Make vendors compete for your business

Calling in favors

The best wedding bands are not always wedding bands

Put your floral budget where it shows

]]> http://gettingmarriedonlongisland.com/2010/09/ready-set-book-a-long-island-wedding-venue-must-reads/feed/ 0 http://gettingmarriedonlongisland.com/2010/09/the-bride-wore-wool-must-reads/ http://gettingmarriedonlongisland.com/2010/09/the-bride-wore-wool-must-reads/#comments Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:53:43 +0000 Claudia G. Copquin http://gettingmarriedonlongisland.com/?p=3190 From the folks who publish “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” comes a brand new “Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Enter If You Dare!”  This is an all-new collection of strange stories and features from around the globe, including wacky weddings.  Among them: 

• Wooly Wedding – pg. 28: Shepherdess Louise Fairburn from Lincolnshire, England, got married in a wedding dress made of wool from one of her own flock. Husband Ian wore a woolen waistcoat made from the same sheep. The dress took 120 hours to make. Louise, who even carried a Bo Peep-style crook on her big day, loves her sheep so much that they were featured in her wedding photos.

 

• Bride to Bee – pg. 158: When Li Wenhua and Yan Hongxia, workers at Nanhu forestry commission in China, decided to tie the knot, they made sure they invited some of their coworkers – in the form of tens of thousands of honeybees. The swarm formed living-insect material for an alternative pair of wedding outfits. The number of people stung at the wedding is unknown.

 

• Zero Gravity - pg. 29: A couple from New York proved they were head over heels in love during their wedding by getting married in zero gravity. Science fiction fans Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan paid more than $15,000 to have their wedding at Kennedy Space Center in a converted Boeing 727 jet airplane which, in the course of a special 90-minute flight, undertakes spectacular roller-coaster-style dives, which simulates the weightlessness experienced by astronauts on space walks. As they floated on air, the couple exchanged rings made from precious metal fragments of a meteorite that crashed to Earth 30,000 years ago.

 

• Bear Witness – pg. 75: When naturalist Casey Anderson married actress Missi Pyle in Montana, his best man was Brutus, a half-ton grizzly bear. Brutus also joined the 85 guests at the reception, where he helped himself to some wedding cake.

 

• Paper Dress – pg. 201: A woman got married in China wearing a dress made entirely out of paper. Designer Zhu Zhu took two and a half months to make the cotton paper dress for the bride, her best friend Sha Sha.

 

• Long Train – pg. 214: For her wedding to Zhao Peng in China, Lin Rong wore a dress with a train that stretched more than 1.3 miles behind her. The gown, which cost nearly $6,000 and took guests over three hours to roll out, was the groom’s idea. As an added romantic gesture, it had 9,999 red silk roses pinned to it.

 

• Shrek Wedding – pg. 232: Living up to his name, Keith Green married Christine England dressed up as the movie character Shrek. He and his bride – who was dressed as the ogre princess Fiona – spent three hours having their faces and hands painted green.

 

• Wedding Toast - pg. 235: Opening their presents following their wedding in England, Claire and Stuart Linley were amazed to discover that they had been given no fewer than 24 toasters. They kept one and returned the other 23.

 

• Thrifty Bride – pg. 240: Heather Saint, a 20-year-old bride, beat the recession in 2008 by buying her wedding dress on the Internet auction site eBay for just five pence (8 cents).

 

• Bamboo Balance – pg. 243: Three couples got married on the Xiangjiang River in China while balancing on bamboo poles that measured 8 inches in diameter. The couples, who wore traditional wedding attire, are all members of the local bamboo rafting club and chose to get married on the water to demonstrate their skill at the sport.
  

 

• Ten Things the Bridal Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know
• Wedding Customs from Around the World
• 231 Money-Saving Tips
• How to Tell If You’re a Bridezilla
• How to Have a Green Wedding
• 12Ways to Preserve Your Sanity When Planning a Wedding
• Kids on Dating and Marriage
• The Origin of “Something Old, Something New”

You can order a copy by clicking below.

Marco Photography

Hip and Cool
Allegria Hotel and Spa, Long Beach
516-889-1300
allegriahotel.com
Be among the inaugural brides to have a reception at the ultra swank Allegria Hotel on the lip of the Atlantic. The property, the first oceanfront hotel west of the Hamptons, opens shortly.  Brides can opt for a rooftop ceremony with views of the ocean, followed by a boardwalk-level reception in the “hip and timeless” ballroom, says Allegria Wedding Coordinator Jennifer Jacobs.

Something Old, Something New
East Wind, Wading River
631-929-3500
eastwindlongisland.com
No need for couples, bridal party, and guests to run around Long Island — just stay put at East Wind. Sprawling across 25 private acres, East Wind commands the gateway to the East End’s idyllic North Fork.  And this is a one-stop destination property that does it all: old-world family-style weddings, state-of-the-art spa pampering, and first-class lodging.

Nautical Nice
Montauk Yacht Club, Montauk
631-668-3100
montaukyachtclub.com
If you like the idea of wearing a bridal gown with sandals, you’ll feel right at home here. Weddings are more relaxed, but in an elegant, New England kind of way.  Indoor and seaside reception locations include a ballroom reminiscent of a historic Hamptons farmhouse.  Bonus: the yacht club is unveiling a multi-million dollar renovation in time for its 80th anniversary this year.

South Beach Style
Chateau Briand, Carle Place
516-334-6125
chateaubriandcaterers.com
You can be forgiven if the gardens at Chateau Briand have you thinking salsa dancing and mojitos.  The newly designed backyard pavilion has that South Beach, Miami, vibe with lounge seating, sexy canopies, cabanas and fire pits that makes you feel like you’re a plane ride away from Long Island.  Chateau Briand’s interiors exude the Art Deco “grandeur of the 1920s and ‘30s,” says General Manager Thomas Wright, and that “wow factor now carries straight through to the outdoor oasis.

Big Time Drama
Tellers, Islip
631-277-7070
tellerschophouse.com
If you’re all about drama, you’ll find it at this one-time bank, built back in 1927. Manager Dion Raftis says Tellers offers a “personalized wedding experience in an intimate old-world venue.”  Old world means high style here. Tellers artfully retains the bank’s original architectural splendor with its sky-high ceilings, Art Deco friezes and vault that’s been converted into an impressive wine cellar. The ceremony can even be held upstairs in the gallery, the spot bank presidents once monitored their tellers’ transactions in the days before security cameras.

Topping Off your Bridal Look with Sparkle

Dazzling alternatives to a long, heavy veil

March 26, 2010 by CLAUDIA G. COPQUIN. / Special to Newsday

Remember that colorful bird Carrie Bradshaw mounted on her head to adorn her veil in the “Sex and the City” movie? Love it or hate it, our fictional fashionista’s exotic plumage created quite a buzz and inspired a trend in headwear.

Brides are not exactly sporting birds, but they are forgoing traditional veils for distinctive looks, notes Rosemary Marsh of Angel Bridals in East Islip. Birdcage veils, feathers, flowers and jewels are now part of wedding day ensembles, to stunning effect.

“I went to a trunk show at Bridal Reflections for my headpiece. As soon as I saw the birdcage veil I wanted to try it on and I loved it!” says local newlywed Jaclyn Renna. She paired a birdcage veil designed by Boutique de Voile with her St. Pucchi gown.

A birdcage veil must be purchased in person rather than online, cautions Boutique de Voile designer Robin Meyer, who says her Westbury company has seen a huge uptick in demand over the past two years. When shopping, quality rules: brides should look for imported French net or supple tulle. And different effects can be achieved by working with a designer, who takes into account the bride's facial structure, her gown and the overall look desired (edgy, vintage, chic).

In addition to birdcage veils, Manhasset-based couture headpiece designer Denise Leli creates exquisite soft metal head jewelry featuring Swarovski crystals, which can add drama to a veil, or can work alone. The handmade pieces "are flexible, so brides can wear them in different ways," Leli explains. They can be simple or elaborate, depending on the bride's taste and style.

"Jeweled hair sticks are really popular now, and worn in clusters," says Raquel Knoell of headwear design firm, Thomas Knoell Designs in Mineola, adding that so are jeweled hair ribbons, worn as headbands and tied in the back. That's what November bride Cari Garcia of Syosset wore on her wedding day.

"Tiaras have never been my thing and I knew I wanted a headband-type piece," she says, "something that would lay flat on my head, and something unique, that you don't see every day on a bride."

When glitter isn't a desirable statement, brides are opting for feathers and floral head accessories. These can be attached to headbands, worn alone, or with veils, embellished with Swarovski crystals, pearls, tulle, lace or sprays of jewels.

There's no better time than now for a bride to be creative with her special look. The sky's the limit, so even the occasional winged creature is acceptable - if you're Carrie Bradshaw, that is!