The Brides' Review - Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

tiffanygagnon Posted: Mar 15, 2010 05:18 PM+

tiffanygagnon MEMBER SINCE: 5/08 TOTAL POSTS : 133 WEDDING DATE: Jul 12, 2009

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 05:18 PM

Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

7/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

Although I haven’t posted much here on LIW, I have spent a lot of time lurking and have found this site to be a really incredible resource for planning a wedding! So thank you very much to the LIW creators for making this site available. It was a great help to me in planning my wedding.

I have only reviewed the big vendors below as it is so much work to put this review together - I hope to review some of the smaller ones when I have more time. But if you have any questions about something I don't mention, feel free to ask!)

Invites, STDs, Thank yous, etc – DIY – Paper Source and Kate’s Paperie = A

I DIY’ed all of the paper goods for our wedding, from the STDs down to the thank you cards, menus, and name cards! I ordered the bulk of my paper and supplies from Paper Source and the pocketfolds (which are Envelopments brand) from Kate’s Paperie in the city. Both companies were fantastic to work with, have great customer service and high quality products. There was a lot of work – designing, cutting, gluing, embossing etc - that went into the creation of the invites and everything. I couldn’t have done it without the help of my mom, stepmom, MOH and bridesmaids. We spent many hours working on various projects! We also folded 1000 paper origami cranes for our wedding. It’s a long story about how and why we chose to do this, and I won’t bore you with it, but all I can say is that I’m glad we did it – it was a fun, unusual way to theme and decorate a wedding and I think it looked really great. You’ll see a lot of cranes in the photos that follow…! If you have any questions about how we put any of our DIY projects together, I’d be happy to help! I’m a big fan of DIYing if you have the time, energy and a little bit of know-how! I don't have photos of my thank yous here but when I find some I'll edit the post and add some!

Old Field Club = A

We fell in love with the Old Field Club when we first visited it but were a bit put off by Tom, the maitre’d’s demeanor. He wasn’t rude or anything, just a little short in conversation and slow to return calls. Despite that, we booked with OFC and are SO happy we did. Tom was much more helpful in answering questions and helping us plan things as we got closer to the day and he was absolutely wonderful on the day of. He was on top of everything; made sure that we had everything we needed all the time and that everything ran smoothly, on time, etc. I couldn’t have asked for more from him. Mary, the other maitre’d who was there that day was equally as wonderful.

The wait staff were also great. They were clean, polished, friendly and polite. The waiter at our table was fantastic – always making sure our drinks were full and that we had everything we needed.

The food was also fabulous. Everyone raved about the appetizers at cocktail hour. We went with a customized menu for dinner – a sort of grill/bbq theme – and everything was delicious. The food at OFC is definitely not your typical wedding food and many of our guests loved that! We also asked the bar to make a couple of signature drinks for us and they were really great about ordering what they needed to make them and in making the drinks. It seems like Tom and the OFC were willing to do just about anything you asked them to – even if they’d never done it before. I really got the feel that they understand that it’s YOUR day and you want it YOUR way and they are ready and willing to give that to you!

Another great thing about the OFC is that you have access to the Old Field beach and the private cabanas for the day. They end up being the perfect spot for photos, especially on a bright sunny day like we had!

All in all, OFC was really perfect. The day went off without a hitch and was better than I ever could have hoped for!

Priscilla of Boston = B

I ordered my gown from the Priscilla of Boston store in Chicago, where my MOH was living at the time. We didn’t even have a date set yet or anything and it was supposed to just be a “looking-around” day but I fell in love with the gown and the girl who helped us was so helpful that I wanted her to get the commission so I ordered it! When it came in they shipped it to the NYC store without question so I could do my fittings and things locally. My gown came in exactly as ordered, on time and everything. The sales girls were mostly nice, though maybe a little unfriendly at times but mostly not too bad. The seamstress who did my alterations was nice and did a good job with the minor things that needed to be fixed. My only complaint, and the reason for the “B” instead of an “A” is that my alterations cost me 700 dollars! The gown only cost me 1000 dollars to start with! I was furious at the time and tried to fight the charges tooth and nail and got nowhere. I ended up paying the full price and had to just let it go. I felt like I was being ripped off. As you’ll see, my gown was very simple, no beading, no lace, not even a bustle and yet it cost me more to get it altered than most brides pay! Highway robbery in my opinion but there was no arguing with them so I just gave up trying. On the day of I wasn’t even thinking about it. I loved my gown, it fit perfectly, was pressed perfectly and I had no problems with it. We also got our BM dresses at PoB (VIneyard Collection) and they were great too, no problems at all!

My and my BMs' shoes (DSW) and my jewelry (Etsy) = A

Though they were nothing really special and were somewhat cheap, our shoes worked out perfectly. They matched my color scheme, were summery and strappy and proved to be pretty comfortable (I wore them the whole day!) I ordered my jewelry from Etsy (I can't find the name of the shop I ordered it from- sorry!) but no complaints here! I got the BMs' sets from Macys, pearls and sterling silver, after a bunch of sales and discounts and things I got each set for under 100 dollars and the girls' loved them!

Men’s Wearhouse = B+

The men all wore suits purchased from Men’s Wearhouse and in general everything was fine. The suits looked great and we were able to take advantage of one of their buy one get one free sales. We bought 6 suits total and everyone only had to pay the equivalent of half a suit – ultimately it was the same price as a tux rental would have been yet they get to keep the suit! And it was the slightly more casual look we were going for so we were happy all around. They only get a B+ because we were sort of pressured into buying right away because we were told the sale wouldn’t last long. Stupid us don’t pay attention to their commercials because it seems that they’re always running some sort of sale and we could have easily waited a few more months before purchasing the suits and would have gotten the same deal! Oh well! Still, the suits, service and price were all good, so no real complaints!

Symmetry Salon = A

I had all of my pre-wedding and wedding day “beautification” done at Symmetry and was absolutely thrilled with everything. April, who does my nails on a regular basis, did perfect frenches on both my fingers and toes that lasted well through the honeymoon. Nikki, who did my hair, got it perfect. I had two trials beforehand because I just wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted but on the day of she was very patient with me and gave me exactly what I had envisioned. Nicole did my makeup and it was the best I think I’ve ever looked. All in all, perfect service from Symmetry – I’d recommend them to anybody!

The Tender Thicket – Louise Mercer – B+

Louise was great. I was looking for very simple flowers. We made our own centerpieces and everything so what I really only needed were bouquets and boutonnieres. I wanted them to be simple and understated. I knew I wanted white orchids because I was planning on having a silk one in my hair and I had seen a photo of a bouquet with all lily of the valleys and I loved it so I asked for a combo of the two flowers. Louise was skeptical at first and tried to talk me out of it (hence the B+, not an A) but ultimately gave me exactly what I wanted and I am thrilled with how they turned out. The BMs’ orchids were so fresh and gorgeous they looked good enough to eat!

Seating cards, favors, centerpieces, décor, etc - DIY = A!
Like I said previously, we DIY’d a lot of stuff for the wedding. These are just some photos of what we did. I’d be happy to answer any questions about how we did anything if you want to know!

Reverend Deb = A

Rev Deb was GREAT! She was very easy to work with, friendly, prompt in replying to emails and phone calls and she gave us a very personal and special ceremony. We couldn’t have asked for more!

Harris Becker = A

Harris played classical guitar for us for the ceremony and cocktail hour. He too was great. He was happy to let us pick our own sings for the pro- and recessionals and we let him choose the rest of the music. He did a fantastic job and really set the tone for day.

Melvern Taylor and His Fabulous Meltones = A+

I have to admit that these guys are my absolute favorite band so I might be a bit partial here. They are awesome. It's hard to describe the genre of music they play but the lead guy, Melvern, plays a ukelele! We wanted our music to be low key and relaxed and original, no chicken dances for us! We also wanted the music to appeal to our younger friends and to our parents and grandparents and we felt that Melvern did just that. I’m sure I’m not doing them justice here but if you want to know more about them, just let me know, they’re fabulous!

La Bonne Boulangerie = A

Our cake was simple, but delicious. The best part about La Bonne Boulangerie is that they were willing to let me “design” the cake and they just followed my instructions and got it right on. I had designed the swirl pattern (it was on my STDs and invites) and gave them a copy of it along with a color swatch for the fondant and they got it perfect. They also bake the cake the day of your wedding, no matter what time the reception is at, so it was very fresh and yummy!

Dance Magic Ballroom = A

We danced to one of Melvern’s songs that has a waltz rhythm to it. We realized barely two months before the wedding that we should know basic waltz steps to dance to the song or else we were going to look like idiots! We were able to sign up for group lessons as well as a few very last minute one-on-one lessons with Dance Magic Ballroom and it all worked out great. They taught us the few simple steps as well as a couple of ways to “fancy” it up a bit and our guests tell us it looked very good and that we looked like we knew what we were doing that day!

Laura Ryan Photography = A+

Laura is fantastic. I had originally booked with another company (Bella Pictures) and was so unhappy with my engagement shoot that I cancelled our contract with them. Thankfully Laura still had our day open and was willing to book with us last minute. That was the best decision I ever made. Laura is fun, friendly and incredibly talented. There isn’t a single thing I would change about my photos. I am absolutely thrilled with them. Also, I am a designer and wanted to be able to put together my own album, Laura was very willing to just give me a disk and online site with all of our photos and didn’t ask me to buy any prints or anything from her so ultimately my photography didn’t cost me much at all!

All of the photos in this review were taken by Laura but below are a few more of my favorites from the day!

Ruvo = A

We had our rehearsal dinner at Ruvo in Port Jefferson the Saturday afternoon before our Sunday wedding. We had the place to ourselves! The food was delicious, exactly as we ordered, the staff was friendly, and we felt the prices were reasonable too!

Danfords, Three Village Inn and Holiday Inn Express = A

We blocked rooms with all three of these hotels as almost 95% of our guests were coming from out of town. They were all easy to work with and as far as I know there were no problems for any of our guests. Our wedding was mid-summer so the rates were higher than most of guests are used to but that seems to be the general MO on Long Island!

Thanks so much for reading this novel! I hope you enjoy my photos and please let me know if you have any questions about anything!

madamsireeda213 Posted: Mar 15, 2010 07:35 PM+

madamsireeda213 MEMBER SINCE: 12/09 TOTAL POSTS : 1480 WEDDING DATE: Sep 05, 2011

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 07:35 PM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

Great review!!! And you looked amazing! Congrats!

dCa51899 Posted: Mar 15, 2010 08:13 PM+

dCa51899 MEMBER SINCE: 7/09 TOTAL POSTS : 3397 WEDDING DATE: Dec 02, 2011

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 08:13 PM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

simply beautiful!!!!! I love the symbolism behind the folding of the cranes! thanks for the review and congratulations!!!

MirabellaNYC Posted: Mar 15, 2010 08:26 PM+

MirabellaNYC MEMBER SINCE: 8/08 TOTAL POSTS : 5827 WEDDING DATE: Oct 03, 2009

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 08:26 PM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

Just beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks like a page out of Martha Stewart Weddings!

futurestevens Posted: Mar 15, 2010 10:34 PM+

futurestevens MEMBER SINCE: 12/09 TOTAL POSTS : 5149 WEDDING DATE: Jan 01, 2017

Posted: Mar 15, 2010 10:34 PM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

wow, what a beautiful wedding! i agree, it looks like it could be on the pages of martha stewart magazine!!

stunning!!

bride2be1012 Posted: Mar 16, 2010 12:13 AM+

bride2be1012 MEMBER SINCE: 9/09 TOTAL POSTS : 2762 WEDDING DATE: Aug 26, 2010

Posted: Mar 16, 2010 12:13 AM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

The Martha Stewart comments are absolutely true! Your wedding had such a classic elegance! I love your gown and your bridesmaid's dresses. They really captured your fresh,summer theme. The photos are also lovely. I especially love the ones on the beach..
Congrats!!

miamimerger Posted: Mar 16, 2010 06:47 AM+

miamimerger MEMBER SINCE: 1/09 TOTAL POSTS : 3862 WEDDING DATE: Jan 02, 2010

Posted: Mar 16, 2010 06:47 AM

Re: Our 07/12/09 Old Field Club Wedding

This is truly stunning! A friend of mine had paper cranes at her wedding and she said it took her MONTHS to complete...you should be proud because your hard work paid off! :)

tiffanygagnon Posted: Mar 16, 2010 09:05 AM+

tiffanygagnon MEMBER SINCE: 5/08 TOTAL POSTS : 133 WEDDING DATE: Jul 12, 2009

Posted: Mar 16, 2010 09:05 AM