I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Wow…it’s amazing…after being engaged for over 2 years, moving from GA to Boston and then back to GA, changing jobs 3 times, and trying to plan a wedding, it all comes down to this…trying to remember all the days preparing that lead up to the best, most amazing day in my life! Looking back, it seems so far away now. It’s hard to imagine all the time and effort spent on that one day. Everything was worth it!!!! I married the most amazing man I have ever known (other than my father), and became a step-mom to 2 wonderful kids. My life has never been more complete. I truly feel like things are coming full circle and my new life with my new family (even though we’ve been a family for almost 4 years) are just falling right into place. I walk around our house that we’ve lived in for about 3 years and just feel like it’s a home now. It’s hard to explain, but life is great, let’s just say that!

So where do I start? How do I begin to tell you about this amazing journey I’ve taken? I promise, I won’t go into all the details that it took to get to my wedding day…my goodness, I’m not that mean?! It is over 2 years of details. You guys would never make it to the end of this review!!!!

First off, I have a huge THANK YOU to everyone on LIW and my other website. Since I live so far away, I have never had the pleasure of meeting any of you. But, that doesn’t make me feel like I don’t know some of you any less. The endless amount of support and ideas that I have gotten from you girls made my wedding day the way it was. I haven’t lived in NY in 6 years, and trying to pick out florists and venues and photographers would have been extremely hard, but I went on a lot of all your recommendations, and from the way things turned out, they were all the right decisions! Thank you so much, I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart!

Here we go……….

Mother Nature-10 I was in NY the whole week before the wedding and it was absolutely beautiful. Of course, April 1, they predict rain. I stopped looking at the weather b/c I didn’t want to upset myself. Well, the day of, it did rain…. in the morning. By the time we had to leave the house to go to the Fox Hollow, it was sunny and beautiful. I attribute that to my Grandmothers and Aunt looking down on me that day. I knew they wouldn’t let me down!

STD Magnets (Ebay)-10
I ordered my STD’s from www.theperfectwedding.com off ebay. They were just what I wanted at just the right price. They came very fast and were perfect. I would definitely recommend them.

DIY Pocketfold Invites (www.cardsandpockets.com)-10
Ok, lets be honest…I’m judging myself here…of course I’m going to give myself a 10. I ordered the pocketfolds from ww.cardsandpockets.com. They cost me $1 each. Very reasonable! I initially ordered a sample in dark brown, but later I decided that I wanted the lighter brown b/c that color went better with my theme colors. Well, I ordered them and made a sample invite with the light blue cardstock I got, and I hated the colors together. I was soooo disappointed!!! My invites needed to get done and out and I was running out of time. I wrote the company an email explaining the situation and my time constraints. I gave them my number and they called me the next day. This is a mother/daughter company, and the daughter was AWESOME! She mailed me out another 175 invites in the dark brown and I mailed her back the first set. She charged me nothing extra, not even the extra postage. I would recommend this company over and over!!!!!! I spent a lot of time on the invites, and I got a lot of compliments!

Cardbox, DIY WE DO Letters, and DIY Unity Candle-10
Again, rating myself. They were a lot of fun to do and I got a lot of compliments on the Cardbox. In my opinion, definitely worth it!

Garter (www.allsportsweddings.com)-10
I bought the garter from at www.allsportsweddings.com. Rob is from Boston and huge Red Sox fan. Even though we didn’t do the whole garter/bouquet toss, I knew he’d love it, and he did. He keeps it on the computer desk. Their prices are reasonable and it came in a timely manner. Definitely recommend them!

Ringbearor Pillow & Hair Pins (Tri-County)-10
I got numerous recommendations about Tri-County. I hadn’t been there since I was a little girl. I went to the booth right there when you walk in. They had just what I was looking for with both the pillow and hairpins. I absolutely loved my hairpins. Now I just need another time when I can wear them (ha-ha)! The pillow was perfect and pretty reasonable. I could have gotten a less expensive one from ebay, but I procrastinated until the week before my wedding with a lot of little details, so things needed to get bought, and fast!

Wedding Shoes (David's Bridal), Flip-Flops, and Purse (Sandy's in Massapequa)-10
I got my wedding shoes from David’s Bridal when I ordered my gown. They matched perfectly and were only $50. I expected my shoes to come off maybe a half hour into the reception, but I didn’t take them off the whole night. I was in them for over 12 hours ladies….that’s pretty darn good if you ask me. I didn’t start to feel them until around 11 or 12 that night. My flip-flops and purse…of course, I waited until the week before, right? My sisters and my mom got their shoes from Sandy’s in Massapequa, so I went there with my sister and found the perfect flip flops and purse. Both of them together cost me less than $50. I would definitely recommend this place. I did look at some of their wedding shoes, but they were a bit on the pricey side for me!

Bridesmaid Dresses (David's Bridal in NY, MA, & GA)-6
Because I live in GA, and had BM’s in 4 different states, I needed a place that everyone could go to. I guess I just felt that David’s Bridal had the monopoly on this. Anywho, the girls had trouble in NY and in GA, but MA and MI did OK with theirs. The dress I picked looked beautiful on ALL the girls. They truly were stunning, and my sis, my MOH, had a different dress but same color. In NY, when the girls went in to get the dress, they were ignored for a very long time. They also would not give my sister a swatch of the dress for some stupid reason. So, she went in a few days later with a scissor and cut fabric from underneath one of the dresses. My sister is too funny, but they were just being ridiculous. After being fitted, they said it would take a few weeks, well a few weeks passed, and nothing. The store put the wrong date on when the dresses needed to be ready. I wasn’t shocked! Not like you care, but in GA, my BM also had the wrong date for the dress to be ready. They put it down as a month after my actual wedding date. What is wrong with these people!!!!! So, needless to say my BM’s experience with David’s was not the best.

Flower Girl Dress-7
I bought the dress off of ebay. David’s no longer carried the dress I wanted and it matched my dress just perfectly! The price was great, it was only worn once and the seller said it had no stains on it (it had been dry cleaned). Well, I got it and it had stains on it. It was in pretty good shape. When I brought it to be cleaned the stains came out thank goodness. My step daughter is like a stick. She’s 7 y/o and is a six 6/7. Well, the dress was a 7, so I figured it wouldn’t have to be altered too much…boy was I wrong. It cost me $50 bucks to alter her dress. This is of course no fault of the seller, I just thought I’d share. For what I spent getting the dress and then altering it, for a few more dollars I could have gotten her a spanking new dress. Oh well, she looked absolutely adorable anyway!

After Hours (NY at Sunrise Mall, MA & GA)-7
I went with After Hours for the same reasons I went with David’s. They are all over the place and I thought it would benefit everyone. Guess what….wrong again! The After Hours in Sunrise Mall measured most of the GM in NY wrong. I’m so glad I checked on them also, b/c they ordered the wrong shirts for my father and my ringbearor. If you use them, and the same goes for David’s Bridal, you have to constantly check on them. And yes, this just adds to your stress, but in the end, you don’t want stress on your wedding day b/c of the wrong shirt, pants, etc!

Wedding Dress (David's Bridal in GA)-8
This won’t really matter to people since it’s in GA, but I just thought I’d be thorough. Initially my experience with them was great. They were always very nice to me and helped me pick out the perfect dress for me. It’s funny too, b/c when I saw the dress on the hanger I was like HECK NO!!!! But the girl there made me try it on, and I fell in love with it. It was tight on me when I bought it but she said most brides loose weight before the wedding. By my wedding day, I had lost more weight than I thought and it was too loose on me. I only had 2 fittings which was fine, and they seemed OK, but when I tried my dress on the day of, it was sweeping on the floor kinda funny. Plus my train was not up far enough and everyone, including myself, was stepping on it the whole night. By the end of the day, the bustle on my dress had completely ripped and I had 2 big holes in the dress where the bustle was. I had my BM’s trying to pin it up with safety pins at the end of the night. So that’s my only gripe with that. Pretty good experience on my end with them though.

Make-up (Jillian from nybridallooks.com)-9
There’s only one reason I gave Jillian a 9 and not a 10 and that’s b/c my fake eyelashes fell off not even a half hour into the reception. I absolutely love what she did with my make-up. I went to a salon near my parents in Massapequa, and the girl there did a great job, but I wasn’t completely convinced. I went to Jillian and booked her on the spot. The minute she saw me, she knew exactly what colors to use, and they weren’t colors I even thought about putting on. She used greens and browns on my eyes, and it came out beautiful. I was a little disappointed with my eyelashes though. I would definitely recommend her without a doubt. She not only did my make-up but also my mom’s and my 2 sisters and they looked stunning. Plus, the make-up lasted all day long and I had a morning ceremony. She arrived at my house early, was extremely nice, and did an amazing job!!!!!

Hair (my friend Lisa)-10
Lisa is my friend from GA and has been my hairdresser for about 3 years now. We did a lot of trials and the final product was just what I had envisioned. She also colored my hair the exact shade I wanted it. It was perfect! It stayed perfect throughout the whole day too!

Flowers (Flowers by Burton)-10+
I had heard about Burton’s from LIW and from my other website. Honestly, I had no clue what I wanted as far as flowers. I knew what color scheme I wanted, but no idea as to what flowers to use. I went to Burton’s, and spoke with John (very nice guy), and he gave me some great ideas. While I was in GA, I sent my mom and sister to another florist, and she came up with this incredible bouquet of flowers for me and the girls. So I pretty much went back to John with that flower arrangement and he gave me a great deal on those flowers. It’s not the flowers you use with Burton’s, it’s the amount. I absolutely LOVE my flowers. They were beautiful, and they lasted throughout the whole day!

All Occasion DJ (www.aodj.com)-10+
I had spoken to a few DJ’s on recommendations. They all seemed nice and affordable, but my sister told me that a friend of hers brother had his own DJ business. Well, it turned out I went to high school with him. I went to see him when I was up in NY and we hit it off. AODJ doesn’t do any advertising, they go strictly from referrals. They are located in Floral Park. I would recommend Mark and his guys 10 times over. I was worried that since I had a day wedding and reception that a lot of people wouldn’t dance and drink and stuff. Mark had people on the dance floor from beginning to end. He really was awesome. Everyone commented on how good they were. He even through in lights for me at no extra charge. I totally forgot to tell him what song Rob and I wanted to walk in to, so at the last minute I was like “just make it a Bon Jovi song”, b/c my DH is infatuated with them (I love them too)! It was perfect, and Rob loved it.

Divine-Studios Photography & Videography (www.divine-studios.com)-10
I was very worried about photo and video. Rob and I just couldn’t spend thousands of dollars on these things. We were on a budget and as much as I wanted to see about certain photographers and videographers, we just couldn’t do it. So, I went on Craig’s List. I’m sure you girls have either been on it or heard of it. I found Stephan and Paul from Divine-Studios there. They are cousins and have been working together for years, so they are very familiar with each other and how the other works. I think that’s important for both photo and video. Their prices are extremely reasonable. I initially spoke with Stephan and just got a good feeling. They were very very personable and we hit it off. My parents and my sister met with both of them, they saw pictures and video and then told me all about them. I had to depend a lot on my family since I was out-of-state. It took a little over 4 weeks for my photos and video to get to me. I don’t think that was long at all. I love my pictures. I think Stephan did a wonderful job with what he was given. The reason I say that is b/c initially since Rob and I had a day wedding with only 1 hour in b/t to take pics for the cocktail hour, we were going to see each other and take pics before hand. For some stupid reason, I let my family talk me out of this. Word of advice ladies, if you have a gut feeling about anything, go with it and don’t let anyone talk you out of it. There are a few pics that I wish were taken, but I know that there just wasn’t enough time for it. This is the part I regret the most…Rob and I had to be taken out of our own reception to finish pics. That, in my opinion, is no fault of the photographer. He didn’t have enough time to get the pics in during the 1 hour we had for our cocktail hour.
As for my video…it is great! Paul did a wonderful job. The first time I watched it, I cried. I don’t know if that’s because I just missed the day and how wonderful it was or seeing things that I missed personally, but it really was great! I have to send my pics in for my album, so I’m so curious to see how that turns out. I’m sure it’s going to be great. Oh yeah, another thing…I got all the negatives on CD! I love that, I think that should be mandatory for all photographers. You spend more than enough money, those are your pics!

NYPD Pipes & Drums-10+
When my sister got married over 10 years ago, the NYPD Pipes and Drums came out to play at the reception. My dad has been in the band for over 30 years now. There were about 50 guys playing at my sister’s reception and they sounded unbelievable. It was like a mini St. Patty’s Day Parade. I couldn’t wait for the day when it became my turn. I had about the same amount at my wedding. It was UNBELIEVABLE! Words cannot explain how I felt during those moments with Rob and me standing in the middle of all of them listening, dancing. I had dreamt of that moment for so long! The best part was at one point just as they were about to begin another song, Rob gets everyone’s attention and proclaims to the whole reception that “If anyone, ever had any doubts about how much I love this woman you have to understand that I’m an Italian firefighter standing here and dancing in the middle of about 50 Irish Cops. My mafia card just went straight out the window”. It was so funny and very touching! We had a lot of people from OOT also. A bunch of GA firefighters and all Rob’s friends and family from Boston and they just couldn’t get enough of the band. After they finished and we went outside to take pics with them I told them that I have waited for this day for 10 years since Kathleen’s (my sister) wedding. It was a great moment. One I’ll never forget!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST……….

THE FOX HOLLOW-10+++++++++++++
I had one weekend to find a venue while I was in NY b/c I wasn’t able to keep making the trip to try and find one. Rob and I had made a bunch of appointments to go to different places. We went to the Crest Hollow CC first. I had been to a wedding there before and new the place was gorgeous. Unfortunately they didn’t have the dates available to us that we wanted. So, we went down the block to the Fox Hollow. We met with Dave Gerrin and booked it on the spot. Rob and I fell in love with the place. Dave was wonderful throughout my whole planning process. He always called me back when I he wasn’t in, and answered any and all of my questions. Plus, we knew we were going to be short on our minimum, so he said when we got closer to the date that we’ll figure out what we’ll need to do, and he wasn’t joking! We met with Jennifer to do the last minute details…the cake, linens, etc. and she was wonderful. We also met with Angel to go over everything else and make our final payment. We were short about 20 people for our minimum, and I was really upset! Sam came to the rescue. He threw in the chocolate fountain for our Viennese hour, and it was SUCH A BIG HIT!!!!!! Sam was so sweet and he even came into the reception to check on Rob and me and make sure that everything was doing OK. I thought that was wonderful of him. Meghan was my bridal attendant. I think I thanked her 50 times for being up my a$$ the whole day. She was really great. Anything I wanted, she got for me. She was constantly helping me with my dress, getting me a drink, making us sit down to eat something. Like I said, she was up my a$$, and I appreciated it!!!!!! Roy was our Maitre’d, and he too, went above and beyond the call of duty. He brought us tons of food from the cocktail hour that I so desperately wanted to attend. When I mentioned that I wanted some sushi from the CH, he brought me a whole tray of it! Honestly, I don’t even remember the Viennese hour, but I do remember Roy bringing me a huge plate of everything from it with chocolate sticks of strawberries, bananas, grapes, etc, from the fountain. Just WONDERFUL! The food was amazing. To this day, I have not heard one complaint about it, and believe me, I keep on asking. I loved our cake too. We have vanilla cake with a raspberry and chocolate mouse filling….yuuuummmmyyyy!

All my Fox Hollow brides have NOTHING to worry about.

FINALLY SOME PICS. THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF MY FAVS. GO TO MY PHOTO ALBUM FOR THE REST OF THEM. THANKS FOR LOOKING!


My beautiful flowers by Burtons!

Gabby (my step-daughter) and me. One of my most favorite pics!

Me opening Rob's gift to me, hysterical crying.

Rob, his BM Frankie and 2nd BM Cole, his son...aren't they too cute!

My handy craftwork here, ladies (ha-ha)

I love this pic!!!!

Rob and I dancing and I'm looking at my dad playing.

Another fav!

Yup, those are my parents. They were dancing to 'Come on Eileen', and my mom's name is Eileen. Yup, there pretty much taking off their jackets and gettin down. Too freakin funny!!!!


PHOTO ALBUM LINK

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Although I cant see any of the pics, thanks for a thorough review, especially of Fox Hollow, glad you are enjoying married life!

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

thanks so much for the review! i cant wait to see pics !

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Sorry pictures aren't working wonderful review by the way.

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Wish I could see the pictures! I loved my Fox Hollow wedding as well and still love to read other happy reviews!
Congratulations!
Thanks for sharing!

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Great review! Gotta love the FH!!!!!! Congrats!! Can't see pics though.

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.) No pics yet, but I'm working on it!

WOW~ Great review, very thorough! COngratulations!

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.) No pics yet, but I'm working on it!

Congrats!! I can't wait to see pics!!

Re: My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.) No pics yet, but I'm working on it!

Congratulations!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Congrats!!!
My cousin Billy plays the pipes for the Emerald Society!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

OMG! That looks like such a fun wedding!!!!!

Congrats!!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Trish the Dish!!!!! Congrats again! Your review is amazing! The pictures are gorgeous, and everything simply looks stunning!!!!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

congratulations..love your pictures.
thank you for sharing.

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Great review!!!!!! Love your pics, looks like you had a lot of fun!!! Congrats!!!!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Great review and beautiful pics! You looked gorgeous and so happy!

Thanks for mentioning the eyelashes falling off...I had my make-up trial with Jillian and was sort of surprised at how quickly the eyelashes fell off at the end of the day. I will now be sure to ask her to glue those suckers on on my wedding day! Thanks! and Congrats!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Congrats!!! Your pictures look fabulous and you look beautiful!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

Beautiful! So glad you had a wonderful day!!!!

Re: I FINALLY HAVE PICS!!!!!! My 4*1*06 Wedding Review (Fox Hollow, Burton's, All Occasion DJ, Jillian from nybridallooks, Divine Studios Photog and Video, etc.)

GOOD REVEIW I LOVE THE PICS