briannie's reviews

--edit 12/17/08--
We took our epics with Brian this past Sunday... and 3 days later, the images have already been blogged! It was a pleasure working with him and he is up for anything and everything. We went to 3 locations in 3 hours and he captured some AMAZING photos! He gave us direction when we needed it, but also let us be natural for our photos. I can't wait until the wedding... I can only imagine what those pictures will be like!

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Brian Khang was one of the first vendors we booked with for our March 2009 wedding. Photography was realy important to us (after food + booze... haha), so we wanted to get someone high quality with a pricetag that wouldn't break the bank. Brian was exactly what we were looking for.

I contacted him via email and he responded within 24 hours; giving us a ful pricelist and sending us links to galleries that he had done for past weddings. I'd also browsed through his blog and found that his photojournalistic style was what we were looking for-- able to capture the moment as is, but also get those important family portraits.

We met with him at his home studio and he showed us full weddings that he had shot. He started out as a photog in Connecticut and was now doing the same thing on the opposite coast. He's also working with [b]ecker as a protege (I think), so that doesn't hurt, either!

We were on a tight budget for photography and Brian gave us a slight discount and let us break our payments into smaller pieces. Getting a hold of him has been a piece of cake (email, contact through website, Twitter, Facebook, phone, etc.) and we're excited for our engagement shoot next month! He's open to a lot of ideas (we're going to 3 locations for our e-pics and 4 locations for our wedding day)... he's been nothing but enthusiastic and supportive of our wedding plans so far. He even stopped by our wedding website and signed our guestbook! We can't wait to work with him.

Included in our package:
--engagement shoot w/ disc of retouched images + rights
--12 hours of shooting (I squeezed some extra time out of him)
--2nd shooter
--25-page/50-side flush mounted Leather Craftsman album w/ album design
--disc of retouched images w/ rights
--slideshow
--online gallery
--print credit... i think?

I had tried on some dresses in my area (some salons in OC) and found the perfect dress-- unfortunately, it cost more than I wanted to spend (of course)! I called around a few local salons, NetBride, Pearl's Place, and finally called Dori Anne Veils. All of the local salons carried the dress for around the same price (~$800) and NB + PP didn't carry the gown at all. Debra told me that she could order the dress for me at a fraction of the cost. She even helped me by having the dress shipped to my bridesmaid in Vegas so I wouldn't have to pay sales tax. With the flat shipping fee and discount on the gown, I saved close to $200 on my dress.

I ordered it in late July and was told it'd arrive in early January. To my surprise, Debra emailed me in mid-November to let me know the dress was at her salon. The next day, she shipped the dress and it arrived, neatly packed in a garment bag and shipping box in 3 days. Included in the package were also some bridal beauty tips and a certificate of authenticity from Maggie Soterro.

I would definitely recommend Dori Anne Veils to any bride!

I came here with 3 of my bridesmaids to try on dresses on a Friday afternoon in July. The place wasn't too busy and I was helped by a great consultant named Maria. She was super sweet and was able to pull some dresses (and let the BMs and I pull some, too) based upon the criteria I gave her (a-line, no pickups, some lace and/or beading, under $1k). She helped me get in and out of the gowns and showed my BMs a quiet place to sit (there was a little seating area near the alterations/dressing room we were using).

After seeing me feeling "blah" about most of the dresses that were pulled (I kept comparing each one to this gown I had tried on at Mariposa Bridal), Maria used her judgement and my reactions to the previous dresses to pull a gown that I would've passed over on the racks: Vernice by Maggie Sottero. I almost didn't want to try it on when she brought it over on the hanger.

I'm glad I did, though, because as soon as I walked into the lounge area to show my BMs, one of them actually *gasped* haha. Maria brought out some necklaces to see how they would go with the dress and got me a bolero to try on, too. I came back a few days later to show my mom the dress (I don't think she was too fond of it). Maria could tell my mom wanted to see other options so she pulled another gown for me to try (which I also liked, but not as much as the first).

After trying on the gowns, Maria showed me Maggie Sottero's size chart and took my measurements. She let me know what size would be best for me to order and didn't pressure me to make a decision. I will be back this weekend to place my order for my dress. I couldn't have done it without Maria's help!

--edit--
I was planning on ordering my gown here until I found it at a better price. Mary Me Bridal refused to price match (it wasn't an internet company, but a salon in NorCal) or even lower their price/throw in alterations/do anything to keep my business. I understand that they're trying to run a business and make a profit, but I was disappointed that they wouldn't budge in order to keep a potential client. Maria is still a doll, though, so that doesn't change my impression of her at all.