Dreemer107 10.11.09 Wedding Review Part 1

Thank you to Ron, Liz & Kim. This site is an asset to any girl planning their own wedding. The most helpful part of this site is the other girls. There are ideas up the wazoo on this site. Honestly, this site single handedly changed my whole vision of my wedding. Although I was sure to not get caught up in all of the ideas and add ons, the things I did use in my own wedding are what made my wedding, my own personalized wedding.


Day of Weather: A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
9 days before my wedding, my older sister unexpectedly passed away. So on top of all of the stress of being a week away from the wedding, I had to deal with a funeral (on my birthday nonetheless). All week long they were calling for a crappy, rainy day for Sunday October 11. I have only 1 person to thank for the beautiful, blue skied wedding day I was given. I know my sister had the best seat in the house & she made sure not a single rain drop fell down on her baby sister.


Engagement Ring & Wedding Bands
Kay Jewelers (Smithhaven Mall) - A+
DH picked out the ering all by himself and he had these coupon things for another purchase, so we chose to go there for my band. I’ve had absolutely no problems with any services on either rings. They even let it slide when I was a few months late for my bi annual inspection on the rings.

Bachelorette Party
Luna Mesa Spa in Moriches - A
It was relaxing and I was happy that everyone got to choose what they wanted and what was within their budget. It’s not luxurious, but it got the job done.
Slumber Parties by Kim - A+…. Now this is where the fun started. My sister contacted Kim to set up the party. She was hysterical and kept me and my friends entertained the whole time.

Hair - My coworker’s hair stylist friend - B+
While I loved the way my hair came out on the day of…I know others who got their hair done were not as happy as I was.


Makeup
Rachel - A+

Perfect. I actually found Rachel on craigslist. She is a makeup artist at Ulta, trained to work with many different types of makeup. My trial was awesome. It lasted all day long, so I knew I had nothing to worry about the day of….and I didn’t. She was on time to my house and got started right away on my mom’s makeup. I loved the way everyone’s makeup turned out. I actually forgot to bring makeup remover to the hotel after the wedding and my eye makeup still looked pretty good the next morning..even after I stupidly slept with it all on. The best part about Rachel is that since she freelances, she’s inexpensive.
FM me if you would like her email address.

Invitations

Tessa. Even* Paper ie - A
Honestly, when I started planning my wedding - I went out and bought the invitations the craft stores sell. I figured, “oh who the heck is going to keep their invitation. I’m not spending all that money on something that is ending up in the trash”…but as time went on I noticed girls talking about Tessa. I decided to just have her give me a quote on my invitation. Her quote was so unbelievably reasonable and the invitation was beautiful. It went right along with my whole theme perfectly. She did mess up on the address on my return envelopes, but she fixed them right away and overnighted them to me.


Shoes
Casa Di Mario - A
I’m very picky when it comes to shoes and I have wide feet…so it was a little bit of a process to find shoes. It’s a good thing I went shopping around for them early. I tried Casa Di Mario because it’s located close by in Patchogue and they have a large selection. I found shoes I loved and my mom was actually able to barter to get them to take $10 off. Dyeing was free. The shoes came out beautifully! The shoes were really comfy. I actually wore them the whole time – even though I had every intention of putting flip flops on for the reception.


DOJ
Earrings - Bridal Suite of Centereach: tried them on when I went to visit my dress and fell in love. Not too expensive. I don’t know who made them.
Bracelet - Nordstrom online


Favors
Candy Buffet - I’ll give myself an A+ because everyone loved it!
Thank you to LIW for giving me the idea. The candy was gone in a flash and I’m so happy I was able to do it!
I did get an awesome price on the autumn mix Jelly Belly’s from Royal Candy Company (royalcandycompany.com). Besides that – I purchased the rest of the candy from Walmart, Sams Club & the Lindt store.


Discount mugs - A
The website is easy to use, they are inexpensive and they came out exactly how I wanted them to.
4 large boxes delivered and once I went through all of them - there were about 5 or 6 broken glasses out of 144. I put in a claim for them and received a few more than what had broke in transit.


Guestbook
Wishing Tree - thank you LIW for the idea. Not many people signed my leaves though, which was kind of disappointing. But I love that I have a memento and not just a guestbook. Check out this website for the how to: http://www.weddingchicks.com/sweet-deals/1696/diy-manzanita-tree-and-wish-card-templates/. I got the manzanita branches from www.Bloomsandbranches.com. They were beautiful and well packaged.


Boudoir Pictures
Kamila Harris A-
She did a terriffic job and made me feel very comfortable. I set up the whole group dates and what not with her and she was pretty easy going about it. Her package price has gone up since April, but it’s well worth it - especially since it includes hair & makeup. (which by the way, Emily from Cheekadee (she’s located in Philly as well) does amazing work as well…I felt like a hollywood starlet!) The only reason for the A- is for the fact that the hotel was literally kicking us out and since I was the last one to go (on my own accord) I felt rushed and really didn’t have the chance to do the poses I had intended on. But regardless of that - I am completely in love with the pictures. They came out beautifully. I will love looking back at them when I have my big pregnant belly. My DH loves them as well and at first glance he had no idea it was me!

Officiant - A
I hate that I don’t know the name of my officiant. But that is because I used him through the Coral House. I was a little uneasy at first, but the ceremony was really very nice. Any girls getting married at the Coral House not wanting to pay someone $400+/hr to officiate their ceremony, I strongly suggest just going with one of their officiants


Dresses
Wedding dress, MOB, BM - Bridal Suite of Centereach - A+ (Mori Lee)
I know that the bridal suite gets some bad reviews on here, but I can honestly say that I never had a problem with the place!
I purchased my dress in January 2008 and it came into the store by April/May. I went in to try on my dress several times before my fittings and they never complained or turned me away. There was always someone around to help me get tied in.
Everyone was very helpful when we went in the few times to try on MOB & BM dresses as well. Always offering a needed opinion or two. I dealt with Mary a lot of times and she is a very sweet woman.
The seamstress work was good as well. My dress - absolutely no complaints. When I went back for my 2nd fitting, I hated the way the dress was fitting - and they fixed it without any if, ands or buts. The seamstress even convinced me to get cups sewn in, to which I am forever grateful. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the corset I bought would have been. My biggest fear was that my bustle would come undone during the reception…and it never did! Those buttons were on their nice and tight!



Tux - Karakos of Selden - A
My DH actually used the tux he used for his friend’s wedding back in February. I can say that whenever you go into Karakos, they are so helpful. (and inexpensive)
Oh yea, I got the boys their ivory shirts from the store and they were only $10 each!

Vests
Men’s Wearhouse Smithhaven Mall B+
We only rented our vests from Men’s Wearhouse…so I didn’t really have too many experiences with them. I know that they were severely understaffed when I went in to register for the vests.
They also called me a few times from about the end of July until a few weeks before the wedding to find out when the bridal party would be coming in to get measured. It was a little annoying, considering I only had 3 guys and come on - they’re guys - they do everything last minute!


Bridal Party Gifts

Webobble.com – A+
This is the only specialized vendor we used for bridal party gifts . The guys in our bridal party are not the normal watch, cuff links kind of guys. So we decided we wanted to get them bobble heads. They came out perfectly! I had very specific instructions on DH’s cousin’s face and they listened to each of them. They love them, so it was totally worth it.


Veil
Atias Flea Market - A
I’m not too sure of the name of the woman’s booth – but she’s located somewhat in the middle of it all. She’s a sweet woman with a lot of bridal/communion stuff. The veil matched almost perfectly!

To Part 2 of Review