Kelly and her team are great! She did my makeup for two engagement sessions, one trial, and the "big day!" Her specialty is asian brides (she studied with a makeup artist in china for a while), but she does amazing work on anybody! She's also easy to get along with and is really prompt and efficient at getting back to emails. There are a lot of really expensive, overpriced wedding makeup artists in southern california that totally aren't worth it. Kelly is much cheaper and does a fantastic job. I got tons of compliments on both my hair and makeup. She makes you look glamorous, without looking cheap or TOO made up. My friend (maid of honor) hired her for her wedding in which I was a bridesmaid and both times we loved the result.

La Soie Bridal has some great dresses to choose from, from a good range in budgets. I easily found one within my budget ($1000-$1500). I also really liked working with the ladies at the Torrance store. Angela was the best - she always remembered me and what I was looking for (I came in multiple times). Anastasia (in the office) was also really good at getting back to me quickly whenever I called or needed to book a fitting. Since, I've recommended them to another bride who went went them as well and used Angela as well.

Photography was something that was really important to us from the very beginning. We searched and met with a LOT of different photographers until we found Henry. And it was well worth the search!

Henry is creative, talented, artistic, fun, flexible, and most importantly he LOVES photography and weddings. He has a good eye and makes you feel completely comfortable. He's also really good at getting back to emails and phone calls promptly. I remember emailing him to set up an appointment, and within half an hour he called me! We keep saying that he's going to need to start charging more because he's so awesome! The guest book (with pictures from the engagement shoot) that he put together was one of the biggest hits of the wedding.

Since our wedding, we've had two friends also book him for their weddings. Just proves that good work gets around!!

I absolutely LOVE this Cinematic Studios (although I think their name is now Dare Dreamer). Ron Dawson is an AMAZING cinematographer and really fun to hang out with - which definitely helps with loosening up in front of the camera. And the editing that he does is awesome! He shot both our "Love Story" (dating story) and wedding and we couldn't have asked for anything more. People are still raving out the "Love Story" which we showed at our wedding.

As for the business side of the company, Hilarie Hsu is fabulous as well. She is prompt, efficient, nice, and gets things done! We had initially thought that we couldn't afford to hire Cinematic Studios, but she really worked with our budget to help make it work. I sacrificed chiavari chairs for this company and don't regret it at all! =]

Bottom line, if you're willing to pay a little more (or willing to budge on something else), this is DEFINITELY worth it. Although I'm a big photography snob, I didn't realize how important video is as well. Book 'em!

Unfortunately Taylor Your Memories is NOT out of business, although I don't know how they can stay in business with such HORRIBLE business management. I wholeheartedly agree with all of the other posts for this vendor (and would LOVE to post a negative star). Not only were they (isabelle) the WORST VENDOR we had for our wedding, I can honestly say that she was the WORST BUSINESS I've ever had to deal with in my lifetime. Yes, she really was that bad, I'm not exaggerating. And just like the reviewer, I apologize for the long review, but Isabelle really did make that many mistakes.

Where to begin... First of all, she showed up late to our initial meeting and didn't apologize or explain for the delay. At that point, I should have been wary, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt because she is significantly cheaper that other vendors. Closer to the print date, I emailed Isabelle to find out about the actual design for the invitations. I sent numerous emails to which I received no reply. (This seems to be a common occurrence in her business practices, from reading other people's reviews) I also called and either nobody picked up (not even an answering machine) or Isabelle wasn't there and wouldn't be back until after business hours (you can forget about her calling back after leaving a message as well). One time I called, the phone made the weird noise that it does when it's no longer connected (it honestly wouldn't surprise me that she forgot to pay the phone bill and was disconnected). Whenever she would finally get back to me, she would blame the internet connection at the office (this apparently was a problem for an ENTIRE YEAR as she frequently quoted this problem).

When we finally were in touch, I sent her some samples of designs that I liked. She said she would have her "graphic designer" combine the different elements into a new design. She never got back to me. I asked her a ridiculous number of times for a proof and she would always promise me the next day, to which she would deliver nothing. About a month later she sent me a proof - it was the EXACT same graphic that I had given her. There was no graphic designer!

With regards to the rest of the invitation, she managed to get EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF INFORMATION WRONG. She had the wrong location, map, spelling, formatting, names, etc. We had to send her a very specific, detailed email with the corrections.

We finally went to print about 3 weeks AFTER we had planned. I told her I would pick up the invitations on Friday of a certain week. The day before I sent an email to remind her that I was coming in and she said the invitations weren't ready. So I said I'd come in the following Friday. When I came in, she STILL didn't have everything ready. She promised to mail me the missing tabs that day. Of course she didn't. So she then promised to mail them to me on the following Monday. Of course she failed at that as well. About two weeks later I received them.

When we started putting them together, we noticed something alarming. THE PAPER WAS CROOKED. And I'm not being anal about this - it was OBVIOUSLY crooked. At this point I couldn't take it anymore. I sent her a frustrated email about the lack of reliability that I felt with her company. I also told her how disappointed I was with the quality of the invitations. How is it that I paid her company do produce these invitations and I was the one sitting up late at night cutting paper to fix their mess? I asked for compensation and she refunded me for the crooked paper. I also told her that I was still going to do my programs through her to maintain consistency in font, colors, paper, and design, but not because I was actually impressed with anything.

As much as I can say about Isabelle's lack of follow through and efficiency, I can credit her with her ability to charge me "efficiently." I was looking at a credit card statement and noticed that she CHARGED ME FOR THE PROGRAMS BEFORE WE EVEN ORDERED THEM!!! When I tried to contact her, she was "out of town" and wouldn't be back until the following week. When she finally got back to me she said that it was a deposit to hold the order. I told her that we hadn't even ordered the programs so how could she charge me in the first place?! TALK ABOUT SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICES.

When the programs finally came in and I went to pick them up, I was shocked that she was waiting for me, bag in hand with my order. I was even mildly impressed that she remembered I was actually coming that day. That didn't last long. When we got home and started sorting the programs, we discovered that she had given us LESS THAN HALF OF OUR ORDER. She didn't say anything about this when we picked them up and quickly sent us on our way. Of course it took another week to get a hold of her to clear it up. She blamed it on the printer. Even if it was the printer's fault, she would have known that the order was incomplete because she assembled them!! And still she said nothing! She promised to mail them to me "that day" (a lie that I've heard many times), but of course this didn't happen. Finally she had some poor guy drive them over to us. You'd better believe we counted those suckers on the hood of his car! She even said she'd throw in a few extras for free (she did, ONE extra program. wow, I'm overjoyed.)

In a nutshell, learn from our mistake. STAY AWAY!