UPDATED AGAIN WITH LINK TO ENTIRE PENNYLANE VIDEO!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wind Wedding! LONG! Velvet Studios, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

ETA:

We just found out that our wedding trailer placed third in an international film competition!!!!

How awesome is that!!! I can actually say that I have an award winning wedding trailer!!! SOOO cool! Third in the world!!!!!

Check out 'same day trailer' on the pennylane video link below!!!



Pennylane added our entire wedding video to our spot on his blog!! It is UNREAL and it's so awesome to be able to share with family and friends that don't live near us!!!

This link has our Trailer, Highlight and all of the video!! Take a peek!!

SO- we finally got our video from Pennylane-- OH MY GOD!!! It is unreal and we cannot stop watching it!!

Our Wedding Highlight by Pennylane

Adam & his crew are AMAZING! Here is a link to his blog-- check it out!!

Our Wedding Highlight by Pennylane

If you do go see Adam-- tell him that you saw him on Amy's review!!


ETA: (original review starts below album layout)

Hi girls-- so I know this is awful but we STILL have not chosen our photos for our album!! It's just too overwhelming because we love ALL of the photos!! But, Bob from Velvet made up a sample album to have in the shop and show clients and they sent me the layout. One day FH and I will sit down and pic out the pics... lol... but for now, here's a look at what Velvet's album could look like:





































Alright- I've been struggling with the pics but I really wanted you all to see them!!

If they're not working now I TOTALLY give up... and if you're having trouble they're in one of my albums sort of in the same order as I posted them.

ENJOY :)


From the start I was all over LIweddings! I was on all the time, posting, reading and participating in all of the fun topics. As the wedding planning progressed DH and I were more and more busy with work and our house and I posted less and less. I still always lurked around on LIweddings, mostly looking for ideas and advice—and the posts that I found most helpful were reviews! Every time I went to see a new vendor I would come home and search them on LIweddings. I used reviews as a major tool every step of the way and promised myself that even if I hadn’t posted in a year I would write a detailed review to hopefully help some brides plan their big day! I’m posting TONS of pics, because that was always my favorite part about reading bride’s reviews! Ok…here I go…

**Please note that I used some non pro pics to show events and items prior to the wedding day—but ALL of the WEDDING pics that I used in this post are by VELVET STUDIOS!**

It’s a long list…. But here are our vendors and projects in review.

Save the dates (magnetstreet.com)
We used an engagement photo from Velvet for our STD. They were very helpful and the magnets were a huge hit!



Bridal Shower

My shower was absolutely AMAZING!! Back in January before the wedding I met with my mom, step mom, MIL and BP and had a little pow wow to toss around ideas! I wasn’t allowed to know much…but I mentioned a few things that I would love—including a pink and black theme, and umbrella favors. The rest was up to them but I had such extremely high expectations!! The shower was at the Irish Coffee Pub in the Waterford Room—BEAUTIFUL!! When I say that my shower was perfect—that is the only way to describe it. It was even better than I had dreamed—my whole BP and moms did an amazing job and I will be forever grateful!


me and BP


me with my hat and lingerie!




Me and Moms



table #’s and CPs


table with place cards, wrapped umbrella favors, framed invitation and pics of me and DH!!



me and DH before making his exit….




umbrella favors!! The pink logo on the right is on each one of them—then on this one they kept it out and open and left paint pens out for all guests to sign!! See below for the end result….





how cute!! I LOVE it! People were RAVING about my shower! It was perfect- THANK YOU GIRLS!!!

Bachelorette Party A+++

We had a pre-party at my MIL—yes, my mom, step mom and MIL were all there! It was a naughty party, I think they were more freaked out than I was by all of the penis talk! Haha! It was fun to include them though! Then us girlies headed off to the city in the Excursion Limo from Serenity- EDDY IS THE BEST! We went to 2 clubs in the city—danced, partied and had an awesome time!! I had shirts made for all of my girls and we all wore them that night—I know, I’m SUPER tan in these pics, I was working so hard to get rid of old tan lines. I was really dark a few weeks before the wedding, but once I had the tan lines disappear as much as I could I stopped tanning!





Did I mention we had a good time in the limo….





DH is a soccer player- so my sister Ally made little soccer penis cupcakes with soccer balls in an interesting position…haha.




Shirts: Attias Flea Market—booth in the BACK! Not the one that is in the main part, you have to go to the left when you’re in the building—he’s AWESOME!


Back: had the date:



Front had MOH, BM or Bride:



Shot of the Bling that he put on mine—LOVED it!!



Invitations DIY
After flipping through many invitation books I soon realized that if I wanted the invitation of my dreams I was going to have to figure out a way to make them myself because they were way out of our budget!! After a lot of trial and error and lots of samples from various paper companies we decided to go with a 7x7 pocket fold invitation. The pockets, envelopes and blue cardstock were all purchased from notfromabox.com. The rest of the cardstock was purchased locally.


Here is the center fold of the invite- it was a beautiful pocket fold that unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of! I only brought the center with me for pictures that day and I guess I never took any myself!





And here are some non pro pics of how the whole invite looked:

Invite closed with belly band and inner envelope:



outer envelope—


Here are some of DH helping—he was incredible throughout this process- I could not have done it without him! The two of us did the whole project together—the only help we got was stuffing the envelopes!








Rehearsal dinner

Our rehearsal dinner was held at Shandon Court in East Islip—we had a great time!! We had live music, which was a nice touch and got to really party with our bridal party. We chose to have our rehearsal 2 weeks before the wedding—we knew that we didn’t want the rehearsal the night before, because we wanted to party… and the Friday before our wedding was Halloween, so we chose 2 Friday’s before. The service could have been a bit better- I was not crazy about the maitre d’, she was all over me at all times, asking me silly questions and gave me a really hard time about the musicians eating. I had 2 less guests than the minimum, so did not see why they couldn’t eat? She was just on the annoying side and I could have lived without her- lol—everything went fine though!



YUM… cake from Black Forest Bakery!! We knew that the chances were good that we wouldn’t remember to enjoy our wedding cake, so we had the exact cake that was at our wedding….2 layers of chocolate cake, one layer of yellow cake, one layer of chocolate ganache and one layer of white chocolate ganache…. Again I say, YUM!



DH and I giving out gifts!



DH and I exchanged wedding gifts that night in front of everyone!! It was a last minute decision but it was so much fun to share with our family!! I got him 16th row tickets to a Giants game (he’d never been before) and he got be GORGEOUS diamond earrings! The cutest part was the way he gave them to me…. The first gift that he ever gave me was a Kim Anderson figurine, and he has given them to me over the last few years as well. So this time he gave me one and as I turned it over look what was there!






Bridal party gifts:
We had so much fun shopping for gifts for our bridal party… they did so much for us throughout the whole wedding planning and we really wanted to take this time to thank them!

For the groomsmen- we got them each an engraved money clip/swiss army knife, socks that said “groomsman,” “Best Man,” etc. - Unfortunately, no photos were taken of the socks ? (but if you look closely during our trailer from Pennylane there is a quick shot of DH’s! They were very cute though, I made them myself ? We also gave them a set of 6 pint glasses each- we had these custom made and bought about 50 of them- so we could give sets to all of the guys and have some keepsakes for ourselves!

Thingsremembered.com:


Discount Mugs.com:



For our moms—That’s MOB, MOG and Step MOB—we got each of them a necklace and earring set to go with their outfit:

MOG: Macys-- Freshwater tri color chocolate pearl hanging earrings- we got her a chocolate pearl necklace too, but she had it turned into a bracelet



MOB: Teardrop pearls in sterling silver—very David Yurman… but we got them at BJs! Woohoo! The necklace was a pendant just like the earrings, this is the best photo I can find-



StepMOB: BJ’s-- White Pearls



We also got my step mom a beaded hand bag to go with her dress—and to make our moms feel special we got them nosegay holders for their flowers for the wedding day.

ExclusivelyWeddings.com:



My Mom’s boyfriend is a big part of our lives, so we got him monogrammed cufflinks as well as a set of the pint glasses

FOG- we gave him FOG cufflinks, a set of pint glasses and a Citizen Watch, engraved: With All Our Love, Mike & Amy 11-7-08

Groomsmen.com:



FOB- FOB cufflinks, a set of pint glasses and a Citizen watch, engraved: Remember the Day you gave her away… 11-7-08 He was BAWLING!

ExclusivelyWeddings.com:




Bridesmaids:
We gave each bridesmaid a black pashmina, and a personalized tote bag. Inside the tote were coach bags:






One of my MOH’s was so excited that she started to change bags right there…lol- see the girl on the right:



haha:



Now for the day of…. I’m going to start with Velvet since you’re going to see their work throughout this entire review:

Velvet Studios thevelvetstudios.com A++++++++++++++++++

We were 100% about using Bob from Velvet even before we set our wedding date! We booked Bob and gave him a deposit before we even decided on a venue!! When we found places we liked, we’d call Bob and make sure that the dates weren’t booked- he pretty much drove the whole planning process for us! We fell in love with Bob’s work from the first time we saw it. On our wedding day we had Bob, the owner, Jeanne, his wife, and Brittney, his niece all taking photos. Bob was the main photog while Jeanne and Brittney took candids and photojournalism. They had such a great dynamic between the three of them- it was seamless!

Our wedding photos are UNREAL. We could not be happier. Velvet captured every moment, every emotion, just EVERYTHING. We especially loved the variation in the angles of the shots—we could have one pose where we loved the straight on shot, then another where we loved that the camera angle was off to the side. They are amazing.

Bob got along great with ALL of our vendors- which was HUGE, he and Adam from Pennylane were feeding off of eachother, one would suggest a shot and the other one would be all over it—they just gelled so well that it never felt awkward, never felt like they were competing for the shot—they just fed off of each other’s vibe.

Velvet is really the reason that this review has taken so long. We have so many incredible photos that it is next to impossible to narrow them down! We have OVER 2500 PROOFS!! And each one is more amazing then the next. We knew that Velvet would be amazing, and we couldn’t be happier.

So while I will use some shots to show you items and other vendors—while you browse through my review take a look at some of the emotion that they captured and the sheer beauty of the day. We will cherish these pictures always- and Velvet was one of the best decisions that we made!


Dazzling Affairs- A++++++++++ (this is a long one…. And I could say more- she was too amazing for words!)

Ok- so I am a control freak—this I know!! I planned every detail of our wedding, so it was no surprise that my DH—along with many others, didn’t understand why I wanted a DOC for our wedding. They all felt that it was a waste of money. I stuck to my guns and insisted on a DOC. I knew that the only way for me to relax and enjoy the day of the wedding was for me to have someone that I could trust to make sure that every detail was executed. Well, boy did Francesca fit that bill! I have to truly say that Francesca was the absolute best choice that we made. And that is not to down play any of the other vendors, but I know that with out Francesca to bring it all together, nothing else would have mattered.

From the second that Francesca arrived on my wedding day a huge weight was lifted. She took care of every tiny little thing you could think of. Applied lip gloss, sprayed Bianca in my mouth, placed a bobby pin, held my dress, arranged my train—the list is ENDLESS. We had entirely changed our processional from the rehearsal, and Francesca made sure that when she got to the church that everything went without a hitch.

When we got to the EW we had time to go up to the room and DH was able to take a shower and put on a clean shirt- he felt like a million bucks! While he did that I sat on the floor as Francesca SCRUBBED my dress to get every teeny tiny little grass stain out. She then proceeded to steam my entire train—DH walked into the room to find me sitting on the floor with champagne in my hands while Francesca was on her hands and knees!!

I found out after the wedding that the Harp that we had for the Ch was running late—I never even knew it! And you can bet that if I had known I would have been freaking out.

I swear, one of the reasons that I loved my wedding day so much is that I never worried, never thought about a detail, never obsessed about anything. Like I said, I’m a control freak—I am a project manager for a living- which is really better described as professional control freak! Lol! And that one day in my life had no worries of control. She truly made our wedding day what it was.

DH SWEARS by Francesca to everyone—people think he’s crazy- but he saw how we were able to enjoy the day because of her- and how every detail that we planned was executed without our having to think about it. And just to further solidify for you how amazing she is… my sister (Pandafish519) is getting married in May. Well on our way home from our last meeting with Francesca, I called her and told her how amazing she was and that she should really think about booking her. At that point DH had already decided that Francesca was the best thing ever after she asked us some questions about what we want that we NEVER would have thought of! Well my sister said no way, she’s too expensive, I’m not doing that, I don’t need that…. I came home from our honeymoon to find out that my sister booked Francesca 4 days after my wedding! OK!? Does that tell you something?!!

Seriously, if I could give one piece of advice to any bride it would be to book a DOC- you will be so glad you did. And no one is better than Francesca!

She didn’t make it into that many shots—but here are some cameos….



Here’s Francesca doing my bustle… see below, it had 21 points!!



Check this one out, Francesca’s assistant Diana is trying to help me hold it together, while Francesca looks on (probably wondering if she’s going to have to take out the smelling salts…lol I was totally hyperventilating – this was right as I was about to walk down the aisle!) And while I’m showing you this for Francesca and Diana, my favorite is Eddy (of Serenity) cracking up at my female hysterics… lol!



and if this doesn’t show commitment to her profession, I don’t know what does…. This is Francesca helping me put my shoes on (I had switched to slippers) right before the garter…. This picture totally cracks me up!




Video- Pennylaneprod.com A++++++++++++++++++++++

WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE!!!!!!!!!!! We had another videographer booked for almost 2 years before our wedding, and suddenly one morning I woke up and felt like it wasn’t the right choice. DH wasn’t thrilled about losing our deposit, but he said we could start looking and see if anyone else was available (this is about 4 months before the wedding!)

We met with Adam and that was it! It wouldn’t have mattered how much he was, because we were going to make it work! We just knew that if we didn’t have him that we’d always regret it! DH and Adam got along GREAT—it felt like we were hanging out with an old friend!

We decided to go with the one camera package for budget reasons- and we were going to add a trailer and highlight reel to the final package. We saw a Same Day Trailer, but at first weren’t wowed by it- it was a beautiful trailer, but just didn’t stand out to us, so we passed it up. It wasn’t until about 2 weeks before the wedding when we went to go make our final payment that we asked Adam if he had any footage of OWG inside the mansion (I was having anxiety that it was going to rain!) He happened to have on his screen a same day trailer that he had done weeks before at OWG which was much more dramatic in nature than the last one we’d seen- we watched the whole thing on his laptop—and as the OWG portion passed he went to turn it off and DH and I were like- WAIT just a minute…. And he let it play out. Well that was it, we were totally sold. DH actually said out loud- Adam, I don’t care how much that is, we have to have it. So that Monday I emailed Adam and told him that I wanted to use the song O’Fortuna from Carmina Burana, I actually thought it was cliché, but he said he had never used it before and was excited to try it!

We kept it a TOTAL secret—no one knew!! We already had 2 plasma screens from our DJ, but we wanted one more so that everyone could see! We booked another plasma and it was the BEST little secret that DH and I had!! All through out the day Adam kept coming up to us saying- IT’S GOING TO BE SICK, YOU HAVE NO IDEA! We were so psyched!! After we cut the cake, we sat down in 2 chairs on the dance floor and there it was! The entire room was DEAD silent. He absolutely blew people away. No one has stopped talking about it, we can’t stop watching it, and we CANNOT wait until the actual video is complete! All I can say is if he can do this in 6 hours- can you IMAGINE what can be done in 6 months?!

Adam turned out to be one of our FAVORITE vendors—he totally rocks. His team is so professional and so extraordinarily talented, it’s not even funny! They are the absolute best!!

So, take a look—but make sure that you let it load all the way, and that your speakers are up.
Link to our same day trailer:

OUR SAME DAY TRAILER!!!

DH and I watching the Trailer:





Right when it ended…



Getting Ready Location: Hauppauge Hyatt A+

The night before we dropped everything off at the Hyatt and checked in. DH, along with some groomsmen stayed in an executive suite on the 5th floor and me and my girls were in the Hospitality suite. It was perfect! The Hyatt brought in 2 cots and between the two rooms all 6 of us slept in beds! We moved things around in the suite that morning to make room for everything, we were never crowded and at one point we had up to 15 people in the room including hair, make up and vendors! The cool part was that our vidieographers, photographers and DOC were able to go back and forth between both rooms and take photo/video and make sure everything was on track! It was perfect!

Guys in the executive suite:



All of my getting ready photos are in the Hospitality suite and adjoining room

Getting Ready Attire: Hoodie A++

My sister Ally, one of my MOH’s got be my hoodie… it was perfection!




Rings- Eli’s Jewelry- A++++

FH bought my engagement ring from a friend of mine’s husband who was in the diamond industry. We sort of lost touch with them over the years, and he had actually done a favor by setting my ring as he usually deals in just loose diamonds, so we went to someone else for our wedding rings. DH got a plain white band with some beading on it. I wanted to wear my rings on separate hands, since I wanted a band shaped wedding band, but that wouldn’t go with my engagement ring- so my wedding ring has 7 emerald cut diamonds prong set across—I love it!








Bridal Gown: Paradise Bridal

Patty at Paradise was great—I she was so patient as I tried on DOZENS of dresses. I knew what I wanted, but just couldn’t seem to find the PERFECT dress… I started looking right after we got engaged, then stopped for a few months and went for round two. Even though I knew I would buy my dress at Paradise, I wanted to go to other shops to see what was out there. One night at The wedding center in Commack I found a the dress that I loved—finally!! But, TWC was the only shop in NY to have a sample of my dress! I didn’t know what to do because I wanted Patty’s opinion, so she offered to meet us at TWC to see me in the dress!! She came there and we pretended she was “Aunt Patty” while I tried my dress on!! The second she saw it on me I looked at her in the mirror behind me and she just nodded YES! She was incredible throughout all of the shopping and fittings and I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else. Make sure you ask for PATTY! My Seamstress was Celia and she was pure genius. My dress had an incredibly long train with a French bustle. She made the most incredible bustle I have ever seen, it had 21 points, it took one of my MOH’s Ally dozens of practice runs… but I never saw anything more beautiful!

My dress was a Mon Cheri Couture by Sabrina Toy. I had it cut in raw silk- and it was incredible. The fabric felt so amazing and it had the most beautiful sheen to it. It had a long, gorgeous cathedral length train that had a 7 point bustle for a chapel train. I wore the cathedral length for the ceremony and pictures, the chapel length train for the cocktail hour, and then the full 21 point French bustle for the reception. It was truly the dress of my dreams!










Cathedral Train:




Chapel Train:




And fully bustled… I still get chills when I see it…





Bridesmaid’s dresses: David’s Bridal A

I originally wanted a black and pink color scheme, but one day browsing through a David’s Bridal catalogue I saw this blue and black combination and fell in love! I loved the idea of putting my guys in blue vests too because DH has the most amazing blue eyes! I let the girls try on all different versions of this color combo (it’s a 2 piece with a sash) They settled on this one and I couldn’t have been happier! None of them had their alterations done at DB—and I think because it was a 2 piece it was much easier to buy the right size- the most anyone had done was a hem! Oh and the night before the wedding, in the hotel suite everyone put on their tops and sashes and one of my MOH’s tacked the sash in place so that they wouldn’t fall down during the night! (I highly recommend, they looked amazing and totally uniform all day!)








Tuxedo: Paradise Bridal, Patchogue C- for service and accuracy, A for looks day of

Ok, so this was a bit of a nightmare. Suffice it to say that I only had ONE of all of the groomsmen/dads whose tux fit. EVERYONE else had issues, pants too short, shoes too small, vest too big, shirt wrong color—nightmare!! DH put his vest on and they had ordered a XXXL!!! It was ENOURMOUS!! And backless because at that size they just put the vest with a buckle in the back- I was so mad! And we had ordered 2 shirts for him that day- no second shirt!! In the end, the manager of the tux counter drove the extra shirt to the house of the owner of Serenity (our limo) and DH’s shirt came with the limo! They redeemed themselves in the end by doing that for us, but it was pretty nightmarish. (I thought this was isolated to Paradise, but DH and I were in his brother’s bridal party just last week and they used Men’s Warehouse and still had nightmares! Nothing fit DH, or my FIL, and the groom went 2 days before to pick up his tux and they didn’t have his name in the computer or anything!! Nothing had been ordered!! So maybe it’s just tuxes in general…) They looked great in the end, but buyer beware—Go a week early to try everything on so that there is time to order replacements!!!



MOD, MOG and SMOB Gowns: Paradise Bridal Patchogue A+

Everyone was extremely happy, they all looked gorgeous and no complaints here!

MOB—my moms had a beautiful train in the back that the seamstresses at Paradise did a very pretty, short bustle for. She loved it and so did I:


My Step mom found her dress on the second or third try!! Love it…:


My MIL didn’t have that luck- she must have tried on a hundred dresses! But in the end she looked amazing:





Headpiece: Paradise Bridal Patchogue
It was perfection:

Pearl Hair Pins- Attias Flea market: since I have dark hair I felt like my curls got lost, so I had pearl hair pins that had little rhinestones on them-




Garter- Irish Lace, from my MIL



Veil: Barons at Tri County A+
I knew I wanted a cathedral length veil, but all of the ones that I was looking for at paradise were over $400 each! I just wanted a raw edge and I couldn’t see paying that much for a raw edged piece of tulle that I was only going to wear for pictures! So I went to Barons and she did a 16ft cathedral length veil with a removable blusher for under $100!!! It was gorgeous, and the blusher was beautiful too, I actually wore the blusher to the cocktail hour and for the pictures right before so that I had the look of a veil but didn’t have the 16” of fabric trailing behind me!






One of my favorite wedding photos actually involves my veil…


Shoes: Macy’s A+ for Price B for comfort!
I accidentally stumbled across these while shopping for bridal party gifts. They were originally $80 or so and they were marked down to $30! I didn’t know if they were the right color or not, but I figured they were in the right ball park and for that price I couldn’t pass them up. I took them up to the register and they rang up for $20!! OMG! They were the last pair- floor sample- so I asked for another 10% off and I got it—they cost $18! Great find!!








I also had flip flops that my mom bought me for OWG- and thank God or I would have been sinking into the grass!




Flowers- Me A+, With All my Heart C

I knew early on that I wanted to do silk flowers, I wanted to be able to keep my flowers forever! When I was first shopping there was no real difference in price between silk and fresh- but still I wanted the keepsake. I found some bo-k’s for BMs that I thought I liked online- save-on-crafts.com. I purchased a few of them to see what I liked, and fell in love with one! I sent the rest back and ordered all of my BM boks from there… Here’s the kicker…I got them on an INSANE sale and they were $6 EACH!!!! OMG! I was freaking out!! I brought them all to With All My Heart and had them beef up the stems and wrap the to match the dresses.

WAMH gets a C for me because I told them that all boks were silk, and all corsages/boutonnières were fresh. However, that day they show up with fresh nosegays for my moms. Not a big deal- unless you read the above where one of the gifts that we gave them was a holder so that they could keep them forever! I emailed WOMH after the HM and they gave me a hard time, and suggested that I pay for them. I was not happy at all. I also had an issue with the boutonnières- except for my DH, they were all falling apart. My BILs barely made it to the church! I was not happy with those either. So pretty much A+ on my bok, my Bms BoKs and DH’s bout—but on the rest, definitely a C.





DH’s Bout—it was beautiful and matched my bok perfectly!






Hair HairsculptingbyRenee.com A+

Renee was the best! I found her through Pat Craig on a vendor post, and we hit it off immediately! I was really unsure of what I wanted and she did so so many trials with me!! I wasn’t sure about up , half up, down etc. And we went through so many trials to see what would work the best! Every time I’d show her a picture she’d do exactly what I was looking for—I just never loved the styles on me! In the end I fell in love with an all up style, but during the trial I didn’t have enough hair to fill it all out the way I wanted to— I looked for human hair extensions but they were so pricey that I wasn’t crazy about it— All on her own Renee found extensions on eBay, bought them for me and dyed them to match my hair for me— I paid exactly what the eBay charge was, and she did all of the rest for free! Renee also brought 2 other girls with her the day of my wedding so that all 9 women could get ready in a decent amount of time! I know for sure that Renee will be at every one of my sister’s weddings—she is awesome and really knows her stuff!





One of my sisters with my hair extension! Lol!




Make up Pat Craig A+

Pat did a great job. I had done a trial with another make up artist and wasn’t feeling it. I find that make up artists tend to be afraid to put too much make up on you because so many girls want the natural look. I like to wear make up- and went so far as to show her pictures of Kim Kardashian to show that I am not afraid of wearing heavy eye make up etc.! My trial went great and Pat did a great job at the wedding. She also did make up and eyelashes for the moms and they were very happy!







Limo- Serenity Limousines—A+++

We LOVE Eddy from Serenity! He was the driver for my bachelorette party and we had a great time! He was also the driver for the Rolls Royce that took me and my Dad to the church, and then DH and I to OWG. He was so cute—at one point my dad was sayinFFg all of these emotional things—and we were getting choked up- well after the wedding Eddy was like- Amy, your dad had me tearing up! And I NEVER tear up! Lol! He was great!! Take a look at the photo above under Dazzling Affairs to see Eddy helping to keep me calm before my walk down the aisle! We had the Rolls and the party bus. Both were great and I highly recommend. We particularly loved that in the bus there was enough room for us to move around and spend time with the BP and our parents! We’ve used Serenity for other parties and weddings since, and for our family, Serenity is totally a household name!


Just married banner that was in the window when we came out!




Me and my dad in the rolls:



Party Bus:


Inside Party bus:



Church- St. Patrick’s in Bay shore A++++
Oh My gosh—I couldn’t have been happier—the church was amazing. Msgr Jim Vlaun did our ceremony and he was amazing- everyone was truly touched by the things that he said!! The wedding ladies that work at St. Pats are not the nicest—but my DOC, Francesca took care of them!! Thank God!! It was beautiful- not enough words to describe!!















On the church lawn:






Ceremony music- The Royal Brass A
Last minute decision—we had someone booked that we decided to change. Roger was great- the music was beautiful!

Bubbles: AC Moore A+





Programs an Cry Packs: DIY A+
Our ceremony was at noon on a Friday, so we did not expect many guests at the church—but boy were we wrong! We made about 50 programs and about 40 cry packs and they were all gone!! Here is a photo of the program—the cry packs were gone before the photogs got to the church!




Pew Bows- DIY A

I had plans of these being more beautiful… but I just ran out of time and patience as we got closer!! They were pretty though







Photo Location: OWG A-

OWG was beautiful! We lucked out with an amazingly warm November day! I definitely recommend you and your girls bringing flip flops like we did, so we weren’t sinking into the grass! The reason I give an A- is because there was another bride walking around unescorted, which really bugged be because we paid a lot for the site fee and had a strict escort with us, yet there was a random bride in some of my pictures! I was not happy about that! Everything else was great though…. Velvet is INSANE…I love every shot!!!!!!























East Wind A+

EW was amazing. We fell in love with it from the start. The whole reception was perfect. We had DIY CP’s, votive place cards, favor boxes, favor notes, menus, slipper baskets, restroom baskets, air fresheners for the valet to put in the cars—and so much more. We dropped it all off the day before and everything was in the perfect place when we arrived. It sounds so silly but an issue with the EW was that I became friendly with one of the BMs (or at least I thought we were friends) and in the end I think that worked against me. The big thing that bothered me was confetti—DH and I wanted to have confetti cannons and unlike most people, we asked if we could. We were told no- and told that if we had done it without asking that the GM would have stopped it anyway. It was sort of a big deal because we really wanted it— I wasn’t going to have the DJ’s sneak it in- I’m just not like that. Anyway so we get back from the honeymoon and check out the video trailer of the bride that got married in the room the next night and she had confetti! It just sort of gave me a reality check that we weren’t really friends like I thought we were, and I was really upset that it was such a big deal for me, and someone else had it. It sort of had the whole relationship ending on a sour note—but it was more personal than involving the East Wind. My advice would be not to be friendly with everyone, sometimes I guess it can work against you because people feel more comfortable telling you no when you are friendly.


One of my other issues with EW… we went to their house bakery and asked for our cake and the bakery wanted to charge a TON of money— this is a super simple cake so I didn’t understand why he was charging so much. I went to Black Forest and they wanted less than half of what the EW house vendor wanted… which was great. I let the EW know and they only gave us $1.00 per person! That’s $175! I felt like it was really unfair that I either had to go with their bakery who was completely price gouging, or get only $1 per person- meaning that their regular cakes only cost $175? I think not… It seemed unfair to me, but I wasn’t going to be strong armed into paying another $600 to their house vendor! I mean, I understand if you want to encourage me to use your house vendor, but your house vendor is charging double the going price! I wasn’t happy with that either- in the end I went elsewhere for my cake and took the measly $175 credit and my cake turned out beautiful! See below…

The Food was great- everyone raved about it! The dance floor was roomy and the bridal suite was HUGE! Everything about the EW was amazing. We Highly recommend—

Dh and I were so emotional when we first saw the room. We both got choked up:





EW at night…




DJ/Live Music- Fusion—A++++

Fusion was AWESOME! Another vendor that we knew we were using even before the date was booked! We Immediately bonded with John and Manny and knew we wanted them there on our wedding day. They are so different from any other Live/DJ combo—because they don’t actually play the sax and percussion OVER the song, they actually take the song into the studio and take out the brass and percussion tracks and truly play LIVE! We had their theatrical lighting package, 2 plasma screens, zap shots, a live feed camera on the dance floor and the DJ plus live. The set up looked like a band, but we had all live artists singing! Everyone loved the zap shots and we loved all of the candids that we got! Fusion gave us the DC pith all zap shots that night and we were looking at them all through our honeymoon! They are awesome—everyone partied the entire night- My feet were swollen for DAYS from all of the dancing that we did!

If anyone asks me or DH if we had a good time at our wedding, we can just show them this photo—this is us at the end of Summer Lovin’ I don’t even know HOW my body did this….:





One of my MOHs getting serious air during SHOUT!







me during my favorite song… It’s raining Men!






Me, My sisters and my dad during Rock Lobster…Yeah Air Synthesizer—lol!








Place cards- DIY A+

I fell in love with this idea from the first time I set eyes on it—everyone loved it. And people said that watching people walk into the room with their candles was beautiful, they were a huge hit!






we made little letter signs so that it was easier to find the place card:

Center Pieces- DIY A+

As you can see from the above, I’m not a fresh flower fan. DH is allergic to a lot of flowers and I don’t like the smell of many myself. I knew I wanted high CP’s because the room had such high ceilings. I found these floor standing candle holders online and fell in love! We bought fabric to match our colors that we put on the tables and the Cp’s looked beautiful!

Look at how the room GLOWED!!



another one of my favorite shots…. I always thought I wanted that one where he’s dipping me in the empty room- but dh and I were just standing there and Bob said- Look at me! And he took the shot—he walked over to me and he said “now THAT is a shot….” And showed me the pic on his camera screen!! I love it!1 It’s such GENUINE emotion and joy on our faces and it’s not planned at all… God, I just LOVE Bob from Velvet and his team…



They used some extras on the slipper and wish card table too…




Cake- Black Forest Bakery A+

I am a cake decorator myself, so while I knew that cake was important, I also knew that if I wanted something detailed that I was going to nit pick it!! So, I decided to go another direction and do something super simple. I saw this cake on another LIW Bride’s review and loved it. It had blue flowers that went with our theme so this was the cake for us! It was delicious and everyone raved about it!






Toasting Flutes and Cake Topper- Lenox, Macys A+







Table Numbers- DIY

They were simple and didn’t over power the table, I actually found a font that looked like a stamp—so that’s what I used along with a corner punch and some left over cardstock from my invites. I found the easels online for $0.33 each!! Yippee!




Card Box- DIY

Loved my card box…


Slipper Baskets- DIY and China Town! A+

I know that these were done a lot, but my wedding was the first in my family and my DH’s- so I knew it would be new to almost everyone that we had attending! They were a huge hit!



Favors- In Favor of a Cure by Kate Aspen A+

DH and I were tossing around all kinds of ideas for favors for such a long time. We ordered samples and saw things that we liked, but nothing that really stood out for us. When the summer before our wedding his Aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer we knew that this was the way we wanted to go. We bought these boxes from Kateaspen.com and filled them with pink and white M&Ms (a portion of the proceeds go to the breast cancer foundation) and we made a donation as well.


From website:



Menus DIY



Air Freshener- makesperfectsents.com A+

We wanted to leave a lasting impression with our guests, so we had air fresheners made that the valets hung on the rear view mirror of every car. They were so cute—and don’t worry, we kept them in their plastic wrapper so that the scent wouldn’t bother anyone that didn’t want to open it! The bag of extras got lost somewhere—but here is the proof- they were so cute!




Here are a few more Velvet shots, some of our favorites and some to show the sheer emotion that they captured. Every photo is precious to us, and we love the amazing shots with the perfect back drop and the perfect smile, or kiss…. But these photos will always be special to us because of the emotion that they show! Some emotional ones, and some of our favorites:

DH and I were kissing for so many photos that, in front of everyone he just stuck his tongue out to French kiss! Lol! This was the result…




Right before I walked down the aisle:



My dad and Step Mom watching our first dance:



Love this one:



Me dancing with my Dad:


My sisters watching me and my Dad dance:


DH dancing with his mom- I love how you can sort of see me in the background…:












Our Thank You from Velvet:



Ok- I know that many will not get this far… but for those of you that have, I hope you enjoyed a look at our wedding day! It was the most amazing day of our lives and we wouldn’t change a thing!

Thanks for looking girls… FM me if you have questions!

Re: .

wasn't there a review here this morning? i never got to read it!!

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

I just put it back up!! None of the pictures were coming up when I checked at work-- can you see them?

I couldnt at work and can now!!

Let me know if the pictures are coming up!!

THANKS :)

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

I can only see two pictures, your save the date and your favors. I'm dying to see the rest after reading your review!

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Fabulous review!! You were a gorgeous bride!! Love all your pictures and your DIYS

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

AH!

Ok-

I guess i'll load them all through liweddinggs tonight and try to repost... it's gonna take forever though so give me some time! Thanks for your patients girls!

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

great review!!! you made a beautiful bride!

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

she was a GORGEOUS bride... LOVE HER... oh.. she's my sister.. i have to....

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

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Posted by stinenandy2010

great review!!! you made a beautiful bride!

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I can't see any pics

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Great review! Everything sounds like it was wonderful! I can't see photos. Do you have a link you could post so we couldn see them?

Congrats to you and your new DH!!

Re: RETRY! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

So helpful! I am getting married at East Wind in December. I can't wait until we can see your pictures.

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

yay pics!!!!!!!!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

omg i started tearing up!! you looked amazing, and after reading a not so good Velvet review, im glas these pictures came out so so amazing!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

You looked amazing! Congrats!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

What a beautiful review! Your sister pictures were amazing

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

What a gorgeous wedding!!!! Great review you look sooo happy in your pics! Congratulations!!!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Thank you girls!!

And I simply CANNOT imagine anything but rave reviews about Velvet. I have to tell you—I saw a negative review about Velvet after we booked them and talked to Bob about it at length. He told me that LIWeddings is a double edged sword- sometimes it gives you tons of work, and sometimes it can kill you with one bad review.

I started to become obsessive about must take pics and shots that I wanted to re-create and he told me that he was more than happy to do that—but that he didn’t think it was the best idea. And after talking to him I totally agreed!!
He said that he spends some weddings with such a long list of “must takes” or pics to recreate that he never gets to use his own artistic instinct. The bride has him running around to recreate a pose that just doesn’t always work. Some of the pics that you see that LOOK posed, actually arent! We were in the right spot and he just yelled—STOP RIGHT THERE!

He saw the moment and he took the picture because he wasn’t staring at a list! The funniest thing…. I did not give Bob ONE must take photo—not ONE. The only shot that I asked for that day was the veil shot—I mean, hello, I had a 16 foot veil I NEEDED that shot! Lol! BUT—if you look in my albums there is an old one that has must take photos in it- and I got SO many of them without asking!!!

Another thing to remember… brides that post on here are posting pics to show off other vendors. Maybe that shot of my hair isn’t the greatest, but I showed you so that you could see the review for THAT vendor. That doesn’t always show the photog in the best light.

Then you have girls who see a wedding and want theirs to be EXACTLY like it, but maybe it rained that day, or maybe their veil wasn’t long enough for the shot, or maybe their dress didn’t work the same as the bride whose pics they loved—so they’re comparing themselves to someone else rather than letting their wedding take on its own form! The shot of me right before I walk down the aisle with my hands together crying—I don’t love that shot of me, but I wanted to show you the emotion that he captured. Some brides think, oh I look fat here, or oh look at my face—and then they don’t like the photos—but that’s the bride, not the photog!! Lol!

All in all I think that what you are feeling that day shows in your pics, my DH and I was euphoric, in love and couldn’t stop looking at each other and kissing eachother—and it shows in the pictures.

I love how we got the “velvet” style, but with a Dek and Amy twist!!

I recommend him so highly, seriously- they’re amazing!

AH! Ok….. sorry for the rant! ?

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Wow, this was an amazingly detailed review! You looked beautiful! Congratulations!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Your review was awesome, I teared up too like someone else said. Your pics at OWG are great, they get me so excited. Also your headpiece is amazingggggg I am bookmarking this bc it looks to be exactly what I think I want. Congratulations!!!

Re: FINALLY FIXED WITH ALL PICS!!!!! My overdue review of my 11-7-08 East Wing Wedding! LONG! Velvet, Serenity. Dazzling Affairs, Pennylane, Fusion DL and so so many more!

Congrats!!! great review, loved all the pictures!!!!!