Bio

VENDOR REVIEW
VENUE
Ebell Club Long Beach
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beautiful historical building. Built in 1927, restored in 2003. I am so glad we picked this place to have our wedding. EVERYONE commented how beautiful the place is. It's unique and the building itself is beautiful I didn't have to spend $$$ to decorate the place. I highly recommend this place if you don’t paying parking and day-of-coordination, that are mandatory!(eek!)

DAY OF COORDINATOR
Tara Ferrell of Merrier Events
B
Having a day-of-coordinator at Ebell wedding, again, is MANDATORY. You can either hire your own or use Ebell coordinator. I didn't even look for the other coordination than Ebell had to offer because I figured they'd do the best. While communication throughout the planning was great, I was disappointed what I asked Ebell coordinator Traci had not been passed to Tara, who actually did the day-of-coordinating.(see Shuttle Service’s review for more details). But overall, I'm glad I went with them.

SHUTTLE SERVICE
American Parking
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Having a shuttle service through the American Parking at Ebell wedding is MANDATORY! but they were great to work with. Ebell Coordinator, Traci suggested we use the shuttle to take us, family and BP to a nearest park right after the ceremony, but the shuttle people were not aware of it we wasted about 15 min trying to handle the situation. The whole time we were trying to figure out what's going on, the coordinator was gone preparing for the reception. But once I told the shuttle attendant the situation, they handled it really quickly and drove us to the beach for family photo shooting.

TRANSPORTATION: DIY
My husband's '72 Chevrolet MonteCarlo
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank my husband's dad for giving my husband such a cool car! When my husband got into an accident in his Honda Civic in '03, he got this car from his dad. Although I was thinking of renting a sedan to take us from the Ebell to the hotel first, I re-considered using DH's car. Needless to say, we were able to take SUCH cool pictures with the Monte Carlo. This was one of the best decisions we made too!!!

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Bella Pictures
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I loved them! The coordinator and the photographer and his assistant were all great to work with. I was first somewhat scared of using them because they have such a unique approach. You meet a sales coordinator first then she/he will assign you a photographer the coordinator thinks will fit our needs. Kind of scary, but it worked for me! I was assigned Greg Bumatay and his assistant Danny as a special treat!(I don't know how it happened, but so I got 2 photographers for the price of 1!!!!) Both of them did a great job, they made us comfortable and smile all the time. We even went to take more photos in city lights after the reception and that was the best decision we made!

VIDEOGRAPHER
Young Lee of FireFly Videography
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Booking a videographer was a last minute thing. I wasn't thinking of booking a videographer at all at first mainly because of my budget. But then I remembered how HORRIBLE my dad's videotaping was at the party in Japan, I finally convinced my mom we should get one. I was only looking for somebody, who could do the raw-footage of the day at VERY low price. As my wedding date approaching I was not sure if I could even find anyone, but I got great referrals from L.A. knotties, and that's how I found Young Lee. He is very friendly and he's very quick in responses to my questions I like him a lot already. VERY VERY reasonable price, I'm just so happy:) Can't wait to see my video!

OFFICIANT
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Wheeler of You May Kiss The Bride
I originally asked for Gregg Mohr but he might not be in town on our wedding Mark Wheeler performed our day. Greg helped me build the ceremony we like, and Mark excuted it perfectly. At the end of the ceremony, he handed me our ceremony typed up on a nice paper for us to keep. He was just GREAT, we loved him.

DJ
Tom Chandler of California Sounds
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tom was great. I gave him a couple of songs I want him to play and gave him the idea of the entire music we are looking for, and I led everything up to him pretty much. But I did not have to worry about the music a bit, he did a great job making our wedding fun and got the dance floor going. Great&very organized guy.

CATERING
Jay's Catering
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Although we had a little communication problem at first, they pulled it off. The food was great, and the service was perfect. I went with the most inexpensive package because of my budget, but everything was just delicious! Also, I didn't buy champagne from them because of my budget, but my coordinator, Tamera offered me I could bring my own champagne and serve them to our guests free. I got lucky!

FLORIST
Sue Orfila at "Classic Creations"
Her e-mail address is SueOrfila@aol.com and her website is under construction.
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++(x100)
I absolutely Sue and our flowers! As it says on her business card, she really is a florist for budget brides! I can't believe I got all the flowers under $450. When I first contacted her, she was already booked for another wedding, but offered me I pick up my flowers at her place the day before the wedding, and so I did. Our flowers stayed up really great, you couldn't tell they were made the day before and were stored in an ice chest! She is definately one of my favorite vendors. LOVED HER!!!!

MAKE-UP ARTIST
Sara with M.A.C at Macy's in Fashion Island(MadameYachiyo@aol.com)
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++(x100)
I got Sara's infomation from the beautiful O.C knottie bridetobe0jb. Sara was just great. She is such a busy girl(She's the manager of the store), but she made time for my trial twice and made sure we had what I wanted.
But what surprised me was she showed up on the big day with beautiful Garbera bouquet!!!!! She is just the SWEETEST!!!! My make-up held up ALL NIGHT LONG but my fake lashes stayed beutifully.
All the female guests and bridal party were really amazed how well my makeup held up.

HAIR STYLIST
Kayoko at Kozo Hair Salon in Costa Mesa
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
She has been my hair stylist since I was an international student here. I figured it would be the best to ask a Japanese and somebody, who knows my hair for a long time to do my wedding hair. I gave her only 1 picture of up-do I wanted to do(pic in bio), and she just pulled it off beaufiully. We didn't even have a trial but I trust her all the way I wan't worried a bit. Loved her work!

FIRST DANCE LESSON
Sara Swallow at Orange County Wedding Dance
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I really don't understand what the other knotties were complaining about Sara..because both my husband and I LOVED her! She was Great! We went with 3x30min lessons, but she definately spent a LOT more than that. On our last day, her husband even helped my husband to excute the final dip..and all of our guests were talking about our first dance! Ahhhh Taking lessons with Sara and her husband was one of the BEST decisions we ever made throughout the wedding planning.

WEDDING GOWN & ALTERATION
Castle for Brides
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My dress was perfect on me. Everyone commented how perfect it was for me. Erlinda, who helped me find my dress was such a doll. She wa Very helpful and fun, I had so much fun shopping for my gown. I also asked Janet at the same place for my alteration. You can tell how perfect my gown fit me from the pictures...can't you?

TUX
FRIAR TUX in Costa Mesa
A++++++
I let Tux part all up to my husband. He and his groomsmen loved their tux and they had no problem at all with them. Boys all looked GREAT!

BRIDESMAID DRESS
J Crew
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I just loved how Sophia looked on my bridesmaids. All my girls looked AMAZING! I refused to buy Briddesmaid dress from wedding dress shop because no matter how pretty they are they probably won't be worn ever again. And I think I made the right choice buying the dresses from J.Crew, they are so pretty and wearable they can wear them to about any occasion! My girls loved them too.

Bride's faux fur shawl & BMs' pashmina wraps
Both on ebay
A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My faux shawl is from "elkcreek0mq6" and it was a big hit, everyone loved how it looked on me. It was just perfect when we went to the beach for a photo shoot.
And I got all my BMs silk pashmina wraps in light-beige from the seller "rickierainbow" and my girls LOVED them. There's a really popular pashmina sellers named zenjen, but I went with rickierainbow because of the color I wanted and the price. Absolutely loved their products and service! Highly recommend for pashminas!

WEDDING BANDS
TRECENTI
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Located in Tokyo, Japan. Very friendly and organized. I just LOVE their jewelry. SO PRETTY!!

TIARA
Princess Bride Tiaras
A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I don't remember how I found them, but I l just love the name of the store. lol. They were all out of the tiara I fell in love with, but they got it in stock by the time they promised they would.

DIY TIP
Rose petal: I ordered a 3 different shades of freeze-dried petal sample from FlyBoyNaturals Out of three shades "Bridal White,""Baby Blanket,"and "Lydia Petite Petals," I used "Lydia Petite Petals" for my DIY centerpiece trial. Each sample comes in a small prastic pouch and is approx. 1 cup. FYI just 1 cup was ENOUGH to scatter around the Centerpiece votives thought it's suggested on their website I use 3 cups for centerpieces. HIGHLY recommend to order samples first because the color you see online and in person are different.

Centerpiece: The beaded charger from Japan. After falling in love with the rose floating candle picture from Illumintations, I searched a similar bowl, and I found BLANDA bowl at IKEA for $1.99/each! Votives are from Walmart, I think it was about $.40 each. I got lacy flower-shaped trim from JOANN and thin pink ribbon from Michaels. Tie the trim around the votives with the ribbon. Make sure you tie the trim tight so that it won't fall off easily. very easy to do!

Candles:all the votive candles are from Cudge.Net, even with the shipping I think you can't go cheaper than Cudge's good quality candles. Shipping was pretty fast too. I got clear tealights from Illuminations and block candles for the alter from Michael's

Table names holder: I bought Gold wire at JOANN. You hold the wire-end with a pliers, bend it and make a form(swirl) around the pliers. There's high chance you don't do good at the first 1 or 2, then you'll get used to making a perfect swirl. Refer to my picture when you bend it. Really this was not the hardest project at all!

Invitation: All the papers from Michaels except envelopes. Using 12x12 pearl pink paper for the base, I cut it in 4 pieces to make four 6x6. I used white cardstock to print out the invitation wording on. Ribbon is from Michaels. It took time more than it'd buying pre-cut cardstock, but this way I saved more money. The font I used are "Brockscript" from da font and "Garamond," which was already in computer.

Favor: I accidentally found the origami box template at a local Japanese bookstore. Although it is VERY(I mean, really!) time-consuming and tiring, I believe it'll be worth my effort. I get asked many times where I get the template from or if I can share it, but unfortunately the template I have is written in Japanese, I really don't have time right now to translate it(I'm really really REALLY sorry I can't be much help) But I know you can find many origami instruction books at Amazon.com or something. Click here for what I found at Amazon.com. FYI, this box takes four 6x6 craft paper to make 1 box. Yes, it's VERY tiring.

Favorite Bio
COrunnerWedding: Aside from the fact her wedding was beautiful, I love the picture of her husband when he saw her for the first time. TOO CUTE!

kertybird: Simply beautiful. Her bio really showed me beautiful weddings can be done without a lot of money spent!