Our Wedding Day
We had the wedding of our dreams on October 7, 2007 in Weston, Connecticut. It was a warm, sunny day, and everything was perfect. Neither one of us can imagine anything being any different! We were surrounded by all those we love and made memories to last our lifetime together.
Our ceremony and reception took place at Cobb's Mill Inn, an 18th-century converted grist and lumber mill. We were committed to having the most eco-friendly "green" wedding we could manage, and we put a lot of effort into being good to the environment when planning our wedding. We used all recycled and post-consumer papers for our invitations, table numbers, placecards, and other paper products. We arranged shuttle service for our guests to minimize the amount of traffic to our venue, used clean-burning soy and palm wax candles in all of our decor, and we donated to the Nature Conservancy.
Below are professional pictures from our wedding day, courtesy of our amazing photographer, Steve DePino. Please credit him if you use any of these photographs.
Pre-Ceremony
Cobb's Mill Inn
Hiding in the bridal room - Steve caught me sneaking around.
Loving my gorgeous bouquet!
Not quite believing it's me in that mirror...
My Mom helping me with last-minute adjustments.
The guys taking a celebratory shot and pinning on their bouts.
My bouquet and the Bridesmaids' bouquet - LOVED my flowers so much!
Matt's shirt, tie & bout, and the Groomsmen's shirt, tie & bout.
The handsome boys getting ready to line up.
Ceremony
Our string trio - O'Brien Strings.
My groom, looking a tad nervous.
The vinery and bittersweet that our florist decorated the deck with.
Left: Matt's Mom, LynAnn, escorted by Groomsman Rich. Right, my Mom, Nancy, escorted by my brother.
My handsome, happy Dad walking me down the aisle.
My cousin Jilli and the rest of my beautiful Bridesmaids.
Our rings.
The kiss!
Some of my favorite "emotion" shots. Above: My Bridesmaid Amanda and I looking at each other in happy disbelief. Top Right: MOH and Best Man running to meet us after the ceremony. Bottom Right: A tearful hug from my new Sister-in-Law, Jillian, after she said to me, "Now I really have a sister."
Post-Ceremony Portraits
We're married! Top right: With Matt's Grandparents. Bottom right: With my parents and Matt's Mom.
The girls
The Guys
Our adorable flower girl, Sydney.
Reception
Our first dance as husband and wife.
Our song was Collide, by Howie Day.
Groomsman Phil dancing with my Junior Bridesmaid, Jilli, while my longtime friend and Bridesmaid, Emily, singing "At Last." This was a touching moment!
Decor Details
The Lake Room at Cobb's Mill Inn.
Centerpieces were alternating tall white-and-green and short orange bursts. Candles were DIY - Soy votives bought from eBay, river rocks from eBay, glass holders from save-on-crafts.com.
My DIY Donation Card with flower seed packet and DIY Menu.
Left: Our Swarovski Crystal toasting flutes. Right: Our table numbers by Olio Style.
Outdoors on the patio during the cocktail hour. Lanterns from Christmas Tree Shops, ribbon from Michael's.
Matt's pride & joy - Personalized beer buckets, designed by his Mom. They were a hit!
My pride & joy - Our card cage! Bought plain from save-on-crafts.com, decorated by moi.
Toasts!
Our funny-guy Best Man, Paul.
Our incredible Maid of Honor, Jen.
Group shot!
Father-Daugther, Mother-Son Dances
Cake-Cutting
More Details
The placecard table.
The guestbook table and signature mat.
Some DIY projects. Left: Wedding bubbles. Right: Leftover flower seed packets from our donation favors.
Dress & Veil detail.
Vendor Reviews
Venue - Cobb's Mill Inn: A+
Cobb's Mill is beautiful and has charm that is hard to find. It underwent a change of ownership during our planning, and the changes made were for the better. The new owners and especially the catering manager, Kathy, are great. Kathy was incredibly accommodating. I was a very detail-specific bride and had tons of DIY projects that needed to be just so, and Kathy and her staff did an amazing job. They were extremely flexible and were able to make all my dream visions come true.
The food was incredible. We got a ton of compliments on the Filet Mignon, and one guest said it was the best wedding food she'd ever had. The wine list was great, and they allow you to put wine on every table. Our guests loved the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. The appetizers and drinks were a hit as well.
Cobb's Mill's main room does not have a service bar, which was a slight downfall for us. The waitstaff did a great job making sure everyone had drinks, however, and the evening coordinator, Jimmy, was very enthusiastic and a great help throughout the night.
DJ - Aardvark Audio, Ron & Christy: A++
These guys were the best! This was one of the vendors who we met and knew immediately we wanted them at our wedding. We had met with several other DJs and had almost decided, but we just didn't feel right about it. We were sold within 10 minutes of meeting Ron & Christy. They are great people who run a great business and they really have it together. Definitely our most organized vendor.
Ron was a great DJ - presentable, enthusiastic, professional, and not cheesy! He had people up and dancing from start to finish, and he didn't get overinvolved and do any silly dances or prop stuff, because we didn't want any of that. He didn't play any songs from our "do not play" list, and stuck to our play list all night.
Christy does some wedding planning on the side, and I don't know what I would've done without her! Having her there was like having a DOC. She was extremely well-organized, to the point that I was absolutely sure everything she was in charge of was covered, and then some. She told us when to do what, and if we were running late, urged us along at just the right time. Amazing!
Photographer - Steve DePino: A
As you can see, Steve is a very talented photographer and has a very candid, photojournalistic style. He did a great job and caught so many emotions and stolen moments. We're so happy to have chosen him and to have these beautiful photos to cherish forever. Every time I look back at them, I get teary-eyed.
We do wish that we had given Steve a must-take list, but he had expressed some animosity toward lists, so we didn't bother him with one. So, we missed out on some pictures because we didn't think ahead enough. I urge everyone using any photographer out there to make sure you think ahead about what pictures you may want taken, because this day only happens once, and you will never have the opportunity to take those pictures again.
Videographer - Nigel Smith: TBD
Nigel is the nicest guy and really bent over backwards for us. He's very flexible and we were thrilled when he fit into our budget.
Unfortunately, we still have not received our video, and it is nearly 5 months since our wedding. More lengthy review to come once it's received!
Ceremony Musicians - O'Brien Strings: A+
We hired Kate O'Brien and her string trio for two hours to last our ceremony and cocktail hour. Kate was very nice, very organized, and very accommodating. She was a pleasure to work with and fit our budget! Their music was beautiful, Canon in D made me cry, as usual. They also went through the trouble of learning a version of a song that means a lot to my family, which was very much appreciated.
Florist - Colony Florist: A+
Colony was great to work with. We first worked with Peter, who was fabulous. He saw my vision immediately and was very enthusiastic from the minute we started talking. We had a limited budget but expensive taste, and he worked with is to get some of the flowers I wanted without going over budget. Once the initial proposal was made up, we worked with Callie, who was also fantastic. The bouquets were stunning - my jaw dropped when I first saw them and I cried. I had wanted all mango calla lillies for the Bridesmaids, but they were too expensive, so Callie put together a mix of callas, gerber daisies, spray roses and hypericum and they were just gorgeous. The centerpieces were also stunning and affordable. We got lots of compliments.
We ran into one small issue on the day of the wedding - we were short a BM bouquet! But Callie was quick to step in and tell us not to worry, she would deliver an extra to the venue. It was waiting for us when we got there, which was amazing, because it meant that she went from Norwalk back to Greenwich, made a bouquet, and brought it to Weston in an hour. Go Callie! We were thrilled with our choice, through and through.
Invitations - Olio Style: B
Our invitations were a dream c0me true - they turned out absolutely beautiful and were exactly what we had pictured. The only problem was that it took way more time than we expected it to and it was a lot of work to get them how we wanted them. We worked with Peggy, who was very helpful. After letting her know what design I liked and what our colors were, she emailed more design ideas that fit the theme. We them customized the style, which was a simple gatefold. It was also important to us that all the papers used be recycled, and she was very understanding and accommodating in that matter. We had some issues with the company not getting back to us in a timely manner, and they refused to give alternate contact information, so everything was done via email. The payments were easy and organized. Overall, we were glad we chose Olio.
Officiant - Reverend David James: C
We were a little upset by Rev. James, but it's hard to criticize him, because he is a very sweet man and we loved him from the moment we met him. He is so nice, and we knew after our first meeting with him that this was the person we wanted to marry us. He had lots of resources available to help us customize our ceremony.
Our problem was strange and took a while to figure out. We ran a little late getting to the venue from the hotel. Some of the shuttles were also late, and Matt's grandparents were the last to leave the hotel to make sure everyone made it aboard a shuttle. Reverend James was in a huge rush to get started, and was vrey pushy and nervous. My mom tried to introduce herself, and he kind of blew her off. He came up to the bridal room to urge us along, and my bridesmaids had to distract me so that he did not upset me. He did the same thing to the groomsmen. We started about 20 minutes late, and he did a beautiful ceremony. He didn't rush through it and he was all smiles and even a little funny.
After the ceremony, he congratulated us and ran to the parking lot. He had told us he was staying for the cocktail hour, so we were a little upset. My parents were more upset, they had wanted to at least have a conversation with the man. We found out later that he had another wedding to be at. He had booked the ceremonies much too close together, and besides rushing away from ours, was late to the next. We were pretty disappointed. But again, he is a very sweet, kind man, and we were happy to have had him marry us. Everyone makes mistakes!
Linens - BBJ Linens: A+
Great to work with! We rented napkins from BBJ and they were the absolute perfect color! They have a very easy, organized system, and I highly recommend them. Their prices are great, too. I looked into buying napkins, but rental was cheaper.
Chair Rental - Taylor Rental: A
No complaints. Chairs were great and were set up perfectly when we arrived. Affordable, too.
Hair Stylist - Linda Casorio: A
Linda was great. Two of my Bridesmaids cried because they loved their hair so much! She didn't rush, and she is great at what she does. I had two trials with Linda and she was very helpful about presenting ideas and working with what I wanted. My girls had ideas and pictures of what they wanted, and she followed their instructions but added a little flair. All of the styles held all night, too. We al lloved her!
Makeup Artist - Janice Raccio: A+
Janice gets an A+ for two reasons - because I LOVED my makeup and was amazed at how well it stuck all night, and because she is just one of the nicest people I have ever met. I also had two trials with Janice, and she was great throughout. I didn't like the colors of the first trial, so she softened them for the second, which was perfect. I also had a very hard time with lipstick, because she kept leaning toward pinks because of my skin tone, but I wanted a little more red. When we couldn't decide on one, she told me I could go to a MAC store and pick one out, then let her know the color and she would buy it for me. I still use it to this day!
My wedding-day makeup was amazing. I looked fresh and my eyes popped, and it all stuck in place SO well. It was a hot day for October, so after all the portraits, I was sure my face was melting and I HAD to go to the bathroom to wipe my face down and freshen up. I looked in the mirror, and my makeup was flawless. I barely had to blot! And it stayed that way all night.
Bridal Shop - The Bridal Suite, Stamford: A+
This place was great. As soon as I walked in, I was stunned at how different it was from all the other shops I had visited - it was bright, wide open, and clean, and the salespeople actually smiled. I worked mostly with Lynne, who was the best, but the other women were great, too. The seamstress is incredible - we practically took my dress apart at every seam to make it fit right, and it looked amazing in the end.
Only complaint - they decided I did not need extra length and ordered my dress in normal length. When I got it, it just hit the floor when I was in flats. Thankfully, I was planning on wearing flats for the entire wedding. But I was a little perturbed, because if I had wanted to wear heels, I wouldn't have been able to!
Veil - occanseydesigns.com: A+
I custom designed my veil and it was exactly what I had wanted. The web site is easy to use and there are so many options. Their prices are the best I found online, I got my sheer fingertip-length with metal comb and satin edging for under $30. Fabulous find! Shipping was fast, too.
Groom's Attire, Suits - Men's Wearhouse: B
Eh. This store is full of a bunch of salesmen that only care about their commission, frankly. We didn't have any big issues with them, except that we kept ordering shirts and they kept disappearing, but they weren't anything special. The groomsmen all bought suits rather than renting tuxes, and Matt bought a higher-end but similar suit. They did give the guys a discount off the total. The alterations were just ok - several guys had to go back a few times because the first time was oddly off.
Hotel - The DoubleTree, Norwalk: F-
Awful awful awful. Do not use this hotel to house you or your guests for your wedding. I will not go into too much detail, but I will say that we were promised many things that the hotel did not follow through on, the shuttles were late to our ceremony, and they overcharged us by $350, and would not give it back. We are not confrontational or argumentative people, but we felt so badly treated that we filed an official complaint with the corporate offices and also with the Better Business Bureau.
Jeweler - Miguel Sanfiz, NYC Diamond District: A
Great prices, all adjustments were free and fast. What else can I say?
Travel Agent - Jennifer of The Tropical Travelers: A+
Jennifer was great to work with. She booked us our amazing 10-night honeymoon to St. Lucia, and it was the most perfect vacation ever. Her recommendations are right on the ball, and it was fabulous to not have to do any of the legwork! She matches prices, and does her best to make your trip easy, comfortable, and stress-free. Highly recommended! We plan to use her again next year for a Costa Rica trip.