This story  is dedicated to all the creative and devoted event professionals who work together so arduously to allow the brides a glimpse into a fairy tale life and to permit their families to shine.

La Bocca Fina
Teri Menchini, the owner, comes from a family of chefs and caterers. A graduate of the San Francisco Culinary Institute, Teri has made a name for herself. She is known for her delicious food and her attractive buffets, and for providing stress-free events for her clients.

Teri helped with the overall design of the wedding. She made menu suggestions and ordered and picked up the alcoholic beverages. During the course of a year she spent about 108 hours for planning and meetings, tastings, prep work, shopping, kitchen time, cleaning, paper work, and payroll. An additional 180 staff hours were used on the wedding day at Ralston Hall.

Ralston Hall
The bride and her mother first contacted Ralston Hall in the end of March, about 12 months before the wedding. Lisa, the Director of Conferences and Events, aided with the selection of the rentals. She attended the rehearsal and helped with the coordination of the wedding. She spent about 30 hours on this wedding, including 11 hours on the wedding day.

Michelle Walker Photography
Michelle studied photojournalism in art school. She is wonderful to work with. The use of top-of-the-line digital cameras allows her and her assistant to take as many as 900 photos. She met with Brooke and Sean twice before the wedding and exchanged emails and calls. Several editings and categorization of the images and the burning of the CD took her about 45 hours.

Floramor Studios
Stephen and his wife, Laura, own one of the leading floral design studios in San Francisco. Laura met twice with Brooke and her mother to plan the overall style and design of the flowers. With phone conversations and emails, planning time, ordering, prepping, and setup of the flowers, Laura estimates about 60 hours were spent on this wedding.

Have your Cake
Have your Cake is the name of Maralyn's bakery. She is known for her delicious cakes and elegant decoration, but most of all for her kosher kitchen. For this particular wedding Maralyn clocked 16 hours for one personal meeting, phone calls, shopping, prep work, baking, assembling, decoration, delivery, and setup.

Neja Cosmetics
With 15 years experience, Nellie has beautified many brides. Nellie and her two assistants only met Brooke and the wedding party on the wedding day. Together, they worked about 11 hours for this wedding.

Joel Nelson Productions
Joel owns a production company in San Jose. For this event he provided the ceremony, background, and dance music. Joel had one personal meeting and several phone conversations with Sean, about 3 hours. Additionally the group logged 40 band hours.

Johanna Kaestner
is the author of a former guide book series, By Recommendation Only. She now produces the website www.byrecommendationonly.com

Laura Hunt Photography
Laura, residing in Napa Valley, is an exceptional all-around photographer. Weddings are a big part of her work. One of her pictures inspired me to write this story.
Thank you, Laura!

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