I have changed my rating from one star to a five star after having heard from the business. Full apologies and full refund. "Good Morning Antonia, Just wanted to apologize for the frustration this morning with your heater order, the last thing we want to do is be a headache with event rentals - I will briefly explain a couple of things while we refund your order. It's true that we do have a 100% cancellation policy in place for same-day orders, many places do, and that's simply because many of these are resource-heavy and yet we enjoy fulfilling last-minute needs where needed. Even though it takes a large number of resources and overhead to implement, we know offering same-day services are crucial to events at times. We stop warehouse production in any department necessary, we recall a driver to come gather the new order, and we re-route them back on the road, hopefully balancing other orders already on the schedule.....all in an effort accomodate events in this great city. Secondarily, and more importantly - this cancellation policy will be immediately looked at internally because we should have some flexibility with it. Preparing a rush order for heaters does not consume the same resources as preparing a new order for tents, tables, linen, or cooking equipment - I understand that, and Dorca was simply doing what is asked of her. But this situation brings a good point to mind - when/how/where should we implement some flexibility and can we communicate it better. We will learn. Antonia, Raphaels has been in business in San Diego since 1980, always locally owned, I have been here myself for 16 years now, so we have absolutely NO intention of providing a disservice to our community, we are not interested in nickel and diming our clients, we understand events are a luxury to have and we enjoy being the backbone of many around town. Our intention is not to squeeze every last dime out of anyone - it's simply to be the best partner in town. Please accept my apology for the lack of flexibility with today's order and cancellation policy. I understand we have thoroughly frustrated you, yelp reviews, etc and if there is any way we can come to an agreement, or if you would accept my apology. I would welcome that. If there is anything you need in the future, email me directly and we'll make the next experience a great one, I promise. Sincerely, David Gonzales General Manager office: 858-689-7368 x144 email: david.gonzales@raphaels.com instagram: raphaelspartyrentals Outlook-tmu0atcb.png 8606 Miramar Road, San Diego, CA 92126 Tel: 858.689.7368 | Fax: 858.689.8040 www.raphaels.com read more

UPDATE: After a frustrating initial experience, I will share that the business reached out and tried to make things right which is always very appreciated. I do wish some things were done different initially that we wouldn't have needed credits/ discounts, but it's always nice to be have the situation remedied in some way. read more

We rented a large stage for a charity event. Every employee we were in contact with was friendly and helpful. We highly recommend this company. Blessings to Kay, Gloria, and Bill as well as the delivery people for all of your help. read more

I called Raphael's today for a very last minute order that we needed. They were incredibly responsive, gracious, and the customer service from Gloria took me aback. She could not have been more kind, and helpful. Thank you so much! read more

Great service! Needed to change the delivery day the week of my party and Kay arranged it with great patience. Definitely recommend them!

Customer service is horrible. Waited in line in the show room and then as soon as it came to me, the girl at the front desk started calling someone on the phone and told me to wait so i did, then a lady walked in behind me and she looked past me and asked the lady what she needs help with. So i didn't say anything and just walked out. Super rude and unprofessional. read more

Mediocre service. the staff at will call is sometimes so chipper and happy and other days have the worst attitude. I remember them being such a great place to rent from, but In future I will rent elsewhere. I tried to get a canopy set up - last minute, about 5 days before a small event and It was mixed responses, they literally did not want the work. I ended up getting tables etc - tables were so wobbly, save yourself the trouble and rent from a small business with better service . read more

I used Raphael's event works for my floral and linens. I originally was going with a very empty venue and needed a lot of help with rentals. Esther was always helpful. I ended up booking a beautiful venue that didn't need much and I was able to easier get them stress free with her. The linens looked great. All my flowers were beautiful. I was going to rent a tent and Cris was really helpful even going to check out the venue. I will say I was able to get arch and games cheaper through my venue read more

Raphael's Party Rentals - Florals provided - Party Supplies Near Me - San Diego, California

See all

So my fiancé and I got engaged November 2019, and in January 2020 started planning our wedding for about 55 people. Welllllllll you can guess how that turned out From changing our location three weeks before our date because of the "you can't have religious services inside" rule, to a dropping guest count due to travel restrictions and covid concerns (my own mother wasn't able to attend), we went through the obstacle course of planning a wedding with the added hurdles of vendors that stopped responding and venue issues. So about two weeks before the big day I still needed chairs because the restaurant we had the post wedding dinner at usually didn't seat their upstairs patio and so they didn't have the 35-ish chairs for our reduced party. Introducing Leah, and Raphael's Party Rentals! Leah was extremely responsive to my emails and calls, got me hooked up with a great quote and gave me info on the best time to have the chairs dropped off and picked up to save some money. Now this is important because we lost quite a bit on a non-refundable deposit with another vendor. Leah was clutch in making sure our guests were cozy for our wedding dinner. White resin chairs can get some grief for being the typical "wedding chair," but they looked great in the space and I couldn't have been more pleased with their addition to the day. Thanks Leah, you took a lot of panic out of an already stressful situation! Would do business with this company again. read more

Raphael's Party Rentals - White resin chairs! - Party Supplies Near Me - San Diego, California

we loved working with nicole for our backyard wedding! she was so accommodating with our last minute changes and we were very happy with the quality of the rentals. that being said, the set up crew was a bit clumsy and broke multiple branches on some new trees we had just planted. besides that, we are happy with their services. read more

We ordered our wedding aisle runner from Raphael's and it was absolutely perfect! They made the renting process easy and the runner was high quality. Would highly recommend! read more

See all

We rented with Raphael's for our wedding. They were so friendly and professional, true experts. Their prices are a great deal, too. We had a last minute change to the logistics of our wedding, and Raphael's worked with us to adapt. They are very responsive and truly care. Diego was very helpful as well. We will use them in the future and highly recommend them to all! read more

We use them every year. There is great communication with Jamie L. and his team to get everything set up in time. We appreciate having this place so close to our community! Definitely recommend. read more

UPDATE: I don't know if Raphael's party rental read the post but they called me a short time after I posted and was able to settle the issue to my satisfaction and was sympathetic to situation. I have modified my rating because of this. Thank you. So I had a small rental order for three round tables and twenty folding chairs. I was set to pick the order up rather then have it delivered. This order was for a family Christmas party. Unfortunately my wife and I started to feel bad and tested positive for Covid. This obviously caused us to cancel the party. I reached out to inquire about a credit since I was fully aware there was no refund on the order. This company would only push back the order for a month. Since this was a cancelled Christmas party that was obviously not going to work. The call taker said she would check with management but I never received a call back. I can't believe this company would rather me risk exposing covid to my family and friends along with their staff because they are so unreasonable with accommodating a situation that is out of both our hands. What's sad is I have used this company for years and will now be taking my business to Abbey Party Rental and I suggest you do the same. It's not about the money but just how unaccommodating this company is. Everyone one earth has to deal with the stupid covid. They just seem to ignore it. read more

i called to get more information on a dance floor and the lady on the phone was so rude. i mean who has general knowledge of dance floors rentals??? she made it seem like it was my problem i didn't know how it worked and literally was SO useless. i'm calling to inquire on it and you're mad??? i literally don't even want to rent from this place anymore because of my bad experience on the phone, i can't imagine trying to go through a rental with them. especially after reading some of the other reviews. get new workers please. read more

Updated review 6/5/19- After voicing our concerns on Yelp, a representative contacted us to resolve the situation. Although the mishaps could've been avoided leading into and during my wedding reception, I am pleased to say the rep from Raphael's team, Gloria, handled my issue with care and did her best to make amends and help come to a resolution that me and my husband are satisfied with. While we wished we received that kind of responsiveness and care sooner, it's better late than never. Thank you Gloria, we sincerely appreciate your help in correcting this issue. I originally gave them a 1-star review but have changed my rating. ---------------- Original review 5/20/19- If I could give zero stars for this review I would. If you are choosing NCM (new children's museum) as your wedding venue, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT USE RAPHAEL'S RENTALS. From beginning to end we experienced nothing but disappointment. Other than their product, there was nothing enjoyable about working with them. My fiancé (now husband) and I live in the east coast, so planning a wedding in San Diego was already stressful. Emails were not answered in a timely manner and appointments were not taken seriously. I had to come to San Diego for a personal family matter (my grandmother passed away). I took advantage of being in SD to finalize our choice of linens and see a mock up of everything. My girls took time from their lunch break/personal lives and I took time away from my family for this appointment. When we arrived, they weren't ready. It took 45 minutes for them to even start to gather the linens and chairs to set up for me to see everything, AND on top of that it was almost as if they didn't remember the appointment. I also did not receive an apology of any sort from the manager Golan. Fast forward to our wedding day 5/19/19- We ordered marquee lights "L & P" for our backdrop. We had a vision in mind. During the set-up of our venue, I was taken aside and away from my guests to hear that the letter "L" had no lights and that apparently they didn't have the letter "L" with marquee lights in stock anyway. They tried to suggest using black duct tape to cover up the letters so there would be NO lights at all. Luckily we had our own back up plan, but if we didn't, everything would've been completely ruined. We were very disappointed to not have our initial vision come to life. I am not the type of person to be labeled as a "bridezilla" or lose my cool, but I was livid. Not only did this happen, but they took a long time to set up. They also set up the cake table last minute giving my baker, who is my Aunt, minimal time to decorate her final touches to the cake and cake table. Raphael's is unprofessional, unreliable, and after the final payment was made they were suddenly unreachable/unavailable via email or phone. This behavior is inexcusable. I wouldn't recommended this vendor to anyone, not even my worst enemy. read more

Customer service is terrible. I called to get help get an understanding of my invoices. I was under the impression I ordered 6 tables but only received 4. I tried to express this to the person on the phone who told me "you got 4 tables and 37 chairs." I tried to say" I ordered 6 tables and 37 chairs" but she kept cutting me off without letting me get a word in. I kept trying to ask her to help me understand the invoices and all she would repeat was "you got 4 tables & 37 chairs" I have two invoices on my end one says 4 tables one says 2 tables = 6 tables(each invoice was paid separately). At this point regardless of what was ordered she could have paused and let me talk, to help me understand what I was looking at. At this point I don't know if I got screw out of two tables or not. If I misread the invoices that's fine but she DID NOT need to be so rude and completely ignore the issue. I WILL NOT be coming back. I would rather pay more somewhere knowing what I am getting and not being treated like I'm the problem for not understanding your system. read more

Decided sort of at the last minute to order a heat lamp for my outside patio, since people are coming tomorrow night and might want to sit outside. Since it's been around 46 degrees at night, probably need a heat lamp! Called Raphael's and spoke with Sharon. She was so friendly and helpful, and said there was no problem at all. Heat lamp rental: $79. You can pick it up or it's $85 round trip for delivery and pickup. They even have different colors: I got bronze. Looking forward to my cozy patio tomorrow night. read more

Good luck reaching them for pricing. I submitted their online form with my event information and the confirmation page said they would respond within 24 hours. I figured I would call them directly after 4-5 hours and they couldn't seem to reach anyone who could help me. Kay was very polite in trying to find a Cheryl(?) or a manager, but nobody around. Sure is nice to know that they have so much business that they can't take my call. Hell, they couldn't even find my online request. I am calling their competitors. read more

UPDATE: Thank you to Gloria for going out of her way to fix the issues I had with Raphaels. She definitely has the best customer service out of anyone I spoke with there. I appreciate all that you have done for me and I will be more than happy to order through you guys again. Thank you again Gloria! read more

The company where I work has been using Raphael's Party Rentals for years and I am always excited to attend any of those parties because I know they will deliver to perfection. So my opinion is not based in someone who has hired them for an event but a user of person attending those events, and I am very observant and picky, however all I can say from these people is that there is always a (great) surprise factor for me: from the lights to the flowers to the vases, to the tables and tablecloths, everything surpasses my expectations. So every time that I see the Raphael's truck coming close...I know a good party is on the making! read more

Raphael's Party Rentals - Party Supplies Near Me - San Diego, California

Do not sign any open in contract with this company they did a good job but they will charge you extra money it almost cost more to have a dance floor delivered then it did to rent it. Make sure your contract price is the price. They were sent a video on how to deliver and where to deliver in the easiest access they wanted to bring in an extra smaller truck and charge more money. read more

Raphael's helped bring our wedding vision to life!! We had an outdoor ceremony, and an indoor reception. For the outdoor ceremony, we really wanted a canopy that would provide an open-airy feel, without being 'too much'. Tiana constructed this idea for us, and executed it perfectly. Everyone from Raphael's was so helpful and insightful, and they went the extra mile to make it work based on our individual needs. Not only did they provide this canopy, they also set up our market lighting and draping as well. We were so happy with the way everything looked, and with their willingness to work with us throughout the planning process. I briefly mentioned Tiana previously, but just want to give her credit for bringing her incredible expertise and kindness into helping us make our wedding space and bridal shower look perfect. read more

Raphael's Party Rentals - Tiana helped bring this canopy concept to life for our ceremony. It turned out beautifully and shaded the area perfectly. - Party Supplies Near Me - San Diego, California

My company travels to San Diego and the surrounding area all the time for trade shows...I just rented furniture & carpet from Raphael's and received GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! Every email was answered promptly, with every phone I was greeted with a friendly and enthusiastic person who was a great help and answered all my questions. Thank you, Raphael's...I'll definitely be calling again! read more

Raphael's Party Rentals has been my go-to rental company for the last five years. Their sales team is always quick to respond, send over sample images and estimates. They have everything from basic tables and chairs to hedge walls, rustic wooden tables and specialty glassware. I've had them build a glass building in the middle of a field. They really can do it all. Over time, I've gotten to know the owner and his family and they are always accommodating my requests. If there's something I want or saw somewhere, they'll always give their 100% effort to get that item, source it or even research and buy it before my event. Their on-site crew is hard-working and thorough. They consistently check in with me to be sure everything has been set up correctly, walking me through the event site and pointing out small details, asking questions and being sure everything is perfect before they leave. read more

I am giving Raphael's 2 two stars because of their "rental surcharge". This surcharge appeared in my estimate with no explanation. $15.00 on a $300 order. There was no explanation of what this charge was for. My frustration is how they did not communicate this charge from the beginning. There were two separate points at which I could've been told about it, but nobody mentioned it. First, there is nowhere on the website that talked about a surcharge when I was putting my order together for an initial quote. Second, it could have been mentioned by the sales person who confirmed my order, but again no mention of the "rental surcharge" when she talked with me. Eventually, I saw on the final estimate that there was a line item "rental surcharge " with no explanation as to what surcharge was for. There was also no explanation as to how this "surcharge" was calculated. Is it a flat rate? Percentage? I called Raphaels and asked for an explanation - they told me that it was a surcharge to account for the "minimum wage hike" and that rather than "raise their prices" they were instead attaching the surcharge to my bill. She could not explain why $15 was the charge. After complaining, they agreed to reduce it by 50%. Because I was in a time crunch I went ahead and stuck with the order. But it honestly left a very bad taste in my mouth. It felt deceptive, and adding a $15 surcharge to my order is still in fact raising your prices. Don't try to pretend its something else. Bottom line: Raphaels needs to be upfront and transparent in pricing. This whole experience felt borderline deceptive. (Btw- aren't restaurants now required to disclose their minimum wage surcharge?) I can tell you I still can't find anything about it on their website.Perhaps they were hoping customers wouldn't ask questions? Also - deal with minimum wage increase without passing "surcharges" on to customers - it's bad business. It's your job as a business to figure it out. Raphael's, we have used you for years but you have officially lost our business. read more

Rented linens for a celebration of life. The staff was super helpful. Shout out to Shirley for making sure we had everything we needed. Five stars all the way! Will definitely use for my next event. read more

Raphael's Party Rentals - Party Supplies Near Me - San Diego, California

I wanted to leave a follow up review to my previous experience with Raphael's Party Rentals. The company contacted me in regards to only setting up a portion of the dance floor we ordered for our wedding ceremony. Raphael's did issue me a refund for most of the dance floor we didn't receive, but no compensation for the time trouble of contacting them multiple times over almost three months or the fact that the order was wrong on our wedding day. I do appreciate their eventual response and am glad I got some reimbursement for the mistake. read more

Well oiled machine! Super easy to rent from for thanksgiving and super easy to return! Very reasonable prices! Would highly recommend and will use again!! read more

During our time working with Raphael's to get our wedding rentals, I felt that we had to actively fight with them to get what we wanted. From the beginning, we worked with a WONDERFUL girl named Christina. I don't know how we managed to be as lucky as we were to find her the first time we stepped foot in Raphael's, but she was the one single redeeming factor in what would have been an otherwise terrible experience. Initially, we worked with Christina to pick out things for our ceremony and reception. She was pleasant, helpful, and extremely realistic. She made recommendations based on her experience, and we felt like we were in good hands. And we were. Except Raphael's continually denied her to us from that point on. The second time we came in, we had no appointment. We asked for Christina, and the woman at the front desk said something like "OH! Christina told me you guys were coming in today let me get her!". Wow, that rubbed me the wrong way. Why would you bother lying like that? We were immediately unhappy. Again, Christina was great. Third time we came in, again, no appointment, we were made to wait for about 40 minutes while the two people working (one was an older blonde woman) helped one other customer at a snail's pace. While they joked, having a good time, we were getting madder and madder. By the time we were helped, we were ready to cancel our contract with them and go elsewhere. But we didn't. We decided later to go with a rain plan, and we had them design lighting for our wedding. Two people, Julie and (I believe) Roberto, came out to meet us at the venue to talk it through. Julie was the absolute worst. From that point on, Christina's name kept disappearing from our contract, replaced with her own. We pointed it out no less than a half dozen times, but somehow it never changed. The real problems started up on our wedding day. Julie was supposed to have given the layout to the delivery people. She had done nothing of the sort, and they had NO idea where our rentals were supposed to go. My now husband had to stay with them and do a lot of the work instead of getting himself ready. The lights were strung immediately above a patio heater. My husband had to point this out MULTIPLE times before anything was changed. I'd hate to know when this would have failed on our guests had he not noticed. Julie showed up an hour and a half late and did absolutely nothing. My husband was FURIOUS. Because of Raphael's, my husband had to spend the whole morning and most of the afternoon on our wedding day helping to set up. As a result, we were unable to get all of the photos we wanted, and he was almost late to the ceremony. I can't believe how unprofessional these people were. Despite their best intentions, they weren't able to ruin our wedding because my husband was with them the whole time. I would never work with them again. read more

We hired a party planner a few years back. She insisted we hire Raphael's for our event. This should have been our first red flag. Our event was a very elaborate Company Christmas Party. Raphael's was supposed to supply and set up a sizable tent as well as to provide tables, chairs, linens, etc. The day of our Christmas Party was supposed to be day one of a terrible winter storm. The tent was supposed to cover much of our parking lot, with a covered link from the tent to our main facility. We paid through the nose...and in advance for Raphael's services. Well...the day before our event, Raphael's arrived to deliver their rentals and to set up our large tent. Our party was scheduled for the Saturday prior to Christmas...so, as you can imagine, this was a very very busy party day in San Diego. Raphael's brought over and installed the wrong tent. They brought a tent about half the size of what we'd paid for! They also brought no covered awning for any sort of walkway through predicted downpour to our main building. The then owner of our company was furious. The party planner, Joy Rigdon of "Joyous Occasions" insisted we make due with the half sized tent. She was unyielding and rude. Our owner fired the party planner. Raphael's...in a demonstration of alligience to Ms. Rigdon then dismantled their half sized tent...for which they had already been paid...and refused to bring another tent for our event. We ended up calling all over the city...the day before our event..to find another company to rent us a tent and to set it up in time for our event. In desperation...we finally contracted with a tent rental and party supplies company from Los Angeles. We ended up paying that replacement company in excess of $10,000 to drive on down an to set us up. We ended up suing Raphael's. We won. But we had hell to pay for the trouble. read more

Dear guy who handed me the flyer to review your business... I'm doing it. We used these guys for my wedding, and Thanksgiving. Affordable. Friendly. Efficient. Went above my expectations. And below my budget. I will now write a poem: Raphael's is really swell. I liked their service, can't you tell. The work was quick, the value good. The quality? Great! As it should. If you need things to rock your party. Raphael's is where you starty. Thank you. read more

This rental company went above and beyond to take care of my needs. I appreciate the fantastic service and would absolutely recommend Raphael's for party rentals. read more

I also voiced my concerns on Yelp about my messed up order and Gloria contacted me to rectify their mistakes. I will use them again but I will be very careful to follow up well before my party date. read more

Shortly after my original review, I was contacted by Gloria from Raphael's Party Rentals. She researched the issue regarding the possible shortage of champagne glasses during my event. Since my sales representative retired in December, she was unable to obtain the full details. In the end, she issued a good faith credit for the amount of glasses that were possibly shorted. I appreciate the attention to my review and the courteous and prompt response. I value high customer service and Gloria exceeded my expectations. read more

Imagine having an important event planned out months in advance, and you made arrangements with Raphael's to be the supplier of choice to send out equipment for a certain date and time, and it's such an important event to you that you REALLY needed to make sure it worked. Well, what if they delivered everything, and then left you with faulty equipment that did NOT work when you really needed it? Yeah, that's what happened to me. Now, imagine yourself - the next time you want something to really go right and you want to pick a company to send it out to you - would you want to take that risk and have the equipment at your event fail you too? That's what you risk if you go with Raphael's. You might want to think twice about the risk of going with them, especially if it involves electrical equipment; I just wouldn't want anyone I know to go through the same agony of an important event not going according to plan. If you do go with them, stick to the basics, and you'll probably be fine. UPDATE: After complaining to the company, a week later, they made a conciliatory gesture and refunded a portion of the expense. +1 star for making that effort to make me whole. read more

Full disclosure: I work part-time here, at Raphael's. That being said, I consider myself impartial enough to provide an honest, unbiased review. If that's cool with you, on to the good stuff... - - - - - - Quick Overview - - - - - - - First Impression: 3/5 - - Customer Service: 4/5 - - Actual Product/Service: 5/5 - - Zombie Defensibility: 4/5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My wife and I recently used Raphael's Party Rentals for our wedding in May. We worked primarily with Julie Schult, one of their Event Specialists. For our event, we rented basically everything - chairs, tables, linens, china, glassware, flatware, lighting, the dance floor, etc. In my opinion, the pricing felt a bit expensive, but to be honest I didn't do much research into other rental companies. I got an employee discount, so that helped a lot. At first, things were a bit confusing, trying to get everything together for our order, but, after Julie did a site visit with us to the venue, and our wedding coordinator got involved, everything went very smoothly. All our stuff was delivered, set-up, and picked up on time, which was a big deal because we had very strict set-up windows from our venue. From what I can tell, everything was working properly and/or was clean and fit for use. I assume that that's important when it comes to renting equipment, Overall, my wife definitely enjoyed their service and was happy with the work Julie and Raphael's Party Rentals did. Being a new husband, I'm quickly learning that a happy wife is really important, and I'm glad to have had such a good experience. (It would have been very awkward to have had to provide a poor review, being that I work here, and all.) read more

Raphael's is a go to for me both with work and personally. I've rented here half a dozen times for events and a couple times on my own as well and I've never had a single issue. Generally I pick up my rentals and surprisingly fit them into my Prius. MUCH cheaper than delivery fees if you have a car that can handle it. The pick up door is super easy and the warehouse guys uber helpful. I've never had a billing issue (Even before the knew I was Trish from Yelp) and I found the prices and quality of the rentals exactly what I wanted them to be. For the times I've had things delivered they've never been late and it's always been exactly what I was invoiced for. I highly suggest you talk to Laurie if you're planning a big event. That broad walks around like go go gadget with magical third arm that turns unto a utility knife. Her purse is like Mary Poppins, I'm pretty sure she's got a tape measure, an extra extension cord and a hockey stick in there. She can bust out anything from creative booth draping with table-cloths (True story) to full stadium style lighting. Also recommended is the Lounge Furniture partner they work with. I'm a fancy lady, and when I need a velvety chaise lounge during Fashion Week, they're who I call. A couple of highlights: If you shop local and like family owned businesses this is one of the oldest and most established in SD. They've got a huge warehouse full of event possibilities, they handle all their linen and floral onsite, and have every color of everything you could need. Including Yelp Red. Holla! read more

We transformed an otherwise boring driveway into a garden for a recent block party, and we rented most of the goods from Raphael's: artificial turf, heat lamps, belly bars, tablecloths. 3 guys came in the truck to deliver the items; they were fast and courteous, and explained how to best secure the turf. They even gave us rolls of matching color duct tape. On pickup day, we just had to leave the items outside. No hassle! Maybe it was a bit on the pricey side compared to other rental joints, but the quality of the items were professional grade and the convenience of them delivering and then picking up (extra $75) made it a no-brainer. I will definitely rent from Raphael's again. read more

Friday (the day before our wedding) we were surprised to see christmas lights when they were always referred to as twinkle lights. Rather than being understanding of the confusion based on the emails, Joan implied that we should've known that twinkle lights and christmas lights were the same thing. The staff was so pushy that my wife finally gave in to the twinkle lights. She did not want to deal with the added stress, one day before our wedding. After all this frustration, we discover Friday night that 6 feet of lights were out. The staff fixed the lights Saturday morning, but 2 entire rows of lights went out that evening. The bride's father had to fix them right before our ceremony, after setting up all the tables (since no one else did)! To add insult to injury, Joan sends us a list of items that were missing after the wedding. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS! I know for a fact that all the linens were accounted for and all the vases were at our house. The pick-up crew showed my mom the invoice stating 40 candle holders and she counted with them. How could we be missing 54 candle holders when we were quoted for 40 that my mom watched them take? In fact, none of the item numbers or item names match-up with our original quote. The should have looked at their own paper work and figure out the miscommunication within their own crew! The worst part was Ana, from Floralworks Event Planning. AVOID ANA AT ALL COSTS!! She completely botched the flowers for our wedding and didn't bother showing up or calling. We had to do all her work. Raphael's should not be using her. Rather than leaving Raphael's 1-star, I gave them 2. I did this because they refunded us for the lights and the flowers. Honestly, this was the least they could do, given that all the damage was done and the stress was unbearable on such an important event. I would not recommend them. read more