Hi girls, Hope my vendor reviews help. As you can see, I pretty much loved all of my vendors!
CEREMONY: Rayne Memorial United Methodist Church – AThis Church is absolutely beautiful and was a perfect setting for our ceremony. The minister, Reverend Callie Crawford, conducted a beautiful ceremony and I received so many compliments about her. The only downside to Rayne is that it’s pretty pricey, and they only allow you three hours total (including clean up afterwards) to have the ceremony – which made pre-ceremony photos pretty difficult. Other than that, it is a beautiful venue and I highly recommend it.RECEPTION: Hotel Monteleone, La Nouvelle Ballrooms – A+The Hotel Monteleone was first class in every respect. The facilities are incredibly nice and the food was over the top fabulous. The open bar had beer and wine that were nicer than the “standard” brands, and they offered really unique food stations. Also, when it looked like my guest list was getting really large, they upgraded me to the bigger ballroom at no additional charge (probably because they hadn’t booked anything else in that room – but it was still a very nice, free upgrade). Overall, they get an A+ from me.HOTEL BLOCK: Sheraton New Orleans – B+The Sheraton New Orleans is an ideal hotel for out of town guests as it is in a good location, the rooms are comfortable/spacious, and it has a big bar in the open air lobby that is a good meeting spot for wedding guests. Also, we were able to get very affordable rates for our guests. The only reason I would give them a B+ is that they promised me (in writing) on several occasions that they would add more rooms if my room block became full before our cut-off date, and then they tried to retract their previous assurances when a convention came to town. They also removed rooms from our room block without first notifying us. It all worked out in the end – but it caused me some unnecessary stress a month before the wedding. If you go with them, I would just recommend making sure that you include as many rooms as you can in your contract for your room block. FLORIST: Meade Wenzel - AMeade provided beautiful flowers at an unbelievably reasonable price. I was 100% satisfied with the final product. If you work with Meade, you just have to be prepared to call her about anything you need because she doesn’t do e-mail. She also works out of a warehouse and doesn’t have a shop – which likely explains her wonderful prices. However, she’s been doing flowers in New Orleans for years and is very familiar with every venue. WEDDING COORDINATOR: Another Perfect Affair – AAndrea with Another Perfect Affair was incredibly helpful. I was looking for an inexpensive coordinator to help out the weekend of my wedding, and she fit the bill perfectly. She even provided additional items I didn’t have like second line umbrellas, champagne flutes, a cake knife, etc. She also took all of the groomsmen’s tuxes back to Men’s Warehouse the following morning, which wasn’t technically her responsibility. Also, after shopping around, it seemed that she had the best prices in town. I would highly recommend her.VIDEOGRAPHER: Prodigy Media Group - AJosh with Prodigy Media group was a wonderful vendor and probably the most low maintenance. He always responded to my calls or e-mails, showed up on time, went unnoticed for most of the events, and modified his schedule at the last minute with no complaints when I changed some things around. Also, I requested all of the unedited footage from my weekend, and he was nice enough to give that to me. Very reliable. HAIR/MAKE-UP: Two Sisters Hair and Make-Up - A+
Gina and Stephanie were wonderful to work with and SO accommodating. When it turned out I needed 6 girls’ hair done in 2 hours, they found a third person to come to our hotel suite with them to help with hair. They did a wonderful job with all of our hair and make-up, and were very responsive to my e-mails. Also, they have grate rates and don’t charge a travel fee to come to your hotel room – which is rare! BAND: Compozitionz – A+++This was my absolute BEST vendor – best wedding band I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen lots). They got the crowd involved, did choreographed dances to their songs, and had wardrobe changes. I will say that since they’re recently getting big, they have some food “demands” and also require a private room for their breaks., but they are absolutely worth it – unbelievable band. TRANSPORTATION FOR GUESTS: American Luxury Limousines – AAmerican Luxury had great prices and were very responsive and accommodating throughout the planning process. The buses were clean and on-time – so no complaints!TRANSPORTATION FOR BRIDE & GROOM: Big Easy Limos – ABig Easy Limos provided our “exit” car. The driver was on-time, friendly, and the car was clean. SECOND LINE: The Jaywalkers Second Line Jazz Band – A The Jaywalkers were easy to deal with, on-time, and very friendly. They did exactly what I asked of them, and ended the reception with a bang.
Happy Planning!