My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

I hope future brides-to-be will benefit from my review as I have from all the past reviews from the Ladies of LI Weddings - THANK YOU! Special thanks to SSDARE, you saved me hours of work with your table cards (and they were a hit!)

Ceremony/Reception: Vanderbilt Mansion (Oakdale): A+; From the very start, Carolyn, the banquet manager made me feel comfortable that I was in competent hands. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful day! Thank Goodness Hurricane Isabel came and left! Our guests were greeted with a hospitality in the courtyard and serenaded with a string quartet. Our ceremony was on the great lawn, facing the river (we even saw ducks swimming by as we recited our vows). There was a grand piano in the center hall where our jazz band played during the cocktail hour. The mansion was so tastefully decorated. The FOOD was SPECTACULAR, in terms of taste, abundance and presentation. The staff handled all the tiny details superbly! They even complied with passing around my DH’s signature margarita, including squeezing fresh lime juice for each drink! The ballroom is on the small side but perfect for 125 people. We keep hearing from our guests that it was one of the most elegant weddings they’ve been to (it sure did make me feel that way). If anyone is having a small-medium sized wedding that is classic, well-run and not overly priced, you can’t go wrong at the Vanderbilt!

Florist: Jack & Rose: A-; The bouquets were stunning! The ceremony flowers were exactly what I asked for. The centerpieces were elegantly arranged. Jack personally came to decorate my chuppah and my cake! He is very talented and it’s evident that he has many years of experience. The reasons why he gets a minus are, first, because Jack is very hands on and cares very much about pleasing brides ON their wedding day, he tends to be very stretched with his time. He is very accommodating to all brides, even meeting me at 9pm and staying until 11pm. The problem was, it was difficult getting hold of him. The second reason is that during my design session, I was never shown a “live” sample of what my flowers would look like. I was pretty clear on what type of flowers I wanted, I was disappointed to not be able to “see” a sample. I was very nervous on how things would turn out but was very relieved to see how BEAUTIFUL my flowers were! It pays to TRUST JACK! Jack is reasonably priced and provides hands-on attention that you normally wouldn’t get for the kind of price.

Make-up: Jillian from Gorgeous Faces: A; Jillian was fabulous. She is a true professional (with a great personality to boot!). She arrived 15 minutes early at my hotel (6:15am) and was able to do my make-up in 30 minutes! She is able to look at you and know what works. My make-up was very natural and lasted all day (except for the lipstick). I loved the false eyelashes that she used on me, wish I could wear them everyday!

Hair: Rock Twins: A; I had four bridesmaids and myself that needed their hair done by 8AM. The twins also arrived at my hotel room 15 minutes early (at 5:45am!) My hair was half-up and half-down and stayed the whole day!

Video: Wild Rose Video: A-; Bill and Marie are fabulous. They are professional and down-to-earth really “good” people. I’ve seen samples of their work and am praying my video will be as good. I had John as the videographer at my wedding. We barely noticed him, which was a great thing. The only down part was that I wanted him to ask members of my bridal party to say a few things for the video and found out he didn’t go up to a any of them.

DJ: More Than Music: B-; Frank was our DJ; we completed his forms detailing introductions, first dance; last dance, dinner music about 5 days before the wedding. We agreed on our requests. My greatest disappointment was he played my last dance song DURING the reception. I could not have been clearer. I also requested "light" music during dinner, not the elevator music that is usually played and you know what, he played the elevator music and disappeared for 10 minutes. I couldn't even find him to request that he change things. VERY DISAPPOINTED since he came recommended by the sales manager as "one of her best".

Hotel & RH Dinner: Wyndham Windwatch Hotel: A; we blocked rooms and had our rehearsal dinner at the hotel. JoAnn, the sales manager was almost psychic. She was able to anticipate my needs, call me, email me before I had a chance to call her. Our guest count kept changing and she just kept adding more rooms to our block (thank goodness, the hotel was booked solid for my night!). We ended up having half our wedding stay overnight and had to change our rehearsal dinner room in order to accommodate everyone. Once again, the Wyndham was so responsive. The food was EXCELLENT (incredible dessert selection) and the staff people were friendly and courteous. Our overnight guests raved about the rooms and was even able to play a round of golf next door before dinner. The reason why they didn't receive a "plus" is it appears that they are understaffed on the weekends at the hotel, snacks +/ room service took over an hour for the food to arrive!

Almost forgot...
Ceremony / Cocktail Music: New Found Sound: A+; we had a 5 piece string band greet our guests as they arrived in the courtyard, then they played our ceremony on the back lawn, then they moved inside; added a pianist and drummer and jazzed up the music. They were fabulous. Greg even made a trip out to the Vanderbilt to take care of logistics so that everything would be perfect for me, and it was. They are VERY reasonably priced compared to tons of quotes that we got. FM me and I will forward their # if anyone is interested.

Wedding rings: Hammerman Brothers (NYC): A+!; DH was very leery (sp?) about "wearing jewelry". Hammerman's custom made matching brushed platinum wedding bands for us and also made a diamond eternity band for me. Then in the last minute, I decided I wanted to engrave our rings before the ceremony AND, they were able to do it for us in a day! The reason is that they are a manufacturer as well, which also helps in their prices!

THANKS AGAIN, LIWEDDINGS AND ALL THE LADIES!

Message edited 10/20/2003 9:44:49 AM.

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Congrats AMinNYC!Can't wait to see pics of your wedding.The Vanderbilt is gorgeous...

All the best to you and your new husband in your new life together!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Congrats!!! I can't wait to see pictures.... I wish you two a lifetime of happiness

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Congrats! I'm glad to hear everything was perfect. I got just married there last month. Can't wait to see some pics.

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Hi Amy! Congratulations to you and your husband. I was wondering about you lately and hoped all went well. Sounds like it did. I'm so happy to hear you were able to do the ceremony on the lawn by the water - as you know I got totally rain out and could not do that. Glad the table cards worked out. Please post pictures soon!!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Congratulations!! You sound like you had an amazing day. I can't wait to see pics!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Contratulations to a fellow 9/21 bride- we were definitely blessed with a gorgeous day! Your wedding sounded fantastic!!! Please post pics!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Thanks Ladies! I need to get my hands on a scanner, for some reason, the jpeg files I have aren't loading?

Congrats to all the Ladies! Couldn't have pulled it all off in less than 5 months without you!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Congrats! hope your able to post the pics soon

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

CONGRATS, glad to hear everything went well on your special day Pics, pics please..

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

congrats!!

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Thanks Ladies,
I don't want to mislead you to think everything went without a hitch.
-One of my BMs' boyfriend had emergency gall bladder surgery the day before (thank goodness she was able to still came to everything)
-my aunt and my 2 cousins were "no-shows" (they did the same thing to my sister 12 years ago)
-I lost my groom to his friends somewhere for 25 minutes during the reception (it felt like it was forever, esp when they played our "last dance" song in the middle of the party.

All in all, my advice, similar to many of the other women here is, your wedding day is truly special but it is the same as any other day in your life, it is what you make of it. The most well-organized plans do not prevent unexpected things from happening. No matter what, don't get upset. Keep smiling bc as important as our wedding day is to us; it's everyday after that that is what truly matters!

THANKS AGAIN!

Message edited 10/15/2003 1:51:01 PM.

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Thank you for the review! I'm getting married at the Vanderbilt in August and I find these reviews so helpful. Congratulations and can't wait to see the photos.

Re: My 9/21/03 Wedding Review (VANDERBILT MANSION)

Rest assured, your wedding at the Vanderbilt will be fabulous. Carolyn & her team are on top of everything! Good Luck!

I have 2 pictures I am trying to load, hope it works, if not, I will find a scanner. Here goes...

Message edited 10/20/2003 9:45:32 AM.