missyann's reviews

My hubby & I love the Q! His work speaks volumes. Just check out his portfolio and be prepared to be blown away. If you want something artsy/edgy/not cookie cutter, just let Jason do his thing. He is really big on finding good light, natural frames, etc. Our engagement session photos were met with rave reviews. My friends thought that my pictures looked that we were posing for a magazine spread. His pictures were the talk of our engagement party. So for the wedding we just decided to let him & his photographers do their thing, so I'm very excited to see our final product. There were a few traditional family shots that I wanted, which he was more than happy to do.

He is not the cheapest, but he's not expensive either for e-session, album, 8 hour session with a second photographer/assistant. This is what I learned when I checked out photographers: request to look at a full gallery, not just their porfolio. The bad photographers will have a colorful, "edgy" portfolio...but when you look at their real gallery, you can definitely tell the difference. It's especially funny when you compare somebody like Jason's work at the same venue as somebody else. It's worth the splurge! We'll likely use him for future sessions when we have a few kids.

I chose the hair & makeup package for my self (which also included a trial session with 2 hairdos) and 4 bridesmaids. I was very happy with how everything turned out. I thought Elaine was very responsive to my requests (which was natural with still a wow factor) and even changed my hair a few days before the wedding. She also didn't charge extra for the trial session (some MU artists do if you take your engagement shoot right after). I felt gorgeous the day of my wedding, and didn't really even have to apply any touch-ups. I also love how she lent out my veil, hairpieces, and a touch-up kit so I didn't have to worry about that. I would definitely recommend Elaine, whose price is comparative to some of the other major Asian artists in the area (Kelly Zhang etc).

I just got married at Villa de Amore, and I was so pleased! I was planning my wedding from out of town and this all-inclusive place that was so affordable seemed too good to be true. My price was for 110 guests, included food, 2 bartenders, dj, officiant, cake, flowers, servers, cake cutting fee, parking attendant, all dcorations such as chair/altar decorations/barrel to hold the cake/vineyard access for photos/easles/parasols/shepards hooks, and day of coordinators. The package for $1000 more could have included photography as well, but we decided to go with somebody else. I initially wanted a vineyard wedding but after checking out the Temecula vineyards and VDA, I went with VDA because of price, flexibility, and the sense of intimacy. I really liked that we got to provide our own alcohol because we were able to have a full bar for so much cheaper (and we weren't limited to a particular vineyard's bad wine).

Let me break down the vendors:
1). Venue: Eileen is a bit difficult to reach on the phone, but overall good response over email. She has her son & another assistant helping her so sometimes they will answer the phone. She owns the place, and definitely does a fantastic job at keeping the grounds gorgeous. The place was so pretty the day of the wedding, and since I had never been there at night, I was very pleased with how the grounds looked in the evening. I always get compliments at how beautiful the place is. Bartenders were awesome and showed up many hours before the event started so that was nice for the bridal party and also for the early arriving guests. The day of the wedding, Eileen's staff catered to our every need and everything flowed seamlessly. I wasn't stressed about anything! Thank you VDA!

2). DJ: Manny Verdujo came with the package and overall did a good job. He was late the day of the wedding, and didn't play as many of the songs that we wanted but still was a decent dj who knows how to "feel" the crowd. he also has equipment for slide show which was cheaper than other companies.

3). Officiant: If there's one thing that drove my hubby & I up the wall was how flaky the officiant Ken was. He was horrible!! To reach him we had to try to contact him in 3 different mediums before he would get back to us. The day of, everything turned out okay. We were seriously concerned that he would flake out the day of the wedding. P.S. After this review was posted, Ken did contact us directly to personally apologize for the communications problems.

4). Florist (Flowers by Rodriguez): Carlos was amazing! He is super affordable and very amendable to recommendations...down to you picking all the specific flowers. I paid a bit extra to get more bridesmaid's bouquets, flowers for family, and I had to get extra centerpieces which were all really affordable altogether. He also made me a sample centerpiece months before the wedding.

5). Caterers (Catering by Bitoni): Renee and her husband Billy were really cool. He does all the cooking and she does the business part. They were very flexible, the food was very yummy the day of, and I also upgraded to get the chair ribbons, upgraded china, and the sitdown service. We also enjoyed our tasting very much.

6). Cake (Elegance on Display): Jennifer Duarte did a great job at designing a cake specific to your wishes. Honestly I'm not a big cake person so I won't be able to review the taste that well. I thought my cake looked really good though.

Overall, my day went really well. It was a really classy, beautiful event and the staff at VDA are experienced, accomodating, and very affordable. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat. The place was intimate (we got the whole venue to ourselves for the entire day), and we could dictate our schedule without strict limitations.