Ceremony - St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort - Pacific Lawn A+++
Cocktail Reception – St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort – North Botanical Lawn – A+++
Reception - St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort - Club 19 A+++

Our first catering manager was Michelle Dueck at the St. Regis. A year before our wedding day she left to go work for another hotel. While the St. Regis was trying to find a replacement we were referred to Andrew Volkmann to answer any questions we had. He was very attentive and very professional with any questions asked. We ultimately ended up with Shelly Wakefield who is the Sr. Catering Manager as our on site coordinator. She was very responsive and helpful with any of the questions or requests we had. Our menu tasting at the hotel was held in the Motif restaurant and was very impressive. We had 4 different servers serving us throughout the entire time! The Pacific Lawn and Club 19 both have site fees and ALL site locations have a food and beverage minimum. Overall we were very happy with the service, the food and execution of our wedding from the St. Regis. What I loved about our bridal suite was we had a butler just for our room and we had chocolates delivered every night and upon arrival to our suite there was a variety of cheese and wine in my room. What came in handy too was we had our dresses steamed for free. They definitely showed why they are the only hotel in CA to get the 5 star MOBIL Award.












































Rehearsal Dinner - Savannah Steak and Chop House A+++

This place was recommended to us by our wedding planner Lisa. We initially had our rehearsal dinner set at the Salt Creek Grill in Dana Point and had a $100 deposit to reserve the Garden Room. After hearing about their food poisoning we weren’t too excited about having our rehearsal dinner there so we lost $100 and chose Savannah’s instead. Luckily Savannah’s had room for us! We loved that we were $1000 under budget from what we paid at Savannah’s!




Rehearsal Dinner Dress – BCBG, South Coast Plaza

I knew I wanted to wear white/cream so I looked everywhere and found it at BCBG. Love their dresses.




Wedding Dress - Monique Lhuillier @ South Coast Plaza Saks Fifth Avenue A+++

I tried on a million dresses! I knew I wanted all lace from the beginning but I am so picky with the type of lace on the dress but knew I wanted an A-line cut. I have been in love with Monique Lhuillier’s dresses since I’ve been engaged (2004) but I was just shocked how expensive her dresses were. So I looked at Paloma Blanca, Lazaro, Rivini, Melissa Sweet, Lian Carlo and Carolina Herrera and Vera Wang. After actively searching for 2 straight months I gave in and bought my dream dress. Luckily she released her Spring 07 line right before it was too late for me to order for my July 07 wedding. I was able to change the lace and bolero on the actual dress to make the entire thing what I had imagined to wear on my wedding day I was very happy. I couldn’t have done it without the help and guidance LOL from my bridal consultant Tina at Saks who I worked with for 2 months to find the perfect dress. From this day on I still love with my wedding dress. =)


















Dress Preservation – Margaret's Cleaners - Newport Beach, CA A+++

I was referred to them by the Saks Bridal salon and was very particular when I parted with my wedding dress. I left them the bolero, sash and dress and they were all preserved after 1 month. I was told it was going to take 3-5 months but mine was ready in 1 month and was pleased with their service and preservation.


Brides Shoes - Manolo Blahnik & Judith Lieber A+++

I love love shoes. Manolo is one of my favorite shoe designers because of his designs and how comfortable his shoes are. I found these shoes at Barneys New York in Beverly Hills. I loved my wedding shoes but at the week of my wedding while browsing through South Coast Plaza I happen to end up at Judith Lieber and found another shoe I had to wear so I changed to the party shoe for the reception which was perfect!






Groom - Hugo Boss A+++

Saks Fifth Avenue is now our favorite department store since I found my dream wedding dress here and my hubby also found his suit here as well. There was a certain type of tan color that we were looking for and we found it at the Hugo Boss section in the mens department at South Coast Plaza . It was the perfect fit and we were able to keep it at the store until our wedding.




Groom Shoes - Ermenegildo Zegna A+++

My hubby likes Salvatore but we could not find the right color the season prior to our wedding. He also wanted the monk shoe look for his shoes so he was pretty picky with finding his wedding shoes LOL. We finally found it at Zegna in Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.


Engagement Ring - Sue & Ferris Designs
Wedding Bands - Tiffany & Co & Cartier

We bought my wedding band at the T&CO in NYC!
We bought his wedding band at the Cartier boutique in Las Vegas Caesars Palace.








Wedding Day Jewelry - Mikimoto A+++
These were gifts from my mom and my husband. My pearl necklace from my husband is amazing since there is one strand of diamond in the middle and we plan on adding another diamond strand every month that we are married.






Bridesmaids Dress – Jim Hjelm A+++

I brought my girls to a bridal salon to get an idea of what bridesmaid dresses are out there. All I told them was my colors were tiffany blue, white and silver and that I wanted the dresses to be long. They found this Jim Hjelm JH5628 and I absolutely loved the chiffon material and the color. This dress retails for $250 in the bridal salons but I ordered them through Pearls Place and got a steal for $150/dress. The dresses came in three months which was the time given to me when I placed the order.





Groomsmen Suit – Suit Fellas A+++

I was really picky about the color of the suit. It had to be DARK chocolate brown and we found them at Suit Fellas. They were very helpful and had a variety of sizes for everyone.






Ring Bearer Suit - Ebay Seller – ?? A+++

I’m sorry but I completely forgot who I bought the suit from. I remember searching everywhere for a dark brown chocolate suit for a little boy and ebay answered my prayers! It was a perfect fit on him and all I had to do was buy the tie to match the groomsmen. I remember I got the suit in 2 days and it was new as described on the auction.



Flower Girls - Northridge Mall Little Angels A+++

I brought my two flower girls to this store since they outgrew the dress I bought them a few months before my wedding. So we went to the Northridge Mall in hopes to find a dress. The size 2 and 6 were not in stock but were ordered and it came just before our wedding day. I had the sashes made by Mahtab to match our wedding colors and it turned out even more beautiful. The two year old was nowhere to be found during pics but my photographer caught a shot of her as she tried to go down the stairs! Super cute!






Photographer - Crandall Photography – A+++

We first saw Larry’s work at the design studio of Square Root. His style was just so different to the other photographers books at Square Root. We loved his wedding albums which he created and copyrighted himself – White Glove Books. We met with 10 photographers ranging from $3k-$25k for their lowest packages. We loved Larry’s personality and his photography style so we worked with him in regards to getting what we want for photography. We gave him a list of must take pics but he missed some of them so he was kind enough to do a shoot to get the ring shots that we wanted. Most of the pictures in my married bio are taken by Larry. A few were taken by my friends during our wedding but a majority is our professional pictures. Our wedding is featured under St. Regis in his website!




Photographer for OC E-Pics – Tony Florez – D

When we initially first met Tony during our search for a wedding photographer we really enjoyed his energy and thought he might bring something out of us during our epic session at the beach which is why we opted out of our wedding photographer and chose him for our epic session in California. We paid $300 which I thought was a steal only to find out that is just for the 1-1 1/2 hour session and does not include any rights or prints from the session. I think that he missed the part of telling us that he charges $200/picture (even if its not a print) or $2,000+ for the whole CD. After seeing what the pictures looked like we did not even like at least 1 of the pictures he took. I think the fact that a lot was posed versus the natural actions we had when we had our session with Willi Wong made the difference. He guaranteed that it will be a fun session and that we would get really great shots from our session - WRONG. I think he is totally overpriced and overrated! I didn’t give him an F since I think it’s my fault too for not asking him what does the $300 include.


Hair & Make Up – Carina Lindgren A+++

I wish I met Carina earlier since I absolutely loved the make up she did on me for our OC epic session. Unfortunately I had booked Joyce already and Carina was actually booked to do the other bride getting married at the St. Regis. I think Carina is very talented and super super sweet! I totally recommend her 100%! I wish I can have her do my make up every day! Here’s a link of the pics she took in her website.
http://www.beautifulbride.us/carina/gallery.asp?BrideID=103&PictureGalleryID=719&GalleryID=3






Photographer for NYC E-Pics - Willi Wong A+++

I found Willi Wong through a knottie in the July 2007 board and I am so happy and felt so lucky to have him as our photographer. We even considered him to be another shooter for our wedding but he was asking for too much. But this guy works so hard to get the good shots and is so photojournalistic. We loved our 500 pictures we took all over NYC from Central Park all the way to Times Square. He really satisfied our expectations and we were able to display some of his work at our wedding by turning them into photo canvases.


Videographer - Blue Skies Cinema A+++

Videography was not a priority on our list but after going through tons of videographers demo’s Blue Skies Cinema took our breath away. On the day of our wedding they were the ones to arrive first and they scoped out the ceremony and reception area. I think my husband saw them set up and he mentioned they had 6 cameras in total working. We ended up with three videographers but it is a husband and wife team and they were awesome. We received our video and absolutely love it! It definitely summed up the story of our wedding and they captured every little detail we had at our wedding! It took them 7 months to get our video even if the contract stated 6 months. Im not really complaining since they gave us extra copies of the DVD for being 1 month late. Jeff was really professional and was nice enough to give us the rough footage of our wedding. I was definitely happy with the movie they created of our wedding! They are definitely one of the best in the wedding video industry.








Hair & Make Up – Joyce Luck & Team A+++

I was not happy with my first hair and make up trial since I wasn’t really sure if I wanted my hair up or down during the wedding. I guess Joyce figured I was really unhappy she gave me another trial and I was definitely happier with my updo. I was very happy the day of the wedding and the team that she brought to do H&M for my bridal party and family. I was worried since other knotties have mentioned that Joyce arrives late! She was actually early for my wedding and her assistant arrived on time to do the first girl so I highly recommend her. Joyce only did my hair and make up and my mom’s make up. The rest of the girls were done by her talented assistants.









Groom’s Hair – St.Regis Vogue Salon A+++

Super convenient for my hubby and I wanted him to feel pampered like me so he got his hair gelled and fixed by the St.Regis Vogue Salon.

String Quintet - DaCapo Players A+++

The DaCapo Players are definitely a high end string quintet but they are also the best. We listened to a few sample CD’s from other companies and we loved their sound the best. My husband had them learn our first dance song for my walk down the aisle and sad to say I don’t remember it since I was so into the moment and it was hitting me that I was getting married. My husband mentioned to me that their rendition of After All by Peter Cetera and Cher was just magical. I really can’t wait to get my video!





Officiant - Father Brian Delvaux A+++

Even though Father Brian mispronounced one of our names he was absolutely an awesome offciant. His delivery of our ceremony was exactly how we discussed and he was very responsive and flexible with any changes we needed to make last minute. He was also nice enough to proof read our ceremony program prior to printing to ensure that the readings and the order of the ceremony is what we had discussed. We went through the couples class with him and discussed our differences and what we needed to strenghten in our relationship to ensure a happy marriage. We loved Father Brian that we decided to invite him to our actual wedding celebration and he danced with our family and friends. We heard nothing but good things from our family and friends as well about Father Brian!




Wedding Planner - Lisa Simpson Weddings A+++

I was totally opposed to hiring a wedding planner since this is my wedding and why would I want to have someone plan it for me. So when I booked the St. Regis I was told I had to hire a wedding planner. So I contacted a few that was on the St. Regis list and some of them I felt right away that they were snooty so I didn’t bother setting up an appointment to come meet with them. As soon as I spoke to Lisa on the phone I felt an instant connection and she seemed to be an organized type of person. At the time I hired her I didn’t have that many vendors to deal with but by the time our wedding came along we had quite a few vendors and she took care of everything 2 months prior to my wedding. I only hired her for 2 months since that is what the St. Regis requires and I am so glad that the St. Regis requires hiring a planner. I did not worry about ANYTHING the day of my wedding. I enjoyed every minute of my wedding to the point that I had to get dragged out by my own husband since the wedding was over. Lisa executed our wedding the way I had envisioned and everything went perfect and smooth and I have her and my wonderful vendors to thank for a perfect day!




Florist - Square Root Designs A+++

I was actually tipped off by knottie du2be to meet with Square Root. They were the first vendor that we met and from the minute we met with Jeff I knew there was a connection and that he knew what our vision was for our wedding. He sketched us what he was planning on doing for our wedding and without a doubt we wanted to book him right away. We were told that they do multiple weddings each day but I insisted on booking early since I knew my wedding date was going to be popular. Im so glad I did since I did not worry a thing about the details for the flowers. I left that detail to Square Root and they definitely put our imagination into reality. I did not care what type of white flowers they used as long as there was a lot! I just absolutely love their work.






















Decor - Finishing Touch Designs A+++

We did not want to get married in a ballroom since it was too cliché for weddings so we chose the Club 19 at the St. Regis since it had a partial ocean view and the Monarch Golf Course view. It was the best decision I let my husband make since I absolutely loved our reception location. It was away from the hotel so it felt like we were in our separate area. What we didn’t like about the Club 19 is the Golf Club restaurant feeling. We wanted an elegant wedding so we hired Doug to help us create an elegant feeling for the Club 19. I love the draping and lighting they did and we were very happy with their work and how they worked with the St. Regis rather than me worrying about the details.







DJ - Peter Papadopolous A+++

Peter knows his audience. We told him we liked r&b and rap and he mentioned to us that he likes to mix it up with oldies in the beginning to get everyone on the dance floor and played the rest of the songs we like by the end of the night. Below are some shots of the night!









Chivari Chairs - Chivari Chair Rentals A+++

Steven from Chivari Chair Rentals was very easy to deal with. I told him what I wanted but at the time I booked him I wasn’t sure of how many guests we were having so he was very flexible with changing the number of chairs ordered for the wedding as the wedding got closer. The chairs did not have any chips or visible scratches so I was very happy with going through him for chivaris. We paid $9/ chair versus the $13/chair that Square Root was charging us. =)



Photobooth - Red Cheese A+++

This was the best idea ever!!!!! I had to convince my husband to have this at our wedding and he was so thankful to me that we did it LOL. We had so much fun in the booth and have so many funny pics including a pic of our DJ, St. Regis servers and the bartender. It was so hilarious!!!! Im sure they didn’t know we were getting a copy of all the pictures taken in the photo booth. I wish every wedding we go to would have these LOL








Wedding Guestbook – My Publisher A+++

We used our e-pics for our wedding guestbook and left blank pages on the opposite side for our guests to put their photobooth pics. It’s definitely a nice cocktail table book at our house. It’s a nice reminder of how much fun everyone had at our wedding!




Ice Luge - Carving Ice A+++

We dealt with Michaelynn at Carving Ice. It was so easy dealing with them and I just gave them our logo and they were able to laser it into the ice so it matches the font throughout the entire wedding. It was awesome.






Wedding Coasters – www.foryourparty.com A+++

I ordered these on this website and was referred to by knottie modernbrideoc. I absolutely loved them!



Dance Floor - Bob Callendar A+++

I looked everywhere for this guys contact info since he is the ONLY one in the industry that does seemless floors in white or black. It was very easy dealing with Bob and they came at the right time to set up and take down.





Wedding Cake & Mini Cakes - St. Regis Monarch Beach - Stephan Treand A++

I gave Stephan the design of my dress because I wanted it replicated on my cake. It wasn’t as close as I wanted to the lace portion of my dress but I can’t be really picky on this since it was all done by hand. I was shocked how BIG our mini cakes turned out and it was a definite shock to our guests that they were getting mini cakes on top of the dessert they were getting from dinner.













Monogram Chocolate Favors - Luisa's Chocolatiere A+++

We met Luisa at one of the bridal shows in OC and that’s where I found my husband most of the time….eating her chocolate. We decided to get our monogram on her chocolate to include in the tiffany box favor already with Tiffany Colored and white M&M’s on the bottom. Luisa is one of the sweetest lady I’ve met throughout the wedding process and she just loves loves loves what she does for a living. We also had her make our chocolates from our rehearsal dinner that we gave out to each attendee. It was a chocolate truffle with tiffany blue coloring outside. I was shocked since I didn’t know she was doing the coloring on the outside for us. Since I didn’t want to deal with putting the favors together the night before our wedding we paid her to put the tags and assemble the chocolates in the boxes (ordered from Sophie’s Favors) We love her!









Cake Topper - Toppers with Glitz A+++

Sari was easy to work with. I told her my wedding colors and she took care of the rest. I believe the whole process took a month or so depending on how busy she was and she sent our cake toppers via USPS. I was very happy with the way our topper looked on our cake!!!




First Dance Lesson – OC Wedding Dance – Sara Swallow A+++

We took two dance lessons from Sara and practiced for about an hour or 2 when we got home. It was really fun since my hubby couldn’t get it right away so we would practice over and over when we got home. I don’t think taking multiple lessons is the key, I think practicing together at your own pace is the key =)

Personalized Water Bottles & Tags - Serendipity Designs A+++

Stacia was a great find on the knot! I am very very picky with a lot of stuff and was really afraid to use someone from the knot due to previous experience. I was very happy with the tags and water labels she made for me. They didn’t smear at all during the wedding and I made her match the motif that I had for my invites and everything else personalized in our wedding.








Wedding Invitations – Aquafuzion - C

I had to work VERY VERY close with Debbie and Sandy for my invitations. Since my initial consultation with them was over a year before my wedding, by the time it was ready to design my invitations my whole vision totally changed so I felt like they were not in the same page with me. I will not give them credit for designing my invitations since I basically did it other than the corner motifs of my invitation. They did not help me at all pick the colors to see what matches the best. The only thing they did for me from scratch was my save the dates which I liked so I was hopeful when I got to designing my invitations. Some of the things I was not happy with them were:

1). The initial design of my invitations looked like a kindergartner did it. The fonts used were so ugly!!!!!!!!!! I was furious when I first saw the mock up of my invites. It lacked what I told them I wanted which was elegance.
2). The print job they did on my directions card - the white thermography didnt turn out as good as I thought but they still ran the entire job. If you just took a second to look at it you can see that you can barely read the white print. They never communicated to me that issue until I got my invitations!
3). The inserts on my invitations were cut slanted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I basically spent 5 hours at Kinkos to fix this issue!
4). I told them the information that I wanted in the directions card but they NEVER told me how small the card will be. The directions card was hardly readable since there was so much information in there. They should have warned me that putting that much information in there would result to that.
5). Same issue here with small print. The programs were so small since the squished everything in 4 pages when I would have paid extra to have an extra page so the writing wouldnt look so small.

The only reason why I am not giving them an F is we had straightened out all the issues I had with them. They are very very nice people but if I had to pick a place to get my invitations done I wouldn't pick them again. They mentioned how much money they lost because of the stuff I had them redo but at the end of the day IT WAS THEIR FAULT! they had to redo the print jobs. I would have had them redo my programs but it was too late already since my wedding was that week! This was my only nightmare vendor!


Invitation Envelopments – Anna Griffin
I ordered these at http://www.renaissancewritings.com. They were the cheapest I found for the 5x7 Anna Griffin – Repousse Opal

Ribbon – Tiffany Blue
I was able to find these at Michaels and I love the color since its really close to the Tiffany Blue color.

Crystals
I ordered these at www.artbeads.com.

Invitation Box
I ordered these at www.papermart.com.

Shrink Wrap Machine and Shrink wrap bags
I ordered on ebay. I don’t remember who the seller was but I ordered it from a company.












Getaway Bags – Papermart A+++

I didn’t realize that Papermart was in Los Angeles so it made it even more convenient for me to find the right size and the right color for the gift bags and cookie containers. I ordered the boxes for my invitations from here and I decided to look into their other products when we decided to do the getaway favor bags. It was very reasonably priced for the quality of paper and containers that they have.









Bouquet Preservation – Nature's Beauty A+++

I was referred to Marianne by Lisa my wedding coordinator since this was a last minute decision. I did not research different companies so I had to rely on my wedding coordinator. I was so happy with the way my bouquet turned out since by the end of the night the gardenias were turning yellow. The way it was preserved looked like the way I first saw it on my wedding day and I absolutely love the way it turned out! She is located about 5-10 minutes from the St. Regis so I was able to drop it off the next day! She offered to pick it up but my wedding ended at midnight and completely forgot all about it. I was able to customize the box that it comes in as well and Marianne worked with me in getting the closest background color to my wedding colors! She was awesome!