The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Its a long one!

The Proposal- Mike & I dated for about 7 years before he proposed. We were in Vegas for New Years and he proposed right as the clock struck midnight- there were fireworks, millions of people and it was exactly how I always pictured it!



LIW- 10! Absolutely love this site and it was literally the best thing about wedding planning! It really helped me stay organized and I got so many ideas from here- I had never even heard of a card box before this website lol

Pre-Wedding Events:

Bridal Shower: 10 out of 10 Il Nocello in Whitestone
The food was delicious and my bm did an amazing job of planning- I kind of suspected it was that weekend but wasn’t sure till I got there and heard my mom laughing. My sister also said that it was very reasonably priced- and they let us bring in our own wine which was great- my aunt was able to bring all my favorites!



Rehearsal Dinner- 10 out of 10 Cascarinos (Bayside)
We have been going to the Cascarino’s in College Point for years, so when MikeandJess recommended the Bayside location- we went to get pricing. Jimmy, the owner, was wonderful to work with and the night of everything went perfectly.

Bachelorette Party- Cruise to Nowhere, Norwegian- I’d rate it a 20 out of 10!
My girls surprised me, but this was totally what I wanted to do for my b-party- we had the best time!





Wedding Events:

Weather- 10 out of 10 It was a beautiful perfect day- we could not have asked for a better day- it was sunny and about 70! Crazy for October.

Photographer: Noelle P. Wilson (noellepwilson.com)
Prewedding: 10
I cant thank Future Mulligan enough for recommending her- she had used Noelle for her engagement party pictures (which were incredible)- I was able to get a package for a price that really fit into our budget, and I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing anything. I met with Noelle and liked her immediately- she is a very calming influence and I thought she would be a great person to photograph our big day- plus her work was amazing
Engagement Pictures: 9
We took our pictures in Central Park. We had such a great time with Noelle- she was very laid back and I love how our pictures came out. Rating would have been an 10 but, my only complaint is that, I wanted to use the pictures for table numbers, and I had to purchase them from pictage.com, where she posted them, because she does not give you a disk of images until after the wedding (which I did not know)


Wedding Day: 10
She was early the day of and was very calming throughout the day. I blink a lot- so she was very careful to check the pictures to make sure that I didn’t blink in the middle, which was great.
My favorites:




After Wedding: 10 pending my album.

Video: Halo Productions: Jack
10 (pending final video)
We met Jack that day but had seen his work and requested him. He was AMAZING- pending the video of course- but every time we went for pictures anywhere, he scouted out the area while the photographer worked with us and then brought us to these really cool places for additional pictures/video.

We are awaiting our video and I hope to have it soon- with the holiday rush, there was some confusion and we received the wrong video. But whoever’s video it was, was very nice lol

RH:
I visited about 10 reception halls in NJ (where I grew up) before deciding to look on Long Island. We looked at about 4 on LI, and then visited Sans Souci of Sea Cliff. I went by myself for the first meeting and Jeannie showed me around. I was so blown away by the outside cocktail hour view and the lovely surroundings.

Tasting: I took my parents & FH there for a tasting- the food was AMAZING- we booked on the spot. Only complaint is that they would not let us taste the cake & made a fuss over it- so I expected the cake to suck & looked into purchasing an outside cake.

Pre-wedding: Very responsive to calls and very nice. And at my final meeting, MaryAnn set-up a cake tasting for me- and it was delicious. I was really appreciative of how she calmed my nerves about the cake & offered the tasting.

Day of: I was blown away. I didn’t taste anything at the cocktail hour, was too busy talking to guests- but everything else- from the appetizer (penne vodka) to the main courses to the cake (cannoli cream) was delish! Additionally, when my flowers came they were completely wrong- and since it was the hall’s recommended vendor they got them on the phone & made them change the flowers for me. They also followed up with me to make sure that the flowers were exactly what I wanted. I was highly impressed. My mom was a little annoyed that they started clearing the tables at 11:30—but honestly wasn’t a big deal- the party ended at 12 anyhow.





Hair: Jenn the Hair Geinie
Trial: 10
Jenn did a beautiful ½ up/ ½ down style for me that I found a picture of. It came out beautiful- but I found gorgeous earrings and decided to wear it up on my wedding day to show them off.
Day of: 10++++++
Jenn was wonderful- I showed her a picture of what I wanted and then made all these alterations to it and she really saw my vision and did it perfectly! She also did a great job on my mom’s hair, my aunts, my sisters, mil and sil- she was on-time and kept us on schedule. She also stayed and helped me put on my dress. I highly recommend her!

Make-up: Karen Wiyosaki
Trial: 10
Went to an event in the city and the airbrush lasted over 14 hours till I washed it off.


Day of: 8
Love Karen but only one issue or this would be a 10 she didn’t use the same colors as my trial for my eye make-up. She put browns/golds on me which were not as nice as the colors from my trial- they looked ok in person but I don’t like how it photographed. She did an amazing job on my sister & mom’s make-up- and everyone’s make-up stayed all day.

Flowers: Hedgecock Florist
PreWedding: 10 Great prices and nice to deal with
Day of: 6
The flowers arrived at the hotel and they were not what I had hoped- they were a lot smaller and they were the wrong color and my bouquet was significantly smaller than the MOHs. I called the owner and he literally said- what do you want me to do? I tried to be as calm as I could and I said, fix them and he was like how. I couldn’t believe that I had to solve the problem- I kept the bm’s flowers even though I wasn’t thrilled with them and just sent back mine- I told the delivery guy to bring them to the shop & I told the owner to deliver them to the church by 1pm. He agreed.
I got to the church and he had added 30 more roses and it was better- not perfect but nice. It would have been nice if he followed up with me to make sure that I was satisfied, but he didn’t bother. If I had it to do over, I would have paid the extra $300 and gone with Burtons.

Delivered flowers


My Bok after it was fixed


St. John’s University for pictures- 10
Once my bm found the right person to ask at SJU, they were so nice and accommodating & it was free- our St. John’s pictures are some of my favorites!




Cocktail Hour Music: Katharine Saxton
10
Everyone raved about how talented she was. She was easy to work with and I love that she played music like Stairway to Heaven on the harp- it really made my guests stop & take notice.

DJ: In the Mix- James
9
Would be an 10 but they missed some of my must-play songs and I think they could have done a better job in getting people dancing- they didn’t read the crowd right. But they were on time, price was right and they were very nice to work with.

Camelot Limos: 10
They were flawless- the drivers were all friendly- very helpful with my gown, helped us carry things from the hall. I would recommend them to anyone getting married!


Invitations: 10++++++++++++++
Tessa of E venstar Paperie
Tessa was by far my favorite vendor!
I really wanted pocketfolds and I didn’t think that I could afford them- but another 08 bride, NapaValleyGirl recommended Tessa and she worked with me to fit it into my budget. She designed something exclusively for me that was breathtaking & didn’t go overboard. I was so happy with the sample.
The week before my wedding, I contacted her and she also did my favor cards and also seating cards- she did them super quick and at an amazing price!.



My dress: Bridal Elegance in Dix Hills- 10
I went to RK Bridal once and Bridal Elegance twice- I highly recommend both, they were both very nice- at RK I went during the week at around 3pm and it was empty and I received excellent service.

I found a dress at Bridal Elegance that I loved- and Phyllis was wonderful so we bought it there, she gave us a nice discount for paying cash.

Fittings- all my fittings went perfectly- at the first it fit and looked like it would only need minor alterations but I thought the price was very expensive for alterations- but I didn’t really shop around & I felt comfortable with Phyllis doing the work.

BM Dresses.
Bill Levkoff dresses- 10
Bridal Shop- No rating
The Bm’s dresses did not go as smoothly as I would have liked and it was a combination of errors on both sides. Errors by the store- they ordered one bm a size smaller than they were supposed to (it fit so no big deal on that), and the other thing was a little more major- they ordered my friend a size that was 6 sizes too big for her. I guess she should have said something but she thought that they should know since they measure girls for bm dresses all the time. But that same bm is also tall and they were supposed to order her extra length and they neglected to do that and had to order it after the dresses came in and rip the dress apart and attach the longer skirt. In the end, the dress looks beautiful- but the Bridal Elegance did try and give it to her with pinholes in it, the seams not lined up and strings hanging. I had to call and eventually drive all the way out there with my bm and they finally fixed it enough for us to bring it elsewhere.

Jr. BM Dress- Dress4Princess.com
10! Was beautiful & so reasonably priced- I ordered a yard of fabric from the BMs dresses to use as a sash- looking back, I could have used scraps from the BMs alterations and saved myself some $$



Maria’s Perfect Fit- 10
MOH, BM & JBM fittings
My trainer recommended that we take the dresses to Maria’s and they did a beautiful job in about a week on all three dresses.

Men's Warehouse- 7
We ordered 7 tuxes- out of 7, three of the gms and were measured wrong and DH's tux came in without the vest- make sure if you use them, you have everyone pick up their tuxes extra early. I did like their online manager- I could see who was measured and it allowed me to stay on top of things without nagging the groomsmen.



Barrons- 10
I ordered my veil and my tiara there- although I ended up purchasing something different from the bridal shop to wear. The guy was very nice and very accommodating- I highly recommend them.

Holy Family Church- Flushing, NY
7
They fired the music director three months before our wedding & transferred the priest that was supposed to marry us. I know that these things happen in a catholic church- but my issue is that I had to call the pastor daily for over a month and actually SHOW UP and even then it took him a week to call me- made stress that I just didn’t need.
At the ceremony- the bishop said “You can now kiss your husband” which bothered us because it’s a ritual to have you may now kiss the bride & then he didn’t present us. He would have known we wanted all of that, if he had showed up for the rehearsal- but he sent the deacon instead. The new music director however, is wonderful to work with, and we even ended up hiring his son to accompany him on the violin, which was just beautiful.




Jewelry for BMs- 10 on price & quality
Inch by Inch- http://www.inchbyinch.talkspot.com/aspx/templates/pro5a.aspx/msgid/434115
The jewelry was a design that I found on a website and then someone on LIW recommended this company for jewelry making. I contacted her and asked her to make the earrings first- she gave me an amazing price—less than ½ of what it was on the other website. They were well made and came really quickly- I then had her make the bracelets- and they were also very inexpensive and came quickly.



Toppers with Glitz- 10
The price was ehh expensive- but I love the final product & they were so easy to work with! I would have spent double! We are using it now as a topper for our Christmas Tree.


Ebay items:
STDs- Seller: r.space.on.the.web
Seller was AMAZING- we designed the STD magnets together and he made any changes I requested until I was 100% satisfied. They came out so cute- highly recommended.


Personalized Duffle Bags for the jgm & jbm- Seller: 96*shells*simple*stitches*99
One of my favorites- the items were beautiful, communication was great & they arrived within a week! (pictures in my album)

Gable Boxes- Seller: annettispagetti
Smaller than I thought they would be- but they came quick & they were gold- great!

Personalized napkins- Seller: memorablewedding
Amazing prices, came so quickly and seller was really easy to work with!

DIYs:
Card box- I got the fabric at Joanns and made it myself- I wouldn’t say that it was a 10 but it came out nice and I was very happy that I did not spend a lot of money (total cost for it was $15)


Rehearsal dinner invites, Programs, Menus, Table Numbers, Signature Drink signs - all created in PrintMaster- very easy to use and helped a lot for people who don’t have design skills like me.

RD invite (printed through vistaprint- 10- great price, quick & inexpensive)


Menu- printed at home


Bathroom sign- printed at home


Honeymoon- 2 days in South Beach & a 7-day Caribbean Cruise on Carnival- 10! We had the test time and our Travel Agent, Terry was top notch- FM for contact information

Message edited 12/22/2008 11:51:22 AM.

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

What a great review!!!! This will be so helpful to future brides!!!!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Great Review! And I got a shout out which made it even more fun to read! Thank you. Your wedding was beautiful

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

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Posted by NapaValleyGirl

What a great review!!!! This will be so helpful to future brides!!!!

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Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

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Posted by MikeandJess

Great Review! And I got a shout out which made it even more fun to read! Thank you. Your wedding was beautiful

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Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

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Posted by futuremrsfab

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Posted by NapaValleyGirl

What a great review!!!! This will be so helpful to future brides!!!!

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thanks Cindy! I hope so!

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Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

great job!! the review is great!!! your wedding looks gorgeous...LOVE your invites!!!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

gReat review very helpful thank you so much!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

great review! Everything looked wonderful! congrats!!!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

great review!!!!!!!!!!!! Your wedding looked amazing!!!!!!! You were beautiful!!!!!!!!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Everything was beautiful!!!!

Message edited 12/22/2008 2:03:03 PM.

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Great review!! Your wedding looked amazing!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Great Review. Congrats!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Great review- Congrats!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

love the review. I am thinking of using that same florist!! Thank you!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Thanks for your review!!
Congrats! Everything looked great!!

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

GREAT GREAT Review! Thank you.

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

Great review, glad you had a wonderful day.

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

I dealt with Anastasio and Mary ann at the Sans Souci, also agree with you on the food, amazing. What a pleasure to deal with, I really felt like a princess.

Re: The Fabulous Wedding- 10.12.08- Sans Souci of SeaCliff, Hair Geinie, Camelot, HALO Video & More

CONGRATS.. i love this!