My husband and I got married in New Orleans in late March 2011. We met and went to college and lived in New Orleans for about 8 years, but now we live in California. We always knew that when we got married, we wanted our wedding to be in New Orleans. My husband and I did the planning ourselves with some help from our friends who still live in Nola. It was less than 10 months from when we got engaged to when we got married (the wedding was on a Sunday which allowed us to book some great vendors on much shorter notice than some of them usually need for a Saturday). We did make a few short trips to Nola during those 10 months, but aside from visiting once to find your ceremony & reception venues, remote planning is totally do-able (obviously the more familiar you are with New Orleans, the easier it will be). For us, it was great to “have to” go to New Orleans a few times because we miss it so much!!!
I hope the following reviews of the vendors we used will be helpful for you Nola brides- and grooms-to-be.
Ceremony & Reception Venue: New Orleans City Park- Botanical Gardens & Pavilion of the Two Sisters- A+
We really wanted to get married outside, preferably under a big old oak tree, so the New Orleans Botanical Gardens in City Park was our obvious first choice. We did also research having the ceremony in Jackson Square or at the Tree of Life, but with over 150 guests those locations would have been more difficult logistically. Since we didn’t start looking at venues until early August and we wanted a late March or early April wedding, we did have to compromise having the wedding on a Saturday because City Park was already booked. Honestly, having the wedding on a Sunday was probably the best decision we made because all the vendors we wanted were still available.
Cathy Persica from the City Park sales office was awesome and she really made our vision a reality. She quickly got a sense of the type of celebration we wanted and gave us many great ideas. There are a few different gardens you can get married in at the Botanical Gardens, depending on your preferences and also number of guests. Since we were getting married on a Sunday Cathy suggested we have the ceremony on the Oak Tree lawn. Sometimes the venue behind the Oak Tree lawn is booked on Saturdays so they don’t open up the Oak Tree lawn for ceremonies, but we got lucky. We got married under the huge oak tree in the midst of spring with the flowers in the gardens totally busting out everywhere. It was actually more beautiful than I had imagined.
The Pavilion of the Two Sisters was the perfect reception venue for the number of guests we had (almost 160) and the obvious choice after getting married in the Botanical Gardens. It was great to be able to have the doors that line both sides of the Pavilion open and some tables outside on both sides because the weather was so nice and the gardens were so beautiful. The Pavilion was also our back-up space for the ceremony in case it rained, and while I’m glad it didn’t, I felt reassured that we still had a beautiful space for the ceremony if it did. The Pavilion had plenty of space for all of the food stations, tables, and a gigantic dance floor which we definitely needed! Denise, the other person from City Park, in addition to Cathy, who took care of me, my husband, and our parents during the night (brought us drinks, made sure everything stayed on schedule etc), was also super awesome.
We used City Park Catering, the on-site catering company at City Park, for the food. You can rent the space and get an outside caterer to do it, but you get a lot of extras when you rent the space and use City Park catering as a package. The food was really good and one thing guests really liked was that the food was served the entire night instead of just at the beginning. This is a big plus when you have a crew of heavy drinkers like we did. The Praline Brie is the best. The tasting they have twice a year so you can pick all your food is also really fun.
I would highly recommend a ceremony and/or reception at City Park. They have a lot of different venues to choose from, are very flexible, and really work with you to make your vision a reality. An added bonus for us was that the money we paid for our ceremony and reception went to support an awesome public park in New Orleans.
http://neworleanscitypark.com/facilities.html
Photographer: Fine Art Exposure- A+
Jessica was the photographer for the wedding of a friend of mine, and as one of the bridesmaids in that wedding I had already worked with her. Two of the main reasons I really wanted Jessica for my wedding were first, how relaxed and calm she made me feel as a bridesmaid being so dressed up and having so many pictures taken of me (I generally don’t like getting my picture taken so I needed that), and second, how absolutely floored I was by the quality of the pictures from my friends wedding. She takes amazing candid shots and is a great artist. We love the photos from our wedding and we continue to get compliments from our guests. I was really happy to get to work with her again.
http://www.fineartexposure.com/
Florist: Meade Wenzel- A
If you can get over the fact that she doesn’t use email or the internet, you’re in for a real treat. Meade Wenzel is one of New Orleans most experienced florists, and she is the go-to florist for lots of Mardi Gras krewes. She’ll work within any budget, and since our ceremony was in the Botanical Gardens, flowers were one of the areas where we wanted to save money (so that we could splurge on our photographer and band). We also didn’t really have a very specific idea of what kind of flowers we wanted and she offered lots of different great ideas. Her work is as good or better than the bigger florists, and definitely cheaper. We loved our flowers and… she answered her phone every single time I called. You can reach Meade at 504-289-9883.
Reception Band: The Bucktown All-Stars- A+
If you have the money and they are available on your wedding day, book them immediately! If you’re from New Orleans then you no doubt have seen them and already know how awesome they are. If you’re from out of town and want to give your guests a real New Orleans experience, this is the band for you. My husband and I had a lot of friends and family coming in from all over the country, and most of them love to dance and are pretty serious partyers, so we knew the reception band was crucial. And we knew the All-Stars were going to be awesome, but they were seriously mind-blowing. They’re also very interactive- they let my cousin who is a drummer play the drums for one song, which totally made his night, and they gave my aunt, 2 other cousins, 2 bridesmaids, and a friend the lead mic on a few different songs. Their manager Emily was awesome and they played every song we requested and none of the songs we asked them not to play (we kept those lists short though and let them do their thing). Also they hooked up our Ipod to their sound system during their breaks, which allowed us to play the songs we really wanted to hear that weren’t on their song list. I can’t say enough good things about them.
http://bucktownallstars.com/
Second Line Band: The Original Pinstripe Brass Band- A
So I had heard horror stories about the brass band not showing up for the second line for enough weddings that this was a source of anxiety for me. Add in the fact that we wanted the brass band to lead us up the aisle at the end of the ceremony, essentially having the first song of the second line as the recessional, which necessitated them not only showing up, but showing up on time, and well, yeah this was one of the things that worried me. Pinstripe was the second line band for a friend’s wedding so I already knew they were a great band, and through my research I discovered they have one of the best reputations for showing up on time. We did have a back-up plan with the ceremony musicians, who were ready with a traditional recessional in case Pinstripe wasn’t there on time, but we didn’t need it. Pinstripe was there early and stood behind the bushes on the Oak Tree Lawn so they were hidden from the view of the guests. At the end of the ceremony our officiant announced them and they came marching in, playing our recessional, and led us and our (surprised and delighted) guests up the aisle and around the gardens. They led the second line into the Pavilion playing When the Saints Go Marching In, which the Bucktown All-Stars also joined in on. My husband and I and our flower girls decorated our second line umbrellas ourselves and we ordered handkerchiefs for the guests from Gem Printing in Metairie (they’re great too). It was awesome to pull off the plan with the brass band leading us up the aisle and it really got everyone right into party mode. The only suggestion I have is to tell the brass band what song you want for the recessional. This seems obvious now, but we just told them to play something really upbeat, and whatever they picked really wasn’t upbeat enough (my husband especially complained about it later). But to be fair, that really wasn’t their fault. And none of the guests seemed to think that the song wasn’t upbeat enough because they were so surprised that a brass band had just jumped out of the bushes!
You can book Pinstripe Brass Band (and lots of other bands) through White Oak Productions: http://www.whiteoakproductions.com
Ceremony Musicians: New Orleans Finest Musicians (Harry Hardin) & Riccardo Emilien- A+
We really wanted students from either NOCCA (New Orleans Center for Creative Arts) or Loyola’s Music Department to play for our ceremony, for two reasons. First we wanted to support student musicians, and second, we needed to save money to be able to afford Bucktown All-Stars. I emailed some teachers at NOCCA and professors at Loyola for recommendations. A NOCCA teacher called me and said she wouldn’t recommend high school students doing a wedding ceremony, even though they could certainly play the music very well, because of all the timing issues and last minute adjustments that could come up. She did offer to put together an ensemble of NOCCA teachers, but we were determined to have students. A professor from Loyola emailed me and recommended his graduate teaching assistant, Riccardo Emilien, as great trumpeter, and suggested Riccardo could recruit some other students for the ensemble. At the same time I had contacted Harry Hardin of New Orleans Finest Musicians for some advice. He also warned against having a group of students who weren’t experienced at the timing demands of a wedding ceremony. We decided to compromise and have Harry put together 3 musicians from New Orleans Finest Musicians and also have Riccardo from Loyola as the trumpeter. Harry was super flexible and appreciated our effort to include student musicians. We met with Harry to pick out our ceremony music which was really fun, and he did all the rest of the coordinating, including with Riccardo so everyone was on the same page. Harry and his wife and another great musician performed beautifully, and Riccardo did an amazing job on Trumpet Voluntary. We did have a last minute change in number of people walking down the aisle, which affected the timing of the music, so I was glad we had a professional in charge. I wouldn’t hesitate to hire students if you can find a group that plays weddings all the time, but I was unable to, and I’m glad it worked out the way it did.
Also, Harry gave us the confidence we needed to go ahead with having the brass band walk us up the aisle playing the recessional, which was definitely one of the highlights of our wedding day.
You can contact Riccardo Emilien, trumpeter extraordinaire, at rfemilien at gmail.com and Harry Hardin at http://www.neworleansfinestmusicians.com/contact-us
Hair & Makeup: Wink Eyelash Bar & Makeup Studio- A+
Natashia Paul is a total rockstar! She did an incredible job on my makeup for my wedding and also did makeup for my mom and bridesmaids. My mom and I had a blast hanging out with Natashia at the Wink Studio while we did our hair & makeup trials. We both felt totally confident that we would look fabulous on my wedding day. I generally don't wear a whole lot of makeup, and my fiance was worried he wouldn't recognize me in professional makeup. He was especially worried about the fake eyelashes. Natashia did an amazing job keeping my makeup very natural looking, and I'm so glad I went with the fake eyelashes. She even made the eyelashes look natural and also managed to make a gigantic pimple I had on my cheek totally disappear for the entire day. Natashia will give you the confidence you need on your big day. She is fun to hang out with and is very professional. Her colleague Kelly, who did hair for myself, my mom, and my bridesmaids is also amazing. She was a patient perfectionist and made sure my hair was exactly the way I wanted it, including the positioning of a real flower. My mom and bridesmaids also loved Kelly and their hair. We all looked fabulous. I would highly recommend Natashia and Kelly for your wedding or any other special event where you want to look your best.
You can contact Natashia at Wink at 504-459-9465. Natashia can arrange hair with Kelly.
Bus Company: Hotard/Calco- A+
About 90% of our guests were from out of town and staying in the French Quarter, so we wanted to provide transportation for them to and from City Park. There are a ton of bus companies out there, certainly some cheaper than Hotard/Calco, but we didn’t want to chance the buses being late and all our guests being late to the ceremony, which would have cut into valuable partying time at the reception. We decided on Hotard/Calco since they seemed the most experienced, and they were great. They were on time picking the guests up on Canal and on time dropping them off at the ceremony and on time to take them all back to the Quarter at the end of the night.
For a listing of all the bus options including Hotard/Calco, check out http://www.busrates.com/buses/
Wedding Cake: Haydel’s Bakery- B
Don’t get me wrong, I love Haydel’s. I love their king cake, and I love everything in their bakery. I was excited that a Haydel’s wedding cake was included in the City Park catering package. But we had a communication breakdown, and the cake looked nothing like what I had ordered. To be fair, I did order it over the phone and not at the bakery when we went for the cake tasting. Some people thought the cake was cool, but it wasn’t really what I had in mind. It was supposed to have tiny black and gold fleur de lis on it, but it actually had gigantic fleur de lis all around each tier which made it essentially look not really like a wedding cake. It wasn’t a big deal and I thought it was actually pretty funny, and the cake tasted good and everything, but if the cake is something you really care about, I would order it at the bakery and make sure they know exactly what you’re talking about.
http://www.haydelbakery.com
We also used and recommend:
John’s Tuxedos
Yvonne LaFleur
Big Easy Limos
Unique Transportation
Event Rental
Gem Printing
Good luck with the planning and have fun!!!