Cacarina's 11/7/09 Wedding - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE!

My wedding day was seriously the best day of my life and if I could do it over again, I would not have changed a single thing. I am lucky enough to say that literally not a single thing went wrong on our day. It was seriously the most perfect day and I owe it in large part to my vendors, but also to the fact that I made a vow to myself not to be a bridezilla and not to sweat the small stuff. My mother gave me great advice and said, “If your flowers come in pink instead of red, no one will ever remember. They will remember the bride who flipped out over it though.” I thought that was great advice, and I tried to remember it any time I felt like I was going to lose it, which was rare. I was lucky enough to have great support in my bridesmaids and my AMAZING mother.

I want to Thank Ron, Liz & Kim and ALL of my LIW girls for giving me a place that I seriously have considered a second family for the last 2 years. I had no idea what to expect when a coworker told me to check this site out. LIW become a wonderful resource and sometimes the cause of some anxiety thinking I was late to book something! I have met some really wonderful people on this site and I am so thankful that I had this site to come to when I needed help, advice, opinions or just to vent.

I hope that my review can be as helpful to future brides as past reviews were to me.

Save the Dates
Long Island Wedding Boutique - A+
Bridget was awesome to work with and such a sweetheart. I knew I wanted a magnet with an Engagement photo as our STD and we didn’t want to spend too much since MIL was getting them for us as a gift. I didn’t really want to use an online vendor because I wanted to see an actual live proof. We went in and picked out a design and I emailed Bridget a photo to use. A few days later we got the proof back and I didn’t love it. I called Bridget and told her that I wanted to completely change the design and wanted to use a new picture. She was totally awesome about it and agreed that my new photo/design would look better. I loved them when we got the new proof back. We got so many compliments on them and they didn’t cost a lot at all!


Bridal Shower
Café Testarossa – A
We got the entire restaurant for my shower. Everything went great. We did a buffet and the food was really good! Everyone enjoyed it. We did champagne punch & soda, but I felt like they didn’t keep on top of getting the guests more champagne punch. I always had to chase someone down to get a refill…that was annoying. Also – soda was included in the package but there was no soda in sight! They provided a cake and it was so good. It was a cannoli cream cake. Yum!




Bachelorette Party
Foxwoods – A+
We did a weekend in Foxwoods with about 10 girls. We got 2 suites and the prices were really reasonable. We had a blast! Friday night we played Bingo and then went out to dinner at The Scorpion Bar then partied it up at the bar. Then Saturday we played Bingo during the day and had facials at the Spa. Saturday night we had a fancier dinner at Al Dente and then went to Club Shrine for some drinks and dancing. It was so much fun. My friends and I still talk about how we cannot wait to go back there!





Rehearsal Dinner
Rosewood Inn – B
I didn’t really have much say in this since MIL and FIL were kind enough to throw this for us. The place was fine – but I hated that we were in the middle of the room with other diners all around us. I guess it was probably more annoying for the other diners than us, but still a little weird. The food was mediocre and I didn’t think the service was all that great.

Cake for Rehearsal Dinner
Rolling Pin Bakery – A+
I called them the week before the RD and asked if they could make a Yankees themed cake for the Rehearsal Dinner. I wanted to surprise DH, since I knew that the Yankees were going to win the Championship. The cake looked great and tasted awesome too. DH loved it!


Invites/Programs/Menus/Seating Chart
Long Island Wedding Boutique – A
After working with Bridget for our Save the Dates we went in for our Invites. They have like literally 200 books filled with different invitations, all kinds. We were overwhelmed, but Bridget was great at honing in on what we want and we were able to find the perfect invite for us. I really appreciated that she was honest and told us what extras were unnecessary. I will say that I don’t think they are the cheapest for invites, but they are full-service and we were able to get everything done through them, including the addressing and that totally worked for us. Once we got invites, we decided to have them do Programs and Menus for us too. Bridget was able to match the same colors as our Invites, so everything really looked like they went together. We also did the Seating Chart with them – which was a cool alternative to Escort Cards. We rented the easel and they printed the chart for us twice, one that we could keep forever – (not really sure what we will do with that though, LOL).






DOJ
Thomas Knoell – A+
A good friend of mine works in the accessories department for Kleinfelds and she told me that I just HAD to go and meet Thomas Knoell for my DOJ. I went to the store rather than going to Kleinfelds so that I could get more personal attention from Thomas. From the minute I walked in I felt like a queen. Everyone who works in the store are the nicest people and Thomas is just amazing. I showed him a picture of my dress and he knew just what to do for me. He envisioned a specific headpiece that wasn’t even made yet. He custom made it for me. He also helped me pick out a gorgeous bracelet and earrings. Everything complimented each other perfectly. I am totally obsessed with everything I got. I loved working with Thomas so much that I ended up getting earrings & bracelets for each of my bridesmaids and a gorgeous broach for my Maid of Honor. My mom got a bracelet too!





Veil
Barron’s Tri-County – A
Since we spent so much on my DOJ, my mom and I decided that we would spend less on my veil. We went to Barron’s to see what they had and I have to say, you would never know that we only spent about $175 on my veil. It was custom made with gorgeous lace that complimented my dress. It was very simple and pretty and I was very happy with it.



Dress
The Wedding Salon of Manhasset – A+
Platinum by Priscilla of Boston – A+
My sister got her gown from The Wedding Salon of Manhasset 5 years ago and she had a great experience, so this was the first place my mom and I went. We went “just to look” about 18 months before my wedding. I tried on a lot of gowns that I just loved, but once I put my dress on, I was in love. It was a great experience too because the designer of the gown – Kenneth Pool – was in the store when I was trying it on. I did not want to take this dress off. However, since I hadn’t really planned on buying a dress that day and my wedding was 18 months away, I was a little apprehensive about buying my dress that day. The incentive to do so was that it was a Trunk Show and I’d get 15% off my dress. Mary – my consultant – was totally not pushy and suggested that I go next door to Vera Wang and try some dresses on there and then come back and decide. I did that and found one at Vera that I really liked too. I went back to the Wedding Salon and tried “my” dress on again and I was in love. Mary asked me to describe the one from Vera and I said I couldn’t even remember. She said, “Honey, this is your dress!” and she was right! We bought it and NOT once in 18 months did I have dress regret. I am still in love with my dress and so is my mom…she refuses to put it away, so it is hanging in her downstairs hallway for all to see! LOL.





Bridesmaid Dresses
The Wedding Salon of Manhasset B+
Badgley Mischka – B+
Since I got my own dress at The Wedding Salon, my girls got 20% off Bridesmaids Dresses there too. They have a high end selection and most of their dresses are not cheap. I went shopping with my MOH first and she chose this Badgely Mischka dress which we both fell in love with. It was pricey, but my MOH insisted that this was the dress SHE was wearing…she didn’t care what anyone else wore, LOL. I brought the rest of the girls in to see the dress too and they loved it too. Although they were expensive, everyone was okay spending the money and it was great that they got the 20% discount. There was a slight issue with these dresses at first because Badgely Mischka was going through some sort of a reorganization just as we were about to order and the dresses were pulled off all floors and no one was allowed to order them. The woman in the store told me that I still had time and I should wait it out until March and see what happens if this was the dress we really wanted. In mid-January we got a call that the dresses were available to order! We ordered the dresses in February for my November wedding. The dresses came in June and when we went to pick up the dresses they were BLACK. I nearly had a heart attack, but I stayed calm in my efforts to NOT be a bridezilla. The Wedding Salon said that it would be okay and they were going to lie and say my wedding was in September so that Badgely Mischka would rush order the right color in. They were in by end of August and the color was more gorgeous than I even thought. I gave The Wedding Salon a B+ because they don’t do alterations and that was annoying since some of my BMs had nightmares with outside tailors. It would have been easier if everyone just got their alterations at one place.




Tuxes
Mens Wearhouse – A
They were great – no complaints. They had ties/vests that matched the Bridesmaid dresses perfectly, which made me very happy. We went with them because we had several guys coming from all different places, including my dad and two brothers from Florida, so it was easy for them to go and get measured in FL and pick up their tuxes in New York.


Hair/Makeup
Fresh Face Forward – A+
Stacey and Sabrina are absolute sweethearts. And they do amazing work! I had two trials with them and they were so great about working with me to find exactly the look I was going for. On the day of they did even better than the trials. They were calm and easy going and helped make the morning run smooth. I was a little nervous about time since there were so many of us getting hair and makeup done, but they finished on time and even had time do to some touch ups. My hair and makeup stayed all day…over 12 hours!



Flowers
Flo wers by Bur ton – A
The flowers were gorgeous and the prices can’t be beat! I worked with Mary to decide on which flowers I wanted about two weeks before my wedding. I knew I wanted fall, but I really didn’t have much knowledge of flowers, other than roses. I knew I wanted a deep red colored bouquet and I wanted assorted fall flowers for centerpieces and bridesmaid bouquets. Mary had a vision and she nailed it! I was so happy with everything.




Picture Location – A
Bayard Cutting Arboretum
My photographer recommended this place and I went to with DH and my parents a few months before the wedding to check it out. The grounds are lovely and there are lots of places to take pictures. They required a $100 fee, but I later found out that November is off-season and we probably didn’t have to pay at all. Well, maybe we did to have the limos there, not sure. No one ever asked to see our permit though. In peak season each car has to pay something like $6.




Ceremony Music
Vintage String Quartet – A+
They were easy to work with and played beautifully. I booked them pretty far in advance and didn’t talk to them until about a week before the wedding when I sent them my song selections and asked for some help. Fran was very helpful and even told me that one of my selections would probably not work because of timing, and gave other suggestions. I really appreciated her honestly and was happy to use one of her suggestions. They were on time and very professional. It was a lovely touch to our ceremony.



Officiant
Pastor April – A+
This woman is absolutely amazing. She is definitely one of my favorite vendors. She just has an easy going nature and she has a wonderful way with words. DH and I met with her months in advance and we sat in her living room and just talked. We told her about ourselves and our relationship. The next day we had an entire personalized ceremony written up in my email. It was beautiful…it brought tears to my eyes. She really got who we were as a couple and put it into words. Everyone was talking about how unique and wonderful our ceremony was. People really liked the personalized touch she gave. My sister plans to use April for her son’s baby blessing in March. I am so excited to see her again…I love her.


Limos
Camelot – A+
We met with Joe and he was so personable and gave us a great price for 2 basic limos. We weren’t looking for anything crazy since we were getting married at the Hall. The limos arrived on time; they were clean and stocked with drinks. The drivers were awesome too. They really helped make things run smooth. I had no idea that the drivers did more than just drove us from point A to point B. My driver held my dress up when I got out of the limo, held my bouquet and even helped all the guys figure out which boutonnière was theirs. Great guys. You really cannot go wrong with Camelot…they are so reliable.

DJ
FM Entertainment – A
I only saw FM Entertainment…didn’t look at any other DJs. Their prices fit our budget and we were even able to get a few extras because they were so reasonable. We were sold at the showcase. I liked that Frank wasn’t cheesy and he had a nice demeanor. We got Frank as our MC and we had a separate DJ (no idea who!). They had the dance floor packed the entire night! They played most of my requested songs. However, they really didn’t play many slow songs at all – which I kind of like. I think they really only played 1 slow song other than our first dance. I guess the crowd was more of an upbeat, dancing crowd so they didn’t want to mess with the vibe. Also – this is not really FM’s fault because we didn’t discuss it, but they played a different version of our first dance song than what we had expected. DH and I had actually taken dance lessons, but last minute decided not to do the dance. Had we decided to do the dance we would have been totally off beat because the song they played was a different tempo. Very weird! We also got a dinner singer – Charlie. He was a hit and everyone was signing along with him. I thought it was a nice touch. We got the uplighting through FM too. We chose amber colored lights because our wedding was sort of a “Fall” theme. This was a last minute addition and I am SO glad we did it. It gave the room a great feel and I liked that the lights changed colors when the music was playing.





Cardbox
For The Modern Bride – A+
I had seen other people’s cardboxes from this company and I just fell in love with them. I really wanted one, but I knew they were expensive. DH knew how much I wanted it, so he paid for it. I sent in the request form with my colors and ideas and the picture they sent back was PERFECT. I freaking love this thing. I will say that no one really noticed it but me, but whatever, I love it!


Chair Covers/Sashes/Napkins
Linen Creations - A+
My mom really wanted to do chair covers and I wasn’t going to say no. I didn’t really love the chairs at the reception hall, and I loved the idea of doing a wine colored sash to pull in some of my colors. My mom had gotten a recommendation to go to Linen Creations from a friend who had used them. Ada was wonderful to work with and showed us all the different options. We ended up getting wine colored napkins to match the chair covers because the prices were so cheap!



Favors
Jed’s Maple Syrup Farm – A+
I knew I wanted to do Maple Syrup bottles as my favor because I was going for this “Fall” kind of theme and also because DH and I and my family love Vermont. One of my fellow 09ers (Carly!) gave me this info for this place and I passed it on to my mom. My mom did all the communication and ordering from them. She said the guy (I think his name is Steve) was really nice and helpful. They even made small favor tags that said our names, wedding date and “Thank you.” They were a great favor. The syrup was delicious too.



Cake
Campbell’s Bakery – A+
Since we were doing the Viennese Hour, we didn’t really feel it was necessary to go crazy on the cake. We got the cake as a part of our package with CLM. We met with Campbell’s a few weeks before the wedding to discuss design and flavors. I gave them a picture of a cake I really loved and they replicated it almost perfectly! I was floored when I saw the cake. It was beautiful. It was yummy too. We went with alternating layers of chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and yellow cake with cannoli filling. The flowers on the cake came from Burton’s and my bridal attendant Jessica decorated it. She did a phenomenal job! I loved my cake.



Hotel Block
Marriott Republic Airport in Farmingdale – A
We chose them because they provide a free shuttle from the hotel to CLM and back. Since we booked over 35 rooms, they gave us both shuttles, but since they only hold 13 people each we had to book another shuttle company too. Also, DH and I got our wedding night free because we booked over 10 rooms. They kept the bar open late for our guests after the wedding was over – which was great. We opted not to do a paid breakfast for our guests because we didn’t love the room or the breakfast options. We also felt like it was way too expensive for the food you get. Instead we just told everyone that we’d be downstairs in the lobby to do the $10pp breakfast and anyone can join. People didn’t complain and the breakfast in the lobby was actually really good. They made omelets to order which were a big hit. Overall they were good, easy to work with, no issues.

Extra Shuttle
Total Luxury Limo – A+
DH worked with them himself, so I had to ask him for his input. DH says: Gil and Jessica were a pleasure to work with and gave us by far the best price on a shuttle van. He was willing to make unlimited trips for two hours before and after where as others charged per trip. Was on time and made it very easy.

Photo/Video
The Velvet Studio – B+
I booked Velvet 2 years in advance and in hindsight, I wish I would have waited and looked around more. That doesn’t mean I was not happy with Velvet, I just feel like I should have done more research. Velvet was a CLM vendor and I first met with them on the night of my tasting at CLM. I felt that I really clicked with the woman I was talking with and I loved their albums they had out for display. I also liked that they were a house vendor for my hall; it made me comfortable knowing they new the place very well. I went and met with Bob and I felt good about him and so we booked. Their package was reasonable and I really got a lot for my money with them. After booking I started hearing some negative things about Velvet on this site. It worried me, but I didn’t freak out. DH and I took our engagement pictures with Bob and another woman about a year before our wedding. The pictures came out great, we were so happy. I felt better about choosing them as our photographer but I kept hearing negative stuff about them as my date approached, but I stayed positive. On the day of, Bob and his wife were our photographers. They were nice and took tons of pictures. The pictures came back and they are gorgeous, I am overall pretty happy with the pictures, but they are not as photojournalistic and some of the pictures I have seen from other photogs. I kind of expected it though, so I am not all that disappointed. I am a little annoyed that they did not take any pictures of my Cocktail Hour or the Viennese Hour that was amazing and we spent so much money on! I am sure we’ll see cocktail hour on the video though, so we’ll see. Also, they didn’t take any pictures of DH with his groomsmen alone. Not the end of the world, but a few little things were missed. I have to choose 90 photos for the album and I love so many of them, it is going to be hard! We just got our Thank You proof back and it is gorgeous. So I give Velvet a B+ because I wish there were more candids/photojournalistic photos, but overall they did a great job and I am generally happy. Most of the pictures in this review were taken by Velvet. Below are a few more of my favorites.

Reception Hall
Chateau La Mer – A+++
CLM gets extra ‘pluses’ because they were truly amazing. They went above and beyond to make our day as special as can be. I booked them 2 years and 2 months in advance. After looking at what felt like every single hall on Long Island, my mom and I checked out the Chateau La Mer one Sunday the Giants were playing and my DH couldn’t be bothered to look at any more places. It was the only one he didn’t come see, and my mom and I fell in love…go figure! I knew it was the one, so I brought DH back the next week; we booked our tasting and booked our date that night. We worked with Lou at first and he was nice enough. But then at one point I met with Nick to discuss something and I just felt that I clicked with him much better than with Lou. From then on I asked for Nick when I had a question or needed something. When I went to give in my final payment, we met with Nick and I begged him to be my Maitre D. I had heard that he doesn’t MD anymore, but he promised me that he would be there for me on my wedding night. When I got out of the limo on that day, Nick was there to greet me along with my bridal attendant, Jessica. We were taken to the very clean, very large bridal suite which was already set up with food and drinks. Jessica took drink orders from everyone in the bridal party. Right away Nick took charge of directing people on how the ceremony was going to go and where everyone needed to be. Everything ran so smoothly. Cocktail hour was lovely and there was so much food! All the food throughout the evening was delicious and plentiful. DH and I got a platter with all the meal options for our table. Jessica was always there to get us a drink or to fix my bustle. My guests kept raving about this place. It was beautiful and they really run a really good show. There really were no issues to speak of. Everyone was happy, well fed, and had plenty to drink. I really cannot thank the people at Chateau La Mer enough. They really made my day SO special and DH and I felt like King and Queen.
























Honeymoon
Excellence Playa Mujeres – A
Travel Tom – A
We heard about Tom on LIW and decided to give him a call about our honeymoon. He was really nice and willing to take our call late at night, which I thought was great since we both worked late. We told him what we were interested in doing and our budget. He gave us suggestions and told us that his priority was finding us the perfect place for our honeymoon and keeping within our budget. He did just that. Excellence Playa Mujeres sounded just perfect and we were able to get the best room for 8 days within our budget! We were so excited. The day before our wedding a hurricane hit EPM and the weather was really nasty. Another 09er was there the week before us and her honeymoon was pretty much ruined by the rain/hurricane. I was freaking out and DH called Tom and told him our concerns about going and we asked about switching to another place. We had bought trip insurance for this very reason. Tom understood our concerns, but thought that we should stick it out since the hurricane was supposed to be gone by the time we got there. We listened to him and I am SO glad we did. We had perfect weather the entire time we were there.
EPM was amazing. The grounds were super clean and beautiful. The food was great and there were tons of options. I don’t think we ate at the same restaurant twice. The beach was kind of gross because of the hurricane so we really didn’t spend any time there. But that didn’t matter because the pools were great and there were plenty of chairs to go around. The rooms were huge and really nice and clean. We got a rooftop terrace with a pool on it, but we never went into the pool because it was so cold. We didn’t really spend a lot of time on the roof and if we ever went back, we would not get the rooftop terrace room again. We enjoyed lying on the bed on the balcony instead. We loved the shower too, it had 2 shower heads and it was huge. We did two trips off the resort – one to the Mayan Ruins & a natural water park one day and another trip to Isla Mujeres where we swam with dolphins and explored the island. The place doesn’t have much of a night life and most of the evening shows were pretty bad, but we didn’t really need nightlife…we were on our honeymoon! We had the best time and would totally go back!








I hope you enjoyed my review! If you made it all the way through, I give you a lot of credit.

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great review Cari!!!! You were a stunning bride!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

What a great review!!! Everything looks amazing!!! I especially love your dress and your cake!!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

I love your dress soo much ... everything looked amazing...

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great job on the review! Beautiful pics!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Everything looks great!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great review! Everything was soo beautiful! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great review!! I LOVEEEEEEED your dress!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great Review!!! Thank you!!!
Everything looks Beautiful, you made a beautiful bride!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great review Cari!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

You looked absolutely stunning! Great review!!!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great review and I LOVE your dress!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Everything was amazingly gorgeous.

Your dress & whole look were off the charts gorgeous - I am truly obsessed with your DOJ and will be heading to Thomas Knoell stat.

And your cake is truly stunning!

Congrats!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Awesome review!! Congratualtions!! I love your dresses and flowers they look gorgeous together!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

your gown is to die for, it's so gorgeous and couture! stunning bride

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

great review!!! I LOVE the advice your mom gave you - sooo true! Your flowers and cake are gorgeousssss!! Congratssss!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Beautiful review, and beautiful bridesmaids ; )

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Gorgeous pics, great colors. Love your dress. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

Great Review!!!! You looked absolutely Amazing!!!!!!

Re: My VERY long review - PRO PICS - TONS of LIW vendors - CLM, Velvet, FM Entertainment, Camelot, Pastor April AND MORE! 11/7/09

I randomly met your mom today at work. I service a few of the students in her school and we came across each other...started chatting about Thomas Knoell and wedding stuff and I had read your review before so I put two and two together and realized who you were. hahaha smallll world!! Beautiful review and loved everything about your dress and jewelry.... stunning! I got my stuff from Thomas Knoell too. It was pretty funny today at school. Hope your enjoying married life!!