cathleya's reviews

While I thought a groom's cake would be a good idea, I didn't quite have a design in mind and I feared a "too fancy" or "too 3D" cake would be a challenge for a baker in this area. When I first sat down with Lien from the Crazy Cake Company, she immediately impressed me with her past work, and the degree of creativity she had put into her previous cakes really blew away any other Grooms Cake bakers I had researched in the area. I brought a simple print out of our school mascot, and Lien interviewed me to get a sense of what we loved about our school. I was very vague on what I wanted, but Lien came up with a completely fantastic concept and executed it to perfection. People at our wedding loved the cake; many had to take a second look when they discovered that it was actually made of cake! My husband was absolutely thrilled with the groom's cake, a concept that he was previously unfamiliar with, especially because you do not see them often here in California.

Karen. What can I say about Karen. Karen kept me on the ball with our flowers. I got so busy in the last month leading up to the wedding, I kind of wanted to throw florals out the window, but since my friends and I were DIY'ing the centerpieces for our wedding, Karen went out of her way to drag my lazy butt into her studio and show me, step by step, everything we needed to know to execute our centerpieces. Mind you, she did this out of the kindness of her heart, she insisted that it was part of her job, and that all she needed to do for me was to make floral buys at the market at cost for them. But thats the kind of vendor she was, every step of the way. She was genuinely concerned about our progress every step of the way, and delivered gorgeous, fresh bouquets and florals. I've already recommended Karen to lots of brides! But Karen really takes the extra step, not only delivering beautiful bouquets, but does it with a true passion for her clients and for their flowers!

I've had nothing but pleasant experiences here. A friend bought her dress at the HofF and we attended a bridal show together where some other boutique was selling sample gowns for "deep discounts." We found her dress there, a ratty dirty sample, for over $100 for what she had paid for for her brand new gown at HofF! So I knew I had to shop there, because obviously their pricing was good. I got great, non-pushy help from Mina. I brought in about 10 pictures of gowns that I liked and she swiftly pulled about 8 dresses that were all similar to the pictures, in all price ranges. They carry a HUGE range of brands. I ended up loving and buying the 3rd dress I tried on there, a Jim Hjelm.

All in all, there is no coddling or oohing and ahhing here. If youre looking for champagne and sweet talk, go to a boutique. House of Fashion is for gals who just want to try on dresses without strangers telling them/lying to them about how beautiful they look. If you want someone to baby you, go to a boutique and pay twice as much for some woman to ooh and ahh you.

I can't say I was thrilled as pie with Villa Toscano. While the site is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and we really felt that we were provided with a beautiful setting, there were some major irreconcilable issues we had with them that quite frankly, left a bad taste in our mouths.

Our tasting, in short, was a mess. We were almost dead set on serving duck as a choice at our wedding, yet anyone that eats duck fairly regularly knows that its quite hit or miss and that its not a great idea to just serve duck blindly without a taste. Over and over, they told us that it was unlikely that we could taste duck, BUT, we could taste some other dishes that we would probably never serve to our guests. Our tasting ended up being basically some random stuff that they felt like cooking that day...and we ended up serving a mixed grill that we never tasted. On the plus side, the food on the day of the wedding, was excellent. I think that they should just eliminate tastings all together, if they are just going to end up serving you "what they feel like making that day" and not what you desire to try for your wedding day. We weren't there for a "free meal." We wanted to try foods that we'd serve at our wedding.

They wanted us to conduct the rehearsal at 3PM on Friday. Thats another thing to beware of...because who can make a 3PM rehearsal on Friday? People are working and traveling. I've never been to a rehearsal before 5PM in my life. Needless to say, we just told our bridal party that if they couldn't make it, it was perfectly understandable, because...I mean...3PM?

Our site coordinator who we'd been in contact with for 7 months leading up to the wedding, informed us one week before our wedding, that she would NOT be working our wedding, but her new assistant would be instead. Mind you, this was the assistant's first wedding ever at the winery. Hmm. The sister winery was having a wedding that was most likely more important (read, more expensive) than ours, and she was going to be working that wedding. Her assistant treated my husband and I like a King and Queen. We were just pleased as punch with her. Then...we come to find out that she was not all peaches and roses towards our vendors and friends helping out with the wedding. She would bark at them and flip out when things went wrong, demanding that our DJ tape down or remove cords that didn't belong to him. We felt horrible that he was treated that way. Our family and friends that were help setting up were treated similarly. She was very stressed out, which is understandable, it being her first wedding, but I guess I'm just really laid back and didn't care if things weren't perfect, since I had done so much DIY that I just knew stuff was gonna go wrong. I guess kudos to her for wanting to make sure everything was perfect for us, but that is no excuse to treat others around her, that were working for us, like dogs.

That being said, the site is gorgeous and if your vendors are good, there is no reason not to have your wedding here if you like the setting. Its intimate yet open, which we loved. But the events staff, at least at the moment, is a little disorganized. I know they have had several people quit over the year that we were engaged, as we saw many different faces come and go, so I feel bad for the people that are there, that have to pick up the slack. I know its not their fault that people quit and they have to train new hires, but it still causes a lot of stress for couples that are spending $15-$20K there to get married.

Sarah was, by far, THE best decision we made for our wedding day. What impresses me most about Sarah is her true care for her clients. She treated me not just as a bride, but as a friend, and helped me in ways that went beyond her scope of duty. Obviously, as a bride, no matter how organized you are, you simply have not had the experiences that wedding vendors have. Sarah asked me for my day of timeline, and upon realizing that it was lacking, she graciously sent me a great example timeline for me to go off of. She knew I needed help and delivered despite this not being "her job." She was always accommodating with her schedule, and always offered more to us than needed be. Our first face to face contact point with her was at our engagement shoot, in which she offered us way more than what one would expect out of a "free engagement shoot." Sarah was always willing to go above and beyond what was expected or contracted. We never felt once like she could have given us more. She was never far out of contact. I really enjoyed working with vendors that were very tech savvy. I hate having to contact people over the phone. Sarah was very responsive via e-mail, whenever we needed her, at any time of day.

Our pictures turned out absolutely amazing. Sarah was able to capture spontaneity in a way that only the most talented photographers can. She has a rare talent in not only being able to capture the moment, but also to pose people in a way that seems natural and comfortable...something that I was unsure that anyone would be able to pull off with my crowd. Formal pictures are not our thing, but she was able to work with us to give us the best shots possible. Our wedding day was beautiful, mostly in part, because of Sarah's expert eye.