Aquafuzion

(Sorry this is a long review. Broken down by service)

Day of Coordination (5 plus stars)
Sandy and Debbie did an AMAZING job on the day of. They very professionally and deftly dealt with all our vendors, meddling parents and all the details of the day. I made the decision to be completely removed from any planning or stress the day of, and Sandy and Debbie made that possible. They had to deal with two different venues needing to be set up in a short time and a few unknowns about the decor of the reception that were totally out of our control. In the days leading up to the day, their office did all the confirmations with the vendors and kept us informed along the way.
We originally picked them mainly because they were bilingual - English and Chinese. And it was probably some of the best money we spent on the wedding. I would have been willing to pay upto 50% more for that service.

Rentals - 4 stars
Chair Covers)
Looked fine, fit the chairs well and were affordable. For ease of cost calculations, it was nice that transportation was all included.

Design and Decor (3 stars)
This was an extra service we added on because we were apprehensive about our ceremony site being functional. We definately needed some help but I think we expected more from it. I didn't feel that Aquafuzion was able to adapt that well to the differences in my asetthic to theirs. In the consult they ask what your vision of the wedding is. I'll admit I gave a pretty generic one because I didn't really know when we did the consult, but I think my lack of enthusiasm for their original design should have been the tip-off that I wanted something a little different from what they envisioned. To that effect I did not feel like they were listening to my feedback. It almost felt like if I didn't like what they handed me then I was on my own. I think some of these intial issues can be chalked up to us learning how to communicate with each other. With this service the burden of communication felt completely on me. Basically if I didn't ask for it, they didn't respond. This was a bit frustrating because part of why we paid for this service is because we weren't sure what we needed. In the end, I'm okay with how the decor turned out, but I think it had the potential to be more.

Invitations (4 stars for the printing and service, 2 stars for the design)
This is a sore spot for me. I have to preface this by saying we were working on a really short timeline so that didn't have time to really spend talking through things, and I am very picky about graphic design and should have warned Sandy about that. Also we had certain criterea about wanting to minize paper use, recycled paper etc, that we said we were not willing to budge on. They didn't have much experience in this realm.

To fit our paper saving requirement Sandy ended up giving us a seal-n-send layout that we both LOVED, but the love stopped there. The first proof we got was totally unexpected. I know that's why there are three proofs, but it was disappointing. We ended up with something that I'm happy with, but I put in a lot more work into than I wanted. We originally hired them for all the stationary because I didn't want to do it. I'm handy enough with graphic design programs that I knew I could have done it, but I didn't want to spend the time and thought a professional could do it much better. In the end we ended up working together on thigns and getting products that we liked, but as with the design service I felt like the difference in asethic made it that she wasn't able to help very much.

Sevice wise I have to say Sandy and Debbie went above and beyond their call of duty. Because the printing on some of the block color did not come consistent (we were warned about this so it was okay), they gave us extras of items. Also the guest list never got settled, so she was making nametags up until the day of. We were really appreciative of her flexibility.

Even with all these problems I would have still hired them to do our stationary. I will say they do a great job with the the more traditional romantic look but since we had a more comtemporary look in mind, we'd probably only hire them for printing. Their printing for all the items was good. We liked the finished look.

After getting rid of our first wedding planner, we needed to look for another one. With 3 months before our wedding, I was freaking out! I mean, we had learned our lesson. We needed to find someone with a lot of experience and actually know what they’re doing. After a few interviews with many wedding planners, we finally hired Sandy Liang, from Aquafuzion. She was a lifesaver. She picked up where my ex-wedding planner left off right away. She was very flexible, responsible, smart, and amazing. Her price was very reasonable too. She also helped me design our wedding program, menu, and place cards in 1 week within a reasonable price. The design was so beautiful. Especially the menu, I loved it so much. On my wedding day, she was so helpful and everything went so smoothly. I just woke up and just worried about being beautiful the whole day and not worrying about anything else. I don’t even know what was happening outside. That’s how good she was. She can handle every single thing. The first time I saw my ceremony and reception, I was so happy. She did all the decorating and planning. Whenever I need her, she came right away and solved the problem right away. I heard some very good compliments from my guests about her too. At the end of the night, I was a little too drunk. She even took me to our honeymoon suite and checked everything before she left, making sure everything was alright. She was just too thoughtful and sweet. The next day morning, we got her email about what happened behind the scenes. A couple days after the wedding, she even called to check on us. My husband and I have no regrets hiring Sandy. She made our wedding beautiful, as she planned and gave us a very memorable wedding. Sandy, we only have one word for you, INCREDIBLE!

CAKE (5 stars):
AquaFuzion provided the cake for my wedding. Their cakes are provided by a baker who works at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Southern California. A tasting was included after we signed the contract. The tasting went really well. Though I didn't meet the actual baker, Debbie and Sandy were very attentive to my feedback.

On the wedding cake, they coordinated delivery (they were also my wedding coordinators) and everything went smoothly. The cake was beautiful! We got a 3-tier cake for 150 people. The top & middle tiers were chocolate with vanilla custard filling. The bottom tier was vanilla sponge cake with mocha rum filling. The cake was gorgeous and delicious! I only wish I could have eaten more of it!

http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/nonpro/reception04.jpg

FLOWERS (4 stars):
The flowers were absolutely gorgeous! I pretty much knew what I wanted in terms of flowers but Debbie and Sandy had some creative and wonderful ideas too. They never shot down my ideas like some other florists I met with. They're very open to your ideas and making them work well together. They do charge for sample centerpieces and bouquets though. On the day of the wedding, almost everything was exactly as I wanted and the centerpieces and bouquets actually looked BETTER than the samples! The only thing that was not perfect was that the aisle runner was shorter than we agreed on. The day after the wedding Debbie e-mailed me to apologize about it, even though I didn't mention it. She said her staff brought the wrong aisle runner and she was so busy overseeing the setup of the reception and coordinating my helpers that she didn't see the aisle runner until guests were already seated and the ceremony was about to start so she had no time to improvise. This was the only thing that didn't go according to plan and NONE of my guests noticed. DH tells me it wasn't a big deal but I'm a perfectionist so I was disappointed. However, I still more than recommend her services. Everything went SO well and I still hear from my guests on how beautiful everything was! I know that a lot more could have gone wrong and these things happen.

http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/propics/bouquets.jpg
http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/propics/pomanders.jpg
http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/propics/aisledecor.jpg
http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/nonpro/reception01.jpg
http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/propics/centerpiece.jpg

COORDINATOR (4 stars):
Everything went SO smoothly the day of the wedding but I think Debbie may have been a little bit overwhelmed by doing coordination and floral services since I had a lot of flowers. My helpers and DH had a hard time locating her before the ceremony because she was setting up the reception. The day after the wedding, Debbie sent me a detailed e-mail about what she was doing on the day of my wedding. It was helpful for me to understand what was going on throughout the day. I know she wasn't slacking and was genuinely doing as much as she could. The incident before the ceremony was the only problem that came up. I still highly recommend her services!

INVITATIONS (4 stars):

I absolutely LOVE my invitations! They did a great job in making it look exactly like the sample I gave them from another company that wanted to charge a lot more $$$ plus I was able to have the writing thermographed! The only problem that came up was that she gave me 100 envelopes, instead of 175 envelopes, on accident. When I told her, she mailed out the extra envelopes to me immediately so she was very fast in fixing the problem. Debbie was really flexible. She even let me change something right before the invitations were about to be printed and let me add printing the addresses on my RSVP envelopes after my initial order. I would totally recommend her to anyone! If you are DIYing your invitations, AquaFuzion also will print your invitations for you in thermography.

http://ladyrebecca.com/wedding/bio/invitationset.jpg

CHAIR COVERS (5 stars):
My chair covers were exactly as I wanted them! When we had our walkthrough at Westlake Village Inn to discuss flowers, she brought a sample chair cover with her so I got to see it in the reception room on the actual chairs. It was really cool. Everything went perfectly smooth the day of the wedding for rentals.

I received all of my rentals from Aquafuzion and I was kind of disapointed. They came highly recommended and Debbie was very nice. However they were a little bit pushy about getting their money right away and we had already put down a huge deposit. The prices were pretty good but they seemed to change from one moment to the next. My biggest complaint was on the day of the wedding, they showed up almost two hours after they said they would. My coordinator and I made it very clear that we could not set anything up until they got there. She assured me that they would come extra early so that they would have plenty of time to set up. Needless to say they didnt. She got there so late and only brought two guys to help set up for 200 people! My coordinator was so stressed, she even told some of my bridesmaids that she may need them to help set up because it set us back so much. I can't say I would recommend them.

General:
Aquafuzion’s prices are very reasonable. Do not be afraid to negotiate with them and let them know what your budget is. They aren’t dirt cheap, but they also aren’t super chic celebrity-type vendors.

Communication with Aquafuzion was very easy through email and phone. I am the type of person who lives on the computer and they are wonderful to communicate with over email.

Florist (Aquafuzion) : A-
I don’t know if it’s fair for me to grade this as an A-. I asked for minimal flowers, because my budget was very small. And I got pretty minimal flowers. The bouquets were beautiful and I was very happy with those. I was just not particularly thrilled with the gazebo decorations. It was just pretty minimal. I guess, I got what I paid for and shouldn’t complain.

Invitations (Aquafuzion): A-
The invites were fine. I figured out what sort of design I wanted, and Debbie made that happen. My only complaint is that all the paper stationery didn’t exactly match. It was apparent to me that they have an stock of paper and envelopes, and they use from their existing stock as well as ordering new ones. So some of my RSVP cards had a slightly different texture from my invitations.

Day of Coordination (Aquafuzion): A++
The money I spent on the coordination was the best money spent! If you’re on the fence about hiring a coordinator, I highly recommend getting one. Debbie was fantastic that day. She kept everything running like clock work. Debbie didn’t treat this as just her job, but she sincerely cared about us.

Reception Lanterns (Aquafuzion) : B+
The reception decor didn't turn out quite as I imagined. When we went for the run-through at the site, I asked Debbie if they would hang the lanterns at different heights. She said since the ceiling was low, that might not work. But instead, she suggested differently sized lanterns. So I agreed to that. However, on the wedding day, I saw neither different heights nor different sizes.

MC (Aquafuzion) : A
Sandy made announcements for me in Chinese (Mandarin). I asked for just very simple announcements. I wasn’t asking her to run a big show; and she delivered just what I wanted. I originally wanted someone to make announcements in both Chinese and English. Sandy’s Mandarin is perfect (native speaker), but her English isn’t (non-native speaker). So, it turned out that my DJ ended up making some of the English announcements. By the way, Sandy does not normally MC.

Cake (Aquafuzion) : A
The cake wasn’t as pretty as I imagined or hoped. Aquafuzion didn’t do anything particularly wrong; they followed my specifications. So I would give the cake an A- for its appearance. However, I’d give an A+ for its taste. The taste was just perfect. Hence, the cake grade averages out to an A.

Videographer (Aquafuzion) : B-
We were tired of researching and interviewing, so when it came to the videographer, we just went with Aquafuzion. They offered many wedding services, so without much research we just booked them for video. Overall, we weren't very happy with the video. The good thing about them is that they are quick. It took them about 5-6 weeks. We got the video and immediately noticed that there was no menu and then as we went through the video, I realized that they didn't put the songs I provided and there were songs on it that I didn't recognize at all. I've contacted them about these complaints, and I hope that they will do something about it. At the wedding, they only used one camera (which is fine, given the price we paid). However, for the reception, the camera was at one spot the entire night. That meant everything for the reception was shot from the exact same angle. Also the ceremony was more or less shot from one angle as well. Overall, I wish we did the research for finding a videographer.

I liked their designs, and they had a fast turnaround given my time constraint. They are a bit pricey though.

Flowers and bouquet:
When I walked through the ballroom, I had tears in my eyes. The flowers were EXACTLY what I had asked for. The set up was beautiful! To be honest though, when I saw my bouquet, it’s not that I didn’t like it, but I was expecting something else so I was disappointed. HOWEVER, when I put my dress on and held the bouquet, I couldn’t have been more pleased!

Chair covers and centerpiece stands:
Chair covers and centerpiece stands were awesome. All exactly what I wanted!!

Invitations:
We ordered wedding invitations from Aquafuzion and they turned out beautifully. We had a problem with the pre-printed envelopes and Debbie took care of it right away!

I had originally contacted Aquafuzion for day of coordination services only. After our initial meeting, I learned that they offered many more services. We signed on with Aquafuzion for the following:

INVITATIONS, PROGRAMS, MENUS, TABLE NUMBERS
Aquafuzion does invitation design in house. The creation process was a little difficult in that we needed our invitations in 3 languages, one of which neither of the team members spoke. but we received many many compliments on our stationary and are so pleased with the way our custom design came out.

CHAIR COVERS
Aquafuzion's chair covers really helped create a cohesive look for the massive ballroom. We weren't going for anything too crazy & what they provided was more than adequate.

LIGHTING
This item made all the difference in the look and feel for our reception. Our room was massive, but they warm glow that the lighting gave off really created a warm feel for our guests. If you have the room in your budget you should definitely explore this option with the girls.

FLOWERS
This was my main item in all the wedding planning. I had a specific look that I wanted for the bouquets and centerpieces. Debbie and her team completely hit the nail on the head here. The flowers for our wedding were absolutely amazing, 100% exactly what I wanted. I thought they were stunning and am so jealous of the people that got to take the centerpieces home.

COORDINATION
This is where I got more than what I paid for. Debbie did an amazing job taking over the reigns in the last couple weeks before the wedding. She and the Aquafuzion team kept us on time, helped everyone figure out where they needed to be and where the guests were seated, diffused any major issues before they found their way to my already stressed out ears. I mean, as far as I know, nothing went wrong at all. They allowed me to actually enjoy my wedding, and I am so thankful for that!

Don't let the other poor reviews scare you off. This company does amazing work for way less than you'd pay somewhere else.