Post # 1
Member
1042 posts
Bumble bee
Hi ladies!
We tend to get many threads looking for vendor recommendations and/or reviews. As the new hostess for the San Diego board, I have created this thread to include vendor lists as a reference for local brides! We would love to hear about which vendors from San Diego you are using. Feel free to post about any other vendors you are using but happen to not be in San Diego as well. This will be a great reference for future brides looking for vendors and reviews.
Please post which vendors you’re using for the following:
- Venue
- Caterer
- Coordinator
- Photographer
- DJ
- Florist
- Cake
- Officiant
- Dress
- Shoes
- Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress
- Hair Stylist
- Make-up Artist
- Invitations
- Rings
- Other
Thanks ladies!!
Post # 3
Member
23 posts
Newbee
Here’s my vendors so far, I’m still a year away from our date, plus I live in San Francisco so I’ve been having to do most of the planning remotely with the exception of the few trips we’ve made to interview vendors. We’re tackling florists and officiants next two weekends from now.
- Venue: Hard Rock Hotel, Gaslamp (ceremony and reception)
- Caterer: provided by venue
- Coordinator: Staci with Bliss Events (shes amazing!)
- Photographer: Jennifer Dery
- Videographer: Darryl Yee with Epic Affair
- DJ: Tim Altbaum
- Dress: Vera Wang
- Shoes: Bagdley Mischka
- Invitations: DIY!
- Rings: Tacori + Tiffany
Post # 4
Member
21 posts
Newbee
Here are my peeps for my September 2009 SD wedding! (All planned from the Bay Area)
Venue: Ceremony – Kate Sessions Park; Reception: The Marine Room
Caterer : The Marine Room
Coordinator : Moi with a little help from my LoML
Photographer : One Love Photography
DJ : Acustic Guitarist @ Ceremony and Jazz Trio @ Reception by Jewell Entertainment
Florist : Family Friend
Cake : The Marine Room and Flower Power for the Groom’s Cake
Officiant : Family Friend
Dress : Lena Medoyeff (Portland, OR)
Shoes : My worst enemy – I can’t find anything!
Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress : No BMs but several flower girls wearing floral dresses from Nordies and tutus from Etsy
Hair Stylist : Sal Mantegna @ Acme Salon
Make-up Artist : YSL Counter
Invitations : DIY
Rings : Patina Estates Jewlers (St. Helena, CA)
Favors: DIY
Post # 5
Member
14 posts
Newbee
Here are my vendors. My wedding was in May and I had a wonderful experience with all of them. I definitely recommend all of my vendors!!
- Venue: Darlington House, beautiful and reasonably priced
- Caterer: Tapenade, wonderful food and great to work with
- Coordinator: Melissa Barrad, I Do Weddings, did an absolutely amazing job
- Photographer: Lunaphoto, just got the pics, and I love them
- DJ: Daniel Peterson, everyone was dancing all night
- Florist: Wedding Flowers by Christine, flowers were even better than I could have imagined
- Cake: French Gourmet, sooo good! and reasonably priced!
- Officiant: My husband’s uncle who is a priest, not local, otherwise I would recommend him 😉
- Dress: Ulla Maija, from M Bride, the boutique has the most gorgeous dresses, and often has sample sales
- Alterations: Roxie, at Margaret’s Cleaners, dress looked awesome and bustle did not break!!
- Shoes: Stuart Weitzman
- Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: Ann Taylor, the girls loved them
- Hair Stylist: Gerry Quilopo, Salon du Kat, my regular hairdresser, who always does a great job
- Make-up Artist: Gerry Quilopo
- Invitations: Costco, got wonderful classy invites for super cheap.
- Rings: groom’s wedding band and my engagement ring were from out of state jeweler, and I got my platinum pave diamond band from Costco!
- Hotel Room Block: Empress Hotel, Somer did a great job coordinating everything, and all our guests were pleased
- Wedding Night Hotel: Grande Colonial, beautiful and we got a great deal on an ocean view suite!
- Rehearsal Dinner and After Party: Jack’s La Jolla, ocean courtyard is great for a small/medium rehearsal dinner
Post # 6
Member
2 posts
Wannabee
<span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: tahoma; font-size: 13px”>I got married in April, had a most wonderful day. Thought I’d share my fabulous vendors:
- Venue : La Jolla Shores Hotel–AMAZING
- Caterer La Jolla Shores Hotel–incredible food!
- Coordinator: good friend
- Photographer: Alexandra Oat. I LOVE my photos. alexoat.com
- DJ: Didn’t have one. Had an acoustic guitarist duo
- Florist: Rae Florae
- Cake: Sweet Cheeks Bakery. YUMMY cupcakes.
- Officiant: Good friend
- Dress: Maggie Sottero. Purchased at Bridals by Susanti
- Shoes: Mootsie Tootsie–found at Marshall’s!
- Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: Watters
- Hair Stylist: Teresa Piazza
- Make-up Artist: Teresa Piazza–she was fantastic
- Invitations: Love at first Invite.
- Rings: Robbin’s Bros. and eweddingbands.com
- Other: Room blocks at the Empress and the Best Western. Used San Diego Visitors Bureau to set it up. A FREE service. WONDERFUL.
Post # 7
Member
8 posts
Newbee
I’ve got about 7 months left of planning, and haven’t finished some vendor bookings, but I do have an idea of who I am using. I’ll put an asterisk(*) next to the ones that I haven’t yet contracted, but plan on using! 🙂
Venue – La Costa Resort and Spa
Caterer – La Costa Resort and Spa
Coordinator – Bliss Events: Rachel Welland (shes amazing!!! She just did my sis’ wedding!))
Photographer – Peelle Photography (beautiful work! Just got my engagement pics!)
Videographer – Firefly Films (* haven’t booked yet, but have talked to them)
DJ – Brannan Entertainment (*talked to him, haven’t booked yet, but definitely will)
Florist – Flowers by Erin (shes a doll and knows her stuff. Also very affordable!)
Cake – Briarmist Cakes (actually included with my venue, but she is their baker. I actually was going to hire her anyways!)
Officiant – undecided yet…
Dress – Jim Hjelm from Here Comes the Bride
Shoes – J Crew
Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress – J Crew
Hair Stylist – Miranda Jean’s Salon Service
Make-up Artist – Miranda Jean’s Salon Service
Invitations – ME! Making them myself!
Rings – Robbins Brothers
Other – I still need ceremony music, catering for the rehearsal dinner, favors.
Bridesmaid or Best Man Gifts – custom earrings from etsy, a pashmina found at etsy, monogrammed bags from theknot.com, and making a photobook for each Bridesmaid or Best Man on shutterfly.com
Groomsmen Gifts – Fiance got custom basketball jerseys for the boys on ebay! (Yes…he is waay prepared!)
Save the Dates – mini magnets from magnetstreetweddings.com
That’s my list so far! Writing it out makes me feel more prepared than I thought I was… 🙂
Post # 8
Member
29 posts
Newbee
Any ceremony music vendor suggestions?
Post # 10
Member
336 posts
Helper bee
Lets see…
<span style=”font-family: tahoma, verdana; font-size: 13px;”>
- Venue: Bernardo Winery (Also venue of Miss Frenchie!)
- Caterer: Cafe Merlot
- Coordinator: Courtney Toney of Joyful Weddings and Events
- Photographer: Ellsworth Photography (awesomeeee!) epblog.net
- DJ: Haven’t decided – looking into them.
- Florist: Holly Horn (independent designer/family friend)
- Cake: Most likely Sweet Cheeks Bakery
- Officiant: Doug Kyle – Lead Pastor of Green Valley Church
- Dress: Mikaella – Bought at Here Comes the Bride (highly recommend them!)
- Shoes: Haven’t bought them yet!
- Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: J. Crew
- Hair Stylist: Michka Khosravi of B.B. Hair Art (She’s great, and my former roomie!)
- Make-up Artist: Haven’t decided
- Invitations: Etsy!
- Rings: Etsy and James Allen
- Other: Videographer? Friend!
I’ll have to check out everyone else’s vendors for things I don’t have yet!
Post # 11
Member
5 posts
Newbee
I’m still about a year away, but here’s what I have so far:
Venue: Admiral Kidd (on the Navy base in Point Loma – it’s a great deal but books up early!)
Caterer: provided by venue
Coordinator: provided by venue
Photographer: CS Cyrus Media (they’re relatively new to San Diego – really good prices)
DJ: Scott Schmidt with All Around Mobile Sound
Florist: DIY from the downtown flower market
Cake: Eccentric Bakery
Officiant: a friend
Dress: Custom made by a family friend
Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: The Rose Dress (a great deal online at therosedress.com)
Tuxedos: Friar Tux
Make-up Artist : DIY
Invitations: DIY
Rings: Ben Bridge
Post # 12
Member
11 posts
Newbee
Hi! I am in the 8 month and counting down. Below are the vendors I’ve booked so far:
Venue: MCASD La Jolla
Caterer: Giuseppe’s Catering
Coordinator: Melissa Barrad
Photographer: Kim Irons
DJ: Daniel (Disco Friend)
Dress: M Bride
Invitations: Etsy.com
Rings: Robbin Bros.
Post # 13
Member
22 posts
Newbee
My wedding was on August 1st, and I had a wonderful experience with all of my vendors (except one – and I wrote a separate post about her so that you can know what happened and avoid it yourself!)
Ceremony: Hidden Valley Christian Church, Escondido, CA
Reception: Twin Oaks Golf Course Stixx Cafe, San Marcos, CA
Caterer: Twin Oaks Golf Course
Coordinator: Melanie Montoya, Something Blue Weddings (she’s wonderful!)
Photographer: Narrative Images Photography
Videographer: Roldan Productions
DJ: Jerry Beck, Beck’s Entertainment
Florist: Simply Adina Floral Design
Cake: Edelweiss Bakery
Officiant: church pastor
Dress: Maggie Sottero, from Tour of Elegance
Shoes: Arturo Chiang
Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: After Six by Dessy
Hair/Makeup Artist: Ellie, A New Twist**DO NOT RECOMMEND**VERY BAD EXPERIENCE, please see my other post about her to hear what happened
Invitations: DIY added to invitations from Invitation Consultants online
Rings: Anaheim Hills Jewelry & Coin (in Orange, CA)
Post # 14
Member
22 posts
Newbee
Oh, and my ceremony musician was Lea Lyn Bennet, harpist – she was amazing and it was beautiful!
Post # 15
Member
42 posts
Newbee
- Venue: Ceremony at LDS Temple in La Jolla, Reception in my parent’s backyard!
- Caterer: Simply Delicious Catering (simplydeliciouscatering.net) If you’re referred to them, they have a friends and family discount.
- Coordinator: Me and my mom
- Photographer: Craig Tiscareno (craigtiscareno.com)
- DJ: Our best man and a laptop
- Florist: My mom (Stephanie’s Floral Design 760-942-3676) and Jane Wilkins (flickr.com: janetulip)
- Cake: Sweet Cheeks (sweetcheeksbaking.com)
- Officiant: Family friend
- Dress: Bridal Elegance in St. George, UT (bridalstgeorge.com)
- Shoes: Franco Sarto (endless.com)
- Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress: J.Crew
- Hair Stylist: Laura Porter, my usual stylist, not really a “do” specialist but a fantastic hair dresser in N. County (Laura’s Shear Madness 760-271-6238) Tell her Bree referred you. She loves me!
- Make-up Artist: Me!
- Invitations: Paper Hearts Invitation Studio ([email protected]) Another family friend!
- Rings: Diamond Elegance or something like that in the Tacoma Mall
- Videographer: Benny Ek Media (bennyek.com) Another family friend!
I can highly reccommend everyone I used. It was the best day ever!
Post # 16
Member
803 posts
Busy bee
I just started planning, but here is who I have so far…
Venue – private estate in Del Mar
Caterer – guiceppes
Coordinator – Jessica from Moira Events (I think, I havent booked yet)
Photographer – Erca from Acres of Hope
DJ – no clue
Florist – Paula from Rae Florae
Cake – Sweet Cheeks Baking Co
Officiant – ?
Dress – ?
Shoes – pretty ones
Bridesmaid or Best Man Dress – Jim Hjelm
Hair Stylist – DIY
Make-up Artist – DIY
Invitations – Moira Design Studio – this is where I found the coordinator as well. I love working with her so far.
Rings – The diamond source
Other
