Ambrosia's reviews

Maria Chang is a fairy godmother!

Nevermind the 5 stars, I give her 100! All of her rave reviews are true and so much more! Maria is experienced in makeup, hair, fashion styling and weddings. She knows exactly what goes on at weddings and what needs to be done. Trust her experience!

I absolutely love Maria's makeup style. Skin looks so fresh and glowing, and she will do makeup appropriate for the time of day and setting. I became so inspired by her and learned a lot about makeup and hair. Now I'm interested in becoming an apprentice makeup artist myself.

My hair is the most stubborn ever, pin straight and won't hold a curl to save my life. She made it curl and it stayed! I learned some tricks that I now apply and now I can finally curl my hair using the right tools!

You won't be sitting there with a half done job with promises that it will be better the day of the wedding. Maria does it right the first time! She dedicates herself to being the best, and you'll get the best results!

At the end of the trial session in her studio, she does a photoshoot with you. All the lighting is natural daylight, and photos untouched by Photoshop. She sent me the photos that night and even blogged about them!

The day of the wedding, Maria was so valuable. She and her assistant Sue were right on time! The getting ready part of the wedding is my favorite part of every wedding because of the anticipation and they made it so much more enjoyable. They worked on 2 mothers, 4 bridesmaids and me and they kept us on time.

Maria stays with the bride all day to do touchups, and it's completely worth it to hire someone who provides this service. Not only does she do touchups, but she will assist you and your photographer and videographer. She can help you pose in a more flattering position, hold the reflector for the photographer or just hold props!
Though she is there for the bride, she's glad to help a bridesmaid with her hair.

Because she is so experienced in weddings, she is aware of etiquette and what needs to be done. She stayed at the end of the aisle, just before I made my entrance and was there to stop late guests from rushing to empty seats while I was walking down. Yes, people actually tried to do this! But she was so tactful, I didn't find out until way later when she told me.

Maria also knows how to bustle your gown, so if your assigned bustler goes MIA, Maria is there to help!

Before the photo shoot, I asked in a panic if the mothers had their corsages. Maria let me know that she had pinned them on them. She is ON it! She doesn't forget a thing!

She also carries a backpack full of essentials the bride may need, such as a snack, a straw for drinking water (so you don't mess up your lip color.) My MOH was very impressed by this!

I hired her again for my Trash the Dress session. She amped up my wedding day look into something more dramatic. It was my favorite look! I hadn't thought to ask her what products she used. But I tried to recreate it several times.

I paid more for on-location services for the TTD shoot and it was worthy every penny! The wind at Ocean Beach was particularly crazy. She pinned my hair so my fascinators wouldn't blow away, carried and helped me change my shoes, changed my makeup look and helped me with less glamourous tasks like blowing my nose! I don't know what we would have done without her! And Maria is super sweet and thoughtful. After the freezing TTD session at Ocean Beach, she went to Starbucks and bought me something warm to drink and a muffin.

Because she is so popular, her rates may increase. Book her early! She once had a time restriction of when you could book, but I don't think that's the case anymore.

You also have to admire that she created this business. Inspiring for any woman who wants to go into business for herself.

And no, you can't keep Maria all to yourself, she has a family to get back to.

Once I saw Sugar Coat It's work on the Wedding Chicks blog and I saw that she was local, I jumped at the chance to contact her. I'm an artist myself, specifically a vector artist, so when I see graphic art, I'm immediately intrigued.

Her portfolio of work spoke for itself. She took great care in her work and it was so detailed and flawless. (I check for lumpy, cracked fondant, a note for your bakers out there.) My cake couldn't just be a cake, but a work of art.

The tasting was done at her home, she only had three flavors available. But it was enough... because she had chocolate. I'm sold. She had mini cakes and they were all delicious! They came in lemon, coconut and chocolate. The buttercream was light and not greasy! She was kind enough to send us 3 more samples to take home!

During the consultation she drew roughs on the spot, and made a few more after we left. Though I am sure I drove her crazy with all my impossible requests! She handled the detail oriented bridezilla with grace! The end result was a design I loved! My cake was definitely unique and I am proud to show it off. I'm sure it was a an ordeal to create, but it got done and on-time. No disasters!

My wedding cake was not to be forgotten with the guests. In the sea of memories of white cakes, they all know mine was the blue and brown one with the skyline on it!

Krista was thoughtful and made a separate layer for us to take home! Thank you, it was much needed because there wasn't any cake left over from the actual cake! I didn't save it for the 1 year anniversary cause I don't leave cake just sitting around, especially not delicious moist chocolate cake!
I wanted to have her bake another cake for our anniversary but it looks like she's taking a break. Hopefully she'll be available again for you Bay Area brides. Her work is unique, I haven't found another local baker who does graphic work like her and is affordable!

Mikiye was just the person to create the headpiece I wanted. I wanted to spend $100 or less but still have something dramatic and beautiful.
I saw a pre-made fascinator she had on her Etsy that was almost perfect, but I wanted to customize it with a feather collar. She was very responsive and very open to my idea. The piece turned out gorgeous! Some brides wanted to buy it from me, but I am keeping it!

All of her flowers are hand cut and assembled by her. Nothing pre-made and sold at a craft store. She also makes jewelry, and her pieces can cater to many personalities, from sweet and romantic to very dramatic.

Mikiye herself is super nice and really pleasant. I'd definitely buy more pieces from her in the future.

I found Hank on the Humanist Society Website.

He wrote ceremonies from scratch and made it completely personal to each couple. The guests, from my San Francisco hippie liberal friends, to my husband's East Coast right wing conservative relatives all loved him and what he had to say.

Hank got to know us with our visits, he was very pleasant and personable. Through our conversations he was able to write up a beautiful ceremony. It is completely worth having something written specifically written for you and your spouse. It makes the ceremony so much more personal and the audience can more easily relate.

He was no budget officiant, couples could expect to pay $750-1200. I believe it depended on the complexity of the ceremony and the distance he had to travel.

Hank was a writer, one book he co-wrote may be very helpful to couples wanting to write their own vows. It's called "Weddings: The Magic of Creating Your Own Ceremony". He gave us a copy for free even before we booked him, which was very nice. I highly recommend this book for those wanting to write their own vows and design a more personalized ceremony.

Hank had passed in 2011. This is very sad news because I thought he was a wonderful man with a lot of ideas to share. I wanted to leave this review up as a tribute to him. Thank you Hank!