Vendor Reviews!

Primary Vendors:

Brides By Liza
Item: Wedding Dress and Veil
Price: $2000 (dress) + $200 (veil) + Tax
Rating: 5/5

There aren't enough nice words to describe Liza, Ani and the rest of her team. Not only is she an amazing designer and seamstress, she's a wonderful, warm person and she always made me feel comfortable and beautiful as she designed and made my wedding dress. As you know, I am NOT an easy person to fit and her team really worked magic to put my gown together. Her staff was easy to work with, friendly and efficient and I would never have had a dress that fit me so perfectly if it hadn't been for her. She also has the uncanny ability to look at you and know what dress would be perfect, I went in looking for something completely different than what I walked out with and Liza was right.  She knew what I wanted better than I was able to dream or articulate and in between sharing stories of her boys and making me feel like part of the family she created my perfect dress. She also worked with my family on our budget and was able to custom make both my dress and my veil for what we could afford. Yes, she seems a little pricey compared to a budget department store wedding dress but she's not making a dress that will fit a million different women, she's making a dress that's perfect for you.

Friar Tux

Item: Groom & Groomsmen's Suits

Price: $153.60 with tax per suit

Rating: 5/5

We decided pretty early on that we wanted E and the guys to be in grey suits instead of black ones. We were having an early spring wedding and even though it was at night, black just felt too dark for our celebration. Grey suits can be tricky to find but luckily, Friar Tux had a gorgeous for purchase only grey suit available for less than the cost of their grey rental tux. We worked primarily with the West LA/Santa Monica store and would highly recommend their manager Becky. She worked with our groomsmen spread out all over the country, comped our shoe rentals and a shirt rental when one of our shirts was sold out and offered to comp our ties. Becky knew their product line well and she knew the suit well enough to let us know we needed to order a smaller size for some groomsmen than they wear in a street size suit.  The suit was nice quality and after a little tailoring looked absolutely fabulous on all our guys, regardless of their height, weight and body type. 

Rabbi Stan Levy

Item: Marriage Services

Price: $1200 standard fee

Rating: 5/5

From the beginning, the one part of our wedding we were absolutely sure about was Rabbi Stan. He's been our family rabbi for years at our temple and my family has always felt very close to him. Unlike some rabbis, Stan is uniquely modern. The guy has a great sense of humor, a refreshing perspective on Jewish tradition and he's much more lenient than some rabbis. In one of the many pre-wedding meetings we had, he once interpreted the sabbath for us as instructions to light some candles, have a romantic dinner and make love to your spouse. He was willing to marry us on a Saturday night before sundown, didn't object to our non-kosher Italian food and gave a beautiful wedding service that was perfectly us. Even though he knew us through temple, he took the time to get to know us as a couple so that his service would be more meaningful to us and he encouraged us to change up our vows until they felt more personal. He was supportive of whatever changes we wanted to make, both to the service and our vows and as far as we're concerned he's the best rabbi around, even our photographers said he was awesome!

Crazy Cakes By Design
Item: Wedding Cake
Price: $500 + $40 delivery
Rating: 5/5

E, our best man J and I visited a LOT of bakeries to find the best wedding cake. We went to big bakeries, small bakeries, famous bakeries and one personal baker who amazingly had not only the best prices but the absolute best tasting cake hands down. Her cakes were moist and flavorful with a smooth springy texture unlike any other wedding cake we tasted. When we went to her tasting she had different cake flavors and different fillings made fresh so we could mix and match and pick our favorites instead of having pre-prepared cake slices. She let us customize our design and flavors so we got exactly what we wanted how we wanted it. She even let us pick flavors not on her official list so I could have my mocha cake and eat it too. She was a pleasure to work with and the quality of her cakes far surpassed any other bakery, big or small.

Ohana Photographers

Item: Photography - Engagement, Wedding, Day After

Price: $4,061.81 (package with tax) + $700 (overtime) + $125 (extra engagement album spreads)

Rating: 5/5 

Oh man, I don't even know how to begin writing a review for Ohana Photographers! From the beginning E and I knew that our photography was the most important aspect of our wedding and we agonized over who we should hire to shoot our big day. It took approximately 2.5 seconds of looking at Ohana's amazing gallery to know we wanted to meet with them and just a few short minutes into our client meeting we knew they were perfect for us. We were a little hesitant to book without David for our wedding but that was before we knew how awesome April and Kim are!

We went with their complete package, an engagement session with album, wedding day coverage with a couple extra hours and album and a day after session. From the beginning, they went above and beyond to make our photos the best they could be, including being open to all our crazy ideas and suggesting even better ones. They were in constant contact and helped us pick out props, suggesting new ones when they saw links we'd like. They even brought extra props for our engagement session, taking the time to get to know us so that everything would reflect us both individually and together. After looking at our engagement album, several people have remarked that it somehow reflects us perfectly.

Which brings us to their albums. We've only received our engagement album thus far but it is absolutely breathtaking. The photos really pop on the smooth, high quality paper and the finish on the cover feels lovely to the touch. They laid the images out perfectly and we're really happy we added some extra pages. We can't wait to order our wedding album next and we'd love to order one of their gorgeous canvases if we could find room in our budget.

In addition to their amazing talent, David, Kim, April (and Nely!) have incredible creativity and could always see the potential in a shot that others might have overlooked. They were both fun and professional, a rare combination, and we trusted them completely with out photographic memories. They never made things awkward or weird when we were posing, the poses never felt stiff or forced and we laughed our way through most of them.  We would recommend them to anyone and everyone and hope that everyone's experience with them is as wonderful as ours was.

Cruise Party Rentals

Item: Rentals - Tents, Tables, Chairs, Linens, Dinnerware

Price: $3500

Rating: 2/5

Cruise Party Rentals was a difficult vendor to work with. We went with them because the company was owned by the friend of a family friend and sadly I would not recommend them. After some trouble contacting them, their initial consultation was great, the guys seemed really knowledgeable and I felt comfortable getting all my rentals from them. After that though we had a lot of problems. They were very hard to get ahold from via phone or email, claimed to have sent me emails that I never received and never allowed me to finalize a contract. They were really nice when you got them on the phone and were willing to give us a sizable discount because of our friend but in the end it wasn't worth the hassle. They brought the wrong items the day of, set up our tent incorrectly and claimed they didn't have enough clear sidewall for us to have all clear walls even though it was in our contract. They took my step mother in law's box of zip ties without asking and never brought them back. On tear down day, they were upset that my Step dad in law had moved the side walls they'd put up incorrectly and ended up breaking many of the globes on my globe lights when they took them down. We also have many boxes of supplies missing that I suspect they might have taken by accident when they tore down the tent. I feel bad giving any vendor a bad review, especially them since they were really friendly, but the service was just not something I would feel comfortable recommending. 

San Diego Partytime DJs

Item: DJ and MC - Ceremony and Reception

Price: $800

Rating: 5/5

We love, love, loved our DJ Greg from San Diego Partytime DJs. The first time we contacted him it was obvious our personalities were a match and not only did he give us an excellent quote, he advised us to shop around and meet with a few other DJs on the property before making a decision. Once we met with him, he helped us map out our set up and gave us access to his company's online planning tools which were a terrific help. He was in constant contact with us up until the wedding, set up quickly and efficiently and helped us with all last minute changes and goofs. He even stepped in and helped pour champagne and clear plates when it was clear that our caterers were in trouble and he helped get our party going even though a good portion of guests had to leave early. He was really a gem among all the DJs we looked at and we would recommend him in a heart beat. 

Food Team and All Team Staffing

Item: Staff

Price: 25 per hour - $799.26 total

Rating: 5/5

San Diego service staff really came through for us on the day of the wedding. I had booked them last minute a week before our big day and then cancelled them 2 days later when G said he was hiring his own people. I was really uncomfortable canceling reliable, insured people in favor of uninsured people I didn't know and wasn't entirely sure would show up. When I let their director Scott know, he gave me his work number to call if we needed staff before noon and his personal cell number in case we needed staff after the office closed at noon. Predictably, G fired all his staff the day of and Scott came through with 4 wonderful staff members who parked cars, shuttled people, set up, tore down, and did anything else we needed. Our wedding would not have come together had Scott not gotten people to us so quickly. I would definitely recommend them and will share Scott's contact info if anyone wants it.  

Fresco Grill

Item: Appetizers and Dinner

Price: ~$3000

Rating: 4/5

Unfortunately, we had a bit of a disaster with out catering during our reception. All the copies of the food by person lists I had made had somehow been thrown out and no one remembered what they ordered. This means that everyone's food was delayed, served at different times and wasn't as hot as it could have been. I actually missed my favorite songs because I was inside the house handwriting food lists so he could serve people. Why then did I still give them a four? Despite all the food mix ups and problems, the actual meals themselves were Excellent. We had the goat cheese ravioli, chicken parmesan and grilled salmon and each option was fabulous. The owner Leone and his manager Francesco were wonderful through the planning stages and had we gone with their usual plan of serving everyone the same food we probably wouldn't have had problems. Their staff was professional and held it together even as the service unravelled and I'm not sure anyone would have been served without them. I would definitely recommend them as a caterer but ONLY if you are serving each guest the same option. That said, I think everyone would like that anyway since they were all so yummy. 

Jennifer Raichman's Etsy Shop 

Item: Ketubah and Ringblock

Price: $160 + $42 + $25 shipping

Rating: 5/5

Jen was so, so, so patient with us while we were picking out our ketubah! There are a lot of different ketubah companies out there but if you look around you'll find that most are selling the same ketubahs from the same handful of artists. E and I really wanted something different, more unique, less traditional and stuffy and more us. After amassing a huge collection of ketubah images that neither E nor I liked very much, I stumbled on Jen's etsy store and totally fell in love. Her designs are original and fresh and her new paper cutting projects that she's collaborating on with an Isralie artist are breathtaking. We had a really tough time picking our color and sent emails and snail mail back and forth with Jen who didn't charge us for samples and patiently waited it out while we changed our minds 3457346573453 times. Her designs are beautiful and affordable, she was a joy to work with and we would absolutely recommend her. 

Other Vendors: 

Especially Brides

Item: Flower girl head bands

Price: $36.00 + $5.95 shipping - $9.00 discount

Rating: 5/5

We ordered two jeweled flower girl headbands and one junior bridesmaids headband from Especially Brides and could not have been happier with the customer service we got from them. I originally ordered three of the same headband and mentioned in my order that they were for a 6, 8 and 11 year old. A few hours later they had sent me an email saying that the headband I ordered was too big for the little girls and offered me the opportunity to change my order. They also sent me photos of other headbands that would work, one of which was perfect for my two special little girls. In addition to letting me change my order to the smaller headband, they matched the price of the original headband which was a few dollars cheaper than the new ones AND got them to me with time to spare. There are very few companies out there with this level of customer service and I am exceptionally glad that I found them.

Enid Traisman's Etsy Shop

Item: Wedding Shards Mezuzzah

Price: $45 + $4.95 shipping

Rating: 5/5

There aren't too many different things you can do with the broken glass from your Jewish wedding, but E and I did not want to throw ours out or keep them on a shelf. After a little research, we found Enid on Etsy and have just sent her glass shards from the glass we broke and one of our beloved mason jars.

After Receiving our Mezuzzah: We absolutely loved working with Enid!!! Not only did she make us a gorgeous mezuzzah, she also made us a photo frame from our mason jar glass AND included an acrylic holder for us at no extra charge! When the post office was less the gentle with our package and our mezuzzah ended up breaking en route to us, Enid was able to fuse it back together and send it back to us, again at no extra charge! Enid is one of those really fantastic artists who not only creates beautiful pieces but also goes the extra mile in customer service :) We'd highly recommend her to everyone!