San Diego Wedding Vendors Review

Vendors are huge part of planning and executing a perfect Wedding and overall I had a great team a vendors. So without further ado here is our review of our wedding vendors:

(Quick note: the vendors are graded like a college class from A to F with no A+s or A++s. I tried to not have "grade inflation", either, so a B is a OK grade)

Item: Wedding Cake
Vendor: Grove Pastry Shop
Grade: A
Rationale: Great little bakery with great prices. Made a beautiful cake based on my design in delicious flavors. Was easy to work with and I loved the cake.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Ceremony Music
Vendor: Camelot Strings
Grade: B+
Rationale: Played great music for the ceremony. Were a little hard to work with prior to the wedding which its what took them down from an A to B+.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Flowers
Vendor: Flowers by Erin
Grade: A
Rationale: Erin is a total sweetheart and made gorgeous arrangements for a great price. She even added on some ceremony flowers when our arch changed at the last minute.
Would hire again: Yes



Item: Invitations
Vendor: DayDreams
Grade: B
Rationale: Daydreams did my invitations which were beautiful but expensive (as are many wedding stationary items). When I went back for Menus/ Programs the prices were even more outrageous. They make great stuff, but given what I realized a person can do at Kinkos, I’m not sure if it’s worth it.
Would hire again: Maybe -- knowing what I know now, I may have done DIY invitation

Item: Photography
Vendor: Kim Irons Photography
Grade: A
Rationale: Kim is fantastic! She has great prices, does amazing work, and is so fun to work with. My only wish (and my Mom's wish) is that we'd gotten more "traditional wedding” shots -- but that's not really what I wanted anyway when I hired Kim because I think a lot of traditional shots are boring and Kim does not do boring shots. We got some really cool candid photos and lots super interesting shots of Jonathan and me. But my favorite thing she did was our engagement pictures. So beautiful and natural.
Would hire again: Yes. When we decide to start a family, I'd definitely have her do our family photos. :-)


Item: Reception Music
Vendor: The Ultratones
Grade: A
Rationale: The Ultratones are a fantastic Wedding Dance Band. They played great music and kept people dancing all night long.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Rehearsal Dinner Catering
Vendor: Gerardos Catering
Grade: A
Rationale: Delicious catering at amazing prices. Authentic Mexican cuisine.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Tuxedos and Wedding Dress
Vendor: Bridal and Tuxedo Galleria
Grade: D
Rationale: The only reason I did not give them an F is that did my Wedding Dress and the Groom's/Groomen's Tuxes, and the Wedding Dress experience was OK. The Tuxes were horrible. They were totally disorganized, tried to overcharge us, and tuxes were ill fitting.
Would hire again: No

Item: Wedding Ceremony and Reception Venue (including catering)
Vendor: Hilton San Diego Resort on Mission Bay
Grade: C-
Rationale: I can't summarize my feelings about the Hilton in one post only. I could write pages. The venue is beautiful. The food is good. The rooms are lovely. Their Banquet Coordinator/Wedding Planner is awful. He's unresponsive, uncreative, and handled the Union situation horribly. At the end of the day I feel ripped off by the Hilton because we paid for this beautiful, expensive ceremony site and didn't really get to use it because the Hilton was in the midst of Labor Dispute (that apparently they had known about for months which would have given us ample time to think of contingency scenarios).
Would hire again: No

Item: Videography
Vendor: Jason Johnson of Bandini Productions
Grade: B+
Rationale: Jason did a good video at a great price. He doesn’t do HD or any kind of cinematography but does a great Wedding Video for the price he charges. While the angles he shot were not incredible, the editing was really good -- some really neat montages.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Wedding Coordination
Vendor: Carlee Jiminez from Events by La Bella
Grade: A
Rationale: Carlee ROCKS! She pulled off a flawless wedding and is total sweetheart. Some major drama occurred the week before the wedding and Carlee handled it amazingly! I'm a huge stickler for details and Carlee covered every detail for the big day. She threw in a bunch of "extras" as well that made the day even better.
Would hire again: Yes

Item: Morning-after Brunch Catering
Vendor: Bekkers Catering
Grade: B+
Rationale: Very good brunch, but nothing earth-shatterng. A bit expensive, but oh well, all caterers are expensive.

Item: Bridesmaid Dresses

Vendor: Nordstrom.com
Grade: A
Rationale: Ordered the $98 Maggie London dresses online. Nordstom.com had plenty of sizes and the dresses came promptly. And they looked fantastic on the day of.
Would hire again: Yes

(All images are from Kim Irons or my personal camera)