My 6/24 Engagement Party Review
I hope it's okay to post an engagement party review here. I don't post here very often, but I wanted to post a quick review of the engagement party that my parents threw for me this past Saturday (6/24) since we had some vendors that might help out other ladies here looking to do the same
Mother nature: F+
It was a monsoon outside! We had 3 tents up and still most of the (80 or so) guests got pretty wet. I swear at one point it was so loud and we were so wet I thought the tent lifted up. I give major props to anyone who plans an outdoor wedding, this was stressful enough.
Yeah and on that note:
Weather.com: F-----
I swear the weather went from sunny and 10% chance of rain to the torrential downpour that it actually was and every permutation in between in the span of 10 day forecast. I should have been a meteorologist! Maybe I still can be one, it seems arbitrary enough. Ladies, don't torture yourself with this website!!!
Food - Felico's caterers in Farmingdale: A++++++
Food was delicious - specifically the chicken was this portobello encrusted chicken in an apricot brandy reduction sauce (say that 5 times fast) and it was delish. Also had penne a la vodka, eggplant rollatini, sausages and peppers and well, anything we tried we loved. We worked with Jen and Frank over there and they came to the house to set up their tent in advance and prepared a food tasting the week before (with mucho leftovers) and generally went above and beyond. I would recommend them again in a heartbeat.
Cake: Hummel and Hummel Bakery in East Northport
Day of A+ weeks before: Eh, not so good
The cake was delicious and we had a sheet cake for 100 disappear in minutes by 80 people. The sales help there were from Mars and my mom schelpped there a handul of times from Syosset to get things straight with them because we had a cake from their bakery at a wedding shower no joke 2 years ago and it was that memorable that we had to find out where it was from. We're not normal, I know. In general. they had problems understanding how to combine the flavors and stuff. The day of the party, my FH went to pick up the cake to bring to the party and they told him he owed them money when it was paid for even though my mom specified he was the one to pick it up. (Unlike me, who doesn't trust anyone, my mom operates on the honor system and didn't ask for a receipt, so that didn't help matters.) Thankfully, the baker was there and he was the only one in the joint who had a clue what was going on and he remembered my mom so it ended up not being a big deal. Dang good cake.
Flowers - King Kullen: D
We made our own centerpieces from King Kullen's flowers, but you know, they getting a crappy grade too since my mom ordered specific flowers from them the week before and they never even placed the order! The day my mom went to pick them up, they just handed her a mishmash of bouquets and only charged $30 for all these flowers because they felt bad. So we arranged our own flowers in the kitchen that morning like 2 lunatics and I think they looked pretty good in the end. In general, I guess you get what you pay for when you order supermarket flowers from the old guy who works behind the Deli counter (and who never told the flower lady in Produce about the order), but we didn't care for our low-key purposes. Preston Bailey and Martha Stewart would not have approved.
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Lastly - the tiki bar my dad made: A+++++++++++++
My dad is a creative soul who brings the Home Depot motto of 'you can do it, we can help' to life. He created a tiki bar from wood fencing and hula skirts and we're still not sure how.
Some pictures - see how wet we were!
Mother nature: F+
It was a monsoon outside! We had 3 tents up and still most of the (80 or so) guests got pretty wet. I swear at one point it was so loud and we were so wet I thought the tent lifted up. I give major props to anyone who plans an outdoor wedding, this was stressful enough.
Yeah and on that note:
Weather.com: F-----
I swear the weather went from sunny and 10% chance of rain to the torrential downpour that it actually was and every permutation in between in the span of 10 day forecast. I should have been a meteorologist! Maybe I still can be one, it seems arbitrary enough. Ladies, don't torture yourself with this website!!!
Food - Felico's caterers in Farmingdale: A++++++
Food was delicious - specifically the chicken was this portobello encrusted chicken in an apricot brandy reduction sauce (say that 5 times fast) and it was delish. Also had penne a la vodka, eggplant rollatini, sausages and peppers and well, anything we tried we loved. We worked with Jen and Frank over there and they came to the house to set up their tent in advance and prepared a food tasting the week before (with mucho leftovers) and generally went above and beyond. I would recommend them again in a heartbeat.
Cake: Hummel and Hummel Bakery in East Northport
Day of A+ weeks before: Eh, not so good
The cake was delicious and we had a sheet cake for 100 disappear in minutes by 80 people. The sales help there were from Mars and my mom schelpped there a handul of times from Syosset to get things straight with them because we had a cake from their bakery at a wedding shower no joke 2 years ago and it was that memorable that we had to find out where it was from. We're not normal, I know. In general. they had problems understanding how to combine the flavors and stuff. The day of the party, my FH went to pick up the cake to bring to the party and they told him he owed them money when it was paid for even though my mom specified he was the one to pick it up. (Unlike me, who doesn't trust anyone, my mom operates on the honor system and didn't ask for a receipt, so that didn't help matters.) Thankfully, the baker was there and he was the only one in the joint who had a clue what was going on and he remembered my mom so it ended up not being a big deal. Dang good cake.
Flowers - King Kullen: D
We made our own centerpieces from King Kullen's flowers, but you know, they getting a crappy grade too since my mom ordered specific flowers from them the week before and they never even placed the order! The day my mom went to pick them up, they just handed her a mishmash of bouquets and only charged $30 for all these flowers because they felt bad. So we arranged our own flowers in the kitchen that morning like 2 lunatics and I think they looked pretty good in the end. In general, I guess you get what you pay for when you order supermarket flowers from the old guy who works behind the Deli counter (and who never told the flower lady in Produce about the order), but we didn't care for our low-key purposes. Preston Bailey and Martha Stewart would not have approved.
Lastly - the tiki bar my dad made: A+++++++++++++
My dad is a creative soul who brings the Home Depot motto of 'you can do it, we can help' to life. He created a tiki bar from wood fencing and hula skirts and we're still not sure how.
Some pictures - see how wet we were!
