After being frustrated trying to find the right venue for my rehearsal dinner, I finally broke down and called the Claremont. I expected them to be way over my budget, but I found they were very accommodating. I gave them my budget parameters, and they were able to offer us a beautiful room with a nice plated dinner. Very simple, just as I was hoping. If I had more room in my budget, I would have totally gone with the fancier linens or pretty chairs that you can rent through them, but my goal was to have a nice dinner with family and close friends. It was a beautiful evening.

I recently had my wedding at the Oakland Yacht Club, and it was great. This is not a fancy location, but our wedding was a very low-key affair, so it was a perfect fit. Elaine, the event coordinator, is easy to work with. She is sometimes a bit slow to respond to emails, but she is on top of everything. We had a daytime wedding with a cocktail reception. We intended to have the ceremony in the park next door, but Mother Nature had other plans. Elaine called me first thing in the morning and we hashed out the details for moving the ceremony into the reception space. It was a stress-free start to what could have been a very stressful day.

Because we didn't have a sit-down meal, I don't have a great sense of their food. The hors d'oeuvres that we served were good. Not spectacular, but solidly good. The highlight was their service day of. Elaine always made sure I had a drink in my hand, and made sure we had food and that we didn't miss out on the cake.

The OYC has remarkably reasonable prices. This is perhaps an overlooked reception location due to their location, but I recommend that people take a look at what they can offer for weddings. If you are on a budget, definitely check them out.

We decided to go with Sweet Adeline for our wedding cake as the price was MUCH more reasonable that some of the other bakeries we did tastings at. It was a great decision! We were much more concerned with how the cake tasted than the decoration, so we kept it very simple. We had white sponge cake with two flavor options (a lemon filling and a berry/cream filling). I love lemon and this flavor was very lemony. Yum! The guests who had the berry filling really enjoyed it too.

Even though we had a very simple design for our cake, I was very pleased with the way it turned out. I had provided a swatch of color for Jennifer to match, and it was spot on.

Overall, great, low-key service, tasty cake, and a VERY reasonable price. A good bet for brides in the Berkeley/Oakland area!

I purchased my dress at Kate's Kouture and it was a seamless process. Katie has a tiny shop, but a really nice selection of reasonably priced dresses to try on. She is very helpful, providing good feedback on how the dresses look. I did not get the pressure sell on the dress, and she didn't try to force me into a veil. I ordered my dress about two weeks after trying it on, it arrived right when she said it would, and she was proactive about contacting me to let me know when she expected it in. She also works with a great seamstress who will come to the shop for dress fittings so you don't have to go to an outside tailor if you don't want to.

Overall I had a low-key, stress free shopping experience. And the service after the sale was just as good!