Jenny & Jerry's Wedding

Jenny and Jerry’s Wedding

Ingredients for Festivities in Torrance, California

Ingredient Vendor Comment

Venue
(Ceremony & Reception) Torrance Hilton at South Bay This is a beautiful hotel, with a lobby that appeals to the eyes. The Penthouse Ballroom, in which we had our reception, has a great view of the surrounding area and is well-suited for housing a party of 100 to 120 people. However, we would not choose this venue again, as one of the people representing the hotel was a little difficult to work with.

Musician(s) Richard Leach and The Music Company Mr. Leach thinks quickly, can ad-lib, and accommodates last-minute requests-- all necessary qualities for our wedding-- while providing music that encourages a festive mood. He and his two-person band played jazzy musical standards at our reception. We can recommend him without reservation.

Photographer Sae Lee of Sae Lee Portrait Gallery Mr. Lee did an excellent job directing the pictures to be taken in the time allotted. We felt confident in his ability and appreciated his attention to detail.
Mr. Lee has a good eye, and many of his photographs came out very well, particularly the staged ones. He mixes up the pictures, using different lenses and switching between color and black and white film. We were pleased with the results.

Videographer Jay Joo of Plastic Gothic Mr. Joo had the qualities we wanted in a videographer: attentive, yet inobtrusive. Also, and importantly, he worked well with the photographer, ceding the best shots at times so that he photographer could have them. We recommend him conditionally, after we see how the video turns out.

Florist Dayro’s Wholesale Flowers Working with Adriana of Dayro’s was most satisfactory. She and the staff at Dayro’s gave us some money-saving tips, and easy to work with. Dayro’s would have our unconditional recommendation had they not delivered the flowers later than they had promised, although this tardiness did not ruin the wedding in any way. Still, we would use them again.

Party Favors PhotoStamps We had a lot of fun creating postage stamps commemorating our wedding. Most computer image files (JPEG, GIF, etc.) can be turned into a stamp, although there are restrictions on what can be shown.
If you’re curious about trying this yourself, you should know that the service has been discontinued indefinitely and, as of December 18, 2004, has not yet been restored. Nevertheless, our guests should know that, despite PhotoStamps’s current status, the stamps we distributed at our wedding reception can be used to send U.S. mail.

Invitations handmade We elected to make our own invitations. Although we were pleased with the results, we would not recommend this approach to anyone, as it consumes a whole lot of time (for us, a week) and thus distracts from the real work of planning the wedding. Nevertheless, we did appreciate the fine folks at Kelly Paper, from whom we purchased several paper items, including the vellum used to make our invitations, envelopes, and place cards.
Necessary items for making your own invitations: color printer (laser or inkjet), vellum, T-squares and L-squares, X-acto knife with regular and scoring blades, paper trimmer, rulers, and possibly tape and ribbon.

First Dance Always and Forever by Luther Vandross Because we had so few dance moves and no time to learn much choreography, we (cagily) truncated Luther’s ballad to a manageable 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Angela of 3rd Street Dance helped us a great deal despite us giving her a very short time frame in which to work with us.

Bridal Gown David’s Bridal, designed by Oleg Cassini Jen was gorgeous in her wedding dress. ’Nuff said!

Bridesmaid Dresses David’s Bridal The maid of honor and the groomswoman were stunning in their halter dresses.

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Ingredient	Vendor	Comment
Venue (Ceremony & Reception)	Torrance Hilton at South Bay	This is a beautiful hotel, with a lobby that appeals to the eyes. The Penthouse Ballroom, in which we had our reception, has a great view of the surrounding area and is well-suited for housing a party of 100 to 120 people. However, we would not choose this venue again, as one of the people representing the hotel was a little difficult to work with.
Musician(s)	Richard Leach and The Music Company	Mr. Leach thinks quickly, can ad-lib, and accommodates last-minute requests-- all necessary qualities for our wedding-- while providing music that encourages a festive mood. He and his two-person band played jazzy musical standards at our reception. We can recommend him without reservation.
Photographer	Sae Lee of Sae Lee Portrait Gallery	Mr. Lee did an excellent job directing the pictures to be taken in the time allotted. We felt confident in his ability and appreciated his attention to detail. Mr. Lee has a good eye, and many of his photographs came out very well, particularly the staged ones. He mixes up the pictures, using different lenses and switching between color and black and white film. We were pleased with the results.
Videographer	Jay Joo of Plastic Gothic	Mr. Joo had the qualities we wanted in a videographer: attentive, yet inobtrusive. Also, and importantly, he worked well with the photographer, ceding the best shots at times so that he photographer could have them. We recommend him conditionally, after we see how the video turns out.
Florist	Dayro’s Wholesale Flowers	Working with Adriana of Dayro’s was most satisfactory. She and the staff at Dayro’s gave us some money-saving tips, and easy to work with. Dayro’s would have our unconditional recommendation had they not delivered the flowers later than they had promised, although this tardiness did not ruin the wedding in any way. Still, we would use them again.
Party Favors	PhotoStamps	We had a lot of fun creating postage stamps commemorating our wedding. Most computer image files (JPEG, GIF, etc.) can be turned into a stamp, although there are restrictions on what can be shown. If you’re curious about trying this yourself, you should know that the service has been discontinued indefinitely and, as of December 18, 2004, has not yet been restored. Nevertheless, our guests should know that, despite PhotoStamps’s current status, the stamps we distributed at our wedding reception can be used to send U.S. mail.
Invitations	handmade	We elected to make our own invitations. Although we were pleased with the results, we would not recommend this approach to anyone, as it consumes a whole lot of time (for us, a week) and thus distracts from the real work of planning the wedding. Nevertheless, we did appreciate the fine folks at Kelly Paper, from whom we purchased several paper items, including the vellum used to make our invitations, envelopes, and place cards. Necessary items for making your own invitations: color printer (laser or inkjet), vellum, T-squares and L-squares, X-acto knife with regular and scoring blades, paper trimmer, rulers, and possibly tape and ribbon.
First Dance	Always and Forever by Luther Vandross	Because we had so few dance moves and no time to learn much choreography, we (cagily) truncated Luther’s ballad to a manageable 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Angela of 3rd Street Dance helped us a great deal despite us giving her a very short time frame in which to work with us.
Bridal Gown	David’s Bridal, designed by Oleg Cassini	Jen was gorgeous in her wedding dress. ’Nuff said!
Bridesmaid Dresses	David’s Bridal	The maid of honor and the groomswoman were stunning in their halter dresses.