My DOC recommended Annie to me - makeup was probably the hardest/most intimidating thing for me to research. She is very good with communication, and such a sweet person. When I had my trial with her, I felt very comfortable with her. I had initially asked for a smoky eye, but after seeing it on myself, I realized it wasn't for me. Well, Annie re-did my eye makeup on the spot, and it made all the difference in the world. She then told me that since I'd decided I wanted a more natural look, she would alter the color palette used for the day-of to be a softer look.

The thing that impressed me most about Annie is her professionalism and her genuine desire to make sure you are completely happy. When I emailed her to ask if I could book a second trial to try out the softer palette, and with some other makeup questions, she offered to do the second trial on the house.

I'll update after my second trial and the big day, but I am extremely happy with Annie so far! I have received impeccable service from her.

Joeleen is amazing! We tasted at Torrance and Rossmoor before, and while they were good, we weren't completely happy. As soon as we walked in I knew we'd found our cake! You can tell right away that she genuinely loves her job. Joeleen was super friendly and creative - as soon as she saw our monogram, she was able to design our dream cake. It was everything I wanted - and at a VERY reasonable price!

As for the cakes - wow - I almost devoured the whole plate by myself! We sampled six different flavors, all very distinct, and they were all amazing. The cake is moist, the fillings are tasty, and I especially like the fact that she has tons of choices - definitely not your standard wedding cake. She can also provide the flowers for the cake, which made things easier - no need to coordinate between baker and florist.

I can't say enough good things about her! I'm so excited to see our cake on the big day!

We just had our cake tasting with Rossmoor today; I must admit I was a bit wary due to some of the negative reviews on here. I can see why some people refer to this place as a wedding cake factory; it's very clear that they do a ton of orders and cakes are probably cranked out a lot faster/efficiently than a mom and pop bakery. With that said, they do seem to be very good at cakes; they're all immaculately decorated and the consultation was very well-organized.

However, if you're looking for a more personal experience with a vendor, this is probably not the best place for you. Our consultant wasn't rude, but I got the impression she just wanted us to make our selections so she could get us out of there. The meeting felt a bit rushed - she wanted us to decide on everything on the spot so she could draw up the quote, and that was a little uncomfortable (like having someone stare at you while you eat - just feels funny). Their cakes tasted fine - not quite as fluffy as Torrance Bakery, but still pretty good. I wanted a fresh strawberry filling, and was a bit sad that it added so much to the price. If we were to stick with one of their package cakes, I think it'd be quite reasonably priced. One other thing, though - if you'd like your cake baked same-day; you should probably go with another bakery, as they told us the cakes were baked a couple days in advance due the volume of their orders.

We probably won't go with them, but depending on your cake needs, they're not a bad choice.

We just had our tasting with Torrance Bakery and it was great! Melissa was very helpful, patient and friendly during the consultation; she answered all of our questions with ease.

We really liked the white cake with fresh strawberry/french white cream and the marble cake with fudge filling. Melissa even gave us extra samples to take home once my fiance pointed out that I'd annihilated the fresh strawberry sample they gave us. My parents also really liked the white cake with lemon filling. Their price quote was extremely reasonable for a custom three-tier cake for 100 people - even my dad looked pleased.

They're definitely in the running! Three more cake appointments to go!

We weren't able to make one of Jamaica's cake consultation times, so she prepared a sample pack of cakes, frostings, and fillings for us. That was awesome and so convenient. Jamaica is super nice to correspond with over email, and responds quickly. When we picked up the cake sample, the bakery staff was very nice and helpful as well. Unfortunately we didn't fall in love with any of the cakes we tried - many of them were too dense (we're having a morning wedding, so we wanted something lighter). However, their lemon pound cake was wonderful, and I enjoyed some of their fresh fruit fillings.

Mariposa's was the third store I visited. The staff was very nice and helpful, and the layout of the store is nice too, so you don't feel overcrowded when looking through all of their dresses. I wanted to show my friends a dress I had tried on last week at La Soie, and it was $550 cheaper at Mariposa!!!

Sandra was really helpful and even brought out dresses from their back room once she started to get a feel for my taste. I would definitely recommend Mariposa Boutique - very pleasant experience.

Jaclyn's Bridal was the first place I went to try on wedding gowns. It was a very pleasant experience. The store is a little smaller, so their selection of gowns is limited, but the ladies who worked there were very nice and helpful. Some of the samples were a bit dingy, but overall the store was clean and cozy.

I loved my experience at La Soie! It was the second place I've gone dress shopping. I've been there twice so far - I initially was eyeing Pronovias Diamante, and they didn't have the dress in the store that day (they have another location in Torrance), so they offered to let me come back the next day to try it on.

The girls who helped me, Sheena and Esther, were genuinely nice and very patient. I was initially a bit scared off of bridal dress shopping in general after reading so many negative reviews for places, but it was great here. The store itself is very spacious and clean, and the dressing rooms are very large and attractive. The samples are in very nice condition, and they have huge selection, which was fantastic. They're also very flexible about how many dresses you can try on (I tried about 10, but they told me some people try on over 25-30), and they were very nice about letting my family take pictures and giving us style names/designers of dresses, along with prices. Awesome service.

I ended up falling in love with a dress from Enzoani's Blue line, instead of the initial Pronovias. I'll update when I make my final decision, but I'm 90% sure I'll buy my dress here.

UPDATE: I ended up ordering my dress from Mariposa as they had the same one for $550 cheaper - but the service here was great!

We were referred to Reverend Schneider by FI's best friend. We met with him and he was so nice and personable to chat with - he even remembered FI's best friend's wedding! His rates are very reasonable and he is extremely flexible with the ceremony - we wanted a non-denominational ceremony, so he is perfect for us. I'll update this after the wedding.

We booked Tom Chandler to deejay our wedding next year. He seemed very professional and prepared when he met with us. He drove out to meet us, which was really nice too. He has very reasonable prices and seems very laid back, not cheesy at all. I'll update this after my wedding.