continued...
July 12, 2008
I must start by saying wedding planning was a very stressful, draining process, but in the end, it’s all about the moments you can never plan. I come from a blended family, and it was very challenging to make everyone happy. There were many times I wanted to elope, and John helped me through it by saying, “If this is our biggest problem in wedding planning, we are lucky!’
That being said, my husband John and I did not want a traditional wedding in the least. We had been to so many weddings at the time of our engagement, and wanted to give our guests an experience to remember. I hope we achieved it!
Before we even got engaged, I was reading the Newsday weddings magazine while getting my hair highlighted. I spotted a half page advertisement for Reckson Plaza (the former EAB Plaza) and thought it would be a cool venue.
We looked at the venue as soon as we got engaged, and fell in love with its potential. I honestly had my heart set on the Brooklyn Museum, but it would be under renovations for the time period we were looking for. Reckson was a great alternative. There were many times I wish I would have just chosen a traditional venue, just for the sake of giving an easy answer when people asked where we getting married! NOBODY understood why or where the reception would be there…
So, here goes.
Wedding Coordinator – A+
Kristen Herbert-Delaney
www.nsengagements.com
Kristen was an absolute Godsend. I knew I wanted a coordinator since we were getting married at a nontraditional site. It was important that someone could coordinate the little details before we got there. We met with Kristen at least 5 times before the wedding, received helpful personalized timelines and documents from her, and were completely confident every personal touch would be executed properly thanks to her help. She came to our rehearsal to make sure she knew everyone and every detail, and collected everything at the end of the night, loaded our cars for us, and offered to drop it off at our house herself if we didn’t even want to deal with it.
At one point, my sister’s dress had a malfunction; I walked in my house to see construction on the dress, and didn’t even flinch. She fixed it perfectly. She fixed my make-up when necessary throughout the night and was right there when I needed her with my replacement shoes. It was like she knew what I was thinking before I even could think it. The next day, she emailed me hundreds of photos from the day. Thanks to Kristen, everything was perfect, and I NEVER worried about anything. She even brought an assistant with her, Lauren, who was an absolute doll as well.
Church – A+
St. Matthew’s Church
http://www.mychurchandtown.com/parishes/index.asp?pid=RC028
35 North Service Road, Dix Hills, NY 11746
My grandfather was a deacon here, and married everyone in my family prior to his passing in ’02. I knew this is where I wanted to get married, and his close friend Father Chadwick was the person to do it. John and I hit it off with Father Chadwick right away, and everything went so smoothly.
Pre-Cana was fine; I found it to be a little late – 6 Mondays, 7:30 until 9:30. To me, that’s late for working couples, but maybe I’m just a nerd!
The one thing they do not let you do is aisle runners, and since I was so set on putting that darn monogram everywhere, I was trying my hardest to get one in. But Father Chadwick gave me some good advice – K-I-S-S, meaning, “Keep it simple sweetheart.” And you know what, he was right. I had this elaborate plan in mind to get an aisle runner involved, and it would have been more of a hassle than anything, probably taking away from the ceremony. So I got some rose petals from the Dollar Tree, Kristen threw them down the aisle, and it was perfect.
Since I really wanted to integrate our personal touches as much as possible, it was really important to me to have the organist/cantor play/sing Fools Rush In by Elvis as I entered with my dad. They confirmed it with me when I sat in the limo, and I trusted they would do it the right way. I couldn’t be any more happy I chose to walk down the aisle to this song. It was absolutely beautiful. YOU CAN CHOOSE NONTRADITIONAL SONGS IN A CHURCH! Discuss with your priest and your musicians.
Reception – A
RexCorp Plaza
Uniondale, New York 11556
Caterer: Sterling Affair
Contact: Peter Fazio
http://www.sterlingaffair.com/RecksonPlaza/
The first wedding we saw take place at Reckson was in August. We were so impressed that despite all of the action, the head honchos from the caterer were completely relaxed and walking us around. We went for a tasting in August and the food was outstanding! We went through a few changes of hands with Sterling, which was a little frustrating. Overall, everything worked out beautifully. Of course, there were a couple things that weren’t exactly what we expected! We didn’t eat, but we heard the food was GREAT! We had cupcakes instead of a cake, and despite asking 3 times for them to pack some up for us, they didn’t. We addressed this, and they are making us a batch to have and were very apologetic.
Photography – A+
Patken Photography
Jesse
www.patkenphotographer.com
John and I only booked vendors through word of mouth. Our friends recently used Patken, and I have a friend who is a personal friend of Doug’s. We wanted to use Doug, but he was unavailable. In fact, everyone was, but Jesse just had a cancellation.
We were impressed with the offering considering we needed 3 parent albums. They worked with us on what we needed for our specific scenario, and told us we could always add on later when we had more money.
Photography is really important to me and I felt it was critical Jesse stayed until the end of the night (most photogs leave after the cake cutting). I also was almost embarrassed to ask her to do so (the receptionist told us she would if we asked) because there was really no justification for staying. Kristen also clued us in that by the end of the night we will not want photos taken of us in the condition we will be in!
When I saw someone else’s review that included a picture of the bridal party hanging out on a bench at a stadium, I knew I wanted a nontraditional photo site. After much deliberation, we booked the private bowling alley at 300 Long Island. Jesse’s creativity in the bowling alley was indescribable.
Well, mid-wedding planning John and I decided that as a big bang at the end of the night were going to run through the fountain. It was the perfect ending to the wedding. First everyone lit sparklers behind us, then we ran through. Jesse set up the most unbelievable shots. I couldn’t believe that I laid in the fountain in my wedding gown, but it was a great finale. Jesse even stepped in the fountain with us.
We told Jesse we wanted photos more edgy than the traditional wedding photos. She exceeded our expectations, and I think she was happy to get as creative as possible.
Videography
Patken Photography
Damien
www.patkenphotographer.com
We had minimal interaction with Damien through the night. We are supposed to get the video in 6 months, so I will update when I get it. We did book the basic video at the time of purchase, and we did decide to go with the deluxe after the wedding. They gave us a deal to add it on, but we approached them about adding it on, so if you do change your mind, be sure to call them. The deluxe includes a recap and some honeymoon photos. Truthfully, the reason we wanted the recap is because they reminded us that people who want to see our video do not want to watch the 3 hour video, they want to see a 10 minute recap. We agreed.
DJ – A+
Party Up Entertainment
Jay Bencivenga
www.partyupproductions.com
I think it’s only fair that we say upfront that Jay is a personal friend of John’s; however, it is also necessary to say that I have seen Jay DJ at least ten parties, and the dance floor is always packed.
You will NEVER meet a nicer guy than Jay. He wants your party to be exactly what you anticipate, and will make sure it is. He has a very professional staff that works constantly to prepare a Gobo, slideshow, etc. whatever you need.
Lighting was very important at our venue, and Jay worked with us throughout the past 9 months to perfect the plan. He met us at the location and investigated many elements in advance. Jay emceed, and he brought 4 other staff: two lighting technicians, an emcee, and a Zapshots photographer.
Jay was the perfect emcee, and his DJ ROCKED. The only bad thing was that barely anyone saw the GOBO on the dance floor because it was always packed! But that’s really a good thing! The Zapshots were waiting for us at home when we arrived from our HM.
We can’t say enough good things about Jay. In fact, my family has booked him for two parties as well based on our recommendations and they are crazy about his work.
Limousines – A+
Alexis Limousines
http://www.alexislimousine.com/
John and I looked all over because we wanted the Phantom Bentley to drive my dad and me to the church, and then John and me to the reception. Alexis had that but did not have the Hummer we wanted for the BP.
Additionally, the Bentley was booked. You would think this would make us move on the next company. But something told us to keep looking there-they had a Maserati, so we went to check it out. But the Bentley was a better fit for us. They told us they were purchasing a new one, but it would be more money. Some how we convinced them to upgrade the bride previously booked for the Bentley, and give us the one we fell in love with.
The package we booked included the Bentley, Escalade, and a Lincoln town car pick up at the end of the night- and a dinner at 7th Street café. We really needed another limo in there for a pick up from my mom’s house early in the day. We were able to negotiate to eliminate the dinner and the town car, and they gave us a pick up-drop off in a Lincoln.
A couple months later, they called to confirm times and I asked if we could also book a drop off to the airport for our HM. They threw it in for no charge since we booked a large package, and coincidentally they also were calling to upgrade the Lincoln to an Excursion.
A couple months after that, I realized that we definitely would need the overtime for the limos, and thought if we negotiated early, we could get a better deal. We did, and we did get a better deal, including adding in a pick up from the airport.
I must throw in two weird things that happened-but please do not let these change your mind about using them, just make sure you are very clear on the contracts-
We received the updated contracts in the mail, where they wrote on each of the airport runs “If possible, please tip driver $75.” I was mystified, because that to me is the COST of an airport run. I didn’t want bad relations with the company though, so I ignored it, and said, we will do what we can when the time comes.
The second weird part was that the original package brochure clearly stated that all gratuities were included. They are very wishy washy about this policy. I asked when I dropped off the final balance, just to clarify, and they told me, each driver receives a service charge that was built in to our package, and we can tip on top of that if we like.
When Kristen called to confirm all details, they told her gratuities were not included. I listened to what I heard from the “horse’s mouth”, the manager, and tipped according to what we wanted, not based on the 20% rule or anything.
Then, when we were brought home from the airport, the driver said to us after we tipped him $50, “Excuse me, I was supposed to be paid $75 on this?” I said, “actually no, it said, if possible, and no, it’s not possible.”
After going back and forth a million times, it turned out the company told him his pay was the tip, and we were mortified because we built the cost of that price into our package that we already paid for. I called the company and told them how uncomfortable we were made to feel and they were completely apologetic, and mortified themselves that the driver made us feel that way. I emphasized that it wasn’t completely the driver’s fault-if he should be paid that much, it shouldn’t be by us, and I saw the sheet they gave him which told him that we were responsible for it.
But, those were the only two negatives that happened. All the limos were gorgeous, clean, on time, and absolutely professional. Request Brendan, who I have had as a driver on another occasion. He is absolutely professional, knowledgeable, and reliable. He drove our Bentley.
Hair
Monica
Monica has been doing my updos for years. She is the only one who can curl it and make it last for days. Ironically, I became so hot the day of the wedding the curls pretty much came out by the end of the night (but that was not her fault at all)! Everyone looked gorgeous, and she does beautiful work. Everyone stayed tight all night. She did my hair in 45 minutes, and did everyone else in like 30 minutes or less. I know she was, and don’t know if she is still, the house hair dresser for the Scotto Brothers, so she can rock bridal parties like you have never seen.
Make-Up
Lauren Hauser
Lauren is my personal friend and is an incredibly experienced MAC make-up artist. My make up lasted until Monday (and would have lasted longer if I didn’t take it off) and she made me FEEL beautiful. I even “let” her do fake eyelashes! I hate letting anyone touch my eyes but she is so gentle! All our make up looked unbelievable.
Dresses
Adrienne’s
Sofia
www.adriennesny.com
Adrienne’s doesn’t get the best of reviews on here but I had a great experience. I first tried Bridal Reflections and hated it. It actually made me not want to shop for a dress.
I then went to Adrienne’s and felt like royalty. Sofia was the best. She was honest, knowledgeable and incredibly helpful. I put on “the dress” and my mom didn’t flinch to hand over her CC. She knew it was the one.
There was only one catch. I was a size 16, but I knew in my heart, and I think we all knew, that the dress would not look good in a size 16. It was a mermaid gown, and I am very petite, so everything was all out of proportion.
Fast forward to July-John and I trained with a trainer for 5 months, and I went down to a 6.
I found a seamstress that agreed to reconstruct the dress for me, and low and behold, it was my dream wedding gown once again.
My seamstress made my flower girl dress to be a replica of my dress. It was showstopping!
Favors
Wine Bottles
My dad’s former printing company made the labels to match the invitations, and my mom’s friend is a wine wholesaler who got us the wine. We went with Jacob’s Creek, and Australian wine, and went with red, so the label would “pop”.
Air fresheners
Joletta San Nicolas
Make Perfect Scents Promotions
These were such a hit. We had the valet parkers insert them in the cars as the guests left. While I don’t know if they did a great job of doing that, the guests that got them raved.
Veil
Barron’s - Tri-County Flea Market
There’s nothing to say that hasn’t been already said on this site. It was so reasonable it’s insane. All I can say is, please, under any circumstances, do NOT buy the veil from your place of gown purchase. You will spend so much more money than necessary.
Valet Parking – B+
Executive Parking
Greenvale, New York
516-484-4600
They were a little hard to work with because they were a little lax. I would try to get my payments in on time, but it was impossible because we were playing phone tag. Also, I asked the parkers to put the fresheners in the car, and I don’t think they all got one. I KNOW some people didn’t get one. So I don’t know what happened there, but it wasn’t in their job description to do that, so I can’t complain. It was just a “favor” I asked of them. But I do know that in addition to the tip I gave them at the end of the night, my dad tipped them in the beginning of the night…
Gifts for Bridal Attendants
Bridesmaids
I only had two so it was easy.
Blue Tulip- Bridesmaid Survival Kits
Earrings from Tri-County (the booth next to Barron’s) – The woman was really helpful and even gave me a penny for my shoe. She negotiated a lot, and had to create a special order for me. She got everything exactly on time and was so wonderful to deal with. I also bought earrings for my flower girl here.
Coach-I bought my sister, MOH, Coach sunglasses.
Groomsmen
John thought it would be nice to get everyone cuff links tailored to each groomsmen’s interests. I will say though, it wasn’t easy with 9 groomsmen, and we got them through several different venues.
Most of the cuff-links - Cuffdaddy.com
So incredibly reasonable, and they give you a discount if you order more than one pair, and they don’t have to be the same. Very fast. We ordered guns for the cops, golf clubs for the golfers, skis for the skiers, etc. The quality was great and they all came in really nice boxes.
Penn State football helmets (ebay member vjmoreno)
Great communication, nice quality.
Pittsburgh Penguins cufflinks (ebay member tbone066)
Wouldn’t recommend this seller. Made a mistake on his end which really inconvenienced me and took a really long time. But the cuff links were beautiful.
Kenneth Cole watches for best men – Costco
You can get gorgeous watches at Costco. We got them engraved at our jeweler (see review on bottom).
Yankees watch for ring bearer
Ebay seller: sportslockerplus
http://myworld.ebay.com/sportslockerplus
Nice quality, came quickly, less than $30. A great idea for our ring bearer.
Wrapping
I took a lot of time and pride in the wrapping. I wanted it all to coordinate with the wedding colors, so I worked on this for a long time!
Gift Bags, Tulle from Dollar Tree
Tissue Paper from Costco
Wrapping paper, flowers, Ribbon from Wal-mart
Invitations-A+ of course
Made by Dad
My dad’s former printing company made the invitations. He had a graphic designer create them, and then they printed them on a high gloss special card stock. We were going for an urban chic club feel, and she captured our vision perfectly.
We did postcards for response cards, and they were awesome! If I had to do it again, I would have had the text a little higher up on the bottom left hand corner where the guests write. It gets cancelled over there, and it’s a little hard to read.
Daniela, the designer, also sent me the files of the images, so I was able to do a lot of DIY’s with them.
Custom Card Box – A+
Ebay Seller: Modern Bride
Forthemodernbride.com
[email protected]
Another seller that gets a lot of exposure on there. The contact is minimal, and I wish the wait wasn’t so long, but it was worth the wait. I loved the result, and am designing a room in my house to include it.
to be continued...
