My 3/10/07 Wedding Review!!! Hamlet Wind Watch, High Voltage, Pippy, 12th night, Rambling Rose, Rev. Deb and More! UPDATE 3/10/08, RAMBLING ROSE UNEDITED FOOTAGE

The Self-Proclaimed Cheapest Bride’s Official Wedding Review!!!

Wow! Can’t believe Im writing my review.
Some background…. I grew up on LI and live in the Washington, DC area so I planned my wedding from afar. A lot of my review will reflect how it was to deal with vendors in this way. A lot were great, some not so great.

Here is a thread I started on all of the ways to save big bucks on your wedding: Cheap bride link


RH: Hamlet Wind Watch
Before/During: A++++++++++++
I could NOT have been more pleased with the Hamlet Wind Watch. I had two requirements for my RH. 1. I didn’t want it to look too gaudy. I am a person with simple tastes when it comes to decor. I don’t like marble, or glass chandeliers or anything gaudy. 2. I wanted it to be convenient for OOT guests.

My DH is from Maryland so it was important for us to have a wedding in or near a hotel. All of the hotels I looked at were bland windowless ballrooms. The Hamlet Wind Watch sits directly on the same property as the Hyatt Windwatch and is completely GORGEOUS. It looked absolutely stunning, especially at night with tons of candles.

Denise and her staff did an EXCELLENT job.

Our ceremony was perfect in every way. I almost lost my breath when I saw how gorgeously they set it all up.

They were like clockwork. I expected people to rave about the food and drink but, unexpectedly, they also raved about the service!! The wait staff went above and beyond!! People can’t stop talking about it all.

They made us feel like royalty, it was so magical.




Officiant: Rev Deb
Before/During: A+

Rev. Deb was fantastic from start to finish. She is so laid back and fun to talk to. I booked her simply from talking to her on the phone, and when we met her in person I knew we made the right decision.

She was quick responding to emails, answered all of my questions perfectly. She designed a fantastic ceremony that was so personal and had everyone choked up. (People kept asking me how long I knew her since it was so personal!)

I would recommend Rev. Deb in a heartbeat. You WONT be disappointed.




Hair and Makeup
Enchante Spa & Salon, Smithtown
Stylist: Melanie A-
I never, EVER could imagine that Id look like I did on my wedding day. I wear my thick ‘ol glasses 24/7 because I have the smallest eyes in the world and love the way they disguise that. Well, Melanie is a friggen miracle worker because she made my eyes seem 10x larger than they really are. I repeat…she is a miracle worker. And she made my hair gorgeous and perfect.

I give her an A- and not an A or an A+ because at both my trial and on my wedding morning she was 25-35 minutes late. I am very anal about being on time and this was a bit frustrating. Though, in the long run she was DEFINITELY worth the wait.




Dress
Angel Bridal, East Islip A+
This is maybe the cutest dress shop on Earth. I went into this little shop worried about finding the perfect dress and left there with a perma-smile from pure joy. The two ladies, Rosemary and Vicky, that run it make you feel like they have known you for years.

I made an appt for a day they were closed and had the whole place to myself. Rosemary took such good care of me and let me try on what felt like a billion dresses. When I thought I found one that I liked I was ready to by it and then saw “THE DRESS” out of the corner of my eye. It was actually on the clearance rack because no one liked it and that made me like it even MORE! It fit like a glove and was a steal.

Alterations were flawless and the seamstress created a brand new neckline for me that I absolutely loved.

To top off all of, every time I left the store after a fitting/visit, they gave me a hug. Such sweet, kind, genuine women.

Original neckline:


New and Improved neckline:



Flowers
The Perfect Rose, East Islip A++
I knew right away that flowers were where I wanted to save money. I was set on the fact that no one cared about centerpieces and that guys DON’T like to wear flowers. I wanted nice bouquets but that’s about it.

I went to a few local florists because I was of the belief that “wedding florists” really just exist to rip you off

Anyway, I went to two and Jen at the Perfect Rose quoted me a fantastic price. I thought that was perfect and all I needed. Little did I know of the fantastic energy, enthusiasm, and kindness I would get from Jen throughout the planning process. She was an absolute GEM to work with.

I wanted red roses with a little flair. Jen helped me pick out perfect combinations for me and all the bridesmaids. She also suggested tussy mussies > for the moms which were a HIT. My sample bouquet was perfect and she even let me keep it! The cake topper she designed for us was great too.

Not only that, BUT she also offered to set up my rose petal centerpieces, cake table, etc. Everything looked exactly I had envisioned it.

I highly recommend you check with the Perfect Rose when making your floral plans. And, if East Islip isn’t convenient for you, I highly recommend you give your local florist a call.




Photography
12th Night, Geraldine and Vicky
Day of: A++
Proofs: A++

Let me start by saying that I chose 12th Night because they had exactly what I was looking for. I wanted digital proofs that I could take and do what I wanted with. Their prices were incredible.

Being a long distance bride, Dom graciously sent me DVDs of the photographers and I fell in love with Geraldine’s immediately. I especially loved the way she captured the brides and grooms seeing each other for the first time.

I didn’t meet her until about 3 weeks before my wedding but instantly fell in love with both her and Vicky.

Dom talked up having two photogs and I took it as a cheesy sales pitch. Let me say, I am SO glad I did it. We probably got 10x more photos this way because Vicky could be with the guys while Geraldine was with us girls.

Day of: Geraldine and Vicky were SUPERSTARS. Really. I can’t even begin to describe what a welcome presence they were before and during the wedding.

Geraldine had a fantastic sense of humor and awesome shot ideas. She carried the “must take” list I gave her (a one page list that wasn’t ‘obvious’ shots) like it was the Bible. Her and I came up with group shots as we went along and moved things along smoothly, ensuring we got all of the photos that we wanted. Vicky was equally as hilarious and really kept the guys in check. She had fun, creative ideas that I am sure will turn out GREAT when we get our proofs.

I can’t say enough great things about these two!

**UPDATE**: As you can see, I have added my proofs to this review. I couldn’t be happier with them. Perfect mix of portraits, photojournalism, b&w, color, WOW. I really can’t come up with words to say how very very pleased I am. The DVD slideshow is fantastic that they made and it takes my breath away when I watch it.

I received over 1,900 proofs!!! And I printed almost 1,000 of them to make my own proof album. Here are a few faves and I’ll add a bunch at the end of my review:

DH waiting to see me for the first time:






Videography
Rambling Rose
Day Of: A+
Actual video: A++!

I spoke to Nicholas of Rambling Rose just once, when I booked. I never met him in person.

What….a… doll!! He was such a sweetie. I had no idea who he was when he came up to me and I thought “what a jolly guy”. He was so great with our family and friends. He and my DH shared a moment because Nicholas is Hungarian and my Nicholas studied abroad in Hungary. Very sweet.

We did only a 4 hour package and as the 4th hour neared Nicholas was worried that he wouldn’t get our cake cutting or dances with our parents and offered to stay . I told him it was okay. It was really cute that he was worried!

UPDATE! We got our video!! I can't say enough great things about it! Nicholas captured all of the memories of our wedding perfectly. He added some great jazzy music during our cocktail hour and reception sections.

He covered the ceremony perfectly, getting great views of us and our guests.

He also got great great GREAT shots of everyone on the dancefloor. I was so excited about reliving those moments, and was able to thanks to Nicholas.

I can't say enough about Nicholas and Rambling Rose. His professionalism, sense of humor, personality and videography skills deserve an A+++++++ in my book!

He was a GREAT person to have there. Loved him.

UPDATE AGAIN! 3/10/08 DH bought me the unedited footage of our wedding for our first anniversary. Once again, Nicholas from Rambling Rose strikes again with perfection. The unedited footage was only 2 hours long which was a little disappointing as he was hired for 4 hours (I know a man's gotta eat!) but it was great to see his work. He is fantastic!

Menus, Tablecards, Placecards
Pippy’s Sweets
Placecards C-
Tablecards B+
Menus A

Background: Being a cheap bride, I had planned on doing all of this stuff myself to save money. At about the “6 weeks to go” mark, I decided I just didn’t have the patience and contacted Diana at Pippy’s Sweets for a price quote. Her prices were VERY reasonable so I told her that I definitely wanted to use her and we discussed my “countries visited theme.” I was very impressed with the ideas she came up with. She did some extensive research into flags for my placecards and ran a few ideas past me. I was excited that I chose her. My last email said to let me know when she wanted my menu, tablecard, etc. info and I never heard from her, so eventually I just sent it and sent the guest list when it was ready.

Placecards:
The good: Diana definitely put a lot of effort into the flags that went on my placecards. I vetoed the first set of flags she found after she found all of them which I felt bad about because they just didn’t look like flags. She was very nice about this which I appreciated.

The bad: I sent Diana a spreadsheet with all of the names of the guests and their table numbers. I said in the body of my email that sometimes I used “and” and sometimes I used “&” to separate a couple. I didn’t care which she chose to use, but to please make it consistent. The first thing I noticed when I got them in the mail that this wasn’t done at all. Some couples had “and” and some had “&” on the actual placecard. It was clear to me that an excel merge was done without any sort of human editing.

The ugly: On top of this problem, there were inconsistencies with how the couples were laid out on the placecard.
Most said:
John & Jane Doe
But some, when the names were long said:
Melissa DoeDoeDoe & Nicholas
Smith
With the last name being the only thing on the last line, left justified. It wound up being ugly.

The good: I brought these issues to Diana’s attention 3 days before the wedding, she did fix them, and I got them the Friday before the wedding.

My point is, if you are a designer of any sort, your job is not only creativity but also editing and consistency. I was really disappointed that the placecards weren’t checked over to just make sure they looked “nice” and were consistent. It kind of stunk that we got these all at the very last minute and had to rush them up to the RH.


Tablecards
I wanted each table to represent a country that we had visited. Diana was great in helping this idea come to life.

The reason I am giving a B+ to them because when printed, they didn’t look as professional as I would have liked. The photographs that I had emailed to her to use printed fuzzy and looked like I had done it on my home printer. I brought this to Diana’s attention, saying that it would have been nice to know that they wouldn’t print clearly before she shipped them to me. She said they didn’t look fuzzy on her screen and she did her best with the time that she had. I gave the pics to her in early February and never heard anything about being crunched for time so Im not sure what happened.



Menus
Professional, Gorgeous, Perfect. Exactly what I had expected reading past reviews.

DJ
High Voltage Sounds, Pete
Planning Process: B-
Day of: A-

Once I heard the rave reviews about Vinny and High Voltage and saw his prices I booked him immediately over the phone. I knew he was in high demand. Turns out, he couldn’t do my wedding and said his assistant, Pete would do it. This wasn’t too big of a deal to me, a few people had had Pete with no complaints, and Vinny assured me Pete was just as good with him.

I give the B-for the planning because I was pretty unimpressed with Vinny’s responses to schedule a meeting with him when I was coming back to Long Island. My time was pretty precious the few visits I had to Long Island between Nov-Feb, and having never met Vinny I wanted to do just one meeting with him and Pete to discuss details. I would email him a week or two ahead of my visit and getting a response from him was like pulling teeth. I was able to make an appointment with every other vendor and my time was filling up. On one visit I finally heard from him WHILE I was on Long Island for a visit saying Pete was too busy to meet. The next time, after sending him a few emails he agreed to meet me, and Pete wasn’t there. This was a bit of a pain and less professional than I expected reading all of his reviews. I assume that the meetings are easier to get before you sign a contract, but I wasn’t able to do this being a “long distance bride.”

Day of: Pete was really really great. He came up to us beforehand, introduced himself, and was very professional.

Our ceremony was FLAWLESS. I got nervous hearing our processional song nearing the end and knowing that there were still 2 more BMs to walk down the aisle. Pete simply looped the song and I breathed a sigh of relief. He gorgeously nailed our ceremony.

The reception was awesome and people that I’ve never seen dance, actually danced!

The A- is for 3 minor things.
1. The pause button was pressed VERY briefly during our first dance.
2. I guess an MC came along with Pete. It was EXTREMELY difficult to understand him. I don’t know if it was his voice, or the equipment but it all sounded muffled . This was only a concern during two instances. The first, we had the Orioles and Yankees 7th inning stretch songs back to back and I don’t think people understood what he was saying about them. Second, we had a coffee/liqueur/cordial table set up in the next room and no one really understood his announcement about it, so only a few people headed over there.
3. Only a few of my “must play” songs were missed, but one is one I promised my Mother in Law and I think she was bummed. It’s probably my fault for not bolding/highlighting the ABSOLUTE MUST play songs on my list.

If any ONE of these happened I would have given Pete an A+ but all three tiny things bumps it down to an A-.



Bridesmaids Dresses
David’s Bridal: A

I used David’s Bridal because 1. they are everywhere and made it really on OOT brides. 2. They are cheap as hell and I wasn’t about to make my girls spend mucho $$ on dresses they would only wear once.

Our dresses were $99!! Since you probably only care about the Lake Grove DB I will tell you our experience was great there. Brand new store, good service, no complaints!




Tuxes
Men’s Wearhouse (Maryland: C, Patchogue: A)
We signed up for our account here in Maryland and the girl was totally clueless. All of the dealings we had in Patchogue were flawless as were the tuxes.

Great deal with coupons.. $79 for the guys with the grooms free.

Again, had OOT groomsmen and this was the easiest and best way to get them fitted. Worked out great!



Sign-In Book
Snapfish: A+
I didn’t want a traditional guest book, I wanted something I Could display on my coffee table for years. So I used a photobook from snapfish.com and people signed in the margins. It was a big hit and a great keepsake:



Chair Covers
The Finishing Touch, A
My mother “treated” me to the chair covers. I wasn’t sold on them but she thought they were great, so she splurged on my behalf.

They looked great, they were there when we got there, and from what I understand she had no problems with them!

Morning After Lunch
Tennessee Jack’s BBQ, East Islip: A++++
We rented out the main dining room Sunday morning for a fun, delicious, casual buffet lunch before everyone hit the road.

It was FANTASTIC. The food was amazing, the setup was perfect for table-hopping and mingling and the service was great.

HONEYMOON
We did two resorts, both of which I reviewed on Trip Advisor:

Review of Excellence Riviera Maya

Some of my other favorite proofs:

My DIY programs:























Photography scavenger hunt I made up for the kids:







Getting’ a little silly with 12th Night’s Geraldine: