November 9, 2012 - Vendor Reviews (LONG!)

We had a magical, amazing wedding on November 9th.  Everything we could have wished for and more.  This site (and everyone on it) was such a huge help - the reviews and advice were invaluable to this Type A bride

As many of our guests were arriving on Thursday evening/Friday morning (the day of the wedding), we opted for a casual meet and greet instead of a rehearsal dinner.  We were staying at The Bourbon Orleans (as were majority of out of town guests) so the bar downstairs was a great central locale.  Our party pretty much had the entire bar to ourselves and they also had a great jazz pianist there to start the wedding festivities off on the right foot.  

All of our guests were coming from out of town (some had been to Nola before and some had not) so we really wanted to get married in a spot that would allow us both an indoor and outdoor space for the ceremony/reception and a venue that would show off some of that classic New Orleans of long ago.  Well, The Elms delivered and more!  Our ceremony took place outside in the gazebo, which is situated on a beautiful garden patio, and the reception was held both inside and outside the mansion.  The mansion is lit up at night and honestly all night long guests were telling us they felt like they had walked onto a movie set.  The food (catered in house) was amazing.  My new husband and I were taken upstairs a little after the ceremony and the coordinators had set up a small dinner (with champagne) for us.  It was so appreciated because it allowed us a little bit of time to take in everything (we had a view to the party outside) and actually eat some food (which was scrumptious!) before the party went on.  Judy (the in house coordinator) is a dream to deal with.  She is so personable and quick to respond to any and all questions.  She made sure we were taken care of the whole evening.  Just can't say enough about the venue and the staff.  It was a dream location.  Definite recommend!!!

We had a 3 piece group (piano/keyboard, violin and cello) and I had requested that all of our music (about 8 songs) be from my favorite movie soundtrack, Pride and Prejudice.  Harry and his group handled the non-traditional requests easily!  Harry was in touch with me throughout the process making sure we were on the same page with the wedding program/music and he was pro-active about being in touch with our venue and coordinator.  The ceremony music was beautiful and I couldn't have asked for more.  

We used John for the first 2 hours of the reception and he handled all of our announcements (Entrance, First Dance, Speeches, a Happy Birthday to the MOG) as well as our opening reception music.  His website is really well set up so that you can ultimately put in your schedule/timeline with any pertaining music choices, make payments, choose reception music.  He also provided the mike/sound for our ceremony.  All around great job.

A highlight of our wedding!!!  We booked Steve and his crew (8 members in all) for the last 2 hours of our reception.  They were on time and professional.  They started outside on the gazebo, but when everyone started moving indoors (it was getting a bit chilly) they did a line through the house to the indoor/bar area and they just took it from there.   Prior to the wedding, White Oak Productions sent a questionnaire about any specific songs we'd like.  I made a couple of requests, but other than that just said we wanted good ole upbeat New Orleans music.  By the end of their sessions we had guests up on stage with them, playing drums with them and dancing all over.  The second line (a new thing to almost everyone) was fun fun fun and winding around the venue in a long serpentine of people worked out perfectly.  They played until the guests were on the shuttles and heading out.  I would recommend these guys over and over!!  Our guests are still emailing us about how great they were.

I thought Christina was great to work with.  She's REALLY busy with weddings so don't expect a reply back immediately, but she's a total pro and will deliver at a great price.  I thought I knew the color scheme I wanted and she sent me a proposal based on that, but I actually ended up changing colors about 5 months prior to the wedding.  No big deal there, but it was a switch in flowers available, etc.  I also wanted tons of candles and Christina was able to handle this request too.  So bonus - flowers and candles done by the same vendor!  I sent her tons of pictures of ideas/flowers/arrangements, etc and thought I must be driving her nuts, but she was very gracious in addressing all my many questions.  The day of, I was sooo very pleased with everything.  Christina also did the flowers for my in-laws who were throwing us a wedding brunch the day after.  A wonderful vendor to work with and she delivers

I'm a pretty type A super organized chick so I knew I could do most of the legwork/planning/booking prior to the wedding, but I still really wanted to have a day of coordinator even if this was one of the more expensive line items in our budget.  All I can say is - thank goodness we had Brittani on hand!  She checked in with us along the way for anything we needed (and handled our hotel blocks well in advance), but most of our interaction came in week leading up to the wedding and of course the day of.  She's super on top of everything and while thankfully we didn't have any major snafus to deal with she was great at addressing a few minor glitches immediately (see groom's cake and Dauphine) and getting them solved.  For anyone debating whether or not to hire a coordinator, I'd say try to make room in your budget as the peace of mind you receive is well worth the money.  Unique Weddings also has a candle company so were able to supply us with some candles/cylinders for the aisle when Christina didn't have quite the right size.  

Haven't seen any pictures yet, but think they'll be great.  We booked Sam based on his online portfolio style - we really wanted a photographer that could do the lovely traditional photos, but also could do those with a photojournalistic style.  Upon meeting Sam for the first time, I thought he was a bit shy and reserved so to see him navigate the day of the wedding in such an outgoing manner was a kick.  He's an all around great guy and definitely on top of his game.  We took family pictures at The Elms and some of the photos included MANY family members so I can only imagine that arranging all of us was like wrangling cats, but he did it with patience.  Very much in communication with you from the get go also.  

Angele at Just Face It was great to work with and she did worked on my 2 BM's, MOB and myself the day of.  I had the airbrush makeup done and it stayed all day and night.  The only reason I'm not giving an A+ is that I had sent pics of the hairstyle and makeup I was going for and the result (while very beautiful) wasn't really in line with what I had in my head.  All in all I looked and felt beautiful the day of my wedding, though.

We were in a bit of pickle when it came to finding an officiant.  My husband was raised Catholic and I was raised Presbyterian.  Neither of us were tied to having a church wedding (Catholic or otherwise) and we really wanted to have the ceremony at our venue if possible.  Our family did ask that we have an officiant who was attached to a church, though, if possible.  Not so easy my friends.  But, we did luck out with the amazing Revered Fred who has just transferred to First Presbyterian Church New Orleans and was able to perform off-site weddings.  Further to this, he actually attended Columbia Theological Seminary which is right down the street from where we now live in Atlanta. He's just a lovely man and worked with us on our ceremony so we could have a nice blend of traditional and non-traditional aspects.  Definitely felt like he was one of our gifts that day

I have to admit, I'm not a huge lover of wedding cake and the hubby isn't too into sweets either so when we were looking into wedding cakes I knew that I just wanted a simple 3 tier butter creme icing and was going to have Christina put flowers on it.  Given this I didn't really want to spend a ton of money either and Gambino's was right in our price range (actually well below!).  We went in for a tasting, picked 3 flavors for the tiers and called it a day.  Wedding cake was delivered the day of and it looked lovely and honestly the only bite I had was when we were cutting the cake (!).  I literally forgot to go back and have a slice!  But, all the guests raved about how good it was so wish I had eaten more.

We had a minor glitch with our groom's cake.  We got a simple sheet cake with a picture (they do an overlay type of thing) of the Georgetown mascot (which is a bulldog in blue & grey sweater/cap).  Apparently prior to laying down the picture, whomever was making the cake decided that the pic we had originally sent (months earlier) was too fuzzy and they were going to put a new picture on.  They did...and it was a bulldog...dressed in red and black...from the University of GA!  Now, honestly, we all thought this was pretty funny and as far as things that could go wrong this was pretty minor, but I did find it odd that they wouldn't have called ahead of time and let us know.  Anyway, Brittani (our coordinator) got on the phone with them and they were back within the hour (well before any of the guests saw the cake) with a replacement cake and the proper bulldog on it.  And from what I heard it tasted great.

We arranged for a passenger van to transport the wedding party to the venue.  Limo Livery was very easy to deal with and gave us a great price so no problems there.  Only blip came when our driver arrived (10 minutes late, but he did call and there was HUGE construction going on in the FQ).  He had apparently received the job 30 minutes prior to our pick up time (sounded like a last minute swap) and let us know that he'd only been in New Orleans for 2 weeks so didn't really know his way around perfectly yet.  Oh, and there was no GPS in the van and they hadn't even given him a print out with directions.  Luckily, in the day of iphones, etc. at least 5 people in the van had mapquest, etc. and we were able to navigate with him to the venue.  I schedule a pick up time that was way in advance (3:30pm and our ceremony was at 5:30pm) in anticipation of something like this possibly happening so I wasn't too stressed, but felt the company should have prepped their driver a bit more.  Now as for the driver himself, he was a really lovely man with a great sense of humor and he seemed genuinely embarrassed about the situation so I find it hard to fault him.  

We booked mini-buses to transport the guests from the hotels to venue and back.  No problems at all.  All the buses were on time and clean.  They even upgraded us to the luxury buses at the end of the night which was a very pleasant bonus.  Easy to work with and we got a competitive price.  Recommend!

John's was great!  We got tails for all the men and John's had them ready to try on as each one came in.  Minor alterations were done right on the site and all the boys looked incredibly handsome the day of.  John's is a well oiled machine!

We wanted to find a great venue in the French Quarter that would allow us an open bar, but where we wouldn't have to pay a room rental fee.  Tujagues hit the mark in every way.  We had the front bar to ourselves and the 75+people were snug but comfortable.  I was a little worried because when we booked Matt didn't even ask for a credit card to hold the party, but I sent him an email the day before and all was well.  The bartenders were great and a good time was had by all.  Guests loved the locale.

We dealt with Aynsley at The Court of Two Sisters who was lovely to work with.  We had about 100 guests and we sat out on the patio with all the tables arranged in the same area.  Now you do share the patio with other patrons who are there for the jazz brunch, but if you don't mind other people nearby then this is a great place to go.  We got lucky that we had another beautiful weather day so everyone had fun soaking up the sun, the Bloody Mary's and the jazz.

 

Bourbon Orleans was great.  The hotel went through a renovation about a year ago (?) and looked just beautiful.  The rooms were big and the staff was very occomodating.  We got a very good price and Judy and Susan were incredibly patient with my constant requests for updates and expansion of number of rooms.  Would be happy to go back and stay there anytime! 

Dauphine Orleans - We didn't have as much direct interaction with the coordinator here and we heard once that the front desk personnel was giving a little attitude to one of our guests who thought they had booked a room in our block but who mistakenly booked outside the block.  Not the hotel's fault on this one, but it could have been handled a little better by the front desk.  Our coordinator had to put in a call to their coordinator to get the situation worked out (which it was).  I also found out later that there is some construction going on at the hotel which we weren't told when we placed the booking.  Other than this guests seemed to enjoy their stay.

Zapp's Chips - Zapp's

Can't go wrong with something salty and good.  Everyone loved the chips!  Order direct from their website.

Mardi Gras Chocolate Coins - Oriental Trading Co.

We put these purple, gold and green foiled coins in clear candy bags and tied with a bow.  This site also has a ton of other Mardi Gras party materials (beads, masks, etc.) at great prices.

Water Bottles - Nestle Life/Kroger's

Maps and Welcome Guides from New Orleans Convention & Tourist Board

We put in an order beforehand and went to pick up when we arrived in NOLA.  They gave us guide books and maps for free that we put in everyone's bags.

Welcome Letters

I adapted mine from another one that a knot bride had done.  We actually emailed ours out a week beforehand and then put hard copies on line.  We put in information about our timeline, restaurants, fun things to do, etc.  A nice thing to include for all the out of towners and guests.

Welcome Bag Tags- Magnet Street

I spent hours figuring out tags/comparison shopping.  crazy i know!  Ended up finding the Magnet Street site where they had a ton of hang tags that you could design yourself.  I liked that you could put writing on the front & back.

Pralinettes - Leah's Pralines

These are the yummiest of pralines!  We ordered these about 2 months in advance and got 100 pralinettes.  They can also make labels to go on each one if you like (which we did).  Picked these up when we got to NOLA and all were ready (with labels on) and ready to go.  

Second Line Hankies - Gift Wagon

We ended up just going with plain white hankies (no imprint on them) which was just fine.  Ordered about a month in advance and they arrived shortly after ordering.  Good quality and great value!

Guest Book

On a previous trip, we found a great old book about St Charles Avenue (the street our venue was on) in an independent bookstore right across from The Bourbon Orleans.  HUGE selection of new and old books about New Orleans and the South.  We used this as our guest book so we'd have a wonderful book with memorable pictures and notes from our guests.

Wedding Dress & Veil - The White Dress in Orange County, CA

I'm originally from LA so went back to LA to shop for my wedding dress with my mom and LA gals.  My dress was the second one I tried on and had that perfect blend of comfort and vintage appeal.

Bridesmaid Dresses - Amsale @ Nordstroms

Midnight Blue jersey material.  MOH and BM loved the dresses.  Comfortable AND Chic and a dress that can actually be worn again!  Amsale has a ton of different styles and colors.

Lonely Tree Design (Plain Purple Medium Size Tags) 

Used these along with the Magnet Tags (on Welcome Bags) and wrote the guest's names on them for when we dropped off at hotels.

NewOrleansUmbrellaCo (Second Line Umbrellas) - 

We got our 2nd line umbrellas from this etsy shop.  He got a black one and I got a white one.  Great price and arrived within 2 weeks without a hitch.  They were beautiful!

Jas Favor (Bridal Hair Comb) 

beautiful vintage like hair combs.  great prices.  I actually got 2 to cover myself and used one with the veil the day of.  After taking off veil I had crystal wire hair pins tucked into my bun.

Handwired (Bridal Hair Pins) 

You find these pins in bridal stores for WAY more money.  These pins were gorgeous and added that bit of bling after the veil comes off.  

Delezhen (Bridesmaid Necklace and Earrings)

I endlessly searched Etsy for the right earrings and necklace for my gals and came across this site.  Such beautiful jewelry and in all different stones/colors.  Jewelry that can be worn again and again too.  The gals loved them.

ThePink Lantern (Guest Book & Wedding Favor Signs) 

Got 2 signs here for the Guest Book and Wedding Favors.  You can request special wording and the signs are self standing so you don't have to bring a separate stand.  

Daisy Design Shop (Save the Dates)

I did post cards for my Save the Dates and found this great little shop that does a New Orlean's design (wrought iron fences and lamposts).  It was just the right touch to send out to everyone and get them excited about New Orleans!

Waiting to get pics in, but if anyone has any questions about the above please feel free to PM me!