slurpee's reviews

Grade: A

Loan-Lulu is a good friend and a very talented hair and make-up artist. She is amazing at her craft. Her trademark is making eyes "pop" in photographs. Everyone who has booked her for make-up has raved about her technique with eyes.

She blends her colors well, contours faces so that you'll look your best, conceals blemishes, and makes you look and feel beautiful. Loan-Lulu works at MAC, so she primarily uses MAC colors and make-up.

Loan-Lulu was the primary make-up and hair artist for my wedding. She brought along a friend artist, Miriam Adame, to help with hair for the bridesmaids.

Loan-Lulu is easygoing, super sweet, and very skillful. My only caveat was that she was on time for our morning tea ceremony (4am!), but she was 1 hr late for our main western ceremony. I was understanding as she got lost, but it did make me very sad and stressed. I wasn't happy with our hair trial, so she was flexible in changing the style. Instead of putting my hair up, we ended up with half up, half down with extensions. Overall, I was very happy with her work on our wedding day and don't hesitate to recommend her to all our friends/family.

She also did my hair/make-up for my engagement pictures as well as various events/weddings in the past. I love the way she curls hair! She loves working with bold colors, so if you want a softer look like I did for our e-pics, just let her know.

Loan-Lulu is booked most weekends, so catch her early!

My sister, Mimi Nguyen of Mimi Nguyen Photography, has collaborated with Loan-Lulu on many photo sessions, and many of her clients seem to love her! Overall, I highly recommend Loan-Lulu as a hair and make-up artist. She's super talented!

Grade: B+

We had our 2nd bay area reception at Asian Pearl. We had a lot of compliments about the food from our guests. My husband's parents were very pleased with the food as well. Husband and I were just relieved that everyone was happy. :)

We booked the smaller, private room for 11 tables. Actually, I didn't do any of the planning for our bay area reception. I let my MIL take care of the details. The room was pretty tight, but it was nice to have privacy from the main restaurant. Depending on the size of your party, they probably book one side or the other.

The banquet prices were very decent, as it's a relatively new restaurant. The decor was clean and modern. Since hub's mom did most of the planning, we didn't even see the place before booking. The nice bonus that we found out 2 days before our dinner was that the place had 2 flat screen tv monitors and a sound system. Thus, we were able to play our favorite songs and also our Same-Day Edit and wedding video! It took them a good full hour to figure out how to get sound to play on our side of the room though, so it was a bit stressful. Oh, and beware, the floors are a bit slippery when wearing heels!

Service was good throughout our dinner. The wait staff was friendly, helpful and quick.

Our menu:

Assorted Barbeque Platter (good)
Sauteed Conch and Coral Clams in XO Sauce (good)
Shrimp Stuffed Crab Claws (good)
Braised Shark's Fins Soup with Bamboo and Chicken (forgetful)
Braised Abalone with Mushrooms (good)
Crispy Fried Chicken (good)
Stir-fry Lobsters with Ginger and Scallions (i prefer the larger lobsters)
Steamed Live Fish (a bit bland)
Yang Zhou Fried Rice (good)
Dessert (almond cookies were good)

They charge a flat corkage fee per table ($20) and $5 per soda, which is ridiculous because they are usually included at a lot of restaurants here in the OC. So talk to the catering manager and see if you can bring in your own soda.

Overall, if I were looking for a simple Chinese banquet dinner place, this would be a solid choice. The decor was not loud and tacky, so I appreciated that! We stayed very low key for our second reception, and this was a perfect choice. And we got a lot of compliments from guests that the food was good, so whew!

The other venue we were considering was Koi Palace. Beautiful interior but pricey compared to many other restaurants. But had I not had our SoCal reception and I was absolutely stuck with choosing a Chinese restaurant, I would have been fine with Koi Palace. And that says a lot! :P

On a related note, our cousins got married at Yank Sing, and it was very nice. Loved the water focal point, but didn't like that random people would be walking in and out of the wedding. But it's another great choice for a bay area Chinese restaurant.

This review is for Vivian's make-up workshop (May 2009).

Vivian's all-day class was very fun and informative! Highly recommended. She covered how best to contour according to face shapes. She is such a great make-up artist, amazing to watch the transformations!

Her eye make-up techniques are awesome too! Most of her team was there too, so that we got about one MUA for every two workshop attendees.

I use my brush set daily now and spend more time on contouring and eyes.

Vivian completely spoiled us as far as catering too.

The workshop is great for those who have no clue as to how to apply make-up (me!), and semi-pros who just want to refine their skills. :) Pros may find the class more on the basic side.

Grade: A+

For my husband's going-away party, I had Maggiano's cater some Italian food. For about 40 adults and 10 kids, I ordered 1 1/2 trays of bruschetta, 1 1/2 trays of spaghetti (meatball and marinara), 2 trays of chicken linguini pesto, 2 trays of rigatoni d....plus we made spinach and cheese ravioli, caesar salad and broccoli.

Way too much food, but I probably would have ordered the same amount for this size party. Per Maggianos, one large tray feeds about 20. Wow, our guests looooved the food. The two favorites were the chicken linguini pesto and the rigatoni d (yum!). They kept asking who the caterer was, and one couple went online the following weekend to search for a nearby Maggianos where they lived because they loved the pasta that much.

Maggiano's were prompt and their customer service was spectacular. They were very generous to us (awesome discount), and I can't thank them enough for adding delicious food to our event. I added the delivery charge as well (includes set up, utensils, napkins, chaffing trays (sternos) to keep the food warm!). So glad to have had them add those sternos. Made a huge difference with the food quality.

The only entree I didn't love was the spaghetti (the pasta was a bit too hard), but everything else was great. They even brought complimentary bread, olive oil and vinegar.

Would I have them cater another event? You betcha.

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Grade: C+

We held our rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy for approximately 40 people, so this review is for their banquets catering and not the main restaurant. Kim, the banquets/catering manager, was professional and quick to return calls. We booked the outside cafe because our dinner was held on a summer evening. The ambiance was fun and just as we wanted for a rehearsal dinner. The servers were friendly. We ordered from their banquets/catering menu, which includes 2 salads, 2 appetizers, 2 pastas, 2 entrees, and 2 desserts. LOTS of food for the cost per person (~$30 not including tax, tip or drinks). So for your money's worth, it is a great place to hold a big party because you get a lot of food, especially if you like family-style dinners. We liked the rigatoni d chicken pesto, stuffed mushrooms, the DESSERTS (tiramisu and creme brulee).

Just OK, nothing special: the caesar and maggiano's salads, calamari

My gripes were: 1/ the food was a bit on the salty side (lasagna, salmon, chicken parmesan) 2/the food came out very slowly (cooking for large parties on a busy thursday night)

But it was a fun night, and had the food come out more quickly and been less salty, we would have been even happier campers.

Grade: A

Loved our pocketfolds! A+ here. Prices were decent, and I loved the quality and design of the pocketfolds I selected.

However, the backing paper that I later ordered were definitely overpriced. I could have purchased the same for much less.

Also, the pocketfolds I ordered ended up being backordered and I was not informed via e-mail or phone call. Only when I called to check on the order did they let me know. Thus, I had to order two different colors of pocketfolds to make sure invitations were sent out on time. They did express mail the package to me, but I was disappointed about the backorder. Why have it available on the site when there is not enough to order?

On the plus side, the site is easy to use and customer service was decent. I loved our pocketfold invitations. I did not go through mygatsby for printing. Phyllis of Sweet Paper Studio took care of the design and printing, and we attached this card to the backing paper and pocketfold from mygatsby.

Out of the card sites available, mygatsby was among my favorites. Also all fairly priced and loved that I could proof the invitations online! Very easy to use and lots of selection! To keep prices low, they do not have a physical location that is open to the public. So it is not as convenient if you prefer actual locations rather than ordering purely online.

Grade: B

We purchased a white gold and diamond necklace and earring set from NQ Jewellers. The quality is decent, but the styles are not the sleekest and prettiest. They design a lot of their own jewelry and have a bit of a monopoly in the Little Saigon area, because they have stores everywhere (Ngoc Quang). Their sales representatives are rather pushy but friendly, and they must receive commission to urge you so much. But their prices are fair, and when compared to the general jewelry market, a lot of times a great deal! For basic jewelry sets and GIA diamonds, NQ Jewellers is a pretty safe bet. However, for sleeker and cleaner designs, some of the higher end stores or brands would be a better choice. They also sell some of high end brands at the store, so the quality would be the same as they would be anywhere (ordered directly from the manufacturer). Definitely bargain for the best deal possible! Typically, they will offer a slight percentage discount, but research your prices before you head into their stores. They swarm all around you in hopes of making a sale.

Grade: A-

I purchased the groom's Tag Heuer watch at Tick Tock. He loved it! They have nice high end watches and the store is very clean and elegant, even being in the midst of Little Saigon. Research prices and come prepared.

Grade: B+

Full review to come.

Grade: A

We purchased our bridesmaids' gifts through Tiffany and Company. Most girls love receiving blue boxes, and my bridesmaids were no exception. They were very appreciative of their gifts, and two of them expressed that these were their first blue boxes!

Considering I purchased these gifts so far in advance, I only wish Tiffany's had a better return/exchange policy just in case I needed to exchange them for different styles closer to the wedding.

The representative in San Diego was cordial; however, it did take some time for us to receive assistance.

As with all Tiffany items, the necklaces were all simple and beautiful but definitely overpriced for sterling silver. But what we pay for the brand and that coveted blue box...

Grade: A+

Mimi is super talented and has an amazing eye. We are incredibly lucky to have had her for a photographer. We had so much fun at our engagement session - she made us feel very comfortable and guided us when needed (which way to look, what smiles look great, look in a certain way, told us when to fix our hair or clothes...). But for the most part, she let us just have fun together naturally. Mimi is very active when she works - always in and out, up and down to make sure she gets all the shots and different perspectives as well. She takes great action shots!

Mimi truly loves photography, and she is well known among her friends to always have a camera on hand. What stands out most is that she cares immensely about her work and style; thus, every single photograph is an art piece. She has awesome post-editing skills, which I think a lot of photographers lack or don't spend enough time mastering. Mimi will make sure you look your best and that the photograph is perfect (color, framing, retouching...). She has a very spunky personality and makes sure that each of her sessions are unique. Mimi has great attention-to-detail and is very passionate about her work.

A+ and 5 stars all the way!