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This location is just AMAZING. All our guests couldn't believe that this place even existed in Southern California! Family that lived nearby had never seen/heard of it and thought it was just breathtaking.
Despite the rain and its eventual cease when the ceremony started, I think it added to the freshness and beauty of this location. The church has an impressive property and with three additional locations to accommodate all brides, we were lucky to have free reign to photograph and access them on our day.
The church provides so much for its price. It includes a wedding coordinator that helps from rehearsal to your last step off the aisle, decorations for the ceremony (no additional flowers, needed!), chairs, sound equipment, a minister, parasols & water for the guests, a guest book table and easel for your framed photos, changing rooms for both the bride and groom and the beauty of the outdoors!
The staff was great, and really on top of things. My only issue was that since the rain was causing some time restraints (and changes), they were anxious to pack things up. Understandably, to avoid damage to their chairs, equipment, etc. However, we really wanted to get some photos of us sitting in the seats, use the parasols more, etc. but they were leaving and we only had a brief time with them but still were allowed to roam about the property. I don't blame them, really. The weather was dreadful and I can respect their need to close up shop. Just something that made it a little interesting. ;-) Overall, it was perfect and we're so pleased with our choice!
They also provided the minister for our ceremony. His name is Mark Vaughn. What a sweet man, Mark is. We were so blessed when we were assigned to him by the church to preside over our nuptials. Apparently, he's the head of the wedding ministers, and it shows. He's very wise and kind and well versed with the Word. He prepared an amazing ceremony with adding a lot of personal touches from his prior discussions with us. He showed how he truly listened to us and was able to incorporate those details into his sermon and had a great "stage" presence with our guests.
With the rain we had at the wedding (and being outdoors), he even remembered our Washington State connection and that some of our guests were visiting from there! "To our guests visiting from Washington, thank you for bringing the rain." Hee! That's such an internal joke in our inner circle, it's great that he got it! =P
Overall, his words truly touched us and made me tear up several times.
Woodbury Community Park Clubhouse Irvine, California
It was so great to have Nic and his staff on our side as our reception venue. A quaint, yet fully accommodating location, the clubhouse provided an intimate venue for a great price. They include tables and chairs (which we decided not to use) and ask that you do rent the kitchen and courtyard in addition to the reception space. Which makes sense, and we're glad we did.
The staff was extremely helpful and allowed me to visit them on numerous occasions to allow my vendors to check he place out, set up times to survey and determine how we'd set up stuff and just anything I really needed. They gave us so much room to stretch out and do what we wanted (for the most part) and it made us feel comfortable that this would be a great event.
There was a lot more space that I originally thought could occupy the room! An idea of how much space we used for our event:
We had our buffet food tables outside on the courtyard (which would be taken down prior to dancing) and had three 6' foot tables for the head table, nine 60" inch round tables for the guess and four 6' foot tables for beverages, cake, memory and gift table. We also were allowed to put a 6' foot table in the foyer/entry room for our guests to get their place cards and sign our wish tree, and we still had room to spare in the main room! Don't let the emptiness of the room fool you. Everything was perfect!
What an AMAZING staff! I wasn't sure about how things would go since the main contact person for this place is a bit busy, but she assigned a great assistant and crew to handle our wedding and they were just so kind! They served appetizers to our guests, plated me and my husband's food so we didn't have to get up, and insured that everything was fully stocked, supplied and taken care of.
The packages all offer REAL china, glassware, silverware & table linens (which we used as overlays), as well as beverages (fruit punch, lemonade, iced tea) and they had great fees for cake cutting and coffee service. They even cut our fresh strawberries and placed them on each individual cake slice and served it to our guests! All this from one restaurant? Unbelievable!
When all was said and done, they boxed up our CRAZY amount of leftovers in containers for us to take home, left the kitchen IMMACULATE and were incredibly professional and courteous. They even emptied all the trash cans at the venue (!!). So glad we didn't end up with just your average cater! We saved so much!
Oh, and the food! Deeeeelish! Everyone loved the stuffed mushrooms, penne pasta and the yummie apple and Gorgonzola salad.
What can I NOT say about Nataly? She's just fantastic! Her and her husband Art are a great team and come up with some of the most amazing pictures. We had two engagement sessions with them and everything was just brilliant. Nataly has a way at making pictures just POP and the colors are so vivid, it's almost like you're there, looking at the scene before it's photographed. She has an amazing ability to make anyone look fantastic and has a real eye for detail and artistic expression.
She arrived at our reception before the ceremony to take some shots before our guests arrived and everything was photographed to magazine quality. Once at the ceremony and afterwards, she snagged a few shots that I wasn't even aware she was taking! Her editing skills provide a professional and signature appearance that makes it look like you spent thousands upon thousands of dollars! She's reasonably priced overall, and we'll definitely be using her services again in the future! Thank you for making me a pretty bride and capturing my handsome husband so wonderfully, Nataly & Art!
Costco did an amazing job on our bridal party arrangements and centerpieces. They arrived right on time and were beautifully packaged and cared for. Everything was arranged so wonderfully and with perfect little touches. We had so much to work with! The price was perfect and we received a lot of compliments on how they all looked.
Growers Direct did a great job at supplying beautiful bulk flowers for us. They were prompt and courtesy. They even called a few days before to insure that everything was ordered correctly and made suggestions for some changes I wanted. Very professional and an amazing product. They're roses were so lovely and the Bells of Ireland were so fresh! Everything smelled wonderful in our house and looked so great on our cake, too! They're prices can't be beat and they were local! Just down the street from our house.
What can I say? I'm convinced! You don't have to spend a fortune to have an amazing cake for your wedding! Everyone thought it was real and complimented on it constantly.
Stephanie arrived on time and immediately went to work on setting up the cake. It looked beautiful and just as promised.
A great alternative for those that don't like or eat cake -- or those that opt for a different desert experience!
The staff at this cute little bakery are really kind. The promised a moist, delicious cake and they accomplished it! The cake was ready on time and pick up was a breeze. We only served the first sheet cake, which was a buttercream/cream cheese based frosting, red velvet cake with a chocolate ganache filling. Yumm-O! It was almost like a brownie and had a lot of flavor. We had a full sheet cake left over that we ate later, which had the same frosting as filling with the buttercream-based texture. It was okay. Not as good as the first cake, but it was definitely moist and enjoyable. Great prices and great cake!
EM Entertainment and Events Lake Forest, California 92630
I'll have to have my husband write a more detailed review about this DJ, but what an awful experience.
DO NOT use this man's services. We received complaints all night, not to mention he cut off our first dance in the middle of the song, demanded we hire an assistant for him (which we declined, and he ended up doing anyway on his dime) who ended up only bringing him food all night and he didn't use hardly any of the added features we paid for.
He made annoucements like a cattle call for guests to get food. Lacked some SERIOUS professionalism, and is seriously too young to be doing this. After the wedding, he admitted that we were his SECOND wedding, ever!!!
We my guests left, he stuck around, and then started to put together the lighting package we paid extra money for, but never used!
When he tore down, he went to ANOTHER WEDDING BEING HELD NEXT TO US and threw his business cards at their venue, and put business cards on all my centerpieces!!!! SO TACKY!
Edited to add: I see our DJ is disputing this. If you need video proof, photographs or anything to show my support on our review, I'll happily provide it to you. We had a videographer that was able to fully capture everything that took place. Including our First Dance, how people were "called" to the buffet, what his assistant was NOT doing, the business cards that were left on all our guests tables, how he set up lighting when there was NO ONE THERE ANYMORE and stuck around till 9:30, when the guests had long since left, even though he could have just packed up earlier and went home. We also received complaints (in writing) to the reception venue when then went to us for the other event he crashed about that conduct. The proof is in the pudding, everyone. I had amazing vendors all night, but I think this DJ needs to learn a little bit more in professionalism. It doesn't come with sounding professional, but acting it. EM Entertainment and Events responded with the the following comments: This is by far the worst review that I have ever received. But, the reason for that is because almost everything in this review is flat-out incorrect. Below I will address everything they said and explain what really happened… not just what made Mrs. Dunkle happy to write.
To start off, I SUGGESTED (not demanded) having an assistant. The reason was that they had located me outside (on a rainy day) when all the guests where inside, and I could not see a thing from my location. The assistant would be like an extra set of eyes and would help me control the music when I had to be away from my booth to be with the guests. My assistant is usually free, however since I gave them a FREE four-hour wedding, I would be losing money on their wedding. They did not want to spend the extra $40, so I had to pay out of my pocket for the better interest of the wedding. I DO NOT know where they got the idea of my assistant only bringing me food… all night long. We had one plate each after all the guests and other vendors had eaten (if we are ever offered food, I always make sure that EVERYONE has had as much as they would like before I even think of eating).
As for it being my second wedding, it was actually my third, and that is why I offered them a four-hour wedding for FREE (just pay the $5 travel fee). All DJs have a third wedding they DJ. Their wedding planner was also new to the wedding industry, and although I don’t want to point fingers at her, she did make my job much harder than I have ever had it be before.
I set-up the lighting package while the guests where eating (the dance area was outside and could not be seen by the guests). So the lights where all ready to go for dancing. Once again, I do not know where they got the idea of me not having the lights up until people left.
The bride and groom left about 2 hours before the wedding was supposed to be over (they wanted to do a fairy tail exit with the sparklers, so they wanted to do it with everyone watching understandably). And when the bride and groom leave, the guests will usually consider it to be the end of the reception. I was still contracted for 2 more hours, so I was not going to just leave. I continued to play music for the guests and when they had all left, I still had about an hour to go, so I just continued to play music. Once the bride and groom returned, I was told I could stop. Leaving early would have been a VERY bad thing to do… so why are they mad I stayed for as long as asked to?
I DID NOT go to another wedding and through business cards. And I put cards out at their wedding because the groom had said that I should because I gave four hours for free. I do acknowledge that I should have not done that, and ever since, the only place I will put a card is on my own DJ booth table.
As for the complaints, I only received one (the inside speaker was to loud). And I did book one other wedding from a guest and another gave a card to a friend who later hired me for a party. So at least some of the guests enjoyed the performance!
I called them to ask what made them think these things happened, and they refused to tell me. I asked for 5 minutes of their time to help make me a better DJ. Mr. Dunkle instead gave me 10 minutes of reasons why he shouldn’t. I still hope that they will give me a call and we could talk for a few minutes, but I do not think they will be kind enough to do so.
My words of advise to the Mr. and Mrs., when you hire a 16 year old DJ who is giving you a FREE wedding, and says he is doing it to get more experience in the wedding industry… don’t expect to get a $2,000 performance.
Review Date: 06/19/2008 Services Used: Beauty & Health
5.0 out of 5.0
Quality of Service:
(5.0/5.0)
Responsiveness:
(5.0/5.0)
Professionalism:
(5.0/5.0)
Value For Cost:
(5.0/5.0)
Flexibility:
(5.0/5.0)
Andi is so awesome!
I did a couple trials with her before hand and on my wedding day, she was able to achieve exactly what I was looking for. Everyone loved the hair and makeup she did and it lasted the entire day/night! She has great attention to detail and made my eyes really pop with some faux eyelashes and used all M. A. C. make-up.
She's great to talk to and really makes a bride feel at ease.
I had some back and forth time with my contacts with Ari at Persiano's, but honestly, it's all because he's getting so popular and busy! He was still really great at answering the phone, my questions and emails. He provides great products that look fresh and new and unbelievable prices! I had a lot of faith and trust with him from the beginning, and I guess that trust helped him before I even used him!
He received a lot of referrals from here and I assume other places where I mentioned him and because of that, he was just so accommodating the day of the wedding. He and his staff arrived on time and were very courteous. He called me just to let me know that he was at the reception location and that out of his generosity, would set up the chairs/table linens at no additional charge (we also rented additional wine goblets). Perfect! He's a really sweet guy and his products looked amazing. Everything was exactly as it was described and his touches really help set off the event.
Julie is an absolute doll. She was so professional and through throughout the entire process. She's accommodating and resourceful and came through so brilliantly.
While establishing her services, she went out of her way to test her sashes with our chair rental vendor and take photos to insure we were happy with the results.
She arrived promptly for our wedding and did all the chair sashes so quickly and even threw in some sashes as table runners for our head and food tables!
Great attention to detail and a total sweetheart. I HIGHLY recommend Julie and her company for all your chair cover/sash services. Her prices are perfect and the results will speak for themselves. :)
Well, what can't I say about Mardy? Other than she's wonderful!
She's just incredibly hard working and detailed oriented. She made sure that everything went off without a hitch for our big day. We had the threat of rain for our reception, and Mardy handled everything with grace. I originally found Mardy via Craigslist as she was building her portfolio and became one of her first brides that she took on to help build her business. For someone that was gaining us as clients at low price, she did not treat us any differently and went over and beyond the call of duty.
On the day of the wedding, she arrived in professional attire, clipboard in hand and ready to work. She did all she could and more. She helped make centerpieces at our house a day before the wedding, picked up our cake and brought it to our reception venue on time. She worked splendidly with all the vendors and received praise from all of those that I spoke with. She made sure that all that we wanted to achieve was executed and met with our specifications. Prior to the wedding (months prior), she was on hand to arrive at any meetings we had with various vendors, helped in the planning stages and was sure to stay on top of time lines, details I might have missed and referrals.
She's just so wonderful! I'm so glad we chose to go with hiring her. I just don't think we would have found anyone else to really pull it all off! Her website is currently under development, but you can reach her at mardy27@gmail.com.
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