Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Highlight Video

Tom Morlock posted a video from the wedding. Your more than welcome to take a peek

http://vantagepoint-films.com/?p=153

he is sssssssssssooooooooooooo talented!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Vendor Reviews Part 1

Photography - Carla Ten Eyck (& Crew)

A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ok I really cannot say enough good things about this photographer! I knew that it was going to be a huge task to find someone who would be able to bring my vision to life. Now, I sat down with other photographers who would say things like "we shoot however you want us to" or "if you would like to compile some pictures we can re-create them for you" NO! I want you to do what you do . . . be you and do your style and if I like your style I'll book you. The second I met with Carla I just knew she was the one who had to capture my day. During our e-shoot she had me and Eric at ease (she shot along with Mike Romano who is also AMAZING). From our e-pics she created a sign in book which was beautiful. After that I did a b-session as a wedding gift for my husband which he loved! I didn't think I would be comfortable but I was completely at ease. Now for the wedding day. . . since I was so comfortable with Carla and her crew it was actually extremely enjoyable to have them there. I wanted to share the day with them :o) Carla captured everything perfectly and the photo booth she set up was an absolute hit with ALL of the guests! She also took the time to quickly post up a few pictures from the day on a monitor for guests to view :o) I haven't seen all of the pictures just yet but what little I have seen have far exceeded my expectations. You get what you pay for and She is top of the line!!!!!!

Reception - Laurel View Country Club

B-

I had a very difficult time finding a reception site that met my expectations and was within budget. After finding Laurel View I continued to look around but this was my best option. I really hated the color of the interior which I will admit wasn't noticeable the day of. The reception was beautiful and I love the floor plan set up. The exterior was beautiful as well we got some great shots on the golf course. Why the B- you ask. . . well they just nickel and dimed us every step of the way. It was like pulling teeth! We signed the contract at one rate and yes there was a clause that prices could go up but you don't think a place will do that to you. . .well yup they did. First they told us the minimum was 100 then they changed it to 150. I wanted to do a candy buffet and I got it all together. I made the Chinese to go boxes, bought all the candy, got together candy jars, and my wedding planner was doing set up and clean up. They said because they offer a candy buffet (which look horrible) they would have to charge me for leaving out a table for me to do my buffet. WHAT????!!!!???? SERIOUSLY! So we argued enough and got them to take away the charge. But after all that trouble I cant really recommend this venue.

Flowers - Jane Just For You

A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jane is simply AMAZING! Her prices are more than reasonable and work work is elegant and gorgeous. Not only is her work spectacular but she is one of the nicest people I have ever met. She wanted nothing more than to make my wedding as beautiful as it could possibly be. I never thought I would be able to afford the flowers that I ended up with on my wedding day. If you don't book Jane it would be a huge mistake. She is a great vendor whom I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Cake - Creative Cakes by Donna

A+

First off if you haven't seen Creative Cakes by Donna at some point while living here in Connecticut you must be living under a rock. . .or you have just started the wedding planning process :o) Her cakes are delicious and she is such a sweetheart. I sent her a picture of the cake I wanted and she re-created it to a "T". I did a fondant strawberry shortcake... mmmmmmmmm so good! Now I will tell you, try your bakers fondant before hand. I have tried some really horrible fondant but Donna's is really good.. . tastes like marshmallows! Underneath the fondant she also puts a layer of butter cream so that if your guests don't want to have the fondant they can just choose not to eat it.


Hair/Makeup - Dana Bartone

A+

Dana was a pleasure to work with. She came to my hotel with one other associate to work on me and my girls. I opted to have airbrush makeup done which lasted right up until my husband decided to get wedding cake all up in my face LOL. My hair was perfect as well as my makeup and Dana is just so easy to get along with which is def. key to staying calm on your big day!

Wedding Gown - Sophia Tolli Designer / Dress shop - Stars Avon, CT

Designer Sophia Tolli - A+ I LOVE my dress. I got a great deal since she is a pretty new designer. Highly recommend her dresses!

Stars, Avon CT - B- I felt that most of the women in the store were very snotty, they saw me as assigned to one person and gave me trouble when I wanted to come in to see my dress. The only reason I ended up purchasing my dress from the store as an employee by the name of Becca. She was wonderful, although sometimes she was hard to get a hold of she really does care about her brides! My dress was originally A-line but I wanted ballgown so Becca said the designer would be able to put an extra panel in the dress to make is poofy. The designer said it couldn't be done so Becca ordered extra fabric to do it herself. The store told her NOT to do it for me and to tell me too bad. . . how rude right?!? So she did it anyway and I was extremely grateful :o)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

~*~Pro-Pics~*~

So I wanted to post some of my teaser pro pics from the MOST talented photographer ever the amazing Carla Ten Eyck ( www.carlateneyck.com). Words cannot describe how much I LOVE her. . .from the moment we met I knew that she was the only person who would be able to capture the greatest day of my life. So here we go. . .
This is me getting ready my husbands sister in law was nice enough to lend me her skirt reading "Mrs. Ponticelli". . .so here I am showing them off :o)
Now if you know anything about me you then obviously know how much I love Twilight. . . so I figured that at some point I may be nervous (which I wasn't) and the only thing I thought would calm me would me anyone of my Twilight books, so Carla put my books to work :o)
So after the task of getting ready me and my father took the vintage Buick over to the church. We were really early so I got to wave as guests arrived and spend some quality time with my dad which was amazing since I am such a daddy's girl.


Time to walk down the aisle or race to the aisle (LOL). My eyes were on Eric the entire time but as I reached the alter I couldn't help the emotion I felt and I got a little teary.
And here we are as Mr. & Mrs. Ponticelli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love this very dramatic picture of us leaving the church but I must admit there is a funny story behind it. Carla told me before hand that she wanted us to both push open the church doors for our exit, sounds simple enough right? Yeah. . . not so much, the doors were stuck and it took us a minute to get them to open. But it is still a beautiful picture!

Right after the ceremony we ran outside to take some pictures with our bridal party. One of Eric's gifts to his groomsmen was aviators so they decided to rock those for a few pics. . .but me and my girls had to show them up of course!
Who looks better??? Tough call. . .
This was a fun shot. . .very casual. . .Love it!
Eric wanted to immediately update his facebook with a picture so before we knew it everyone with an iPhone was working it. . .so Carla worked them :o)
So after our bridal party fun it was off to our reception at Laurel View Country Club in our vintage Buick. You know my girl Carla was going to rock out these shots, they are just beautiful!
My very handsome HUSBAND. . .soooooo much fun to say that!!!
The lighting in this shot is so soft and smooth. . . it looks like it should be on the cover of a bridal magazine or something!

So after working the Buick for a while we worked our way onto the golf course for some more pictures. . . again these are just magical! You will also noticed I changed into my Birdcage veil for a unique vintage kind of look :o)


This one right here left me speechless. . . it looks like a painting almost van Gogh-esk. . . with the way the sky looks in the back.

A nice view of the rings in this shot!

Carla said she could get some great shots if I would lay down on the grass in my dress. . . so whatever Carla says I do. . . .
We got some bridal shots worked out here. . .


Our first dance as husband and wife was to Ben E. King's Stand By Me. . . I sang all of the words to him and it was such a beautiful moment, of course he caught me by surprise with a few dips here and there.

I knew the moment I was engaged what song I wanted to dance with my father to and I knew it was going to be emotional for the both of us. It was a remix of Daddy's Little girl by Kippi Brannon and Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlise. It fit us to a T and again I sang the words and shed some tears. . . super emotional moment for me and my father!
I knew my mother felt a little left out since I no longer live in New York where I am from so I did a surprise mother daughter dance to Christina Aguliera's I Turn To You. My mother was so touched the moment she was called out she cried. Towards the end of the song my 2 little sisters and Oma (which means Grandma in Dutch) joined us :o)
Carla set up this total fun and amazing photo booth. . .which was a HUGE hit that night. My parents were kind enough to go search out and purchase a tons of awesome props to keep things going. . . Here is me, my husband, Carla, Mike, and Katie (aka the most amazing Photography crew EVER)

We ended up doing a bubble send off from our reception site. . .fun fun :o)
I will post more as I get them. . .Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I did!!!!!