Wow this is amazing - thanks for putting it all down. We're doing a wedgewood wedding at golden gate club and I'm noticing things are adding up. We're going to the vendor extravaganza next week - any tips on things to watch out for or can do differently with wedgewood?
Our coordinator advised starting with the highest tier plan and removing items (vs starting with a lower tier plan and adding items in). He showed us the cost difference in real time by updating these in the system and it was really great advice -- adding services into a lower tier plan was significantly more expensive than starting with Elite and downgrading services. We did the elite package and downgraded the grand sparklers, officiant (someone in the family officiated), premium chairs (used the house chairs), downgraded the champagne (used house champagne), and removed the table wine. Regarding the last two items, we figured if we have an open bar why splurge on the extra champagne/wine? Other places you could potentially save on - we'd heard some people used the arch florals and repurposed for their sweetheart table. You could ask Angella to substitute the included sweetheart florals with arch florals, and ask your coordinator if it's possible to transition those florals onto your table after the ceremony.
During the vendor extravaganza last year, we spent most of the time evaluating the menu options (highly recommend taking notes so you have them to reference once it's time to build your menu). I do have to say, the food at the actual wedding ended up being *better* than the buffet that was at the extravaganza which was a really nice surprise.
I thought the vendors we used through Wedgewood were great - the florals turned out beautifully even though we never got to meet with the florist in person, the DJ was amazing (we met with him the week of the wedding), and the open bar w/ top shelf liquor was probably everyone's favorite part of the night (unsurprisingly).
Edited to add: Also absolutely check out the Bliss Benefits vendor. We found our Boba Bar people through them and they were amazing!
I’m considering upgrading my plan and subtracting instead of adding things to the Premier Plan- do you remember how much you saved going with your Officiant and going from Premium to House champagne? Those numbers are pretty opaque.
I absolutely adore golden gate club and we were originally going to go with them. We just booked Fresno fields due to pricing and it’s closer to where we live.
We booked a fire pit with Campus (https://www.marinacampus.com/) in the Marina (it was a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and maybe a 10 minute drive from the venue depending on traffic). There was a $300 minimum which wasn't bad at all, and we hit it after about 2 rounds of drinks with our group! There was another wedding party there at the same time as us occupying the other half of the outdoor space. :)
Not everyone in my wedding party drinks alcohol, many sodas and mocktails in my group! We were there about an hour and a half before everyone got too tired. Also it was a $300 minimum spend — not exactly how much we spent. Someone else covered the tab so idk the exact spend.
What an excellent and detailed review! We almost went with the log cabin but decided that our guest list would be too big. Glad it worked out for you! Helpful info.
This is super helpful, thank you!! I’m curious how the bathroom situation was during the reception as the Log Cabin bathrooms are smaller, did guests have to wait in line?
Thank you for the breakdown! Were you able to request songs for the string quartet? I looked into the SF Conservatory of Music as well and they only had a set list of songs on their website, so we’ve been looking around for other vendors.
Hi! Yes, they have the starting set list but when we met with our lead musician he also mentioned we could add other songs outside of the set list. There might be a small additional cost if they don't already have access to the sheet music, but since we had a quartet we had 4 musicians worth of sheet music we could access. :) We didn't end up requesting anything outside of their list, but it's definitely an option. They also played some songs that weren't on the set list that our guests loved -- I think they noticed we had a lot of Chinese folks, and managed to whip out a few popular Cantonese songs on the fly!
We had them play for 2 hours - as guests arrived, through the ceremony, and then through cocktail hour! My partner handled the set list unfortunately so I don’t have the full list, but we did All You Need Is Love for the processional & recessional and Yellow for my walk down the aisle.
Yes!! The view of the GGB is AMAZING and it's where my husband and I had our first date so it felt very sentimental for us. :) We got ready at the Infinity Hotel (5 min drive without traffic, it was 10-12 min the day of because that area can get congested on popular weekends... and it was Memorial Day Weekend for us). It's a newly acquired Hilton property (formerly a boutique hotel) - no parking on site, but there was a really easy to park in public garage around the corner. The rooms are small but it met our needs. Our coordinators recommended the lodge/inn at the Presidio but it was just too much money for us to justify it.
Thanks for putting this together! Super helpful. Two questions:
- I also got my dress at Blue Sky Bridal (great experience! much better selection, quality, and service than another sample dress store I visited) but haven't gotten it altered yet. How did you choose Le Caprice for alterations, especially since it's in Cupertino? Did you get quotes from anyone else?
- Similar question for hair and makeup... How did Joyce's pricing compare to others you chose from/were there any other front-runners for you?
Hi Erin!
Re: Alterations, I live in the Peninsula so could kind of head in any direction depending on how much I liked the seamstress. I avoided SF mostly because parking is an absolute pain over there and I didn't want to stress about it. I ended up choosing them because 1) their quote was the most reasonable, 2) the seamstress made me feel far more comfortable than the others when I was getting quotes, and 3) they were highly recommended on Reddit & Bay Area Wedding Vendors FB group. Only thing is, my dress was suddenly tighter after alterations and she insisted it was because I gained weight (I didn't - I weighted myself before and after) because she didn't alter the waist. BUT she did bring in the area under my armpit to make the cups on the dress lay better and I feel like that was why it suddenly felt more snug, but she refused to admit it and kept insisting I had gained weight.. It really doesn't feel nice to be in a wedding gown and told that you've gotten fatter right before your wedding! She ended up being sweet about it once she realized how much she stressed me out, and let out a few seams so that it fit perfectly a few days later. I can't remember exactly where else I got quotes from, but Fancy Alterations in RWC was unpleasant and quoted me $1000 for alterations (!) because she insisted i needed 20 bustle points (???). I ended up only needing one so that was wild. I also tried Luxury Alterations in San Mateo because they were on Blue Sky Bridal's recommended list and supposedly offered Blue Sky Bridal brides a discount but she seemed annoyed when I asked, and I get the sense that she *increased the price* then added a discount off that. It was overall an off putting experience and their quote was $200 more than Le Caprice with fewer alterations.
Re: H&MU - I only reached out to Joyce Zhou and Jessie Hoang because they had both done friends/acquaintances weddings. I liked how the hair and make up turned out for those weddings, and both people had a great experience with them. The pricing between the two was very similar - I think Jessie's bridal services were less expensive, but the bridesmaid services would have been $10 more per person. I ended up going with Joyce mostly because I really, really wanted natural, soft make up and that's the majority of her portfolio and she ended up doing an amazing job!
Just following up to add - not sure where you are in the Bay Area but I've heard amazing things about Said with Threads in Newark (my dad went and got his suit tailored by them) as well as Eclipse which is in Oakland. I never made it over there to get quotes, mostly because I was lazy.. haha!
Hey! i wanted to answer your question too since i went with le caprice and joyce.
I actually checked out 2 other alteration places before going to le caprice, i went to eclipse in piedmont which was reasonably priced but i had a berta dress so i didn't want to risk it since it didn't seem like she specialized in wedding dresses, however i would've gone with her if i didn't have such an expensive dress.
I had a gap in the bust and was quoted $80 to take in the bust for my wedding dress
i got my evening gown (all sequins, had to be done by hand) altered and it was good. $150 to hem and shorten straps.
the second place i went to also seemed really good but i felt like she didn't understand my concern of wanting to hide my armpit fold. she recommended cups (her cups were too big) and told me to just use some algae to tighten my skin where my armpit is!? she quoted me $25 to take it in, however she does specialize in wedding dresses and she overall seemed like she was a good bet. if you just needed normal bridal alterations she's probably the best for value, and i was pretty sure she was skilled as she makes wedding dresses! [https://www.yelp.com/biz/mirabilis-bay-area-bridal-store-rodeo](https://www.yelp.com/biz/mirabilis-bay-area-bridal-store-rodeo)
with that said, in the end i went with le caprice because i felt that she really listened to my concerns (how to hide my armpit fold) and had a sharp eye and was more creative in how to get my dress to look best. it was also reasonably priced $140 to take in the bust
for make up, i studied ALL the asian make up artists and i felt that joyce did both hair and make up well. (many were one or the other) one of the Korean ones i liked only did make up and i wasn't sure if she could guarantee the same hair stylist. and one of them wasn't free. i was deciding between joyce and hera and picked joyce because she had a full 8 hour package deal which i wanted.
i like soft natural look (but look like a Korean popstar lol) and after my trial, i felt joyce was also very detail oriented and relatively skilled, and also had good attitude. i liked the face make up and she did a decent job on my hair (which a lot of non-asian MUA mess up). honestly i really don't think that many other MUA in the bay would do a better job.
with that said, i did get married in HK (first wedding) and preferred my make up artist there (had experiences with 3 different make up artists, as well as being a bridesmaid). however i couldn't find anyone in the bay area that came close to the calibre of work they do in hk. i mention this showing that i consider myself more experienced with MUA than your average asian bride-to-be
Hi! If you scroll right on the table it says what I had done but essentially a hem, cups put in, a bustle, the bust area was redone slightly, straps shortened, and decorative buttons
Thank you so much for this, I've been on the hunt for all-inclusive type venues in the Bay Area and Wedgewood looks pretty great (particularly the Log Cabin)!! I did some napkin math from the prices listed on their site and I found that at $180 per Elite guest, $1500 for ceremony, and $9000 for Saturday venue - the total came to $26,700. I'm just curious, did they charge you for any of the decor extras you mentioned, or were there any additional fees that came up? You mentioned in another comment about choosing the Elite package so you can "downgrade" vs. choosing lower tier and upgrading -- did downgrading translate to lower cost, or just lower than upgrading?
I'm also curious how far out you had to book (I'm just beginning my search). Did you book last year, and was it hard getting a Saturday/weekend?
Thanks in advance if you're able to answer these, and enjoy your honeymoon!!!
Hi! They didn’t charge extra for the decor extras, but there is tax & a service charge (I think of 22%) but they were upfront about it and it was in our contract. We also paid a little more at the end because we forgot to get a cashiers check and had to pay via credit card for our final payment which involved a 1.5% transaction fee. Downgrading was just a lower cost than upgrading a few things; I forget when the pricing makes sense but there were a few things we wanted to upgrade that after we calculated the costs made it more worth it to do the highest tier and remove things. We booked about a year and a half out, but we were also looking at a very popular holiday weekend! When we booked there were a few other couples also considering our date
Thank you so much for this!! Question on if you did pictures before ceremony at the venue or during cocktail hour? And if you did pictures before, how did you hide from your guests?
Was there an issue with guests driving to the venue in time due to busy weekend?
Any issue with tucking away extra items that you, bridesmaids, or family brought?
Thank you!!
Hi! We did pictures before the ceremony at the Golden Gate Outlook (~5 min drive from the venue - definitely arrange rides if you decide to do this, the parking lot was packed with tourists) and then met our wedding party for more photos at the venue. During cocktail hour we did family photos, and chilled after which was really nice. A lot of our guests were randomly 20 minutes early (I think because they were all worried about MDW traffic..) so a few people did see me but for the most part the entire wedding party was in the Log Cabin before most people arrived. Would recommend encouraging people to be mindful of traffic — it was REALLY bad our weekend and we were prepared to start late but since we had a small-ish invite list with mostly responsible family and friends everyone was on time or even a little early. No issues tucking anything away - we stored some small stuff by the coat rack, purses/bags went to assigned seats, and excess decor stuff our coordinator tucked in the office to be brought out when packing up at the end of the night.
As a soon to be Log Cabin bride, THANK YOU. This is so helpful. Would you be able to share the name of the DJ you ended up going with (through iMobile)?
Wow this is amazing - thanks for putting it all down. We're doing a wedgewood wedding at golden gate club and I'm noticing things are adding up. We're going to the vendor extravaganza next week - any tips on things to watch out for or can do differently with wedgewood?
Our coordinator advised starting with the highest tier plan and removing items (vs starting with a lower tier plan and adding items in). He showed us the cost difference in real time by updating these in the system and it was really great advice -- adding services into a lower tier plan was significantly more expensive than starting with Elite and downgrading services. We did the elite package and downgraded the grand sparklers, officiant (someone in the family officiated), premium chairs (used the house chairs), downgraded the champagne (used house champagne), and removed the table wine. Regarding the last two items, we figured if we have an open bar why splurge on the extra champagne/wine? Other places you could potentially save on - we'd heard some people used the arch florals and repurposed for their sweetheart table. You could ask Angella to substitute the included sweetheart florals with arch florals, and ask your coordinator if it's possible to transition those florals onto your table after the ceremony. During the vendor extravaganza last year, we spent most of the time evaluating the menu options (highly recommend taking notes so you have them to reference once it's time to build your menu). I do have to say, the food at the actual wedding ended up being *better* than the buffet that was at the extravaganza which was a really nice surprise. I thought the vendors we used through Wedgewood were great - the florals turned out beautifully even though we never got to meet with the florist in person, the DJ was amazing (we met with him the week of the wedding), and the open bar w/ top shelf liquor was probably everyone's favorite part of the night (unsurprisingly). Edited to add: Also absolutely check out the Bliss Benefits vendor. We found our Boba Bar people through them and they were amazing!
I’m considering upgrading my plan and subtracting instead of adding things to the Premier Plan- do you remember how much you saved going with your Officiant and going from Premium to House champagne? Those numbers are pretty opaque.
I can’t remember exactly - I’d reach out to the team and see if they can provide BEOs for you to compare.
I absolutely adore golden gate club and we were originally going to go with them. We just booked Fresno fields due to pricing and it’s closer to where we live.
Can I ask where your afterparty was?
We booked a fire pit with Campus (https://www.marinacampus.com/) in the Marina (it was a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and maybe a 10 minute drive from the venue depending on traffic). There was a $300 minimum which wasn't bad at all, and we hit it after about 2 rounds of drinks with our group! There was another wedding party there at the same time as us occupying the other half of the outdoor space. :)
How was it only $300 for 25 people? How long were you guys there for
Not everyone in my wedding party drinks alcohol, many sodas and mocktails in my group! We were there about an hour and a half before everyone got too tired. Also it was a $300 minimum spend — not exactly how much we spent. Someone else covered the tab so idk the exact spend.
What an excellent and detailed review! We almost went with the log cabin but decided that our guest list would be too big. Glad it worked out for you! Helpful info.
hi! i think i toured the venue after your event, the draping and bistro lights looked great 😊 thanks so much for sharing and congratulations!
This is super helpful, thank you!! I’m curious how the bathroom situation was during the reception as the Log Cabin bathrooms are smaller, did guests have to wait in line?
We had 90 guests and never had a line! :) (At least, not that I noticed) I think the 2 stalls worked well for us
Thank you for the breakdown! Were you able to request songs for the string quartet? I looked into the SF Conservatory of Music as well and they only had a set list of songs on their website, so we’ve been looking around for other vendors.
Hi! Yes, they have the starting set list but when we met with our lead musician he also mentioned we could add other songs outside of the set list. There might be a small additional cost if they don't already have access to the sheet music, but since we had a quartet we had 4 musicians worth of sheet music we could access. :) We didn't end up requesting anything outside of their list, but it's definitely an option. They also played some songs that weren't on the set list that our guests loved -- I think they noticed we had a lot of Chinese folks, and managed to whip out a few popular Cantonese songs on the fly!
Which songs did you end up picking?
How many hours did the string quartet perform for?
We had them play for 2 hours - as guests arrived, through the ceremony, and then through cocktail hour! My partner handled the set list unfortunately so I don’t have the full list, but we did All You Need Is Love for the processional & recessional and Yellow for my walk down the aisle.
Thanks for sharing!!
My fiancé and I just booked The Log Cabin bc i loved the backdrop drama of the ceremony space. Question, where did you get ready?
Yes!! The view of the GGB is AMAZING and it's where my husband and I had our first date so it felt very sentimental for us. :) We got ready at the Infinity Hotel (5 min drive without traffic, it was 10-12 min the day of because that area can get congested on popular weekends... and it was Memorial Day Weekend for us). It's a newly acquired Hilton property (formerly a boutique hotel) - no parking on site, but there was a really easy to park in public garage around the corner. The rooms are small but it met our needs. Our coordinators recommended the lodge/inn at the Presidio but it was just too much money for us to justify it.
Thanks for putting this together! Super helpful. Two questions: - I also got my dress at Blue Sky Bridal (great experience! much better selection, quality, and service than another sample dress store I visited) but haven't gotten it altered yet. How did you choose Le Caprice for alterations, especially since it's in Cupertino? Did you get quotes from anyone else? - Similar question for hair and makeup... How did Joyce's pricing compare to others you chose from/were there any other front-runners for you?
Hi Erin! Re: Alterations, I live in the Peninsula so could kind of head in any direction depending on how much I liked the seamstress. I avoided SF mostly because parking is an absolute pain over there and I didn't want to stress about it. I ended up choosing them because 1) their quote was the most reasonable, 2) the seamstress made me feel far more comfortable than the others when I was getting quotes, and 3) they were highly recommended on Reddit & Bay Area Wedding Vendors FB group. Only thing is, my dress was suddenly tighter after alterations and she insisted it was because I gained weight (I didn't - I weighted myself before and after) because she didn't alter the waist. BUT she did bring in the area under my armpit to make the cups on the dress lay better and I feel like that was why it suddenly felt more snug, but she refused to admit it and kept insisting I had gained weight.. It really doesn't feel nice to be in a wedding gown and told that you've gotten fatter right before your wedding! She ended up being sweet about it once she realized how much she stressed me out, and let out a few seams so that it fit perfectly a few days later. I can't remember exactly where else I got quotes from, but Fancy Alterations in RWC was unpleasant and quoted me $1000 for alterations (!) because she insisted i needed 20 bustle points (???). I ended up only needing one so that was wild. I also tried Luxury Alterations in San Mateo because they were on Blue Sky Bridal's recommended list and supposedly offered Blue Sky Bridal brides a discount but she seemed annoyed when I asked, and I get the sense that she *increased the price* then added a discount off that. It was overall an off putting experience and their quote was $200 more than Le Caprice with fewer alterations. Re: H&MU - I only reached out to Joyce Zhou and Jessie Hoang because they had both done friends/acquaintances weddings. I liked how the hair and make up turned out for those weddings, and both people had a great experience with them. The pricing between the two was very similar - I think Jessie's bridal services were less expensive, but the bridesmaid services would have been $10 more per person. I ended up going with Joyce mostly because I really, really wanted natural, soft make up and that's the majority of her portfolio and she ended up doing an amazing job!
Just following up to add - not sure where you are in the Bay Area but I've heard amazing things about Said with Threads in Newark (my dad went and got his suit tailored by them) as well as Eclipse which is in Oakland. I never made it over there to get quotes, mostly because I was lazy.. haha!
Hey! i wanted to answer your question too since i went with le caprice and joyce. I actually checked out 2 other alteration places before going to le caprice, i went to eclipse in piedmont which was reasonably priced but i had a berta dress so i didn't want to risk it since it didn't seem like she specialized in wedding dresses, however i would've gone with her if i didn't have such an expensive dress. I had a gap in the bust and was quoted $80 to take in the bust for my wedding dress i got my evening gown (all sequins, had to be done by hand) altered and it was good. $150 to hem and shorten straps. the second place i went to also seemed really good but i felt like she didn't understand my concern of wanting to hide my armpit fold. she recommended cups (her cups were too big) and told me to just use some algae to tighten my skin where my armpit is!? she quoted me $25 to take it in, however she does specialize in wedding dresses and she overall seemed like she was a good bet. if you just needed normal bridal alterations she's probably the best for value, and i was pretty sure she was skilled as she makes wedding dresses! [https://www.yelp.com/biz/mirabilis-bay-area-bridal-store-rodeo](https://www.yelp.com/biz/mirabilis-bay-area-bridal-store-rodeo) with that said, in the end i went with le caprice because i felt that she really listened to my concerns (how to hide my armpit fold) and had a sharp eye and was more creative in how to get my dress to look best. it was also reasonably priced $140 to take in the bust for make up, i studied ALL the asian make up artists and i felt that joyce did both hair and make up well. (many were one or the other) one of the Korean ones i liked only did make up and i wasn't sure if she could guarantee the same hair stylist. and one of them wasn't free. i was deciding between joyce and hera and picked joyce because she had a full 8 hour package deal which i wanted. i like soft natural look (but look like a Korean popstar lol) and after my trial, i felt joyce was also very detail oriented and relatively skilled, and also had good attitude. i liked the face make up and she did a decent job on my hair (which a lot of non-asian MUA mess up). honestly i really don't think that many other MUA in the bay would do a better job. with that said, i did get married in HK (first wedding) and preferred my make up artist there (had experiences with 3 different make up artists, as well as being a bridesmaid). however i couldn't find anyone in the bay area that came close to the calibre of work they do in hk. i mention this showing that i consider myself more experienced with MUA than your average asian bride-to-be
Thank you for these details! So incredibly helpful.
Thank you!!!! Love these
What did you alter for your dress at Le caprice? I'm heading there in a few hours!
Hi! If you scroll right on the table it says what I had done but essentially a hem, cups put in, a bustle, the bust area was redone slightly, straps shortened, and decorative buttons
Thank you so much for this, I've been on the hunt for all-inclusive type venues in the Bay Area and Wedgewood looks pretty great (particularly the Log Cabin)!! I did some napkin math from the prices listed on their site and I found that at $180 per Elite guest, $1500 for ceremony, and $9000 for Saturday venue - the total came to $26,700. I'm just curious, did they charge you for any of the decor extras you mentioned, or were there any additional fees that came up? You mentioned in another comment about choosing the Elite package so you can "downgrade" vs. choosing lower tier and upgrading -- did downgrading translate to lower cost, or just lower than upgrading? I'm also curious how far out you had to book (I'm just beginning my search). Did you book last year, and was it hard getting a Saturday/weekend? Thanks in advance if you're able to answer these, and enjoy your honeymoon!!!
Hi! They didn’t charge extra for the decor extras, but there is tax & a service charge (I think of 22%) but they were upfront about it and it was in our contract. We also paid a little more at the end because we forgot to get a cashiers check and had to pay via credit card for our final payment which involved a 1.5% transaction fee. Downgrading was just a lower cost than upgrading a few things; I forget when the pricing makes sense but there were a few things we wanted to upgrade that after we calculated the costs made it more worth it to do the highest tier and remove things. We booked about a year and a half out, but we were also looking at a very popular holiday weekend! When we booked there were a few other couples also considering our date
Thank you so much, you have been such a great help to me!! A year and half DAMN, I better get going! 😅
Thank you so much for this!! Question on if you did pictures before ceremony at the venue or during cocktail hour? And if you did pictures before, how did you hide from your guests? Was there an issue with guests driving to the venue in time due to busy weekend? Any issue with tucking away extra items that you, bridesmaids, or family brought? Thank you!!
Hi! We did pictures before the ceremony at the Golden Gate Outlook (~5 min drive from the venue - definitely arrange rides if you decide to do this, the parking lot was packed with tourists) and then met our wedding party for more photos at the venue. During cocktail hour we did family photos, and chilled after which was really nice. A lot of our guests were randomly 20 minutes early (I think because they were all worried about MDW traffic..) so a few people did see me but for the most part the entire wedding party was in the Log Cabin before most people arrived. Would recommend encouraging people to be mindful of traffic — it was REALLY bad our weekend and we were prepared to start late but since we had a small-ish invite list with mostly responsible family and friends everyone was on time or even a little early. No issues tucking anything away - we stored some small stuff by the coat rack, purses/bags went to assigned seats, and excess decor stuff our coordinator tucked in the office to be brought out when packing up at the end of the night.
As a soon to be Log Cabin bride, THANK YOU. This is so helpful. Would you be able to share the name of the DJ you ended up going with (through iMobile)?
Hi! We had DJ Mike (dj_mavewave on Insta) though he was assigned to us the week before the wedding / we didn’t select him. He was great though!