For the record, this is the second time I have posted my review. Our wedding was on Nov. 21st, 2009 and I wrote my review a week or two after the situation to give myself more time to be objective. I am assuming that my post was taken down by CGC. Brides should know what really happens. Also, we still have to pay the $900.00 which our credit card company Citi didn't back us on.

I was with CGC for about two and a half years because I love to plan and starting early means saving money.

At the beginning it was fantastic and Barbara was awesome! We then got Maggie who was beyond FANTASTIC! She really saw where I wanted to go with the wedding reception and was completely honest with me 100%. Then one day, I received an email (about maybe 10 months before the wedding) that Maggie was no longer with the company. Since I had not talked to Barbara about the event in so long I had to go back into the reception venue to re-explain my wants to her. I had to bring double copies of EVERYTHING because she was never organized and ready to go. BEYOND sweet woman but, was not prepared. SHE LOVED my fiance (husband)! We now joke with him and call him, "Precious Baby." She always states, "Normally, I look over these things the night before but, I just didn't have time to do it." They had the wrong cake order in my file which, she crossed out when she found out it was not mine. I just had to think (Uhhh... that's some other poor bride’s cake order). Then she looked at the linens, which we were contracted for under the selling price. She informed me that Maggie must have guessed in regards to the price. She told me that she would talk to her vendors. Also, the NICE wooden chairs have ALWAYS been $5.50 (and I have been with them since around late 2007 because we got married this past Nov.).

When it got closer to the wedding (about 2 weeks before) we met up with Barbara again to go over all the details. Since we have such HIGH medical bills I wanted to double check with her that we were paid in full. Actually, plain and simple... we needed to know if we were paid in full because we needed to know if we had enough money to go on a small honeymoon. I brought my Mother, my sister, and my fiance (now my husband) to this last meeting with Barbara. My Mother asked Barbara straight out if we were paid in full and Barbara said, "Yes, you are paid in full!"

The day of the wedding we didn't have ANY COMPLAINTS! Then we got to the reception! We already knew that Barbara was going to be at another reception in Corona and would be jumping between the two (ours was at their venue in Santa Ana). Chris, her son, also our dj, basically ran the whole thing. Poor guy had to run the music, serve us, and stay on the timeline that we had for the wedding. He also had to fit in time to work the DvD player to play two of our montages. Seriously, Chris was awesome because if it was not for him I would have been running the event. Soooo... we didn't get our head server like we paid for ($150.00), we didn't get the three servers that we paid for ( about $300.00 --- we got kitchen staff dressed in white --- supposed to be dressed in black) and we didn't get ANY bartender. If it was not for our SUPERB FLORIST (BELLA FLEUR DESIGN) we wouldn't have had a bartender at all! So... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to our DJ (Chris) and our FLORIST (Donna - Bella Fleur Design) our guests had NO idea that we didn't get a little more than $700.00 of our $$$ worth. Then to make matters worse, around cake cutting time, Barbara comes to me and informs me that she will be sending me my updated receipt/bill. SHE IS TELLING ME THAT WE ARE NOT PAID IN FULL. A WHOLE $1,700.00 not paid in full! WHAT!!!?!! So, I went and found my husband at this point to have him look into this! Barbara ended up telling my Mom that she never told her that we were paid in full and that she doesn't do the books. We ended up paying the money and having to cut our honeymoon a little on the cheaper side. We sent them a letter asking to be reimbursed the $700.00 that I feel we didn't receive in the service. Thus far, we have not heard anything from the site and I plan on resending them the letter once more. If we hear anything or get our money back I will come back to this site and update my review.


Basically, they have good prices, good food, and a nice venue. Downside is that they need to take Barbara out of doing things on her own. Her short term memory has really gone downhill in the 2 and a half years we have been with CGC. If you decide to go with CGC ask for Diane. Oh, and they DO have an accountant! Stay on top of your cost and how much you have paid! I just really thought it was unprofessional to come up to the bride at the END of her reception and inform her that they owe another $1,700.00.



Later on that night after the wedding was over, a friend of ours also informed us that they had a wedding at CGC the weekend before. She informed me that the bride was organizing everything and running around with her head cut off. Maybe over dramatic but, at this point ... I don't think so when we are $700.00 in the hole.

Dear Brides,
Basically, this year could be put down in the history books as truly the worst year ever for us! Well, other than the wedding! For instance, second semester student teaching placement from hell, first wedding florist looses our record and deposit ($500.00), my fiancé (at the time) gets in a car accident and fractures his C2 vertebrate, we loose our reception coordinator, and now no teaching jobs.
We found Donna about four or five months out before our wedding. The woman is HEAVEN SENT!!! HEAVEN SENT!!! We clicked right away! She sat down with me as I babbled about my WHOLE wedding and EVEN inquired to know more (down to the colors of the napkins). I am extremely organized and eve though I knew what I wanted décor-wise , pricewise I was not sure how much everything cost. I needed to stay within a budget because the medical bills were milking us dry. Donna worked with me and together we created an eve more beautiful vision WITHIN my budget! So, if you are an overly organized bride (like myself) Donna can take it! I tested her out and if she can handle me … she can handle ANYTHING!!! Now if you’re a bride that is unsure of what you want… trust me … you are in good hands too! When Donna met me for the first time she brought all her ideas, books, magazines, and a pen/paper. THIS WOMAN IS READY FOR ANYTHING and willing to do anything to make her brides happy. For instance, the day of our wedding our reception venue DIDN’T give us the bartender that we paid for. WE DIDN’T HAVE A BARTENDER!!! We didn’t have the servers that we paid for because they were taken to ANOTHER wedding reception! Seriously! Guess what? Donna and her assistant stayed at our reception to work the bar. If she had not done this we would have had our guests behind the bar serving themselves. So, who ever you are … Bella Fleur Design is worth it! You really will not be sorry what-so-ever! IT’S YOUR wedding day and she worries about the details not you!

XOXO ,
Maria Tobias


I just put something small together to allow other brides to see the magic of what Bella Fleur Design did for MY wedding! It really was perfect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DX6MNMamgI


Enjoy! If you need a photographer DeeDee Dallas is the lady to meet! (D2 Photography)

I HATED my experience with Mary Me Bridal! I didn't really want to go dress shopping and was NOT looking forward to shopping for it. I have just heard soooo many horror stories. Anyway, when walking into the shop they took me in to the dressing room. I informed the Ester that I wanted to spend around $500.00. (I figured alterations would cost me an arm and leg soooo I wanted to keep the price of the dress down). Anyway, the problem that I had was that she kept on bring in dresses marked at $5,000, $3,000, and $2,500. The dresses that were around my range were in horrible condition as were most of the dresses that were samples. In the end, I was stuck between two dresses. The one I loved was a halter for $950.00 and a strapless for $1,200. I then asked if I could speak with alteration to fin dout how much it would cost to get each dress altered. The lady from alterations informed me that the first dress ($950.00) would cost me a total close to $400.00. She kept on saying since I was sooo small chested that I would have to take EVERYTHING IN! Now for the $1200 dress she said it wouldn't cost me anymore than 75 bucks because all they had to do was do the seam of the bottom of the dress. (The dress is corseted up the back so... we didn't need to do anything with that.) So, I went with the 1200 buck dress.

Now, a month before the wedding when coming back for alterations another young bride was in the salon looking for her wedding dress. Since we were right next to each other I overheard her say that she only wanted to spend $1,000 on her dress. An hour later of trying dresses on, she was going back into the dressing room with one of the girls that came with her and said , I quote, "I just CANT afford these dresses! The last four dresses were close to $7,000! I love this dress but, I can't afford $3,000." At the end of my time at Mary Me Bridal my alteration cost came to $350.00. When the alterations lady handed me the bill she couldn't even look me in the face. I was so angry! We paid it because we had no other choice. 

I found a beautiful dress with them BUT, I could have found it at another salon easily! This was a horrible experience! I wouldn't EVER send my family and friends to this place! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!

FANTASTIC Job!!! Seriously... worth the money! I got her from my best friend ... Berit did her makeup for her wedding! I had her do my makeup for my engagement shots as a test run and was sold. For that session I went more natural but, for the wedding I wanted to pop. SHE WAS TOTALLY on the ball! Berit also really worked with me in putting together the day of the wedding schedule! With her assistant and her working hard they finished four of my bridesmaids, my Mom, and myself ALL before noon! :D How awesome is that! Also, she really stays within a reasonable price range.

I plan on going back to her for makeup tips and if I have to do another photo session with my photographer (D2 Photography!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DX6MNMamgI

I HATED my experience with Mary Me Bridal! I didn't really want to go dress shopping and was NOT looking forward to shopping for it. I have just heard soooo many horror stories. Anyway, when walking into the shop they took me in to the dressing room. I informed the Ester that I wanted to spend around $500.00. (I figured alterations would cost me an arm and leg soooo I wanted to keep the price of the dress down). Anyway, the problem that I had was that she kept on bring in dresses marked at $5,000, $3,000, and $2,500. The dresses that were around my range were in horrible condition as were most of the dresses that were samples. In the end, I was stuck between two dresses. The one I loved was a halter for $950.00 and a strapless for $1,200. I then asked if I could speak with alteration to fin dout how much it would cost to get each dress altered. The lady from alterations informed me that the first dress ($950.00) would cost me a total close to $400.00. She kept on saying since I was sooo small chested that I would have to take EVERYTHING IN! Now for the $1200 dress she said it wouldn't cost me anymore than 75 bucks because all they had to do was do the seam of the bottom of the dress. (The dress is corseted up the back so... we didn't need to do anything with that.) So, I went with the 1200 buck dress.

Now, a month before the wedding when coming back for alterations another young bride was in the salon looking for her wedding dress. Since we were right next to each other I overheard her say that she only wanted to spend $1,000 on her dress. An hour later of trying dresses on, she was going back into the dressing room with one of the girls that came with her and said , I quote, "I just CANT afford these dresses! The last four dresses were close to $7,000! I love this dress but, I can't afford $3,000." At the end of my time at Mary Me Bridal my alteration cost came to $350.00. When the alterations lady handed me the bill she couldn't even look me in the face. I was so angry! We paid it because we had no other choice.

I found a beautiful dress with them BUT, I could have found it at another salon easily! This was a horrible experience! I wouldn't EVER send my family and friends to this place! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!

YES... YES... YES! THEY ARE FANTASTIC!!! Oh, my gosh! I am seriously one of their BIGGEST FANS!!! I can't say enough how much I enjoyed working with DeeDee, Tiffanie, and Tim! THEY REALLY ARE A BRIDES DREAM PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM!!! They are beyond organized, communication is superb (emails,telephone, and text messages), and they put you at ease right away. They also are understanding when it comes to weddings and budgets! If I had to do my wedding again (ask about their insurance policy) I wouldn't use ANY OTHER TEAM! We got our engagement shot proofs back in three days and our wedding proofs were up about two weeks AFTER the wedding (WE HAD SOOO MANY SHOTS TO PICK FROM -- around 1,400! ). If you can't afford an album right away ... you can ALWAYS go back to DeeDee! Plus, who can argue with a photographer that just got an award for being "The Knot .com's BEST of 2009's wedding photographers.

http://www.d2photoblog.com/?p=2889

Now... to top it off... just got awarded "Inland Empire Wedding Photographer of the Year" AND "Inland Empire Professional Photographer of the year." (2009)

JUST MEET with her and you will be sold!

Also, as a thank you to DeeDee and her team I created a montage of her work! Enjoy and trust me ... you CAN'T GO WRONG with D2 Photography capturing your most IMPORTANT DAY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DX6MNMamgI