This hall fitted our budget, and needs to have an ample open space that could accomodate our group of 160 people. The hall is elegantly decorated and offers many posibilities for an open minded couple. They offer an in house caterer whose services are trully spectacular. I was extremely satisfide with their services, and will look into renting this location for future family events.

For our wedding cake we wanted something different that would stand out from the rest of the cakes out there. To our rescue came Porto's Bakery in Glendale, who provided the materials for the cake of our dreams, a four tier fruit tart. Although this was a do-it-your-self type of cake, Porto's also offers the traditional, and maybe not so traditional, wedding cakes that rival any other bakery out there. However, they don't just stop there because they offers some of the most delicious slices of heaven imaginable. We're big fans of fruit tarts and Porto's worked with us to create the design on the tarts that we needed to make them stand out. In particular, we had a mango flower on our top tier, which we then adorned with hundreds of orchid flowers.

I may be partial to this bakery because I literally grew up eating at this place, but the opening of their second bakery in Burbank reinforces the fact they create quality products for a wide spectrum of tastes and desires. Yum!

[5 stars is a gross and unjustified understatement so here's TEN - **********]

If you're considering to hire Ben Chen as your photographer for your wedding you're in for a treat. Our wedding consisted of zero bridesmaids, rather, we had five flower girls and two ring bearers. This presented a challenge because kids are not always easy to deal with, however, Ben was exceptionally professional when it came time to speak with them during the rehearsal at the Church. I am still blown away at how easy he was able to group the kids together, ages 2 to 9, and get them to engage in a conversation about the events that were about to take place. He was patient, confident, and communicated quite clearly with the kids and even answered their silly questions. [Photographer that's great with kids - check]

I was extremely concerned with our tight schedule because our church and hall were on opposite ends of the valley, and this required driving through rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. Ben was graciously generous with his time and tried to accommodate our ever changing itinerary throughout the night. His photojournalistic style was inconspicuous as he worked his way through the crowds and took the pictures we requested. At many times he seem to be camouflaged into the crowds, with his flash as the only indicator that he was there at all. Ben is a master craftsman of photography, always thinking ahead anticipating the next move, framing each shot as though it were a work of art. However, words alone do him no justice, you really need to view his blog to grasp at his true brilliance and admire the energy and passion he puts into each and every project that he shoots. I, for one, feel extremely satisfied that we hired Ben for our wedding because he provided so much more than we ever imagined.

Our wedding was on 11/02/07 and you may find our pictures in Ben's blog here: http://www.socalpixels.com/blog/?m=200711