Hi Ladies. I’ve been on this site for a while, sometimes posting, sometimes just reading. Thanks for sharing all your advice, opinions and encouragement. As a NJ girl, this site was really helpful to learn the ins and outs of Long Island.
On our wedding day, we were blessed with sunny skies and 70 degrees – the nicest weather in weeks (before & since). The wedding was lovely and (almost) everything went off without a hitch. Just as in life, there will always be something that’s not perfect, but thankfully they were small things for us.
(Sorry--i'm deleting the link to my photos.)
Here is my long wedding & honeymoon review with some advice mixed in:
Dress – Birnbaum and Bullock dress designers in NYC. A++. I went to a sample sale at their showroom about a year before the wedding. Bought the dress, took it home and called months later to schedule my fittings. Although my dress was from a sample sale, they treated me like any other bride. Robert, one of the designers, did each fitting himself. He has impeccable taste and is just a hoot! Convinced me to get a veil (I wasn’t going to) and I’m so glad he did. I loved it. Their showroom is on W. 25th st in Chelsea. I think they have a couple of sales a year, one definitely in January
www.birnbaumandbullock.com BTW—I had one attendant – my MOH – who picked out her own dress at a dept store, and she looked lovely. No drama/stress involved.
Hair & Makeup –Millenia Salon in Roslyn. A+. I took advice from LIW ladies who suggested this salon. Thank you! Linda did my hair (half up, half down ‘do) and I was very happy with it. Rebecca did my makeup and she is AMAZING. So talented, absolutely hilarious and so much fun to be around. I had 2 (count them 2!!) stress zits I freaked out about. She said, “honey, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of them. We’ll name them bride & groom and nobody will ever see them.” heh heh! She was right.
Limos – Ultimate Class. A. We had 2 white stretch limos. One male driver, one female. Both professional drivers, very clean cars. The woman driver was FANASTIC (I’m forgetting her name…Janice?) She helped everyone get to their places in the church before the processional. She took all the purses from the moms, moh, myself. She fluffed out my dress, my flowers. This lady could be a wedding coordinator (she said everybody tells her that). I really appreciated all her expertise in helping everything run smoothly at the ceremony. And she had really nice touches in the car, like lollipops for the two kids. Special music for us, etc.
Photography – Gray Studios. Grade TBD (when I see the proofs). Prosper is an excellent photographer and was really creative with some of the shots. One negative is that I gave him a list of must-get photos (particularly family shots), but we still missed some of them. I was about to say something to him myself, but got distracted (as brides do) and then forgot about it. I should have put someone else in charge of double-checking his list, but I didn’t (and isn’t that what the photographer’s assistant is for?) I’m annoyed, but trying not to dwell on it. This is the biggest complaint I really have about the wedding…so if this is the worst that happened, I can live with it.
Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills. Really lovely. Father Dan is a character, but he did a great job. What loooongg aisle!
Roslyn Claremont Hotel. A. Food was great. Service was excellent. My entire family stayed here, I got ready here, and we all loved it. They upgraded my parents to a suite. As for the party -- we had 150+ people in the ballroom and it was a good fit (much more than that would start getting tight). Between the time we booked and the wedding date, the banquet manager changed. There were some bumpy patches during the transition. I have some comments/advice if anyone is interested (FM me). But the day of, the banquet manager did an excellent job. One suggestion for brides attending cocktail hour – ask them to set aside food for you! We went to the cocktail hour, but didn’t taste much of anything – everyone was talking to us and it would have been tacky to see the bride & groom standing at the shrimp or pasta bar. I should have asked them to put together a plate of hors d’ouevre for us either beforehand (while we were taking pictures) or have them send it up to our room after the wedding (they did have a plate of cheese & crackers in our suite). Keep in mind.
Flowers by Brian. A+. I LOVED MY FLOWERS! I went a little nuts in this dept. I could have shopped around more, but I liked Brian and he did exactly what I wanted. His staff were really professional and nice to deal with.
Favors/Cake – Saint Honore Pastry Shop. A. This is the bakery that does the cakes for the Claremont. I arranged separately for them to do cookie favors in the shape of wedding cakes, covered in white chocolate icing and tied with ribbons. Cute & tasty. RE: the cake was part of the package with the Claremont. We picked it sight unseen because they didn’t have the new cake book completed in time for our wedding. But it was very nice. One thing -- we had a stacked 3-layer cake. They gave us the top of it to save – which was this MASSIVE 10 (?) lb cake! Had I known, I would have asked them to put one more mini-layer on the top so we could take THAT home. It was too much cake to deal with the next day! I saved one hunk and gave the rest to MIL & FIL while we left for honeymoon.
Band – Peter Greco Orchestra. A++. They were phenomenal! Great musicians (not too loud, which I was worried about) and Peter is a gem to deal with. He ran the party like clockwork. It’s a 9 piece band with members rotating in and out, taking breaks in shifts, so there’s non-stop music. People were on the dance floor all night – especially me, who the band called “the incredible dancing bride.” (ha ha!) They played everything we wanted and more. Surprisingly did Outkast “I like the way you move” – and did it amazingly well (I had no idea we could ask them to play a song so new!) Our guests raved about them. They are not cheap, but worth every penny.
Honeymoon – Hawaii. What’s not to love? Actually Maui’s more loveable than Oahu, but that’s pretty common knowledge. We flew direct from Newark to Honolulu -- 11 hours made less painful because Continental had TVs on all the seats. Stayed at the Outrigger Waikiki on Oahu. Okay hotel, not fabulous. Had I known, I would have chosen the Sheraton next door or the Hilton Village or someplace super-swanky like the Mandarin Oriental. But we were only there for 3 days, so it was fine. THE BEST was the Four Seasons Resort on Maui. We were there for 8 days. Absolutely phenomenal! Service is great – they set up your chairs at the pool or beach, spritz you with Evian water if you’re too hot, bring cold towels, strawberries, popsicles, etc. the restaurants are fab – including Spago – but not cheap. So we ventured around the island for a few other places to eat. Did the road to Hana, went to a luau, saw whales jumping, etc. P.S. we were there with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver & their kids. DH ran into him first in the locker room of the spa – thank God they had towels on (what an unnecessary shocker that would have been!) We didn’t hear about Gov Arnie saving a swimmer until after we got home (we were right there at the pool that day, but no one was talking about it! I suspect his publicist made it up). I can share this gossip: their kids are good looking & have excellent manners. Maria’s not as skinny-minny as she appeared on tv, she looks normal. Arnold in a speedo is a scary sight (gravity obviously takes its toll on everyone, stardom or no stardom).
****Not to end on a down note, but sad news that WE GOT SICK on our honeymoon! We both came down with respiratory infections the first day in Hawaii! So if you ever find yourself in need of a doctor in Honolulu, sad to say I can recommend the walk-in clinic at the Hyatt Regency. The dr said this is common with bride & grooms – between being exhausted and stressed leading up to the wedding, kissing hundreds of people (!) and then going on a long flight…ugh. So unlike us, YOU be sure to get lots of rest and eat right leading up to your big day!! (and don’t let any germ-carrying 80-year old aunts kiss you on the lips). We weren't feeling 100% for about half the honeymoon, which was a drag. But what better place to rest than in paradise? And as my DH said, we have our whole lives to spend together, so if we’re sick for part of the honeymoon, whatever.***
Thanks again!
TJ
