Photographers and Downtown L.A.

Man, it's felt like a long week! And my computer cable (that Andrew gave to me) got FRIED...so, I've been "working" off of my iPhone the past few days.

Our photographer meetings were interesting...and good. In the end, we chose Jill Thomas. As I mentioned last time, Amoré just didn't seem to match our style as we had originally thought...and the connection with the photographer just wasn't there! While he seemed like a nice guy, he was a bit stand-off-ish and didn't really seem to even try to connect with us.

I emailed my contact, Candice, at Amoré to voice our concern. She replied apologizing for the lack of connection, and assumed that perhaps he was nervous since his boss (Candice) was right there. She went on to explain her reasons for matching the photographer with us. Those reasons being that he had the most experience shooting nighttime weddings -- especially coming from the east coast. Funny that we never knew he was from the east coast, because when he asked about us, we told him that we were from the east coast. That could've been a good way to connect with us, but he didn't take it.

In contrast, when we video chatted with Jill, we made that connection that we had both lived in the D.C. area! Okay, I was the one to butt in and say that I used to live in Arlington, but that's what meeting people is all about ~ making that connection. The conversation was open and honest, and she was very easy to talk to.

The only question we had for Jill was getting copies of the raw files, along with the jpgs. Once we chatted again yesterday, all was set straight, we were on the same page, so we hired her! We're even going one package above from what we planned, but it will be well worth the extra money! She's going to be a blast to work with!

Funny enough, while we were on the phone with Jill, Father Brian from Good Shepherd Catholic church called. We returned his call to let him know that we will schedule a meeting with him when Andrew returns from Europe. Till then, he has our wedding penciled in! From the brochure we received, with information on the church and Father Brian, and from talking to him, he seems very personable. I can't wait to meet him!

Friday was my first trip to Downtown L.A.! I joined my friend, Rita, who was shopping for her baby shower. It was a long day of checking out the many types of AMAZING fabrics, buying spools upon spools of ribbon (Cinderella blue for ME!), perusing several floral shops, and hitting pretty much *every single* bridal store that carried tiaras! I found my tiara at the very first store we visited. Murphy's Law, isn't it? Well, my tiara had an original price tag of $129, it had been priced down to $99, and they sold it to me for $80. Woohoo!!! And it's gorgeous!

My other great find was some Cinderella glass slippers! I thought they would be great as table decor, but I may use them for my place cards. Rita had a great idea as to how to set them up in a great little display involving shoeboxes, fabric or cardstock, ribbon and/or crystals ~ it'll be fun to put it together!

Lastly, I'm looking at makeup and hair services. I've had quite a few offers...the last being friends of a friend. I was asked to email them with my info ~ wedding size, etc. One week later, and I haven't heard back. So, I checked out a place that Disneyland Brides have been raving about: Something Blue Stylists. Their online portfolio and the photos I've seen from Disneyland Brides have been great! And the prices...wow! From the preview to the day of, it totals the cost of JUST getting my makeup done by other makeup artists!

Oh, and did I say that we officially decided on using Brian Bosche as our designer/florist? Check another off the list! :-)

Our First Florist Meeting

I feel like we're doing things out of order. First on the priority list of booking vendors (according to Mindy Weiss - see previous post ;-)), are an officiant and photographer. I would've started calling priests this past week had I not had plans and meetings every day. As for the photographer...well, I'm waiting to hear back from our "chosen one."

In the meantime, Traci suggested a florist for us to get in touch with. Brian Bosch used to work for Disney Fairytale Weddings and now works for himself. I contacted Brian earlier this week and received an email from him a few days ago. We exchanged emails through the day to talk more about our decor vision and to make an appointment to meet at Disneyland to flesh our ideas out even more.

I knew I liked Brian as soon as he wrote me with an email saying "I don't know how much Traci told you about me, but I'm a designer at heart. In fact, the Disney wedding team called me David Tutera, Jr. (it was a little weird to be introduced to him that way)." LOL!!! HELLO! Didn't I say in a blog-past "if only David Tutera could come design my wedding"? If I can't have David Tutera, his "junior" is good enough for me! AND Traci let us know that Brian worked with David Tutera when David was at Disneyland creating his Couture Collection. After viewing his website, Brian also sent me a few samples of tall centerpieces he's done. LOVE IT!

So, since we have "David Tutera, Jr.," not only is Brian willing to help out with the floral, but he is also available to work with linens and all other decor. We've got an event designer on our hands!

Our meeting day worked out to be on a day where Traci had two weddings going on in the Rose Court Garden. One at 11:30am and another at 7:30pm. So, we headed to Disneyland early and arrived at 11:45am to peek into the wedding. We were pleasantly surprised to find that even with the simplest of decor, the Rose Court Garden was still beautiful! This couple only had an aisle runner and some rose petals scattered along the sides.

After some lunch at ESPN Zone and going over the big wedding planning book :-), we walked back to Disneyland Hotel and saw from the outside that the newlyweds had decorated the Sleeping Beauty Pavilion with the gorogeous ceiling drapes. We rode the elevator up to check it out. Unfortunately, the wedding party was lined up, ready to make their entrance...so, there was no way to peek in! But we DID get to see another reception, down the hall, in the midst of a set-up. Forgive the blurriness...I was trying to be quick and stealthy. ;-) I couldn't believe it! The color scheme was the same as ours (well, with a different shade of blue), and the centerpieces had everything I could ever want in a centerpiece! Tall candelabras, floral, branches, candles, CRYSTALS!!! I was in AWE...

(Photos just came in from Traci...)

We then hurried off, back to the Rose Court Garden to meet with Brian. In first seeing him, he was friendly, approachable, and younger than I expected. No problems there ~ I just - for some reason - had pictured him to be older. I don't know why!

We moved our meeting to the lobby of the Wonder Tower. For the next hour or so, we discussed every detail of decor and flowers. As a designer, he totally came through for us (at least here for these beginning stages ;-)), bringing all of our ideas and pulling everything *together* into a coherent wedding design plan. Areas where we did not have a clear vision, he placed the missing puzzle piece(s) and has us completely excited with this new picture!

And yes, we did talk about flowers...in general. Since I don't know exactly what I want yet, we simply came up with a general idea based on our colors.

At the end of our meeting, the three of us strolled to the wedding offices to say a quick "hello" to Traci. She met us with a dolly of boxes. Poor girl wasn't even done with half her day yet! One greet led to another, and the four of us were suddenly talking about Toy Story's Midway Mania game! Then Brian tells us that they're coming out with a Wii game of the ride! WHAT?!? As we all got excited about this, I realized we were four Disney dorks standing around gushing over all things Disney! LOL ~ love it...Owning it!

Heading back to the car, Andrew sighed and said "Well, it was just what I was afraid of..." Confused as to which way he was gonna go with this, I asked "What?" He said "IIII like him!" YAY!!! Andrew really liked everything Brian suggested and loves that he would take care of all the decor, making our lives that much easier. If Brian's estimate is within our budget, we have no need to look any further. :-)

Keeping the fingers crossed!