Hello Ladies, We got married this past Saturday, July 25 and I thought I would share my vendor reviews with you all before we leave for our HM! 1) Reception Hall: La Mesa Community Center--Arbor View Room [url]
http://tinyurl.com/knetfw[/url] La Mesa CC met all of our needs--high ceilings, AC, built in dance floor, tables and chairs including set up. Joan was great to work with, always pleasant and very helpful in recommending how to set up the room. You get the room for 8 hours of actual reception time, but can start setting up as early as 9am. You can use any caterer, as well as bring in your own alcohol. You just have to pay for the alcohol permit. For an extra fee, you can also have your ceremony there with a lovely outdoor set up. (Our ceremony was at our church, but we saw the set up for an outdoor wedding when we first looked at the venue). Grade: A 2) Linen Rental: Forever Memories (La Mesa) Isabel at Forever Memories was great to work with. She had done a number of events at La Mesa CC, so she has chair covers that fit perfectly (the chairs there are a slightly different shape than most). Her prices are outstanding ($7.50 for a floor length round tablecloth, including the topper) and set up is free if you rent 100 chair covers or more. They will also come back and take down the linens for a small fee. The tables and chairs were beautifully done when we arrived for the reception and they were prompt to arrive for take down. Grade: A 3) Caterer: West Coast Catering [url]
http://westcoastcater.com/catering.html[/url] I actually have SDJuneBride08 to thank for this. When I first began posting on here, she recommended them in a post. I couldn't have been happier with Olga and her staff. The food was absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced. We got so many compliments about the food and MIL, who can be very picky, wants to use them for her birthday bash in Oct. West Coast also supplied our bartender who was outstanding and went above and beyond. Grade: A+ 4) Cake: Twiggs Bakery [url]
http://tinyurl.com/lmxsr3[/url] We actually did a Cupcake Tree instead of a traditional cake. Dan and his staff were excellent to work with and the red velvet cupcakes we got were scrumptious. I was so happy that there were leftovers to bring home at the end of the night! Grade: A 5) Photographer: Briana with Storybook Photography [url]
http://tinyurl.com/6gopwv[/url] I cannot say enough about Briana. She is another vendor that I found from a recommendation by a Knottie on this board. Our engagement pictures turned out amazing and I cannot wait to see our wedding photos. Briana went above and beyond, including helping me carry the train of my dress at one point when my BMs went MIA to helping instruct us on how to hold the cake knife to do the cutting. She listened to our input on photos that we wanted to be sure to get after the ceremony, but was also great at giving us direction, especially with the more creative, non-posed shots. Her packages are extremely reasonable, especially considering all that is included. Grade: A++ 6) Flowers: Wholesale Flowers [url]
http://tinyurl.com/lk3rs2[/url] We had two separate orders with them. One for a bulk order for my DIY centerpieces and BM bouquets and the other for the bridal bouquet, corsages and bouts, which they arranged. Both orders turned out great. My bridal bouquet was even more beautiful than the picture on they had on the website. They also allowed me to have two separate people pick up the orders at two different times. Grade: A 7) Wedding Gown/Tuxes: A Nite on the Town [url]
http://tinyurl.com/lnxj9t[/url] I bought my wedding dress here over a year before the wedding and happened to be in the store on one of the busiest prom shopping days of the year. Even though the store was packed with high schoolers, Stephanie gave me her full attention and made sure I got full access to the mirrors each time I came out in a dress. I got a beautiful Maggie Sottero dress at an amazing price, off-the-rack. The guys also received a percentage off of their tuxes because I had bought my dress there. Everyone had a great experience here. Grade: A 8) Hair/Makeup: Teresa Piazza [url]
http://www.sdbridalhair.com/index.html[/url] I had a great experience with Teresa from my hair trial to my wedding day. She is very easy going and I was at ease with her at once. She was open to suggestions but was also good at giving recommendations on what would look best on me. She arrived promptly at my hotel on my wedding day and my makeup and hair turned out exactly as I wanted it. I received so many comments on how beautiful my hair and makeup looked. Grade: A+ 9) DJ: Elite Party DJ [url]
http://tinyurl.com/mjetls[/url] If I could redo any of my vendors, this would probably be the one. While his prices were very reasonable, we were dissatisified with his performance. He forgot the lighting for our reception and didn't play all of the songs we had on our "must play" list (we only had 8). Even though we specified that most of our crowd would be older (50-65), he played songs mostly directed at the younger crowd, with very few slow songs. While people still got up and danced, many of the older folks were deterred by the music. Grade: C Thanks ladies for all of your help and recommendations and I hope my recommendations can help you. Best of luck to those of you with your weddings still to come!