Now that the wedding stress is over I thought about how well our wedding day went. There was no major disaster or anything like that. Due to the amount of guests we were expecting the dance floor was kind of small and I decided to drop the waltz with my uncle that we had practised so hard the night before. But apart from that everything went well. One of the best vendors that we had was definetly my day of coordinator Natalie Huynh and our photographer Paul from Studio Q. Natalie was very well organized and helped turn our vision into reality. She was also there for us during the planning stage to help and guide us along the way. And she helped me calm down during a major breakdown that I had prior to the wedding day. As for Paul we already knew him from the engagement shoot. He has a great eye and got some really great shots and was so easy to work with. In total we were very happy with all of our vendors and their work.
Natalie Huynh - Day of Coordinator ***** Professional and very helpful. She listened well and gave some good advice. Without her the day would never have turned out the way it did. Thanks so much! Her price is very reasonable.
Studio Q - Photography ***** (this only includes the pre wedding and wedding day experience with Jai and Paul. We are still awaiting the albums and some formal portrait shots to be done)
Sketchimages - Videography ***** We truly liked the outcome of our video. Eventhough some of the pictures were a little dark because of the sunlight we could not have been any happier how it turned out. Ronnie is a great guy. Unfortunately he could not shoot our wedding as he was booked already. But he did the editing instead.
Lost Canyons Golf Club - Ceremony / Reception - **** Great site, gorgeous ground and breathtaking views. Parking is plenty and you will not risk running into a concurrent event. Stuff is very helpful. Barbara the catering director is sometimes hard to get in touch with but all in all she was very accomodating.
Renee Lee - Makup - **** Nice person to work with. Very easy going and professional. She uses only high quality makeup products and has a great eye. The makeup is flawless. I think she is the best especially when it comes to Asian makeup. The only downside is her price.
Harpworksmusic - Michelle Whitson Stone - Harpist / Flutist ***** We hired Michelle together with a flutist for the ceremony. We had a soloist who performed the song Ave Maria for us. We provided Michelle with the music sheet prior to the wedding and she was able to accompany the singer without any problems. She provided music prior to the ceremony as well as the during the processional and the recessional that I had picked. It was beautiful.
Nicole Thompson - Hair - ***** Very professional. She arrived in time and did everyones hair as they wished. Her price was reasonable.
High Resolution Production - Steve Kikuchi - DJ/MC - **** Easy going and professional. Setup was done in time and he helped keep the guests entertained and the evening flowing.
Beautiful day - Pronovias Daifa Dress - **** Very nice and helpful stuff. They were able to alter my moms dress when other places have turned her down due to the level of difficulty. It turned out perfect. The only downside I remember was that they were not in line with the pickup time for the dress after the alteration was supposed to be done. When I dropped by to pick it up it wasn’t done. I think it had to do with the fact that we were still weeks away from our big day.
Anita Lee Design - Placecard calligraphy ***** Most gorgeous handwriting. Very attentive and quick return. The placecards turned out beautifully. Unfortunately nobody took a picture of the placecard table =( The site had a hard time setting it up in time because we needed it in alphabetical order.
Ann Taylor - Bridesmaid dresses ***** I decided to go with a meadow green dress of the Ann Taylor celebration line for my bridesmaids and maid of honor. I added a pink sash, green murano glass droplet earrings and a pearl necklace to it that I ordered online. All the girls looked stunning!
Macy’s - Groom/groomsmen outfits ***** We bought dark blue sportcoats at Macy’s from Ralph Lauren and complemented them with light brown slacks, an ivory colored shirt, black shoes and a pink or green colored silk tie that I had hand picked. It worked out well with the country club background and it made them sweat a little less while being out in the sun for the ceremony. >.<
Daisy’s Garden - Flowers - **** Sonya did a great job. She listened to my visions and helped me pick the flowers. The baskets for the floral stands were beautiful as were the centerpieces and the bouquets. The only downside was that the week prior to the wedding day their phone broke down and we could not reach them. In addition I noticed the day before the wedding that the store had changed and that there was a new owner and Sonya was not in sight. The new owner did know nothing about our order which made me have a major breakdown but then I realized that she switched to the store next door. In total we did save a lot of money with this vendor. We had about 18 centerpieces (tall and low ones), two flower baskets for the floral stands, flowers along the aisle, ring pillow, 4 bouquets for the bridesmaids, 1 bridal bouquet with peonies and orchids, about 10 boutonnieres and corsages for groomsmen, groom, parents, floral pompom for the flower girl (this one did not turn out that nice though), 5 floral pieces for the arch. We paid around 2200 USD for the whole package. The majority of florists have quoted us about 3500-5000 USD to deliver basically the same. All in all I was very happy with my pick. I really wanted to save money on flowers since I knew it would be a big chunk of our budget. Daisy’s garden is a floral store that is run by Mexicans in Downtown LA.
Kimberley Bosso - Makeup *****. Awesome and very talented. We hired her for the engagement shoot and it turned out beautiful.
