jsuruki's reviews

Rene & Jay took photos of our wedding over an 8 hour period for us. We just got the DVD’s of all of our pictures and were thoroughly impressed!! On the day of the wedding, they arrived right on time and split up so Rene followed Tina around and Jay followed Jimmy around. They took so many creative pictures of all the little things around us. The backgrounds, the poses, the angles, the lighting – everything they did was awesome!! At first we were both kind of shy and felt awkward making poses and looking away from the camera (basically acting as if we were supermodels!), but both Rene and Jay were able to calm us down and make us feel normal about it. The proof is in the pictures where we are posing which look absolutely fantastic!!! During the entire event, they captured all the important moments from multiple angels so we definitely have a variety of great shots. Also, as the night wore on, they basically became invisible and yet when we saw the pictures, they were everywhere. Rene & Jay both have great personalities; they feed off each other; they bring great positive energy which is contagious; and they’re just good peoples. We were so happy to have them be a part of our special day. Thank you, Rene & Jay, for taking such amazing pictures and capturing moments in time that will forever be a part of our lives.

Tina & Jimmy

Wedding at the Hilton Long Beach (130 people) - 9/26/2009

We just had our wedding at the Hilton Long Beach. Joe D'Aprile is the catering manager there and he was AWESOME!!! Joe was extremely flexible with the type of wedding package we wanted. As a result, we didn't have to spend money on things that were not important to us. For example, we were able to get credit by not having 2 wine bottles at each of the tables, and used those funds for something else. Hilton also had a tasting dinner set up - just for the 2 of us. The food at the tasting was a little better than the actual food served (portions were a bit smaller) - but the food was still good.

Also, the location is awesome - great photo backgrounds. The ceremony on the Lanai is spectactular - the combination of the tall mirrored buildings and the sunset in the background is wonderful. The lobby area and the fountain area downstairs is amazing also.

We didn't have a wedding planner, so Joe stepped in and helped us with the rehearsal as well as some of the basic planning items. Our DJ put together a detailed agenda that the Hilton banquest captain and other vendors used to keep the night moving along.

Joe and his Hilton staff had everything ready by the time the ceremony started. The tables, chairs, linens, water stands, gift tables, cocktail tables - everything. We didn't have to rush through anything. Actually, our officiant didn't show up until 5 minutes before the ceremony, so we were scrambling to find another officiant. I had asked Joe if he could step in and "fake it" so the show could go on... Joe was fully on board and had even started to write out our ceremony!!!! What a guy….

Dinner was served right on time, the cake was beautiful, the food was great, the service was great, and the whole evening went perfectly. Joe even had his staff gather the chairs and linens and had them ready for pick up (we rented these items from another vendor) the following day without charging us. All in all, Joe and Hilton were extremely flexible and they gave us great piece of mind throughout the entire evening and planning process.

Joe - thank you for your hard work and helping us have a wonderful wedding!!!

We just got married a month ago and used Allen as our DJ. Allen was AWESOME!!!!!!!! Let us just tell you how pleased we were with him and why. Allen was very professional from the start. It was obvious he had done this a thousand times. We had numerous calls with him where he got a feel for how we wanted our wedding to flow, what kind of songs we wanted played, how much he should be speaking, etc. We didn’t have a wedding planner so he helped create a detailed timeline of the entire evening - from what time the ceremony starts, to what time the best man toast is, to what time the cake cutting is, etc. This was extremely helpful to us as we obviously didn’t know what we were doing!!

On the day of the event, Allen arrived early and got all 3 locations set up (ceremony area, cocktail area, and reception area) in plenty of time. Plus we got LED lighting done by him – which was a great decision to do so because it made the ambience so much more romantic. It is well worth the nominal amount he charges – we definitely recommend it! As the event started, Allen became the captain of the ship. He kept everything moving and on time. He frequently informed us when the next item on the agenda was coming up and what we had to do. He also has a great voice – seriously though – this is very important when you have someone making announcements of various things throughout the night. Allen played great music too – the dance floor was filled throughout the evening. Our guests ranged in age but he played a good variety so that everyone was enjoying themselves.

We were extremely happy with Allen and everything he did. There was not one thing we weren’t happy with or had to worry about – at all. Allen was our favorite vendor amongst all our great vendors. He put us at ease and gave us extreme piece of mind throughout entire event and planning process. Thank you, Allen, for being a part of our special day and doing such a wonderful job!!