My October 9 Milleridge Carriage House review updated 10/21 with amateur pictures!

Hi Everyone!

Link to proofs

My wedding was wonderful. All of my vendors were great, a few things were not as planned, but worked out great.
So here as promised is my detailed review, I included a lot of detail & constructive criticism to help future brides, but I wasn't dissapointed in anything at all!


Dress-Bridal Garden Bethpage –Highly recommended.
Collete was fabulous & helpful & didn’t try & steer me towards what I wasn’t looking for. She was very patient & let me try on about 10 dreses, for over an hour & let me keep the 2 finalists on a while to decide.
Fran did a great job with the alterations & they are open until 8 on weeknights so it was easy for me to make it to fittings.

Veil Veilshop.com Recomended
Great product, great service, good price

My cathedral length, one tier, fine embroidered edge veil came out perfectly & was a lot less expensive than the bridal shop & it was the only online place I found they had mantilla cut as an option.
They website was a little hard to navigate, but they have since updated it. Also, all veils are on combs, there are no other options. If there were, I probably wouldn’t have known the difference & ordered a comb anyway, but as it turns out I needed loops.

Barron’s veils in Tri-County Flea market— quick & easy to work with-good price

I took my veil there to have the comb removed & edging with loops put on, b/c my hairdresser said it would lay flatter & work better with my headpiece & hairstyle. It cost $10 & was ready in a week.

Earrings- emitations.com —A LIW recomendation!
Recomended
LOVE my earrings! Wore them on my HM too! Good price, quick delivery.

Necklace— Homeshoppingnetwork.com Reccomended
Beautiful, good price, quick delivery, from the Christina Ferrare collection, received many compliments on it.


HeadpiecePrincessbridetiaras.com - Recomended

Received my headband very promptly & in perfect condition & looked exactly as it did on the website. I loved this site, b/c I had trouble finding a headpiece that was not crown-like.

Bridesmaid’s dresses store-- RKbridal.com – Highly recomended
No frills program. My MOH & only BM were both OOT so after A lot of going back & forth online & showing each other what we found, I found a dress I loved in RK & since both BMs couldn’t get there to be measured anyway, we did the no frills program where you handle your own measurements & alterations & saved about $35. We priced it on line & at 2 stores near my MOH in the San Diego area & it the RK no frills price was the best.

My only 2 little complaints were, 1, that the cranberry swatch was missing from the Venus swatch book, so I made my decision on process of elimination & a strands of thread still glued to the book & 2) that they said they would call to confirm & they didn’t so I had to call them & they said they were still waiting to hear from the manufacturer, but estimated a delivery date anyway, & then I called back a few weeks later & I guess they had heard from the manufacturer, b/c they gave me an earlier date, and the dresses were in earlier than that anyway, so it all worked out. They were very helpful when I called though & I was just expecting them to call me.

Bridesmaid dresses manufacturer-Bella Formals by Venus- Recomended

It was a style from a few seasons ago, I was thrilled to find something not strapless & not 2 piece. The dresses arrived earlier than expected. The only problem when I first placed
my order RK didn’t receive a confirmation from them right away.

Cashmere Company.com-a LIW reccomendation. Highly recommended.

I love this sight, I had looked all over & couldn’t find the shade of gray I wanted in a good material. They came in early & my bridesmaids loved them (and looked adorable in them.)

Bridesmaid’s hairpins-- Your wedding company.com- recommended
Great price, quick delivery. This sight was great, b/c I couldn’t find anything I liked in any stores.

Tuxes-Men’s Warehouse-reccomended
No problems, placed order with Plainview store, guys were measured & picked up tuxes there, Scarsdale, NY & Arlington Heights, IL.
DH did have a little touble getting in touch with the Plainview store, b/c only the tux guy can help & he wasn't always there.

Invitations--Elegant Stationary.com- recomended

I found the perfect invitation on this site & loved it as soon as I saw & felt the sample they sent. They were by Chase, but I couldn’t find them anywhere else on line after that. (after they fact, I found them at Party City when looking for programs)
The reason I looked elsewhere was that this site was a little difficult to work with & you couldn’t really preview the fonts, so my font looks a little smaller than I would have liked, but I loved the invitation & I have received many compliments on it. The customer service was helpful & the delivery was very prompt .
So prompt in fact, that I almost didn’t open the door for the UPS man, b/c I wasn’t expecting any packages.


Snappymap.com (thanks Shawl!)—Recomended

They are not quite as Snappy as their website makes it seem. It seems as though they have gotten a lot more work recently. The website says they can usually rush an order & have it done in 1 week, but I asked & the earliest they could have mine was 2 weeks & they ignored my emails a few times & I was worried I wouldn’t receive them in time, but they did come just in time. It is still a great concept & the maps came out great, but preparing the information to send them was more work than I thought it would be.

Mikasa.com-favors –Recomended

Glass bowl with a leaf pattern by Studio Nova a Division of Mikasa. Prompt delivery, all in good condition. I registered with Mikasa.com & received a coupon that I was able to use towards the favors. The only little hitch was that the shipping was expensive to order just 1 as a sample, so I went to the Mikasa store in the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY & saw a sample there. I didn't buy there, b/c I didn't know if I could get 70 & it was easier to just have it all shipped to my parents.


Labels for favors—Myweddinglabels.com: Highly recommended
Easy to work with, looked just like they did on website. Prompt delivery-received compliments from Milleridge banquet staff, who I am sure see all sorts of pretty favors!

Wedding bands & bridesmaid’s necklaces-Gold Creations by Nuha, Tri County Jewelery Exchange- Recomended

Happened to have 2 of the necklaces on hand & it was a great price. For the bands, they were very helpful, I didn’t know what I wanted, so they let us try on a bunch, all over the map. They did convince us to order mine 5 mm instead of 4mm, to preserve detail, but I think I would have preferred 4 since I have short fingers. I also think my husbands is also 5mm when it was supposed to be 6, but it looks good on him. The rings came in very early.

Makeup. Charmaine: Highly recommended
I didn’t go for a trial, she was recommended by my mom’s hairdresser. She did her daughter’s wedding & does weddings at their salon all the time. She rents space at 2 salons, I only know that she is frequently at the Paul Anthony Salon in Manhassett & can be cotnacted by calling there & asking for her.
She did 6 of us, including mom & MIL, and everyone looked great.

Hair-- Final Touch Salon in Bethpage; Recommended, but they don’t really specialize in weddings.
This is my mom’s regular salon.They were great at fitting us in on a Saturday morning & moving other appointments around. Toni, My mom’s hairdresser did her hair & mine & I loved both. Maria styled MIL & my Godmother, both also looked good. Fran did my 2 bridesmaids. They seemed to like it but it wasn’t exactly what we had in mind, but I forgot the picture I wanted to use.
Diane, the owner was very helpful at my trial & suggested I have the comb removed on my veil. It was much better with loops.
She also helped put it on & showed my mom how to remove it without messing up my hair, but I ended up leaving it on.


Flowers by Peter Kenney –no problems, not really a wedding vendor
They are the required florist for my church. They did the pew bows, and flower arrangements for the first 2 rows, as I requested. They were a little expensive & pretty much had set options to choose from, not really creative like a wedding florists, but the pew bow flowers were gorgeous. I didn’t notice the alter flowers. I was a little distracted
ps- got the proofs- can see the alter flowers- also good.
All Star Limousines- Highly recommended. One of my favorites!
They were so easy to book with. I didn’t feel the need to go & look at the limos & watch a video, like other companies wanted me to do. I just wanted what I wanted. It was slightly higher than some other quotes, but worth it for the ease of booking & for the reputation they had on LIW.

The limo was clean & exactly what I wanted.
Bob our driver was great. Didn’t need directions. Put the runner down, straightened my train, went downstairs to get the guys & made sure the best man had the rings. He even helped my cousin hand out bubbles.

And most importantly, he did NOT play the bridal horn, as per my request.

Photography --Silverfox- - recommended.
The owner John was great to work with putting together our contract.
The office was a little chaotic & the first person we met with was a little pushy, but John made up for all of that.
Two weird things:
#1-I was told the color would be film, but 05 brides here told me they changed to all digital. When I mentioned that to Frank he said he did have film in the car, but it didn’t really matter to me.

#2-I was told Lea would be our photojournalist, but when I called to confirm they said it would be Ted. I didn’t say anything.

Ted was great, My MOH kept calling him our “stealth photographer” if was so quiet & would just appear.
Frank was our main photographer. He was good, very talkative & goofy.

We hired an assitant who was Michelle, who was really sweet & held my purse all the time! She also moved the tripod a lot b/c Frank was running all over & almost crashed into it a few times. She even took pictures towards the end of the reception. I don’t know if it was necessary to hire her, b/c after the fact, their paperwork said, they may bring one if necessary.

They printed out a couple of shots in their van & gave them to my parents.

UPDATE- Got the proofs--took 5 weeks.
Everything looks good. See link above.
the dvd they gave us wasn't so stable though, but we did get it to work & saved everything to 2 hard drives just in case.
The person that was there didn't really give us any instruction as to what to do with thank yous & albums, untill I asked. I will call Jon to clarify, he was always very helpful.

UPDATE 6/24--we picked out thank yous pictures in December. Bill was very helpful, we did it all over the phoen & email, since I couldn't really get out to LI at the time.

They forgot to call & tell us they were in, but when I emailed Jon about it, he offered to ship them to us for free.

We met with Bill in February to lay out our album--- it went well, took about an hour, he didn't try & sell us anything extra, we added some pictures because I couldn't narrow it down.

I called in June to see if it was ready & they had it, and were waiting for one picture before they called us. We made an appt, then, but they are so busy, so I couldn't make an evening appt. untill July 14. Then we will go look at the pictures & approve it for binding & pick up our enlargements.
Update 8/25- We ent back in JUly, ther ewer ea few msitakesm, which we corrected. Bill was very helpful. The albums wer erasy abtou 3 weeks alter. We pciekd them up & they look great. They forgot to give us our proofs back though, so we have to go down there 1 more time.

Milleridge Florist- Highly recommended, one of my favorites!
Chris was great to work with. My bouquet was exactly what I wanted. Actually there were pearls in the stephanotis that I didn’t know about, but that was perfect, because I had pearls in my tiara & jewelry.

The bridesmaid’s bouquets looked even better than I imagined & the centerpieces looked even better than my sample. And he always gave me a few sample flowers to take home & when he made us 2 sample cps he gave us the one were weren’t using to take home.
We contracted for 11 tables, but had 9, so at the last minute he made two mantle pieces instead.

Reception--Milleridge Carriage House-Highly recommended
Price was excellent for a Saturday night in October. It was the only hall we looked at because we knew we wanted a small wedding & the size of Carriage House was perfect, & I like the simple cozy atmosphere. Kristy, our banquet manager was wonderful to work with.
Our Maitre D’ Samir was great. He actually took my cocktail plate from me, cut my pastrami & brought it back. And he got food for my dad too, so he didn’t have to wait on line.
We were told we’d have a bridal assistant too, which we didn’t. I didn’t need one, but that was weird. Maybe it is only for larger weddings.


The candles I provided weren’t set up exactly how I wanted, but Samir had someone move them. I didn’t want to be all Bridezilla, but some were onteh mantle where the dance floor was, so I thought it was dangerous. And they looked fine, but they looked better when they fixed them my way.

The coctail hour was set up inside, because the weather was questionable for jsut abotu that hour, then it was ncie again.

There was plenty of room, & it worked fine.
The food was great; we got tons of compliments-- especially the pastrami at the cocktail hour. That was all DH.
I did hear that a few of the passed Horsd’oerves were hard to track down, the waitresses zoomed by.


The cake cutting seemed to be late, but I don’t know when most people usually do it. A few people started to leave because they already served the coffee & the other dessert, but Samir was on top of it & brought the favors out when he saw people leaving early.
He also helped my friends call a cab to their hotel.

Band-Circus -recommended, with slight caution

Their website clearly says that they don’t switch musicians, but they did. I knew the keyboard player /band leader) wasn't going to be there, of the other 4, only 1 was one of the originals, but the signer was better than the original singer.

Our guests (including my grandmother & some family musicians) loved them —there was tons of dancing, which I didn’t really expect from my guests & they played exactly what I wanted. We didn’t have any participation dances, but Sweet Caroline sort of turned into one. It was great. People kept asking where I found the band.

If it wasn’t for the minor shadiness I would highly recommend them, because the price was great, they learned our song in about 2 weeks (When you Say Nothing at All) & performed it beautifully& the drummer knew my uncle (also a drummer) and let him play for 1 song.

They did forget to invite the guests to join in our first dance & forgot to announce the groomsman’s birthday. I would have reminded them, but I forgot myself.

Overall, it was a great day! Let me know if you have any questions!