If you are looking for an incredibly kind person who is super talented with hair and makeup and also happens to be the perfect wedding coordinator, you must work with Maria Chang of Professional Makeup Artistry. Long review ahead, but I really want to describe all the fantastic services PMA provides for their clients.

I originally booked with PMA because I wanted to have hair and makeup done on location at my mom's house the morning of the wedding to cut down on the potential stress of getting ready at different locations for hair and for makeup (two moms, three bridesmaids, and me). I read a bit about the "personal assistant" services PMA also offers, and everyone who has worked with PMA had only glowing things to say. I am no exception!

My sister (and matron-of-honor) and I met Maria a couple months before my October 2007 wedding at my hair and makeup trial. Maria was very responsive to the pictures I brought and the descriptions of what I wanted for my hair and makeup. She also studied the picture of my wedding dress and worked to bring the whole look together in a stunning way (if I do say so myself ;) Just kidding! I felt so beautiful on my trial day and even more beautiful on my wedding day, and it is seriously all because of Maria and PMA). We actually went over the alloted trial time because we were chatting and joking around and generally just having a great time. I was really struck by how kind and friendly Maria is, in addition to being very talented with makeup and hair. I normally never wear makeup, and she made me look fabulous without being overdone in person and in pictures. Working with her felt like working with a great friend who just happens to know how to make you look better than you ever thought you could!

Speaking of pictures, Maria emailed me my trial photos promptly after the trial, and mentioned that she had looked at the photos and noticed that one side of my hair was more stubborn to curl (I have very straight hair that usually never holds curls). On the wedding day, she took care to apply diffuse heat to the hot rollers before arranging my hair, and it lasted all day!

My husband and I had planned out our wedding day as well as we could have hoped for, and provided all of our vendors with itineraries, but it was Maria who made the day go so smoothly and made it so much fun. Although our contract had only mentioned one assistant, Maria brought two with her on the wedding day! And although the assistants left at the pre-determined time, Maria stayed with me far beyond the time we'd agreed upon in the contract. She worked with our photographer to arrange us in photos and blotted my sweaty face when the sun beat down a little too hard. Maria provided my husband and me with bottled water and a straw so we could stay hydrated, and she traveled with an emergency backpack that had everything from scissors to snacks in case we got hungry. Maria also was so thoughtful and left my husband and me to spend a little time together in between our wedding and tea ceremonies.

My and my husband's families could not believe how incredible Maria was. With any potential snafus, she was there to make it work. She reinforced a flower I had put in my hair with extra ribbon so the bobby pins wouldn't ruin the stem and cause the flower to droop. She pinned on our parents' corsages and boutonnieres perfectly. When my parents were ready to escort me down the aisle, she showed us the proper and graceful way to walk down the aisle together so I could hold my bouquet and pick up my dress when we came to some stairs.

It's been almost a month since we got married, and my sisters, mom, husband, and I still reminisce about how amazing Maria is. Even during the wedding day itself, during stolen moments with either my husband or my family, all we could keep saying was, "Thank goodness for Maria!" or "Can you believe how awesome Maria is?" It was so fun to share our day with Maria, and she really made it special. She is an amazing person, and she is so very talented. Her dedication, effort, and kindness are truly priceless, and made booking with PMA worth every penny. :)

I just got married earlier this month and would love to recommend Laura of Poppy's Petalworks to any bride looking for an elegant, modern, beautiful, and affordable flowers! She is much more than a florist; she designed such beautiful floral works of art that people are still emailing us and telling us how much they liked the decor! Warning: this is a long review, but I thought I'd touch on all the things I loved about working with Poppy's Petalworks.

My husband (then-fiance) and I met with Laura in February to plan for our October wedding, and from the first meeting, we could tell that she is very organized, creative, and easy to work with. My husband and I had a bit of an idea what we wanted for flowers types and colors, and Laura listened to what we wanted and added helpful suggestions. She also was able to draw up a quotation at the end of our meeting so we could see if it fit in to our budget. She also lowered the price for our centerpieces by allowing me to buy my own vases ($3.30/each at Michael's!).

We decided to book with Laura, and as the months went by, I would email her photos of centerpieces, bouquets, and decorations that caught my eye, but I was having trouble coming up with a central theme for our wedding flowers. Laura was able to compile all the images and styles I liked and turn them into a beautiful "wild autumn" theme that blew us away when we saw it on our wedding day!

A couple days before the wedding, Laura took the time to make a sample centerpiece by wrapping one of the vases I'd provided in a paper we had agreed upon to hide the stems. She contacted me and told me that the paper ended up clashing a bit with the flowers, fruits, acorns, and leaves she arranged, and she offered to line the vases with oak leaves in order to tie the theme together. Although wrapping the vases with leaves had been a more expensive option when we had originally discussed the centerpieces, Laura went ahead and kindly did this for all 24 centerpieces without raising the price.

My husband and I also had a bird theme going on in our wedding (perhaps "birds in wild autumn" would encompass it all? :)), and Laura designed our ring pillow to resemble a birds' nest with perfectly fall-colored birds, flowers, and branches. It was a hit with our ring bearer and the guests, and tied in beautifully with a birds' nest cake topper we had atop our cake. We also had a raffle where one person at each table won the centerpiece to take home, and the winning guests were just thrilled.

Laura and I had emailed back and forth (she is very prompt at returning emails) about the bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, arch decoration, etc., and she was able to capture design elements I couldn't even put in to words - she made our wedding so elegant while also being perfectly "us".

Overall, I can't thank Laura enough for her time and consideration. She put so much effort and creativity in to our wedding! I highly recommend Poppy's Petalworks to any bride looking for an indescribably beautiful wedding day.