cloddy
Can I do this every year?
Member since 12/04 1067 total posts
Wedding Date:
6/4/2005 11:30 AM
Wed. Location:
KofC Oceanside
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Review of 6/4/05 Knight of Columbus, 12th night, Vickey Casey, etc. Pics in Albums under Non-Professional Pics
First, let me say that everything was fantastic. We had such a great day! Of course there were some problems, but the funny thing is we barely even noticed them and I really didn’t care about them, which surprised me. It was pouring raining when we got up, which really could’ve put a damper on things, but mother nature came through for me. By the time we left for the church the sun was out and stayed for the rest of the day. Anyone nervous about having a day wedding, it was fantastic. We got to have everyone back to the house afterward and continue to celebrate. I thought it was great. Feel free to FM me about anything. I’ll try to be as thorough as possible. I will go back and insert pictures when I figure out how to do it, for now the pictures are in my album here labeled non-professional pictures.
LIWeddings – Invaluable resource! I want to thank all of you for all of the help and support you’ve provided. I didn’t really post that much, but I had a lot of my questions answered just by reading everyone else’s questions and answers. And I got some fabulous ideas from other people’s events. My husband and I cancelled the wedding we had planned and eloped seven years ago because of family issues and problems with the planning and I hope you girls know how lucky you are to have this as a resource because I felt very alone when I was dealing with all those problems by myself without anyone to vent to who would truly understand why it was a nightmare for half my chairs at my outdoor ceremony to be green while the rest were white!
Gown and Tuxedo - Flowerama in Elmont- A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The people at Flowerama were fantastic! The dress was an unbelievably gorgeous Justin Alexander creation designed by Ron Lovece. Style number 8036 if anyone is interested in looking at it. I highly recommend this designer for his fabulously luxurious designs at incredibly affordable prices. I loved all of his dresses, one more than the next. Flowerama was absolutely outstanding. I want to give it props because I know it’s not one of the often talked about Bridal Salons on LIW. The shop is in Nassau County. They are one of very few shops that carry Justin Alexander as the company limits there suppliers. ALL of the women there were great. The Assistant Manager, Ann Marie was terrific from the first moment I called the shop to inquire about a gown I saw online that I was trying to locate. The Wedding Channel website was out of date, as I discovered most of these sites are, and the dress was discontinued already, but she thought correctly that they still had the sample at the store and located it for me while I was on the phone and made the appointment for me to come in. I felt like family from the moment I contacted them. Whereas, I had been treated so rudely or coldly by other salons. There were certain very popular shops that I couldn’t even go to because they carried nothing within a reasonable price range. Others merely treated you differently once they knew you were willing to spend less than there other brides. When I went in to try on the sample gown, which mind you would’ve been only $300 I was showered with attention. Also, unlike other stores where I had looked at samples, Flowerama dry cleans and presses the sample gown for you and repairs any missing beading, etc. Almost unheard of other places. I didn’t love it on me, though, so I kept looking. I had a sales associate on my second trip that I really didn’t feel that I clicked with, though she was a lovely person, so when I called again I expressed my concern and the next time I came in I was helped by the manager of the store, Christine. I cannot say enough about Christine. She was fabulous. We must have looked at 16 different sample gowns, which again they stood to make next to no money on and she couldn’t have been more helpful. Anyway, I’m rambling. I went with a brand new gown for 2005. I went to another salon to price the same gown before I purchased it and there price was $200 or $300 more than Flowerama. Flowerama also gave me a 10% discount on the already lowest price on the dress if we did any other service through them. They happen to be a full service place that can provide flowers, invites, photographer, favors, BMs dresses, MOB dress, tuxedos, etc. So we also did the Tuxedo through them. I also, as a budget bride, really appreciated the fact that they never tried to sell me other stuff that I wanted to purchase elsewhere so I could save money. I never felt any pressure. Though they were willing to provide anything I did want. I bought the long-line bra, corset, whatever you want to call it through them. Their service only got better after I purchased the dress. Their alterations normally cap out at $250, very reasonable. Christine even gave me a discount on my alterations. My seamstress, Theresa, was phenomenal! I had three fittings with an optional fourth one when I picked up the dress which I skipped because it was already fitting perfect. She set up the French bustle which was very complicated on my dress and showed my Aunt how to do it. Then she went back in after and color coded the loops and buttons to make it easier for my Aunt. She also took the veil that I purchased on ebay and had the salon steam it along with the dress because she noticed that it was very wrinkled at the fitting. I cannot say enough about their entire staff. They were terrific! They also have a Queens location if the Nassau store is not convenient for people. Scott’s tuxedo was perfect. The staff in the tuxedo shop was very helpful and everything was ready on time and fit perfectly.
Hair – Vickey Casey A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Also an absolutely phenomenal vendor. I went in frantically for a trial about 3 or 4 weeks before the wedding because I still hadn’t found anyone I was happy with. She is super. In one sitting she tried four different looks and each one was more fabulous than the last. She was also a lot of fun. She was very prompt on the day of. I told her we had to start at 6am and she was ready to go at 6 am. My hair was spectacular! Exactly what I had hoped and not a single strand was out of place the entire day, which was quite a feat since it was terribly humid and pouring raining when we started out that morning. I also loved her technique. She was much gentler than other stylists and did not need as much hairspray or as many pins. It was much easier to get her updo out than the others I tried. I would highly recommend her. If anyone needs help contacting her, feel free to FM me.
Make-up - I gave up and did this myself. My cousin was supposed to do it for me, but I never liked any of the trials we did together. If anyone is on the fence about whether or not to do it themselves, I also highly recommend it. I felt much better knowing I would look like me that day and it wasn’t as time consuming or as hard as I thought it would be. I did, however, go to the mall and get a makeover so that I could get some better products than what I had used before because I wanted it to be flawless and that was worthwhile too. I went to the Chanel counter at Lord and Taylor in Garden City and had the make-up artist there do a makeover and she was a very sweet, very talented girl who is for hire if anyone is interested.
Flowers – Mormille in Rockville Centre. A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ They are a local florist near my house. The bouquet they created was absolutely stunning and incredibly last minute to their credit. I went in to give them some details on the corsages and saw a floral arrangement in the fridge that I just feel in love with on Thursday of the week of the wedding. They already had lavender roses special ordered for me sitting in their subzero freezer and I asked to change my order to that arrangement with the lavender roses in it. It was peonies, lilac, green hydrangea, berries and lavendar roses and it was spectacular. Everyone raved about the flowers and it smelled fantastic for days! I also gained a bridal party at the eleventh possible hour. My cousins were shopping at the Talbot’s outlet in G.C. on Friday afternoon and found three identical dresses in their three very varied sizes that were on clearance and asked if I’d like a bridal party. So I called Mormille to ask if they could add 3 nosegay bouquets for Sat morning and they came through brilliantly. I don’t know whether this is standard in the wedding industry or not, but I thought it was very cool that they told me I could stop by on Friday afternoon to see my bouquet ahead of time. I loved seeing it the day before, it got me very excited for Saturday and made the whole thing real. They are on Long Beach Road in RVC and I highly recommend them.
DJ- FM Entertainment A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One word, WOW! I hope everyone reads this because I couldn’t find one person on LIW to give me feedback on this company even though they are a LIW vendor. So, I really went out on a limb signing with them. Obviously, we did the right thing. They were phenomenal! I have not stopped getting compliments from guests yet. Frank was superb! They did everything we asked for and then some. They were willing to play all the songs we asked for, but came up with an arrangement of them that I could never had done on my own. Everyone danced from the beginning of the party straight through til the end. Which, is not such an easy thing to do at a day wedding. I had so many people walk up to me during the party to say that they had been to a couple of day weddings recently where no one danced. We even went over without realizing it because we were having such a great time! They also have a side business where they do children’s parties at their own location if you want. The kids’ party business is called Party Planet and it’s in East Rockaway. Not only were they terrific, they were also the lowest priced DJ I found. It’s a husband and wife team and they’re so pleasant to deal with. We also threw them a bit of a curve ball. We added a cocktail hour the week before the wedding and they were totally flexible and accommodated us. Frank came over to us a couple of times during the night to make sure everything was all right and we were happy. I also noticed him walking around the room to see if people were close to finished eating. And, we only hired one man instead of a DJ and MC. And, even though he was by himself he handled the crowd beautifully and he go out on the Dance Floor and lead all the group dances. I cannot recommend them enough and I sincerely hope that now that someone has taken a chance on trying them and recommending them that they will get the attention that they deserve from LIW couples.
Hall – Knights of Columbus in Oceanside aka O’Connell Gardens A+++++++++++++++++++ The hall was spectacular! And so incredibly affordable. My husband and I are very into good food and good wine, but we were on a serious budget. I so highly recommend this facility to anyone who wants to have a fabulous affair, but can’t afford the LI wedding prices. The banquet manager, John is great. I felt like I was talking to my Grandfather or my father. He’s a very no nonsense kind of guy. They charged us the minimum service fee required, nothing padded. No double gratuity nonsense. The hall is beautiful! I’ll post pictures when I get them. I didn’t get many that show the hall yet. They guys were fantastic. We did our own centerpieces and the week before John let us drop them off with instructions and his staff set everything up for us. And, I mean everything. I had glass hurricanes, but I also had a million little votives and loose petals and separate decorations for the place card table and the bathroom basket and the sign in mat, etc. I couldn’t believe they took care of all of that for us. What a load off our minds! And they set everything up beautifully. I was very nervous as I am a complete control freak. John gave us all kinds of discounts and threw in all kinds of extras. Our guest list came in lower than we expected so we added a cocktail hour and Viennese and we upgraded to a sit-down instead of a buffet all the week before the wedding and you’d never know that it wasn’t the party that was planned all along. The Matre’d was terrific. He was very helpful. He checked on us and offered us additional meals if we wanted. The room seats 300, but looks just as good set up for a group of a hundred. And the minimum guarantee is very reasonable as well. The Chicken Cordon Blue was terrific. The best I’ve ever had. We missed the cocktail hour so I have no idea. We also missed the Viennese because we were so busy dancing. I’m not a prime rib person, but I know a lot of people are so we got that. I thought it was a bit well done for my taste, but I’m not surprised since that’s the trend in restaurants and catering halls because everyone is so paranoid about liability. I was told that the salmon was good. The description sounded good. We did a party package, but I know his wedding packages have an even better menu. The bathrooms are big, clean and nicely decorated, which believe it or not is not always the case. Everyone loved the slipper basket and all but one pair was gone at the end of the day. This hall is a fantastic, relatively undiscovered treasure. They don’t do any advertising at all. All of their business is word of mouth and yet they are booked solid. We planning on using them for any catered events we have in the future. They do have a second room downstairs, which happened to be booked at the same time as ours. I never even thought to ask. Anyway, you’d never know there was anyone else there except that there were two guests of the other party outside the catering hall when we walked in. After that it was like they didn’t even exist. Superb vendor!
Photography – Twelfth Night so far they have been fantastic to work with. Dominic is such a pleasure to deal with and our photographer was his brother Michael. We couldn’t afford to hire two people. Michael showed up on time and was very professional. We arranged for an early start to take pictures in advance at Molloy College down the street. Well, that was not to be because it was miserable rainy Friday and early Saturday so poor Mike had nothing to do for a couple of hours. But, he improvised and took shots at the house and then stayed at the Church so we could get some outdoor shots once the weather cleared. He was very nice and totally organized. I’ve had friends who have said afterwards that they have beautiful pictures, but their photographer was a complete a**. I’ll have to update this once the pictures come in. But so far he was great.
Centerpieces and other Decorations: Most everything came from AC MOORE my new favorite store. So much cheaper than Michaels. The Glass Hurricanes were only a $1.99 each. Unfortuately I didn’t have time to wait for the votive holders to go on sale for 25 cents so I paid 44 cents each, which was still cheaper than anywhere else. I got a lot of stuff at Amazing Savings when they were going out of business. I got the Chinese slippers for 99 cents at a Dollar Store in Queens.
Invitations, Programs, Placecards – Michael’s We printed everything ourselves and it was a ton more work, but they came out beautifully and they saved us a bundle of money. I would’ve gone to AC Moore if I had known about it though because they have more of a selection available.
Favors – We did ourselves. I collected recipes from family and friends and made up recipe booklets labeled recipes for a good marriage. We had them printed at Kinko’s. This was a rip off! I did not save money on these over what we would’ve spent if we bought favors, but I like that they were a personal touch.
Accessories:
Tiara – Barron’s at Tri-County. Absolutely stunning and he was so helpful. I never would’ve picked that out in a million years and it matched perfectly like it was made for that dress. Their prices are not bargain basement, but reasonable and the quality of the headpieces makes it worth it.
Veil – Ebay shop – Honeymooneve I bought the most beautiful, two-tiered cathedral length veil with satin trim that would’ve cost me $300 and change at the bridal salon for $35 plus shipping on ebay. The veil shipped very quickly and was perfect. It was delicate and beautiful and dirt cheap! Great bargain. I highly recommend using ebay for anything you can having to do with the wedding. It’s a great way to save money and trips to stores. I almost bought my gown from an ebay store, but I just couldn’t do it without being able to see it first, but it would’ve been half the price of the gown I ended up buying.
Shoes – DSW Kenneth Cole shoes for $9.99. They were totally comfortable and really beautiful.
Earrings – Carol Lee costume jewelry from Lord and Taylor. Beautiful and they matched the dress perfectly.
Please tell me if I’ve forgotten anything. I’m sure that I have. We did not hire limos and for those of you who are tight on money, we got along just fine without them. We also had the rehearsal dinner in our backyard and BBQ’d and it was just fine as well. Although, it was risky because it rained and we had to shift the party to inside.
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Message edited 9/24/2005 11:19:19 AM.
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