October 16, 2004
Almost all the photos in here are from our photographers, Sharon and Steve from the Dawson Studios. Please do not reuse these photos without contacting me first - thank you! :)
I'm going to do this in somewhat chronological order, so I hope it isn't too confusing! Let me know if you have any questions!
pre-wedding-day:
invitations, programs, menus, placecards, out-of-town guest bags and more
DIY.
Trust me, DIY did not save me any money on these things, but I really love how everything looked when we were done. It was a lot of work but the end result was fabulous! Those programs... I don't know if my husband will ever let me forget how much work that was for us! :) Since the topic gets mentioned all the time on the wedding planning boards, I made a page listing what we did for our out-of-town guest bags that were waiting for our guests upon check-in to their hotel rooms. I hope to eventually make a page with more details on our DIY projects (with pictures).
favor bags & take-out boxes - A
Papermart, http://www.papermart.com
Here I found the cutest bags for the favors and the little take-out boxes that I wanted as well. I received super-fast shipping and had no problems at all with the order or the products. This is a dangerous place - I could spend far too much money here! :)
bulk candy for favors - B
Bulkfoods.com, http://www.bulkfoods.com
Their selection was great for us and the prices were fabulous. Shipping was pretty quick. However, one of the items was damaged (the most expensive item, of course). They don't have a toll-free number and I had to call many times before I finally got through (the phone was always busy). They agreed to refund me for that item - I waited too long to order and wouldn't have had enough time for them to reship. Well, when we got back from our honeymoon, we found a package from them on our door! They re-shipped the item instead. Ugh. Three months after the wedding, I finally got my refund once they processed the returned item. Lesson learned here: don't wait to order important things like this! (I waited because of the heat, but that was silly!)
shoes - A
Zappos, http://www.zappos.com
My first order from Zappos! I loved the shoes but they were too tight. No problem - go to their website, fill out the online returns form and do the exchange right there. They give you a return label to print on your computer, and as soon as they got the first shoes back, they shipped the replacement shoes. The new shoes fit perfectly, and looked fantastic. Excellent service, and I will definitely purchase from them again in the future.
registries - B, A & C
Crate & Barrel, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sears
Crate & Barrel (B): We registered at Crate & Barrel during a bridal event in February (where they gave us cool heart-shaped champagne flutes!), and everything went smoothly with gift purchases from there. Returns were easy too, but we were told that we could later cash in our gift credit - alas, this is not true. Thankfully, their gift credit doesn't expire, so we'll use that up once we move.
Bed Bath & Beyond (A): This is the bestest store in the world. Very friendly help when we registered, everyone loved them (and those coupons!), and returns are a breeze - with cash back! Nice.
Sears (C): Sears was a bit of a pain - they didn't update the registry after a few purchases, and relatives in Florida told me they went to their Sears and were unable to buy anything off our registry. Odd. Wouldn't use them again as their web site was the most un-friendly of the three.
Side note: if you're registering for Calphalon, don't forget their bridal incentive program. It was easy to do and we received our bonuses quickly.
wedding bands - A
Topper's Jewelry, Burlingame, http://www.topperjewelers.com
My engagement ring is hand-engraved platinum, and my husband wanted our wedding bands to match it. Bill at Topper's helped us find the perfect rings, and they custom-made both. My ring is platinum only, and my husband's is a titanium band with a platinum inlay. We had his ring done first, and it did not come out like we had hoped. Not a problem - Bill was absolutely fantastic about redoing the ring, and they did both rings at the same time (with my engagement ring there on the day they did the engraving). The end result is FANTASTIC. We love our rings and would very happily shop there again.
male attendants & family gifts - A
Rumors, San Francisco, http://www.rumors.com
A very addictive store at the SF Gift Center! We got valet keychains engraved for the men in the wedding party and special family members. They look great and it was a very easy transaction with them. This is a dangerous store for my credit cards! ;)
female attendants & family gifts - B
Lillian Vernon, http://www.lillianvernon.com
I ordered personalized silver tissue holders for the ladies in the wedding party and my relatives. Well, the box arrived with a dozen of them (as ordered), but they were in horrible condition - all scratched and beat up! The second order arrived in much better condition, but was missing several of the holders! A third order finally got the rest to me. This would've been a big problem if I had put this off until closer to the wedding, but I did all of this in June or so and it was ok in the end.
day-before-wedding massage - A
Marcie Pullman, CMT, http://www.thetraffic.info/cliffsmassage.html
I found Marcie on Craigslist, and she seemed so friendly on her website and via e-mail. She was FANTASTIC in person and was a delight to spend an hour with while getting massaged. I could not recommend this more highly. I got the massage on the morning before the wedding, and it put me in a perfect mood. After the massage, I was so relaxed and had nothing else left to do but enjoy the wedding! I would absolutely return to her for another massage.
rehearsal dinner - B
Pasta Pomodoro, San Bruno, CA, http://www.pastapomodoro.com
This is a tough one to grade. The price was fantastic. The food was great. The service was not. There were about 30 of us, and the servers could not get things together. For example, there was a choice of soup or salad to start. Most of us got our starter at the same time - but for some reason it took nearly ten minutes longer for the other folks to get theirs! At my table, it was one poor fella who was left without food while the rest of us had ours! It was silly. Similar things happened with the entrees and desserts, unfortunately. I'm not sure if the servers didn't care because the tip was already included, but luckily our guests all had a lot of fun so it didn't ruin the dinner. I love Pasta Pomodoro and would go back for a dinner with a few friends, but probably would not return for a large group dinner.
day-of preparations:
hair - A
Sylvia Freitas from Portfolio Hair, http://portfolio-hair.com
Sylvia is such a sweetie! I met her through our florist (who is a friend of my mother-in-law), and she had such an wonderful energy! When we met at the salon for my trial, I didn't really know what to expect. I knew I wanted my hair half-up, but wow, the design she came up with was amazing. I was really blown away, and she did the exact same style on the big day. She ended up doing my two bridesmaids, then me, and then was so sweet to do both my mom's hair and my mother-in-law's hair too! Such a doll. My hair looked great, and everyone else loved their hair too! :)
makeup - A
Audrey Crandell, http://www.glowingbridal.com
I love Audrey. Not only was she a little early (a sure-fire way to my heart), she was so relaxed and fun to be around! Our schedule got thrown off because of miscommunication with other vendors, but Audrey was cool and calm and got everything done. Her relaxed nature was so helpful, and I am so happy that she was a part of our getting-ready process. Everyone looked great and all the women were very happy with Audrey's work. We wanted "natural" looks, and that's what we got. I would wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone. I was truly a Glowing Bride. :)
tuxedos - C
AfterHours (formerly Gary's) at Valley Fair, http://www.afterhours.com
We signed up at Gary's at Valley Fair while shopping one day with my husband's parents because they had nice tuxedos and were running a great promotion. After we signed up with them, they were bought by AfterHours. Long story short, they were very disorganized and lost several sets of measurements. The guys were to pick up their tuxedos on Thursday before the wedding, but the best man's tuxedo wasn't there! They told us that the warehouse didn't have his size available and it would come the next day. We were furious - we had "ordered" these months earlier and there was no way he could pick up the tux at Valley Fair at 5pm on Friday and be at the rehearsal two hours earlier in Pacifica! Ugh. Eventually they agreed to send the tux to an AfterHours closer to our wedding venue, and he picked up his tux after the rehearsal dinner, cutting it really close. And we noticed in photos later that one of our groomsmen didn't match the others! His tux style was completely different. Bah. Would not use them again.
dress - A++
my stepmom! :)
My stepmom loves to sew and has done other wedding dresses in the past, so she was so excited to do mine! We did try on dresses locally at the Wedding Gown Superstore in Fremont (horrible service and no photos allowed, but we found the dress that we liked the best and inspired my wedding gown) and David's Bridal (in Fremont and in Chicago, where my stepmom lives). DB was friendly and they tried to be helpful, but we didn't find anything that was remotely close. Though it was a lot of work, my custom dress looked absolutely fabulous and fit perfectly. A dream gown. :)
veil & tiara - A++
my mom! :)
My mom made a gorgeous veil and the coolest tiara ever. I adore stars (and hundreds were incorporated into the wedding), and my tiara was all stars. Looked fantastic. I want to wear it all the time. :) My veil was perfect with this amazing beautiful trim that went amazingly well with my dress. Before the wedding, I didn't think I'd wear either past the ceremony photos (because I get headaches easily). The veil ended up coming off after a wild and spontaneous swing dance number with a groomsman and the tiara stayed on throughout the night. Loved them both!
hotel for guests & wedding party - B
Best Western Lighthouse Hotel, Pacifica, CA, http://www.bestwesternlighthouse.com
The hotel is nice, and the staff is friendly. We did receive complaints from several guests about being overcharged, but the front desk helped me resolve these issues (it just wasn't fun dealing with this the day before the wedding!). Also received complaints about late housekeeping the day before the wedding too. As a side note, I had been very disappointed by the hotel's lack of assistance with resolving issues post-wedding with the in-house restaurant. However, there's been yet another change in personnel lately and their new "interim" general manager has been very helpful.
ceremony & reception details:
officiant - A
Reverend Zoe Villaroman, http://www.reverendzoe.com
I think I found Zoe on Craigslist, but I don't remember for sure. My husband and I wrote our entire ceremony, but we clicked well with Zoe and she was the only officiant we interviewed. She helped corral our wacky attendants at the rehearsal (which was quick and painless!). At the ceremony, she did a perfect job and we couldn't have been happier. Highly recommended.
photographer - A+
Sharon Dawson, The Dawson Studios, http://thedawsonstudios.com
more photos...
Ok, see, there are simply not enough words to rave about Sharon. She was the first photographer to really hit me emotionally when I found her website. I must've e-mailed at least 40 photographers and met with 8 of them. When we met with Sharon, we had such a blast. My husband told me after that meeting to sign her right away, don't worry about the budget. Well, I had to meet with others - especially a couple that were less expensive - but we kept comparing people to her and they just didn't hold up. We knew what we had to do - and we happily blew our budget on the Dawson Studios. We did our engagement shoot in August, and we had such a great time with Sharon and Collin at Crystal Springs Golf Course in San Mateo (which had been my runner-up for wedding venue, so it was cool to get photos there!) and then Crissy Field in SF. The photos blew us away. And on the wedding day... well, it was wonderful. Sharon and Steve arrived with plenty of time to get all kinds of detail shots of everything set up before the wedding. We had such fun with them - Sharon spent most of her time with us before the wedding, and Steve was off with the men, getting their photos taken care of before the ceremony. Sharon and Steve were a great combination for breezing through the requisite family photos and their humor kept relatives from strangling each other. ;) At Sharon's suggestion, we got dressed back up in our wedding attire the next day and did more photos in the city... at Alcatraz. ;) I wholeheartedly recommend the folks at the Dawson Studios. Any of them will do an amazing job and are a joy to be around for hours. :) Check out more photos of our wedding that we've scanned...
cake - A
Jennifer Toce, 'licious baking
Our cake was fantastic and we were happy with how it looked. However, it turns out that Jennifer has since left the country so I've removed the rest of the review and her contact information. The cake was great though! :)
florist - A
family friend
I had planned on doing the freshroses.com thing, but then my mother-in-law offered her friend's skills as a wedding gift to us. Our flowers were STUNNING. I loved my bouquet with fire and ice roses and stephanotis (with crystals), but the standout piece was the arch she decorated. It was just dripping with all these amazing flowers - I took a couple of peeks during the ceremony, but couldn't focus. ;) It looked amazing in the photos and so many people commented on it to us.
dj - C
Ross from Elite Entertainment, http://www.e3music.com
We met Ross at a bridal faire (where they were doing a promotion for a free hour if you sign up for a 5 hour package). We interviewed him in more detail later, and he had all the right answers for our questions and had all the equipment we needed. Our ceremony was outdoors, and he provided the sound for the ceremony (microphones as well as music) and of course did all the music for the reception. Ceremony went fine as far as I can tell. The reason I gave him a C is that I got frustrated as we were being rushed into the reception, he kept trying to chat with us instead of going in and starting the introductions. I was getting all kinds of pressure from the catering manager, and I just wanted the reception to "start". There were a couple of moments throughout the beginning of the reception like that, and I just got frustrated. (He had a sign on his DJ stand advertising his company, which was forbidden in our contract! He removed it once the groom brought it to his attention.) A couple of songs that I had requested not to get played did get played... ergh. A suggestion for future brides: make a clear list of do-not-play" songs (one page) and a list of "please play" songs. He had given us a long list of songs to go through before the wedding - at least 10 pages? - so that must've been hard to go through at a glance during the event. If I had made my own one page list of songs to not play and another list of songs I really wanted, it would've helped.
videography - A
Our family members took care of this with their own video cameras, and we ended up with three different videos from the wedding! It's great to have three different perspectives! One of them even connected to the DJ's setup so we got pure audio from him onto their tape. It's fun watching not only the ceremony, but various things throughout the reception. I am completely happy with the videos we've received and am delighted that we saved money by not hiring a paid videographer. A friend of a friend edited the three videos into one and it looks wonderful.
ceremony/reception venue - D
Ristorante Portofino at Best Western Lighthouse Hotel, Pacifica, CA
I don't really want to get into this because it'll make me upset. We had signed with the hotel before they changed catering managers, and the new manager clearly didn't like being required to uphold contracts previously signed. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to get every single detail in writing. The previous catering manager told us that she prided herself on not having any hidden fees. The new catering manager came up with fees that were just ridiculous (one fee for "cake cutting" and a separate, additional fee for "cake serving"?!). Also, depending on how detailed you want to get, it might help to have specific remedies listed in your contract. Our vendor didn't do several things outlined in the contract, and we didn't have a clear way to rectify this after the fact. It doesn't matter though - I wanted them to make our wedding wonderful for our guests, and instead they caused us much grief and headaches. Even after the wedding, the catering manager never bothered to apologize and insisted that the attitude and hassles she gave us were "good service."
I would absolutely not recommend them.
after the wedding perspective...
Overall, our wedding weekend was fantastic. We had such a wonderful time with our friends and family, and I can't put into words how loved we felt. But since this is a vendor review, this is all about them. ;) Certain vendors exceeded our expectations and really blew us away with their talents and their attitudes. Others did not perform as we had expected, and unfortunately there's nothing we can do to change what happened. I encourage anyone who's planning their wedding to take every agreement seriously - don't leave any detail out of the agreement and make sure there's no ambiguity. For your major vendors, assign someone to go over every detail for you on the day of the wedding.
I'm very glad that I had spent so much time planning the wedding, because on the big day, everything felt natural. Walking down the aisle - well, that felt weird to me, like it wasn't real, it was still the rehearsal. Once I saw my groom, everything was real - and amazing.
Later we got snapped back into reality by our catering manager (and snapped is the right word there), and honestly, things did get very stressful for me for a few minutes at the beginning of our reception. Sneaking out for a few minutes gave me a chance to get perspective and to let go. I am very glad that various people stepped in to take charge of various things and let us enjoy our special day. When we stepped onto the dance floor for our first dance, everything melted away and the rest of the reception is a happy blur. :)
Looking back, I would've done a few things differently (who wouldn't?). I am very glad that I spent time to make all the little touches that made our day "ours" and helped to make our guests feel honored. DIY isn't the easiest way to go, but it allowed me to put together things in the way I'd pictured them. Thanks to the wonderful girls of the Knot and the Wedding Channel, I had so many ideas and opinions to help!
Take the time to enjoy your day - and to enjoy the planning. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and one that I cherished. Now the adventure of marriage continues!
Best wishes,
Shannon
back to knottie resources