Venue
Cedar Grove Tchoupitoulas Plantation, Waggaman, LA: A+++
Our wedding at CGTP was incredible! It
is an all-inclusive place and honestly I don’t know why brides choose to start
from the ground up with planning a wedding. It’s so much easier to let an experienced
venue handle all the small stuff and THIS place has it ALL (even our rehearsal
dinner) for very reasonable prices too! The venue itself is PERFECT! The
tables, chairs, centerpieces, and décor are already setup and flows beautifully
together, I did not have to add a thing, not even flowers! I highly recommend
using their chapel as well. It is also perfectly decorated and the pictures
look amazing! The food and food service was out-of-this-world delicious and
kept on coming until all our guests were beyond full. Our family and friends
were dancing the entire night with their in-house DJ and their bar was fully
stocked with only the premium stuff, so I know the bartenders worked overtime
for our guests and they did it with ease! Our friends that had recently gotten
married at other local venues had asked how we found this place because it
didn’t even compare to the other local places that they had chosen. The venue
owner, Jill, was there the entire time and coordinated the whole wedding from
the beginning to the end. There was no guessing what to do next because they
already had everything planned for us. I felt like I could really relax and
enjoy myself because the staff had it all under control, and boy did we PARTY!
We had such a wonderful time that it’s hard to express it in so many words but
our wedding was perfect in every way and there is absolutely nothing I would
change. The night was filled with love, laughter, impeccable food, and
outstanding service!
Photographer
Penton Studios: A+
I found Marlin Penton at a bridal show
and he was offering an amazing bridal package with engagements, bridals, and
wedding day coverage with albums. After doing a lot of research with ALL of the
local photographers, his deal was too hard to pass up. Marlin has been in the
business for a very long time, so I had complete faith that he was the man for
the job. My pictures are absolutely beautiful!!! Marlin takes his time, very
easy to work with, and will do almost anything to get the right shot. I soooo cannot
wait to get my albums back!
Flowers
Beths Flowers: B--
I
did not really have anyone in mind for flowers. All I wanted was the bridal
party stuff anyway, no centerpieces or extras, just the necessities. Beths flowers
was very helpful with picking my bouquet designs and they looked awesome when
she threw one together that day. The payment plan was pretty simple and she
kept it within my budget. The day before the wedding I was allowed to take a
look at all of my bouquets, corsages, boutinneres, and kissing balls. Everything
was beautiful, execpt my bridesmaid bouquets were not the right color. She insisted
that was orange but one day before my wedding, I was not going to stress about
it, allthough looking at the pictures now, I should have. I think that was my
only regret…
All in all, she has nice flowers, good prices, and a great
delivery system, but I did not receive the same bridesmaid bouquets that I had
originally chosen.
Tip: I have worked in the wedding
industry for years and on the top of my “don’t waist your money” list is flowers.
I know they are so beautiful and smell nice and this and that but in the end,
where do they wind up??? In the trash or dead and rotting in your house! I am
not about spending thousands on this topic and I think whoever does is crazy,
this money can definitley be put elsewhere (i.e. - photobooth! I’ll get to that
later).
Limousines
Luxury Limousines of New Orleans: A+
I was pretty impressed by Luxury, being that I could not find
too many reviews on them. They are located in Metairie, LA and have a pretty
good selection of vehicles. I found them at a local bridal show as well. Not sure
if the flyer I receieved from them had special prices or were the regular
prices but all in all, for a Saturday night, no one around could bet them. Since
our ceremony and reception were both at CGTP, we only needed a transfer to the
plantaion and then back home. All other places wanted to charge us 3 hour
minimums at ove $200/hour…no thanks! They were very helpful everytime I called
and even gave us a discount for our rides back home! Great job Luxury, you need
to advertise more!
Wedding and Grooms cake
Haydels: A+
When we booked with CGTP, their wedding package included a
cake voucher from Haydel’s (awesome deal, saved $400 yay!). So when we wnt to
pick out our cake, we were given an Ipad to look through all of their wedding
cake designs and a plate with cake and filling samples. Someone sat down with
us, gave us a free cup of coffee and helped us with choosing both our wedding
and grooms cakes. This place is very small, but it didn’t effect their service
to us at all. Everything was really good, the delivery was great, and the cake
designs all came out very well in the pictures. All good things to say about
Haydel’s as well!
Photobooth
Spoofs: A+
I contemplated long and hard about whether or not we should
get a photobooth... DO IT!!! Again, I had to find the best deal and it turns
out that CGTP has a thing with Spoofs and offers a really good package, like
$200 off, so I couldn’t pass it up. I had quite a few guests that did not really
care to dance so it was a fun thing for them to play with. Also, as the night
progresses, the pictures get funnier! The guests also get a copy too so it
acted as our favors. Cant go wrong with these things!
Dress
MeMe’s Bridal Boutique – Sample Sales: B
I bought my drees from MeMe’s Bridal Boutique at a sample
sale, which was a great experience at the time, I love my dress and, yes, I cried. But when I got home, I realized
that It was way too big! I wish they would have pointed out to me before I left
the store that the dress was really big and needed to be taken in like two
sizes, but instead they pinned me up and said “it fits prefectly on you” which
of course it did with the giant-sized clips in the back…duh! ADVICE: alterations
usually do not come with sample sale dresses so before you leave the store,
ask! If I could go back, I would’ve paid for the dress in my size rather than suffering
thorough all of the alterations, which leads me to my next review.
Dress
Alterations:
Bee’s Tailor: A+
They were my life savers, or maybe
dress savers! I was about to lose hope with my sample sale dress when I found
Bee’s. They charged me a whopping $50 to take it in! I went for three fittings
until they got it just right. Please, if you need any gown alterations, this is
your place!
Invitations
David’s Bridal: A+
David’s does really well with wedding
invites and always has a deal going on with them. Its only online through their
website; order the free samples, a discount comes with it. I priced around on
this one, both online and at local places and they had the best bang for your
buck. Really good quality, fast delivery, and was a one stop shop.
Tuxedos
Tuxedos to Geaux: A+
I just had to mention these guys. Compared to all of the rental shops, for $160 all of your groomsmen actually get to keep what they pay for! Very professional and friendly staff. Definitely worth checking out.