**WineChic**

Jen6862

Hey Girlie,

I know your wedding is coming up so I just wanted to give you a few pointers for La Buena Vida and Jim Lee.

Main issue--confusion about space inside for food. Jim Lee said there wasn't enough because we were going to have the cake inside, so I moved it outside. Then they said  because we were using so many tables for our guest that there weren't enough  to put the food on according to Roxie at LBV so they brought in there own--which we had to pay for--and we had to pay for the linens on the catering table. Apparently that is not a part of their table "decorations" that was on our contract, which was weird. We ended up paying an additional $200. This was all going on the day before the wedding so I was super stressed. And later on noticed extra tables in the bride's room that could have been used. I was very confused!

2nd issue--LBV never gave us our champagne. We were supposed to have 1 free bottle for our table. Never received. But, I'm going to email Roxie.

3rd issue--Confusion about how loud the music could be. But, honestly we went over the noise level and were perfectly fine all night. So don't worry about that if it comes up.

4th issue--Wine. Have a specific person for Roxie to go to if you use all your wine to say how many extra cases to be charged. We had purchased 2, but ended up buying 3 more cases and had nothing left over. We only had 125 people. I guess we had a lot of heavy drinkers.

5th issue--more of an FYI that Roxie really dosn't move things along during the night and I didn't see her very much. Hopefully you have a wedding coordinator to do that. My photographer was the one who actually kept things going and talked to the caterer and DJ when it was time for events.

This all being said... it really was a beautiful night and the venue was great! I hope your wedding is as great as mine. Even with these small kinks it was amazing and the perfect setting. The food was so yummy and catering director was really nice (Mito). And the cake by Ruth was delicious!!!

Another FYI, ask Jim Lee to put together a plate for you to take with you to the hotel! It was delish the next day.

Jen6862

On the other side I should mention Roxie helped me get over a Bridezilla moment and gave me a glass of wine the day we met to set up the table arrangements! We just forgot to talk about the food table arrangements for inside.

winechic25

Oh Jen ~ I was so thinking about you Saturday night!  You had such an incredible day for a wedding.  My fingers are crossed for just as great of weather!  And I was hoping I'd hear from you prior, so thank you for taking the time to give me these comments! 

1)  Glad to hear about the food, we already planned for the cake to be outside, and I had already let Roxie know we needed tables to rent for the food inside, and linens, so I think I'm squared away here.  That said, I have my final meeting with her Friday, so I know to confirm!

2) Back when we booked the space, Haley at the time, was very specific about the fact they placed no role in coordinating the evening, so I specifically hired our DJ and a coordinator to fill those gaps.  And you just confirmed why!  I will now add to my coordinators list to hunt down that champagne before our toast, as it's also included with our contract!  And WOW on the wine...did you serve beer too?
We have 3 cases ordered already, along with beer, but will put our coordinator on that too!

3)  Roxie did mention the noise issue, so gla dto know it was a minor detail.  Whew.

And THRILLED to hear you loved both the food, and the cake, yea!!!
I am SO excited!  And I hope you enjoy your honeymoon...woohoo for newlyweds! 

Kylie

Jen6862

Hi Kylie,

We're waiting a bit on the honeymoon. But, I hope things go smoothly for you. We did have beer and we had 125 guests. So just let your point person know how many cases over your willing to go before you cut guest off. People loved the wine--a few even bought bottles at the end of the night. We had the Tempranillo, the Bombshell Blond, and the bottled Sangria. We also had one order of the frozen 'ritas. We probably spent just over 2,100 on drinks from LBV. Plus about $250 on beer, but we had a couple of cases of beer left over.

Jim Lee also threw in Godiva Shooters at 10 p.m. because we were under the 135 guest we reserved for. But, I had to call them before they ordered the food to get that. People really loved them though.

I'm praying that you have great weather! Let me know if you have anymore questions. Just about all my vendors were awesome so let me know if you still need anything. I'm getting pictures (I hope) on Friday, so I'll shoot them to you as soon as they are in!

-Jennifer