Maia's reviews

If you are one of the lucky brides with a wedding date which Gene is available, hire him immediately! Although Gene is known for destination wedding photography, he is one of the top wedding photographers in the bay, and is recognized through several awards and magainze publications. Despite being so accomplished, he is also one of the friendliest photographers out there, and you truly will be at ease on your day. He has such a great eye and completely transforms his subjects into art. But art comes at a price with his packages starting around 5k.

Gene likes to update his "fans" on his work. Check out his blog at www.genehiga.net

This is a beautiful place in the heart of the financial district. Everything about it is classic old-world San Francisco: columns, marble, you name it. However, it does come with a hefty rental price (about 10K).

While they aren't cheap, Monique dresses and truly timeless and have a refined elegance. Her dresses have a very tailored structure, and fit like a glove, while still being romanitic and sexy. But the one thing that truly won me over was the quality of material -- of all the other dresses I tried, not one was as high of a quality silk as hers (even those that were 20K). Just touching it made you instantly realize that this is a gown, and not just a dress.

Book your chair covers with A Touch of Elegance immediately! Like other brides, I gave up on the chivari chairs after the sticker shock hit me and completely engrossed myself in researching every chair cover vendor I could find. I met with several chair cover vendors, viewed their styles, variety and color.

For the price she was asking, Blanca at A Touch of Elegance by far had the best quality for the price. Many of the other vendors had a cheap polyster, but Blanca's were fitted, tailored and made of a nice material. Plus, her prices included set up, delivery, take down, and steaming. Many of the vendors in that same price range wanted to ship it to me, steam them myself, set it up myself, then box it up and send it back after the reception. Believe me, it is worth the extra few cents a chair to get rid of that headache!

Blanca is very sweet, extremely responsive to email and a complete professional. She'll meet you at your venue to show you samples of her covers and sashes.

Pricing: $2.25 each chair (includes cover and sash, ironing, set up, take down, tax) + $40 delivery to San Francisco. No tax.

Colors: Ivory and white polyester (pleated and non-pleated skits), limited satin covers. Plethora of colors, shades and materials of sashes. She'll even order it for you, if she doesn't have the right color.