AMY & MICHAEL a very NYC Wedding May 20, 2006 Reviews - Vendors & Ratings: Ceremony: Central Park NYC Hernshead - The perfect location and affordable at $25. Received the permit as promised, A. Reception & Cake: Bouterin NYC www.bouterin.com - they set-up the petals and candles exactly how I envisioned it, menu was delicious, only thing was the passing of hordeuves was slow. I didn't really like the attitude of a couple of the waiters. They were not as accomodating. However, the owners, Igor and Antoine, are great people. For my 75 person wedding, the venue was great. Recommended for small weddings or events. Cake B+ for taste, Cake design C. Reception A. Officiant: Hilda Gieco, (347) 531-9485 An absolutely lovely person, she wrote and gave a wonderful ceremony. Highly recommended, A+ Day-of-Coordinators: Diamond Gold Weddings www.diamondgoldweddings.com - Shari/ Beth/ Nicole are terrific! They literally saved me that day. I had a major crisis with my dress and Nicole fixed my dress where you couldn't even see the damage. These ladies were my champions, they timed and organized everything to the minute. If you are having the ceremony & reception in two different locations, I think you must have coordinators. They were extremely helpful and stress relieving to have around. Highly recommended - A+ Wedding Bands: Niwaka Soho, www.niwaka.com, pleasant experience, A+. Wedding Dress & Veil: Vera Wang at sample sale. Happens twice a year (May & December). It was a sample sale, I can't really rate -- waited 4 hours, but got exactly what I wanted. Shoes: Entrata ordered on www.eweddingshoes.com perfect online shopping experience, A+. Hair & Makeup: Sachiko Yanase (917)282-2081 I looked and felt beautiful that day mostly due to Sachiko's magic! A great person to have on your wedding day. A+ QiPao Dress: New Age Designer Mott Street, Susan Din, owner, Chinatown NYC. The custom-made QiPao was sewn perfectly, great design and perfect fit. I felt like an empress in my red qipao and got so many compliments. I loved my qipao and it felt so wonderful honoring my heritage, A+ Dress 2: Carmen Marc Valvo at Lord & Taylor, A+ great customer service. Dress 3: Custom by One Star Fashion 51 Canal Street 917.743.2419 One of the ruched seams came apart at the reception. Thank goodness I had a huge brooch to mask the faulty sewing. To be fair, it was a little complicated of a design. She does alterations too. Would be great for bridesmaids. Very affordable. B Jewelry (Pearls Strand necklace and earrings, MOH Bracelet and Earrings) Custom-made by Bronwen Davids Jewels bronwenjewels@juno.com Judy makes these fantastic pieces of jewelry from semi-precious stones and material. A+ Alterations, Restorer, Cleaning and Preservation: Carolyn Niezgoda - Brooklyn NYC, (718) 946-6652. Through a weird network, I lucked out and got connected to this wonderful woman. Carolyn altered, revamped, and cleaned both my Vera and Carmen Marc Valvo dresses. Carolyn has been in the bridal dress business for over 35 years, She also restores and recreates vintage dresses if you need your mother's gown reworked to something modern. She will also clean (with a big stain on the back) and preserve my dress. Carolyn is a real find and does very high quality work. I've seen her work her skills on 100 year old baby christening silk & lace gowns to decade old vintage bridal gowns. If you use her, tell her Amy with the bias cut Vera Wang sent you. She is the absolute BEST when it comes to bridal gown rework and has been in numerous articles including the New York Times. Huge rave! Alterations, cleaning & pressing, A+. After wedding cleaning & preserving, A+ Photographer: Valerie Pease (friend of FI). She has a fine arts degree in photography and ceramics. We are so grateful. All I did was buy all the film (color & b/w) that she needed and gave a her a few hundred bucks. She saved us a ton of money! Photo developing and finishing: Duggal at West 23rd Street. A little pricey at $16 a roll but we'll see how the pictures come out. Obviously I splurged on this because I didn't want to mess around with my wedding pictures. We ended up with 20 rolls (36 exp. each) total. I can't wait to get them back. A Filmographer (Super8): Sheena Kim (friend of FI). Another huge favor. DJ: Jad Cooper (friend of FI). Another huge favor. He did so great and off a apple laptop. We are so fortunate. He's a sound engineer and owns all the appropriate equipment. Well, except the speakers he had were way too expensive and heavy to lug around so we had to have .... Speaker Rental: It was a surprise cost but I had no choice. There were only these 2 tiny background speakers in the restaurant. Way too low wattage for dance music, so we had to rent speakers 2-days before the wedding and luckily for us there this great company that rents out communications equipment. Efficient, convenient, and delivered as promised with excellent customer service! I ordered online at 1:30 am, they called me later on in the morning to confirm and they delivered the next day! They dropped it off and picked up as promised. It was suprisingly easy - total stress saver. They totally saved the music. Jad and I were very impressed with this company. Highly recommended, A+. www.meetingtomorrow.com We love our friends. Well, his artsy friends. Support the arts! Ride (Vintage Yellow Cab) Peter Yannello at Film Cars, http://filmcars.com. - recommend FI Suit: Ted Baker at Frank Stella UWS location. He looked sharp!!! FI Shirt: Ike Behar at Frank Stella UWS. Ecru cotton French cuff shirt. Oh to have a nice shirt cut perfectly on a man! We may never go back to anything less. We may go broke. FI Tie: Lee Allison at Frank Stella UWS. http://www.leeallison.com/ Hand-made and in silk. What can I say, his entire ensemble was less expensive than mine *shrug* A general review for Frank Stella at the upper west side location: HUGE RAVE! A+ Super customer service. Doug, the salesman really took care of us. We are obviously young~ish and not rich (yet, ha ha), but he treated us like royalty; never ignoring us and taking our opinions extremely seriously. Plus, the clothes are so stylish there and great. Alterations for the suit were also done there and it was PERFECT! We can never ever shop anywhere else for FI's clothes. If your FI or DH hates shopping, take him to Frank Stella. He will love shopping after just one visit. We also drove by the shop to say hi to Doug on the way to the ceremony. It was a real treat to see him. FI Cufflinks: Tiffany & Co., A+ always an A experience at Tiffany's Invitations (letterpress) and Thank You Cards Seventeen Fifty by http://invitationlane.com- (Dawn O'Donnell) patient customer service. No mistakes. Great prices for letterpress. Highly recommended, A+ The rest of the invitations were totally DIY, so I give myself an A+. Bridal party flowers: Floral Dept (Darlene O'Sullivan) at Whole Foods Columbus Circle location (212) 823-9600 Darlene executed my flowers to everything I wanted. I had requested flowers to have a more natural shape with no greenery fillers, with ranunculas, peonies, snapdragons and aranda orchids. It was to be wrapped with a beaded fringe ribbon (which I supplied). Moreover, I wanted all my colors reflected in my bouquet of fuschia, orange and red. I also wanted a sweetheart table centerpiece in the shape of a 2-tier cake. It was so beautiful that people thought it was a real cake! Everything was done EXACTLY, delivered on time and I only spent $400 (incl tax and delivery)! I loved working with Darlene at Whole Foods. Everything turned out wonderful. Highly Recommended, A+. Hotel Block & Wedding Night Suite: Hotel Bentley 62nd Street and York Ave - NYC Group Sales - Lisa Zito (212) 247-9700 ext 7020 www.bentleyhotelnewyork.com, I got several rooms for my cousins, DH and myself and they upgraded our wedding night room to a junior king corner suite overlooking the water. The rooms were spacious, convenient and a great value. There is also a roof top bar where we had our after party. Highly recommend, A+. Guestbook & Sketchbook: Fine Blank Books www.fineblankbooks.com by Tedra, I cannot be more pleased with the designs. Beautiful. I will definitely get custom photo albums from her when the wedding is finished, A+ Favors (DIY) Acrylic boxes $0.69 www.containerstore.com - A+ Jelly Belly jellybeans www.economycandy.com cheaper per pound than Dylan's Candy Bar.- A+ Swarovski Crystals www.mjtrim.com I could stay all day in M&J Trimmings. Great customer service, A+ Registries: Tiffany & Co. - no discount after wedding. Lame but whatever. Crate & Barrel 10% off after wedding - to use only one time though. Bloomingdales - 10% off registry for 6-months after wedding. Use the 10% discount as much as you want after the wedding. You can even add stuff on your registry to take advantage of the discount. Good deal. Love it! Honeymoon ~ in August Hawaii - Oahu (Honolulu) and Kaua'i (Poipu). Don't go tubing, it's not worth the money. Highly recommend the Anara Spa the Grand Hyatt Kaua'i (Papaya Scrub and Lotion treatment is fantastic). Honeymoon Photography Session - Reve Photography Group - Rachel. www.therevegroup.com www.revephotography.com Totally amazing! Rachel is super cool and great with catching the perfect light, location and shot. As they say, "A picture's worth a thousand words". Here is a sampling of our honeymoon in Hawai'i pictures. We cannot wait to see more from Rachel. Super Highly Recommend, A+ Professional Wedding Pictures photographed by Valerie Pease I only have two photos scanned. These were the two of our favorite from many. Non-Professional Pictures I'm 1/2 dressed (no jewelry). Gotta love the NuBra (Fredericks.com) and spanx (spanx.com). I'm all sucked in and perky! No rain! We ended up having perfect 70 degree weather! We were quite nervous because it was actually thunderstorming the previous night! Nice Hair Shot. I've got a brooch in the back and two white philonapsis orchids in my hair. Booty Shot - I just love the back so much. Thanks Spanx (spanx.com). Nice hair shot of the side. The Groom and Best Men chillin' in the corner wedding night suite at the Hotel Bentley. Outside the Hotel Bentley. Having an ice cream pop - strawberry shortcake - YUM! The ice cream was frozen like a rock. That's why I had that funny look on my face. You can also see the bouquet with fringed ribbon. I loved it! My FOH & I Here we go! Nice bouquet shot. Ready and waiting for the ceremony to begin. Don't remember at all taking this picture. I was dazed I think. Us with my wonderful Spanish familia. With my some of the scouts in my Girl Scout troop. They are too cute! FOH, Pam, with her DH. Pam's wearing the bracelet and earrings, one of her gifts that I gave her. We put aranda orchids in her hair. My wonderful and beautiful Friends of Honor. Walking down with my Dad & Mom. They look great! I had to slow my Dad down, he was so excited! Here I am! I just love the look on his face! The nuptials. There's Rev. Hilda Gieco reading. She is so nice and mellow as well as photogenic. Our vows ... My hubby is soo cute! *sigh* Yay! We did it! May 20, 2006 - 4:54 pm! I love this action shot. Brings it all back. Mr. & Mrs! "Just Married!" Thanks to Peter Yannello at Film Cars. Sweethearts! Sweetheart table - I just love the centerpiece flower cake. Darlene at whole foods did a great job! Scroll down in bio for the inspiration from Nancy Liu Chin Designs who is based out in California. Sweetheart table all lit up - you can sort of see my bouquet on the left side. Table Setup...yay! no green leaves! All petals and candles with pink linens and my jelly belly favors in acrylic boxes (diy). You can also see the table # sign that Michael designed. The tables all lit up. Toy Taxi Cab Set and picture frame setup - They weren't the vintage taxis, but it was a huge hit anyway. The men loved it! Boys will be boys I guess. Me and my mom! Sachiko did her hair & make up too. SIL, FIL, DH and I (in red qipao). Dress #2 - Red QiPao by New Age Designer on Mott Street Chinatown NYC. Dress #3 - Carmen Marc Valvo & my pearls. Pearl necklace and earrings by Bronwen Davids-Jewels bronwenjewels@juno.com I changed before the main entree was served. Dress #4 (custom-made at One Star Fashion). I changed right before cutting the cake. We added sparklers for dramatic effect. Look what they did to the poor cake. They doused it with powder sugar! It hid all the cute marzipan fruit. :-( That's why I gave a rating of C for the cake design. Oh well. Look at my huge cake topper! It was over the top! Us w/ my buddies! What a night!
	Planning Bio - Section October 2004 - Swan Club Long Island NY MOH's wedding How We Met Michael and I met through the Scouting organizations. He was the Boy Scout leader and I am the Girl Scout leader of our community in Chinatown. We were friends for a couple of years and then one hot summer day at the Metroplitan Museum's Gauguin exhibit, we became more than friends. Engagement September 1, 2004 I came back to my apartment after-work and was talking about how the day went. While taking my shoes off, all of a sudden, he asked me to help him take his t-shirt off. Underneath his shirt, tied around a yellow string was my E-Ring. A surprised intake of breath and an immediate stream of tears later, he began a sincere outpouring of words so full of tender love and emotion. Don't ask me to repeat what he said verbatim because I was gushing out the tears. So he asked and I said ... of course Seriously, he could not stop laughing. The ERing The Wedding Band Niwaka Isn't it purty? PICS OF US My knight in shining armour, isn't he gorgeous? Jardines del Palacio de la Granja, Espana. My aunt's house, birthday 2005, happy and drunk. THE W-DRESS BEFORE VERA WANG V-Neck and Bias Cut, Off White The dress on the model during the fashion show catwalk. Me, in dress BEFORE alterations. The train is puffed up by crinoline underneath. Sweep train. Each flower applique has a swarovski crystal center. THE W-DRESS AFTER ALTERATIONS BY CAROLINE NIEZGODA 718.946.6652(brooklyn) Rating: A+, Caroline also recreates and restores vintage wedding gowns. She has been in the bridal gown business for 30+years. She will also be preserving my gown after the wedding. Caroline shortened the mesh straps. Added the tulle detail in the middle. Hemmed it perfectly. I am also wearing the Nu-Bra in nude. Works like a charm. Caroline added the tulle detail in the middle and ruched the back slightly. Added velcro to the crinoline underneath so it can be removed. That's Caroline on the left of the pic. The crinoline removed. Added hand loop in silk tulle. Please excuse my wacked-out hair. This was the morning after my bachelorette night out. THE W-DRESS SHOES ENTRATA EWEDDINGSHOES.COM Rating: A+ They match perfectly with my dress. THE W-DRESS SHOES CRYSTAL SOLES SWAROVSKI CRYSTALS SIZE SS12 M&J TRIMMINGS W-DRESS JEWELRY CAROLEE Lord & Taylor Rating: A+, great customer service RECEPTION DRESS #1 CARMEN MARC VALVO Lord & Taylor Rating: A+, great customer service Gold and Light Pink Silk Brocade with a light layer of crinoline underneath. There is also a light pink satin sash to tie into a bow. Not shown. Short and Sweet, So 1950's style. RECEPTION DRESS #1 SHOES NINA ZAPPOS.COM Rating: A+, free shipping/ returns, on sale, perfect online shopping experience RECEPTION DRESS #1 JEWELRY Classic pearls; a gift from a friend CHINESE DRESS (QIPAO/CHEONGSAM) NEW AGE DESIGNER 212.349.0818 (Chinatown, NYC) INITIAL FABRIC CHOSEN Custom made, Red silk satin charmeuse, Gold, Silver, Pink, Green luxe embroidered designs of the Dragon and Phoenix. FIRST FITTING GETTING AN IDEA ABOUT THE SIDE SLITS FINAL FITTING THE EMBROIDERY SHOES TO MATCH MY QIPAO STEVEN BY STEVE MADDEN HAIR & MAKEUP SACHIKO YANASE 917.282.2081 Hair trial Hair trial Make Up - Will need to tone down on the shimmer. I BOUGHT THIS HAIR COMB AT CLAIRE'S - REAL CRYSTALS AND ONLY $15.00 CEREMONY HERNSHEAD, CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK CITY PROGRAMS - MIGHT NOT DO THIS, BUT CUTE IDEA RECEPTION BOUTERIN, FRENCH CUISINE FROM THE PROVENCE REGION Our Reception will be held at Bouterin, a French Provence cuisine restaurant. The owner was a former head chef at Le Perigord. Antoine Bouterin even wrote a cookbook titled Cooking Provence: Four Generations of Recipes and Traditions. FIRST TASTING: Amazing!!! i'm all about the food. of course, the entree names will be romanced 1st course -mushroom risotto with seared scallop 2nd course Warm goat cheese salad w/ provencal dressing Main course choice(s) - seared salmon with puree of carrot - lamb stew with lamb chop in phyllo bag - WINNER - duck breast with red wine reduction - WINNER - roasted cornish hen with au jus 3rd course petit fours and wedding cake SECOND TASTING Again .. amazing!! - herb crusted monkfish - WINNER - steak au poivre DECOR - ROSE PETALS AND CANDLES LOVE THIS BROOCH ON THE BOTTOM IDEA DEFINITELY GONNA TRY TO DO THE FLOWER IN NAPKIN AND TRY FOR COLORED NAPKINS FAVORS Acrylic boxes - $.69 each www.containerstore.com Jelly Belly jellybeans www.economycandy.com Swarovski Crystals www.mjtrim.com Red, Orange & Fuschia CAKE FLAVOR: GRAND MARNIER W/ ORANGE AND RASPBERRY MOUSSE THEY WILL PUT ORANGE SLICES (GOES WITH COLOR SCHEME INSTEAD OF LEMON PICTURED HERE) THERE WILL BE NO GREEN LEAVES I'M GOING TO BUY MARZIPAN FRUIT AT ELKS CANDY STORE TO DECORATE AND THEY WILL ADD THE PEARL BEADING BETWEEN THE THREE TIERS AND DECORATE WITH ROSE PETALS CAKE STAND - I MIGHT NOT USE THIS INSTEAD I MIGHT BUY THIS FROM CRATE & BARREL $34.95 WHICH IS SIMPLE ENOUGH THAT I CAN ALWAYS USE. IT ALSO MATCHES MY PINK KITCHENAID MIXER. TABLE SIGNS GUESTBOOK by www.fineblankbooks.com Tedra OUT OF TOWN BOX INVITATIONS - 1/2 DIY & 1/2 OUT-SOURCED PAPER-GIRL RED BLISS INVITATIONLANE.COM, A+, Excellent Customer Service Letterpress, 130lb Off White Paper INVITATIONS - DIY All hand made pockets Silk fabric, silk moire ribbon, & swarovski crystals Artistic-Addresssing.com, A, exactly what I wanted. SAVE THE DATES BY S.Chong (FSIL) do not copy please. What A TUX! Keanu's not too bad himself. Tiffany Cufflinks - Gatelink FI tie "Tumbling Tadpoles" by Lee Allison GIFT for FI - LEATHER BOUND SKETCHBOOK by www.fineblankbooks.com by Tedra GMen Cufflinks - Kuhlman MOH GIft - Small Tote Bag by Coach BACHELORETTE PARTY - Dinner at Pastis Me, Hot Sarah, Hot Myrla The Gang's all here. My good friends, Jinn & Pam (MOH) @ Cafe Wha? - NYC My FOH (friends of honor) - since 2nd Grade! BRIDAL SHOWER APRIL 9, 2006 Surprise! not! Totally knew about the party. Was goofin' around..the board is huge & heavy! Was really embarrassed by the intimate lingerie. My mom was there for goodness sakes! Peace Out! I had a blast! DOG! Since I don't own a dog and every knottie seems to have a dog, cat, or kid in their bio, I decided to add the winner of 2005 Westminster Kennel Dog Show. Please meet Carlee (a German Short Hair Pointer) She's gorgeous! What a champ! Look at the paparazzi! Human celebrities don't act this poised! Knottie GTG NYC Blockheads 8.18.05. I'm missing 3 of the knotties' screen names. Here are the names that I do remember : brideoftorgo : tiffgroom (Tiffany) : nelley (nelley) : dmsny (dina): daisukigrl (yvette) and amymarch2006 (me in brown) Knottie GTG February 23, 2006 at bar 13 From left to right: QTinNYC (Rachel), amymarch2006 (Me), M78sugar (Maria), marclovesme (Georgianna), Jillby81 (Jill), and daisukigrl (Yvette). ring a bling bling THE RIDE FILMCARS - PETER YANNELLO http://filmcars.com/ ESCORT CARD HOLDERS - BEEP BEEP! .