2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis

It was an amazing day, we are both so happy with how everything turned out!

WESTBURY MANOR 10++++++++++++++++++++++++
We never had a doubt in our minds that the WM would be awesome. We only looked at one other place before the WM, after we met with them, we booked on the spot. Every time I stopped by, I was always greeted warmly and allowed to peek into rooms, no questions asked. Our maitre'd was Lorena and our bridal attendant was Lupita. They were both AMAZING. We were greeted at the door by both of them and they took care of us the rest of the day. First we went to the photo studio for some pics; there were drinks and appetizers waiting for us. After we were done with photos I asked Lorena if we could stop by the cocktail room for a bit just to say hi and she let us. I didn't have a receiving line at the church so I am glad she let us do this. I know it threw the time off a bit, but I don't think it hurt much. They had opened up the cocktail hour a ½ hour early because some of my guests had come before 1:00, so that was very nice. We stopped in the Manor room before the cocktail hour to see how it looked, we were very pleased. She told us that they had to decorate the cake because the florist had come before the cake had arrived. It wasn't how we had wanted it, but it was beautiful, I didn't mind. I can't say enough about the service, the food, the staff, and neither can my guests. Top notch all the way. We were only in the bridal suite for about 2 seconds between the cocktail hour and when we were introduced at the reception. Again, they had food and drinks waiting for us in there. It started snowing and Lorena noticed some people leaving, she asked if we wanted to do dessert and the cake early so people could have some. We are glad she noticed this and was on top of it. At the end of the night they packed up all of our stuff, nothing was missing.
I didn't see any other brides, but my guests did during the cocktail hour. I did see a BP outside while my reception was still going on and there was one lady and a little boy that I saw come into the photo studio and the reception room (before anyone was in there) I said loudly each time I saw her Who is that?? because I knew she was not part of our party (because of the kid). That was the only issue I had with other parties being there. Lupita and Lorena waited with me while the car came around they are so sweet and so professional-they know their stuff. We couldn't be happier with the WM!!!!!!!


DEVITO STUDIOS in Rockville Centre 10+
We were so happy with our photographer Bob. He was a super nice man, very professional, very hard working, he arrived early, he knew exactly what to do, what pictures to take, he was always aware of the time, made sure he got any special shots we asked for, it is obvious he is very experienced. I saw him throughout the day getting some great shots and I would catch his eye and say "thanks" whenever I saw him. My DH's cousin used DeVito when she was married 10 years ago. We thought we would give them a try so we met with Mike the owner and hit it off. Bob has worked with him for over 15 years and we had seen his work. We booked them on the spot; we didn't need to look at anyone else. We received our proofs and are VERY happy with them!!


FM ENTERTAINMENT, FRANK 10+
Yet again another vendor we booked on the spot without looking elsewhere. I can't say how happy we were with the music. It was EXACTLY what we wanted and I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me at the reception, after the reception and who have said to me since how much they LOVED the music. Frank was great, he would come by and see if we were ok or if someone requested a song, he would ask if it was ok to play. He played great music during dinner and not so loud so people could chat. We had met with Frank, told him what kind of music we liked, gave him a list from my iPod to give him an idea of what we listened to, gave him a must play list, etc. We wanted low key music nothing in your face, nothing obnoxious. We also knew that he was the professional and trusted him to keep things flowing and he did perfectly. We would HIGHLY recommend them!

ALEXIS LIMOUSINE 10+
We rented 2 cars, a Rolls Royce and a Cadillac stretch. They showed up on time or maybe a little early - not sure. Our driver Bill was excellent, very friendly, and very helpful - he was even assisting our photographer at the church. The drivers put down the runner, helped to tell us when we should start walking in, etc. I did not get the name of the other driver but he was very patient with my nephew and made an extra stop on the way to the WM, with no problem. They were great. Our Rolls was clean, Bill had opened the champagne and poured two glasses for me and DH when we were ready to leave for the WM. Dealing with Alexis prior to that was very nice also; they were professional and not pushy or rude. We would highly recommend them, again another vendor we booked after the first meeting.

NATIONAL FLORAL WHOLESALE 7
The centerpieces were beautiful, I really loved them. My BM's bouquets were very pretty. They delivered the flowers on time. They did call from the church and stir up some drama - saying they couldn't deliver the flowers because of a funeral, but we had told them before to leave them in the back of the church if this was the case - this should have been told to the delivery person, if people were sitting in the back row than he should have figured it out by himself to leave them in the vestibule or something. The rest of the flowers were nice but some of my bouquet flowers were browning on the edges and looked wilted, they forgot my Grandmother's corsage, so it ended up going to the reception hall and she didn't get it until the reception was almost over, the flower arrangements for the church looked sparse, they were supposed to scatter petals on all the tables at the WM but didn't, they were supposed to decorate the cake but didn't (they were there before the cake arrived but didn't leave the picture we gave them). I noticed the bout's falling apart after only a few hours (like after the church) which surprised me, but maybe that is normal? My mom?s corsage should have been a pin on but it was a wristlet-no biggie but still not what we asked for. I also expected the bouquets to be bigger - especially mine - this is probably my fault for not being specific and doing more research with pictures, etc. This was the only vendor we expected to be wowed by, but weren't. I am not a picky person and I am sure no one else noticed these things but me and DH, but still, we both were aware that we were not impressed.




DAVID'S BRIDAL, ASHEVILLE, NC store - 10, LONG ISLAND store - 7
My dress, BM dresses, MOB dress, veil, blusher, bra, gloves for me & MOH. I went to the DB in NC when I was visiting my family and ended up buying my dress that night. My dress was on sale, came in very quickly, they shipped it to me in NY, service was excellent. I also bought many of my accessories there. My sister visited NY in July so we made an appointment and went to the DB in LI to pick out BM dresses. It was a Saturday so it was busy, so we mostly did all the picking out, trying on all that stuff alone, no problem. The problem came when I set up the information for my BM's to order the dresses. We are talking about 3 dresses and they couldn't get it right. I faxed them the info on my dress purchase twice - so they would have what they needed so the girl's could get their discount. They lost it both times - they were rude on the phone to me (when I could get through or wasn't on hold for an hour) they were rude to my SIL when she went there to purchase her dress. So that was it with them, I talked the NC store-had my other 2 girls order their dresses from them and had my mom pick them up. So not that anyone will be going to Asheville to pick out dresses, but if you do - go to DB! They were nice, very accommodating, we had to switch my MOH dress at one point and then switch it back - no problem at all - they were great. My mom got her dress there and her alterations, again no problem.



FELDMAN ESQUIRE 9
My DH had used them in the past. Three of the tuxes were for people out of state, but that was not a problem for them. DH, FIL and RB had issues with the tuxes being the wrong size when they got them, but they were very helpful and nice about getting the proper sizes, no problem. They have two locations which made it easier for us. We would definitely recommend them

WINGATE INN 8
I had a number of OOT guests stay there, in addition, me and DH stayed there on Saturday night. Dealing with the sales staff beforehand was always very friendly and pleasant; they called on Thursday to see if I needed anything else. After we checked in champagne and chocolate was delivered to our room. We stayed in the junior bridal suite, which was nice but missing small amenities you would expect in a suite. The free breakfast in the morning was great, lots of stuff to choose from and it was always being replenished. Other than the champagne, it was never acknowledged that we were newlyweds; we didn't get a "congratulations" or "how was your stay" when I checked out. When we called to ask for a 12:30 check out instead of an 11:00 check out, again it was not acknowledged that we were newlyweds and we were abruptly told "if you stay past 12:30 we will charge you for another day." Also, they changed the keys on us even though we had called for a later check out. My guests that extended their stay also were locked out and had to get new keys. We had 13 rooms booked for 2 nights, plus most of our guests ended up staying an extra night, so we gave them A LOT of business. But for the level of hotel it is, it was fine.

WILLOW TREE LANE 7
We ordered our invitations through Willow Tree Lane. The paper was a little thin, but it was to be expected with the reasonable price. The wrong type of printing process was used on the return envelopes (should have been thermography) and some of the response cards were crooked. They charged us $30 for a proof and then there was a delay in them faxing/mailing it to us - that was annoying, but other than that we were happy.

ST. JOSEPH'S 10
It is weird to rate a church, I definitely do not endorse or encourage people to "shop" for churches when they are looking to get married. But I just wanted to say how happy I was with my whole experience there. This is my DH's church since he was a child. The organist and cantor were great, our pre-Cana leaders were great and the Pastor there is very friendly and easy to talk to.

Father G 10+++++++++++++++
My DH's best friend who is a priest officiated at the wedding. What a privilege to have someone who is like a brother stand up and officiate at your wedding. He kept me so relaxed; he was always making me smile and laugh. His homily was a little like a best man speech, but it was very personal and he had the whole church laughing. I have never been to a nuptial mass quite like it and received many comments from my family that they really enjoyed it. I am so happy that he was able to help us out.

Make-up - 9 me and my BM went to the MAC counter-picked out all my make-up. That morning she applied it, I was very happy with the results. I gave it a 9 because I looked a little shiny in some of the photos.

Hair - 10 DH's co-worker's wife did my hair. She used to work in a salon and now does work on her own. I had one trial with her where she tried 5 different styles and we picked the best one. She is so sweet and I was very happy with how my hair came out.

Shoes - 10 got them on clearance at Macy's, Caparro's, I was fine all day - at the end while waiting for the car I felt some pain and switched to my flip flops I got at k-mart, they were comfortable, kept them on through the after-party.

Accessories - E-bay - my jewelry, ring bearer pillow, material for the BM's bouquets. I wish I had used e-bay for more things but didn't really think of it until later in my planning. Jacket - Filene's on clearance. Very glad I picked this up ? I did wear it and it kept me warm.

Favors - none, we made a donation to Covenant House New York in honor of my father. I created a photo montage of my dad with a note to our guests, printed it out at Kinko's and put it in a frame from k-mart.

OOT bags - my DH bought everything at Dollar Tree, our guests were very surprised and enjoyed them.

Feel free to FM me if you have any questions about any of the vendors I used.

Message edited 11/8/2006 1:40:23 PM.

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Great Review!! Everything looked beautiful, and you made me even more excited about westbury manor! Congratulations to you and your new husband!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Thanks for the review! I am glad you had such a great day!!! You look beautiful

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Congrats!! You look beautiful and your wedding looks lovely!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

wonderful review! candid and honest. I am so glad you had a great experience with the WM...I am so excited for my turn!

Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs.!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy your honeymoon!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

congratulations!!
another hapy wesbury manor bride.

All the best.

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Thanks for the review.....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Excellent review, congratulations!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

very nice review.... sounds like the day was a 10!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Great review, and you looked amazing!!! I'm so happy that you had a wonderful wedding day even with the snow!! And I'm happy you loved Frank at FM since we will be using him as well!!! Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs.!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

wonderful review! Congrats

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

OMG!! This has to be the quickest a bride has ever posted a review!! You looked gorgeous on your special day!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Wonderful review, thank you for sharing, you looked so beautiful in your gown. The pictures came out wonderful.

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Congrats! You looked beautiful! I am sorry about how the Wingate treated you and your guests..You might want to call the manager of sales there and let them know what you thought about their lack of professionalism. Glad it didn't ruin your fun! You looked radiant!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you had a wonderful day!!!!!! Thank you for such an honest review!! Your pics are beautiful, can't wait to see more when the proofs come in!!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Thanks for the great review!!! Everything looked beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing! Congrats..

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

I am glad to hear that everything went well at WM. You both look so happy at the sweetheart table!

Congratulations!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Great review!! Glad everything worked out well and the blizzard held off for you!!! It sounds like you had an amazing time and you look absolutely radiant!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

You looked gorgeous...sorry you had an issue w/ National FLoral.....

Sounds like a wonderful day otherwise!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Your photos look amazing! Congrats on the wedding!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Congratulations!!

Thank you for writing such a lovely review about the Westbury Manor. You are help soothe my anxieties.

Best Wishes

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

hey there, beautiful bride! Glad you had such a wonderful day and I love hearing good things about the WM. I'm sorry about the stupid stuff at the Wingate. I just asked them about later check-out and they said 2:30 would be ok for us and immediate family, 12:30 for other guests..hopefully we won't have any problems.
Congratulations to you!!!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

awww! very pretty congrats!

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

I also used National Wholesale and I experienced the same issues you had with them.

They delivered flowers to the church which should have come to the reception. A few of the bouts fell apart, fortunately we had ordered some extra. We had some wilted flowers. The biggest issue was the size of the bouquets. Mine were the same size as yours roughly. So I suggest you write in your contracts the exact number.

Re: 2/11/06 Wedding Review - WESTBURY MANOR, FM Entertainment, DeVito Studios, Alexis, NFW, Feldman Esquire, Wingate Inn

Great review! Love to hear the MANY GOOD things about WM!!!