Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and DIYs, w/uploaded pics (updates)!!!

Hello all you LIW gals...I would first like to thank my good friend (a former bride) for putting me on to this site and all you LIW past and present for sharing..it was indeed a blessing and sometimes a curse (I was sooooo addicted) in helping me plan Our Day. Well I originally was not going to write a review, but I thought about all those lovely reviews that helped me plan our day so hopefully I can do the same for all you future brides. Since I’m not really a fan of grading a venue, b/c I always liked to read what brides specifically say and formulate my own opinion…I’ll do the same for you. Please FM me if you have any questions, I would be MORE than happy to help.

Also the pics are from various people…pro pics, scanned pro pics, friends, etc.
Let me start off by saying that our wedding day was the most beautiful day EVER!! The weather was absolutely gorgeous…it was mid 70’s with a slight wind and perfect for photo taking, we could not have asked for anything better being that it was in July. My hubbie and I wanted to have a day that was a true reflection of us so a few times tradition did go out the window but isn’t that how a new tradition starts lol.


Here are my top 12 suggestions for future brides:

1. Something WILL go wrong, and when it does remember that you knew it would so don’t sweat it.

2. Have a vision of how you want the day to go down and don't let anyone dictate to you how the day should go, what they should wear, who you should invite because at the end of the day, it is you and your groom that needs to be happy.

3. It is totally fine to sweat about the small details...after all it’s the details that make your wedding unique and more you.

4. Choose your Bridal Party very carefully, you will definitely want people that are in your corner and who are dependable. People that understand that being a bridesmaid/groomsman is an honor and their job isn't just to show up the day of….seriously!

5. Enjoy your wedding! You dedicated months, years and sometimes it’s like having another Full time job so please, please have FUN and take moments to enjoy every minute of the day because it does go by very very quickly.

6. If someone asks to help out and I know this is a hard one because I'm a little control freak but you are going to need help especially in the last 2 weeks…so take all the help you get! For all you control freaks out there…think of tasks that you definitely don’t need to personally do so you don’t feel like you are missing out.

7. Make sure you are comfortable with your vendors because they will be with you AAAAAALLLLLLLL Day! Seriously, trust your instincts...it is usually correct.

8. Ladies please eat before you put on makeup and all that jazz because chances are you probably won’t want to until the end of the ceremony which could be hours. I wish I thought of this sooner but ask your Reception Hall to put aside a plate of the cocktail hour foods for you to eat so that when you and your hubby get back to the hotel after the festivities are over you have something to nibble and you can actually taste all that good stuff that you ordered. The cocktail hour stuff is usually the best part anyway in my opinion.

9. You cannot invite everyone… We tried to invite only people that we felt close to and refused to do the “I have to invite these people thing.” You don’t want to be in debt because you wanted to be NICE.

10. Have your wedding when you want to having your wedding, ours was on a WEDS evening and I am still in shock that we only got back 5 NO’s out of the 180+ people we invited. We had guests come from all over the world which made us feel honored they wanted to share in our Day. So yeah the people who want to be there will be there, no matter what day or time it is.

11. Please get a DOC. You have planned your day to a tee and there will be several things you want executed well and you won’t and shouldn’t have the time (b/c you should be enjoying your day).

12. I saved this one for last because it was the most beneficial to us…PRAY, PRAY and PRAY some more. Pray for the entire day and everyone that will take part in making it special (vendors). Prayer also helped me keep sane when I wanted to strangle some people…seriously.


The Reception search
I dragged my poor hubby to over 15 places around LI and Jersey.
But I can’t remember them all so here are the ones that I do remember….unfortunately we didn’t take pics of all the places.
Long Island
Fox Hollow: It was one of my top choices but at the time I wanted something with a nice ceremony area and the fact that it was so close to the highway was a bit unsettling and also didn’t really like the grounds as much…where we thought was absolutely beautiful was the Winter Garden Pavilion but with our guest list we wouldn’t get that room.

Jericho Terrace: Had barely any outdoor space and nothing for outdoor ceremony…although the inner one was pretty but not what we were looking for. Oh and I also didn’t like the fact that both of the ballrooms would use the same bathroom down the hall. Also the fact that it was just off the hallway isn’t good.

East Wind Estates: Was beautiful…the grounds were kept really well and since each of the rooms was separate would really cater to us but ultimately it was really, really far away.

Smithtown Landing: Wasn’t our cup of tea but we had a food tasting there and the food was pretty decent.

Swan Club: I thought the rooms felt kind of outdated and didn’t really like the outdoor ceremony area…if that makes any sense but yeah just didn’t feel right…but the outside area was breathtaking.

New Jersey
Westmount Country Club: Horrible…the man took one look at us and said what are the price range you are currently getting now…we told him and he said there is no way I am going to come close to that and immediately ushered us out the door…rude is not the word!

The Brownstone: It felt like we were on an assembly line…they had all the sales people in one room and the bride trying to negotiate what they wanted. Although we had a 1pm appt we were told we had to wait b/c it seems like the person with the precious time slot seemed like she was going to book but wasn’t sure so they had us wait another 20 mins or so…we should have just left b/c even before we pulled up it just didn’t feel right.

The Tide Estate: Total opposite of the Brownstone and the outdoor area was immaculate…I feel in love with this place but when I looked back on the inside…it felt kind of blah to me but the outside…absolutely gorgeous. However, I didn’t like the backup option if it rains that we would have the ceremony in the same ballroom.

Florentine Gardens: We loved this place as well…the gardens…the ballroom had a Juliet balcony and it was really nice but the only problem was when my hubby finally said dear we don’t need to come all the way to NJ to find a nice place…lets go to Westbury Manor…u know it’s the one. So yeah ultimately decided upon the first place that we viewed....It’s funny Kurt still teases me because he knew that we would be back but that’s why I love him….he humored me and let me see all the other options we could go with but it always came back to Westbury Manor. To be honest I always knew it but I also wanted to check out the other options as well ?

Westbury Manor
1100 Jericho Tpke
Westbury, NY 11590-1056
(516) 333-7117
(www.westburymanor.com)







Leading up to the day they answered ALL my questions via email and they were quick with it too. They packed up 2 tiers of our wedding cake, the gifts, my DIY items, and left over favors for us to take home except our leftover menu cards that we designed, according to my mother she feels that they are going to use them as templates for future brides . But if I had to do it all again I would still have chosen WM...special shot out to Felicia, my BM and Maitre-D…I wish I could remember their names but they were both Hispanic and fabulous. Everything that was said about the place is true. There was soooo much food and it was good too. They were also very accommodating too..I wanted an Indian cocktail hour station, so I just gave them them the recipe of the samosas and chicken tikka and although I didn’t get to try the chicken tikka, I got to try the samosas and those were really good.
In the words of some of my Bridesmaids, 'They were like the CIA in finding us.' They were on top of their game and treated us like a King and Queen for the day. My bridal attendant helped with the bustle, cleaned off my hubbies collar in a matter of seconds that had someones’ lipstick on it, pinned my bra to my dress that was lifesaver so I didn’t have to constantly do the pull-up routine! At one point where I kicked off my heels during a dance routine and totally forgot about my shoes, like in a movie my bridal attendant was there with my shoes in hand. Again they were sick (in a good way of course)! In a nutshell we were catered to.

A tip: Also when you are dropping off your things for the DAY-OF they looove pictures of how it should be assembled and that is what we did and they were very happy….they said it makes things a lot easier for them.





On the Day off here is what I had….





I also wanted our menu folded like this and it executed well…





Makeup Artist --Shereen Nicole ([email protected])
She was recommended by another makeup-artist that was not available, but I am super happy with my alternative. Did the trial and loved the fact that I didn't even feel like I had makeup on especially since I wanted a classic and natural look with most of the emphasis around the eyes. She is really easy to reach and responds quickly and was on time. She also made all my girls look and feel lovely and most importantly the makeup lasted all night with little touchups.
Here are some pics I took of the trial:







These are the Day-Of pics…










Ceremony
Lenox Road Baptist Church
1356 Nostrand Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
www.lrbc.net
Although I’m Christian I never pictured myself getting married in Church…it was always a lovely garden ceremony with God’s beautiful chapel around us. So it came as no surprise that when we were searching for Halls we also made sure that they had a beautiful ceremony location with the back-up spot just as nice. I also liked the convenience of having the ceremony and reception in one place especially since it was a weekday. However, as we drew closer and closer to the day I started to wonder how it would be to actually have it in my Home Church which was being rebuilt at the time where we would have been the first couple to be married there. Trust me, we prayed, weighed the pros and cons, prayed some more until it was crystal clear to have the ceremony at our Church. I am so happy that we did because it was there that I met my husband and it was so sweet to walk down the aisle at the same place that we met over 13+ years ago.








Also in lieu of lighting the unity candle or the sand ceremony we did the Hand and Flower Ceremony as well as a good friend wrote a poem and dedicated it to us called, “Upon Considering Love.” We were going to write our own vows but after we went over the Hand Ceremony and the Poem there was absolutely no need b/c it summed up our emotions and everything we wanted to say to each other. The poem was magnificent…I think I heard couple Amen and hallelujahs as well as someone said it was a bit provocative at the same time so there were people fanning themselves in the congregation.




The Dress
The search for the dress was no small feat. Here is my review of the stores I visited:
Kleinfelds – (New York, New York)
My experience with Kleinfelds was great! I was really looking forward to this visit because I am a fan of the show on TLC. I made my appointment and was graciously helped by Jocelyn. She made me feel very much as ease when looking for the dress. The first dress I tried on was an A-line dress with beading around the waist that was so beautiful but it wasn’t me…I wanted more a mermaid style dress and even though she showed me about 4 selections none of them made me want to say, “Yes to the Dress! So I walked away. But if you have the opportunity, visit Kleinfelds even just for the “experience” lol.
Macy’s – (34th Street Herald Square)
Macy’s was a great experience as well. The store had a good selection of samples to try on. The salesperson, whose name escapes me at the moment, was very helpful and they had a nice selection. My mom really wanted to see me in a ball gown and just for her I tried on this elaborate dress with soooo much beading with this crazy train, but once again, none of the dresses said this is it so I walked away.
Lotus Bridal – (Bay Ridge, Brooklyn)
What can I say about Lotus Bridal? Not much except the experience was not a good one. Before I traveled to the store, I called the store and made sure the store had dresses that I could try on. Imagine my surprise when as soon as I arrived, I was told that they had no dresses for me to try on. Yes! She told straight out that she didn’t think they could find anything that would fit me but she would try to find something. However, she didn’t seem motivated to do so. When we couldn’t find something for me to try on, she suggested I go to Alyssa’s Bridal.

Alissa’s Bridal
888 East 59th St
Brooklyn, NY 11234
(718) 531-0608
Alissa’s was great and very accommodating, especially since I didn’t have an appointment. When I told them about my experience with Lotus Bridal, the salesperson laughed and told me that I wasn’t the first person they sent to them. They had a nice selection of bridal gowns. The salesperson was extremely friendly. She helped me find my style and by the end of the day, I had found the dress - the one. They were very patient with me as I wanted to make sure the dress truly was the one. The salesperson made herself available so my aunts could come and take a look at the dress. And they too knew that the dress. The owner was nice and gave us a good price.
The dress came on time. I was even surprised by how quickly it arrived. I didn’t feel ready to go and try it on. But when I went to try it on, I was very pleased with my purchase. The dress still looked lovely. It was a San Patrick Barcino Gown from the Gold 2008 collection.

So on to the least favorite part, alterations…..

Alterations were not fun. And this is where the B- comes in. I had been working towards getting fit for the big day so by the time the dress had arrived I had lost some weight. The dress was a mermaid style. But when I tried it on, it looked more like an A-line. Nothing against the A-line style, but I had purchased a mermaid style dress. So naturally, I asked the seamstress to take it in so the style would be shown. There were also other parts of the dress that needed to be altered. Fast forward to the final fitting (or what became the final fitting), the dress still wasn’t fitting the way it was supposed to and I was getting a nervous. It also seemed as though the seamstress wasn’t taking note of my demands. All I kept hearing was if I was sure I wanted this and if I was sure I wanted that. I thought it would be obvious that these changes were necessary. But I was assured by the seamstress that the changes would not be problem and it would be taken care of. However, when it came time to schedule the final fitting the ladies refused to do so as they had their own schedule and despite their motto of making sure the Bride is happy, they were not going to change that schedule so I could try on the dress one last time. They emphatically told me that it was my last fitting. The dress needed to be pressed and they had a set time when the dress would be pressed and it couldn’t be changed for anyone. Not even me, the bride! I also wanted to try on the dress one final time in front of my mom as she was not able to make it to that fitting in time. My maid of honor tried to propose working around the seamstress schedule but the ladies would not budge. In the end, she said well the bride is not happy; which I wasn’t and I think that struck a chord. The owner was nice enough to allow me to try the dress on for my mother when she arrived at that fitting. The ladies also said that when I arrived to pick up the dress despite the fact that it had been pressed, they would slip the dress on so I could see the final effect. I wasn’t too pleased with that option but I decided to live with it. However, when I arrived that was not the case as I was told that I would not be able to try it on. I decided to let it go and take the dress without a final fitting. On the day of, the dress looked great although, it could have been a little tighter and the bolero was not as fitted as I wanted and had requested. Words of advice make sure you get in that final fitting before the big day.







Veil
My mom’s dressmaker made my veil. We bought the Tulle, floral border, and the comb from the Fabric District area and the dressmaker did her thing. It was very, very, very economical for the price that I was quoted for veils. I absolutely loved my veil…











Bridesmaids
Here come the Bridesmaids (www.bridesmaids.com)
213 West 35th Street, Suite 502, New York, NY 10001.
(212)647-9686 Tuesday through Saturday during business hours

I originally toyed with the idea of the ladies wearing Indian Saris but I thought this one shoulder number gave the effect I wanted with the exact rich burnt orange I was hoping for. The ladies at the store were helpful and they said it would take 12 weeks for us to get our dresses and it took exactly that time to get them. As you can see by now my favorite color is orange but my hubby wanted blue in there as well…I had no idea how it was going to work. Originally I was going to have my MOH wear the blue dress and have the other girls the orange. But the colors that they had for the orange was either too bright or too dull in other stores. My eyes caught this Jim Helm number and I knew this was the color I wanted to go with, but again when I saw the blue for the style and material of the dress, I had to scratch the blue. So in order to compromise we decided to have the flower girl dress in that beautiful shade of blue which complemented the orange perfectly. I also used blue for the favors, the card box, slipper basket, parts of the menu and my shoes!! 2 of my slimmer girls did not need alterations on their gowns at all, it came true to their size. My other 3 ladies; however, needed slight adjustments around the boob area and the hip that was done by a family friend who also made my veil.













The Groom & his guys
They were all custom made suits. Aren’t they fabulous! The only thing I did was purchase the tie from a store on 34th Street that sell silk ties for $10 each.
FM me if you want more info











Flower Girl
www.pinkprincess.com
They were affordable and shipped very fast….totally recommend them.
I know I am biased but she was the best flower girl! Look at her doing her job even though it can be very intimidating seeing all those people starting at you! Love her…she is like my hubbies daughter.







Photographer--Lia of Imagine Studios and her assistant Maria (www.imaginestudios.net)
This was one of the hardest thing to choose and we contacted soooo many people but in the end we decided on going with Lia b/c she seemed really personable and honest.
Here are some pics from our engagement shots we took at her home….


















Wedding DAY:
They arrived on time and were everywhere snapping away for the entire evening as she promised. Since my hairdresser was late it pushed back everything so we didn't get to take as much pics with me and the bridesmaids at my house or did we have enough time to take full advantage of the grounds at Westbury Manor for formals with just Kurt and myself. Also she missed some of the must-take photos that I asked for. Although she said I would get proofs in 4 weeks after our wedding, I didn’t get them until about 7 weeks. My only other complaint is that I wanted more journalistic and candid shots and I thought we would have had a lot more of those. I think there was some confusion on how I thought things would be done so just make sure you read and ask as many questions before you sign on that dotted line.

Update: Should be getting a proof of wedding album in Mid April.






















Videographer-- Pat of Golden Moments (updated as of March 30th 2010)(www.gmdsny.com)
Funny enough we originally were going to go with Halo Video and we were shopping around for Photography is how we stumbled upon him so to speak. We (I) didn't feel a connection with the photography guy of GM but we both fell in love with Pat's work and decided to go with him. He made us feel really comfortable and it is true, I even forgot that he was there until I see some amateur pics from friends and realized that he was all over the place.

However, I don’t really like his policy that all money has to be paid before we see anything at all. Not one vendor except the reception Hall and Florist...only because they have to order the food/flowers. Its been 8+ months and although I have nothing in my hand as far as the completed video, he appeased me with the raw footage since my mom was ready to take him to court. Again, although I don't have the 'real product' in my hand, we could NOT recommend Golden Moments Video b/c of their lack of business etiquette.

Limousine -- Diamond Limo (www.diamondlimony.com)
DO NOT BOOK THEM
We only visited one place in person and we (well my hubbie) liked what he saw and they seemed reasonable with the rates and getting the job done. However, on the day of we were suppose to have a 12 seater limo and they came with a 10 seater which caused problems for my mom and her friends...we had to do some switch with our Bridal Party limo. Because we got married in Brooklyn with the reception in LI and it was a weekday we had traffic and we went over the 3 hour limit. This I thought was in very poor taste but the owner Luis stood there hovering while we were taking our formal pictures saying we need to pay him the extra amount. Also we were suppose to get a pickup at the night that came 40 minutes later than scheduled. Yeah where is our money for the fact that you were now late???!!! But this comment took the cake for me when I asked why didn't you tell us that you thought we would go over the 3 hour limit, he said, 'Well you didn't ask.' Please be very careful with this company or stay clear. This was one of the vendors that I would not allow to ruin my day but please, please, please DO NOT BOOK THEM if you were thinking about it. I am only putting this pic up because my hubby loves this shot of us on the mercedes…what is it about men and cars! Lol





Florist ---
This was a painstaking process because I looove flowers and since we were doing a Indian theme we needed to have exquisite flowers. I contacted several places but I will highlight only 3 Marine Florist was too expensive and wanted to give lots of filler flowers.

Design by Rose This was my previous post about them that I am too lazy to rewrite:
“I recently had an experience with designs by rose that did not leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. i live in Brooklyn. And as you fellow brooklynites know, getting to li is not easy. i've found that my best way to contact vendors is via email or telephone. so far many of them have been more than accommodating. i had contacted designs by rose because they made the floral arrangements for my friend's wedding and i had been impressed with how fresh and colorful the flowers had been for her wedding. and my friend also said she got a great deal for her centerpieces. so naturally i contacted them via email to discuss my ideas and their prices. at first, they were nice and professional. but soon i started getting some unprofessional and (dare i say) snappy responses. i decided to brush them off as i knew from personal experience that they would deliver great quality work at a great price. but when i tried to make an appointment to come in and meet with them. i was told that my date was already on hold by another bride so she would not be able to do my wedding. i was crushed and a little surprised because we had been going back and forth via email regarding my centerpieces and the date was always in the subject of the email. And i thought the least they could have done was inform me that someone else was interested in my date. So i told them that if i had been informed of this beforehand because then i would have done my best to at least come in to meet with her. She returned my email by saying and I quote, 'I'm sorry but we never met nor did we have a date no less an interest or commitment. Not meeting and not talking to u how could I know some else would book.'
I was floored! i didn't expect her to put the date on hold for me but at the very least, she could have said something like there's another bride interested in your date; especially since my wedding date falls on a WEDNESDAY Not to mention the multiple emails and discussions regarding centerpieces....does that not account for interest in booking your services? i just thought everyone should be aware of designs by rose. they may give you quality work but you may not get quality service.”

Dyker Florist was too good to be true and it turned out to be. We went in originally and he seemed to have our vision of what we were looking for and said he could do it. I wanted a specific pedestal that he said he could get and would get it for me, but whenever we called we got the runaround until finally he got his hands on it or something. We went in for the sample and oh my goodness...it was horrible. I wish I took pics! The man tried to convince us that the DEAD flowers were not dead and his comment was, 'You only want it for a day so they will be fine.' I don't know if he thought me and my mom were idiots but we didn't walk out the store we RAN out the store.

Sharon Lange and Dalsimer Florist
576 Central Avenue
Cedarhurst, New York
Now for Sharon of Dalsimer Florist...ahhh Sharon she is eccentric indeed but she knows her stuff and is an artist. Initially we went with a totally original concept but then she called and said our original plan could not work and I needed to come in and start from scratch again. The reason she said it wouldn’t work was because as you can tell, my color palette was a orange and pink and what we originally used were hydrangeas that she spray painted orange but then later said that the spray paint would be too toxic for the guys in the back and wasn’t worth it. This is where I became discouraged and visited other florists. I’m not going to lie to you, there were times when she made me worry because I couldn't get in touch with her but in the end she came through. This was the second sample centerpiece we came up with….sorry they are a bit blurry.



My centerpiece was breathtaking....they were more beautiful than I imagined... the room looked so romantic gorgeous...The picture is not doing them justice and capturing it the day of. They called me on the DAY-OF because they switched how we originally had the crystals draped around the pedastals...and they were correct, it looked exceptionally more beautiful. We are still getting complements on them. We were suppose to have more petals around the base of them but that's alright...lol. The colors were vivid and they were certainly not dead! lol

I have a few critiques though; Kurt's bout looked really flimsy and did not stand out at all in my opinion. For the men, they placed baby’s breath around their bouts which I told them I didn't want any near the CP's but I guess they thought I wouldn't mind for the guys...um no. lol And I really wish they had told me they needed more fabric to cover the bridesmaids bouquet as well as for mine. I really HATED that the stems were exposed on all of them. To me it made them look cheap. (Ladies, I also made suggestions on where you can get fabric if you find that there isn't enough for you to use further below).






DJ -- Raphael of Music Mixed Intelligently DJ
It is true what they say, people might not necessarily remember the menu cards, the centerpieces, or the other details that you agonized over for months but they will definitely remember how much FUN they had! Raphael was the ONLY DJ we met and the only vendor we booked immediately without even seeing him perform so you know he must be good at what he does! I'm still getting comments on how good of a time it was; he even got my Maid of Honor's fiancé on the dance floor who NEVER dances! And yes the dance floor was packed all night and did I mention it was a WEDS night! And his voice is really nice too...not that annoying DJ crap that you may have experienced at other events. Very, very professional and he even helped us with the flow of the reception program. We had a Jamaican and mostly Christian crowd but Raphael listened and balanced it well so that I could hear all my Old school reggae songs that I love. He was our best vendor!! You don't need to see anyone else...run to him!!!







I especially love the people in the background getting down….that’s what’s up!!













Wedding Cake --- Erga Bakery
It was included in the Hall but we also went there for the tasting to choose the filling (apparently they don’t do tasting anymore…”scratches head). I don’t know what all the fuss is about but the cake was very, very moist and delicious. We had the yellow cake with fresh strawberries and vanilla pudding.
We gave Lily a copy of the cake we wanted her to duplicate and a swatch of the bridesmaids dress…



And although she said she couldn’t guarantee the burnt orange color it was perfect on the wedding day.





This was just too funny…check out my hubbys face when he first thought I was eating his piece…





Then he realized my plan and now is all smiles…lol




Grooms Cake – His MOM

My hubby is in love with planes so his mom made Kurts’ plane cake




For our first dance we wanted to do something with a twist…we started off dancing to “Dreams on Fire” by A.R. Rahman which is really dreamy and then almost at the end of it the music suddenly stops and our Bridal Party came rushing to the dance floor to do our version of “Jai Ho”! (all songs from Slumdog Millionaire) We had such a good time with it and I believe our guests enjoyed it as well…I guess that was a preclude that it was now party time…lol Here are some clips of us






And now for Jai Ho….









Lol…I think I forgot part of dance here…








Then we both danced with our parents:







Jewelry
Blue Nile (www.bluenile.com)
I know it might seem a little weird to purchase jewelry online but that’s what my hubbie did and it was perfect and you get more bang for your buck here as well. I also got my wedding band from them as well.


Kay’s (www.kay.com)
However, they didn’t seem to have a varied collection for me so we ended up getting his wedding band from Kay’s.




Aurora’s Beads and Jewelry
242 East 28th Street
212-779-1729
They were absolutely sweet (Mom and Daughter own the store) and everything is customizable to what you want. I knew I didn’t want any bling but something unusual because my dress already had lot of details, so my mom recommended this place. I decided to go with moonstone beads that are simple, elegant and unusual.




Petals Garden -- Silk Petals
www.petalgarden.com
Brian, the owner, was quick to answer our questions and the petals arrived in 3 days after they were ordered. They did have a slight weird smell to them but I just placed them in a huge garbage bag of scented candles and after a day or two they smelled lovely. But I wanted the aisle down the Church to be full with petals so I ordered from them and voila…



I also used them for the escort card table and the cake table.

Olga’s
2753 Nostrand Avenue
(Corner of Ave. N)
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210
(718) 338-2201
This is for all you busty ladies like myself . Well they have every size you could imagine and the ladies were very helpful in helping me to pick out a bra that held the girls in their place with no spillage!!

Invitations
www.indianweddingcard.com
I knew I wanted India-inspired invitations to set the tone for the wedding. I got free samples to help me narrow down what I wanted and I asked family and friends for their input as well. These guys were great! I must have gone through over 10 changes back and forth via email and each time they made the changes until it was finally perfect. I could not have been happier about our choice, we received several comments on them especially how unique they were.
Inner envelope:

Inside view:




And the final product…LOVE IT!!! ?





Registry
Bed Bath and Beyond
18th and 6th Ave
I must commend BBB for the service we received. Our attendant walked around the store with us and helped us choose all the things we missed and gave us some new ideas as well. She even called us a week later to see if she could help in any other way.

Macys just gave us the gun and that was it.



DIY items
For most of our DIY things, Microsoft Publisher 2007 was our best friend! Seriously!
Wedding Programs
I never really liked the mundane ceremony programs that people never really bothered to even look at so I knew I wanted to do something that was unique to us. I came across some options but nothing seemed more fitting than having a PLAYBILL like program that I changed to “WEDBILL”. My Hubby and I like the stage and in our spare time perform in plays so it made sense. Although it was a nightmare trying to get everyone’s information in on time for printing…(Not everyone will respect your time-line deadline…a fundamental lesson I painstakingly learned!) We designed it in Microsoft Publisher and it was WELL WORTH it in the end.













Calligraphy
I really didn’t want to spend extra money on the outer envelope especially since I knew people were just going to toss them but I wanted to also make them stand out, so I decided to do my own calligraphy. My husband got me Gold fine-point marker like pen and these were the first I did…they got better as I practiced. Oh I drew light lines with pencil so that I was able to keep a straight line.







Menu Cards



Letters
07.08.09 letters from AC Moore or Michaels and had some leftover white paint which I just used and painted the letters. I placed these around the cake table. I also go the “True Love” to use for the escort table that I used with the orange silk petals I bought.

Card Box
I really liked the photo cube box as a way to use our engagement pics but a good friend of ours had an idea to use them as a slideshow while the guests were waiting at the ceremony. It was beautiful. So since we wanted a way to bring in the cobalt blue and thought this would be a good way for it. We used some boxes that were just lying around. Got about 2 yards of material from NY Fabric District about ($6) and about 3 yards of trimming and of course the rhinestones for like $4. Also some fake flowers from Save-A-Thon I believe. I can’t take full credit for this, my hubby helped a great deal...we were a great team.



Petal Cones:
I just got a pack of plain white dollies from Jacks at 32th Street in Manhattan for $1 and filled them with the silk orange petals I got from Petal Garden. I placed them at the ends of the outgoing pew.



I guess these are some of our guests tossing them at the end…



Slipper Basket
We definitely wanted to incorporate this because too often I have been to so many weddings where I was basically barefoot because my feet hurt too much. I had a basket from my aunt and I waited till I was able to get Chinese Slippers for $1 each and bought around 30 of them….they were a huge hit…at first I think no one knew what to do with them so I asked my DJ to make an announcement and sure enough they were gone in 5 mins!



Toasting Flutes and Cake Knife:
For Christmas my MIL gave me some crystal flutes so we decided to make use of those babies and of course something else we didn’t have to pay for.





Website
www.momentville.com was quick and easy to do and you can also upload songs and video to it as well…very personal.

Fabric for Bridesmaids bouquet
Although I didn't think of this idea for my wedding...it came to me when my MOH was planning her wedding and didn't have enough fabric to wrap them. Instead of waiting for your bridesmaids scraps...you could to the Fabric District (my favorite lady is on 38th b/w 8th and 7th ave)..Just get 1/2 or 1 yard of the fabric you like...no more than $5 depending on the material and you are good to go. My MOH had us wear a magenta dress with silver shoes and we saw this fabric that was magenta and silvery that looked soooo amazing with the bouquet that was fuchsia and light pink....Yeah I wish I had thought of that sooner b/c I really loved how they turned out.


Shoes
I bought 3” platform white flip-flops for myself that I rarely wore for $10 from Victoria’s Secret. I actually wore my blue shoes that were actually not bad at all.

I went searching all over for cobalt blue open toe shoes and couldn’t find them anywhere with the height restriction of 3 inches or under. I started to give up and started just trying on ivory shoes and found the perfect pair….I brought them home and I was in love. Then I thought to just dye them to the color I wanted but with all the horror stories that I heard about rain and it not coming out good I was very skeptical but I dyed it anyway and I am super pleased that I did…another element of surprise that my hubby really enjoyed.




I loved seeing my peekaboo blue shoes…






Save the Dates
Vistaprint (www.vistaprint.com)
My hubby and I designed them and then uploaded to Vistaprint for them to print. Was quick, cheap and painless.








Favors (Black cake and sparkling cider):
I am not a big fan of these especially the ones where they have no use whatsoever and it just collecting dusts at my cubicle at work. But I was happy that my MIL said that she would make Black Cake for us and she also thought adding a small bottle of apple sparkling cider would go lovely with it and it did. Instead of it being an arm and leg, we got about 200 small apple cider bottles from Waldbaums or anywhere you could find them and basically covered the original label with our own label that his Mom created on Publisher for us, we printed on 2” X 4” stickers and we were good to go. …









Rehearsal Dinner
The Door Restaurant
16307 Baisley Blvd
Jamaica, NY 11434-2508
(718) 525-1083
The best Jamaican food this side of Brooklyn and Queens and the service is on point. Although we were really late because of the rehearsal at the Church, the service was still excellent and the food of course was excellent. You could also check them out for breakfast and afternoon brunch special on Sundays for their all you can eat (Well it is limited to 1.5 hours but you get my drift). But this way you can sample some of what they offer and at a reasonable rate including drink.

Hotels
LaQuinta and Holiday INN Express
Originally we made reservations for the Bridal Suite here and even blocked some rooms but then after the ceremony location changed from Long Island to Brooklyn, we obviously wouldn’t be needing that anymore. However, the rooms were fabulous from the tour that we received and there would have been our choice. In the end we ended up booking a Hotel that was close to JFK since we were flying out at the crack of dawn the next day. Seriously why on earth do most flights to the Caribbean leave so darn early in the morning?!?!

Were so pooped but soooo happy…part of our limo deal was for them to come and pick us up and take us to our hotel







Honeymoon
Excellence Riveria Cancun, Mexico
Majestic Elegance Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
This was another area in our planning that we ended up booking but decided against it. What was important to us after all this planning was definitely an All-inclusive place with steps away from the beach, a Jacuzzi in the room (for some reason this was a MUST! Lol), and a nonstop flight no longer than 4 hours. Simple right? Our first choice would definitely have been Jamaica or St Lucia but we are Jamaican and he proposed in St Lucia so we wanted to go somewhere different. Well we did our research and looooved the ERC and decided to give them a try, we were happy until the whole Swine Flu thing hit and even though we were fine going, our families were not too happy with the drug trafficking and now the swine flu just tipped it over the edge. I was sooooo disappointed because we were upgraded to a fantastic room and we were in the excellence club and all that jazz for a good price.
But in the end we decided to switch our plans with Expedia and although Expedia gave us most of our money back from the hotel, they did not refund us for the travel voucher we bought which I am still a bit upset about because it is not like we used the darn things and they got the cancellation fee too!

Since again we wanted similar amenities within our price range we decided to look into DR, some have asked why we didn’t do Excellence Punta Cana but the reviews I read were not as favorable so we decided to try somewhere different. This is where Majestic Elegance came in, we did not do the Elegance Club because it was not in our budget. Although the rooms were lovely, we felt the food was definitely lacking….very very very bland. The only thing we really enjoyed was breakfast and you can’t really mess that up I guess as well as the Japanese place you had to make reservations for. All the others were just wrong. We doubt we would visit DR again.

























Thank You Cards designed by our Photographer.
I just told her my pics and she designed and printed them for me…





Well I hope some of this information was helpful to someone b/c I learned so much from these boards and hope I do the same for someone. Thanks!

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Great review!!! I am also a WM bride and also using Raphael Gordon for DJ.

Can't wait to see some pictures.

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

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Posted by MC127

Great review!!! I am also a WM bride and also using Raphael Gordon for DJ.

Can't wait to see some pictures.

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Thanks...I'm actually trying to figure out how to upload the pics in the exact spot that I want to but have no idea how to...any idea?

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

which room did you have?

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Great review, I can't wait to see more pics! Why don't you try uploading them in your album. The copy paste them

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Did you visit In Full Bloom? We are thinking of booking with them. I have also met with Sharon, but am not sure about her yet. She extremely nice, but leaves me concerned as she seems to be overly detailed oriented. This may not seem like a concern but can be as you can be thrown in many directions. Anyway, just wanted to know your take...

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Great review. I hear that the best way to upload pics is to upload the pics to Photobucket and then post the links to the photos in the review. HTHs.

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

yea you added pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i feel WM confident that will take care of us :)

i love your date 7-8-9 ... like a countdown :)

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Fabulous!!! You looked so elegant!! Love the colors you chose and I especially love your bolero! Did it come with your dress or did you by it seperate. I may be interested in doing something like that for the church.

Congratulations!! Much happiness to you and hubby!

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

Wow! you're wedding was beautiful. Very detailed post. I found it very helpful since I'm also a WM bride and I'm going with a orange theme.

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

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Posted by Michy2009

Fabulous!!! You looked so elegant!! Love the colors you chose and I especially love your bolero! Did it come with your dress or did you by it seperate. I may be interested in doing something like that for the church.

Congratulations!! Much happiness to you and hubby!

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Thank you! Yes it came with the dress. It's a San Patrick Gown from his Gold 2008 collection.

Re: Our Unique Date(07.08.09) featuring Westbury Manor, Music Mixed Intelligently DJs, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang of Designer Florals, Allisa Bridal, Imagine Studios, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIY

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Posted by Bourne10

Did you visit In Full Bloom? We are thinking of booking with them. I have also met with Sharon, but am not sure about her yet. She extremely nice, but leaves me concerned as she seems to be overly detailed oriented. This may not seem like a concern but can be as you can be thrown in many directions. Anyway, just wanted to know your take...

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Hi...no I'm sorry we didn't visit Full Bloom. As far as Sharon....yes I too had concerns with Sharon...I think its because she is overly passionate and she has so many ideas about what she could execute and it made her seem kind of confusing. Don't worry in the end she did fabulous work for me and my MOH who got married about 6 weeks after me (Their bouquet was absolutely breathtaking). Our room was exactly how I pictured it..Sharon was a doll!

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pics!!

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Posted by Halo

which room did you have?

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we had the Manor Room...very warm and gorgeous!

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

great review! i really enjoyed reading it...you were a beautiful bride!

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

Well congratulation on such a beautiful day ,I loooooooooooooooved everything, you were so great with all of our details. BTW, I too am a LRBC Fan!!!!, SO we do have to meet one day. My day will be 7/17/2010 and I grew up there and now my daughter will as well. I would love to meet with you and maybe you can give me some good pointers such as the DIY card box and etc.....

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

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Posted by Tunkie

Well congratulation on such a beautiful day ,I loooooooooooooooved everything, you were so great with all of our details. BTW, I too am a LRBC Fan!!!!, SO we do have to meet one day. My day will be 7/17/2010 and I grew up there and now my daughter will as well. I would love to meet with you and maybe you can give me some good pointers such as the DIY card box and etc.....

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Hi...thank you! Such a small world...wow! Your face looks so familiar...your daughter is the spitting image of you. I'm usually in the sound room so you prolly will find me there. And sure if you have any questions just let me know.....I had such a great time planning our wedding and I actually miss it. Although it felt like a full-time job, it was the best job I ever and will ever have. lol So yeah if you have any questions or pointers...just let me know and I will assist in any way I can. Lataz.

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

wow everything looked amazinggg!! congrats to you!!

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

What a great review. I'm a Westbury Manor bride as well and it's great to hear a good review.

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

Great review, you looked beautiful!

Re: Our Beautifully Unique Wedding (07.08.09) with Westbury Manor, Imagine Studios, Golden Moments, Sharon Lang, Allisa Bridal, MMIDJs, Diamond Limo NY, Shereen N and lots of DIYs and new uploaded pi

Congrats to you and hubby! Beautiful wedding! The family looks sooo involved..Plus on the dance floor EVERYONE was getting down! i love to see that....

Congrats again