Alright, so the delivery, materials you rent, etc all ends up being totally fine. For that, I would give Celina/Esmeralda a 5 star, the reason I had to put a 3 star is because of the tardiness, and the delivery/customer service.
We had our wedding 2 months ago. And we had our wedding at the Brea Community Center. The center has some pretty utilitarian chairs (think conference room chairs), and of course we wanted nicer looking chairs for a wedding. Melissa, the Event Coordinator for Brea Community Center says there is a place that rents out the chair covers for $1.50 each chair. It comes in a few colors, but we just went with a white/ivory chair cover. We thought $1.50 a chair COVER is better than renting $5 chairs. So we went with that option, and it turns out Celina also has table covers, decorations, napkins, etc. So I decided to email her to see what her rates are.
I emailed her probably a good 8 months prior to the wedding or so. Our wedding colors were navy blue and gold, so we wanted navy blue table cloths, and we wanted the chair covers. Everything else we provided ourselves, but Celina does have centerpieces, furniture for rental, chairs, etc. So she's almost a one stop shop-kind of a thing for wedding rentals. She told me that she can meet on weekends, and it's probably good to see her showroom, so we can pick the colors and meet her in person. She said she works on weekends, so we made an appointment for Sunday afternoon to meet her at her showroom. I said I have my own centerpieces, and she said to bring it so we can do a mock-up guest table.
Celina is good, but when we met her at her office, she was 30-40 minutes late, coming from another event. She was texting me and apologizing, so we were waiting for her for about 30-40 minutes. I was a little angry cause it's just a waste of our time, especially cause her office was like 35 minutes away.
I will say though, it's good to meet her at the showroom, and get to see everything. She had table cloths but she even has poly table cloth covers or satin. The satin is more expensive and more shiny, but we personally liked the poly better. And there's a few different shades of off-white for the chair covers and stuff -- it's just best to go to her showroom so you can get a visual of what your wedding tables/decor can look like.
Any changes I needed prior to the wedding I just emailed her and she would email back rather quickly -- within a day or two. If she doesn't get back to me, I just emailed her again to confirm if she got the email, and she would respond. This included anytime I had a question, or I needed an updated quote.
The week before, I emailed all of the vendors to make sure what time they can all be there. I asked and confirmed if I can have Celina come at 4PM, so all of the decorations can be up by 5:00PM. Our ceremony started at 5:30PM, and she said it takes 1-1.5 hours for set up. Of course, my welcome table, gift table, caterer, and DJ were all waiting on the table linens before they can set up everything.
SHE ENDED UP BEING 45 MINUTES LATE, and GOT TO THE VENUE AT 4:45PM --- when I was hoping all of the decorations were going to be done by 5PM. Our ceremony started by 5:30, and so she said if she came at 4:00, she said it will take 1 or 1.5 hours to set up, so everything will be ready. I was upset that she was cutting it SO CLOSE to my wedding start time. And most of my vendors that day were ON TIME or EARLY, so all of the caterer staff and DJ were just WAITING AROUND FOR CELINA TO SHOW UP WITH THE TABLE CLOTHS so they can get started with setting up the table ware, cups, plates, etc.
They ended up finishing right when we were starting the ceremony. Literally, people were all sitting down, and all of the wedding party was lining up to start walking down the aisle. Then one of Celina's staff comes to my wedding party and ask my bridesmaids and was like I LOST MY SUNGLASSES, MY VERSACE SUNGLASSES, and kept asking people to help find her sunglasses at 5:45PM!!! MY CEREMONY STARTED AT 5:30, so I WAS ALREADY RUNNING LATE THEN YOU TRY TO DELAY US WITH YOUR SUNGLASSES?? When we were FREAKING LINING UP TO START THE CEREMONY. SORRY GIRL I AM TRYING TO GET MARRIED I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR SUNGLASSES!!!
I was overly annoyed, so were all of my wedding party -- PLEASE DO NOT GET TO THE VENUE 45 MINUTES LATE, then TRY TO DELAY MY WEDDING BECAUSE YOU LOST YOUR SUNGLASSES!!!! It was so unprofessional, and she ended up finding it anyway!! So I would just be cautious when hiring Celina/Esmeralda. I have only met her twice, and she was late both times!
Other than that though, everything we rented from her was great, but my complaint is on the tardiness!! read more