11-13-10 Wedding - NOLA - Vendor Reviews - LONG

paula&mikewedding

I finally got around to reviewing our vendors. My husband and I got married in New Orleans on November 13, 2010. We live in Chicago and made New Orleans a “destination wedding” for us. We had traveled to New Orleans several times before so we had an idea of location but we did not know any wedding vendors. We choose our vendors based solely on recommendations and/or word of mouth on our visits leading up to the wedding. Your reviews really helped us so now we are hoping to return the favor!  Rehearsal Dinner/Welcome Party – Mother’s Next Door – Since this was a destination for us we decided to host a welcome party in place of a traditional rehearsal dinner and gave all of our guest a chance to mingle and meet! I worked directly with Ronnie Demilio who was a joy to work with (very New Orleans ladies so it was fun talking to him – I love the Cajun accent!). We can not praise this place enough! Our guests are STILL raving about the food. It is traditional New Orleanais cuisine and they supplied A LOT of it. No one went hungry! At first we thought the price was steep but for what your get it is a definite deal! We opted not to decorate the venue as it has a cozy, lofty look that we loved and it was a great decision…the venue looked great with what they supplied for decor. The staff was very friendly and professional! We would highly recommend! If you do decide on Mother’s don’t settle for anything less than the “full Mother’s experience” it is well worth the money!www.mothersrestaurant.net/mothers_next_door.html">http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/mothers_next_door.html Wedding Location: Royal Sonesta Hotel - Courtyard and Bienville Suites – At first we felt this was a rocky start. After we paid our deposit we had some difficulties with our “wedding coordinator” contacting us in a timely manner. Then when my mother and I went down to do our tasting she seemed very flighty and keep calling me the wrong name (which really got under my mother’s skin). This was the norm up until the wedding weekend. All and all they came through on the wedding day and the wedding was perfect!!!! Our guests LOVED the food and everything looked great! I will say I wasn’t too impressed with our wedding cake; it didn’t really come out the way I wanted it to so I would suggest to the next bride to put a little more effort than I did in this area. The people we worked with were Wyeth Furlong- the flighty coordinator – but came through on the wedding day; Myrna – our wedding day attendant was AWESOME…I can’t even say enough about her! At first I thought “who needs a wedding day attendant” but ladies if this is an option for you DO IT! She was absolutely amazing! Amanda – Our hotel room block contact–– we had 20 hotel rooms with our family and friends and she did a great job keeping everyone and everything happy and in order! I also want to mention that the hotel is really nice too. Our guests really enjoyed their stay and no one had any problems. www.sonesta.com/royalneworleans/">http://www.sonesta.com/royalneworleans/ Location: Chateau Bourbon - A Wyndham Historic Hotel – we used this hotel for additional room blocks…it’s right around the corner from the Royal Sonesta and was great to offer family and friends that are looking for a more budget friendly option. We had 18 rooms blocked there and everyone was happy with their rooms and the hotel services. www.chateaubourbonneworleans.com/">http://www.chateaubourbonneworleans.com/ Flowers: Fabulous Flowers – One word…wonderfulJ  I worked directly with Ken Marino (the owner). He was full of ideas, was willing to work within our budget, answered all my emails quickly (which was not so easy seeing how I changed my mind A LOT) and our flowers were AMAZING on the wedding day! He is reasonably priced and was fun to work with! Highly recommend! www.fabulousflowers.us/">http://www.fabulousflowers.us/ Hair/Makeup: B.makeup – I communicated and booked via Bridget with Bella Bride. They had reasonable prices and she seemed really great! We actually had Erika and Brantley come to out hotel to do our hair/makeup the day of. They did a great job! Everyone was so happy with their hair and our makeup looked great. I don’t normally wear makeup on a day-to-day basis so I was concerned about wearing it on my wedding day. Everyone commented on how great my makeup looked and how it brought out my “natural glow”. Also, they were on time and very professional and were fun to talk to! I highly recommend! They don’t have a website but if you ask for photos of some of her work she will email them to you. You can email her at - b.makeup@hotmail.com Photography: B&M Photography – Bill and Mendy Wolf (owners) – they were great! They were reasonably priced, super easy to work with, and our pictures turned out great. One of the best features they offered was their blog. Immediately after the wedding they posted photos of the wedding on their blog. It was great to have photos so quickly for family and friends to view. Also, Michael and I were still on our honeymoon in Thailand and were able to re-live the wedding day through their blog. It made us very happy!  You are welcome to see for yourself on their blog: http://bnmphotoblog.com/paula-and-michael-married-part-1/There is 3 parts so at the bottom right you can click on Part 2, Part 3. There you will find pics of me, my makeup, my flowers, my wonderful hubbyJ, etc. You can also contact them via the blog or see their main website. Band for ceremony, second-line parade, and cocktail hour – Dr. Jazz – they were good. I had no complaints but I also have nothing special to write about. The music was good during the ceremony and the second-line was a lot of fun, they were easy to work with, on-time and professional. We do wish we would have opted for additional pieces like the piano, drummer, and one more horn player as we just had 3 band members. All and all we were happy with their performance. www.drjazzmusic.com/">http://www.drjazzmusic.com/ DJ and Videographer – Prodigy Media Group – we hired both task through one company – we worked with Josh Enos (videographer) and Clay Isbell (DJ). Both services were very affordable. The DJ set-up was nice, un-invasive, and orderly. They didn’t use any tacky signage or crazy spinning disco ball nor were there cords coming from every direction! They played good music and seemed to keep everyone dancing for the most part. They were professional, on-time, and friendly! Videographer - On the day of and leading up to the wedding Josh was easy to work with, was very responsive and quickly answered our questions, was professional and we didn’t even notice his presence…meaning, he wasn’t all over us like paparazzi. We liked that he not only puts together the wedding video but also does a short “highlight reel” of the day which is 3-4 minutes long. Definietly worth checking out! www.prodigy-mg.com  Invitations – Kate @ Custompaperworks – she made our custom boarding pass invitations – was reasonably priced and easy to work with. She was very detailed and creative and I loved her ideas! She was able to do everything via email! www.custompaperworks.com/">http://www.custompaperworks.com/ Second-line umbrellas – Mary Quinn @ the Old Town Praline Store – OK ladies if you are anything like me I had these “delusions of grandeur” that I was going to make 14 second-line umbrellas for the wedding day! Well, who has time to do that! I found their website surfing for some ideas and at first thought that the umbrellas, priced separately, were too expensive. But then I saw that they do package deals. I emailed Mary right away and from then on she took care of us! At first you might think that even the package deal (we paid $350) is too much but, you have to think about what you are getting. PLUS – there is no way our umbrellas would have looked like they did if I would have done them myself. They were so beautiful and were the talk at the reception! If you are short on time I would highly recommend checking them out for your second-line umbrella needs! www.oldtownpraline.com/selium.html">http://www.oldtownpraline.com/selium.htmlNot so honorable mention:Kinetic Salon and SpaI opted to treat my bridesmaids to a mani/pedi party at this salon in place of a traditional “thank you” present for being in my wedding. I invited my mother and my mother-in-law along for a total of 9 ladies which we were all to receive manicures & pedicures. I repeatedly spoke/emailed with the owner, Mike Milolajewski, at Kinetic Salon and Spa to arrange timing and told him that we would be coming before the rehearsal/welcome party so we had a definite time-crunch. He re-assured me it would only take 2 ½ hours for everyone to get their services done. Well, that wasn’t true….not only were we there for 4 hours; 2 of my girls never got their services due to running out of time! Also, I was not able to have my nails painted due to lack of time. I only paid for the services we received but even with them knowing that we were cutting it close to being late for my rehearsal it took them 20 minutes to figure out how to refund me! Pressed with time, I ending up sorting the issue out myself by telling them to void the originally charge (they had charged me as soon as we arrived) and re-charge the correct amount! Also, the services themselves were not that great…I ended up getting another pedicure (and manicure) on my honeymoon 4 days later because it started to look bad. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to this as part of my wedding and was not pleased. I also felt bad that 2 of my girls missed out due to the salon’s lack of planning. I would not recommend using their services for your big day! www.kinetixspasalon.com/main.htm">http://www.kinetixspasalon.com/main.htm

Jennifer102011

Thanks for your reviews! I've heard that the wedding coordinator at the Royal Sonesta is not so great. 

hollybee92

ugh you are still waiting on your video?? I got married 12.11.10 and he was our videographer - so there is pretty much no hope...

paula&mikewedding

Sorry hollybee92 but I feel your pain. We thought we would have it by now too. I will update when we receive it.

[Deleted User]

Thank you - this is much later than your review! I decided on the Royal Sonesta, but am having a very hard time getting a contract. It's good to hear they pulled through for the wedding day.