American Express Membership Rewards - Concierge as Wedding Planner

We are planning a wedding for next April and want to get married in California, we are normally based in the UK. Amongst other things I have asked the concierge for a list of wedding planners in the area, but I have got to thinking, could the concierge fulfil many of the roles of a wedding planner, such as find venues, florists, photographers, etc.?

In the past I have only really used the concierge for things like finding me a replacement laptop, or booking shows/restaurants, but have always been happy with the service. How much can one expect of them?

We are planning a wedding for next April and want to get married in California, we are normally based in the UK. Amongst other things I have asked the concierge for a list of wedding planners in the area, but I have got to thinking, could the concierge fulfil many of the roles of a wedding planner, such as find venues, florists, photographers, etc.?

In the past I have only really used the concierge for things like finding me a replacement laptop, or booking shows/restaurants, but have always been happy with the service. How much can one expect of them?

I see you are based in the UK.

Assuming you are using the British Concierge, from the stories which have been recounted here, and the experiences of acquaintances (both Platinum and Centurion in the UK) - you might not want to risk the most important day of your life.

It should be a memorable event for years to come. If you want that memory to be as positive as possible - maybe use a different option for wedding planning rather than the UK concierge...

I'm quite sure that we will use a professional planner, as you say it is too important a day, so we are coming over at the end of the month to meet with some and look at venues. But I was just curious as to how much the concierge could/would actually do for you.

Also does anybody know of any Japanese Gardens that do weddings? We really like the garden at The Huntington Library, San Marino but they want $100,000 to hold the event!! We also like the Japanese Garden in San Francisco, but they do not allow weddings.

I'm quite sure that we will use a professional planner, as you say it is too important a day, so we are coming over at the end of the month to meet with some and look at venues. But I was just curious as to how much the concierge could/would actually do for you.

Also does anybody know of any Japanese Gardens that do weddings? We really like the garden at The Huntington Library, San Marino but they want $100,000 to hold the event!! We also like the Japanese Garden in San Francisco, but they do not allow weddings.

Check maybe the Kyoto Grand in Los Angeles
http://www.kyotograndhotel.com/garden.html

Also, you could consider the JACCC in Los Angeles,
http://www.jaccc.org/gardenrental.htm
whose garden was ranked number 7 in the "North America's Top 25 Japanese Gardens" by Sukiya Living Magazine:
http://www.rothteien.com/topics/na-survey.htm

Hope this is useful.

Thank you for this, it is certainly very useful.

I did ask the Platinum concierge earlier to see if they could locate any Japanese Gardens we can look at when we come over, and the first one they sent back to me was this - http://www.thejapanesegarden.com/purpose.html - which looks beautiful, but seems to be built on a Sewage Works at 6100 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys.

Strike One for using the Amex concierge as a Wedding Planner!

Thank you for this, it is certainly very useful.

I did ask the Platinum concierge earlier to see if they could locate any Japanese Gardens we can look at when we come over, and the first one they sent back to me was this - http://www.thejapanesegarden.com/purpose.html - which looks beautiful, but seems to be built on a Sewage Works at 6100 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys.

Strike One for using the Amex concierge as a Wedding Planner!

Ha ha !

I had a feeling I could do a better job in 20 minutes for free than the UK Concierge could do as their full time paid job !

Thanks for the vindication, and hope you have a fantastic big day !!! Congratulations.

Thank you for this, it is certainly very useful.

I did ask the Platinum concierge earlier to see if they could locate any Japanese Gardens we can look at when we come over, and the first one they sent back to me was this - http://www.thejapanesegarden.com/purpose.html - which looks beautiful, but seems to be built on a Sewage Works at 6100 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys.

Strike One for using the Amex concierge as a Wedding Planner!

I like how when you asked for wedding at a "japanese garden" - their expert professional research resulted in thejapanesegarden.com ! How creative and unique: obviously the result of timeless investigation...

In keeping with the importance of your wedding day, let's not overlook that this gem of an idea is actually a sewage treatment plant, which also contains a garden (to filter waste through soil?) which can be privately rented for $750...

How this compares against a $100,000 professional wedding venue (like the one a professional found you), one can only speculate.

Does the sarcasm show? LOL

Yay VIP Platinum Concierge UK !

:D

Can you imagine if you did leave something like this up to them?! What was I thinking?

I can just see the look on my fiancés face, walking down the aisle, friends and family gathered, the beauty and zen of the gardens, all surrounded by the unmistakable smell of, ‘reclaimed water’!

Unbelievable.

We are going to see it though. I have to see just how well such a fertilised garden grows!

In a most bizarre day, I have managed to post in two threads on FT which both link to sewage management. Centurion Letter Thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12034756-post12.html) Thanks Amex.

You may also want to consider this place.

http://www.csulb.edu/~jgarden/

I had attended a 2nd cousin's wedding there.

Rate information here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jgarden/forms/download/weddingpackage2010.doc

However, I did notice it's under the landing approach flight path for LGB. For some FTer, this may be a plus. YMMV.

Thank you SFOLIS,

I made an appointment just yesterday to go and see The Earl Burns Miller Garden. It does seem really ideal as a venue. Did you notice any excessive aircraft noise at the wedding you attended?

Thank you SFOLIS,

Did you notice any excessive aircraft noise at the wedding you attended?

For me, it's noticeable, but not excessively so. Afterward, I mentioned it to some other relatives, and they didn't realize it until then. I guess FT trained me to pickup on those things.