Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

LI Weddings
My first thank you is to Ron & Liz for providing me a safe haven for my “bridal moments” so I wouldn’t drive the rest of the world crazy. Also for introducing me to such a wonderful group of people I would not have otherwise met!

THE RIVIERA AT MASSAPEQUA AAAAA+++++++++++
I don’t think I can do justice in complimenting the individuals who helped me put together my wedding. The only thing I ever wanted when I got married; was to be off the water. The Riviera was the first place we looked at and once I walked in I thought “Wow, someone built this place for my wedding”. DH and I looked at 8 other places and I can honestly tell you, not one other catering hall gave us the attention Victoria or Robert Jay at the Riviera did or made us feel like we were already part of their family. That was what finally made our decision for us. We figured if they were the only ones willing to go out of their way for us before even booking with them, then we knew they were the only reception hall we could honestly consider having our wedding at. Robert Jay astounded me when I brought my Mother and Aunt to see the hall before we booked and he spoke to my Aunt about a wedding she attended there 2 years before and he even remembered the bride and groom’s names of that wedding along with family members who had been sick and in the hospital! Customer service is a very important issue with me and I knew they would make my guests as comfortable and happy as they had made us feel.
Victoria is a dear and wonderful woman to deal with. Her friendly nature and warmth make you feel like part of the family upon your first meeting with her. Whenever Victoria asked me what I saw for my wedding, I explained that I was putting my wedding in their hands since they do this for a living resulting in having “Mellow Bride” added atop our contract! I think DH and I were most touched when we found out we were expecting a baby and thought we had to cancel our contract. Not once was that even an option offered to us by Victoria. She went above and beyond the call of duty on this one! After hugs and congratulations, she immediately flew into the mode of figuring out how long we had to pull the wedding off while still being able to fit into my dress!! I even had a few panic attacks that we still would not be able to afford everything all of a sudden changing our wedding date from Sept. to Jan. and yet somehow – we did it with Victoria and Robert Jay keeping me calm throughout all the changes. I truly cannot express my gratitude for everything they both did for us.
Joanne our bridal attendant was attentive and was continuously asking the entire bridal party if there was anything needed. She kept us supplied with food and drinks in the bridal suite since we were there early taking pictures. Thankfully she did, as it helped everyone who had gotten up early to be there for the pictures. Such a sweet woman and very friendly! We did hear from all tables that everyone had wonderful and attentive wait-staff assigned to them during the reception and the bartender was very good and friendly.
The staff at The Riviera absolutely put together an absolutely amazing day for Chris and I. The set up for our ceremony was right in front of the fireplace which gave a wonderful and romantic atmosphere to a January wedding. Robert Jay guided our day beautifully. He was an invaluable asset and I am so lucky I was smart enough to request him for the day! Even when the bakery messed up my cake, DH and I expressed our dissatisfaction and he took care of calling the bakery. I can say because of Robert Jay, I knew I did not have one thing to worry about or concern myself with. Our day flowed beautifully!
We are still receiving compliments on the amount of food for the cocktail hour and how delicious it all was. I can tell you, I absolutely love their baby lamb chops. I was so tempted to strap a tablecloth over my dress and just pig out on those babies alone in the bridal suite. I did get to enjoy the cocktail hour food thanks to Joanne who kept us well supplied!
The reception food was also a big hit all around. DH and I both feasted on the roasted duck. While I was not able to eat all of it (I was actually stuffed at that point) I enjoyed most of it. I did check with my family who I had check with other guests and everyone raved about each dish that was chosen. Any Riviera brides, FM me with all food choices and I’ll send them to you!
Thanks to The Riviera staff, I never once felt rushed or overwhelmed that day. Both Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed our day immensely.

Black Forest Bakery F
Well, the only nice thing I can say at this point was I heard the cake tasted good. Otherwise – my dealings with Tommy at Black Forest were less than desirable. DH and I brought in a picture of the cake we had really been hoping to have for our wedding (which of course was nothing like the cake we received). There were only 2 things I had my heart set on that day which was wearing my dress and having my beautiful cake on display (pictures of 2 cakes below). The day we ordered our cake, we discussed with Tommy that we wanted the cake exactly as it appeared in the photo. I offered to have my florist make the flower rings since real flowers were used in the picture. I also offered to find the round gel candles to exactly match the candles in the picture. I was told they would take care of all of it as it would make decorating easier and I did not need to take care of anything. I waivered slightly about just getting a cake included in our package, but DH refused to let me do that and even paid extra for this cake since he knew how much I loved it and did not want me to settle for a cake I did not truly love. Before we left, we made sure our receipt instructions were “Match exactly like picture”. My cake showed up with flowers made of icing – WHICH WE DID NOT WANT and had spoken to them about. It also showed up with NO CANDLES AND NO MARZIPAN BOW DRAPED ACROSS THE TOP!
Once I expressed my extreme disappointment to our Maitre D, he immediately called Black Forest to relay my feelings. They came back with pathetic white candles and a cheap plastic ribbon. I cannot tell you how many times DH and I wondered if the candles were going to start a fire so close to the pathetic ribbon. I actually had fantasies of kicking the cake off the table since I hated looking at the damn thing all afternoon and trust me – I HATE THAT IT IS IN MY PICTURES!!!!!!
So I gave the bakery 2 days to contact me after my wedding which they did not. I then called the following day and after finally getting Tommy on the phone, he was extremely condescending to me. I asked why I had not been contacted when he knew how upset I was, he said “We figured everything was fine when we fixed it”. When I explained that aside from my dress, my cake was the only thing I had my heart set on, he laughed at me saying he doubted on my wedding day I did not have my heart set on anything else. Can you believe this man? I got really angry and loud with him to call the Riviera and he would that written on my contract at the Riviera was “Mellow Bride” since I had NO SPECIFICS on anything. My comments to them were “You do this for a living, just guide me to a beautiful wedding”.
I ended up in tears on the phone and he finally offered to refund the extra money we paid. Once Tommy heard my final frustrations (which had been tears) he offered to make a cake for my baby shower to make up for my unhappiness with the way they handled themselves, but at this point do I really want him screwing that up for me also??? And now, almost 2 weeks later, there was no refund in the mail so DH called to check on it. Tommy would not even get on the phone with him, he was told they lost our address and had planned on getting it at some point from the Riviera.

Cake was supposed to look like pic #1 but ended up like pic #2