Louisiana-New Orleans — The Knot Community

Chivari Chairs

dfabre2 — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:19:09 +0000

Has anyone rented chivari chairs for their reception? I am finding that they are about $8/piece. Anyone find them cheaper?

Mariachi??

Queen Jane — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:05:54 +0000

FI really wants to have a Mariachi Band perform a few songs at the reception. It is tradition in his family and it is actually a lot of fun. But, we can't seem to find any in NOLA. Anyone have any ideas??

Make-up HELP

TeamBaby — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:29:30 +0000

Hi Ladies! I'm not from your area, but I'm coming down this weekend for my bachelorette party. Long story short, I was in an accident at work over the weekend and have some pretty bad bruising on my face (including a black eye). I'm looking for a make-up artist that can do airbrush on site (staying in the French Quarter) this Fri and Sat evening. I've contacted a few places already but haven't gotten a response. Any recommendations would be much appreciated!! Thank you!!

Chateau Country Club

mirandab0324 — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:05:18 +0000

Any one have any reviews of Chateau? Have you had your wedding there or ever been to a wedding there? I am going to look at it soon, but the prices seem perfect for my budget.
Thanks!!

Help finding a Priest

Avrilmai — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:15:03 +0000

I'm sort of at a loss. I don't really know how to go about finding a priest for our November wedding. The priest we were originally going to use is leaving the state in the Summer for other career opportunities. Any suggestions for a catholic priest or how to go about finding one? We are from NOLA and getting married there, but we don't currently live or worship there. I'm starting to stress because we can't finalize our church until we have a priest. Any help would be great. Thanks!

Cake Baker Recommendations

evvincent — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:51:52 +0000

I would love some wedding cake baker recommendations!! We've got 200 guests. Would it be crazy to try and not pay more than $300?

Thank you!

Fleur de lis theme

rpersica — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:40:16 +0000

Hi NOLA brides!
I'm orignally from New Orleans but now live in Washington DC. With my love of the city (and the Saints!) I want to have a fleur de lis theme with the colors black, white and pink for a May 2012 wedding.

I'm wondering how you are incorporating fleur de lis in your wedding. I've thought of invites, favors, maybe on the cake but would love to hear other ideas!

PS- I'm jealous of yall for being able to have awesome New Orleans/ cajun food for your weddings!

vendor reviews

lorilou0783 — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:18:53 +0000

Reception- Pat O's on the River- LOVED the location and the views of the city. We got good reviews on the food and of course everyone loved the full bar (which was something we really wanted). They were easy to work with and handled any issues that came up that night. I didnt' have to worry about a thing.
Church- St Louis Cathedral- worth all the trouble you have to book/get in touch with them. They're experts at weddings and everything ran perfectly. Of course the church is beautiful...we didn't even put flowers in the church and it looked great.
Rehearsal- Ralpha and Kaccos- they were great and let us customize our menu and our bar. We had four options that our guests could pick from and kids were able to order from the resturant's kids menu. I can't say enough about how flexible and accomodating they were.
Photographer- Sandra O'Claire- she did our engagements and we loved them, still waiting on the wedding pictures but she and her assistant, Sam, took a ton of pictures. she arrived at 2pm for our 7pm wedding to get lots of getting ready/formal shots before the wedding. Sam met with the boys pre wedding and got before shots of them takien care of. Everything was organized and she got all the pictures I listed for her to get without interupting us having fun. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Videographer- Kirk at One Louder. I'm picking up the video today (took about two weeks) the teaser looked great and he did a vido for a friend's wedding which I loved. I'm excited to see it.
DJ- Rick at Decades Music- they have an online form that you can fill out for all your song likes and dislikes which was great. My only "complaint" is that a lot of the songs I thought would be played at the end of the night were played really early before we could get to the dance floor and enjoy them (like Ying Yang Twins halftime and a few other songs that I think of as end of the night songs). He kept the party going though and the dance floor was packed all night.
Flowrs- Cara at Escapes flowers- great! I gave her a really vague description of what i wanted and pictures of the dresses and the flowers were beautiful. She was very reasonable, we paid just over 1K for 10 bridesmaids, my bouquet, a throw away, flowes for Mary, and flowers for moms, grandmothers and grandfathers (the boys used pocket squares and reception flowers were in our package). She's not widely used so her contact info is cara@escapesflowers.com and caravalez@cox .net.
Limo- Big Easy on time, clean and nice limo.
Hotel to get ready- Bourbon Orleans- we got the bilevel suite for me and my 10 bridesmaids and mom to get ready, we had plenty of space and the pictures on the balcony were awesome. I requested the corner suite (it's closer to the cathedral and the balcony was larger) which I was able to get. Of course the location can't be beat for a wedding at the Cathedral.
Hair/Makeup- Flawless Bride- I know there are a lot of debates on this board about Heather but I never had any issues with her. She was always responsive to emails/phone calls and she was on time for the wedding with no issues. Everyone looked great and my hair/makeup lasted through all the dancing. We were ready early and everyone seemed really happy with their looks.
Cakes- Haydel's we did a king cake grooms tiered grooms cake and my bridal cake from Haydels. They were beautiful and tasted great. If you go on a Saturday to pick out your cake be prepared to wait a little bit before they get to you but other than that they're easy to work with.
Second line band- Storyville Stompers- on time, sounded great and it was a wonderful way to get the party started.
Invites and favors- Szabos we did simple invites and "to go cups" for favors. Less expensive than Gems, quick and everything looked great
Bridal Gown- Pearl's Place...i hate that I gave them my money...horrible customer service after you purchase the dress (alterations/bridesmaids dresses etc). Takes forever to get anyone to help you and then you feel rushed. The plus side is I loved my gress. I took it to Danny at the Golden Needle in Baton Rouge to alter and he worked absolute magic! He really takes the time to alter the dress the way that suits you. He added boning in the dress and two bustles so it would stay better...LOVED him.
Bridesmaid Dresses- Bustles and Bows---love them! They were a little more expensive than Pearl's place but they offered to match the price pearl's place gave me. Much more friendly to work with. Everyone's dresses were great and on time. I got my veil and my mom get her dress from them as well.
Tuxedos- John's Tuxedos- Great to work with, they customized the exact look my husband wanted and were able to deal with a last minute ring bearer issue.

I also used Etsy for random things like the ring bearer pillow and garter. Sellers were RomancingJuliet, Primele, HeartNSole, Angelynn, florriemitton.
Save the date magnets were from vista print. We put them inside a matching card that we got from them as well...they came out really cute and were inexpensive. The only down side is they can take a while so be sure to order early.
We used LCI paper adn Invitation Consultants for some other stationary/invitation needs. Everything came out great.
Bridesmaid gifts were a bag from Old Navy, flip flops from Old Navy and earrings a friend made.
Groomsmen gifts were from Bass Pro Shops (ice chests)
Rings were from Aucoin Hart...I swear their store is like heaven.

I honestly would recomend any of the vendors we used to others...we had a wonderful wedding with no major issues. we were truly blessed!

Justice of the Peace vs Wedding Ceremony

kimpaul2012 — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:06:09 +0000

My finance wants to get married at the Justice of the Peace. I want the thing...wedding ceremony and reception. So I decided that he have the Justice of the Peace if I can have a nice reception. Can someone give idea or advice on this dilemma?

Bridal portrait location

mhebe49 — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:50:54 +0000

What is a good location to take bridal portraits? We took engagements in Jackson square and along the river so I want to do bridals somewhere different. Please help :)

Any Federal Ballroom brides?

michhunter25 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:19:52 +0000

Hi, looking for anyone who used the Federal Ballroom as their reception site. What did you think of the site, staff and service? Any snafus? Things to look out for? What was perfect? What wasn't. Which caterer did you use? How did it go? Good value? Thanks in advance for any input!!!!

Federal Ballroom

[Deleted User] — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:01:41 +0000

So the Federal Ballroom was recommended to us for our reception and we looked at the packages and are a bit skeptical...seems like too good of a deal. Has anyone had their reception here or been to a reception here? How was the food??

thanks in advance for your feedback....hopefully ill soon book a place for the reception and I can stop asking yall questions!!!

Melissa

Bustles & Bows Sample Sale this weekend

Sillycar — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 01:04:23 +0000

Hi, all-

I wanted to share that Bustles and Bows is having a sample sale this weekend. I picked up two veils today (couldnt make up my mind!) For $50 bucks a piece. Thought some of y'all might want to know!

Holly

Reasonable florist in NOLA?

Rdh2MrsOMFS — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:49:47 +0000

Who are you guys using?... and what is your budget for your wedding?.. We're trying to keep ours fairly small, but I'd like a bouquet for me and my two bridesmaids along with flowers for the guys. Maybe a couple ceremony flowers?.. I plan to decorate with black and white feathers and vases for the reception tables.

Thanks :)

DJ or band at St. Louis Hotel

chleonie — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:15:36 +0000

Does anyone have any recommendations for a DJ or a band? I am leaning more towards a DJ at the moment because I think there are a lot of songs we would like to hear that a band will not play. Thanks!

Greek wedding

lbmsrlotr — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 05:57:49 +0000

Has anyone been to, stood in, or had a Greek wedding ceremony?

Mine is May 1st. I'm Catholic (same belief system as Roman Catholic) but vastly different wedding ceremony.

I feel very strongly about saying/hearing the "I Do" part of the Roman Catholic ceremony that is NOT a part of the Greek ceremony.

Any suggestions as to how I can still say/hear my "I do's" of the Greek priest won't let me do is as part of that ceremony?

Thanks for ur input & suggestions

How long should welcome party be?

LGJ713 — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:08:15 +0000

We are having a small rehearsal dinner and then inviting the rest of our guests (approximately 120) to a welcome party at the rehearsal dinner space. The welcome party will have an open bar, dessert, and coffee. How long should the welcome party be if it starts at 9:00 pm? Is 1 1/2 hours too short? FYI - all of our guests are from out of town.

Thanks girls!

Suit Rental for Groomsmen?

AngeleMarie — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:26:26 +0000

Hi girls!

My fiance and will have a lavendar/blue/navy color palette and he wants to wear a midnight blue suit for the wedding. Do you know if there are any places in New Orleans that rent suits? He'll buy his own but we don't want to ask his buddies to spend too much money.

My bridesmaids are going to be mixed match lavendar/violet dust/fawn, so I suppose his groomsmen could be mixed navy/midnight blue and just wear their own suits but I'm not sure I trust them! LOL. Renting tuxes anywhere is cake but this suit rental thing is a little bit more tricky.

Thanks!

Oh goodness...help...

alosbourn — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 19:54:05 +0000

I'm still a student at University, but we're not getting married until after I graduate in 16 months...but I'm still feeling so overwhelmed with all the planning and the budget expenses... How am I supposed to do all of this? Should I make a checklist or something? Is there a book that can help do it virtually for me... I'm on a budget, but I really want my dream wedding...what do I do?

Sincerely,
New to this in NOLA

Venue Help!

amandahxo — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 03:49:07 +0000

I'm having a hard time finding a venue for 150 people for less than $11k. I love the Board of Trade and Federal Ballroom, but they are sadly just over my budget. Rosy's is in our budget, we think it's a bit casual though. Any suggestions?

Engagement Pictures at the Zoo?

bear121 — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:13:45 +0000

Has anyone taken engagement pictures at the zoo? It is so beauitful (the Audubon Zoo ofcourse) and I think it would be a really neat place to take them, but our egagement pic date is on a Saturday in March and I'm afraid there will be too many people there for us to get really goot shots? What do you ladies think?

Bands

lmt1983 — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:32:17 +0000

delete

Wedding Photography

tonga123 — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 01:00:37 +0000

Which Photographer should i choose? Bray Danielle, Robert Faust, or Amaiezing faces

Planning a small destination wedding. Ideas?

Samsojo — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:38:27 +0000

I am curently planning a small destination wedding in New Orleans from Memphis, TN. Tentatively our date is Monday May 30, 2011 and we're expecting probably no more than 30 guests. We'd really like to spend no more than $50 per person.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I have contacted the St. Louis Hotel but I am afraid they may be just out of our price range. Currently, my fiance's favorite idea is a ceremony in Hotel Provincial's courtyard and then a reception at Margaritaville (only a 2 min. or so walk). While I'm okay with the ceremony, I'm just not sold on M'ville. What do you all think about that idea?

And lastly, I'd like to thank everybody for all the information here on the boards! It is invaluable!!

My Sincerest Apologies!

egammo3 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:38:38 +0000

I would like to offer a sincere apology to "Who's Who In I Do" for my previous post. It seems like it was taken out of context therefore, I would like to clear a few things up. The "Who's Who In I Do" show this past weekend was FANTASTIC!!!! I loved every part of it and learned alot.... My mother in law and I had so much fun and even stayed for the after party (even though it seems we were the only ones)
It seems that my previous post may have looked as though I attacked a particular vendor, but that was not the case. I was extremely concerned about this vendor after reading all of the negative comments online, but to my surprise, I received a phone call from both Whos Who and the vendor to assure me that everything was legit and well worth it. The marketing manager even gave me his personal line to call him to let him know how the demonstration went. I feel alot better after hearing from both parties... this goes to show how powerful the knot is.

This Post has been removed

egammo3 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:25:18 +0000

I have deleted the original post....

Vendor Review 1/15/11

clroski — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:20:53 +0000

So I already wrote a post reviewing all our vendors, but check out www.ardentstudio.com/blog/
for our list of vendors and pictures! We are the first ppl on the website under Courtney & Patrick's I Do! All of our vendors were fabulous and if you have any questions about them please let me know!! Best of luck to all the Bride's and Groom's out there!!

Court

Hostess gift

risti97 — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:00:25 +0000

Does anyone have ideas on what we can give a couple as a hostess gift for giving us a couple's shower? This couple is planning a very elaborate shower for us, and I'm stuck on a gift! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Photography-first look?

VivD33 — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:11:00 +0000

When I met with our photographers-Dark Roux Photography (they are awesome!)- they mentioned to me a "first look". My fiancé and I are torn whether or not we want to do it. Suggestions? Also, I'm doing a boudoir session with one of the photographers from Dark Roux (Heather), and I'm going to give the photos to my (soon to be) husband on our wedding day. I'm very comfortable with her and excited to do the photos, but I'm pretty nervous. Anyone have any experience with a boudoir session?

second line/reception/going away dress FOR SALE!

lpannocchia — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:46:36 +0000

- JS Boutique Sequin Sheath Dress from Nordstrom- size 6. I usually wear a 4 or 6 and it fit great. Very flattering- Only worn for about 30 minutes as a 'going away dress' for our second line Like new condition- the sequins are almost a pear shape-absolutely fun dress, so many compliments- Asking $100 + shipping- email lpannocchia@gmail.com if interested or if you have any questions!