Avalon Magical Weddings

Had an interesting encounter with Laurie with Avalon Magical Weddings. During the ceremony she paused a lot, skipped parts, went out of order, and seemed a bit lost. She apologized for her stuttering and that her fibromyalgia causes her to forget. Then as she filled out the marriage license she wrote in the wrong month on the first copy, then couldn’t spell the correct month on the second copy. I almost felt like calling for help and saying that our officiant might be developing a health issue. She seemed to have lots of excuses for her fumbling around. Sad to say but the wedding wasn’t magical. I hope Laurie is ok and future weddings go better than this one.

It is Sunday, the day right after my marriage. My marriage day was PERFECT!!! I seen two comments that are bashing Laurie and I think that is unfortunate. She had such the best attitude and a great personality. Laurie does talk a lot but that is what made it a better atmosphere for my wife and me. She took us around to try to figure out different spots but let it be our choice. We chose the spot and she officiated us in the most professional way even though she is a joker at heart. Once that was done we took tons of photos and after we wrapped that up she took us back to the landing to leave. It was just the three of us, Laurie, my wife, and me and we had a wonderful time. We laughed together and we cried together, and if I could go back I would have not wanted anyone else to plan or officiate our marriage. Laurie made the wedding more special, and as long as you can keep up with her energy and positivity it will be special for you too. We had a special day and met someone that was worth meeting. So if you are looking into getting married I have no other choice but to recommend Avalon Magical Weddings.

I strongly encourage anyone considering Avalon Fantasy Weddings to ask a LOT of questions and make sure everything is well set.
My girlfriend’s mother just got married using this outfit (lady really, as it is all one person, but that in and of itself isn’t an issue). Things just did not go well at all. To begin Laurie was late for our appointment. After going 10min late, we called to fine out where she was and we’re told she’d be there in 5min. She arrived 15min later. (That’s 25min late.)
Next, this complaint I guess needs a grain of salt, I suppose, but still… The main beach was where we intended to have the ceremony. It was obvious long before Laurie arrived that the entire beach was completely packed, mainly see to a cruise ship that was visiting the island. This is, where the grain of salt comes in. It is indeed a public beach and her literature DOES say the unexpected can happen due to ALL locations being public access. However, we were assured, that this site would be available over the phone, so I don’t think she gets off the hook completely. Laurie explained that cruise ships «NEVER» come in on Mondays. They supposedly only come through on Tuesday and Wednesday, so there was no way she could have planned for this «rogue ship». We were then asked to use our smart phones to look at alternate locations we liked while she drove to them to see if they were more open.
After an hour and a half of discussing alternatives, Laurie finally let slip that this, is the 3^rd time this «rogue ship situation» has happened. Shouldn’t the 2^nd time been enough to make sure it didn’t come up again? I don’t think ships are in the habit of just showing up unannounced. After mentioning at least 4 times a perfect location she didn’t want to take to us due to a party member being in a wheel chair, we gave up and used the stage. Why keep bring up a perfect location that she herself says we can’t get to? Felt like rubbing it in. She graciously didn’t charge us the usual $ 300 extra for the stage.
Finally, this lady does indeed talk. That’s not always bad, but it did feel as if she wasn’t really listening to our wishes and was more scrambling to fix things. She also regaled us with story after story, dragging our ordeal out, even after we said MULTIPLE times some of us needed to leave the island soon and grandpa was getting tired.
So. Do your homework. It COULD work for you, but I’d make sure everything is as certain as cab be.

Gosh where do I begin. First of all if you are shopping for a wedding package in Catalina this is NOT the place to go. Let me repeat that to save you a possible wedding disaster… DO NOT again DO NOT hire Laurie to plan, officiate or have anything to do with your wedding. In her add right now it says the silver package (the one I signed up for) cost $ 975. I added 2 corsages and 3 boutonnière and had my bouquet upgraded (basically added 6 roses and 3 carnations) my total came up to $ 1525…thats $ 550 extra. Now as if that’s not ridiculous enough, I asked to add a tulle in my arch and to change the venue from Cabana Beach to Beach platform. I was charged extra $ 300 for the platform (I guess I understand that) and extra $ 400 for the tulle (WTF!!!).
Laurie says that I have to pay for the time she spend away from work and her transportation. Then she told me that she did not charge me for the Tulle. Now just how much does she charge per hour, a roundtrip to Catalina express is $ 72.50 plus the taxi $ 100…I’m pretty sure she knows a vendor to go to, so should not be more than an hour to pick up a Tulle but I was charged $ 400 just for that. Then she had the nerve to tell me that I got the tulle for free… Bullshit!!! And the unlimited phone contact is a joke. First of all good luck on trying to contact this lady. If you get a hold of her she is always in a hurry. Then try and talk to her I dare you, thats a joke… one question will take you one hour and a half to get answered ‘coz once she start talking you will never have a chance to talk, she can literally talk you to DEATH. She nevers listens to what you want and she will insist that her way is the ONLY way. Now if you want to just show up on your wedding and have no input of whatsoever, like a puppet on Laurie’s show, then she will be your gal. The Background music and the ceremony itself is ridiculous. The boombox you will not hear, she does not wear a microphone of some kind so the guest will be surprise when she pronounce you as husband and wife. The wedding is over and none of the guest know that it even took place (sooo sad!!!). The minister (Laurie) dressed inappropriately, I will take a hooker in a heartbeat to officiate our wedding, a clown costume is better. I will post a picture later and you be the judge. She is also the photographer (professional, or at least she calls herself). How can you officiate and take the precious moment of the ceremony? She can’t and she did not. No picture of my dad (who is sick by the way) walking me down the aisle. Our first kiss as husband and wife and so forth and so on. And the pictures which by the way she throw 50 extra (making it 150 total) had 102 pictures (no exaggeration here ‘coz I counted) of the same pose… me and my husband kiss like picture. I asked to have a family photo as my dad can’t be out on the sun for a long time due to chemotheraphy drugs that he is taking but Laurie said that she need to take the photos in order. In the end I have 4 group pictures in which at that point was incomplete guest due to dehydration and we had to pack our stuff from the rented hotel. The icing on the cake is this, not only did she give (paid for already) the garter but when she sent the expedited marriage license registration she sent it $ 3.00 short. So we had to come to our local county registrar to pay the $ 3.00 and pick our license ourselves. This whole experience with here was a NIGHTMARE. Do yourself a favor if you want a wedding bliss this is not the place. There is NOTHING MAGICAL in Laurie’s business!!!
P. S. Laurie don’t deserve even a half star but Unilocal will not allow zero!!!