| About our wedding:
Aliki & Baron
July 23, 2006
PRO-PICS!!!
I love this pic
NON-PRO-PICS!!
My lovely bridesmaids (you can't see my MOH, because she had to stand near the altar, as the Greek Orthodox ceremony dictates)
My Groom and his groomsmen:
During the ceremony:
A very beautiful part of the Orthodox ceremony..we are wearing our crowns, joined by a ribbon..my brother is following us carrying the ribbon, and my MOH is carrying my train...my father went up and sang with the chanter, which made me crack up! On the third turn around the altar, you are officially husband and wife!
they kiss!
Our flower girl and "crown bearer"
in the limo:
Outside of Castle Green:
Here we are!
table numbers:
Centerpiece (we ended up painting the pots we chose)
You can't really see, but the matching favor boxes were also on the table
our cake and our flower girl!
Dancing with my new hubby:
and dad:
Greek Dancing!!
My dad and my cousin doing "the dance of the drunken man" as my brother and DH clap them on!
WOOHOO!
*******VENDOR REVIEWS*******
Our vendors were all awesome for the most part, and our wedding day was a dream, thanks to many of them! Please note, that the highest grade is an “A+”.
ENGAGEMENT PICS: Kim Smith Photography - - 310 266 2429
A+
The pictures speak for themselves…gorgeous, fun, and frolicky! We placed them around our reception site, used an image for our table numbers, and another for our save the dates. Kim is awesome and very easy going.
CATERING AND RENTALS: Duxbury’s Catering www.duxburyscatering.com
A+
From our very first meeting and tasting, the people at Duxbury have been absolutely incredible. Mark and Justin went far and above the call of duty for us on many occasions. Their attention to detail during the planning process was amazing…When I gave Justin a recipe of my mother’s lemon sauce, and for Greek salad dressing, he drove out to meet me, so I could taste it and make sure I approved (which was perfection). The food at our tasting far surpassed the quality of any of the other caterers we met with. Not only that, but the price was right. My DH is in the event industry, and he said their prices for rentals compared to those he would have gotten for us at discount. At the wedding, everything went smoothly, and people kept talking about how absolutely delicious our food was. One guest told me that it was the best wedding food he had ever eaten. Their service was always so warm, and attentive. I just can’t say enough great things about Duxbury’s Catering! ***btw...They have a valet company they work with, and we found them to be excellent as well.
WEDDING AND BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHER: Carol Sheridan - www.carolsheridan.com
Boudoir: A+ Wedding Photos: A+ Photographer: A-
Carol's work is fantastic!! During the boudoir shoot, she made me feel very comfortable and so good about myself..she is very creative, and the pictures came out gorgeous...My DH went crazy over them. After my boudoir experience, I was more than happy to have Carol shooting my wedding. She and her assistant were timely, professional, and hidden..they captured all the special moments, without being obtrusive..unless necessary, like while shooting our posed shots. She was really great with keeping us on schedule, and managing our families. We did a combination of film (cross-processed, regular, and sepia) as well as digital. I couldn't be more pleased with my pictures, and they really speak for themselves. The couple things that bugged me, were that the pictures were out of order when we got them, so I had to spend a lot of time putting them in order for viewing. I know it was because she was switching from different cameras and types of film, but it was quite time consuming. Also, when she gave me the digitals, they were all too dark and she had to go through and lighten them...she thought because I am an artist, that I wanted to do the photoshop work myself, but I didn't..no time in my life for that! Other than those two annoyances, everything was perfect...the most important being, that my pictures are amazing and I will love them forever! Our family and friends have been blown away by them.
WEDDING DRESS AND VEIL: Alfred Angelo - www.alfredangelo.com (Beverly Hills location)
A
I knew I wanted this dress after seeing a picture of it..it was the fist dress I tried on, and after trying on many others we knew it was “the one”. I have gotten the most compliments about my dress. I didn’t give it an A+ purely because it didn’t fit quite right up top, and required tailoring, twice, which felt like a bit of a scam from the bridal store, but more on this in the tailoring section.
ALTERATIONS: Alfred Angelo
B
My dress needed to be taken up, and bustled…this came out to around $250..to be expected...It was recommended to me, that I should have pads sewn into the bust area to help fill it out. Also, the waist of the dress was coming a part a bit, so they offered to reinforce it for free. When I picked up the dress, the top looked really weird with the pads sewed in, without taking it in, so it needed to be altered…fine…BUT, I was charged another $45 to take each boob in, plus $45 each side to rebead, plus another $60 to steam it! I was 2 weeks away from my wedding, so I paid it, but I felt like I was ripped off. My dress looked fantastic though, so, there ya go.
VIDEOGRAPHER: Roberto from 36zero films: www.36zerowed.com
Grade: Pending, but service and attitude is an A
Roberto is amazingly talented, hip, and a really great guy. He is very personable and warm, and felt like hanging out with a friend. I have all the confidence in the world that we will love our video. Check out his work at his website, it is awesome, and NOT CHEEZY!
CUPCAKE TOWER: Becca from BluRuby - www.bluruby.com
A+
Our cupcakes were simply scrumptious! Red velvet, with cream cheese frosting!
Becca did a great job finding a way to fit them into my color scheme. Again, she was very personable, and easy to work with. The day of the wedding, it was clear that the flower topper our florist made was way too big..Becca quickly made a new one out of candy roses, and it looked great!
DAY OF COORDINATOR: Rosie at www.justagirlsevent.com
A+
Rosie is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! I don’t know where I would have been without her! Not only did she help me out so much during the planning stages, but she helped our wedding day run so smoothly. She is kind, caring, organized, and just so helpful. She had a keen way of keeping me calm, and helping me get each task done in time. On the wedding day, she dropped off a snack tray at our room, then dashed off to the site to set things up. She kept the ceremony running smoothly, and the reception too. In fact, I forgot the fire permit in my hotel, ,and we were going to be forced to blow out all our candles…Rosie drove out to my hotel room, searched through my binder, found the permit, and brought it back.. I cannot rave about her enough!
WEDDING LOCATION: St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Church - www.saint-anthonys.org
A
The church is stunning, and the staff is very helpful..sadly, the priest is very sick, so they had to find me a replacement for our wedding, (Father Tom Avramis) but he was incredible..people loved him. The only reason they are not getting a A+ is because, they gave me a church coordinator to help with the rehearsal and the day of, and even though we gave the priest, and the chanter a very large tip, they told me that I needed to send $100 to pay the church coordinator, when no one had ever told us this up front.
RECEPTION LOCATION: Castle Green - www.castlegreen.com
A
Castle Green is absolutely gorgeous! The décor is so classic, and you feel like you have escaped to another world. It has a lot of personality and charm, and our guests had a blast! We particularly liked that they have tables, and chavari chairs which are included in their price. We didn’t like that they charge extra for a/c (which barely worked, esp. in the lounge rooms), and it was often hard to get in touch with the person in charge of events there. Also, if you do want to bring your own caterer, you are charged $5 a head. If you can get over the “we can add these charges simply because, we can, and we don’t need your business” attitude, and just take it for what it is, you will love it. It was an incredible and dreamy backdrop for our reception, and I would definitely recommend it!
FLORIST: Annette at Century City Flower Mart - 310-277-6737
A-
They were recommended to my by a friend who used them for her wedding. Their flowers are very high quality, esp. their roses (her husband’s family grows roses) and they are much more affordable than most places. People commented that our roses looked like velvet, and they did! They hand open roses too, which makes arrangements look soft and flowy. I had some trouble with communication, getting in touch with them sometimes, and also their keeping track of decisions we had made. It seems like they are very busy, and do a lot of events and weddings, but I would say, if you use them, just make sure you write down everything you have talked about, and go over it with them right before the wedding. Everything was perfect though, and I was very pleased with all my flowers.
INVITATIONS: Indian Wedding Card - www.indianweddingcard.com
A
Based out of India, these guys are great! Check out their unique and beautiful designs at their website. You get a very high quality invite, at a cost much lower than most places. It is important to order samples from them, so you know what you are getting…the cool thing, is that they credit the price of the sample toward the cost of your invite order. Once you have selected your design, you work out your wording with them through email. We loved our invites, and so did our guests!
HAIR AND MAKE-UP (bride): Leslie from Studio 210 in Brentwood - 310-826-5522
A+
Leslie is a friend of mine, and she is an insanely busy stylist. But she came all the way up to Pasadena to do my hair and make-up, and it looked absolutely perfect! She is amazing!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky to have her at my wedding too, because it was a record hot day, so she was following me around doing touch ups, till the end of the night when I just said “F** it!” and just went with the sweaty look!
HAIR AND MAKE-UP (bridesmaids): Colleeen McClure - 310-403-5024
A+
She and her assistant did hair and make up for those who wanted it, and they did an excellent job…everyone looked beautiful! She is very very affordable too.
BRIDESMAID DRESSES: Anthropologie - www.anthropologie.com
A+
I wanted to choose something that the girls would feel good spending their money on, and that they could wear again. These dresses looked awesome for my turquoise and red theme. The girls chose their own dark red shoes, and I provided the jewelry. The great thing about Anthropologie, is that it is really easy to return items, and they carry their styles at their website for a long time. They also have a wide range of sizes.
BRIDESMAID JEWELRY: 1928 Jewelry Outlet Store - 818-842-7654 ask for Mario
A+
Gorgeous jewelry, at discount…gotta love that! It looked sooo good on the girls too. Each got the same necklace, but different earrings. (except my MOH had her own, bigger necklace.) Actually, the ribbon on the necklaces were a different color at first, and Mario had them specially made for me so that it would be red instead!
HAIR ACCESSORIES: Amy’s Bridal - www.amysbridalaccessories.com
A
Very very pretty, but expensive in my opinion.
TUXES: Men’s Wearhouse - www.menswearhouse.com (Santa Monica)
B
We were very nervous, after hearing about all the nightmares that come along with these bozo rental places. Most things worked out fine, except: My brother’s jacket was way too big, and he ended up borrowing one from my dad. Also, my DH gave ties as gifts to his groomsmen ( Red with turquoise stripes, of course!), but the dad’s tuxes were supposed to be rented with ties…well, they forgot to give the dads their ties, maybe they got confused, but… my DH’s dad and step dad did not have ties at our wedding!!
WEDDING BANDS: Icing on the Ring- www.icingonthering.com
A
We love our rings, and loved the service and price at this place..they only did not get a “+” because my DH’s ring is too big, and I would have thought they would have noticed that when he came to pick it up.
GREEK WEDDING (STEFANA) CROWNS: Annula Designs - www.annuladesigns.com
A+
Our crowns were made to order..she put callas and roses in ours to match my flowers..she also did the same for our candles. They looked amazing! She also made a little crown for our flower girl, at no extra cost! Annula is very very sweet and helpful, and was easy to work with.
LIGHTING: Dalylight Lighting (Greg Day) ph: 310-398-5340 email: gday@daylightevents.com
A
I am so so so glad we had mood lighting at our reception. It really created a nice ambiance for dinner, and the red heart and lighting on the dance floor was awesome!
PIANIST: Ryan Hutchison -(253)-334-9120)
A+
I found him on Craig's list. He has a beautiful demo, and is very well priced! Unfortuantely, I barely heard him, as he played during the coctail hour..but what I heard was beautiful..he was easy to set things up with, and even learned a song we wanted to have played. I highly recommend him! We had an organist at the church ceremony (per church requirements).
ORGANIST: Alex Ruggierri – (323) 793-2001
A
He was referred to us by our church..he plays all the standards, and is very affordable. The only bother was, he was sometimes hard to get in touch with, and when I met with him to hear music, we met at a piano, whereas I would have liked to have heard the samples from an organ.
CALLIGRAPHER: Steven Ngai - ssngai@gmail.com
B
Steven’s work is really beautiful, and his price is right, but we had a lot of trouble with him. Apparantly, he left our invites for last minute, and then had a final, so it seems like the work started off great, and then got more lazy as he was scrambling to get them done. There were a lot of errors, and he didn’t take the time to call me and ask me questions if he wasn’t sure about something. I had to readdress many envelopes that I had paid for. He also left the pencil lines he used to address with, so I had to go through and erase pencil lines. Clearly, his medical school studies come first, as they should, but perhaps he should not take on more work than he can handle. He did apologize, and sent me our invites overnight delivery to get them to me in time. All in all, those who did get an invite with his handwriting really loved it.
LIMO: Belair Limo- www.limousineinla.com (888) 622-4040
A
The limo was air-conditioned, and beautiful. The price was fair, and the service was perfect. They were timely and professional, and stocked the car up with champagne, sodas, and water. The tip was included in the price though, but the driver asked my mom for a tip, as well as my DH, and they both didn’t know, so they gave her one..watch out for that!
AIRBRUSH TAN: Michele Stewart: www.michelestewart.com/
D
She was referred to me by a knottie, who’s tan looked great in her pics…She had a great experience with her, but I did not. She charges a LOT of money to do this, but I was desperate for a tan, so I went for it, hoping it would be worth it. It was not. Her baby was sleeping, so she had me go in a random bathroom in her apartment complex that was very hot and damp. She sprayed me down, and then left me there, sweating. I could see streaks forming, so I had her come back and she spayed me again. She was very adamant that the tan would be even in the end. Well, it was not. Luckily, my dress was long, but I had streaks on my legs, and abdomen, and my feet looked dirty, not matter how much I scrubbed them. I have never had trouble with self-tanners, mystic tan, or tanning beds, being that I am Greek, I take to these things very well. I think that the problem was that hot, dank bathroom. Also, she did not warn me that the chemical might come off later, and I woke up the next morning with my bedding all stained and ruined. In the end, my color from the chest up looked really good for my wedding, but I would say, save your money, or else, insist that you not be left in a room to sweat your $85 treatment right off!
SAVE THE DATES: Vistaprint.com (scroll down to see our magnet!)
A
We loved our save the dates and so did our guests..my only beef is that some of them were printed poorly, and words got cut off..but it was only about 10, so I didn’t bother complaining..the rest were fine and we had ordered plenty of extras.
HONEYMOON: Sheraton Poipu Beach, Kauai - www.libertytravel.com
Sheraton: A- Liberty Travel: C
Kauai was so beautiful, and the perfect place for a honeymoon. We loved being on the south side, and the beach at our hotel was perfect. The woman at Liberty Travel completely mislead my DH though. He told her we would have a partial ocean view, and would get a free upgrade for being honeymooners, which we did not..fist of all, there was no partial view, and secondly, we had to pay $50 extra a night to upgrade. She also did not have the correct info on some of the excursions we bought…but regardless of Liberty being so lame, we had an AMAZING time, and ended up in a beautiful room overlooking the ocean..
**********************
Here are some of our AWESOME E-pics!!
The Ring (yes, I actually SCANNED my beautiful platinum ring!)
Color Inspiration: My colors are turquoise and red!
I found the perfect favor box on ebay. Inside: jordan almonds (traditional Greek gift) with an “eye charm”..they are popular good luck charms among Greeks..the ones we got were actually purchased by my father on his last trip there and are really pretty glass and sterling silver.
Our cupcakes from Blu Ruby: They are red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. YUMMMMM!!!!
We will have a cupcake tower, with a small cake on top for cutting. 
Invite we chose from www.indianweddingcards.com it has some aqua glitter in the dots you can't see in the pic
Our table numbers: (I scanned in a photo from our engagement shoot with a piece of vellum over it, and then printed it onto
photopaper..I got the frame from aron bros.
The Church- St. Anthony's Greek church where we will be having a traditional Greek ceremony..it is very pretty inside.
Stefana (Greek wedding crowns) Ours will have roses ans calla lillies
Reception Site- Castle Green in Pasadena
My sample centerpiece:
Knottie: Applecore, is getting married the day before me at the same location, and is leaving me some of her centers to decorate with..here is what they look like:
A bouquet I like:
And here is my dress…it's ivory, from Alfred Angelo, and I LOVE it!
St. Louis Cardinals garter for my baby! (I found it on Ebay)
Hairstyles I like..I am not wearing a headpiece due to the fact that we wear those crowns for the ceremony, I will wear some sort of hair clip or pin
My hair and make-up trial:
And for the girls, I have chosen this Anthropologie dress! It will be worn with dark red shoes and jewelery.
Anthropologie: "Blue Chalet" (beaded on top) organza dress
 
My hair accessories from Amy’s Bridal:
Our Save the Dates!! I scanned one of my fav e-pics into photoshop, added some typing, and color, and sent the image to Vista Print to be made into a large magnet:
A picture of us the night after we got engaged on June 14th 2005!
Kissing
|
|
|
|
