My flowers. ROCKED. People are still talking about them. OMG, they exceeded every expectation. And Katherine herself is just incredible. I'm gonna load some pics so you all can see. Just flat out amazing!

I used to be a floral designer, so booking my florist for our wedding was a big freaking deal. I interviewed a lot of great florists for my wedding, and chose Katherine.

Katherine has been amazing. I can't say enough about her professional warm personality. And her work is really stunning (see her website it speaks for itself), and her prices are really reasonable.

She's also experienced, knowledgable, and has lots of ideas to help keep within your budget realities while still achieving the look and feel you want. I'm so happy to have found her!

Three months to our wedding we decided to cancel with Garre Martinelli Center and book with Deer Ridge and Haps Catering instead (read my Martinelli Center review for details).

I gotta tell ya. The pics of this place do not do it justice. It's really lovely. Carl, the owner has just flat out been fabulous... he's one of the main reasons we booked with Deer Ridge and Dee at Haps has been was just great.

As for Haps and the food. They offered us a customized tasting, which is not something that many of the vineyards out this way offer (Garre, Eliston, and Wente do not). We tasted everything we wanted to (except some passed apps, but that wasn't a big deal), including side dishes and their amazing crab cakes, and were able to make an informed decision for our wedding. Their prices are higher than Garre and Wente, but you get what you pay for.

The wine was great. Our guests drank the equivalent of a bottle each, and are were telling us how wonderful it was all night long. We had 5 wines offered. All were a hit!

The food from Haps was BETTER than at the tasting. And the service was top notch.

It was everything we hoped and more. Just wonderful. So happy we found this place.

We booked Garre's Martinelli Center for our 2008 wedding. Before we paid our deposit, everything was sunshine and roses. Well, months go by and I'm emailing them occassionally about a tasting... didn't you all say there would be one? After all, that's one of the reasons I chose you over Wente?

Finally the tasting-- chef's choice tasting so it's not like you get to try everything you want. Half the food was good. The tri-tip, the winery salad, the mahi mahi (salty, but when you add the salsa it's good)... half the food was terrible (chicken skewers, chicken marsala, and the worst crabcakes). And I was concerned because it seemed to be a crap shoot. You had no idea what was going to be good and what wasn't. I expressed my concern to Alanna, my catering manager.

Response? Thanks for your input.

That's it-- that's all she had to say. So I escalate to the Director of Catering (who is married to the chef or related to him so she gets defensive). Who finally says 'the chef wasn't there that day, so maybe the food quality was off' then says "I've NEVER had a complaint about the food.'

Finally, after weeks, and because I mention knowing AT LEAST two other brides were dissatisified with the food (thank you http://theknot.com Nor Cal Board), they agree to a second tasting. We also had to tell them that they would not get our second deposit without a second tasting.

BTW, the other brides attended different first tastings than I did, so I don't think it was an isolated incident, despite what they said.

We get the second tasting. The chef, BTW, is a lovely and nice man. His food is slightly overseasoned at times and he's overfond of bacon, but when HE cooked for us, it was good. Only two problems:

By that time I was concerned about the service at Garre, and at the second tasting there was bacon everywhere which I had repeatedly reminded them to omit because of our guests religious/dietary restrictions-- Alanna hadn't told the chef. It's hard to know what your food is going to taste of on the 'day of' without the bacon if all you can taste at the tasting is bacon. Ya know? Plus, one of the other Nor Cal brides was supposed to have her second tasting (she and her fiance were there waiting) and her catering manager, Erin, had forgot to tell the chef... so they had to reschedule. None of this instilled us with confidence.

But the big clincher was this, when I pressed Garre about the chef being at wedding because the food quality was obviously problematic without him, they couldn't tell me he would be there. Just that he 'over sees all of our events"... like he did the first tasting.

I should also mention that the wait staff for the catering events did not appear well trained, doesn't speak english much, and doesn't appear to have much if any experience waiting tables short of delivering the food. They are not the same staff as the cafe staff. At the first tasting a glass broke at our table and it took them about 10 minutes to figure out and discuss what to do. All the while, they couldn't understand me, had to hunt someone down who spoke English... I can't imagine what would happen if one of my guests broke something at the wedding. Disasters happen at weddings, and I had no confidence that the staff could handle them.

These are the reasons that 3 months before our wedding (insane stress, trying to find a good unbooked venue 3 months out for 80 people. THANK GOD ours is a Sunday wedding, if was Saturday we'd have been toast)... we cancelled with Garre and booked with Deer Ridge Vineyards, which is catered by Hap's Catering. Full tasting of all our dishes (even side dishes!), trained staff, and the food is very good. Plus the facility is beautiful and the owner Carl, is a gem!

There are other choices for weddings in Livermore, explore them.

Kirsten was a recomendation from a friend, and she is also a knot recomendation. She's just awesome. We had three fittings for a LOT of extensive alterations (fully re-designed the bodice of my lace gown, lots of removing appliques and re-positioning) and each time Kirsten was funny and attentive and just great. I even took my Mother and Aunt (two VERY fussy difficult women) to the second fitting and Kirsten was amazing with them. They had a lot of suggestions, some that were good, others that just wouldn't work and Kirsten was so patient in detailing exactly why certain things could work and others wouldn't. She's a person who appreciates people just telling her what they want, what they like and don't like, and she'll shoot straight with you and tell you what can be done, what can't, and give you options as well. And my dress just looked gorgeous when she was done! She also made my veil, and it was just lovely too. I wanted something simple and affordable, and since she had my gown and the skills, it was the easiest thing in the world to just ask her to make it.

Okay. If I wrote for pages I couldn't explain how amazing and absolutely vital Maria was. She went BEYOND above and beyond. Made me look so incredibly beautiful, helped keep me sane, and had just a wonderful JOY about her that I knew she was doing what she loved and that she truly was invested in how I looked (and my mom looked, and my groom looked, and that my grandfather felt okay, and that the boutineers were right)... yes, she's expensive, but SO INCREDIBLY worth it. Cut out everything else... but GET Maria if you can. You will NOT EVER regret it.

Becky just flat out Rocks. Our engagement pictures were beautiful. But the wedding pics, OMG!

Becky and Josh did our wedding and... I started crying from the second page of the proof albums. They caught everything I wanted, and even things I didn't know I wanted. Art of emotion is absolutely accurate. They captured the joy, the laughter, the tears, and the love.

Everyone who I've shared my album with is just in AWE, and so am I. I had EXTREMELY (and frighteningly) high expectations, but Becky and Josh exceeded them in everyway.

Plus, Becky's personality... she's like a mom ( a sane mom) and was just so helpful in my planning. She referred me to otheer vendors, and listened to me when I felt something was wrong with a vendor (I had two vendors I replaced before the wedding) giving me good advice and a lot of help. She is endlessly patient, and so very nice. My zipper broke (just broke) and Becky put down her camera and spent 45 minutes in the bathroom keeping me (and everyone else) calm and actually sowed me into my dress. Talk about above and beyond!

I can't imagine having had anyone else capture our day.

I found Shannon through yelp. I was tired of trying bad cakes with gross frosting and wanted someone with a strong pastry background.

My wedding was in Livermore, so this was quite the trek for a cake tasting, but it was totally worthwhile. I called Shannon and had a good feeling just from the conversation, and I requested to taste two cakes. She baked them fresh for me, and let me be as creative as I wanted.

On our wedding day the cake was just STUNNING, and it tasted phenomenal. Moist, favorful, fresh and just flat out amazing.

Plus, the fact that Shannon is concerned with sustanability and using the best ingredients really shines through.

Plus her delivery was very reasonable... all the way from Marin to Livermore!