My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

What a marvelous day!! Here's my review and some amateur pictures!

Music & Lighting: After Hours Entertainment with DJ Joe and MC Benny; String Trio http://www.afterhoursent.com/
After Hours was our wedding venue's preferred entertainment vendor and we could definitely tell why! We heard them playing at another wedding during the initial booking appointment at our venue and had to have them. We were NOT disappointed. Phil Vollarro worked with us and provided us with an awesome music and lighting package that was in our budget. I was a little overwhelmed thinking about our music selections but After Hours made the process easy and stress free by providing song recommendations lists as well as ceremony and reception checklists with all the necessary information. Our MC was Benny and our DJ was Joe. Benny kept everyone laughing and having fun the whole night. Joe followed our song list and kept the music flowing smoothly throughout the whole reception. I also hired the String trio for our ceremony and cocktail hour. They were fabulous and my guests were so impressed with the beautiful live music. I am still getting calls today from guests wanting to tell me how much fun they had. I’ve gotten so many calls saying “It was the best wedding I’ve ever been to!” I’m really grateful to After Hours for making our wedding an event to remember for not only me but for all my guests. I highly recommend them. =)

Officiant: Minister Keith of NY Marriages www.nymarriages.com
We will be forever grateful to julesrbf, who recommended Minster Keith to us. We had a horrible and disappointing experience with our initial officiant and were made to feel as though we were just another paycheck. Luckily for us an LIWedding forum member recommended Minister Keith. Minister Keith really put us totally at ease from day one. We could immediately tell he understood how special our ceremony was to us and how key his role as an officiant really is in a wedding. He worked with us on our vows with the utmost patience and understanding. All of my guests were touched and surprised at how beautiful the ceremony was. We were also initially supposed to have my step-daughter partake in our ceremony and unfortunately she came down with a stomach virus that very morning! Minister Keith revised the ceremony with only a few moments notice and didn’t miss a beat!!!! I honestly cannot express enough gratitude for the impeccable service he provided us. He is a person who truly loves what he does and it shows in his service.

Photographer: Patti and Roberto of SidebySideNYC http://sidebysidenyc.com/
Patti and Roberto are such great people to work with. They gave us a very fair price and understood we wanted a photojournalistic approach to our wedding photos. I gave them a list of the must have shots and they made sure to get EVERY picture. They also did a wonderful job of making sure my DH and I got a lot of greats shots (I forgot to add those in the must have’s list lol). I’ve heard so many couples complain about the picture process during the wedding saying it takes so long and pulls you away from all the fun. Patti and Roberto made the picture taking process so fun and easy going that it was not even an issue. They were very un-intrusive and considerate throughout the wedding and yet made sure they got all the shots they needed.

Videographer: Peter Stepien of My Wedding Maker http://www.myweddingmaker.com/
Peter is a great person to work with. He was recommended to us by SidebySide and we could definitely see why. We didn’t think we needed a videographer but then I looked into his website and knew we had to have HIM! His video’s are AMAZING!! The ones on his website made me cry… when we met with him I saw more video’s and cried more! Lol. During the wedding, he was never the “in your face” camera guy and guests hardly saw him. He got along seamlessly with the photographer so they were never fighting over a shot lol. I can’t wait to see our video!

Florist: Ana Quinones of National Floral Wholesale ([email protected])
Ana was the best from beginning to end! It was always such a real pleasure to work with her. My ideas for centerpieces and the personal flowers were very specific and she made sure it all happened as planned right to the very end. She worked with me on finding the exact supplies for the centerpieces that would create the look I wanted with the utmost patience and she even shared in my excitement throughout the process! Not to mention, she gave me such a good price on everything I was even a little worried that maybe the bo-k’s and centerpieces would be smaller or not as fresh as maybe other vendors who wanted to charge me so much more… but I put my trust in her and WOW…it paid off. All of my flowers were gorgeous and full. My bo-k’s were the perfect size and everyone commented on how beautiful the centerpieces were. I have friend’s that are getting married that now want to create my look. Lol I was lucky to have found her, thanks to LIW. =)

Venue: Westbury Manor www.westburymanor.com
I cannot say enough about our experience with Westbury Manor. Everything about the place and staff is top notch. It was the second venue I visited and as soon as I saw it, I called my husband and said “come now, this is it!” because I knew there was no other place like it. The Victorian Mansion is BEAUTIFUL and the gardens are GORGEOUS. As if that wasn’t enough, the quality of the staff’s service is beyond words. Our Banquet Manager was Lorena Burlak and she was a dream to have servicing us. She provided us with an impressive package that was well within our budget and throughout the process she was impeccable about making sure everything we wanted happened just as planned. Joel was my Maitre D’ and he was an absolute angel. Our guests can’t stop talking about how him and his staff were so accommodating in every way. To give you an example of the type of service they offer: My husband’s grandmother is disabled and could not make it up the stairs to our floor. The staff CARRIED her, placed her in a wheel chair and made sure she was comfortable throughout the entire event. Jessica was my Bridal Attendant and a true a sweetheart who really was by my side every step of the way. She was always popping up every time I needed to put down my bouquet, fix my dress, find my slippers and just about anything else I could possibly need. Joel made sure that I had all my wedding items at the end of the night and even carried it all out to our car for us. Joel and Jessica treated us and our guests like true VIP’s and we all felt special. We could not have asked for better service and attentiveness. Weddings can be really stressful and so much can go wrong if you don’t have the proper vendors and staff in your corner. We can say, without a doubt in our minds, you cannot go wrong if you choose Westbury manor for your event. Our wedding was absolutely perfect thanks to the amazing staff at Westbury Manor!

Makeup Artist: Veronica Obdyke ([email protected])
Veronica was personal recommendation by a friend. Please note this is one of the most important vendors I could possibly choose as the bride! I was so lucky to find such a talented, organized and reasonably priced makeup artist. Veronica spent over 5 HOURS during the trial working with me until I was completely satisfied. I was so overwhelmed with choosing a look that I could not decide what I wanted. I brought pictures and she had the patience and understanding of a saint as we tried various looks out. Then she insisted I schedule a trial for one of my bridesmaids to make sure I was totally happy with their look as well. I brought my Maid of Honor, who is not really a “makeup person” and she was floored by the work Veronica did on her. Afterwards Veronika sent me lists of products she recommended I use on my skin until the day of. She sent me pictures of myself with the look I chose so that I wouldn’t freak out after not seeing it for a bit. She even helped me find a great spa for facials! The day of Veronica came to my house promptly at 7am and was totally ready and organized. She took each girl separately into a room and just focused on them. When it came time for my makeup she recreated the look we chose and even let me make some adjustments. I would’ve killed me but she was true professional in every way and reminded me that she was there to help me achieve whatever look I wanted. Our makeup lasted the whole night, my girls looked amazing and so did I. Our guests couldn’t stop saying how beautiful we all looked! I was confident taking pictures and didn’t even need to reapply once! I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a makeup artist and can say she is truly talented!


We had an amazing wedding and were lucky to have such high quality vendors at our service. I would recommend any of my vendors with total confidence. Thanks to LIW for being such a great rescource and to all the brides that helped me throughtout this dizzying process. I hope you all have as fantastic a day as we had.

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review

Thanks for the review!! Gorgeous pic!

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review

Sounds great!! More pictures!! Grats!

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

What a great review!!! Do you have makeup pics?

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

sounds great!

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

congratss!!!!!!

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

Congratulations....great review. Love the pics!

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

Great Review!! Thanks for sharing!! Congratulations

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

I would love to see the pictures of the flowers. I may email the vendor you suggested because I want a custom look and I am not interested in being ripped off by a florist! I dont see any pics and wonder if you took them down.

Re: My 6/13/10 Wedding Review: Westbury Manor, After Hours, Minister Keith,National Floral Wholsale, SidebySide Photography, Videographer Peter Stepien, Makeup by Veronika Padilla

cONGRATS