Louisiana-Baton Rouge

Venue and Photographer Consultations

Well, I think I'm in full-swing now. I have a consultation with Photography Shoppe on Tuesday and a tour of the Gate House next Saturday (the 17th).Just looking for advice or experience with these places. Photography is very important to us and the Photography Shoppe seems to have pretty good packages (we're looking at their $1700 package which includes bridals and engagement).We liked the Carriage House in Gonzales (fit our relatively small budget perfectly!), but are hoping that Gate House will be more convenient to get to. We're also crossing our fingers that there's room for something of a dance floor with about 100 guests.What do you guys think? Good experiences? Bad experiences? Questions I should not forget to ask? Let me know! Thanks!
Anniversary

Re: Venue and Photographer Consultations

  • edited December 2011
    I got married at The Gatehouse and used the Photography Shoppe for my photographs. LOVED them both!!My photographer was Kristen from the Photography Shoppe and she was wonderful. I told her exactly what I wanted in photos and she met that and definitely exceeded it. I have quite a few of my pro pics in my married bio if you want to take a look. I chose package 3 so I got the engagement session, bridal session, and 8 hours of coverage with 2 photographers the day of the wedding. Plus a flush mount album, 2 parent albums, several prints, and copyright release which was very important to us. They offer a great quality and you get a ton for what you pay for.The Gatehouse was wonderful! I received SO many compliments on my wedding. People are still talking about it 7 months later. First, the food was wonderful. Everyone commented on how it was the best wedding food they've ever had. Which I agree. Second, you get a lot for what you pay for. In the price you get the food, cake, DJ and a coordinator which helps. Mine was Laura and she helped things run smoothly leading up to the wedding. I told her how I wanted my things set up and she did exactly what I asked. The setting of the Gatehouse is beautiful. I invited 108 guests, 75 RSVP'd yes, and exactly 70 showed up. Which was fine by me. They set up 75 chairs outside for the ceremony since that is what I told them was a confirmed yes. Then for the reception, there is only enough room inside the ballroom for 60 I think. So what they did was set up tables outside so the outside kind of becomes and extension of the ballroom. The tables were set the exact same way as the inside. Someone took mine and my husbands reserved seats so our coordinator set us up a sweetheart table for just the two of us. If you have any questions let me know!
    BabyFetus Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks so much, Erika! Your pictures are beautiful! I love the way the Gatehouse looks, but we keep running into this size dilemma. We both have big families, so limiting the guest list is hard. We're looking for a Friday in June (June 4th, we hope!), so maybe having it on a Friday will limit how many show up.Besides, my entire family lives in West Virginia and Colorado... so I am sure my invite list looks much larger than my final count will be. I hope, anyway.As of now, we're probably inviting about 120 people.
    Anniversary
  • edited December 2011
    I'm a little late to reply, but wanted to let you know my experiences as well. I booked the Photography Shoppe back in July or August for my wedding. We also picked the third package (the $1700 one). In the beginning, I had a hard time getting a hold of someone if I tried calling. I did call several days in a row and left messages two days in a row, and someone followed up with me after the second day and apologized for not returning my call sooner. That made me feel a lot better, turns out, somehow my first message was skipped and they didn't realize I had called until my second message. I have scheduled my engagements for the 26th of this month with Kristen. I'm hoping for her to do my bridals and our wedding as well. I have found that e-mail Cate works the best. She responds quickly (within a day at the most - usually hours though) and answers everything I need to know so I have it all saved. Hope that helps!
  • edited December 2011
    I have been to both places that you are considering. The Gatehouse and the Carriage House. The gatehouse is smaller than the Carriage House. The wedding I went to at the Carriage House was for 200 people.. There was plenty of room to dance becuase not everyone danced at the same time and we had room to go out onto the back patio too. The food was really good at the Carriage House and the Gatehouse also. If you want 5 star you will have to pay for it. The Carriage House had a lot to choose from and the cake was really good. Hope that helps.
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks so much, Baylor! I really appreciate the comparison. We are going to see the Gatehouse this weekend.Just met with the guy at Photography Shoppe today. We were both really pleased with the consultation and FI and I have decided that as soon as we book our location (hopefully early next week) we are going to put the deposit down for the Photography Shoppe, for the $1700 package.We were just so impressed with the samples of their work (and they're not shy about showing samples and showing you how to get to ALL their client proofs), and everything in the package for the price we'll be paying. I feel really confident that they are the right choice for us. :)
    Anniversary
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