Well, it’s been a little over a month and it still seems so surreal to me. I remember bits and pieces of the wedding day, but it mostly went by in a blur. To be married to someone like Anthony is a gift. I have never in my life met a man with a more beautiful soul and loving heart than him. I am truly blessed. I met him at a time in my life when I had given up. I was 32 years old and had gotten my heart broken yet again by someone I gave my heart to. I thought I was destined to be alone and that I wasn’t worth loving. God finally answered my prayers and sent along a man who is kind and good-hearted. A man who would give the shirt off his back for someone else. A man who loves me unconditionally. The man of my dreams……to walk down the aisle and see tears in the eyes of the man you love is indescribable……
I want to thank each and every one of the LIW girls who has laughed at my dumb jokes, given me priceless advice and wedding ideas, and, most importantly of all, provided some good drama posts and cat fights for me to read when it was slow at work……
NETBRIDE.COM – Wedding Gown: A+I originally tried on gowns at a bridal salon and found the one I absolutely loved by Forever Yours. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I received a quote from netbride for 50% less than what the salon charges. I was a little skeptical about ordering something so important from the internet, but the gown was packed carefully and arrived in perfect condition. I would totally recommend them.
NETBRIDE.COM – Bridesmaid gowns: A+Since I was so happy with the service I received from ordering my wedding dress, I decided to save my girls money by going through netbride. I picked out a dress from Jordan that the girls really liked and they were able to get it for $98! Can’t beat that!
INVITATIONS – Me and Anthony: A++Yes, I give us an A++. We did the invites ourselves and they came out great! We bought the blank invites from both AC Moore and Michaels. They were easy to do and they really came out classy and elegant. I’m really proud of ourselves! We saved a bunch of money, too!
“WE DO” LETTERS, SLIPPER BASKET, FAVORS – Me and Anthony: A++We made these ourselves and were very happy with the results. The We Do letters were bought from Michaels and I painted them white and purple. The slippers were bought at a dollar store in East Meadow and we bought the pouches from pouchmart.com. Out of 85 pairs of slippers, I think we had only 8 pairs left! They went like hotcakes! The women absolutely loved them and thought they were a great idea! Anthony made the tags for the size on lavender card stock and used a hole punch to string them on the pouches. They came out great!
FAVOR TAGS, Ang&Rich, LIW gal: A+++Andrea made my favor tags and did a FABULOUS job! She kept making different samples until I was completely satisfied. I loved how they came out, they were absolutely perfect! She has a very sweet personality, too!
REHEARSAL DINNER INVITES – Anthony: A++++I wasn’t even going to have invites for the rehearsal, I was just going to tell them by phone (we had a total of only 20 people). Anthony heard of making baseball tickets as invitations from his coworker, so that became his project. He made up Yankee tickets to send out as RD invites and they came out fantastic! He even had them perforated at the bottom, like real tickets are (he has a machine at work that does this). Our families thought they were the coolest, most original invites!
PHYLLIS FROM GOWNFIND – Alterations: CPhyllis is such a lovely woman that I feel slightly guilty for not giving her a rave review. However, I have to be totally honest……I was very disappointed with how she did my hem. My dress needed little alterations…just a little taken in at the waist and the hem needed to be shortened. She assured me the length was fine, it was supposed to “skim” the floor. Well, I was stepping on the front of my dress for most of the night. Actually, as I stepped up the alter steps at the ceremony, I almost stumbled because I stepped on the dress. My DOC used safety pins at the reception to pin it up which helped a bit, but since it was pinned up, it didn’t look as “streamlined” as it should have, if that makes any sense. I don’t think anyone noticed, but it was annoying for me. Phyllis, in my opinion, should have done better. Also, the day before my wedding, when I was picking up the dress, I was also picking up a shawl that she made for me. It wasn’t ready yet and she told me to come back in an hour. It was the day before the wedding and I kinda had stuff to do, you know? I was annoyed to say the least.
CRYSTAL DANCE STUDIO - West Islip, (631) 422-4456: A Anthony and I took the 'wedding special' package which I believe was 5 private half-hour lessons and 5 one-hour group lessons for $100. This studio definitely isn't as fancy or nice as an Arthur Murray's, but if you want to learn how to dance for your wedding and don't want to spend hundreds, this is the ideal place. Our instructor was Phyllis and she taught us the waltz and the hustle. (you can have them teach you any dance you like). Anthony and I have two left feet so we are so glad we took these lessons. Our first dance looked so nice!
