Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 ***ADDED LINK TO HM REVIEW****** Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Engagement Ring, Wedding Bands and GM Gifts: Marlowe Jewelers Howard Beach, NY: A+
The owner is a family friend and did right by us. FH had my e-ring made there and it couldn’t have been more perfect. The quality is outstanding. We also had our wedding bands made there and purchased the groomsmen’s gifts (Kenneth Cole Watches) here. The service amazing and I would definitely recommend them!

Bridal Shower:
Carosello Restaurant Howard Beach, NY: A+
My shower was September 23, 2007. Carosello was wonderful! My theme was pink – they even ordered cases of pink champagne to go with my theme and printed up menus. The food was amazing, the service was great and everyone had an amazing time.
My Mom, Sister (MOH) and BMs: A+++++++
My mom made me a gorgeous scrapbook, and also made me a special boustierre (?) centerpiece for me and all the BMs. She really spent a lot of time adding wonderful touches. I have to send a shout out to my BMs who made me the most adorable “ironing board” version of me, created a slideshow on imovie AND taped a game show starring FH. Everyone commented on how interactive the shower was which made it really fun for everyone. I had a great time!

Bachelorette Party:
Diva Fit Studios, Massapequa– pole dancing class. This was my favorite part of the weekend. We did a 2 hour class with about 9 girls – we had a blast, got lots of pics and even a video of our performance! Lol
La Mela, Little Italy – delicious food and great time, except for the creppy accordion player guy – he was just weird! We had so much fun here especially doing all our shots!
Sol – I felt really old going into this club (I’m only 25!) but I’m just over the whole waiting on lines to get in a club that’s packed with sweaty drugged up people. We had fun once in, but wasted at least an hour standing on line and we were supposed to be on the “guest list” plus they made us pay a cover when they told me over the phone we didn’t have to.

We Favor You (Invitations) JoAnne Howard Beach, NY: A+
I ordered my invitations from a family friend who runs a business out of her home. The service was great and I was sooooo pleased with the invitations. They came in only 6 days! I received so many compliments about the invitations. The only problem (more of an annoyance than a problem) with them was that I chose to assemble them myself (I had to attach card stock, vellum, band, ribbon and then tie them all together) it was long and tedious but I did it to save a few dollars – worth it in the end.

Just Announce It: Oceanside, NY A+
Calligraphy
Wishing Well at Shower
The owner, Danielle, was great to work with. Her work was meticulous! My mom commented that this was the only store that had a clean wishing well – all the others were filthy! She had our calligraphy done for our envelopes in about 3 days and it looked gorgeous!

Inspired Silver.com: D
I ordered 8 necklaces and 8 pairs of earrings. One of the reasons I hate shopping on the internet – you can’t judge the quality. All the items came pretty quickly and were wrapped nicely in organza bags. I didn’t like the quality and it took over three months for the company to credit my account since I sent everything back!

Macy’s: Kings Plaza, Brooklyn, NY: A+
I was having a lot of difficulty finding something for my bridesmaids. I wanted something of good quality for a reasonable price. I decided to try Macy’s and happened to go during one of their mega-sales. I bought all my BMs a pair of earrings, a necklace and I also got my MOH a bracelet. All of the items were priced over $100 each and in total I spent about $400 (not bad at all considering I have 8 BMs). The service at Macy’s King’s Plaza was AMAZING. They didn’t have enough necklaces and the sales woman that helped me, I believe her name was Donna, searched high and low for them. She was so sweet and really helpful!

Sweet Karma: East Meadow, NY (Brian) B+
I emailed Brian and then met with him. I thought I was driving him crazy, constantly changing the design, but he assured me that it needed to be exactly what I wanted or I wouldn’t be happy. He was really great to deal with. The cake was great, I wasn’t crazy about the way it tasted and it was waaaay too much cake. If I had to do it over again, I would save the $150 and just give it to FH as a present.

Wedding Gown, BM Gowns and MOB Gown: Lillette’s Baldwin – A
My overall experience with Lillette’s was wonderful. I wasn’t crazy about my consultant, Carol. At first, she was really helpful and patient with me trying on the dresses. The dresses that I chose for myself and the BMs weren’t her style, I guess, and every time I went, she made comments. I was really self-conscious about dress shopping and when she measured me she was like, “you’re going on a diet, right?” I had already ordered the dress if I hadn’t and she said that I probably wouldn’t have bought the dress there. I left in tears that day. Also she kept making comments about the colors I chose for my BMs dresses. After that, I didn’t really deal with her.
Geri, I think she’s the owner, was wonderful helping me when there was a slight problem with my measurements, she kept me calm and assured me that everything would be OK.
Francesca, my seamstress was AMAZING! I fell in love with this lady! She was more than patient with me. For my first fitting she spent two hours working with me. When I went back for the second fitting I thought it would still need work – it was PERFECT! I was more than happy with my dress. I got so many compliments on my dress the day of – everyone said I looked like a princess =) The only trouble was that one of the strings to my bustle got lost in between layers somehow. Thank God the bathroom attendant knew how to sew – within ten minutes she had my whole bustle sewed up and it was perfect.

Tiara/Earrings: Thomas Knoell Mineola, NY A+
From the first time I saw Thomas’ work at a Russo’s on The Bay showcase I fell in love with his work and knew I had to have one. When I saw the price tag, however I didn’t want to spend the money. After looking for a tiara, I kept comparing everything to the Thomas Knoell ones so I decided to go look. The day I went to Thomas Knoell’s store I brought a picture of my dress and he was more than helpful. He grabbed about 4 tiaras and had me try them on – they all complimented my dress and I fell in LOVE with Princess – it was soooooo beautiful. Even when I would get my fittings or hair trials people commented on how beautiful my headpiece was. I also decided to get earrings from there – that was my splurge for myself for the wedding. I am soooo glad I bought the tiara!

Flowers: Designs By Rose, Howard Beach, NY – A+
Doris and Rose are amazing people and were wonderful to work with. I had met with another florist who was rude, pushy and expensive! When I went to Doris and Rose I was really impressed that they remembered all the flowers of the weddings they have done and the bride who had them! The worked really hard with me to get my centerpiece down to exactly what I wanted. When I saw the room for the first time with all the CPs I almost cried – they were gorgeous and everyone wanted to take them home. They lasted like 2 weeks (or so I’ve heard). I was in LOVE with the girl’s bo-k’s exactly what I wanted. My bo-k was beautiful but I was really upset that I couldn’t save it because there were orchards in it – wish I had known that because I wasn’t really crazy about the orchards anyway. I had many compliments on the bo-k as well. The flowers for my house and pew bows were gorgeous – delivered on time – stress free. Definitely recommend them!

Limos: Camelot New Hyde Park, NY - A-
When I first met with Joe he was really nice – took his time to show us both inside and out of all cars – really took his time with us. Right after I went to visit another company and found them to be downright rude and unprofessional. All the cars were locked, there was no one to even show us around and instantly I made up my mind that I was going back to Camelot to book. For the wedding we got a ‘47 Caddy for FH and I and an ‘07 Hummer for the Bridal Party. What I liked about the Hummer was it was a little more spacious than the Escalade and it had really cool features like a sliding door with a smoke machine, teletype inside the limo and flat screen TVs. The limo drivers that day were amazing! Frank was my driver – he was so sweet and helpful and the Hummer driver – I don’t remember his name – im thinking sal? But he was GREAT! He also picked us up that night and brought us to the hotel. The only reason why they got a A- instead of an A+ was because I paid in advance for overtime on the limos. I contacted them about 2 weeks prior and said I wouldn’t need the OT and therefore would owe them less for my final payment. Since the time was “booked” I couldn’t be refunded but we did get a limo to pick us up from our flight back from the HM. Since we live only 10 min from the airport it wasn’t equal in value to the OT I had paid for but was a nice thing to have anyway. The limo driver that night was also wonderful!

DJ: Satisfaction Guaranteed: Mineola, NY A++++++
My family has used Vinny for many events and functions so I booked them. We had Vinny and Danny as the DJ/MC, a percussionist and two 50” plasmas. They had the best prices for any DJ I looked at. They went above and beyond what I had expected. They had everyone dancing from the start to finish of our wedding. I honestly have never seen so many people dance at a wedding and that’s exactly what I wanted. Screens, light show, percussionist, DJ, and MC were AMAZING!!! Everyone was asking who the DJ was and everyone had such a great time. No doubt, I would recommend this vendor!!

Travel Agent: Crossbay Travel – Howard Beach, NY – A+
Again, my family has used Nick several times so of course, we went to him. We were really unsure of where we wanted to go. Tahiti was our number one choice but way out of our budget, so Nick suggested Sandals. We narrowed it down to Antigua and St. Lucia and he was really helpful in making our decision. We also booked a few excursions before we left – the candlelight beach dinner and rainforest canopy. All of our paperwork was ready about 2 weeks before the wedding. Honey moon review to follow.

Makeup: Enrique – Queens, NY C-
I had such a hard time booking a MUA. I had my heart set on Oksana – she was booked like 2 years in advance. Then I tried another MUA on this site – but got nervous because I read some terrible experiences. I got a freelance MUA to do a trial the day of my friend’s wedding on me and my mom - she charged us $90 each for the trial and the m/u was literally running down my face after about 3 hours – it was horrible! Not to mention my mom (who is not too old and beautiful) looked like a corpse! I finally heard about Enrique from a friend and was ecstatic with the results after my trial. First, the week before the wedding he refused to come to do only me and my mom – ok my sister and grandma would get their m/u done by him too. The day of Enrique was 45 minutes late. He started me right away and I was soooo happy with the results. I started to get annoyed when he was taking so long to do everyone else. My mom was last to go and was still getting her m/u done when the photographer came and wanted to take pics of me getting dressed. My aunt had to help me, not my mom and I was so upset about that. Now here comes the bad parts: Enrique the Diva decides he needs to reapply my m/u and tell my photographer to stop taking pics. As he’s “touching up” he spills frickin RED lipstick right down the front of my dress!! I cursed him out to no end and swear to God almost punched him – I was sooooo calm all day and that was when I lost it. Thank god for my photographer! He kept me calm, got my mom and after about 15 minutes of scrubbing my dress with oxy clean (a must have for the day of!) we mostly got it off. I was trying to tell my dad not to tip the guy. So my dad gives him a GENEROUS tip anyway and then this guy has the balls to ask for more money to take a cab! My dad just wanted him out of the house and gave it to him anyway.
I do have to say my m/u stayed on excellent – I even slept in it and it stayed perfect and that is the only reason why he didn’t get an F!

Place cards: AC Moore – A+
I thought I wanted a seating chart scroll – my mom misunderstood the lady and thought it was $85 when it was actually $185! Too much! So I decided to print them myself from AC Moore – I bought a package from gartner studios they were like $4.99 for 48 and printed them myself on my computer – they were fast, easy and nice!

Place card holders: Target – A+
I never in a million years thought I would buy anything for the wedding at Target. About a week before the wedding I spotted these adorable place card holders – bells with a heart on top, tied with tulle ribbon. They were $9.99 for 24 – I have seen them for $2.99 each! It was a great bargain!

Favors:
Glass heart ornament
Jordan Almonds (wrapped by me and my BP)
Donation: University of Pennsylvania (scrolls made by me)
Wrapping: Supplies from Lady Jane Craft Center (wrapped by FH, my mommy and me)
Ok so two weeks before the wedding, my BP came to help me wrap the favors. Basically the night ended with me in tears because I hated my favors – we then determined it was the wrapping I hated, not the favors. I bought small gift boxes with filigree print and sheer red ribbon. We DIY wrapped the favors. I was happy in the end – they looked really pretty!

Tony Ferrari Photographer/Videographern – Astoria, NY (Tony, Vick and Anthony) – A++++++
My favorite vendor!!!! They took over 1,000 pictures. They were so patient with everyone and as I said before, saved the day by keeping my calm during the lipstick mishap. There was this one pic I wanted and Tony actually stopped traffic on crossbay blvd and laid in the street to get it – he was amazing!!!I cannot wait to see some proofs – I know I will be so pleased with their work.

Russo’s on the Bay – Howard Beach, NY A+++++++++++
Since Russo’s opened when I was about 4 years old I would say, “I want to get married there one day.” My dreams came true. Our wedding at Russo’s was more than I could have ever expected or imagined. I really felt like family there. Mr. Russo personally checked on us at least 5 times during the night and made his rounds to all of our guest to ensure they were getting everything they needed/wanted. People are still raving about the amount of food and how great it was. A ridiculous cocktail hour, 11 selections for entrees and a sick venetian hour! Joe Vacca, our Maitre’d treated me like I was his own daughter. Our glasses were never empty, he was always directing us to what we would need to do next. It was like having a DOC there. He was fabulous. Also, everything was decorated for Christmas (which I LOVE) and it looked so beautiful inside. I am so glad I went with Russo’s it really made our wedding into a fairytale.

I hope I did not forget anyone or anything. November 23rd was seriously the happiest and mpst wonderful day of my life. Everything from vendors to the weather (snowand rain was forecasted and it turned out to be a gorgeous day) were perfect. Thank you to everyone who helped with the planning process.
P.S. I will be adding a HM review and non pro and pro pictures shortly! (once i figured out how to od this!)









UPDATE!!!! Check out my album for more pics!!!

St Lucia HM Reviw

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Congratulations!!! Cant wait to see pics!!!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Great review!!!!!!!!!! Pl post some pics

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

thanks for sharing!! i cant wait to see your tiara--im using TK too! love his work!!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Great review jenn!!! im so honored to have been a part of your day and the whole planning process...love u soo much! it was seriously the best wedding/party ive ever been to!! (joey too haha) if mine is half as good as yours ill be happY!! <333
ps- cant wait to see the pro pics!!!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Thanks for the review! Congrats!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Jenn, Can you believe you have completed your review??? So glad everything went well!!!
Congrats

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

great review, thanks! We have some of the same vendors so it's good to hear glowing reviews of them. Congrats again

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Great review Jenn!!

Like Dana said, your wedding was the best we have ever been to - I had so much fun and Anthony. . .he DANCED!!!! Even MIRACLES were possible at your wedding!

You were the most stunning bride and I am so glad that I got to be part of your day

Enjoy married life, let me know how it is - I will be joining you soon!

Congrats to Jenn and Sean!!!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Great review! Congratulations!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Congrats... Great review

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

All the best, Russos does one amazing wedding

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Thank you for the review! Sounds like everyting was great! Congrats!!

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

Thank you for the review one of my BF's wants to get married at Russo's

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

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Posted by FutureMrsMolinaro

Thank you for the review one of my BF's wants to get married at Russo's

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she should definitely look into it! I <3 Russo's! lol

Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

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Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!

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Re: Jenn122397's Dream Wedding Review 11-23-07 **NON PRO PICS ADDED!! Russo's on the Bay, Designs by Rose, Camelot Limos, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Tony Ferrari and More!!