Great selection, really friendly staff with affordable prices. Unpretentious and no need for appointments too. I liked them a lot but they didn't carry the dress that I eventually fell in love with. Still, I definitely recommend going there for girls on a budget.

The Ritz felt plush, but not ostentatious. Nice, soft and big bed. We liked our room (just a regular room overlooking the lawn). The staff was cordial. We splurged and ordered room service the next morning and it was fine.

The idea is to spend the night at a Ritz on every wedding anniversary, since there are so many all over the world. Wouldn't that be fun?

I had my bachelorette at Glen Ivy and actually, would recommend against it but I think I'm in the minority. I've never been to Glen Ivy and was expecting a soothing, girly retreat. Instead, it was PACKED. Filled with noisy, rowdy groups. We couldn't find an area for us girls to sit together. We didn't get a spa to ourselves until it was almost 5pm, when everyone else was getting ready to leave. Then when we went into the ladies room, it was a HUGE mess. Considering we had to pay $ on top of our massage to get "access" to the spa, saunas, gym, etc, I expected much much more.

The only good thing I can say is that the massage was very nice.

A month later, my friend took me to the spa at the Century City Hyatt and I LOVED it. Would've preferred to have my bachelorette there. Sadly, I just read in the WSJ that it's being changed into an Equinox gym.

We hired Jaime because she seemed upbeat, professional, and hard-working. She was prompt in returning our calls too, unlike some of the other DJs. And she lowered her price to be competitive with other DJs we were talking with.

The day of the wedding, she aced the timing of our processional. The bridal party song was too short and she had to loop it, but I don't think anyone noticed but me. During cocktail hour, she played the song types we liked. During dinner, the background music was filled with my faves (aka the first dance rejects). Then, our dance floor was packed almost the entire night. We didn't give her a full song list, so she just read the crowd and it worked great.

Even better, she did a great job as the MC. She made the whole night go smoothly. The most compliments I've gotten on Jaime is about how well she kept the flow of things going. People mistook her for my wedding coordinator! Now that the summer wedding season is over, several friends have told me that my wedding seemed so smooth in comparison to others, which they attribute to the DJ and MC.

Sherry is amazing. Honestly, I never felt more beautiful and the photos prove that she made me look like me, only more glamorous. My hair and make-up stayed put all night (well, except my lipstick but that's to be expected.)

Sherry brought along two assistants, Mandi and Brigette, and we were really happy with Mandi's make-up work. She did an exceptional job on my MIL!

I'm surprised I'm the first Christine Marie bride posting, because she has a lot of fans over on the Knot!

I was married in June 2006 and we booked Christine over a year in advance. We knew after meeting her that we wanted to book her because she has the most amazing personality--sweet but not fake, confident and professional. We loved her albums. And finally, what sealed the deal was that she understood that we were on a budget and didn't try to push us towards a particular package. My husband (a finance geek) was very very pleased.

The day of the wedding, Christine and her assistant were awesome in directing us and tried their best to keep us on time. They got a lot of wonderful shots, both candid and non. However, there are a few main photos that are missing, including one of my & my grandmother which was on my Must-Take list that I gave to Christine. :(

We got our photos 3 weeks after the wedding. She was awesome--she assembled our proofs asap, so we could pick them up during the 2 days we stopped in LA after our honeymoon and before we made the drive back home to SF.

We were really happy with the majority of the photos. She has a great artistic eye and there were some photos where we were like, "what the? That's our venue? It looks so different!" We got a TON, and I mean a TON, of compliments from family and friends who saw the proofs.

Our album took MUCH longer than anticipated. Christine estimated it would take ~3 weeks to get the draft done--it ended up taking 2 months. It's understandable though because we placed our order in early July (wedding season) and her turnaround time got longer than expected. I was just a little peeved because she didn't set my expectations correctly, but she offered a small discount to the album so that helped. It also helps that the album is *gorgeous*! It's magazine-style and I love every bit of it. I know we'll treasure it forever.

I was married at the Athenaeum in June 2006 and give it an A+ for ambiance/food and A- for service.

We grudgingly made an appointment here because it was at the very top end of our budget and are so glad we did! We fell in love with the Athenaeum the first time we saw it. It fit our main criteria--outdoor ceremony space and reception area full of ambiance. Added bonus is that our parents loved it too. Phew! We knew that booking the Ath would stretch our budget, but we made do by skimping on decorations (which I think turned out fine because the courtyard is so pretty by itself.)

For the first year, we were in contact with Allison, who we thought was a bit distant and not that helpful. A month before our wedding, we were switched over to Nellie and are SO thankful! She was awesome--very knowledgeable, friendly, helpful at pointing out where we could save $, and great at responding to our emails (a huge plus for us since we were planning from SF).

The food was, for the most part, good. We had 4 passed hor d'ourves that were absolutely delicious and presently beautifully (esp the lobster medallion in a spoon!) Our passed signature drink was the sangria, which my friends said wasn't very good. For dinner, we had the citrus & avocado salad, beef tenderloin with a cabernet sauce, halibut with port vanilla bean sauce, and a chocolate fountain. I heard several people say (not to me, to other guests, so I know it's not just a fake compliment) that the steak was one of the best they've had, and couldn't believe it was wedding food. Unbelievably nice staff that kept our sweetheart table stocked with food. The one thing that bothered me was that the steaks didn't come with truffle butter, which we had at our tasting and was printed on our menu.

The other problem we had was caused by a photo permit, which we didn't get but is apparently needed in order to take pics past the Athenaeum lawn. Nellie had asked us if we wanted one, but our photographer told us we didn't need it (she shot at the Ath before and never had to get one.) Then, during our photo shoot, we were stopped by a mean security guard! He wouldn't let us continue with the photos until we produced the $200 permit---ugh! Later, Nellie was very apologetic and didn't point fingers at all. She and the photographer worked things out but other Athenaeum brides should get a permit in order to avoid what happened to us.

We were married on the steps, had the cocktail hour indoors and the reception in the main courtyard. We got a TON of compliments on the venue, and still do now even though it's been three months after the wedding!

I highly recommend the Athenaeum for any bride. :)