Pictures are worth the proverbial thousand words, so check out the photos of my bridesmaids and flower girl in their Jenny Yoo dresses in my bio.

Jenny Yoo did such an amazing job on the bridesmaid dresses for my wedding--every single one of them turned out gorgeous, and the ginger dupioni silk was perfect as a fresh neutral against the vibrant greens of our outdoor wedding and reception. I was also impressed by how flattering a color it was on each of my bridesmaids, and their skin tones ran quite a range.

Most of all I loved the individuality that each of my bridesmaids was able to express by choosing her own style from such an array of cuts, and yet they all looked so harmonious together. The quality of the fabrics and construction is impeccable--these are clearly dresses made to be worn again and again. I am tempted to get my own floor-length dress in ginger just to keep on hand for formal occasions--that's how much I loved those dresses and the color. The only difficulty would be choosing just one style!

Also, my flower girl loved her Jenny Yoo dress, too, and it fit perfectly and has such a timeless elegance. I love how it harmonized with the bridesmaids' dresses but also let her stand out in her special role.

And finally, their service was great--it made such a big difference to me knowing I was working with people who really care, and they even helped make sure the dresses got to me in time to send on to my bridesmaids who live in England. It was also great that my friend who lives in Manhattan was able to try on and pick up her dress there, and my friend who lives in L.A. got to work with the Beverly Hills store directly, too--I was very impressed by the coordination between the locations and how seamless it all was to me as a customer. I couldn't be happier with my decision to choose Jenny Yoo for our bridesmaids dresses, and of course I will be recommending them to all of my friends as they get engaged.

I adored my Vera Wang gown--it was so flowy, light and comfortable I could wear it all day (and did on the wedding day--and felt like I was dressed in air, practically!). The quality of the fabrics, each of the five layers that made up my gown, is incredible. Depending on the season her designs can get a bit editorial and extreme, but if you find one that speaks to you, I think it is worth the splurge.

We had an excellent experience working with Saks for my husband's tuxedo. After falling in love with a Zegna tuxedo at Wilkes Bashford, we strolled over to Saks where it was a few hundred dollars less expensive, so we bought it on the spot. Their tailoring service is great and when I insisted on a few more extreme alterations to the fit (to make it a bit slimmer and more European in the body) they happily complied through two more fittings at no extra charge. My husband loves it, we got a great deal, and we are now devoted customers of Saks--the service all-around was excellent.

We had an excellent experience with the Men's Wearhouse and worked with their San Francisco, Market Street location. They were very helpful and easy to deal with throughout the process, even giving us a great deal with a coupon we hadn't used when we initially signed up when we called about it a few days later. They also managed to coordinate our very complicated order pretty flawlessly. We had groomsmen all over the Bay Area, one in Manhattan as well as a brother in Las Vegas and dads in Utah and New Mexico! Everyone was able to get measured and pick up their tuxes at their local store with no problem, and then drop them off here in California after the wedding. The tuxes looked incredible (see the photos in my bio--only my husband was not wearing a Men's Wearhouse rental) and I couldn't be happier.

Since my husband bought his own tuxedo they let us apply the "rent 5 get one free" deal to one of the fathers instead, which was also impressive and flexible. Five stars from us!

Alyssa did my hair and makeup for my wedding, as well as hair-only for my mom and my five bridesmaids. She was great during the hair and makeup trial and looked at the photos I had brought and did an amazing job creating exactly the look I was going for (you can see pics in my bio of both the trial and day-of hair and make-up). On the day of the wedding she arrived at the girls' suite right on time and was amazingly fast and efficient getting everyone done. She even got done ahead of schedule!

Most important, she did a great job--I was so happy with how my makeup and hair looked, and my bridesmaids as well. She used mineral makeup that had a great, glowy look and it all stayed put throughout the day with no worry or fuss. I think I only reapplied lipstick once the whole day and it looked great in all the photos nevertheless!

It's A Date is based out of The Powder Room salon in Santa Rosa, which is a really cute little salon. If you are getting married in the wine country I would highly recommend checking out the talented ladies of It's a Date--Alyssa has my eternal gratitude for making me feel like a movie star on my wedding day.

We attended their wedding workshop, which was very helpful in teaching the basics of the foxtrot and the swing--the two most popular first dances for weddings. It was great for my fiance, who has no dance training, to learn the basic steps in a group setting. We then had three private lessons with Rose and one with Heather (while Rose was on vacation), and we LOVED them both as teachers.

The private lessons were invaluable and they helped us come up with the perfect dance for the song we chose and the space we decided to use for our first dance (a fairly narrow section of paved path next to the cocktail/dinner orchard at our venue--odd but it worked perfectly!). At the last minute, about three weeks before the wedding, we switched songs to another foxtrot song that was meaningful to us (though a big longer than our original choice) and Heather quickly came up with a perfect new ending for the dance.

My new husband was never very excited about dance before we went to Metronome, but now I could see us going to swing classes in the future--that's how good and encouraging the teachers are! I would highly recommend Metronome to anyone in SF who is thinking about taking dance lessons before their wedding.

I would also highly recommend taking dance lessons as wedding preparation in general, as it gave me and my fiance a chance to connect and do some "fun" wedding prep during the busy run-up to our wedding, in addition to giving us both the confidence that we'd have a great first dance.

In the end, the dance was a smash hit at the wedding and we both had a blast with the lessons and practicing beforehand.

We booked the Golden Gate String Quartet through their booking coordinator, Su Buchignani, for our wedding and they were amazing, from start to finish. They are such a talented group of musicians, each with an amazing resume of professional engagements, which shows you that you are in good and experienced hands. They were also suprisingly affordable, and I think that having them a part of our wedding was some of the best money we spent, overall.

They played for our ceremony, cocktails and dinner, and our guests all raved about them--their repertoire is so diverse and extensive, the classical they played for our prelude music was gorgeous, and then we switched things up with the 20's/30's-style caberet tunes during cocktails which were amazingly arranged and fun.

Su is even an accomplished "strolling violinist" and led our guests Pied Piper-style from the ceremony location to cocktails, which many guests told us was a magical way to move from one segment of the celebration to the next. Our whole wedding was outdoors, and the quartet played amazingly and tirelessly despite a freezing and unexpected temperature-drop right at sunset. I couldn't believe their dedication and professionalism. They just kept playing beautifully right through dinner, as even our guests shivered, layered on jackets and warmed up by the gas heaters.

Su is incredibly responsive and professional, and also just a very positive and encouraging person who clearly lives and breathes music--she has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of every genre we discussed with her. We had a few calls with her to discuss music choices along the way, and my fiance always remarked after each call that "Su is the best!"--she inspires such confidence that the event will be a success. And it was!

She works with you to suggest and then help you choose the right songs for your processional/recessional in the ceremony and then the type of songs to create the mood you are aiming for in any other segments (like cocktails/dinner).

I can't recommend Su and the Golden Gate String Quartet highly enough--they are incredibly talented and professional.

Su Buchignani is the booking coordinator(and also violist/violinist) for the Golden Gate String Quartet as well as a few other ensembles (from duos up to a small orchestra with a lovely vocalist). We booked Su and the Golden Gate String Quartet for our wedding and they were amazing, from start to finish. They were also suprisingly affordable, and I think that having them a part of our wedding was some of the best money we spent, overall.

They played for our ceremony, cocktails and dinner, and our guests all raved about them. Su is even an accomplished "strolling violinist" and led our guests Pied Piper-style from the ceremony location to cocktails, which many guests told us was a magical way to move from one segment of the celebration to the next. Our whole wedding was outdoors, and the quartet played amazingly and tirelessly despite a freezing and unexpected temperature-drop right at sunset. I couldn't believe their dedication and professionalism. They just kept playing beautifully right through dinner, as even our guests shivered, layered on jackets and warmed up by the gas heaters.

Su is incredibly responsive and professional, and also just a very positive and encouraging person who clearly lives and breathes music--she has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of every genre we discussed with her. We had a few calls with her to discuss music choices along the way, and my fiance always remarked after each call that "Su is the best!"--she inspires such confidence that the event will be a success. And it was!

She works with you to suggest and then help you choose the right songs for your processional/recessional in the ceremony and then the type of songs to create the mood you are aiming for in any other segments (like cocktails/dinner).

I can't recommend Su and the Golden Gate String Quartet highly enough--they are incredibly talented and professional.

This place has hands-down the best cupcakes I've ever tried. Ever. I get them whenever I need a treat, and they are a personal obsession, of sorts. I discovered them at Ritual Roasters coffee shop on Valencia in SF, which carries them, and soon I had to find out how to get them direct from the source, as Ritual sells out of them as soon as they get them in their bakery display, usually!

So when I decided to serve cupcakes as a midnight snack for our wedding, I knew they had to come from here. Their "snow-cap" cupcakes are classic yellow cupcakes with a white buttercream frosting--simple, gorgeous, and perfect to serve at your wedding. They will also work with you for a custom order if you want something different. But I don't think you can improve on the perfection of their snow-caps.

They don't deliver, but did box the cupcakes up nicely for the wedding (it was a huge order of 120) and everything was prompt and ready for pick-up. They don't charge any kind of "wedding mark-up" either--the cupcakes are an incredible deal at $1.90 each, plus I got a 10% discount for placing such a large order.

Our guests LOVED the cupcakes--and the staff at our venue were all asking where they could get them, too. Huge success--can't recommend this place highly enough.

They also do cakes and other desserts, which I haven't tried many of (being a cupcake fanatic) but are a general working bakery and not pitched specifically toward weddings, which I love. It means you'll likely get a much better deal!

We met Amy from Peculiar Pair Press at a Four Seasons wedding show and she actually found us our wedding venue, and is generally just a super helpful and nice person. Needless to say, she is also a very talented designer and her website speaks for itself--their invitations are to-die-for.

If money is no object, you can't get better than to meet with Peculiar Pair, as they consistently create hands-down the most creative and just plain beautiful wedding stationery I have ever seen. They are constantly being featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, if that is any indication of their talent.

We met with Amy one-on-one for a custom consult and she was extremely professional and was a lot of fun to work with during our one-hour meet-up to discuss ideas and pricing.

I can only take off one star for the price--we decided not to use them due to the sheer cost of their custom invites, after we had already splurged on our photographer! In the end we designed our invites ourselves, which was a LOT of work, but I can't recommend this pair highly enough--if we had had the budget, this is definitely who we would have chosen to design our invites and other stationery.