Shirls's reviews

The invitations were the most frustrating part of the entire process. Since I am a designer, I had designed the invitations myself and just needed to find a letterpress printer to print them. I chose to go with Lucky Paperie because of their close proximity to my house and their work looked good. The owner seemed really scatter-brained and unprofessional whenever I had to contact her about getting envelopes or when the invites were expected. The invitations were late coming in and were printed wrong. The color was way too dark on the invite but looked right on the response card. She said she would have those reprinted within 2 days. After we got home, we realized they had printed the return address on the INNER envelopes and left the outers blank. So we ended up having to get those reprinted too. They ended up not being ready within the two days she had promised. We didn't even get the invites until a full week later and she was full of excuses as to why they weren't done. DH made lots of trips to the studio and phone calls to check up on them, but they were always unorganized and gave him the runaround. The invitations were late going out and were printed on a lighter stock of paper than the original invitations. The color didn't seem that much lighter either. I would not recommend them unless you allow A LOT of time for them to correct mistakes. In hindsight, I probably should have gone with another printer that had a better quote but was much further away or just printed them myself since I had access to a letterpress printer.

We had no problems ordering the tuxes from Friar Tux. It was quick and easy...always a bonus when dealing with guys. The tuxes fit perfectly and were ready for pick-up two days before the wedding. I changed the color of the ties a few weeks before the wedding and there were not any problems. We even returned the tux a day late (some of the other GMs did too) and were not charged.

BM Dresses: Vera Wang

I paid for the BM dresses so I ordered the dresses from Pearl's Place because of the great price on the Vera Wang dresses. They unfortunately did not come in when they said they would. I had to call a few times and never got a real answer as to why they hadn't come in yet. They finally came a few weeks later but with the wrong color sash. I called them about it and they were very apologetic and said Vera Wang was sending them out within a few days. A few weeks later I still hadn't received the sashes so I called them again. I finally received them within a few days. The dresses were perfectly fine, but just late. I think there were problems with Vera Wang, but they should have been more on top of it.

I ordered my cathedral length veil from them and saved over $250 if I had bought it at a salon. The veil came SUPER quick (within two days of ordering) and in perfect condition. She even gave me a 10% discount because the swatches arrived a week after I ordered them (I didn't even think it was long at all).

Dress: Reem Arca "Adored"

I tried on so many dresses at many different salons. I finally decided to purchase from Saks even though I had tried on the dress at other salons. Saks seemed the most professional and trustworthy. They give you 10% off for opening a credit card. Saks also has special days where you can get gift cards for spending a certain amount of money. The salesperson rang up my order on one of those days and I ended up getting a gift card that paid for my alterations. The dress came in early and I had no problems with my dress fittings at all. They even let me set up a third fitting just 2 days before I was supposed to pick up my dress. The seamstress really wanted to make sure I felt comfortable in my dress and even sewed in a corset into the backless dress after the bra cups weren't working. I highly recommend them. The service was phenomenal and very professional!

We met with several officiants before deciding on Steve. Steve had the best personality and seemed genuinely interested in us. He also seemed very passionate about his work and was extremely articulate. Steve's price is definitely higher than most officiants but so worth it. We got SO many compliments about our ceremony because he completely customized it. We each wrote statements about each other that Steve read during the ceremony. It was very touching and heartfelt, especially since we had NO idea what the other had written. We negotiated a lower price so that he wouldn't have to attend the rehearsal. But he came anyway! His price also includes a pre-counseling session. We were very happy we chose him as our officiant.

Our coordinator referred the Jack Lantz Big Band to us since we were looking for a jazz band. They were very reasonably priced compared to other 5-piece bands and the singer was SUPERB! We got lots of compliments on them. They sounded great at the reception and got lots of people on the dance floor! They play everything...not only jazz/big band/swing. We had a lot of fun with our song selections. They also play once a month at a lounge in Pasadena where we went to check them out. We booked them right after seeing them play. Highly recommended!

I fell in love with Angelica Strings once I heard their samples on their website. Cheryl (their manager) was very easy to work with. Everything was worked out via email/phone. They sounded great at the wedding...maybe a little quiet but that may not have been their fault. I wish I could have enjoyed the music more that day, but I have the video to look forward to.

Sherry was SO wonderful to work with. I cannot say enough positive things about her! She made me feel so beautiful and was super, super nice. I made a few last minute changes on the day of and she had no problem accommodating me. She even air brushed me free of charge since she had practiced with her new airbrush during the trial. She brought one assistant with her to do the bridesmaids and my mother in law. The bridesmaids were pleased with the assistant's work but not my mother in law. Her assistant fixed it and it ended up being fine.You can't go wrong with Sherry....highly recommended!

Our coordinator recommended Paradise Delight to us since we mentioned we wanted to incorporate Hawaiian touches to our wedding. Paradise Delight was perfect since Steve is originally from Hawaii. The reception flowers were exactly what I wanted...two distinctly different orchid centerpieces for round vs. square tables. The flower cascade on the cake was beautiful too. The reason he gets 3 stars is because of the ceremony flowers. They weren't exactly what I had in mind at all. But I guess I should have been more clear in what I wanted. We had thoroughly discussed the style of the centerpieces (which he produced exactly as I wanted). I thought that after that discussion he would have understood what I wanted for the ceremony flowers too. But apparently, he didn't get the modern/minimal look I was going for. They didn't look bad, but I wanted more of a simple and clean look with bolder colors. I also thought my bouquet could have been fuller with callas that weren't so dark. The lei garlands across the aisle and bridesmaid leis were exactly what I wanted though. If you have a very specific look in mind, I would recommend you tell him exactly what you want with photos etc. He was always very eager to please and had extra leis on the day. He also fixed the BMs leis when they started to shrink a little. He even had centerpieces for the cocktail tables which we didn't ask for. Overall, we were pleased with his work, but he didn't exactly get the vision I was going for and needed more examples than I had provided him.