My Wedding Review - 10-26-02 - VERY LONG

I wanted to wait until I get my proofs but DH and I are really busy and who knows when we will get to LI to pick them up. So many people have sent me forum mail so I figured I better not wait anymore. So here you go...

It was truly a wonderful day. It didn’t go as fast as I thought it would but I still feel like I can’t remember so much. It was a whirlwind of fun. I can’t wait for my proofs and video. I am very fortunate that almost all my vendors were wonderful. (PS I am sure this review will be long but I will try my best to make it readable. So if I miss anything or you have questions, feel free to ask away.)

Weather-I had convinced myself it would rain and the weather reports predicted an all day storm. Wound up I heard it was pouring in LI but my church was in Queens and it was only drizzling there. By the time I got out of the hair salon, I didn’t even need an umbrella. It wasn’t a picture perfect day but the weather was nice enough. The weather prevented us from going to a park to take pictures (it would have been too muddy) and it got a little cold so we took most of pictures indoors rather than the ground of North Ritz. I really can’t complain at all.

My Vendors-
Church – Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach – I had a lot of problems the month before my wedding contacting my priest to plan my ceremony and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal was very rushed and unorganized which left many people very uneasy. The priest I worked with wound up doing my rehearsal dinner but not my wedding. Monsignor Flood wound up doing my ceremony and he was terrific. He didn’t know us at all but he made the ceremony so meaningful and special. Everyone loved him.

North Ritz Club – I know so many of you are waiting on this review…so I will try to say a lot. They were great! I have no complaints at all. I am asking people to tell me something bad and no one can think of anything to say (even my mom who is in the business and a very tough critic). It seems the word that everyone uses was elegant. Everyone loved how big the place is and loved the two rooms and bars and I had a lot of compliments on the huge bathrooms. Since many of my guests arrived early, they opened the cocktail hour room 15 minutes early for them. Everyone said the food was plentiful and terrific. The add-on seafood bar was a hit. We stayed in the bridal suite for half of the cocktail hour because I really wanted the bridal party to eat a little. Even doing that, I ate very little. I am glad I stayed in the bridal suite because you get bombarded in the cocktail hour room the moment you step in. It is nice but I felt the time I spent in the suite allowed me to unwind before going down into the crowd. The bridal assistant had platters brought up to us. (NRC wasn’t prepared to do this. They only had drinks and fruit and cheese for us. If you want to eat in the bridal suite, I would tell them in advance and I am sure they will be better prepared to do so.) My bridal assistant, Elvira, was very sweet. She organized all the food brought up to us and twice had to sew my dress. George, my maitre d, was terrific. He was on top of us (in a good way) and made sure all of our needs were attended to. My mom also said he came to her several times. He kept the night organized and things running smoothly. They didn’t have Captain Morgan at the bar and George sent someone out to get it for us. I received lots of compliments of the service. The dinner food was good. Everyone was raving. I had the sea bass with papaya and mango salsa and it was great. (That was about all I ate all night.) A lot of people got the filet mignon and said it was terrific..some people said the best they every had. If you can afford to do the viennesse, do it!!! Everyone is still talking about the zeppoles, ice cream sundaes and banana flambé. They loved the fact that you can get up and go to another room and enjoy dessert. I had one cannoli and it was great. All in all, NRC was top notch! If anyone who is getting married there wants to invite me, please do!! I really want to be a guest at someone’s wedding there..I have been told hubby and I make great wedding guests! (hehe) I want to experience what my guests are raving about!

Photo/Video – Fine Art – Chuck was wonderful. We absolutely loved working with him. He paid attention to details and was very accommodating. I had given them sample pictures I liked and a must have list (I recommend this – doesn’t have to be a long list) and he got it all! I have no doubts that my pictures will be just as wonderful. I can’t wait for my proofs! I think Tony was my video guy. Tell you the truth I barely remember seeing the video guy, which is good because I hate being on video. Highly recommend them! I will let you know how my proofs and video are when I pick them up!

Limo – Royalty – Again, a top notch vendor! Phil, our driver, is so nice. He was also the driver for my brother’s wedding. On time, clean and helpful…what more can you say. The car the next day was early and the driver was courteous.

Flowers – Flowers By Brian – Everyone liked the flowers. Fresh, arrived on time and lasted through the night. The centerpieces with taper candles added to the elegance of my room. A pleasure.

Makeup – Laura from Perscriptives, Bloomingdales in Roosevelt Field – I found Laura about 3 weeks before my wedding and she was a terrific find (a friend referred her to me). She came to my house and did my makeup, MOH, 1 BM and my mom. Everyone was happy with the results. She is so sweet and I will visit her again for makeup tips and advice. The makeup lasted all night. I only reapplied the lipstick.

Hair – Anna from Explosion in Howard Beach – She did my hair exactly like I wanted it and I loved it. It didn’t move all night and the veil and headpiece stayed put even in my super thin hair! I wore my veil all night which hid the beautiful and elegant bun, but it was gorgeous and many people asked me to lift my veil just to check it out. 3 other BM and my mom got their hair done there and everyone was happy. I esp. loved my mom’s!!

Dress – I love my dress! Everyone is talking about my dress. It was worth every penny!!! It was fun to wear and just so me. I bought it from Bridal Couture. Bridal Couture has gotten a bad rap and I didn’t love them and didn’t hate them either. The original salesperson, Lee, was a sweetie but after the sale she was never there when I went in (she is PT). The seamstress was sweet and I really only needed minor alterations so I can’t say much about her. I did have a couple small altercations with them (I won’t get into it). The shop is snobby and a little rude but they do have some wonderful and different dresses. My dress arrived on time and with no problems even with the customization I had done to the train. The night of my dress the top layer kept coming off the bustle because people were stepping on the tiny piece of the dress that still trailed behind. Three times the buttons flew off and by the third time I left them off and rubber banded the dress to my arm for the last hour. The outer layer of my dress was very delicate and very heavy so I can see how this would happen but I wish the dress shop would have seen this and prevented it. My dress was by Mariana Hardwick. I had contacted the vendor several times for advice and pictures and swatches and she was so great!