Everything you need for a California wedding
in Weddings ·
Here is my experience... First rule: everything you negotiate with anyone—be it the band, the photographer, or the catering crew—must be put in writing. Send them a final confirmation via message or have them send one to you. You need a paper trail. It happened to me twice where the other party "forgot" about a verbal discount they had promised me. It was incredibly awkward.
Nadio Photography - we haven't received the photos yet, but working with them was excellent. They stayed the entire evening, handled everything I asked for, and were patient and cheerful.
Photobooth Split - top-tier work, kudos to the girls.
Euphoria Band (with Peter Dragojevic) - excellent. They played exactly what we agreed upon and nothing else. They stayed until the end and stuck to our plan despite the venue's scheduling attempts (they didn't wrap up just because the venue told them to; they finished when they saw it was actually time—I agree with their judgment. At the entrance, people were rushing us to sit down, but the band played the two songs we specifically requested). Highly recommend! Great vocals, great playing, great atmosphere.
Petric (accordionist) - we call him to every single celebration (my engagement, my sister’s wedding, graduations, baby showers...). He hasn't disappointed us once. Recommended!
Tony Zekic (catering) - he did everything according to the agreement, but when the bill arrived, he conveniently forgot about the discounted price we discussed. Both my husband's side and my side hired him; they charged his group full price, while we only got our discount after reminding him that he had lowered the rate because we were booking him for both families. After such stellar service elsewhere, this was disappointing.
Palace Salon - a difficult manager who is not flexible in the slightest. We heard a mountain of negative feedback from all sides. Even we had an agreement for a poolside reception, but a week before the wedding, the manager started making excuses about technical issues and lighting to claim it couldn't happen. When negotiating, everything is possible; when it comes time to deliver, suddenly nothing is. We booked the hall while it was still under construction, so we secured a price of $39 per person, though I hear prices have skyrocketed since then. During planning, they showed us a 3D rendering of a fully finished landscape and promised the poolside reception... reality was a different story. Despite the manager, the food was good, the servers were excellent, and the head waitress did a phenomenal job being available for everything we needed all night.
Lantern - I recommend the girls. They were easy to deal with, went above and beyond what we agreed on, and the price was fair (not a steal, but certainly not expensive compared to other quotes).
Church Choir - the choir from St. Peter Parish in Neslanovac - they did a perfect job. They sang exactly what we requested right on schedule, and they even managed to resolve a small issue with my priest that I hadn't been able to fix myself—so hats off to them. They brought their own sound system since my church doesn't have one, which really enhanced the ceremony.
We also had stand-up comedy at the reception in the hall, but that didn't go well. That was the only thing on the wedding day that wasn't quite right. All the services mentioned above met (and some exceeded) my expectations, and despite a few flaws, I am ultimately grateful to everyone because the day was perfect. I didn't have to worry or stress about a single thing.
Nadio Photography - we haven't received the photos yet, but working with them was excellent. They stayed the entire evening, handled everything I asked for, and were patient and cheerful.
Photobooth Split - top-tier work, kudos to the girls.
Euphoria Band (with Peter Dragojevic) - excellent. They played exactly what we agreed upon and nothing else. They stayed until the end and stuck to our plan despite the venue's scheduling attempts (they didn't wrap up just because the venue told them to; they finished when they saw it was actually time—I agree with their judgment. At the entrance, people were rushing us to sit down, but the band played the two songs we specifically requested). Highly recommend! Great vocals, great playing, great atmosphere.
Petric (accordionist) - we call him to every single celebration (my engagement, my sister’s wedding, graduations, baby showers...). He hasn't disappointed us once. Recommended!
Tony Zekic (catering) - he did everything according to the agreement, but when the bill arrived, he conveniently forgot about the discounted price we discussed. Both my husband's side and my side hired him; they charged his group full price, while we only got our discount after reminding him that he had lowered the rate because we were booking him for both families. After such stellar service elsewhere, this was disappointing.
Palace Salon - a difficult manager who is not flexible in the slightest. We heard a mountain of negative feedback from all sides. Even we had an agreement for a poolside reception, but a week before the wedding, the manager started making excuses about technical issues and lighting to claim it couldn't happen. When negotiating, everything is possible; when it comes time to deliver, suddenly nothing is. We booked the hall while it was still under construction, so we secured a price of $39 per person, though I hear prices have skyrocketed since then. During planning, they showed us a 3D rendering of a fully finished landscape and promised the poolside reception... reality was a different story. Despite the manager, the food was good, the servers were excellent, and the head waitress did a phenomenal job being available for everything we needed all night.
Lantern - I recommend the girls. They were easy to deal with, went above and beyond what we agreed on, and the price was fair (not a steal, but certainly not expensive compared to other quotes).
Church Choir - the choir from St. Peter Parish in Neslanovac - they did a perfect job. They sang exactly what we requested right on schedule, and they even managed to resolve a small issue with my priest that I hadn't been able to fix myself—so hats off to them. They brought their own sound system since my church doesn't have one, which really enhanced the ceremony.
We also had stand-up comedy at the reception in the hall, but that didn't go well. That was the only thing on the wedding day that wasn't quite right. All the services mentioned above met (and some exceeded) my expectations, and despite a few flaws, I am ultimately grateful to everyone because the day was perfect. I didn't have to worry or stress about a single thing.