Wedding Weekend 5/28-29/05 Lands End, Flower Michelle, Skyline,etc. More pics on p.2!
Original post by charityhope
Let me start by saying that my wedding was amazing—it was everything I ever could have wanted. Planning it, however, was not the great experience that everyone made it out to be. I kept saying, sometimes through tears, “This is supposed to be fun!” Don’t let anyone kid you. It’s going to be stressful. There are too many emotions, expectations and egos involved for it to be simple, but the moral of the story is that the drama and pressure of the planning process will melt away on the big day. The minute I woke up and saw the sun was shining, everything was right in the world.
It’s taken me forever to post this review, so in the interest of getting to the big stuff, I am going to gloss over the details about the pre-wedding parties. Our engagement party was held at the restaurant at Areca, and my shower was at The Gatsby in Islip. If you want details on either, FM me.
Without further ado, here’s the review:
Pre-wedding/getting ready
Save the Dates (Bookmarks and Poetry Books) Short Stop Printing, Commack: A We made little books of love poetry (including a poem written by each of us) and put bookmarks in them that had a quote from one of my favorite musicals and our names and date. The turnaround time was quick, and the price was right.
Invitations (Encore Studios) Kathy at Follow Your Heart: A+++++++++++++++ I can’t say enough about Kathy. I had my heart set on chocolate brown invitations. I used to be a graphic designer, so I am very picky about paper and design. The sample in the book had the text centered, but I wanted to change it. I wasn't happy with the K in the sample font, so I tried two other fonts before I settled on the right combination of typestyles. The invitation may have been my most bridezilla purchase...lol. Kathy was so patient with me throughout the process. We also got a sign-in platter for the rehearsal dinner and my garter from her. In addition, we used one of her contacts to clean my wedding dress. She is just amazing.
After Party Harrison House: A We are a little crazy, so after the reception, we drove all the way to Harrison House in Glen Cove. It's a hotel with a rooftop pub that has pool tables, dart boards, game tables, etc. and a bowling alley in the basement. We stayed in the hotel for the wedding night, and since a lot of our guests were heading back to Nassau or NYC that night, they didn't mind driving west. It is totally out of the way, but it was a lot of fun-- something a little different!
Ceremony 2 Christ the King, Deacon Tony: A+ I had always dreamed of an outdoor ceremony, but I also had a very strong attachment to my home church. I felt like I wanted it to somehow be a part of our wedding. At first, I thought maybe we would just stop there after the reception and say a prayer, but then I realized it was possible to have the best of both worlds. So, the following day we had a ceremony at Christ the King in Commack—just immediate family and a handful of our closest friends. It’s a beautiful church, and Deacon Tony is one of the nicest men you’ll ever meet. He made our Pre-cana a pleasure. He is an amazing man.
Dinner after 2nd Ceremony Bonwit Inn, Commack: A+ We were able to get a private room. The food was great, and it was a nice way to unwind with our nearest and dearest.
Honeymoon Carnival Cruise: A We waited a week before we left, and it was the best thing we could have done. No drama about packing, missing flights, etc. Our two requirements were that we didn’t want to fly, and we wanted to go some place that neither of us had gone before. So, we decided to cruise from New York. The options from NY at that time of year were the Bahamas (which he’d been to), Bermuda (which I’d been to) and the Carnival cruise we ended up taking, which went from New York to San Juan, St. Thomas, and Tortola. (Loved St. Thomas and Tortola!) We had a great time on the ship. I sang in the talent show, and they called DH up on stage and embarrassed him. We were mini-celebrities for the rest of the cruise. People would come up to us on line for buffets and congratulate us on the wedding. It was very cute.
I’ve rambled enough. Feel free to FM me if you have any questions. I had some trouble with the photos, but will try to add more/replace some in the next day or two...
Thank you so much for your review - it was very helpful! I am getting married at Land's End in October, and am wearing the same gown. What color was your gown?
Beautiful dress and your review is awesome! I wish I had gotten ballroom shoes...I kept thinking about it but never did, so I hope more girls listen! They are so pretty and look great! Anyhoo! You look beautiful in all your shots and congrats on a wonderful wedding!
Congratulations! I love your dress and your ocean-themed CPs. Beautiful. We had Skyline too and they were the single best thing about our wedding. All of our guests raved and raved about them.
Loved your pics! Thanks for sharing! I was wondering, which Duet photographers did you have?
I keep trying to post a picture of my BM resses, but no matter how much I resize it won't let me. I think one of my BMs must have had a run in with Ron and Liz...lol. One more try...
Doesn't work. Well, you can kind of see them in the one of me dancing with them, but it's npt a great pic of the dresses. Oh well...
