Hello there! Just thought I would post some vendor reviews
for our recent wedding. We were married Saturday March 1st 2014, and
we had a rustic, camping, Moonrise Kingdom inspired wedding. We are also very
excited to be featured in an upcoming issue of Southern Bride magazine if you
would like to see some more images from our wedding! Enjoy and good luck!
Venue: Destrehan Plantation -- B++
Gorgeous venue that all of our guests could not stop talking
about! It was absolutely perfect for our rustic camping wedding theme. The
grounds are covered in breathtaking live oaks and you even have the option to
hold a ceremony outside under one of the gorgeous trees. Our guests seriously
could not stop saying how beautiful of a setting it was and we couldn't agree
more! Ms. Paula Mire, the wedding coordinator, is incredibly sweet and super
helpful. There were just a few things we would have liked to see done
differently. When you first tour the venue (Ms. Paula was so helpful she let us
tour 3 times for individual family members!) you get to see the fantastic old
barn for the reception (it’s over 100 years old!) and then you get a tour of
the grounds to see the optional ceremony space. Now, when we first toured we
were shown this beautiful live oak right outside of the barn toward the
carriageway area, and were told that this is where wedding ceremonies are held.
Well needless to say the few days up to our wedding unleashed a downpour and
that area under that certain tree that I had fallen in love with -- and was a
perfect distance away from the slightly busy River Road -- was completely
flooded (the barn never floods due to rain -- it’s raised off of the ground). On
the day before the wedding when we found out that we weren’t going to get
married under that particular tree, one of the grounds keepers mentioned that
they are rarely able to hold weddings under that exact tree. This is something
we really wished would have been disclosed beforehand more in-depth. However, we
rearranged the ceremony to an even grander oak right to the left of the
plantation which was absolutely beautiful for pictures and truly a spectacular
setting; my only hang up was how close to the road it was. A couple of other
things would be that they don’t provide any sort of speaker or PA system for
either the ceremony or the reception; and you really don’t get enough time the
day before to decorate. Oh, and one other thing, you can’t have open flames (no
candles or sparklers etc.) because the barn is so old, but honestly you want to
have a daytime wedding here; it’s so beautiful, no candles needed! As of right
now there isn’t anywhere for the bride to get ready the day-of on the site, but
we got ready about 5 minutes down the road at Ormond Plantation and just rented
out their bridal room for roughly $100 that morning. For a few more pluses:
they are not even 10 minutes away from the airport (perfect for leaving right
to the honeymoon), they do provide basic linens, Ms. Paula answers any and all
emails and calls super quick (She is so super helpful!), and you really don’t
have to decorate the barn for the reception all that much because it has so
much natural beauty (a bride still wants more than 2 hours the day before to
make sure everything is perfect, though). They fill up FAST!! Word has gotten
out (especially after one of their brides won Four Weddings) how beautiful this
place is and getting a date is getting more and more difficult. Overall,
fantastic place to get married and our only complaints really are very minor
and easy to maneuver around!
Caterer: Capdeboscq –Marrero -- B
Now, although we did not get to pick out our caterer, we
were very pleased with Capdeboscq. Great New Orleans style fair with tons of
options and super affordable. When we were planning our wedding at Destrehan
Plantation in 2013 the catering plan was 7 hot and/or cold pass around hors d’oeuvres
plus mini muffalettas and various other finger sandwiches, 3 different entrees,
a carving station, call brand bar, choice of salads or cobblers, a cake
allowance, and all of the bar tenders, servers, and a hostess/boss-lady all
served the entire length of the reception for just around $40 a head before tax
and gratuity. So, basically a TON of delicious food for a very affordable
price. You get several options and they are a great family owned business that
has been in Marrero for years and they really do try to work with any request
you have. However, when you submit a request to them they make it seem really
viable, but then they give you the price and it becomes quite the pretty penny
and you do not have the option to do it yourself. Now obviously they are a
business and they have to make money, but it’s still a little frustrating. For
example, included in the package for Destrehan you start out with acrylic
dinnerware, or for like $6 more a head you can have china! That seemed high to
us, so when we asked about maybe doing recycled bio-degradable dinnerware that
we had found prices for very similar to acrylic, they did the research and got
back with a number very close to the china upcharge. Just little hiccups like
that, but all in all pretty typical of the wedding world, not to mention they
are a super affordable caterer so a few upcharges won’t hurt too much. A couple
of other little peeves: they take quite a while to respond to email, and you
can’t actually taste every single option on the menu (you go to this monthly
tasting with a bunch of other brides and grooms and they let you sample a good
bit of the popular items, but not nearly as much as they have to offer. They
were very sweet though and let us come back at a later date to try the shrimp
and grits, but that was it. We actually picked some items that we never got to
taste which made me pretty nervous, but they really do know what they are doing
in the kitchen). Lastly, the hostess, or “boss-lady” as I called her, was very
sweet and definitely made sure we ate, but -- and this is a pretty big but -- she
did tend to really rush things. You can totally tell she is just trying to do
her job and that she is trying to get everything done ahead of time so you can
enjoy the rest of the reception, but we felt so rushed and our guests missed
out on things. We did have a ton of time to enjoy the reception I guess, but we
would have liked to stretch it out way more. We thought she was just going to
be in charge of the guest book and things like that and that Ms. Paula would
sort of usher us around, but she assumed all of those roles. For example, we
walked in, were greeted by her, we did our first dances, she rushed us over to
the cake, we cut the cake and did some photo op toasting (no actual toasting
and no announcement of any of it, cake cutting included), then we rushed over
to the license signing (still no announcement), and then were served food and
drink while she kind of hovered over us shooing people away so we could eat. We
just would have really appreciated more announcements and less rushing. If our
photographer was off doing something else she wouldn’t have known to catch any
of it. In fact, several times one family member had to go yell for another to
“come quick they’re…”. All in all we really understand she was just trying to
make sure we were able to enjoy everything, but our guests really missed a lot
of the typical wedding traditions. We (the whole bridal party) also had
speeches planned and were never able/told to give them. Just make sure you get
a clear outline of what is expected of the reception; tell them what you want
included and make sure you tell them to just slow it down and announce
everything and that you aren't in a hurry. This was probably our biggest
problem with everything and it wasn’t super terrible. The food really is
amazing and they really are a great company to work with.
Photographer: Lauren Carroll-Hammond -- A++++++
I seriously cannot say enough good things about Lauren! She
is an amazing photographer with such a great eye. She balances professionalism
and a super friendly attitude so incredibly well. We had an unbelievably horrible
experience with a previous “photographer” who did our first engagement shoot,
so we were so nervous about hiring a photographer for the wedding, but from day
one I knew Lauren was completely different and she has been an absolute joy to
work with ever since. She is open to any idea you have, and we even shared a Pinterest
board specific to particular shots we wanted and she did a fantastic job
capturing them for us. She is also extremely patient when dealing with anything
that comes her way. We have had to reschedule my bridals 3 times due to rain
and each and every time she understood completely about my concern for the
weather. She truly goes above and beyond to make sure every aspect of your
perfect day is photographed exactly as you have it envisioned. She is super
quick with getting your pictures to you, all edited beautifully. She even had a
website link with all of our images on it before we got our CD just so we could
show family at Easter. This woman is AMAZING!! She is in our opinion the best
photographer in the New Orleans/Greater New Orleans area. We interviewed many
photographers in New Orleans and we considered quite a few, but when we found
Lauren we just knew. Not to mention she is far more affordable than most
photographers in the New Orleans area and she does much more quality work. We
will use Lauren for every single professional photography need from now on. We
LOVED working with her and I honestly do not have a single complaint.
My tips for brides:
-Don’t have a cookie cutter wedding. Plan a wedding around
your personalities and what interests you, not the latest greatest trend.
-Take bridals after- This was so awesome! My mom, sister,
Lauren, and I all met one afternoon in Audubon Park after the wedding to take
my bridals. Seriously take them AFTER! I wasn’t worried about the dress, there
was no pre-wedding stress I just got to put my beautiful dress on one more time
and take lots of pretty pictures as the new Mrs. Frick.
-Include your future husband. Again, make the wedding about
y’all not some random theme.
-Pinterest is your best friend! Make specific boards for
meetings with vendors.
-Budget! And make sure everyone knows it!