Hi Ladies!
I cant believe its all said and done with!! The wedding was everything we wanted!! Everything went great.
I live in DC but i am from NOLA so i dont know if i consider myself an OOT bride, but i did plan it all from DC.
Also, we are very laid back and really just wanted a big party to celebrate our marriage. Nothing was really fancy shmancy, except for the ceremony. We wanted our reception to reflect our personalities and it did!
Bridesmaids Dresses:
Bella Bridesmaid in Baton Rouge. Grace was amazing!!! She is so nice and responded to all of my emails very quickly. The dresses were fabulous!! Everyone looked amazing.
Tux: Mens Warehouse: We chose mens warehouse bc we had people all over the place to get fitted and at mens warehouse, they can go to any location to get fitted and pick up the tux at any location. So it worked out great. The only thing was that out of 11 tuxes we had to get, 6 people had to get alterations. I have heard that this is the case with a lot of places. Just make sure that where ever you get the guys tuxes from, that they go 2 days before and try them on before they leave. Other than that, they were great. Very nice and everything was perfect. The guys looked amazing!
Hotel Room Block: Hilton Riverside on Poydras. Our parlor was AWESOME!!! We had an amazing room that was huge for the girls to get ready in with a kitchen and a great view of the river. It opened to a huge courtyard where we actually took pictures the day of. It was awesome!!! We didnt have any problems with anyone checking in. Everything went great. They also handed out our welcome bags at the front desk with no problems.
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/MSYNHHH-Hilton-New-Orleans-Riverside-Louisiana/index.doWelcome Bags: Lagniappe for your Event: Heidi is AMAZING!!! This was very very last minute and she was sooo accomadating!! Also, since it was a last minute add on, our budget was really really tight and Heidi found a way to make it happen!!! They were sooo cute and everyone just loved getting a little gift at check in. She included an itenarary and a little history of the church and southport hall. It was really awesome! She can do a whole bunch of different things. She was very very nice and got back to me very quickly with any questions and she was a very pro active vendor. I highly recommend her!! here is her site:
http://lagniappeforyoureventllc.vpweb.com/Rehersal Dinner: Dragos in the Hilton Riverside: Absolutly GREAT! The food was amazing!! We had a huge rehersal dinner with about 50 people there. My MIL paid for food for everyone and brought in 30 bottles of wine. Dragos charged us a small opening fee per bottle and ensured that everyone got wine. We had plenty of wine and they just kept serving it! We had 4 servers which was great for 50 people and no one had to wait for anything. Service was fast. Jaye, the manager, was very very friendly. It was perfect! The only thing i would let you guys know, is there is no private room. We had a space to the side all to ourselves kind of by the hotel bar but we knew this and we didnt mind one bit. but if you are going to do a ton of speeches, you may want to opt somewhere with a private room as it was kind of loud being in the open like we were. But it didnt bother us at all.
http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/Makeup: Kiss and Makeup- Kellie Bode: AMAZING!!!!! One of the best decisions i could have made!!!I cant imagine having anyone else but her! She is so kind and funny too! ha! She made me feel really really comfortable. She is also very accomadating and always got back to my emails almost immediatly!! She was right on time. I had a few bridesmaids and a reader who decided the day of that they wanted there makeup done and Kellie was able to fit them in and get the rest of us done all on time. Her work is AMAZING and all the ladies looked beautiful and you could tell they felt beautiful too! I LOVED my makeup!!! It was FANTASTIC! Here is her site:
http://kissandmakeup4.webs.com/Videographer: Prodigy Media Group: AMAZING!!!!! I cant wait to see the video! They were right on time and so nice! Answered all my emails fast fast and were very reasonably prices when i booked although i have heard there prices went up a bit. Josh is sooo nice! I changed up some things last minute bc of timing and he was just wonderful. I love there work and always check for videos! ha! I cant wait to see ours!
http://www.prodigy-mg.com/Photographer: Sam Gregory: WONDERFUL!!!! I am pretty sure he is the nicest guy on the planet! Ha! The sweetest guy! He was so thourough and is just amazing!! I just love his work and cant wait to see our pics. He was right on time and just amazing. Photography was one of my top priorities and i am so glad i went with sam.
http://www.samgregoryphotography.com/index2.php#/home/Transportation: Royal Coach Limo: They were pretty awesome! I had many many quesitons throughout the whole planning process and they were great! Always had an answer to everything and were very accomadating. We had a shuttle bus, limo and two town cars and they were right on time. The drivers were all very very friendly and accomadating as well. They actually were very busy the day of our wedding with a ton of other jobs, and they ran out of town cars to bring my husbands grandpa home that night, so they sent him a limo! ha ha! It was soo funny seeing glenns grandpa pimping in the limo! he got a kick out of it! too cute!
http://www.royalcoachnorthshore.com/Matar Dolorosa Church: We had a catholic ceremony. This church is BEAUTIFUL as many are in New Orleans. Everything went great. Linda, the coordinator, is a little rough around the edges. Dont expect too many smiles, but she is fine. Everything was just as we wanted. It was just beautiful and so memorable.
Cermony Musisians: We went with the musicians that Mater Dolorosa recommended. We had a trumpet player, singer and organist. They were FANTASTIC! I had to pick out music all on the phone and Megan, the singer, helped me with this. She was soo patient with me and helped me out a ton with the programs! I highly remommend all of three.
Reception:Southport Hall: AMAZING!!!!!! One of the best decisions we made!!!! Jay was absolutly awesome! So nice and worked with us on anything we wanted! We chose Southport bc we wanted something a little different and we wanted a party! ha! the prices are AMAZING! and I cant stress how great Jay was through the whole thing. He answered all my questions and got back to me very quickly. We had a pretty large wedding with 250 guests and And he was always around at the reception if i had a question. He was never far away. Everything was set up as we talked about and it was just great. Everyone had a great great time and are still talking about how much fun it was! (i mean, its only been 2 weeks! ha!)
http://www.newsouthport.com/The Top Cats: AMAZING!!!! Best decision we could have made. We wanted a party!! And i gotta say, the topcats delivered!! They were awesome! the dance floor was packed the whole entire night from begining to end. They even asked me go on stage with them and sing a part of a song which made the crowd go wild! LOL! Everyone thought it was planned, but it wasnt and it was really fun. it was just a great time. They are pricey, but totally worth every dollar!!!
http://www.thetopcats.com/Favors: Hubigs Pies: AWESOME! Worked out great. We even rented the little hubig guy stand to put on display with the pies. They went fast and we didnt even get any! ha! They were too cute.
http://www.hubigs.com/Cakes: Haydels: AWESOME! I did most of this via email and they were amazing!! Very responsive and sooo soo nice! It was exactly what we wanted and delicious! I wish i could eat some right now! YUM!
http://www.haydelbakery.com/Photobooth: NOLA booth HD: My husband let me get just about anything i wanted for the wedding, no question, but I got a lot of resistance from him when it came to the photo booth.He thought it was a waste of $. I gotta say, this was a HUGE hit! At the end of the night, he told me he loved it!! I think he took the most pics in it! ha! Everyone loved it!! It really was soo much fun for everyone! Daniel and his wife own it and they were amazing!!!! so so nice and easy to work with. I highly recommend them. There pricing was also the most reasonable when i was looking for a photo booth. The props were fun fun!
https://www.nolaboothhd.com/Second Line Band: Smitty Dee's Brass Band: Absolutely wonderful!!!! They were right on time and pretty reasonable. They were sooo nice too!!!! It was a great way to end our reception!
http://www.smittydeesproduction.com/Second Line Handkerchiefs: Gem Printing. My MIL had these made and they were just perfect! No complaints!
Flowers: Donna Wolf: I used a lady that does flowers from her home on the side. Flowers were not a priority for me. The bouquest came out GREAT!! Just what we wanted. They really were great!!! We did have a mishap with the floral arrangements for the church, which she forgot to do. We just got someone to run to Whole Foods and grab two arrangements and bring them to the church. It all worked out in the end.
I got a lot of stuff from
ETSY and all of it came out great. I got my second line umbrellas, programs, invitations, veil, bridesmaids gift, gift card box and I think that is it. It all came out great! I love ETSY.
I think that is all. Let me know if you guys have any questions at all. Happy Planning!!!!