Venue: Crest Hollow Country Club- A+++++++
First, I want to talk about my banquet manager- Tom Reitano. He was absolutely amazing. He threw in a lot of stuff that you normally have to pay extra for because we were having a big wedding. They were well within our budget because you are not the only bride there- but I didn’t care about that. There wasn’t a lot of interaction, I actually only saw the other parties when I went outside later that night to take pics by the pool. Otherwise, I didn’t see anyone else. Apparently some of my friends tried crashing a wedding though and someone tried crashing mine but my friend’s boyfriend yelled at them to get out. Haha! I didn’t know any of this went on though. Anyway, everyone RAVED RAVED RAVED about the food! The cocktail hour was amazing and people couldn’t believe how beautiful it was outside! Sally, the bridal attendant, and Herb, the maître were amazing! They were so attentive and wrapped up three dinners for us since we barely tasted our food. I can’t say enough about how great everything was and how people are still calling me to tell me what a great time they had and how beautiful the venue was.
Reception: St. Kilian Catholic Church, Farmingdale- B+
We got married at this church, neither of our home churches, because we both live upstate now but I grew up in Centereach and wanted to get married on the island. It’s sort of in the middle so that everyone had to travel a bit. The two parishes I wanted to get married in wouldn’t allow us (Notre Dame in New Hyde Park and St. Catherine’s in Garden City or Floral Park, can’t remember) because we are not parishioners. We happened to stumble upon this church and Father Lennard thought it was reasonable as to why we didn’t want to get married in our home church. I would have given the church an A+ because Father Lennard was completely awesome the whole time preparing for the church but the day we got married the AC broke and all our guests were almost passing out the entire ceremony and we had to rush through it. I know it’s not their fault that it broke that morning, but two weeks earlier when I came to talk with the music director, one side had broken and they hadn’t fixed it, so that is why their score went down. Other than that, everything was beautiful!
Make-up: Jessica Lauren (www.jessica-lauren.com), A+++++++++++
I don’t know how to put into words how beautiful everyone looked and felt after Jessica got her hands on us! She did two of my cousin’s weddings so I knew she did a great job but I did a trial anyway. She was great and in my mind reasonable with her pricing, so I booked her. She was so great that my friend who lives in Yonkers booked her for her wedding next July because in her words, “I’ve never felt as pretty as at your wedding.” So, needless to say, she was a hit!
Hair: Joy, from SuperCuts in Centereach, A+
She is my mom’s normal hairdresser and I had gone to her for a friend’s wedding last year. I did a trial with her a liked what she did. She came to my house and brought someone else with her as she was doing 9 girl’s hair. They both did a great job. My hair is really hard to stay in place and it did for almost the whole night. Someone knocked into my and my veil came flying out and kinda ruined my hair but it was toward the end of the night so that’s not really her fault!
Dress & Veil: Macys, Smith Haven Mall, A
I loved loved loved my dress! I felt like a woman and not a girl for the first time in my life. I only am giving it an A because I loved how it looked. The service at Macys was ok. Alterations were way overpriced. Still, I got a dress that looked way more than what I paid. My veil was the perfect accent to my dress, however, it too was way overpriced.
Limo: M&V Limousines, Commack, A
The service while booking was ok. Nothing special. The limo driver was great though. We had a nice clean limo that was pumping the AC! It felt great to escape into it after the hot church! The limo driver was really nice and took my gum in his hand when I couldn’t find a garbage before I walked down the aisle.
Photographer: Thomas Paul Photography, A+ so far
I haven’t received my pictures yet but everything has been great so far. I worked with the owner Tom through everything, he even did my engagement shoot. The day of, I had Tony and Jackie and they were wonderful. They had us in mind and were able to reign in our families (two big Italian families that don’t like to listen!) so we had no complaints about them! All the shots that were being taken were exactly what I wanted, I had a list of family shots to be taken, and they tried to make sure I got everything I wanted. The price was excellent and included lots of prints, books, and an engagement shoot with a book it’s own.
DJ/Videography: NYU Entertainment, A+
Everyone was dancing the entire night! Rich was great to work with and was amazing as the emcee the day of! Granted, we have a family that likes to dance, but almost every table out of the 200 people was crowded on the dance floor all night. We had a blast! I especially loved how he ended it, I said I wanted Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” as the last song. He said “If you love Ray and Stephanie” get up and her get around them. Everyone was crowded together and singing to one another and it was a fabulous ending! I got the video through him too but haven’t received it. The videographer was great the day of and seemed to capture everything. We will see when that comes.
Florist: Pedestals Floral Designs, A++++
I booked with this place because I loved Vito. He got my vision from the moment I said one word and we went from there. Unfortunately, he left and I was assigned Virgil. Virgil wasn’t as passionate as Vito when he was speaking to me but you wouldn’t tell the day of. Everything was absolutely stunning. When the delivery man came to my house with the bouquets, the girls’ mouths just dropped. They were gorgeous! All the guests loved the table arrangements too. They did a fabulous job, so I was pleased! They were also really accommodating because I needed to pick up most of the boutonnieres the night before since my fiancé was getting ready at his parent’s house in Westchester.
Invitations: Wedding World, Commack, A
Jackie was great to work with. We picked an invitation from the book StylArt and there were a few issues but she had them fixed right away and for free. No problems there.
Shuttle: Jaco Transportation, A
They sent a clean bus with air conditioning. They were on time and polite. That was all I needed from them and I was pleased.
Hotel: Holiday Inn Plainview, B-
There were some major issues with this place from start to finish. When my MIL called to book her room they tried charging her extra saying there weren’t any rooms left in the block (even though there were 20!). Her sister called moments later and was able to book 6 rooms. They did this to a few guests. I felt they could have given us a better price ($119 plus tax) because we booked 40 rooms. We also had the rehearsal dinner and morning-after breakfast there. My MIL hates dark colors and made that clear to them when we made the reservation for the RD and they put out black tablecloths. Ron had assured her there would be white the day of. They also told our guests it didn’t start until 8:30 so they wouldn’t let them in when really it was 8:00 so I let us in after to speaking with someone. I felt like they could have been more accommodating since we were giving them so much business.
Travel Agent: Liberty Travel, Maureen Healy, Selden- B+
No real complaints, she just didn’t try to go above and beyond. If you have an idea of what you want, she did a good job at getting us a good rate. Now that I’m back she has e-mailed me to see how it was. She was a nice woman.