Monday, July 30, 2007

Wedding Highlights II

Šv. Kazimiero was a great church to get married in. Father Vitkus was really great, funny, and entertaining. The organist and hymn singer were amazing. The latter was warming up in the back where the best men and I were dressing, Peanut goes, "Oh my God, she's amazing...is she for your wedding?!?"

Žaldokynė was a fantasic restaurant. It's thanks to us for booking it ten months in advance, but it's also thanks to them for being honest. They said they got countless call from people offering any amount of money it takes to get the hall for 7-7-7. I believe them. My special lady saw a bit on TV about people getting double crossed left and right for limos and other wedding servces for that day: "Pay double, or we refund your down payment in double." Our down payment was 300 litas. They would have been within their rights to refund us 600 and make an extra ten, twenty, thirty grand. But it wouldn't have been honest, so cheers to them.

Liudas Masys
was a great photographer. Lots of really good non traditional shots, many candid. The posing ones felt like we were posing as models, not family members. He came by the next day, less than 16 hours after he'd left us, with a cd with over 1,200 pictures and an album with about 30 choice pictures printed out super high quality.

Kapelija (sp?) was a great band. Traditional, old fashioned music, exactly what we ordered. They even had a guy MC the whole evening, which was a godsend, cause I can't imagine who we could have got to do it so good: games, sing-alongs, special dances, the works.

Santa Salonas, where the best men and I got our tuxedos, is the worst place in the world. When I came the first time somebody was just leaving, in disgust. I wish I hadn't assumed it was an isolated incident and given them a chance. They didn't have any bow ties, except for clip ons, and they didn't have any shoes. They promised to get the bow ties. Okay, I guess the men and I can supply our own shoes. The mes are flying in, though, a week ahead of time. They tell me that's not enough time to prepare everything, we have to send ahead our measurements. Liars! Idiots! Because of this stupid move on their part, they were in a real bind when adjustments had to be made with less than 24 hours till show time. If they managed to do it in that time, though, they would have been much wiser to do it a week ago and not sew them wrong in the first place. Not to say that they did a good job sewing them: all the best men had velcro cummerbunds, and Peanut's was sew together backwards, so the ends met face to face instead of overlapping! Plus when we went to get them, a young woman was bitching them out and demanding her money back for sewing her dress wrong twice and wasting her time. They never got the bow ties they promised, there were slips of paper belonging to previous renters in the pockets, and the shirts had sweat stains around the collar. Those fuckers are lucky Gedas dropped out of the wedding party. If I wasn't in breach of contract myself for ending up short one best man, I would have given myself a sizable discount for poor service. When I went to return the tuxes I heard yet another damsel crying inside.

5 comments:

mrdarius said...

i concur with the sentiments expressed in your entire post. especially with how great the photog was, but especially with how bad the tailors were. i was just at a men's wearhouse, and they brought out vests with matching bowties/ties, and i almost threw a fit because they ALSO did not have non-fake ties. ALL of their ties that come with vests have elastic bands. how cheesy.

Aras said...

i never go there. i go to a place called sim's in connecticut, i don't know if they have any other locations. they're like a big warehouse sized place that's cheaper than normal places...i'll be stopping off there in about a week! :O

Trashcan said...

My understanding of the band was that it is the band that Darius who is the muscian at neringa plays with. He couldn't be at the wedding because he was already at neringa, and Darius is ussually the MC. So the band was intact, but they had to get a new MC from outside, and darius was concerened that the MC might not be any good. I don't have any basis of comparison, i'm sure darius would have been better because he's better at everything, but i thought it was excellent.

Jim Gust said...

I bought a suit at Syms once, and the pants wore out after only a dozen or so wearings. I never go there anymore, I suspect that their marked down "brand names" are really counterfeits.

I've been pleased with Men's Wearhouse.

Aras said...

i bought four suits at sym's three years ago. they're my only four suits, and i wear one every work day, so that averages over 185 wears each. one or two of the pants are showing signs of wear at the bottom, but i think that's due to the snow and rain, not the tailor.

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