neesiepie
time flies when ur in love!
Member since 9/03 3103 total posts
Wedding Date:
9/16/2005 4:30 PM
Wed. Location:
Villa Lombardi's
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Neesiepie’s 9-16-05 Wedding Review: Villa Lombardi’s, Flower Michele, DUET…PROOFS ADDED on PG 2
I have been on LIW since before I was even engaged and made an oath to myself that I would write a fully detailed review for my fellow brides. I know how helpful these reviews can be to other girls planning their weddings, since these reviews were so helpful in planning my own. I also understand how important these reviews are for many vendors. So many of the vendors I have met with in the past told me that the most valuable advertising was a good recommendation from past brides.
I will do my best to give the most honest and fair review I can.
So....without further ado, my wedding review!
ETA: Added link to getting ready pics, ceremony pics, reception pics, and honeymoon pics at bottom of review.....
LI Weddings: PRICELESS (out of 10)
If I could give the people behind this web site a MILLION points, I would. There is no possible way for me to give a rating for LIWeddings since using this web site has been the SINGLE MOST valuable factor in planning my wedding. From flowers to friendships that will last a lifetime, I am deeply indebted to Ron and Liz for creating and maintaining such a WONDERFUL website! However, without the WONDERFUL, TALENTED, AND AMAZING women (and men) on the boards, this site would not be what it is today! It is the amazing people of LONG ISLAND that have made LIW “THE” place to endlessly talk about weddings, and even some “off-topic” subjects….I have witnessed the good in people through this site…whether its helping a bride’s family through a terrible tragedy, or getting together to make a get well basket for another bride in the hospital, the outpouring of generosity and love has never been short of tremendous!
Thank you, Ron, Liz, Christina, and all of the men and women of LIWeddings….I love you all!
Church: Christ the King R.C. Church, Commack, NY: 9
As soon as I got engaged, I started looking for a church to have my wedding ceremony at. I always knew I wanted to get married in a church, but I am not too religious I wanted to belong to a parish that would make me feel welcome and would not turn me off with strict rules and prohibitions. Christ the King church was the 2nd church I tried and they INSTANTLY welcomed me to their parish, even though I wasn’t Confirmed and technically belonged to a different church closer to my home. I received my Confirmation and attended Pre-Cana at Christ the King, and I have to say, the process was not as painful as I thought it would be, and I met some really great people, as well.
My only complaint is that the organist started playing “Here Comes the Bride” before my MOH even made it all the way down the aisle, and I was still hanging out in back with my parents….we RUSHED to get my veil down, almost forgot my bo-k, my dad stepped on my veil, and we practically RAN to get to the double church doors…I dragged my poor dad halfway down the aisle before I was calm enough to slow down…I didn’t have that moment to take it all in before the BIG WALK…..
Dragging my dad:
Officiant: Deacon Tony Giambalvo, Christ the King : 10
Deacon Tony and his wife June are another couple that makes it hard to rate at only a “10.” I have never, ever met such a warm, caring person as Deacon Tony in all my life. He is truly a wonderful man. My DH and I quickly became friends with Deacon Tony and his wife throughout my Confirmation classes and Pre-Cana classes, and they even came to the reception! Because we got to know him, our wedding ceremony was more personalized, and Deacon Tony even read a letter from him father to his mother before they got married…it was truly touching. They were such a special part of our wedding from day 1….
Save the Dates, Engagement Party favors, Invitation envelopes,ribbon wands, slipper baskets, programs, menus, table number cards, seating cards, flower girl’s pail, OOT guest gift bags: ME! :10
Since I am a graphic design major and have done numerous other special occasion crafts for friends and family, it would have been a shame not to do my own wedding crafts. It was a lot of work making such large quantities of everything, but I have never had so much fun doing it! I was really pleased with how everything came out and I really worked hard on everything, so I had to give myself a 10! HAHA! I actually got a few offers for freelance work for my church (programs) and a couple of favor stores…
Bridesmaid gift bags:
Flower Girl's Pail:
OOT Guest Bags:
Invitations: Carlson Craft: 8
DH’s boss’ wife sells wedding invitations by Carlson Craft so we were able to get ours at cost…the invitations were pretty, but a little thinner than I would have preferred. They were still nice, though…I knew I wanted square invites and that’s what I got.
Mother of the Bride gown: Totally You, Bellmore, NY: 8
This is more of a self-service store, kind of like Estelle’s Dressy Dresses. We picked my mom’s gown off the rack, she tried it on, they had her size, and she bought it then and there and brought it to her own seamstress. Not the best service, kind of crowded, but the price was good and they had a good selection. She looked beautiful!
Bride’s gown and Bridesmaid’s dresses: Paradise Bridals, Patchogue: 8 before alterations, 10 after.
I went with my mother to several diff. salons and tried on about 30 different gowns. When we finally went to Paradise Bridals, I was already feeling overwhelmed and tired. So when they were so short-staffed that the SEAMSTRESS Rosalie had to help me, I was kind of “over” the whole trying on thing. I told Rosalie I was looking for something strapless and my favorite designers were Amsale, Kenneth Poole, Eve of Milady. She came back with some other designers and a couple of Eve of Milady gowns that had straps….I vehemently refused trying on anything with straps before this, but I since I was so tired, I went with it. I ended up trying on the Eve of Milady with straps and when I came out of the dressing room, my mom started crying and Rosalie gasped and some other girls there were whispering and pointing and saying how gorgeous it looked. How could all these people be wrong??? I learned one VERY important thing during all this planning: TRUST YOUR MOTHER! She would never make you look stupid! Well, maybe not all moms….but I am so glad I went with it.
Once I purchased my gown, I looked to see if they had the Bridesmaid gown I had been carrying a picture of for over a year! LOL! The dress was Bill Levkoff style 403 in Euro Red, and that’s what my girls ended up wearing. I was nice and let them come with me to the salon one day to look at other gowns, but they all agreed that my choice was nice and they all felt comfortable in the gowns, especially since it had a removable halter/spaghetti strap they could wear during the reception. 3 of my girls live in Florida, and since Paradise Bridals only lets you pay cash to pick up the gowns, they had to mail me a check, I had to wait for the check to clear, then I had to go in person, pay for them, then ship them to my bridesmaids in Florida…a little inconvenient, to say the least.
ALTERATIONS: My gown:10/Bridesmaids: Not applicable
Since I bought my gown over a year in advance, I had a long time to wait before my gown came in. When it took over a year for my gown to come in, I started to panic, but Ashley was AMAZING and calmed me down so many times. Ashley works behind the bridal desk and basically bears the brunt of all the angry brides that come into the salon. She always remained sweet, patient, and professional, and over time, we became friends. She gets a 10 for customer service.
Once it was time for my fittings, Rosalie, the seamstress who picked my gown, would be in charge of my alterations. She was AMAZING! I showed her a pic of exactly what I wanted my bustle to look like, and she copied it to a TEE! My bustle was originally 19 points, but after working overtime and staying late, Rosalie added more at no cost and my bustle ended up having 25 points! She also removed the straps, re-beaded my gown where the straps were removed so that it looked like it NEVER had straps, and took in the sides when I lost a few pounds b/c I had no appetite the week before the wedding. The dress fit like a glove and she did a WONDERFUL job!
My bridesmaids took their gowns to their local seamstresses to get alterations. The gowns all fit perfectly and they saved a ton of money, too.
Groomsmen’s Tuxes: VIP Formals, Massapequa: 9
My MIL used to work there, and since she knew the owner, we got a great price on the tuxes. Everyone’s tux fit great, but the only problem was some of the guys were given the wrong shoes so they had to go back and exchange them 3 days before the wedding.
Favors and “Bride” gift card holder: Fairytale Affairs, Massapequa: 10
Michelle and her daughter were amazing to work with and did a WONDERFUL job on wrapping the favors. We decided on ice cream scoops and they gave us a great price and wrapped the favors a lot prettier than a lot of the places we went to. When the ribbon we originally chose came in and looked too burgundy, Michelle called and even emailed us pics of what the favors looked like wrapped with the burgundy ribbon so I we wouldn’t have to drive all the way back there to see the samples in person. It’s a good thing she called, b/c we ended up going with the red ribbon, which looked fine (we originally thought it was too bright)
The Bride-shaped gift card cage was a hit and she let us switch from the bird cage rental to the bride form at the last minute. The bride form was a HIT!
I highly recommend Fairytale Affairs…their service was great!
Limos: Limousine Please, Plainview: 9
Here is another vendor who is also a good friend of my family. We got a great deal on 2 10-passenger stretch limos and 1 Rolls Royce for us. The 10-passenger limos were clean and arrived on time. The Rolls Royce was also clean, but the A.C. didn’t work that great (only when the car was in motion) and the driver forgot to get ice for the champagne on his way to pick me up. The only time the lack of a.c. bothered me was when we arrived at the church and the other wedding was still inside! All my guests and the groomsmen were standing outside, so I had to drive behind the church and hang out in the parking lot of the rectory….it was getting hotter and hotter and the anticipation started to get to me. That was the only time I thought my nerves would get the better or me, my knees started knocking uncontrollably and I started to feel faint. Luckily, the other limos had cold bottled water for me to drink. Good thing we only had to wait about 5 minutes!
They were on time picking us up from the hall and also taking us to the airport.
Hotel for OOT Guests: Courtyard Marriott, Ronkonkoma: 10
Suzanne in group sales was great to work with! She answered all our questions and was always on top of things. The hotel itself is only about 2 yrs old, so it was clean and new. The rooms were spacious and nice, and my suite was ENORMOUS! We got the King Suite at no extra charge since we had so many guests staying at the hotel. They have a restaurant that serves a breakfast buffet and a bar that stayed open late the night of the wedding to accommodate my guests.
They also have a big marquis outside (you can see it from the LIE exit 60) that had “Best Wishes Denise & Paul” written on it, which was nice!
DJ & Percussionist: Music by Michael (Michael Pawluk) and Bopa King Carre (Percussionist) : 10
When we met with Music by Michael, we INSTANTLY knew he was going to be our D.J. Michael is so meticulous and his professionalism was unforgettable! From the minute we stepped into his office, he blew us away by showing us video of him in action, his equipment used, how all his music is on a computer that can digitally mix any song you want, how he has I think 3 forms of backup of every single song on his computer in case of emergency, he has a planner with a cd sampler of different wedding songs, garter toss songs, 1st dance songs, he has an ONLINE search engine that’s password protected that you can sign onto and save music on a “must play”, “play if possible” or “DO NOT PLAY” list. His prices are so reasonable for the service you receive!
Before the wedding, he called us to go over all the music we had chosen and he had the dance floor packed ALL NIGHT LONG! I had a hard time leaving the dance floor to greet guests b/c every time I said “ok, after this song I’ll go to table 10” another great song came on and I JUST HAD TO DANCE!
Michael also “found” Bopa King Carre, the percussionist, for us. I called Michael and told him I really loved the sound of the percussion accompanying the D.J. and if he knew of anyone that would be able to provide that service without a lot of CHEESE. You know, the guy with the funky hair dancing around in a bright red suit all over the dance floor. Within MINUTES he called me back and told me all about Bopa, and gave me some links to his website and some video of him playing at other weddings. Bopa wears a tuxedo, is pretty CUTE, and has traveled Europe with Paul Oakenfold and is on various music CD’s…..the day of the wedding, he was PERFECT! Everyone loved him AND the music played.
The ONLY thing that went wrong was I told Michael there would be a champagne march, then the toast. I think I confused him b/c he instantly announced the best man toast, but since they didn’t do the champagne march yet, no one had their champagne, and the 2 best men had to give their speeches again…..but I think it was my fault for confusing him. It honestly was such a minor thing and Michael more than made up for it the rest of the night...he had the crowd up on that dance floor alllllll night!
Florist: John from Flower Michele, Huntington: PRICELESS!
What can I say about John from Flower Michele that hasn’t been said already??? The man is a GENIUS! I simply can’t give him JUST a 10, since he was my favorite vendor of all (except for maybe hair and makeup, but I digress)…….Honestly, choosing Flower Michele was THE BEST choice I made out of all my vendors, and I loved all my vendors! John listened to all my ideas, showed me pictures of several different options, and helped me narrow down my decision once I saw the calla lily bo-k that would end up being the same one I carried on my wedding day. I originally was going to do all red flowers, but when I saw a pic of that bo-k, and I GASPED out loud, he said “THAT’S THE ONE!” Just by my reaction, he helped me turn my ideas into reality. We got tall calla lily centerpieces with bear grass and pink and red rose petals with votives on the tables. The guests couldn’t believe they were able to take the WHOLE CENTERPIECE home! The flowers were HUGE and FRESH and lasted a WEEK! DH also had a dozen GORGEOUS red roses with white berries instead of baby’s breath sent to my hotel room the day of the wedding….ordered from John, of course…and I can honestly say I have NEVER, EVER seen such roses! Each rose was BIGGER than the size of my fist! He has a customer for life in me…….THANK YOU JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO: DUET, Huntington: 10 for wedding day and previous, TBD once I receive proofs,album, and video
DH and I went to several different photographers and saved DUET for last….and only because I had to satisfy my curiosity over all the hype I read about them on the boards. I was initially hesitant to meet with them due to the language barrier (I think the owner, Eric, is Korean and all his employees are Asian)
So, after meeting with about 8 different photographers (and almost fainting at the incredibly HIGH prices) we reluctantly went to DUET. That was the first time I met Diamondgirlie in person…she was there with he FH at the time, too…..I think it was a sign! Lol :0)
Anyways, Eric met with us that day….and it turned out to be the SAME DAY his wife Nicole had a baby girl. He casually mentioned to us that he his wife was in the hospital cause she just had a baby and we were his last customer of the day b/c he had to go back. We were shocked that he didn’t just call us to cancel the appointment! But he wouldn’t have it, and didn’t rush us AT ALL! We would have never known if he didn’t mention it offhand….We were ASTOUNDED by the quality and artistic imagery we were presented with. The SOHO album was GORGEOUS…and the PRICE! OMG! We felt like it was a joke! We got SO MUCH for a fraction of what the other studios were charging! Then we saw the video.....and I cried! Eric was a commercial videographer in his country, he did movies and commercials…and it shows! The video sealed the deal for us….once we saw the video, we were sold…..hook,line, and sinker!
We also booked DUET over a year in advance. We were floored when Eric and Alberto walked right up to us at Maxine’s wedding (AJSMOM, formerly Soon2BMrsZ) about 9 months after booking and shook our hands! I can’t believe they remembered us!
The day of the wedding, Alberto and Hong(Hung? Cant remember the video guy’s name) arrived like clockwork and began filming and taking pics the minute they stepped into the door. Alberto had a print out of ALL 200 pics I had previously emailed him and a copy of every email I had sent Duet over the course of my planning. I am talking about 1 year and 9 months of pictures I have saved that I wanted DUET to duplicate! LOL! I told Alberto he didn’t have to do ALL of them!
Everyone keeps emailing me saying that DUET did an amazing job and where did I find them, b/c they have never seen photographers that thorough before!
Love them!
Hair: Tarale: 10
Wow! What a TALENTED, sweet girl! Tarale was always a pleasure to work with! Even though she was hard to reach by phone, I quickly learned the most effective way to reach her is by EMAIL. Once I started communicating via email, I got replies RIGHT AWAY. Tarale came to my house for my hair trial, I showed her 2 pics of what I liked, and it was like she merged the 2 hairstyles into one, to produce my hair style for the wedding! I booked her on the spot, and THANK GOD I did! She books so fast it was a good thing I had a long engagement and booked her early! She did my hair and my 3 bridesmaids from OOT. Their hair looked GORGEOUS and she was done in NO TIME! None of my girls even had pictures of what they wanted, she just listened and worked her magic as usual. Unfortunately, Tarale is taking next year off to travel and will not be doing any brides hair in 2006. I will miss her!
Makeup: Jaqueline Nicole: 10
Yet another truly wonderful human being! I can’t even think of Jaqueline as a vendor! From the minute we met, we just ‘clicked” and I booked her on the spot, too. It was funny b/c she was also engaged at the time I had my trial. I showed up at her house wearing my sample tiara which I borrowed from Paradise Bridals for my hair trial with Tarale….which turned out to be the SAME TIARA as Jaqueline! She was at Paradise Bridals the same day I was and wanted to show her bridesmaids her tiara, but they told her someone had borrowed it for a hair trial…and that girl was ME! Not only did we have the same tiara, but we had the SAME VEILS, both had Eve of Milady gowns, both had BM gowns by Bill Levkoff in Euro Red, and all from the same salon!
I had 3 trials with Jaqueline b/c I wanted to try a couple of different looks, and each trial was better than the last. The day of the wedding, she did 3 bridesmaids and my makeup, which lasted all night and into the next day!
Catering Hall: Villa Lombardi’s: 10
Impeccable. That is what describes Villa Lombardi’s. I can’t even put in to words the exquisite attention to detail that the people of Villa Lombardi’s showed us during the entire planning process. It almost seemed like they knew our questions before we even asked them and for every concern, they had our answer before we even opened our mouths! Originally, when we booked Villa’s, we heard about them being the land of “NO”…yet, when I explained to them that I am a graphic designer, and after showing them samples of my menus, table numbers, and place cards, they allowed me to make them for the wedding day! The cocktail hour food was OVERFLOWING and the food at dinner was top-notch. The pork loin was 2 inches thick and people kept telling me they can’t believe the quality of the food was so good for such a large amount of people! The wedding cake was DELICIOUS (even though I only had the 1 bite during the cake cutting ceremony) and the desserts were yummy, too.
The BEST part was that Villa’s recently redecorated, without my knowledge, and when I walked into the room before the reception to see what it looked like before the guests arrived, I started to cry…that YUCKY wooden, portable dance floor was replaced with a GORGEOUS MARBLE DANCE FLOOR and the tulle arch that sat behind the bride and groom’s sweetheart table was replaced with a FIREPLACE! I always hated that dance floor and it was the ONE THING I couldn’t understand about such a beautiful place…..I AM SO HAPPY THEY CHANGED IT! That was the icing on my wedding cake!
Cathy, my Maitre’d was always on top of things, she helped bustle my gown, when I needed a glass of water, it was in my hand before I could even ask for it! Honestly, I have not one complaint, other than I only had a couple of pieces of calamari at the cocktail hr, 1 lousy bite of the cake, and 1 bite of my chicken rollatini….I was too hot and tired from dancing to even eat and I think I drank a gallon of water that day. I hope someone I know gets married at Villa’s soon so I can go as a guest and actually EAT this time!
Well, that’s all, for now. If I think of anything else, I will add it to this review. I will also add my proofs when they come in…..
I can’t believe I am SOMEONE’S WIFE! WOOOHOOO!
Message edited 3/10/2006 12:19:38 PM.
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when you have time.
and you looked stunning 
