A Wedding Store and Special Events

When my husband and I got engaged and decided to get married within 6 months we knew there would be a lot to get done in a short time. After a few weeks I had already lost my mind with trying to figure out planning and what to choose and vendors for this and protocol for that. So I switched my google search to look for a wedding planner to save my sanity and found Linda! All of her experience makes your life as the Bride much easier!!! With all of our planning we only had one small glitch with a vendor — and let me tell you how great it was to have Linda on my side to make sure that everything was fixed — and it ended up being fabulous!
She is definitely a character and working with her was a ton of fun! Thank you Linda!!!

Linda was instrumental in making our wedding everything we had ever imagined (and we had imagined a LOT). Each vendor she hooked us up with was perfect, and we always knew she was 100% invested in making our wedding AMAZING. And it was. People still can’t stop talking about how magical our Aquarium wedding was, and that’s ALL Linda. She knows weddings!!! She’s also got a tremendous sense of humor and fun, and working with her was always fun and stress-​free. We recommend her wholeheartedly! Thank you, Linda!!!
Love,
Gwenjamin.

Linda is AMAZING!!! My wife picked the Aquarium of the Pacific for our venue and they recommended Linda /​A Wedding Store as a coordinator. We weren’t sure if we needed a coordinator before we met with Linda. After the first few minutes with Linda we wanted one and we wanted her. Linda is colorful, Linda is direct, Linda can be a little pushy — But when your big day comes Linda makes it happen just as you dreamed. Linda has a remarkable set of vendors that she works with. Her recommendation for photographer, cake, linens were all fantastic. And while we didn’t like her recommendation for a florist, when we found our own, Linda had no issues working with him and it turned out great. Your mother or mother-​in-​law might not like Linda, they might not like the way she talks to them, but remember you are the client and Linda is always acting to make sure your day is perfect. I’m a bit of a control freak, and am very detail oriented. So having a day with so many important details that needed to come together which I couldn’t oversee was a little nerve wracking. But when our big day came I didn’t have to worry about a thing. Every part of the event came off as planned (and when planned) because Linda knows her stuff. If Linda recommends something to you, listen up, because she knows what it takes to make things happen correctly. I had provided a long list of things I wanted to make sure were taken care of on the day of– From candy for the ring bearers, to care of the Ketubah, and returning the broken kiddush cup. Our wedding reception was fantastic, Linda checked that we had everything we needed. And when the last song finished playing, Linda had carts and personnel lined up with all our presents and all the items we needed to take home ready to load us up and send us home. We had a large wedding with a ton of details, and no detail no matter how small was overlooked. Linda is amazing! She knows her job and she does it well. If you are planning a wedding or event Linda is the person that can make your dreams come true, without you having to worry about the details.

Omg!!! Where do I start? If it weren’t for Linda, our day would not have been all we dreamed it would be. She made sure everything and everyone was in order. I have to say that God put her in our path. From the beginning to the end she was very attentive and supportive of our vision. We Love U Linda!!!

Now, if you think you don’t need a wedding planner who know what she is doing, think again.
When we were planning our wedding we looked at doing many of the things needed ourselves and then realized, ok we have the path who is going to help us (I wanted my friends and family to enjoy the wedding, think about it). Well that is where Linda came in, she covered all the bases that we had missed, this includes ordering, verifying, making sure we did not forget any thing, even on our wedding day unforeseen things came up that she took care of.
My wedding was perfect because of her. I am grateful.
So just keep in mind you know what you want, but it is better to have a pro help she is the best.

Linda, Linda, Linda. What can I say about her? She is probably the craziest, most fun wedding planner ever! She has been in the business for such a long time and knows EVERYONE in the area. We worked with Linda for a year planning our wedding. She setup all the meetings with her different vendors. Everyone she recommended was FANTASTIC. At first, I was a little skeptical about hiring vendors solely based on her recommendations. However, it makes a lot more sense to hire people who have a good working relationship with your wedding planner. Our wedding ran flawlessly because of Linda and the team of people we hired. Everything flowed perfectly! And she always made sure I had a drink in my hand. She even had the venue pack up our dinner because we didn’t get to eat any of it.
Linda is a total ball buster and tells it like it is which I appreciated so much. It made the planning experience a lot more fun. She was also very patient with me and answered the hundreds of emails I sent her in a timely manner. She was budget conscious and worked with the vendors to get them down to prices I was more comfortable with. I can’t say enough good things about her. I’ll miss working with her dearly! If I ever have the opportunity to throw another big event she’ll be my first call.

Linda did an amazing job with our wedding this last weekend! Four years ago she had done my wife’s sister’s wedding, and my wife was so pleased with her work that we had to go with her again. Linda has well established relationships with a range of vendors: Venues, Caterers, Bakeries, DJs, Florals, Photographers, Hair & Make-​up, and Linens; this makes her a one-​stop shop, and her repeated business with these vendors eases the planning process and helps control costs. The reduced rates she was able to negotiate for us more than paid for the cost of her services. Additionally, all the vendors are awesome and fun-​loving people. One of my big takeaways was the friendships forged with them.
Linda has a lot of experience planning weddings also, so she is able to foresee day-​of concerns, and can ensure all the settings, backdrops, and decorations will be pleasing to the guests and for the photos. We worked together to come-​up with creative solutions for our Indian-​Chinese fusion wedding and everything looked amazing on our wedding day. In a state of drought, in the middle of July, IT DECIDED TO RAIN ON OUR WEDDING!!! Two hours before the event, Linda orchestrated the whole team to move our wedding stage, backdrop, and seating inside the reception hall! We were freaking out, since this was all unplanned, but the guests couldn’t even tell it was meant to be an outdoor wedding! Everything looked beautiful… without her, God knows what would have happened.
I think most importantly she was able to significantly reduce the stress for me and my wife. She keeps the planning process fun and enjoyable, which is very important because your wedding is a once in a lifetime event, and you don’t want to remember it as a source of bickering, financial debates, and sleepless nights. Thank you, Linda!

Linda duPlaine Gray… WOW!!! We had an 18 month engagement, and from day one made us feel if we were the only couple she was representing. Got to tell you she’s a bit of a pit bull, but had all the confidence in the world with her business acumen.5 Stars across! So glad we used Linda… She Rocked!!! Exceeded all of my expectations and then some!

When my husband and I were looking for venues, we absolutely fell in love with the Aquarium of the Pacific. We met with the sales manager right away and put in our deposit. That’s when Tamera, the sales manager, gave us THE MOST HELPFUL card we could have ever imagined of obtaining: Linda Gray’s business card.
Now, I want to warn some brides that Linda has a STRONG personality but I believe that is EXACTLY why she is perfect for this job. She has a unique sense of humor but I LOVE IT! My husband and I could not even grasp the idea of all of the things we needed to get done for this wedding reception. I had so many ideas and Linda did not shoot any of them down. She was always encouraging, supportive and her suggestions were incredible.
Now, having a wedding reception at the Aquarium is not an easy feat. My husband and I quickly learned that you must have vendors who are really on top of it to be able to set up for an entire wedding within the hour after the closing of the Aquarium and the start of your reception.
Linda was able to connect us with AMAZING vendors. Honestly, I do not even know how it was possible for them to set up everything within that limited time frame. All of my guests loved how all of the different pieces of my wedding came together. «The centerpieces were amazing!» «The linens were the perfect color!» «The DJ was so entertaining and had such a great attitude and playlist!» «The lighting was so great!»
On the day of my wedding, Linda was an ANGEL FROM HEAVEN. My husband says that this is when she really shone. She came to the hotel while we were getting ready and lit the fire under my photographer, videographer and wedding party’s asses so that we could make it to the church on time. Still, she was able to provide my photographer and videographer some great shots for the hotel since she was familiar with it. Honestly, if she wasn’t there, I would have late to the church. Then, at the reception, she made sure we adhered to our timeline and was able to fit in everything that we needed. She even allotted for my husband and I to be alone for 5 minutes to bask in our wedding bliss.
TRUST ME: You need to book this woman now. It will save you so much time, effort and stress and she will more than pay for herself. I had the absolute wedding of my dreams and all of my guests agreed that my wedding was THE BEST they have EVER been to. People have been raving about my wedding for the past three days!

Linda did a fantastic job to make our wedding an event to remember.
We met with Linda for almost eleven months before our wedding and she was available to offer support throughout the wedding process.
Her day of the event coordination helped to provide a well paced wedding and reception. She got glowing reviews from our guests.
Linda’s recommendations for the professional services were right on with excellent selection of talented vendors.
We highly recommend Linda’s wedding services to anyone wanting the best.

Linda Grey gets it done.
My new wife and I were recently married abroad and held a local wedding reception at the Aquarium of the Pacific. For 12 out of the 15 months of our engagement, I was fully confident to plan, design, coordinate and execute the local reception all on my own (being a designer for an entertainment company and the eldest of a half dozen little cousins, I have had ample experience designing and executing parties).
Then I met Linda at the Aquarium’s tasting /​vendor event.
For the next 3 months leading up to our reception, she kicked our planning into overdrive. I began to receive revised /​discounted quotes from a deluge of vendors while she orchestrated numerous site visits around Long Beach. This not only affirmed my lack of knowing how much I didn’t know (this was my first wedding reception), but also Linda’s extensive wedding planning experience and relationships. One of my favorite trips with Linda was heading to meet a linens and décor vendor. She proceeded to direct us around the warehouse like she owned the place and helped us pick the perfect chairs, linens and backdrops for our reception. Finally, the pièce de résistance was when Linda dictated our discounted rate and lack of delivery fees to the vendor. In the end, Linda introduced us to our final photo booth vendor, DJ and lighting staff, cake and dessert bakery and the aforementioned linens and décor vendor.
She is a ferocious all-​star and, more specifically, she was OUR ferocious all-​star.
Finally, being a designer, I was incredibly particular about how I wanted everything to look and feel. Linda not only understood my vision, but both complimented my plans with her own ideas and, probably more importantly, corrected me when my plan would have failed or made us look bad. As an FYI, she does NOT like using an iPod for a DJ…
On the day of the reception, Linda met us at our hotel and coordinated the pre-​event photography. She then left to orchestrate the entire setup of our event at the Aquarium across numerous vendors including the DJ, lighting, Photo Booth, floral, linens, chairs, décor, cake and the Aquarium staff. Needless to say, it was perfect. She brought us appetizers in the green room, prepped us for family pictures, negotiated overzealous relatives and ensured that we were fed, happy and relaxed throughout the whole night. If I were to sum up her awesome efforts in one example, it would be that both my wife and I ate our appetizers, dinner AND dessert at our OWN wedding. Linda FTW.
If you are looking for an event coordinator in Long Beach, call Linda now! If you were like me and planning on being your own coordinator, stop being overzealous, think about that delicious cake you just dropped a few bills on and CALL LINDA NOW!

Groom here. Getting married was the smartest decision my wife and I made, and hiring Linda was the second smartest. Neither one of us had done anything like plan a wedding before, and had no idea where to start. But Linda came highly recommended, and after we met with her, we knew we in good hands.
She more than paid for herself, so that hiring her saved us money in the long run. We got married at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and we aren’t from that area, so we had no idea about vendors, or where we should look for anything. Linda had excellent working relationships with tons of vendors, and was able to negotiate great rates with them that we couldn’t have gotten otherwise. (Because she represented repeat and frequent business, they wanted to please her. If it was just us, getting married this one time, they’d have no reason to give us a discount.)
Linda was totally responsive and on the ball, soothing us when our nerves were frayed, and talking sense into us when we needed it. If she was unable to respond to our e-​mails right away, she told us when she could get back to us, and stuck to it. She was totally reliable and professional in every way you could ask for.
Our wedding was PERFECT. We are not really a plain vanilla couple, and we got exactly what we wanted. Her vendors were awesome, and worked hard with us to give us EXACTLY what we wanted. It’s been exactly two weeks, and we have gotten– and are still getting– tons of compliments and comments like, «that was the coolest wedding I’ve ever been to,» or «I’ll remember that forever.»
10/​10, cannot recommend highly enough.

Good morning Linda,
My wedding was absolutely a fantasy out of a fairy tale book. Your Wedding Coordinator skills made it the talk of the town. My wedding went viral with people talking about it all over the world congratulating my husband and I.
My husband was so handsome, sharp and a stud in his Commander’s Uniform and sword. During the money dance all the women were all over him while he shuck his booty on the dance floor collecting twenty dollar bills. (Women love a man in uniform especially a high ranking one.)
I looked like a princes. The girls were at attention which caused the men eyeballs to fall out of their sockets as I pranced around. Lol
The DJ rocked the crowd. People were asking for the CD. They grooved the whole time they were there.
The photographer loves his job. He showed us a couple of photos and they were unreal just gorgeous capturing a beautiful moment.
Laura the make-​up is truly an artist. She made me look flawless and our mothers.
Reverend Brent, he spoke as if he was a life long friend to us. At times, he became emotional as he spoke all while making our family and friends laugh. He was great!
Suzie did her job and then some. She kept the wedding organized, professional, classy and elegant.
The food was to die for. (That’s bullshit I couldn’t carry it out and eat from it for a month.) Lol
I don’t even want to talk about the cake, Oh My Gosh, the red velvet cake. It melted in my mouth. I am addicted.
My wedding was blast, a smash, and a real life fairy tale. I truly didn’t won’t it to end. I Love You Linda you are the BEST at what you do, making a girl’s wedding day as awesome at it can be, even exceeding her own expectations and dreams, now that is truly a skill, a gift and a talent you are born with. It’s not taught.
Love you,
Girlfriend Dreads

My spouse and I are a same-​sex couple that live in Texas. We decided to get married in Long Beach since equal marriage is legal in California, we chose Long Beach because we were both born and raised in the area. When I began planning, I knew I wanted downtown Long Beach, and I knew that I wanted to run everything out of a hotel because it makes it so much simpler for everyone traveling from out of town.
I began looking online extensively for reviews from people who had used hotels in downtown Long Beach and ended up finding and falling in love with the Hotel Maya. After talking with them and finding out the logistics we booked with Hotel Maya and we were told that our booking came with a free day-​of Wedding Planner, which I thought was a nice touch because that would ensure that although we are in Texas, there would be someone on the ground in Long Beach that could help us once the big day came.
I was given Linda’s information so that we could contact each other to get the ball rolling and from the beginning it was awesome. I am a super OCD Virgo planning kind of person, so I already had my spreadsheets and everything ready, but having someone there to facilitate everything was wonderful. I had planned large events such as campouts before but had never done a wedding so this was whole new ballgame. She was able to tell me what I needed to focus on, what i did not need to worry about, and helped me make some decisions that I otherwise would have probably not made but am very happy I did.
Linda has a ton of knowledge that was very helpful, but she also allowed me to make all the final decisions since it was our wedding day. On the day of she was very helpful because I had it in my head that I was going to do a bunch of set-​up and such but she made me just focus on me and took care of all of that. She set up the welcome table, helped with the reception set-​up, and helped make our day perfect. Thank you, Linda!

We absolutely loved Linda! Our wedding went off without a hitch! It couldn’t have been more perfect! We didn’t even think we would need a coordinator, but thank God for Linda, so happy we had her, we couldn’t have done all of it without her! Would highly recommend. Even if you think you might not need a coordinator, Linda was so helpful and she will make sure your day is fabulous!

Like the others here, we only have strong positives for A Wedding Store. Linda jumped in from the get go. She took care of me and my now husband Sergio, like a superstar. She is proactive, attentive to detail, supportive when the bumps come along (like any wedding). She was well worth the fee. Praises to you Linda, as it is well deserved. When we struggled with issues at Hotel Maya, she was there to help and «calm the waters.»
Thanks again! :-)

Hiring Linda was the biggest mistake my sister made when planning her wedding. My sister hired Linda as her wedding planner and day of coordinator because she was under the impression that she was «very experienced, had many connections with different vendors, and would probably save you more money in the end than you would have spent on her fee to begin with.» Wrong, wrong, and even more wrong!
Not only did Linda charge an arm and a leg, she went missing for hours the day of the wedding. She failed to coordinate family and bridal party pictures at the venue because she stuck the bridal party in a room for over and hour and told them to just stay there. We finally found her outside smoking after her outfit change.
She was very unprepared, and overlooked small details like pins for the money dance, the PROGRAM TIMELINE, and family portraits! She was more concerned about tipping her «professional vendors,» who also came unprepared with microphones going on and off during the ceremony and vows because the DJ failed to change the batteries before the ceremony started (basic AV common sense!). Her makeup artist and assistant also came 1 and 2 hours late (respectively), rushing through my sister’s make-​up, and making her cry!
To top it off, she yelled at my mom and other close family and friends the DAY OF THE WEDDING because they asked her simple questions like «where’s the bathroom?» «where should we wait?» or «where is the seating chart?» She is very rude, unprofessional, and is only concerned about tipping her vendors. She makes you feel like the biggest day of your life is all just an event to milk money from. not a great feeling.

Linda was wonderful! We hired Linda as our Day-​of Wedding Coordinator but she went above and beyond the day-​of duties.
We hired her 6 months prior to our wedding and you can pretty much call her our partial wedding planner. She would check-​in and ask about the status of our vendors and would lend a helping hand whenever we asked. We asked her for recos for a florist, dj, and officiant and she went out of her way to do a vendor day with us. Umm. amazing. We hired 2 out of the 3 and they simply were the best vendors.
We had our wedding at the Cultural Center in Long Beach and Linda knew the place like the back of her hand. She was very helpful throughout the wedding planning process and provided guidance as needed.
She’s a corky gal but means well. She’s been in the business for awhile and knows the in and outs. She’s awesome and fun to hang with!

I absolutely recommend you hire Linda to help you plan your wedding. This was one of the very best decisions I made! Linda is fabulous at what she does. She will help you and your groom create the day of your dreams.
I am very busy and I get side tracked easily. Linda totally stayed on top of our timeline and constantly reminded us what needed to happen next. Linda has a ton of experience in this industry and she knows everyone. That translates in to lots and lots of hook ups, incredible ideas and most importantly, savings!!! Hooray! She’ll bring vendors to her office so you save on time and energy (and don’t have to go all over the place to meet with people). No matter what happens, she always has your back. I felt like everything she did was in the interest of giving us the best experience possible.
When I say that the day of my wedding was the best day of my life, I really, really mean it. It was everything we could have ever asked for and we have Linda to thank for that. Seriously. Hire her, and you won’t be sorry. She is loyal, assertive and goes above and beyond to take care of you. Everyone would be lucky to have a friend like her.

Linda went above and beyond the call of duty as my «day of coordinator.» Linda’s work ethic and communication skills, combined with her decades of experience make for one AMAZING wedding coordinator!
I had a specific vision of what I wanted for my wedding and Linda helped me make that dream come true at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach. My favorite part of her services was being able to have all the vendors come to her office to meet with me… this saved me time and money! Because of Linda I had the BEST officiant, photographer, florist, linen service and DJ! My wedding was a HUGE success! Our family and friends are still talking about it!
Thank you Linda for all of the hours you put it to help me. I would recommend you in a heart beat.