I just got married on June 4th and thought I would share my experiences with all of you! I found that other's reviews on here really helped me when I was planning!
White Oak Plantation - Beautiful, gorgeous location. However, a storm came through that day and the power was out for our wedding. Believe it or not, John Folse does NOT have a generator and our wedding was completely dark. There was no A/C so almost everyone left immediately after the ceremony. Our guests had to use their cell phones as flashlights in the restrooms. After the reception, my mom had to crawl around in the dark (literally, in the bridal suite) to remove all of our belongings from WO that night because they would not allow us to come back the next day in the daylight. Needless to say, for the $18,000 that we paid for food & alcohol to have the wedding there, I would have hoped that they would have a generator, at least for the Ball Room - or even give us a partial refund - but we got nothing but a dark, hot, sweaty reception. I am completely disappointed in our entire wedding & reception and I can never get this moment back.
Trinity Florist - Emily was the best!! We used her for our Rehearsal Dinner & Wedding. She has a full time job Mon-Fri but LOVES flowers, so she is really passionate about her work. She also only books one wedding per weekend so she can devote all of her time to you. I plan to use her for any other events in the future and would recommend her to anyone.
Gambino's Bakery - Great job by them. I had a 4 tier buttercream cake with cream cheese & pecan filling. The grooms cake was a German Chocolate duck hunting cake. I actually found pictures of both cakes online that I liked and emailed to them. Our cakes came out better than the pictures and we received so many compliments on the cakes and how great they tasted! (my mom froze us a few pieces that we just ate after the honeymoon and they were SO good!!)
RamJam DJ - Another great vendor!! Robert did an amazing job!!! Once we all arrived at White Oak and realized there was no power, Robert had someone bring his personal generator and that is what we used for the Reception music. Also, as HOT as it was in that Ball Room and with no A/C, Robert wore his tux all night to look "professional". I kept telling him to lose the coat and tie since it was so hot, but he made the best of it. Another great vendor that I would recommend to anyone.
Perfect Memory Photobooth - This was a lot of fun! The booth came with props for everyone to use and they put together a book for us at the end of the night with everyone's pictures in it and a personal note that each person wrote beside their picture. The only negative thing for us was that it was so hot and dark throughout the house that no one really knew it was there. However, it was a lot of fun and completely worth it as our one "extra" expense!
American Printing on Drusilla - They did a great job as well. They were kind of pricey on the invites, but that may have just been the one's that I fell in love with! We also ordered napkins for the cake, matchbooks as favors, and our Programs from them. Everything turned out beautiful and they were really nice!
Photography Shoppe - WORST - PHOTOGRAPHY - COMPANY - EVER - Where do I begin...Engagement pics were awful. The photographer definitely didn't want to be there; his attitude was horrible. After that, I requested Kristin as the photographer for my bridal portraits and wedding (because of great reviews I had read on the Knot about her). She took my bridal portraits and they turned out great! I'm happy with them and her work. However, the Photography Shoppe double booked her the day of our wedding and didn't tell us until the week before the wedding. Thankfully, we ended up with someone really nice, Teresa. We were told that her work compares with Kristin's. Since the bridal portraits only took 2 weeks to post online, I've been emailing and calling them lately to find out when the wedding pics would post. Absolutely no response! It has been this way with them since the day we signed the contract 2 years ago with them. They never called us before any event to confirm the appt, tell us who the photographer would be, or how to get in touch with them. Every time, we would just show up and hope a photographer would show up at the same time. They are the most unorganized and unprofessional company that I have ever worked with. Whatever you do....DO NOT use them. If you have already booked them, demand to book Kristin for your wedding and tell them to check her calendar (not theirs)since she is a free lance photographer that works for them. As of now, I'm just hoping that I am not waiting a year to get my wedding pics back like some other people that I have read about on the Knot.
Hair/Makeup - Faith at Salon Eden did both! She does an outstanding job! After going to her for my Bridal Portraits and Wedding, I have completely switched salons and now only go to see her! She is the best!
Dress - Pearl's Place - I've heard a lot of horror stories about Pearl's in NO, but I had a really great experience for the last year and half. Maybe I was prepared for the worst, but everything went smooth. My dress was a Casablanca gown that I customized and it came in perfect! For alterations, they don't take appointments. However, we showed up 30 minutes before the store opened and got in just fine. The bridesmaids dresses came from here also and were great! The best thing to say about Pearl's is to get there early and don't be in a rush.
Rehearsal Dinner - Ruffino's on Highland - Wonderful location, wonderful food! We booked the big room there and had a wonderful time the night before the wedding! The staff was very helpful in getting ready and even let us come in Friday morning to decorate and bring my wedding party gifts.
Honeymoon - Sandals Regency La Toc in St. Lucia - We really enjoyed the all-inclusive resort including all food and alcohol and that it was adult only (no kids). The swim up bar was the best!!! The food was hit or miss - maybe that's because we're used to spicy food! We went on a cruise one day to see the volcano's and it included a local lunch - their local food is a lot spicier than the resort and really good. At Sandals you can hop around to all the other resorts on the island and everything is included there. The Sandals Grande is really nice and the beach is better there! It is definitely worth visiting. However, the LaToc is almost 99% honeymooners so you get to meet a lot of young people and it's a lot of fun! Great honeymoon overall!
Hope some of this helps someone out there!
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml