How to Make a Bathroom More Cozy... CSN Preview

We have a water baby on our hands.  Bath time is one of the highlights of our little one's day.  With that being said, our guest bathroom where all the fun happens is basic.  It isn't fun sitting on the cold tile while our little fish splashes in the water.  Every night you could hear the hubby talk about how we needed to spruce it up and add some bathroom furniture in there.  CSN Stores gave us an opportunity to do another review and we thought this would be perfect to get some new bathroom furniture or accessories like a rug and perhaps some accessories that matched to make it more comfortable.

  Searching high and low on the CSN Bathroom store, it was so hard to pick something because there were so many choices.  Did we want to go kid like with gold fish and princess gear? Or did we want to more modern? After lots of debate we decided to this Avanti Cobblestone Rug. It was a nice complementary design with our toffee colored tiles and granite counter top.

I'm so excited for it come and see how it looks.  I know we've never been let down with this company!


Thank you again CSN for giving us the opportunity to check out your different stores!

This blogger received a promo code and did not receive financial compensation.

CSN Review... my beautiful new tablescape...

My new table runner finally came from CSN Stores: Dining Room Store. It is amazing and am kicking myself I never took a photo of it to show you (I'm totally blaming being a new mom on that one).  From ordering to receiving it, it was here within 6 business days, and that is with the normal shipping. What can I say, I am in love with CSN Stores.  I already have 5 things I am going to order next week that I need/want. 

Thanks again CSN for the opportunity to review your services.  

This blogger received a promo code and did not receive financial compensation.

CSN Review... lawn games

  Well, I'm finally back... have soo much to write about but I wanted to tell you all about what we thought about the Bean Bag Toss we got from CSN Stores.   We received the backyard game the night we went into labor and you know me, we ripped it open and played it that night.  Needless to say I lost, kinda hard tossing bean bags while having contractions but can I say this game is addicting.  My friend Sara pointed out that in her neck of the woods it's called Corn Hole (because the bean bags are made of kernels).  This by far was the best thing we could have gotten!!!  We've played tons of games with friends and family since it arrived and the hubby is practically a pro at it by now!   

  One of my favorite things about ordering from CSN is their customer service.  A few days after I ordered it I received an email from a Representative letting me know that they were looking into why it wasn't shipped out, and then a few hours later I received confirmation that it was sent.  It was suppose to arrive on KLM's due date and it ended up coming two days early! The game is well made and easy to move around.  We already started to look at which other lawn games we want to buy from their stores! 

Thanks again CSN for the opportunity to review your services and will definitely be using you when it is time to finally remodel our bathroom! 

CSN Stores - Review Boikido Blocks

A few weeks ago I posted how the lovely people at CSN gave me an opportunity to check out their services. About five days after I posted, I received a well packaged box on our doorstep. It was our eco-friendly toys!!!! We opted to get the Boikido Blocks. We opened up the box and it was like we were little 4 year olds on Christmas. The hubby and I sat down and started to play with the blocks right away. You know, to test them for KLM. :)







Even came with a bag so made clean up easy!



All in all, it was great! Would I recommend them? Yes. Prices are great and the quality of product is superb!

CSN Stores provided the product for this review. Little Miss Planner did not receive any monetary compensation for this review.

Vendor Review -- Frequent Flyer Productions

So a few days ago I left you hanging and didn't talk about what the ultra-cool Zack dropped off at my house. The reason was because I thought he deserved his own little rave review about our wedding dvd.

Dealing with Frequent Flyer Productions have been no less than excellent to work with. He's fun, energetic, and can be a total fly on the wall. The day of the wedding he made the entire wedding party feel at ease and not even our family noticed he was there and still captured the entire event Once it was time to get down to working on our material, we started talking about music, we gave him ideas of our musical taste but really, with him, you don't need to since he seems to pick the perfect songs for it all!

The final result was nothing short of spectacular! The dvd was like any real movie dvd. The main footage was edited into the story of the day, and the "extras" had separate sections for the ceremony, cake cutting, dancing, speeches, and other fun stuff. Once we popped it in and pressed play, both the hubby and I sat there in awe of how beautiful everything was captured. He used different techniques that really enhanced each moment! It was in simplest terms: PERFECTION!!

Would I recommend him? In a heart beat!

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...photography

Toby Tucker Photography took my breath away. There I said it. We used Toby for both our Engagement and Wedding photos. We had an absolute blast with him during our engagement session. He put us at ease and gave us great direction. The photos turned out fantastic. For our wedding, again he put everyone at ease. He paid attention to details and has an eye for the perfect shot. When we got our proofs, everyone we showed were amazed at his work.

From start to finish, Toby Tucker has been not only professional and courteous but also generous with his time working with us. Hands down, he was one our best vendors!! Would we recommend him to anyone, in a heartbeat!!!

Here is a sample of his work:

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS



WEDDING PHOTOS







Here's Toby at work:


Toby Tucker Photography

Grade: A+++++

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...alterations

I had my dress altered by the wonderful and amazing Reene of In Stitches in Woodland Hills, Ca. While I loved my dress, she helped customize the dress to make it more me!

The dress before:


Source

The Dress after:

She took off that random bead thing and added this beautiful brooch my parents bought me.


Hemmed the back of the dress so the train would only be lace. She also took off about 10,000 inches at the bottom since I'm short. :P


Added our names to a ribbon and sewed it on for a keepsake! My husband got a HUGE kick out of it!!!!


Me just feeling great!

Photos courtesy of Toby Tucker Photography.

If you ever need to get in touch with her, send me an email and I'll give you her number!

Grade: A+++++

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...online buys

Papermart: SUPER FAST and everything we ordered was perfect

Envelope Mall: They were courtous and helpful! Well priced and delivery was fast. Overall: A

Zazzle: We bought all 4 different types of stamps, and three types of stickers from here. I really liked how easy and well priced it all was. Overall: A

Bulk Foods: Prices were unbeatable and shipping was fast. If they don't have something in stock, they refund you. Overall: A

My M&Ms: Prices are a little steep and they forgot 30% of my order. They shipped it out superfast and refunded what they messed up on and so I never had to pay for it at the end. Overall: B

Best Bridal Prices: I bought my wedding dress and BM dresses here. They were super kind and the prices are OUT OF THIS WORLD! There was a mix up with my dress but they quickly shippped mine overnight to me. Overall: A-

I think that might be all my online purchases... Any questions?

Writing reviews,

I've realized that writing a review and either help or hinder a company's business. At the moment I've been compiling all my reviews up and have been trying to post them at various different sites. The latest and greatest site I found was ProjectWedding. I spent the evening uploading some photos and posted a few reviews on there.

Any good sites you might know about where I can write a review and help out a fellow bride?

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...the reception site

We planned our wedding within weeks of getting engaged. I just didn't want the hassle of it hovering over my head. One of the non issues for me was the site,Bella Victorian Vineyards. I blogged about how I choose the site.

I must admit, weather was the ONLY thing that worried me about the site. Nothing else. And well, it did but just enough to make everything get a little damp and make the area smell FRESH. As for what we and all our guests thought about Bella? WE LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I worked with Kimberly over there and she was soo wonderful to me. Even when I'd email random questions about the place, she put up with me! My photog took a ton of photos but here are some of my favorites of their estate!


They have a trolley pick up and drop off guests from the parking area to the estate.








Photos courtesy of Toby Tucker Photography.

From start to finish, Bella Victorian Vineyards was worth every penny!

Grade: A+++++++

Speechless...

Late last night, my photographer, Toby, send over photos for me to see from the wedding! All I can say is that I am speechless how amazing they are! Here is just a few I stole from the site ;) to show you!



He gets a A+++! Thanks toby for such an amazing job! :)

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...the travel agent

I hate writing less than admirable reviews about people but sometimes you gotta help out the fellow bride or just anyone in general. We're going to work backwards for this one and start with the grade: "C" for Fiji Travel.

I worked with one of the agents at the company to book our honeymoon and while we had a great time, there was one reason they received such a low score, their customer service. Before booking I repeatedly told them EXACTLY what time we needed to fly out. After they agreed, we sent out our deposit and all was good. One month later I got a weird thought and wondered if they could send us the itinerary. When I opened it up, they booked us to fly out the NIGHT of the wedding, not the day I requested (the day after). At one point, I was yelling in the phone (if you can tell, I really am not that pushy) telling him HE was the one that made the mistake. For 45 minutes, I wasn't budging and was pushing the point he screwed up. I even had the emails to prove it. He finally changed the flights to the correct date.

If it wasn't for this one event, they would have received a better grade. The trip they booked primarily consisted of airfare, one hotel (that I picked out and found prices for), and transport to/from airport at destination. I did the rest of the work picking our our excursions. Would I ever recommend them to anyone? No. I'm not afraid that they would make the mistake to them, I'm afraid they would treat them as poorly as they did to fix it.

Finishing things up...

Over a month ago I got married and I'm still dragging my feet about all things wedding-ish! I have vendor reviews to do (reception site, food, photographer, videographer, and florist) and just waiting for my proofs from the wedding to talk about them! I have one last DIY project: my thank you cards but I sorta have to wait to send them out since I need a photo from the wedding to go with them.

With these last little things, while it's a little sad to finally wrap up everything, I'm happy to share and finally be done! It's been a long journey and I'm finally seeing the end of it all!

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...the limo

Back in April (6+months before the wedding) I researched costs of transportation before I settled on Executive limo. It seems like the most reasonable and in the price range.

When dealing with them on the phone, they were nothing but helpful! Come the day of our wedding, the limo arrived prefectly on time and the bar was stocked for our entertainment! :)

We were able to pile thirteen people with lots of room to spare!

We had a complete blast driving to our photography shoot between the ceremony and the reception!


All in all, I'd have to give them 4 Stars, an A, and a 10 out of 10!



**photos were taken by one of my BMs Kim!

VENDOR REVIEWS!!! ...the music

I have to say if it wasn't for the amazing work of Mike, the owner of Ambassadors of Sound, I don't think I (or our guests) would have had as much fun as we did! He played everything we asked for and kept the party moving. He was an amazing MC too! If you live in Southern California, I'd HIGHLY recommend him!

Here is a photo of us dancing our first song to "Cheek to Cheek" by Sinatra



Photo from my friend Frank! :)

Grade: A++++++

Yummy vendor review Part 1

Since early on, we went with cupcake idea and wanted to find a local bakery. We found TC Bakery and everything fell into place. We even sent photos over of our ideas of what I wanted and I think they did a great job! Everyone LOVED the cupcakes and they were soo moist and tasty I was bummed after the reception I didn't get have more! Luckily someone packed some up and my wish for cupcakes were fullfilled!





Photo came from my dear friend Frank! Danke Frank-uh!

On a grading scale, TC Bakery gets an A!

A bubblehead coffin...

The bobbleheads finally came... in their own little coffin! :)




nicely wrapped too!



If I could go back and do it all again... I would. I love love love my little bobbleheads.

Would I recommend them? In a heartbeat!

Hand cramps...

That is what I didn't have! Why, because I didn't address my envelopes! I had the BEST CALLIGRAPHER IN THE WORLD do my invitations. Here name is Monica C. and lives and works in beautiful Hawaii. Even though she lives far away, she went beyond any other vendor I've used thus far! She is my favorite and I love every vendor I have! :) She's sent out examples of her work, kept in contact with you and gave updates from time to time and double checked names with you if she had questions. Amazing! Here is an example of her artistry.


(my apologies for my horrible photo taking skills.)


When it was time to get the envelopes back, she packaged them well and even put the cutest little card in there for me!

She is reasonably priced and has an eye for detailing and the end result is perfection. I can't think of a better way to add that extra touch of class to your invitations.

Her email address is monica.choe [at] gmail [dot] com. ([at] = @ [dot] = .) Again, I can't ooze more praises for her! Now... go inquire!

Wedding Vendor List --Ventura County, CA

• Ambassadors of Sound
~~REVIEW~~


• Bella Victorian Vineyards
~~REVIEW~~


• DJ's Catering



• Executive Limousine
~~REVIEW~~


• Fiji Travel
~~REVIEW~~


• Frequent Flyer Productions
~~REVIEW~~


• Monica C. Calligraphy
~~REVIEW~~


• TC Bakery
~~REVIEW~~


• Toby Tucker Photography
~~REVIEW~~


• In Stitches -Alterations
~~REVIEW~~


• Online Purchases for the Wedding
~~REVIEW~~

Reviews will be updated when they are written!