The only vendor we really ended up having any real problems with for our wedding was our photographer--Or really, just Cantina Light, the company. Our photographer, Samantha, was great. She was super responsive, put-together, and took really good pictures. We went with using Cantina because they had a contract with the Muckenthaler at the time that was too good to pass up. So we figured yes, they were cheaper, so it might not be the BEST thing we can find, but it will work...

The wedding went great, everything was fine, and even a week after the wedding, Samantha posted our preview slideshow on their website. Then we got the e-mail that she'd left the company.

It seemed like after Samantha left, all communication stopped. We were told we should get our pictures about 8 weeks after the wedding, and then they'd start the design process for our album. In reality, we didn't get anything until mid-August, when they sent us a preview slideshow of our "album layout". It was awful. They didn't ask us for any input, nor did they provide us a gallery of our pictures to choose from--they just put it together without us. There was a lot of back and forth at that point. We finally got them to post a gallery of all of our pictures online so we could see what pictures we had to choose from for the album. We were originally promised that the other way around--gallery first, then album design. We basically re-laid out the album ourselves and resubmitted it to them in early October. But they still held our pictures hostage, saying that they don't give them out until the album and contract with the client are finished. Whatever.

We ended up getting our album in December, along with full versions of all of our photos on DVDs. While I'm happy with the way everything turned out in the end, it was a process I'd rather not ever have to go through again. I blame most of the situation on our photographer leaving the company, but I feel like they could've been a BIT more responsive.

It does seem that they're trying to get their act together, lately. I've checked out their website, and they've completely redesigned it and added a lot of new features, so it might be worth checking out. I'm just hoping their customer service has improved.

Andrew did engagement pictures for my husband and I just about a year ago, now. We knew we definitely had a crazy idea--To drive around L.A. and take pictures in front of lots of our favorite concert venues. Our eventual plan was to use these pictures as table names at our wedding. Andrew was a PRO. We had my Dad be our getaway driver who dropped us off in front of each venue, and Andrew snapped our picture in front of SO many places. The shots turned out AMAZINGLY. We even snuck into the Hollywood Bowl and took a picture on the stage. We pretended to be rock stars, and Andrew got the exact shot we wanted in ONE take. He made everything easy, and our pictures turned out BEAUTIFUL. Andrew has an eye for photography, and he knows exactly what he's doing.

The husband and I weren't sure about using a videographer for our wedding mostly due to the costs. In the end, we realized it was something we definitely wanted, no matter what the quality. We just knew that we couldn't afford much more than $500 for it.

I ran through Craigslist one night and came across Cool Guys Productions. While I was blown off by a couple of freelance videographers that seemed to laugh at my sad videography budget, I found the Cool Guys website, and they had AWESOME published prices. I e-mailed Ryan, and we met up within a couple days. He was incredibly professional for the entire process, and really wanted to do his best for us.

The day of the wedding, Ryan and Austin were awesome and not being in the middle of everything, but amazingly, they captured everything we wanted them to on our day. We were able to customize our DVD with songs of our choice, and Ryan even came to our place to review a copy of it with us.

These guys are true entrepreneurs, and they're VERY service oriented, and I won't be surprised if they raise their prices, because I feel like what we received from them was a steal! But I can't recommend them enough. They were wonderful, and I'm so glad I didn't rule out videography based on price!

After lusting after a Bill Levkoff bridesmaid dress I'd found pictures of online, I decided to try to find it in a brick-and-mortar store somewhere here in Orange County, CA. I wasn't too satisfied with the price though--I couldn't really find it for cheaper than about $170. I started looking around online, and came across some decent reviews for Jay's Bridal. I decided to give them a shot, and I'm SO GLAD I did. I saved my girls about $50 each, plus we didn't have to pay sales tax since we ordered online. PLUS I had a discount code for about 8% off the total for being on their e-mail list! The dresses came in right when they said they would, in perfect, beautiful condition! And surprisingly, they fit pretty well, too! As long as you measure yourself CORRECTLY, ordering online shouldn't be a problem!

I highly recommend signing up for their e-mail list well before you order anything from them--they have really great e-mail communication with sales/free offers/discounts pretty often!

We used Cards and Pockets to finish off the look of our custom-made invitations. After a friend designed what we wanted, we spray-glued the print onto Grass Metallic pockets from them, and used Grasshopper Pie colored envelopes to complete the look! We got so many compliments on how unique and fun our invitations were! The pockets really helped us complete the exact look we wanted!

We received everything from Cards and Pockets in rocket-fast time, and really couldn't recommend them enough.

The Muckenthaler has that charm that most wedding venues are missing nowadays. We knew we didn't want to do the standard country-club wedding, and we wanted to have both the ceremony and reception at the same venue. The Muck provided us with that, along with a beautiful setting for our big day. The grounds make for a gorgeous wedding. We hosted the ceremony in their palm tree garden, dinner inside the art gallery, and dancing and cocktails outside on their patio. It was perfect for us. We got so many compliments from people about how beautiful everything was. And on top of that, they work exclusively with Colette's Catering, so they really have the process down. We trusted that everything would work out with them, and it was fabulous.

There are so many options to choose from there--I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone that's looking for decent prices and a beautiful location in Orange County.

By booking the Muckenthaler Mansion, we were contracted to work with Colette's Catering for our wedding, and we really had NO problem with that at all! We'd had the chance to taste their wedding cake about a year before our wedding, and were thoroughly impressed...and couldn't wait for more real food to try!

Colette's food was absolutely delicious! For appetizers, we ordered the macaroni balls, and everyone was pretty impressed by those. We got so many compliments on our dinner...My only complaint, and the reason for the four stars, was that we'd actually ordered the beef with marsala sauce as one of our entrees...and for some reason, the marsala sauce never arrived? It didn't matter much--no one noticed but the hubby and I.

The dinner service was great, too. Totally courteous and everything ran incredibly smoothly.

And the CAKE?! Their cake is AMAZING. Theresa--who is Colette's "Cake Goddess", totally understood exactly what we wanted for our cake, and she nailed it. We had song lyrics about love written all around our cake. She made it look so beautiful and professional--we were in LOVE with it. And then...we ate it! Which was equally awesome and delicious. The cake was so moist and perfect. We loved it--I will order cakes there in the future, for SURE!!

Visser's Florist absolutely came through for us with everything we needed from them. We'd visited a few other florists, and the prices were all over the place. It probably didn't help that we didn't really have anything too solid in mind when we started our consultations. We pretty much just knew the colors--the types of flowers were pretty negotiable. When we met with Terri at Visser's, we were so excited. She was incredibly helpful, and best of all, NICE. She was great. She really helped us nail down everything we needed within our budget. Of all the florists we met with, Visser's was totally within our budget of what we felt comfortable spending on flowers. On our wedding day, the bouquets and boutonnieres came labeled with whose was which, and our centerpieces were were gorgeous! The only problem I had was with my bouquet--the orchids kept falling out since they were pinned in inbetween roses...and some of the greenery was sort of wilting. it was probably because it was a LOT warmer than we anticipated it to be outside...but no one noticed except me. Everything looked gorgeous the day of, and we were totally satisfied!

Booking the officiant was one of the last things we did for our wedding, and we certainly scored with Terri. Terri was incredibly responsive, and wonderfully helpful. We met with her and her husband on a boat one morning so she could get to know a little bit about us as a couple...It was honestly so much FUN! She's funny and awesome, and so easy to get along with! She gave us so many examples of things we could use in our ceremony, and in the end, let us customize everything we wanted. And her DELIVERY at the wedding?!? SO much fun. Terri gives a fun, energetic ceremony, and everything was perfect! Plus, she mailed our documents for us and everything. She was awesome, and I'd recommend her to anyone torn between who to use for an officiant!

By the time the wedding rolled around, I wanted Eddie and Monica of UES DJ Service to be my best friends! Music was SO important to me and the hubby, and we truly truly hoped we wouldn't have to settle for a cheesy wedding DJ. We're rockers...clubbing isn't really our thing...

So we find Eddie and Monica, and what can I say? They were honestly my favorite of all of our vendors. They. Were. FABULOUS. We completely clicked with them at our first meeting--we had very similar tastes in music, and we really felt like Eddie GOT us, and what we did and didn't want our reception to be.

And Monica? She is AMAZING! Monica lets Eddie handle the music, while she handles EVERYTHING else. If she saw something that needed to be done, she did it. She was on the ball with our timeline, completely. And on top of all that? She took WONDERFUL pictures!!

And Eddie just kept the party going and going and going. With GREAT club remixes of songs that we specifically asked for, mixed with even more awesome party music. It was SO much fun, and honestly, these two absolutely OWNED us with their service. We couldn't have asked for anymore from the two of them.They sincerely cared about us, as we did them. I couldn't recommend anyone any more.