Vendor Review: Michael C. Events

So I have been getting questions from people who want to know about Michael C. Catering. I have a pseudo review written up but was just too lazy to post it. So here it goes.

Michael C. Catering was an adventure to say the least. There was one thing that pretty much everyone agreed on: The food was good. I am not going to say it was best wedding food that people ever ate, but it was definitely a good amount above average.

So let's take it throughout the day:

1) We ran out of ice. A decently hot sunny day in Los Angeles requires a lot of ice. We knew this going into searching for a caterer that we would need a lot of ice. How much ice? Not really sure, but definitely more than 100lbs of it. That much ice is expensive because you can just got to the market and pick it up. You have to go back and forth and back and forth. Just not worth it, so we had Michael handle that. He did it. He did it for free. I don't think he really knew how much it was going to cost. So during the day we ran out of ice. Yeah. He didn't order any. He assumed that the ice maker in the kitchen would pump out enough ice. That was a mistake as we ran out during cocktail hour. Our mistake was not giving our planner a copy of the contract so she had to come bug us to figure out what we wanted to do about it. Oh well. Bad planning by us, but even more so by him since he claimed that ice was not included in the contract. We did not get charged in the end, but still kind of a pain.

2) They ran out of plates. One of the waiters had to wash them throughout the night. I know right? How do you run out of plates. Make sure that when you look at the contract, that you do the calculations in your head to figure out if the numbers look correct.

3) He added 2 cooks on a week and a half before the event. We had no choice but to eat the costs. Total 5 cooks + Michael= 6, for 145 party.

4) He told us that he had to keep some people overtime. This means that we would have to pay. But that is his fault for not managing time properly. Look over the contract carefully. After this incident, I am sure that he now puts in a clause that the clients are responsible for any overages that the catering company incurs due to overtime for personnel. If there isn't, then praise God. In ours there wasn't so it was done.

5) He started telling my new wife everything that went wrong during the wedding. WTF? Say we need to discuss some things after you get back, but overall everything was good and congratulations and move on. Very unprofessional. My wife just brushed him aside.

6) We were suppose to have coffee and tea. There was no tea. The coffee you had to ask and it didn't go around poured. The waiters wouldn't even give up hot water. Make sure there is proper wording in the contract and make sure that your planner knows what is suppose to happen with service.

7) He also had to add oIn the contract and estimates, they forgot the ramekins for his butter. That was another $100. If you are getting the basil butter or any type of butter that isn't supermarket, you will probably need ramekins.

8) The waiters had no education on the food. They didn't know what they were serving. Michael should have told them this.

9) Some of the food didn't come out particularly hot. It was warm, which is a shame because the food was good.

10) Michael has no tack on how to set things up, you have to get someone to watch over him to make sure there isn't misplaced items, etc..

11)They tried to run my card after the wedding to pay for the overages. Yeah you heard me right. After the wedding, I cancelled the card just in case they would make any attempts to charge my card. Good thing I did, otherwise we would have have charges for overages that we were not responsible for.

12) He doesn't follow instructions very well. This could be partly because we didn't explain them well either, but I don't know anymore.

13) There was some serious food swapping. We ended up getting an extra appetizer that had shrimp! (Wife is allergic to shrimp). Also we were suppose to have gnocchi and we got mash potatoes. Stuff got swapped, but what can you do since it says that they can swap due to costs. Tough luck.

There are good things that happened:

1) The food was good.

2) The ice cream was really good and a big hit with people.

3) The staff was good. Yeah there was a couple little things, but overall the staff was really friendly with the guests.

Now I am not saying that Michael C. is a terrible caterer, but their operation is young and you have to endure these bumps with new enterprises. Hopefully he does get better and improve his professionalism over time and is more aware of certain things on the contract. I would recommend him with reservations. Definitely do your due diligence with the contract and calculations.

It's War! CreekHiker vs. Alycia

The undercard fight tonight is....

CreekHiker aka "Haymaker Holly" vs Alycia aka "Thief and Liar"

5' 2" | HEIGHT | 5' 6"

108 CM | LENGTH | 120 CM

RIGHT JAB | SKILL | LOW BLOW

What is going on with this blog. There is a war of words going down in this post "Do not use Custom Caters and Catered Affairs" and I love it. I love the drama. It is like an online version of Gossip Girl, Melrose Place, 90210 or some other Aaron Spelling program. Like the soap opera in the middle of the day, but not on your tube (does anyone still have a tube?), but online.

Granted it is only 3 comments long, I am glad that CreekHiker came back and fought with words to get the last laugh. I so wish that I could somehow elevate that post to the top level so that Alycia can fight back and defend her name!

I love drama. I squirt my toothpaste from the top just to infuriate those bottom toothpaste people. I put non-matching socks to piss off those who think stripes shouldn't go with polkadots. I sing off key to tick off glee club members. All these things so I can feed my need for drama. It is like speed and I can't get enough of it!

As of now, I believe it is a TKO for CreekHiker!!!

Vendor Review: Amy Carter @ Ruby Slippers Events

Our wedding is suppose to be a budget wedding. Now that budget wedding got a little over budget, but it was still the most cost effective wedding out of all of my friends. How was this done? Well it was done by trying to use services from people who were just starting their service business. Well how did that turn out? Not so good to OK.

I was browsing the Wedding Bee classified boards to find some free stuff. One of the posts that I stumbled upon was a thread started by Amy Carter or AmyM83 entitled "Southern California DOC & Planner, FREE services!" so I said what da heck, I like free, my favorite F word. I contacted her and exchanged a few emails and we worked out a trade: services for pictures. I agreed and we were on our merry way.

Now I will admit that we could have finished our timeline a little earlier and given it to Amy to mentally prepare for the wedding day, but honestly, I think that if you are a professional and want to be part of this space, then you go to be able to jump into any situation. We ended up handing off the timeline to her the day of when she showed up to the venue. Our whole purpose of having her there was to take care of the vendors and to keep us on track. If our helpers were pressed for time, then they could ask her for help.

What was the outcome? Let's say that our DJ asked it if was her first time. We fell behind our timeline. She asked us vendor questions during the day. She ended up asking one of the MOH's what to do. She was not authoritative. She didn't say goodbye to my wife, but she did leave some business cards. When there was chaos, she checked out. Now, I won't say it was all bad. She was there and she did handle some stuff. But if you are going into this biz, you go to take charge. The coordinator is suppose to be in charge. She was not.

One thing that was kind of jacked up is that she didn't know people you would think she would know. Example: My sister and mother wanted to use the bathroom in the wedding party changing rooms (immediate family and wedding party were allowed to) and she denied them. Why? Because she didn't know who they were. She thought they were just regular guests. Our venue coordinator knew who they were and let them through. And when they came back from the bathroom, they felt that Amy glared at them. How's that for professionalism.

Now we told her that she could use our pictures from our event. I am down with her using pictures of things that she did, but there is a little problem: She didn't setup anything. Yup. I had people do it. So she will probably end up using the pictures, but if she takes any credit for it, I am going to have to call her out on that.

I take some blame for finding her, but I needed to save some cash money. The fact that my wedding was 2.5 months ago tells you how vivid her services were to us. So would I recommend her? No. Would I pay for her services? Hell no. If people are shooting off glowing reviews, then I guess someone has got to put a lightbulb in my ass and then my review will go also.

Not that I want to promote her or anything, but this is so people can find this review:

Ruby Slippers Events http://www.rubyslippersevents.com

Amy Carter amy@rubyslippersevents.com

We are married!

Yes, we are married. What to blog about now. Well, how about the wedding. Things went wrong, things went right, but things went smooth. That is the way it should be. I will be blogging about this later as I am probably on my honeymoon and just post randomly.

For those who are using Michael C. Events for your wedding, email me at baleong at gmail and I will have to tell you what to watch out for when you use him. Just some bewares which we found out first hand.

Woot woot, married and now it is honeymoon time!

What's my name fool?

Yeah, what is my name. Let's just say my name is Dan. You know my name is Dan, my parents know my name is Dan and my librarian knows that my name is Dan. My name is not Daniel, Danny, Dannyboy, David, Ron, Bob, or any other creative name. On my wedding invitation it says Dan Doe and Jane Doe's Wedding. The check that you are getting from me says Dan. So why do you insist on calling me Danny?

We were at my wedding and this DJ, let's say it was a she and her name was Karen (b/c as Dane Cook says, "Karen is always a douche bag") can't my name right for the life of her. So Karen proceeds to say, "Welcome to the wedding of Danny and Jane". Strike 1. My name is Dan. Then she goes "Danny and Jane want to hear those glasses clang." Strike 2. You get the point. Even after we go up there and tell her that my name is Dan, she proceeds to call me Danny. Even after my grandma goes up and says "Listen douche bag, his name is Dan and I don't know who Danny is, but you better get this right before I take my teeth out and throw down", Karen still gets it wrong.

Now, how are you suppose to make money after this wedding if you can't even say the groom's name correctly. Do you have some place else to be? Do you have to go meet your boyfriend DANNY. Who is this Danny who is supposedly at the wedding. Some summer fling you can't get out of your mind. A hidden 90210, Melrose Place, or Gossip Girl character?

Please, how hard is it? I would understand if they had some name that was like 10 syllables, but for realz. 1 syllable. That is it. 1 syllable, 3 letters. That is all it is. you suck as a MC because you don't even know who is getting married. And you suck as a DJ b/c you can't mix worth a $@!t. You are fired. End of story.

Talk about Quick Cash

I know how to make quick cash. I wheel and deal and make extra money here and there, but this officiant business is some serious quick cash. Now granted you only can do like at most 3 weddings in a day and most of the weddings happen only one day of the week, but you could make some serious money on that one day.

We went down to the wire on the wedding officiant (as in booked him two days ago) because I couldn't stomach the amount of money it would cost. $400 for the day of, $50 for commute, $150 for rehearsal. Are you serious? $150 for rehearsal seems like a steal compared to the $400 for the day of since they have to stay for like 1.5 hrs versus a ceremony which is on avg 15 minutes. I mean if you do the math, the officiant is making $1600/hr. Insane in the membrane, insane in the BRAIN.

I need to get into this business. All I got to do is put on a bed sheet, wrap my neck with sports tape or color it with whiteout and grab myself a leather bound book to hold and know how to read. I bet I could even get by without reading as long as I have a good memory.

In all fairness, they still have to do a good job and hopefully they do if you are paying them that much. Now I let that guy who quoted me $400 to do the wedding go. I decided to take a friends recommendation and go with Reverend Bob. Dude is cheaper than most guys at $225. You generally don't need them at rehearsal because all they do is walk out with the guys, read from a paper, and then sign a document. Not rocket science and not a lot coordinating needed for him. Plus for $150, I could myself a pretty nice streak at Lawry's.

The Photobook of all Photobooks

So I have printed out quite a few photobooks in my time and have been trying out different companies from MyPublisher, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak, ArtsCow and Blurb. These are all reasonably priced photobook suppliers. I have not tried Apple's service because it is just too darn expensive. Well for our signin book, I wanted to try another company, AdoramaPix. It is basically the photo department of Adorama.com, the photo equipment retailer. Now I found out about AdoramaPix by a review done by another photography site, XEQUALS.

My first thought was, how much better can this book be? It is hands down the best I have gotten so far. I wouldn't say the construction of the outside is the best I have ever seen versus some leather bound books, but it is definitely good for a wrap around. The paper is what sets this apart. It is printed on matte photopaper. None of that photopaper that tends to look too glossy or cheapy. These pages are nice and thick and of great quality. The color reproduction is excellent and they provide you with the colorspace that they print with, which is a nice touch. Creating the book can be done all online and you can even save a local copy to your disk in case anything ever happens to their servers. The only thing about the online method is that there is no center on page for the photo. Other than that, the making of the book was simple and fast.

My only complaint is that there isn't a first throwaway page. The first page on the book is printed to photopaper that the glued to the front cover. It would have definitely been nice to know this since I would have left that page blank.

All and all, I will definitely be ordering from them again.

Using Vendors for Information

I am shameless. Yes shameless. I have no loyalty to vendors. I am going to get a quote and then pimp that quote out to get one better and then pimp those back to you for a lower one. It is like the circle of saving money. Use one to get a lower one and then use the lower one to get an even lower one. That is how I roll.

Case and point. Alcohol. Everyone knows that the alch can be a big cost. It is quite possible that it could cost more than the dinner if you are doing the typical beef/chicken/veggie. Now I am a big proponent of open bar. I feel that the party doesn't start until the spirits start flowing. You need to loosen people up. People are with other people they don't know, but you want everyone to get to know everyone. You want them to be wild and entertaining. So when we started planning this wedding, open bar was a must. Now setting a budget for liquor is kind of difficult. We gave ourselves one and then started looking for vendors. We stumbled upon Wally's Wine. The best part about this place is that any unopened alcohol can be returned. BAD ASS. Cuz really, what are you going to do with 50 bottles of leftover stuff. When we got the quote from them, I was like W-H-O-A. Hold up here. You are charging me this and this and this much. I had to stop. Breathe. and then start up again.

Now, I did really want to see what they would charge, but more importantly, I wanted to know what they thought I needed for this amount of people. I am not a party planner, I am not a caterer, I am not a bartender. I don't know these things and why not utilize the expertise of professionals. In reality, it only took me about 5 minutes on the phone and a couple of days waiting for the proposal.

So after I got the prices, where was the first place I went. Our favorite warehouse store, Costco. Sellers of everything large and beyond large. You need a 10 yr supply of toilet paper, they sell it. You need enough jerky sticks to build a house, they sell it. You want to buy underwear and engagement ring in one stop, they're full service. You want to buy alcohol for your wedding, boo yah. What is the problem buying the alchy at Costco? They sell it in like 2 gallon bottles. Ok, maybe that is a little of an exageration, but the bottles are generally twice the size. I am sure the bartenders aren't going to enjoy lifting them and twirling them and whatever. Fine, they can't be Tom Cruise in Cocktail, but I will be saving some cash money.

Granted Costco doesn't sell everything, but they sell most of the items. I will finish collecting the rest of the stuff from BevMo, Safeway, and Trader Joe's. All and all, I am going most likely cut the Wally's Wine's quote in half. Yes 50%. FIVE-O suckas.

So if you are looking at providing your own liquor, look no further than Wally's Wine for the information, then go shopping to save some money.

Engagement Shoot Done, Finished, Can we do it again?

So we chose the excellent Michael Norwood to do our engagement shoot. We would have taken him for the whole sha-bang if it wasn't for this pesky thing known as a budget. We decided that since we are saving on our main wedding photographer, that we might as well spend a little more for our engagement session. So in comes M Norwood. The dude is funny and fun to talk to. He is a foodie. He has chopsticks at a sushi joint just for him. Seriously, that is bad ass. But he is just comedy. Esp dig the model face poses to get the girl the way he wants them to be. But overall, he is just a cool guy to get you to put on your sexy pose.

Oh yeah, so where did we go. We went to Laguna Beach. No we didn't see LC, although I was on the lookout. But it was fun. It was actually a good day too. I mean you come from Pasadena area and it is all gloom and doom and then head out to the coast and it is scattered clouds so it made for some good times.

But man, people are interested when they see you getting pictures taken. I think we must have gotten hit by 10 people shouting out of the car "awww how cute" or "kiss herrrrr" or something to that effect. Or if we are doing something and a car drives by, then stop and say "Do it again." What is so intriguing? Stop wasting our time!!!! I only look this good once a year mang.

Oh yeah, so since we chose our wedding photographer, here is my super duper photographer spreadsheet. I know that it isn't all up to date and the the prices are probably all stale and moldy, but hey it is a starting point right. You can basically make the assumption that everyone raised their prices the same %. Plus these prices are only starting points for some serious negotiations.

Los Angeles Photographers

Price of Veils is just unreasonable until...

we found Crowning Glory Designs by Candi Merle. Now there isn't a website or any advertisement, just a store front in the OC. She has a popular Project Wedding page with 38 glowing reviews. She isn't really popular. She is more like a diamond in the rough. For the budget bride, she is the your designer in the bargain bin.

Personally I don't see how someone could spend hundreds of dollars and sometimes even trumping the cost of a bridesmaid dress, on a veil. It just baffles the mind. It is just a piece of cloth cut and put around a headband. $200, $300, $400? For something that you will wear for pictures and ceremony and then Buh-BYE.

This is where Candi comes in. She has affordable veils. How affordable? $5, or even $10? Ok, she ain't Goodwill, but she does come in low. Lower than $50. Sounds way better than a couple hundred. Here is the process: Go to her, try on veils, order veil, receive semi custom veil in 2-3wks. And there is a bonus! The bonus being is that if you change your mind later, she is willing to work with you. She doesn't just slam the door in your face, but she works with you. Now if that ain't a good vendor, then I don't know what is.

Crowning Glory Designs by Candi Merle
3350 Greenleaf Drive
Brea, CA 92822
(714) 986-9944

p.s. She ships too.

Ugly Vendor

Would you hire an ugly vendor?

I don't know if I would. I know that sounds superficial, but I mean your guests are looking at your caterer, DJ, videographer, or photographer. Generally most of the vendors are ok, middle of the road looking, but then sometimes you get some fugly people. I know I sound like an ass, but you really want to subject your guests to that. Are your friends ugly? Of course not. Not to you, but to someone else, one of your friends might be ugly. So if think of all the various guests that you are inviting who don't know each other but know you. Now think that they have all different thoughts about what ugly looks like. Then think of your vendor. Did they fall off ugly tree? I am not hiring someone who looks like Freddy Krueger. Just like you aren't going to see Shamu @ New York Fashion Week (ok, that was from "The City", I know, I know, I know). To be honest, I haven't met any Freddy's, nor expect to. But I have met/seen some borderlines that make me think. Call Pretty or Call Borderline? Hmm..I'll call pretty.

Are you stalking us?

So I bashed on this vendor before in this post and didn't reveal their name. But now that I am thinking back on this, it is time for the unveiling of this retarded vendor. The not so winner is...

Ray & Rob DJ Service by Ray Tomlinson

This is guy is stalking me. He came in at a really good price and wanted to save some cash money. After he talked my ear off and make a dissed his partner because his phone kept ringing, he is now stalking us. He calls me. I don't answer. He leaves a voicemail. He calls me again. He leaves another voicemail. Then at the same time, he calls my fiancee, and hangs up. Calls again and hangs up never leaving a voicemail for her. Like a stalker I tell you. He is hoping for the pick up, but doesn't want to reveal it is him who is calling over and over and over and over and over and over. ENOUGH ALREADY! Just stop. Go Away. Or leave a message and stop stalking me. I don't swing that way bucko. Yuck.

I am not going with him and neither should you. Be safe, don't book Ray & Rob.

These guys just make you want to get married

If you are getting married and haven't heard of StillMotion, then you've been hiding under a rock. I've been following them for a while now and if you watch their videos, they just make you want to get married. The way they portray day is just so great. If I had cash money, I'd fly them down and have them video our wedding and just be bomb-tastic.

Kimberley + Trevor's SDE from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Wedding 2.0 - It's all about the WWW

Today's generation are all web savvy people. I mean we grew up with this stuff. I am probably dating myself and probably outing my nerdness, but I will do it anywayz. Back in da day; it was a Tuesday by the way, like that fact? chew on it. Back in da day when you used dial up on my Intel 386 66Mhz computer with a 1440bps modem and it was Prodigy vs AOL. Back in the day when Google didn't exist and you could buy walmart.com. There was no internet basically. There was text based chat rooms that could hold 8 people at a time for the whole community. When bulletin boards where the big things and "You've Got Mail" are some magical words. When online kids were so stupid that they gave out their passwords in AOL chatrooms (Maybe that's why I never paid for AOL).

Wedding 1.0
Advertisement: Magazines, trade shows, word of mouth, newsletters, physical mail, yellow pages, penny saver
Reach: tens of thousands

Wedding 2.0
Advertisement: 1.0 + blogs, social networks, community websites, email, twitter
Reach: millions

Some of these vendors are stuck in the dark ages. They have no web presence what so ever. Pictures of their venues suck. Descriptions of their services blow. Now are you serious about your work or is it just for fun. Some of these guys it is just for fun, so I don't hold that against them. But these other guys who hound you and they don't have it all together, why would you want to go with them.

Now don't get me wrong I like going to all these community places like Project Wedding, Yelp, Wedding Bee, etc... and sharing my opinions and experiences with a vendor, restaurant or whatever. So that is why I bash the ones I don't like, and praise the ones I do. You are given this outlet channel, might as well use and don't let these guys get you down. Read everything and take nothing for granted.

Another vendor just called -> straight to voicemail

Why you calling me? Oh cuz I met with you. I got to keep this vendor stringing along because we haven't booked the other person yet so if sh!t hits the fan, I got to keep this one live. But I don't want to talk him because he talks too much. You ever get those. I had 2 in the past week. Those vendors who love to sell because they love to listen to themselves. Gawd. Shoot me now. I want to reach through the phone and choke them and say "LET ME SPEAK!" Let me go a little MLK on you,

"I have a dream that one day, all vendors, regardless of industry; weddings, corporate events, bar mitzvah, christenings, bounce house parties; will all sell their wonderful things fast and speak to the point. That all listeners of their own voice will relinquish the desire to talk in large amounts. That they have the courage to take an Immodium or make use of a cork to stop their deadly annoying disease 'Diarrhea of the mouth'.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day the first vendor you meet will seem like your best friend or long lost sister, brother, midget twin, three legged dog or that ham sandwich from 2 tuesdays ago.

I have a dream that my two little future children will one day live in a nation where they will not be scammed by the same thieves who have tried to do me wrong, but be in a level playing field full of bargains and coups.

I have a dream today!

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of America's fiancees will be able to sing with new meaning:

My wedding 'tis of thee, sweet holy matrimony, of thee I sing.

Land where my wallet sucked dry, land of the bargainer's pride,

From every discount store, let freedom ring!

And if our weddings are to be a great extravaganza, this must become true.

And when this happens, when we allow our wallet's freedom ring, when we let it ring from every mall and every venue, from every church to dinning hall, we will be able to speak up that day for all future brides and grooms, cheap bastards and stingy parents, religious cheaters and non-affliated posers, TomKat and Speidi, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of my spiritual:

Saving at last! Saving at last!

Thank You the Cranky Wedding Blogger Almighty, we are saving at last!"

Man I hope I don't get anymore of these guys.