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CLICK HERE: Our Wedding Proofs! ***************************
Planning a wedding is such a strange time in your life. You worry yourself sick with stress, plan out all the little details until you are exhausted, spend more money than you could ever imagine spending on one day, and TRULY begin thinking your day will NEVER arrive before you shoot yourself, your family, your guests or even your poor FH in the process! So when the big day finally
DOES arrive and everything falls into place (good, bad or otherwise), you simply cannot fathom what the heck you were so worried about !?!?!?
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Only last December were DH & I engaged, and it was less than 8 short months ago that we undertook the daunting task of planning a Long Island wedding. Here I was, born and raised in Westchester, knowing NOTHING about Long Island other than the man I was marrying had lived there! Was I crazy to try and plan a Long Island wedding in
LESS THAN 8 MONTHS ![]()
with NO knowledge of LI? Heck yeah! But then I discovered LIWs, and I soon realized this really COULD be done! What I didn't know then (but I certainly know now
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) is how 'addicted' I would become to LIWs.... who knew I would truly enjoy all the hours I spent exchanging advice and support, commiserating with, and laughing together with my fellow 'brides (and yes, grooms) helping brides.' Simply put, I could NOT have planned this wedding without LIWs - and I am so grateful to Ron and Liz for creating such a valuable, resourceful, interesting and
fun website.
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If I had to sum up my wedding in one word, it would be
PERFECT. Someone upstairs was definitely looking out for Anthony and I; our day came and went without any 'technical difficulties.' Despite lousy weather all weekend and rainy forecasts predicted up until the very morning of our wedding, miraculously the clouds parted & the sun started shining brightly the minute I arrived at the church for our ceremony. I truly think both DH's late grandma and my late grandma were looking down on us and blessing us their approval (with a little help from the big guy upstairs, of course
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) It was a sunny, humidity-free, beautiful summer day.
Here (in no particular order) are detailed reviews of each of my vendors:
Rehearsal Dinner:
Nocello's Restaurant, Northport A+
My generous in-laws planned the rehearsal dinner, and they couldn't have picked a better place than Nocello's. I left it entirely up to my MIL to pick a venue, and Nocello's was excellent. We had a group of about 25 and they gave us a nice private room to enjoy and relax. What was nice is that they let us pick off the menu rather then give us a 'set' menu, which was even better and everyone enjoyed their dinner so much. The night of the rehearsal was a semi-disaster.. everyone was running SO late due to inclement weather conditions, and nearly 1/2 our bridal party arrived late to our rehearsal at the church. Nocello's was very accommodating about us arriving nearly 1 hour past than our reservation (yikes!) and didn't rush us at all on a busy Friday night. They allowed me to bring in my enormous , very delicate groom's cake for DH (more on that later) and kept it stored for me -- not to mention they were terrific about bringing it in at the right moment, with just the right 'hoopla' and fanfare to surprise my husband
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Most importantly, the food was SO VERY delicious and the service was excellent! I definitely want to go back there when I can actually ENJOY my dinner
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Wonderful restaurant.
Groom's Cake:
ELEGANT CHEESECAKES (www.elegantcheesecakes.com) A+
Originally I wasn't going to have a groom's cake, mainly because my husband isn't a sweets eater -- he just doesn't like many types of cakes in general. And I knew if I did get a groom's cake, it would be served at the rehearsal since our hall wouldn't let us bring in any outside cakes. But eventually, I realized that I REALLY wanted to do something special just for Anthony. I felt like he'd sacrificed and done everything to make ME happy in this entire wedding process, and he never asked for anything in return. Our poor FH/DHs -- they really do get overlooked and slighted while we plan the weddings of our dreams - everything is 'about the bride!' So I felt he deserved a special moment set aside just for HIM. Yet my dilemma was that I wanted to do something VERY DIFFERENT for a cake, and kept hemming and hawing about what bakery to use.. nothing really stood out to me.
So its a week before our rehearsal, and I still had no grooms cake. I was sitting at work, planning an event for my boss when I came across some old paperwork from Elegant Cheesecakes, a company based in San Francisco that I'd used once to create an amazing 'laptop computer cake' for a corporate event last year. A brainstorm begins to brew. If there is ONE dessert my DH does truly love, its cheesecake .. its his absolute favorite dessert. I had recalled the cake we'd ordered for my boss' function was a huge hit , so without giving thought to how ridiculously expensive this was going to be I ventured onto their website. All I can say is
Oh My God. The cakes that Susan Morgan creates are truly works of art, and her cheesecake flavor selections puts the Cheesecake Factory to shame...very unique and very different. What really sold me is when I discovered her 'baseball cap' creation, and the fact she could make a cheesecake that looked like an actual
NY Metsbaseball cap! Anthony is a DIEHARD METS fan so I just HAD to get this cake for him. I immediately contacted her and asked her if I could order it in less than one week, and would it be possible to ship it to NY from CA. The deal was sealed and I never looked back (though if my husband ever finds out how much I spent on this cake he'd probably kill me!!) I ordered a vanilla cheesecake with a caramel pecan swirl on a praline shortbread crust to feed 30 people (YUM!) and Elegant Cheesecakes had it shipped out to me on dry ice via FedEx for delivery that Friday of the rehearsal dinner. The minute I saw the cake in person, I was ecstatic. It was INCREDIBLE! Everyone at Nocello's couldn't stop talking about it when I brought it to the rehearsal dinner, and my family and DH nearly DIED when they saw it. I mean, the look on Anthony's face was priceless and worth every penny I spent. Not to mention, it was probably the MOST DELICIOUS cheesecake I've EVER tasted in my entire life -- simply To Die For!! So if you are looking to blow your savings in one pop (LOL), I highly recommend this vendor. Wonderful customer service, artistically brilliant, delicious product. These pictures don't come close to doing it justice, but here are a few:
Hotel:
HUNTINGTON HILTON, MELVILLE A+
The Hilton was terrific in every regard and I had no problems with them whatsoever.. it was one the easiest parts of my wedding planning. Laurie Triosi in the sales office is a doll to work with. We blocked off 10 rooms for our guests, as well as a suite for myself to get ready in the night before and to stay with my hubby on our wedding night. Laurie was so easygoing and accommodated all my requests, including some late check-outs and a slightly earlier check in for some of my OTTers. The suite was more than big enough for me to get ready in that AM and have pictures taken with my girls and parents. And the complimentary champagne was a nice touch for our wedding night (as was the late check out the day after
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) Nothing super fancy, but clean, organized and just what we were looking for. Our OTT guests even had a great time at the hotel bar, post-wedding ... and oh yeah, we had a great time on our wedding night, too
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CONTINUED ....
