|
VENDOR REVIEWS
I wanted to report back on our vendors in hopes that it will help others who are still planning their weddings. I’m not giving a letter grade- just some feedback. Overall, we were blessed with fantastic vendors who made our day simply incredible. We always talked about how we’d assembled a “dream team” and it really was true—I’m so, so pleased with how it all came together.
WEDDING & RECEPTION SITE: THE ATHENAEUM- We decided to have the wedding at The Athenaeum at Caltech after completely falling in love with the location. It was difficult to get a date there (you have to know a member to have an event at The Athenaeum- we exhausted our contacts to make it happen) and very pricy. However, the site is so gorgeous, so accommodating and was probably the best overall choice we made. All of our food and drink was coordinated by their chef and it was really impressive. Our guests were wowed by how pretty the site was & how great the food was. The coordinator, Allison Ross, is incredibly professional, helpful and on top of everything. She handled every detail perfectly. I cannot say enough good things about this site—it was a dream location for us.
PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRISTINE MARIE - We heard lots of good things about Christine on The Knot and loved her when we met with her. We were really pleased with our interaction with her prior to the event. She was very organized, professional and personable. She showed up early on the day of the wedding and was catching some great moments. Later in the day, our carefully timed photo schedule went totally awry (Christine and her assistant ran 30-45 minutes late with our bride & groom photos and we didn’t have much time to do wedding party & family photos afterwards) which really stressed me out and was the one time all day I kind of freaked out. But I think we ended up getting most of the photos we wanted. Edited to add: Our pro photos were delivered in mid-November. They are AWESOME!! I look at the photos and can't even believe it's us--- Christine made us look so good! We couldn't be more thrilled with how everything turned out, and I posted a bunch of the photos above so you can see just how awesome Christine's work is.
VIDEOGRAPHY: WALTER PAWLUK - Walter is a gem, absolutely one of our favorite vendors. We don’t have our video back yet, but if it’s anything like his demos we’ll be very happy. He was so easy to work with and we had nothing but good interaction with him before the wedding. Walter was so inconspicuous on the day of the wedding. He was never in anyone’s face, no microphones, no blinding lights. This was exactly what we wanted. He was so nice, really funny, on top of everything. I would definitely recommend him to anyone! Edited on 12/16/05: We got our video from Walter and it is AMAZING!! It's so professional-- all the editing and music is seamless and the camera is steady and properly focused the entire time. This may sound basic, but considering some of the demos we saw, apparently not so much. Walter is a pro-- the video looks awesome. The best was how he captured the emotional content of the wedding-- all the big moments we remembered and loved and so many little ones that we didn't. We were both teary-eyed watching it tonight, saying "thank goodness we decided to get a video and to go with Walter." I can't recommend Walter Pawluk highly enough!!
FLOWERS: IXORA FLORIST- One of our best vendors, definitely. Lisa, the owner, is amazingly talented. The second that I stepped into her studio and saw her work, I knew I’d be lucky to have her do our wedding. Add to that her personality—she’s SO sweet, so accommodating (I changed the details of our flowers many times, everything came out perfectly) and just a pleasure to be around. Our flowers were even prettier than I had imagined. I loved them! A big thumbs up from me.
HAIR & MAKEUP: TESS/ THE ARTISTRY GROUP- Add me to the long list of people who love Tess. She is AMAZING. I loved, loved, loved the way my hair and makeup looked at the wedding. It was even better than the trial! Her assistant, Kendall, did a great job on my bridesmaids’ makeup as well. They were both so much fun, too. We had a wonderful time joking around while we were getting ready and it just made for a really fun, upbeat atmosphere. I cannot recommend Tess highly enough—she’s a great person and her work is spectacular! She made me feel beautiful, and that is priceless on your wedding day.
CAKE: BEE’S KNEES- Bee’s Knees is a great bakery and the cake we ordered (four layers, four different flavors) was delicious. People were coming up to us at the reception, raving about the cake. However, the cake (the design of it, anyway) was our one big disappointment of the day. I still have to call Bee’s Knees and figure out what happened, but the cake didn’t look like we’d discussed. There was supposed be gold scrollwork all over the cake (the color of which was debated at length at our tasting—they even showed us a color wheel to make sure they had it right!) but it turned out white. There were supposed to be flowers all down the sides, but they were just placed on top. It looked pretty, it just wasn’t what we’d wanted. We ended up scattering some rose petals from the table onto the cake just to give it some color. It did taste great, though. I’ll update this when I’ve talked to the bakery.
DJ: SCOTT NORRIS/ COASTLINE DJ- Scott did a great job and the dance floor was packed throughout the entire wedding. Relatives I’d never even seen dancing were out there getting down—it was great. I’m not much of a dancer myself and was dancing way more than I thought I would be. Scott chose great tunes, respected our “do not play” list and kept the energy up all night. He also was a good MC, keeping things moving as they should have and announcing everything properly. I think the only downside to Scott is that he’s a talker and he likes to check in with you a lot throughout the planning process and the night of the wedding and at times I thought it was a little much. But I think it’s just that he’s a perfectionist and wants to make sure everything is exactly as you want it. I’d definitely recommend him.
OFFICIANT: REV. BOB JABRO- Our officiant was such a nice man. Very warm, very professional, really cared about us and our relationship and did an amazing job at our ceremony. He met with us on two different occasions before the wedding and had us write him personal letters so he could incorporate our own words and feelings into the ceremony. The result was very “us” and definitely reflected our interests and personalities. When we got back from the honeymoon, he’d already sent us a packet with our signed marriage license, ready to be framed. Bob is awesome!
TUXEDOS: AFTER HOURS – What can I say about these clowns? They were terrible, awful, totally incompetent and I could never recommend them to anyone. Fortunately it was Kevin’s job to deal with tuxedos, because I would have lost my mind talking with them regularly. After Hours apparently doesn’t use any kind of computer system and all the information for your wedding is stored on a note card somewhere, not shared with the other stores where people may be picking up and is frequently lost, forcing your wedding party to go in for repeated measurements & argue with the store about whether or not they left a deposit the last time they got measured. Oh, and every now and then After Hours will call you up and claim they have NO information on your wedding, sending everyone into a total panic. This happened more than once. I can’t tell you how much time we spent on the phone with these dolts. In the end, only two tuxedos were wrong. My brother (an usher) got a groomsman tux and one of the groomsmen got a jacket so small he couldn’t button it. I think we made out well because Kevin called all four stores we were dealing with like EVERY DAY to reconfirm things. It was painful. Save yourself the agony and don’t use After Hours!!
ALTERATIONS: CLAUDINE at BRIDAL PERFECTIONS- Claudine is the best! I thought I was going to hate driving down to Redondo Beach for alterations but it really wasn’t a bad drive (less than 30 minutes each way). Claudine is SO sweet and pleasant. I really enjoyed spending the time with her and she is such a talented seamstress. She took my sample Reem Acra and made it look just amazing. I would absolutely recommend her to anyone who wants to have a dress made or who has a dress that they won’t trust to just anyone. She had my dress cleaned before she started alterations and then just before the wedding, she pressed the gown and my veil. They looked absolutely perfect! www.bridalperfections.com
STRING QUARTET: FIDDLESTIX- I thought we might have trouble with Fiddlestix, but they ended up being one of the things guests liked best about our ceremony and I’d definitely recommend them. Margaret, who we dealt with, was very nice during our early meetings, but never seemed to remember exactly what music we’d discussed after we talked with her. I was worried, but shouldn’t have been. They did an amazing job and guests were coming up to us all night saying how beautiful the music was. One friend of mine actually said their “Nessun Dorma” was so gorgeous that she began to cry. I think that kind of comment really speaks for itself. Not only is Fiddlestix the best deal out there for string quartets, but they totally delivered for us.
INVITATIONS: CARDGIRL (NESSA SANDER)- Cardgirl was mentioned on the No. California boards as being a new company that would do custom work, so I contacted Nessa. She happened to be taking a trip to L.A. the next week and totally went out of her way on her vacation to meet with me and show me her samples. I thought that really said something about her! She was flexible on price and her work was gorgeous, so we hired her. The rest of our communication was via email, which worked well. Nessa was a total pleasure to work with. My husband is incredibly anal about printed materials and was literally emailing her to move things a sixteenth of an inch. She was so nice and accommodating! The invitations came out even more beautiful than I’d hoped and we’ve gotten tons of compliments on them. My one complaint is that right before the invitations were to be delivered, Nessa went on vacation without telling us and we ended up getting the invitations a week later than I’d thought we would. But it all worked out okay. I would definitely recommend Cardgirl. We got great results at a very competitive price.
WEDDING DRESS: THEBRIDEROOM.COM- I fell in love with a Reem Acra that was out of my price range, and then was lucky enough to find that same gown at TheBrideRoom.com for $1000 less than the sticker price. I called them up, gave them my credit card info, and the gown arrived via FedEx two days later. The dress was in amazing condition. There was dirt on the hem, as I’d been told, and there were a few beads missing, but it was otherwise perfect. The dress cleaned up really nicely in the alterations process and thanks to TheBrideRoom.com I was able to wear my dream gown without feeling guilty about the price tag. They always have gorgeous Amsale, Watters and Reem Acra gowns on sale there- if you’re on a budget, I highly recommend them.
BRIDESMAID DRESSES: RENEE STRAUSS- We ordered the Lazaro bridesmaid dresses for my local BMs through Renee Strauss. I’d tried on gowns there and found the staff to be very helpful, so we went back to order the BM dresses. The service was fantastic, the ordering process was easy and organized and the dresses came in really early. Also, Renee Strauss send out swatches to me and all my bridesmaids, which was so helpful in coordinating accessories and even the flowers. They were great from beginning to end and I highly recommend them!
VEIL: WWW.WEDDINGVEIL.COM- I got a gorgeous, cathedral-length veil here at a very affordable price ($70 including shipping, as I recall). Prior to my order they sent me tulle swatches so I could match the veil to my dress. The order was processed quickly and with no problems. They did a great job!
WEDDING NIGHT HOTEL: THE WESTIN, PASADENA- This is a wonderful hotel! We just booked a standard room and it was very nice. Their “Heavenly Bed” really is heavenly—very comfortable. The hotel was recently renovated and it just looks amazing. We had all our guests stay here and had two cocktail receptions in the lobby bar and encountered no problems whatsoever. The staff were incredibly friendly and the manager I worked with to distribute out of town bags and arrange our block was very organized and helpful. Love the Westin!
REHEARSAL DINNER: BECKHAM GRILL, PASADENA- Beckham Grill was awesome. We searched for ages for a good place in Pasadena that could accommodate a group of about 35 people, and they had the perfect space. Their “Covent Garden” banquet room is light, airy and attractive, and there was plenty of space for us to mingle. The managers were easy to deal with while coordinating the event and we had lots of menu choices to choose from. Their food is just amazing—really delicious. Also, two of my bridesmaids commented on how nice their server was on the evening of the event. Beckham Grill did an amazing job for us and I definitely recommend them.
| 
-010404.jpg)
