Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

LI Weddings
My first thank you is to Ron & Liz for providing me a safe haven for my “bridal moments” so I wouldn’t drive the rest of the world crazy. Also for introducing me to such a wonderful group of people I would not have otherwise met!

THE RIVIERA AT MASSAPEQUA AAAAA+++++++++++
I don’t think I can do justice in complimenting the individuals who helped me put together my wedding. The only thing I ever wanted when I got married; was to be off the water. The Riviera was the first place we looked at and once I walked in I thought “Wow, someone built this place for my wedding”. DH and I looked at 8 other places and I can honestly tell you, not one other catering hall gave us the attention Victoria or Robert Jay at the Riviera did or made us feel like we were already part of their family. That was what finally made our decision for us. We figured if they were the only ones willing to go out of their way for us before even booking with them, then we knew they were the only reception hall we could honestly consider having our wedding at. Robert Jay astounded me when I brought my Mother and Aunt to see the hall before we booked and he spoke to my Aunt about a wedding she attended there 2 years before and he even remembered the bride and groom’s names of that wedding along with family members who had been sick and in the hospital! Customer service is a very important issue with me and I knew they would make my guests as comfortable and happy as they had made us feel.
Victoria is a dear and wonderful woman to deal with. Her friendly nature and warmth make you feel like part of the family upon your first meeting with her. Whenever Victoria asked me what I saw for my wedding, I explained that I was putting my wedding in their hands since they do this for a living resulting in having “Mellow Bride” added atop our contract! I think DH and I were most touched when we found out we were expecting a baby and thought we had to cancel our contract. Not once was that even an option offered to us by Victoria. She went above and beyond the call of duty on this one! After hugs and congratulations, she immediately flew into the mode of figuring out how long we had to pull the wedding off while still being able to fit into my dress!! I even had a few panic attacks that we still would not be able to afford everything all of a sudden changing our wedding date from Sept. to Jan. and yet somehow – we did it with Victoria and Robert Jay keeping me calm throughout all the changes. I truly cannot express my gratitude for everything they both did for us.
Joanne our bridal attendant was attentive and was continuously asking the entire bridal party if there was anything needed. She kept us supplied with food and drinks in the bridal suite since we were there early taking pictures. Thankfully she did, as it helped everyone who had gotten up early to be there for the pictures. Such a sweet woman and very friendly! We did hear from all tables that everyone had wonderful and attentive wait-staff assigned to them during the reception and the bartender was very good and friendly.
The staff at The Riviera absolutely put together an absolutely amazing day for Chris and I. The set up for our ceremony was right in front of the fireplace which gave a wonderful and romantic atmosphere to a January wedding. Robert Jay guided our day beautifully. He was an invaluable asset and I am so lucky I was smart enough to request him for the day! Even when the bakery messed up my cake, DH and I expressed our dissatisfaction and he took care of calling the bakery. I can say because of Robert Jay, I knew I did not have one thing to worry about or concern myself with. Our day flowed beautifully!
We are still receiving compliments on the amount of food for the cocktail hour and how delicious it all was. I can tell you, I absolutely love their baby lamb chops. I was so tempted to strap a tablecloth over my dress and just pig out on those babies alone in the bridal suite. I did get to enjoy the cocktail hour food thanks to Joanne who kept us well supplied!
The reception food was also a big hit all around. DH and I both feasted on the roasted duck. While I was not able to eat all of it (I was actually stuffed at that point) I enjoyed most of it. I did check with my family who I had check with other guests and everyone raved about each dish that was chosen. Any Riviera brides, FM me with all food choices and I’ll send them to you!
Thanks to The Riviera staff, I never once felt rushed or overwhelmed that day. Both Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed our day immensely.

Black Forest Bakery F
Well, the only nice thing I can say at this point was I heard the cake tasted good. Otherwise – my dealings with Tommy at Black Forest were less than desirable. DH and I brought in a picture of the cake we had really been hoping to have for our wedding (which of course was nothing like the cake we received). There were only 2 things I had my heart set on that day which was wearing my dress and having my beautiful cake on display (pictures of 2 cakes below). The day we ordered our cake, we discussed with Tommy that we wanted the cake exactly as it appeared in the photo. I offered to have my florist make the flower rings since real flowers were used in the picture. I also offered to find the round gel candles to exactly match the candles in the picture. I was told they would take care of all of it as it would make decorating easier and I did not need to take care of anything. I waivered slightly about just getting a cake included in our package, but DH refused to let me do that and even paid extra for this cake since he knew how much I loved it and did not want me to settle for a cake I did not truly love. Before we left, we made sure our receipt instructions were “Match exactly like picture”. My cake showed up with flowers made of icing – WHICH WE DID NOT WANT and had spoken to them about. It also showed up with NO CANDLES AND NO MARZIPAN BOW DRAPED ACROSS THE TOP!
Once I expressed my extreme disappointment to our Maitre D, he immediately called Black Forest to relay my feelings. They came back with pathetic white candles and a cheap plastic ribbon. I cannot tell you how many times DH and I wondered if the candles were going to start a fire so close to the pathetic ribbon. I actually had fantasies of kicking the cake off the table since I hated looking at the damn thing all afternoon and trust me – I HATE THAT IT IS IN MY PICTURES!!!!!!
So I gave the bakery 2 days to contact me after my wedding which they did not. I then called the following day and after finally getting Tommy on the phone, he was extremely condescending to me. I asked why I had not been contacted when he knew how upset I was, he said “We figured everything was fine when we fixed it”. When I explained that aside from my dress, my cake was the only thing I had my heart set on, he laughed at me saying he doubted on my wedding day I did not have my heart set on anything else. Can you believe this man? I got really angry and loud with him to call the Riviera and he would that written on my contract at the Riviera was “Mellow Bride” since I had NO SPECIFICS on anything. My comments to them were “You do this for a living, just guide me to a beautiful wedding”.
I ended up in tears on the phone and he finally offered to refund the extra money we paid. Once Tommy heard my final frustrations (which had been tears) he offered to make a cake for my baby shower to make up for my unhappiness with the way they handled themselves, but at this point do I really want him screwing that up for me also??? And now, almost 2 weeks later, there was no refund in the mail so DH called to check on it. Tommy would not even get on the phone with him, he was told they lost our address and had planned on getting it at some point from the Riviera.

Cake was supposed to look like pic #1 but ended up like pic #2

Image Attachment(s):

Message edited 2/1/2005 5:54:43 PM.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

all vendors with *** next to their names for going above the call of duty to help Chris and I with our last minute wedding date changes in under 2 months! All *** vendors were booked at the last minute!

Gown – Bonny Purchased at Brides Made in Suffolk County A+
I loved my dress – simple and elegant was all I had wanted and the fact that I got it for around $300 was a BONUS! I highly recommend all brides contact Phyllis before putting a deposit on any dress. She is an approved Bonny vendor who runs an internet business out of her home. I know some LIW brides have also ordered their dresses from her. If she has been unable to get their gown of choice, they are getting their BP, MOB, MOG or FG dresses through her. She is a wonderful woman who gets discounted dresses. Great service – always got back to me by email whenever I had a question.

Tiara, Veil and BP jewelry - Tri County Levittown A
Not only was I able to get an exact match of trim from my dress to my veil just by chance, my veil only cost $40. I loved my tiara and was glad I did not let any big stores convince me to spend almost 3 times the money than what I was able to find at Tri County. Highly recommended!

Tuxedos - Town & Country Hempstead Tpke, Levittown
Groom, BM and Usher all went to Town & Country for their tuxedos. The staff were great to work with. Only one slight problem with groom’s tux shirt. He received the wrong size which they fixed for him the next day. Thankfully he picked up on Thursday for a Saturday wedding to leave an extra day “in case”.

Limo – Triple R
To save money with such a small wedding party, I hired someone local who runs his own business for transportation to and from The Riviera only to save money. We were picked up on time in a 10 passenger limo and the driver was very sweet to keep changing the color of the lights inside to the requests of the kids in my BP. On time pick up also on the way home and a very smooth ride!!

*** Invitations – Uptown Downtown Shopping A+
In reading Julz33’s review, I was impressed with the cost and speed of delivery and decided to use her recommendation which was so worth it! I had about a week to design, order, stuff and mail out my invitations to give guests at least a month’s response time. I did panic since I was ordering them the week of Thanksgiving! Not only did that not affect my order, I received them in 5 days! I took Julie’s advice and triple checked my order before placing, and they came out perfect! Great customer service, easy to use website, pricing and shipping!

*** Officiant – Rev. Deb Viola A+ LIW vendor
Upon meeting with Rev. Deb, DH and I knew immediately that we were going to just love her. She made us both feel so comfortable and relaxed. She was wonderful and put together the most beautiful ceremony I could never have imagined! With a great sense of humor, she did such an amazing job I wish I could convince all of you to book her!!

*** Flowers – Flowers by Lorraine A
Since I had to rush up a new wedding date, I was unable to interview different florists. We went with The Riviera’s recommendation of their house vendor. Lorraine was such a sweet woman to deal with. She spent time with me discussing budgets, options and colors. She understood our situation with time and money and kept me focused on what would be pretty for pictures while not going over our “new budget”.

*** Then Till Now A+
Another house vendor of The Riviera and what a great DJ!! It turned out that Steve had been the DJ at a wedding DH and I attended years before and we loved him (but did not know that when we booked him). Steve immediately made us feel at ease at we clicked with him. Steve handled our ceremony, CH and reception music. He had the hall rocking and plenty of dancing all afternoon!

Photographer – Silverfox A+
We researched many photographers and fell in love with their work. They have a great setup (price lists are listed on their website:) Our photographer Don was the perfect choice. What a great personality. He kept me at ease and was wonderful with the kids in BP. I never noticed him around taking pictures – he did a great job capturing some beautiful pics. He came up with some creative shots for us to take and worked with me on my “recreate” list. While I have not yet received my proofs, we did get to peak at a few shots from the digital camera. DH and I cannot wait to pick them up!

*** Hair – The Bridal Touch by Elena A+ LIW vendor
What an absolute sweetheart! I just loved the job she did on my hair. I love it when I can explain to someone simply about what I see and poof – they do it. I highly recommend Elena and am so, so happy she did my hair for my wedding! Part of my gift to BP was their hair and they all loved her too!

*** Makeup – Denise – Angel Eyes A+ LIW vendor
Denise did such an amazing job with all of us. Also part of my gift to BP, we all loved how our faces looked which just makes you feel like a queen all day. The only touch ups needed were my lips all day!

Favors – Wrap with Us – Syosset A+
Thanks to Smiley for recommending them to me, they were the cheapest place to find my favors. Add to that I was able to pick them up and it was a breeze. I was glad I could, since walking around their website, I also found my FG headpieces, FG baskets, RB pillow, side candles for my unity candle and my card box which I loved!!


And a special thank you to my brother for doing this:
Wedding pictures

Message edited 1/31/2005 8:46:45 PM.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

man...yuck about that cake drama but you are glowing in your pics! you look wonderful and CONGRATS!!!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

I am sorry to hear about the cake (but it really was beautiful).

Congratulations! Your pictures are wonderful! Everyone looks like they had a great time!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

So sorry about your cake! I'm glad the rest of your planning and the day went well though!

Best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy!!!!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Your cake was gorgeous, but sorry to hear you didn't get what you wanted!
Your website is cool!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

awwwwwwwwwwe donna what a great review for a great wedding!!! congratulations again, you looked beautiful

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

what a good review. congrats.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Sorry about the cake drama...Congrats and thanks for the great review!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

I'm so Happy for both of you!!!!! I love your pictures! I can't wait for my wedding.. Oh, I felt the same way when I walked into the Riviera for the first time!!!!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congratulations!!! You looked wonderful! sorry to hear about the cake, glad to see that it did not ruin your amazing day!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congratulations on a great wedding (minus the cake fiasco)! I can't wait for my own special day at the Riviera! But now I'm not so sure about using the bakery...

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Great pics! Congrats!!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Sorry about your cake! That stinks! But you looked beautiful and it sounds like everything else went well.

Congrats!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

congratulations. everything looked beautiful and you guys seemed so happy.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congratulations. I loved your pictures. I sent you FM.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Sorry about your cake Donna!

As for the Riviera part, I am even more excited now to get married there then I was before!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Doodles, I am sorry about your cake, and even more for that mans HORRIBLE attitude!

But you and DH look so happy and wonderful, CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Sorry about the cake. You looked beautiful though.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congrats...All the best wishes to the new Mr. & mrs.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congrats!! You looked beautiful! Sorry to hear about your cake drama.

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Great Review Doodles. It looks like you and your husband had a wonderful day, despite the cake. What a bummer! Just think, it was the only wrinkle in an otherwise perfect day! Congratulations!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

congrats. Great review i love the cake

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Thank you ladies! I will respond to all your FM's tonight. The cake looked decent, but it was nowhere close to what I had wanted. I will put up a pic of what was originally delivered. And I had 6 different guests point out it was lopsided (have a pic of that too). Aside from that, the taste was great, which I read many reviews about. I just wanted to give a heads up, they have done many other brides who have had no complaints. It's a crapshoot everyone. My only heads up would be to make sure if you want a specific cake, to have all instructions written on your receipt!

Re: Jan 15th Riviera review w/link to wedding pics

Congrats! Sorry about that cake- that really stinks! I'm so happy to hear that you had a great experiance with the Riviera. I'm also using Lorraign and Then 'Til Now.