Hey guys, I did a lot of research on this board so it's only fair that I give back with my own reviews. I got married in November on the Northshore.
Ceremony: Hosanna Lutheran Church - A
The don't normally hold ceremonies here, but this was my husband's church growing up so it was kind of a no-brainer pick for us. Having said that, they don't normally do weddings here (they said they only do a few a year), so there was no wedding coordinator, only the church secretary.
Reception: Abita Quail Farm -- A
John is very nice, but very long winded and although he tried his best to be accommodating, he kind of made us feel like he was doing us a favor but letting us use the farm. I was nervous about parking, but it was fine (it had rained earlier in the week). The food was good and they sent a package with us after the reception. I highly recommend the fried eggplant, I can't stop thinking about it!! But the BEST PART about the Quail Farm is the price. It was SO MUCH CHEAPER than ANYWHERE else we looked, so that was the major selling point for us. All of our family from the area remembered this as "the place" to have a formal function about 10 years ago. Personally, I felt like the grounds could have been kept up a little better, but we had our reception at night, so it really wasn't an issue.
Cake -- Nonna Randazzo's Bakery -- B
Our cake was pretty simple and looked fine, but I wasn't blown out of the water by their decorating techniques. We chose them because they were one of the few places willing to make a wedding cake for us on a holiday weekend. The cake was traditional flavor (almond) and was fine, not the best cake ever but it was pretty good. We didn't have many options there for a fancy groom's cake so I ended up going with a black and gold king cake. Although I wish we could have had a really fun shaped cake, this was seriously the best king cake I've EVER had! We'll definitely be picking one up from here come Mardi Gras.
Photography -- Photography Shoppe (I don't have my pics back yet so I'll be judging them based on communication before and their attentiveness at the wedding) C+
We chose them (based in BR) because they had reasonably priced packages and offered 2 photographers and the copyrights to all images. Once they got our money, I had a really hard time getting in touch with them and contemplated contacting the BBB over it to get our money back. I read some really bad reviews of them online and we were really nervous. HOWEVER, the week of the wedding, they got in touch with us regularly, and our actual photographers, Kristen and Summer, seemed to get some good shots and made me feel at ease. I'lle ammending this once we get the pictures back.
Limo: Northshore Limo -- F
Terrible limo, terrible customer service. The driver was an idiot, she got us lost on the way to the reception and then said it was our fault for not telling her where to go, SO we were an hour late to our reception! And then we had to give her turn-by-turn directions to our hotel. They charged us twice and then tried to charge us an extra 45 minutes for going over our time limit(because she got us lost). They were rude to us on the phone as we tried to get these issues solved and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
DJ: Big River Productions -- B
Jimmy was highly recommended to us by a family member in the business. He was easy to talk to and was very professional (they are actually a production company) despite having a really reasonable price. He didn't do anything wrong, but he does require all afternoon to set up his equipment, his choices off our playlist were questionable (Beauty and the Beast theme and Three by Britney Spears..what?!!?), but he was a nice guy and did a fine job of keeping things flowing smoothly and was really flexible when we went over on time.
Flowers: Debbie Imbraguglio -- A
Debbie does flowers on the side out of her home in Amite, she's a family friend of one of my friends. She did a great job on my flowers and stuck pretty close to the flowers I showed her. I felt like she gave us a fair price and I would recommend her to someone that has clear pictures of what they want. She did put ivy in my bouquet (which I didn't like or ask for) but in the long run, that's a really unimportant detail and everything looked beautiful.
Rehearsal Dinner: The Lake House Restaurant -- A
They were really accommodating and let us take up the entire first floor of the restaurant and escorted all diners upstairs. They have a perfect location on Lake Pontchartrain and the food was great. We loved the atmosphere, it was comfortable, kind of laidback (we had a buffet), yet elegant.
Hair and Makeup: Just Face It -- A+
Jessica and Angelle came to my house to do ALL 8 of my bridesmaid's hair and their makeup, plus me. They were friendly and professional and everyone was extremely happy with the end result. I highly recommend them both!
Honeymoon: AllInclusiveOutlet.com -- A+
We booked our honeymoon through this online travel agent and it was awesome. We felt like we got a great deal to Jamaica (they do all over the Carribbean) and they took care of all plans. It was the easiest part of wedding planning. You go to the site, decide where you want to go and they give you a per person price that includes airfare and hotel stay. They also took care of transportation to our resort from the airport.
Let me know if you have any questions or would like any contact information!