Vendor Reviews and Pro Pics

Planning Bio

I have always found vendor reviews extremely useful, so I hope that the following will may help
someone out there. Sorry, I am not the best with creating bio's so there is not much sophistication
here! Feel free to email me at jafrizze@yahoo.com if you have any questions! Best of luck with your planning! 

Venue: Trentadue Winery

I really enjoyed getting married at Trentadue Winery. The coordinators at the site
are extremely helpful, especially Donna Healy. She had some concerns about some
vendors, but she always kept her comments constructive and professional.

Because I was from out of town, I remember scouring the boards for pictures of
Trentadue in my planning process. I thought that I would share some that show the
venue a bit more than I had seen when I was planning. The site has number of
different areas for moving the party around, which I liked quite a bit.

The south lawn. We had 150 people here comfortably for the ceremony

The lattice area. The first pic taken was obviously taken before the reception, but it shows the
area best. And as you can see in the other pic, there is an area for a band or DJ.

The north lawn. The first pic shows how the Salle de Leon looks onto the lawn.
The last pic shows how much room was left on the lawn after the tables were
set up. It was a gorgeous view out to the mountains...

Salle de Leone. We had nannies in the Salle de Leone to entertain the kids. I heard a story about kids
running into the vineyard so I was happy to have a place to let them run...but not too far.

They also have lots of different backdrops for photos. Along with the typical winery
shots, they also have these fantastic redwoods...

One of my personal favorite parts of the winery was the old railroad tracks that run through it.

And image of the tasting room...yes, even the parking lot can be a site for pics!

And the beautiful vineyards...but watch out for cobwebs (they're everywhere in the vineyards!)

Oh, and I almost forgot! We really liked the wines at Trentadue. This was important for us.
If you ever have a chance, make sure that you try their Chocolate Amore (chocolate port)...
it's fab. Tons of our guests went back the next day to buy more!

Officiant: Rev. Michael LeBlanc

We were referred to Reverend Michael LeBlanc and only met with him face-to-face one
time prior to the rehearsal. While it was not evident at the initial meeting, he listened very closely
to our story. When we received the first draft of the ceremony, we could not have been more
pleased with it. He completely tailored his words to our situation and it was very meaningful for us.

One of the best parts of our ceremony were the flower girls and ring bearers who decided to play
with the flower petals at our feet, rather than sit down. It was priceless and Michael went along
with it beautifully. He just laughed along with everyone and encouraged the kids "to be kids".

My husband (still feels wierd to say that) wanted religion incorporated into the ceremony and
he provided lots of alternatives for us. We actually had a lot of fun reading all of the options
and selecting those that we felt connected to most.

He seemed to sense the mood of our day, which we were very touched by. At the
end of the ceremony, he said that he could not finish. He put down his papers and
provided his own observation on the day, the mood, and what he saw in us. It was
definitely not something that we expected, but something that I suspect we will
always remember. I think he went above and beyond.

And for the fun side of Michael, you may recognize him at a certain bar in the lattice
pictures above. And the following pic of him boogying with his wife and a cigar in
his mouth probably lets you know whether he can have fun!

I am extremey glad that he was part of our day and would hire him all over again.

Catering: Pacific Connection Catering
Linens: La Bella Party Rentals

Trentadue requires couples to use Pacific Connection for all catering needs. We were fine with this
because it eliminated the search for another vendor. And compared to other catering costs that I saw
passed around on these boards and in wedding mags, they seemed reasonable.

While there is a dedicated Pacific Connection resource on-site at Trentadue, we
really enjoyed working with Rob. We first met with him at our tasting and he did
an excellent job mapping out the day, which went far beyond catering. My husband,
in particular, really clicked with Rob and would have trusted him with everything.
On the day of the wedding, he was right there in the middle of everything...even
serving at one of our stations.

All of our linens and rentals were from La Bella Party Rentals. I thought that they were
all really unique (i.e. funky glass shapes, modern flatware, etc.). I wasn't involved at all
in the selection of the linens and probably would have forgone the mint green striped
station linens if I had been. Oh well, everything else was great! Specifically, I loved the
chairs (just a bit dfferent than chivaris). This was before the centerpieces went on...

As for the quality of the food, unfortunately I didn't taste anything on the wedding day.
However, our tasting was excellent and they were very creative in coming up with
different types of "food entertainment" which we were looking for. Just lots of different
ways to keep people trying different things...cheese bar, olive bar, olive oil tasting bar, etc. 

We went with their cart stations, which seemed to work well. The best part was
that there were never any lines at any of the stations. Oh, and they did pack a "picnic
lunch" for us for back at the hotel...but our mistake as it went home with the parents.

They made a great caviar bar for our reception. It was a complete hit. You took
a sip of cold vodka, a caviar dollop (from the back of your hand!), and they shot
the rest of your caviar. Our guests loved, loved, loved it! We also did a cheese bar,
an olive bar, a wine tasting, a port and chocolate tasting, and a cigar bar. Lots of fun!

Bar: Bartenders Unlimited

If you want a full service bar at Trentadue, again you are required to use Bartenders
Unlimited. They were generally fine to work with and accomodated a specific request
that my fiance made. They were on time and gracious to our guests. They charged a
flat fee based on the total number of guests. This may be standard in the industry, but
I was a bit surprised.

Did our guests use the full service bar (as opposed to solely beer or wine)? Absolutely.
Do I feel like it was money well spent? Jury's still out. They definitely didn't do anything
wrong, but they didn't do anything to overly impress us. But maybe our guests would
disagree....case and point...

Cake: Cakework

Cecile Grady at Cakework is an incredibly nice woman. If you go for a tasting,
be prepared for some of the sweetest smells you have ever enountered. That
being said, I am not a huge cake fan. If I had to do it all over again, I probably
would have cut back in this area. She is incredibly nice though...

We had cupcakes for the kids, but unfortunately didn't get any photos...darn! :)

Flowers: Leah Lowrey

I was completely overwhelmed by our flowers. She was absolutely my favorite vendor. I showed her two
photos before the wedding of the general "feel" that I liked. I was shocked when I arrived at the site. Amazing
(to me anyhow). We did go over our budget on our flowers, but her efforts were obvious.

I was loved, loved, loved the flowergirl baskets she made...as did the girls...

And the mini-bouquets for our moms...

The aisle markers, which were later moved to the dinner site...I really am glad that we did these (see above as well).

She had three different versions of the centerpieces. I only got one pro pic of one of them. The
second pic at the seating shows another shape that she used. Loved them!

She had all these amazing pieces on the cart stations....

This was the decor in the first reception/bar area...

 She had these beautiful
flowers up inside the arch that only the officiant and us could see (see third pic). I thought it was so beautiful...

Misc...she did all these fab things like put bouquets in tall vases of coffee beans (for the coffee bar), etc.

  

The traditional wedding bread that is a custom of my DH's family. The bride, mother of the
bride and mother of the groom all keep one from the wedding for good luck.

Ceremony and reception music: Davis Ramey

To be honest, I feel slightly funny posting about the ceremony and reception music,
because neither of us remember too much of it from the actual day. I do remember
hearing the processional and recessional, which were both specific songs that we
had requested. We used "Love will keep us alive" by the Eagles for the processional
and "How Sweet It Is" by James Taylor for the recessional. Both sounded great.

Davis was very good at working with us to get the appropriate music and trio,
because we weren't crazy about classical. He followed up with us well, and although
he was out of town on the day of our wedding, he organized the appropriate musicians.
He was generally just a good person to work with and we would hire them again.

DJ: AMS Entertainment

AMS comes very highly recommended by Trentadue because they play there quite
often. Joe Hernandez is so responsive and on top of his clients. This is a huge plus.
Although they were not required for our reception until 5:30, Joe was completely set
up at 2:00pm prior to our ceremony starting.

We didn't get a separate dance floor because we were going to use the DJ more for
background music than dance music. However, after a "surprise" first dance, the
dance area filled up in a jiffy (how do you like that description?) and stayed that way
until the evening was over. I must give Joe credit for going with the crowd, although
I vaguely recall one or two songs that were borderline cheesy. (Most of the night was
a blur from the first dance on...so I'm not sure if I can give the most accurate review).

If you are using a DJ for a significant period of time (i.e. six hours), I would highly
recommend AMS. We only used them for about 3 1/2 hours and I felt that they
were slightly high on their price (although I understand that this is the industry norm for shorter "gigs").

Nannies: Nannies of the Valley

We had 6 nannies for 24 kids at our wedding and I am so glad that we had them there.
Sarah at Nannies of the Valley was generally slow to respond to queries. More
significantly, when we used her for wine tasting the day before, she failed to send the
address (that I had forwarded to her the week prior) onto the nannies. Therefore, the
nannies did not know where to go. On the flip side, I found her prices to be the most
competitive in the area.

I really need to praise the nannies that she sent (in both cases). They brought tons
of fun things for the kids to do. The kids had a blast, and contrary to my original
expectation, it was usually the parents going to check on them (as opposed to the
kids trying to find their parents). The nannies were extremely early on the day of
the wedding and seemed to have a good time themselves. They even lined up the
kids to get this classic photo as we were having dinner:

If you are having kids, I would definitely consider having nannies. I loved having
the kids present and this was a way to make sure that they had a good time as well.
Not a nap was taken!

Entertainment: Balloon-A-Twist

We hired a balloon artist to entertain the kids after the ceremony finished. He was
only supposed to stay for 2 hours...and he ended up staying for 5! He was a great
guy, although with this company, you don't know who you will get on the day of
your event. I was astounded by the things that he was able to make out of 2-3
balloons. At the end of the night, he gave us an unbelievable basket of flowers...
entirely made of balloons! I wish that I had a picture of it.

We did not pay a lot for this vendor and it was a complete surprise to have him
become such a big party of our day. He was really fun with adults as well. Probably
the best value for money of any of our vendors.

Photobooth: Photoworks Interactive

Our guests loved the photobooth. People were in there the entire night! Paul, the
owner of Photoworks Interactive, was at the site well before the ceremony started
and stayed longer than the 4 hours that he was contracted for. We had a Kolo
photo album and note cards for people to leave messages and he kept saying
that he loved how it was set out (I would have thought that he had seen this before,
but he adamently denied). Anyway, I think that he had fun (I suspect that he usually
does). Here are our pics from the photo booth:

The day after the wedding, we had so much fun looking through these pics. They
are priceless. On that note, we did spend more than we originally budgeted on
the photo booth. Was it worth it? We have classic photos. Could we have done
this ourselves better? Probably not quite as well. Would the cost/benefit ratio be
more palatable? Probably. Cost aside, this was a great vendor and a huge hit with our guests.

Invitations: Papermints.com

I really liked the end result of our invitations, especially the stitch and relatively casual
look. However, I didn't feel that my contact at papermints was terribly interested in
"jazzing" up the layout or providing a lot of guidance beyond their examples on the
website. I really would have valued her input, as I am sure that she looks at lots of invites.

And just a little reminder to keep a fresh invite for your photographer...ours got a bit mashed! :)

I didn't originally think that calligraphy mattered to me, but I ended up loving the font that was used.
Our caligraphy was sourced through papermints, so unfortunately, I am not sure who actually did it.

My DIY Save the Dates, which were done long before I ever found the knot or WC! Not that impressive
but guests gave great feedback about the area information that we tied to the back of them...

Transportation: Cable Car Charters

We used a cable car to shuttle our guests home at the end of the evening. It was
extremely easy to book and relative to the price of a limo (which would have been
only for us), very reasonable. I think our driver was a little grumpy at the end of the
night, but I suspect that I would be as well if there were a bunch of drunks on my cable car!

Make-up: Audrey Crandell at Glowingbridal.com A+

I am so glad that I hired Audrey for our wedding. Despite problems with directions
and timing with a third party, she arrived to our house early on the morning of the
wedding (I was expecting her to be at least half hour to an hour late). The woman
was a machine. I have a huge amount of respect for her and she really seems to enjoy
what she does. She did my make-up as well as my mom and my fiance's mom.

When I did my original trial, the make-up was a little heavy for me, but I didn't know
if it was just because I usually wear very little make-up. Before I said anything on
the morning of the wedding, she said that she wanted to tone down from what we
did at the trial. I was really happy to hear her say that. I felt like everything looked
natural (trying to find close up pics, but no luck so far...hope these work)

I honestly cannot sing Audrey's praises enough. Her prices are great, she is incredibly kind,
and she did (what I consider to be...) a fabulous job.

Hair

My hair was done by a very dear friend and old roommate from Cayman. I loved what she did, but I
probably preferred my hair without the flower. It was a gardenia and it was pretty brown by the end of the night.

Here she is with one of the flowergirls...and my new SIL watching on...

Salon and alterations: Bridal Galleria

Bridal Galleria pulled the stops out to get me my dress on time without incurring a 10% rush
fee. This was the reason that I went with them in the first place. It is worth noting that they
would not budge at all on the price (although they kind of had me in a tough spot with the
rush). After their initial promise to get me the dress, they started waivering a bit about whether
it would be in on time. This was slightly frustrating, but ultimately the dress arrived 2 weeks
early. The actual alterationist was very sweet, but the woman in charge was a bit scary.
I must admit that I did not enjoy going there for those appointments.

As for the dress itself, I loved wearing it. It just felt really fun. It was very comfortable
(especially once I taped myself in ). And yes, tape was the way to go...

Sash:  Romanticflowers.com

After originally purchasing a sage sash with my dress, I decided to go with the sable
sash. As the ML sashes are at least $200, I went to romanticflowers.com and worked
with Erica. She was really sweet and reassured me that the quality would be the same.
I paid $4 per yard and ordered 4 yards, which wrapped around my waist and fell to the
floor (which I obviously later cut). The quality was great, in fact, I thought better than the
ML sash. The sash arrived within 3 days...really easy and definitely worth it!

Flowergirl dresses: Storybook.com

If you haven't looked at storybook.com for flowergirl dresses, I would highly recommend
them. I think that I paid $39 for the girls dresses and $15 for the petticoats. They came
within a week and the girls seemed to enjoy them.

Ringbearer Tuxes: Ebay seller kidstownonline

With this ebay seller, buying the ringbearer tuxes were easier than trying to find any
other outfit. I think that they were $20 each and we got them with 3 working days.
You would likely get higher quality going to a tux shop, but they were still nice. The
boys never fussed in them at all. Easy, easy, easy...

Favors

About two weeks before the wedding, we sent everyone a small Pottery Barn photo
album with the pages filled with information on the events around the wedding (i.e. spa day,
boys golf outing, wine tasting, dinners, wedding day details, football game, contact numbers, etc.)
We added a personal note in the first page of each album thanking our guests for joining us. They
were a big hit. We mailed them about two weeks in advance...it was a pain, but well worth it!

We also had spa packs for everyone when they arrived in their hotel rooms. Each pack had
nice soap, lip balm, a bath brink, and delicious lotion. They were all made by a good friend
who manufactures these products. :) She is at www.urbanvenus.ca.

We also got these cute "wine bottle candle holders" for some of our friends that
were part of our day (i.e. photographer, hair, etc.) and our parents. We saved
bottles of wine from the reception for them to use with the holders. You just fill
them with candle oil and light the wick. Really pretty (in my opinion anyway...).
We got them from lindaanderson.com

Photography: Lucy Best

Lucy is a personal friend of ours from Australia who joined us for the wedding. I would recommend
her, but obviously it's not possible with her distance! It was a real treat having someone we are close to take our photos.

Getting ready...

And we're off! Try stuffing 20 layers of tulle into the front seat...

We took our pics before the party so that we could spend more time with our guests.
It definitely worked for us...these were the owners of the winery that came to see how we were doing...so cute!

Believe it or not, he wasn't waiting for me (somehow I think the truth will be
tainted in 10+ years on this pic). One of our sets of flowergirl/ringbearer was 20 minutes late.

 

I really like this pic of him as my dad and I are joining...

For those without a wedding party, my DH's dad really enjoyed that he was
responsible for keeping our rings on the day of the wedding.

Our unity candles from Pottery Barn...

And the kids were never far behind...

 

And big smiles to celebrate with

We followed the ceremony with a reception of wine tasting, olive tasting, cheese tasting, & a caviar bar
and most importantly...lots of fun! :)

We took a few moments between the reception and dinner for some more shots with good light...

And then we're off for dinner and more festivties...

We had specifically asked for no toasts, but about 15 people got up and shared their thoughts
and wishes. It was really special and unexpected. 

 

The cigar bar was a HUGE hit!
 

Aisle Runner

For some reason, I really wanted to have a natural looking aisle runner. I ended up
getting five 5x8 rugs off ebay and lining them up together. I was happy with how it ended up looking.
I think that the rugs cost around $40 each and they are all now being used by ourselves or our families!

Wedding night hotel: Hotel Healdsburg

We stayed at the Hotel Healdsburg following the wedding, which meant that we had
an after party in their fantastic bar area following the wedding. It was an absolute
blast. They have a great fireplace and a large area for everyone to mingle. Overall,
the hotel is absolutely gorgeous and the rooms are stunning. However, we had a
Junior Suite reserved and due to a mix up, we received a standard room for our wedding
night. It was a bit of a bummer, but they sorted us out the next day. I don't know why, but
I thought that they might do something nice (i.e. bottle of champagne, etc.), but they
didn't really do anything to acknowledge our wedding. Not a big deal, but it's a nice hotel
and I thought that they might do a little something for us....

Other fun stuff

After party dress: White/Black Market
Garter: Perfectdetails.com
Something blue "unders": Customglamgirl.com

I got a really cute (in my opinion anyway...) ivory dress for the after party. I was
afraid of spilling wine all over the tulle of my gown in a tight area. They have really
cute things for weddings so it is worth a pop into one of their stores or a visit to their website.

I got my garter at perfectdetails.com. When the first one didn't arrive, they sent another within
a day (for me to only find out that my mom missplaced the first one...). Great service.

My DH also laughed pretty hard when he saw my "something blue"

Whew! I think that is it! I hope that this was helpful and good luck to all of you!

Planning Bio

Cakes

These are all cakes by Cakework that I really like. I find them unique and not terribly "bridal".

We will be doing cupcakes for the kids. The rest are just cake pics that caught my eye!

Attire

I will be wearing Swan Lake by Monique Lhuillier. It is really not my personality at all, but
it is such a fun and flirty dress. I have had second thoughts, but ultimately think that I will
stay with this dress. I just wish that I could look like the model...

Not sure which shoes I will wear yet...

Garter from perfectdetails.com

We are not having a wedding party, but rather three flower girls and three ringbearers.
I absolutely love these dresses, but can't bring myself to spend $200-$250 on dresses.
We ended up with the last green one from storybook.com for $39. Fab! I think that it
will actually better having them in a strong contrasting color, as my tulle skirt is quite big!

Make-up and hair

I may sound crazy, but I love how the ML model's neck looks very long. I would like a similar look so will
likely go with an updo. Some pics I like of make-up and hair do's (final two thanks to almskis28):

Bouquets

Bouquets that are catching my eye (I absolutely LOVE the first "leafy" ones... and the gorgeous pink/pastel bouquet
(but in my colors)

I absolutely LOVE these flowergirl baskets

Table Decor and Ambiance

I wish, wish, wish that I could do the first photo as our centerpiece, but I have been
advised that people would not be able to see each other and they could be blowing over
outside. Darn...I like the general feel of the tent photo...very natural

The inspiration for my aisle below...thought of doing a candy buffet and then
decided that we already had enough going on.

Cute cheap DIY decor...

Other paper ideas...

Invites that I love

Other fun paper products...

Favor and Gift Ideas

Cute bridal party gifts...if we had decided to have one (from ebay). Sachets... :)