November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio - ETA PRINTS

ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:33 PM

November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio - ETA PRINTS

We planned our wedding in under six months, and everything came out really well. It was the best day of my life!

HAIR AND MAKEUP: MAJESTIC SALON - A
I had a trial for both hair and makeup there and booked right away. The day of they did an excellent job. The only possible complaint was that Iris, the hairdresser, did curls for the trial, but not on the day of, but I honestly liked it better that way. The makeup stayed on all night, and my hair was done really well.

Photo of me getting ready (hair and makeup done, at the Manor East bridal Suite).

ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:36 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

DJ: THEN TILL NOW: A+

Steve (the MC/owner) was great. He played every single song we requested, and did not play anything on the 'do not play' list. He was able to motivate people without being cheesy. I've gotten lots of compliments on the music/DJ.

Here's a photo of my old alumni from Binghamton dancing (I did a special dedication to 'you rocked me all night long'!

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ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:41 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

PHOTO/VIDEO - LAVENDAR BRIDAL STUDIO - A

Video: We had Steve for video, who was great. We got the 'mini-edit', so he just edited it during the wedding while taping. It was really well done, and he stuck to his promise only to interview the parents. He caught all of the most important moments.

Photo: We had Elie (sp?) for photo. He was great, very nice and we really like our proofs. (We haven't scanned them in, so all the photos are from my friend's camera). Very non-obtrustive, which was very important to us.

OFFICIANT: Rabbi Samuel Kahati A
This was the Rabbi that performed DH's Bar Mitzvah! He was great, both in our pre-wedding meetings and on the day of. He was funny during the ceremony, while still performing the ceremony with dignity.

ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:44 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

DRESS: RK Bridal (Da Vinci) A

Since the wedding was planned on fairly short notice, I didn't have a lot of time to look at dresses. I went to a few places locally and got to know the styles that looked best on me. Then I went to RK on my lunch break and tried on dresses in that style. The woman who helped me was very honest and helpful. I had them do my alterations, which were done really well.

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ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:49 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

CEREMONY/RECEPTION LOCATION: MANOR EAST A

The Manor East did a really excellent job with both our ceremony and the reception. We were on what for NY would be considered an impossibly tight budget for a saturday evening wedding with full open bar and a mini-vienesse hour, and we were able to stay within our budget.

The room for the ceremony was set beautifully, as was the reception room. The food was delicious, and we've gotten lots of compliments. We really liked our cake, it was not overly sweet.

ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 08:53 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

HONEYMOON: RIU ARUBA GRAND

Travel Agent: Liberty Travel - B
We originally booked for Cancun, but that obviously was not available for our honeymoon. I had to do the research regarding whether American Airlines would change the ticket from Cancun to Aruba (they did), and call the TA. She was fairly disinterested, but everything was booked well, and she told the hotel that we were honeymooners, so we got a great room with a king sized bed and wonderful ocean view, and enrolled in the One Cool Honeymoon discount program.

Aruba - A
Detailed honeymoon review in honeymoon secion

http://www.liweddings.com/chat/topic.aspx?ID=275697

ShortBride Posted: Jan 02, 2006 09:05 PM

Re: November 5, 2005 Wedding - Manor East, Then Til Now, Lavendar Bridal Studio

Random notes:

Shoes - Payless! I got great shoes from Payless for under $20. I also brought white slippers and changed into them after the first dance, which was great.

Hotel - Best Western Massapequa Park A-
For the OOT guests and ourselves and our families (we do not live on LI and the reception ended at 12:30) we did the Best Western in Massapequa Park. The rooms were clean and functional. The only complaints are: when we first stopped in, the woman at the counter told us that they don't block rooms, so we just gave everyone their phone number/website. Fast forward to the night before the wedding: they do indeed block rooms. The manager was very apologetic and gave us the 'wedding rate'. Also, if you block rooms there, make sure to have any elderly people call first and request a lower floor room. They were going to put my in-laws upstairs and they would have had to climb, but luckily we were able to get it switched.

ETA: FAVORS - BROTHERHOOD WINERY B

We got small bottles of Blush wine with our names and the date on the label. The wine was good, however, they did mess up the label. We ordered it to say 'thank you for sharing our wedding day', but it said 'thank you for sharing our special day' and we didn't have time to change it. They did give us two bottles of champagne for free due to the mistake. The wine bottles went over really well.