Everything you need for a California wedding
in Weddings ·
redmoose23 said:Hi everyone,
Since it seems like some of my previous comments have been helpful to you all, I wanted to sit down and write out our full impressions. Our catering was handled at the Palace Salon. Even though we heard some chatter about the manager being a bit eccentric—which has been mentioned here before—we actually sat down and hashed out every single detail a few days before the wedding. During the actual event, he was completely at our service, and the head venue coordinator was the absolute height of professionalism. As for the food? It was incredible. We didn't lack for anything, and we even had guests telling us they’d never eaten better at a wedding reception. We definitely recommend them!
Regarding the floral arrangements from Lanterna—honestly, a huge disappointment. Despite seeing nothing but glowing reviews online, that just wasn't our experience. We went over everything in painstaking detail and even sent over reference photos of exactly what we wanted. The bridal bouquet didn't even come close to the look I requested; parts of it were already wilted and dried out. But the worst part? More than half the flowers in the hall were artificial, even though we explicitly stated we didn't want any fake flowers—yet we were charged the full price for fresh blooms. The room looked lovely at first glance, but when we went to pick up some bouquets at the end of the night, we realized only the ones on our specific table were actually fresh. Judging by the photos they post on social media, I suspect this is a regular practice of theirs, so please, be careful.
For makeup, I highly recommend Violeta Kekezovic. After a few frustrating trial runs with other people, everything went perfectly with her. She listens to exactly how much makeup you want and what kind of look you're aiming for. If you want a natural makeup look, she’s your girl. 👍
Luka's Ice Cream Shop was fantastic—their tarts and mousses were delicious.
The cakes from Dolcemania were great too; everything was exactly as agreed and tasted wonderful.
Good luck !!
I'll second that. During the initial consultation, we were crystal clear about what we wanted and our specific budget. Our plan $1667 = main table featuring live flowers and candles, 15 guest tables with tall pearl holders, a bridal bouquet, two boutonnieres for the groomsmen, and a car garland. We specified light pink and white for the colors and the car decor. I made it extremely clear that I did not want artificial flowers paired with tulle on the car. Once the quote was sent, the harassment started—constant calls demanding the 30% deposit. And get this: the deposit goes into one of the daughters' college accounts. Then, a week before the wedding, their phones "stop working"—one can't use her speaker, the other keeps redirecting me to the first... we ended up having our final discussions via WhatsApp voice notes 🙄
On wedding day—the bouquet was gorgeous, and the main table was flawless. But for the car? They gave us fake flowers with tulle. When I reached out after the wedding to let them know that wasn't what we agreed upon regarding the car, I just got a WhatsApp message saying: "Srry.". To top it off, the final bill didn't reflect the deposit we paid, so we had to argue about that too.
Overall impression = $1667 way too much money for such subpar service and attitude. You're basically paying for a bouquet, three centerpieces, 15 candle rentals, and some recycled fake flowers and tulle for the car. As for their professionalism... well, you can draw your own conclusions.