Louisiana-New Orleans

Vendor Reviews- Hurricane Isaac wedding 9-1-12

Planning a wedding is hard enough, but having a hurricane to deal with n the days before make it almost impossible! We had to "make do" with a lot, but we're grateful at least it happened and wasn't canceled!
I'm opting not to give grades on these reviews because I know not everyone was on their A-game because of the storm.  Plenty of these vendors showed up to do their job not having had power or running water for days.  I will tell you my experiece with them and you can always PM me for details.

Ceremony- Sea Lion Exhibit at the Audubon Zoo
I fell in love with this venue before I was even engaged and knew I had to have it.  It looks gorgeous, dramatic, and stately in the day or night and any time of the year.  The maintenence crew did a great job clearing the debris so we could still have it out there.  I was a little disappointed that the trees and exhibit weren't lit up, but the power was intermittent at the zoo that day.

Reception- Audubon Tea Room
Everyone was amazing to work with, from Perry who was my coordinator the whole time, to the servers, bartenders, and our attendant.  They were all friendly and nice.  The place runs like clockwork. Everyone raved about the food and drinks.  The room is also gorgeous and not too girly, with an outside patio area where we served snoballs.

Second Line Band- Lagniappe Brass Band
Chet, the bandleader, was very responsve and easy to work with.  They were on time, dressed well, and the guests enjoyed them.  They also gave us a great rate.

Ceremony violinist- Kristen Monnik
I adore this girl.  She's so nice and so talented.  I hired her because she was the only violinist in town I could find who would learn a new song to play for the processional (There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths).  She learned it perfectly, and even came to the rehearsal to practice it.  She also gave me an amazingly low price for all that she did- HIRE HER!

Florist- Destiny Pinson
Destiny is one of the nicest people I've ever met and so easy to work with.  She's really great with organic, quirky, different flowers and themes.  She can even make flowers out of paper and other materials.  My shipment of wedding flowers didn't come in because of the storm, so she had to make do with what she had.  As a result, the bouquets and boutonierres were different from what I wanted, but were still pretty.  She also helped my wedding planner get everything ready after she had finished the flowers which was above and beyond.

Cake- Cake Designs by Meg
Meghan Faucheaux is so super nice and really creative.  I contacted her on Facebook after I became uncomfortable with my original cake baker.  It was sort of last minute, but she scheduled a tasting right away ar her studio downtown.  Her cakes and filling are awesome!  I had her do a semi-complicated grooms cake and 3 tiered wedding cake.  
She gave me an awesome price on both.  The cakes looked so good at the wedding, I cried.  They were even better than what I had imagined in my head.  Don't waste your time looking at all those big cakemakers in the city- you won't find a better cake at a better price and a better person to work with than Meg.

Photographer- Jason Albus
We haven't gotten the pictures back, but I know they will be awesome.  Jason is very nice and laid back.  He's responsive and easy to work with.  My groom and I are not very traditional, so Jason's style was perfect for us.  He does more edgy, photojournalistic pictures, and not really the posed ones.  We wanted more candid action shots, so he was perfect for us.  Also have us a great deal.

Videographer- Damon Lipari/ Lipari Films
I HAD to have Damon be my videographer.  I came across his website one day and his videos of complete strangers getting married made me cry my eyes out.  He's just SO good.  I should mention his wife, too, who he works with is awesome and very sweet.  I was so excited to have them, I had no idea they would be so nice and funny and professional. They charge less than other videographers in town, but their videos are 10x better. I can't wait to get my video back!

Planner- All About Events
First of all, I totally recommend you get a planner.  I'm a budget bride but it is worth it! It pays for itelf with the deals you can get from vendors your planner is loyal to and the stress you save yourself.  Rhoda was our planner and she is extremely sweet. We did have some miscommunications along the way, but she was a lifesaver the week of the wedding trying to track down and reconfirm the vendors during the storm.  She went to one vendor's house when that person wouldn't call or email anyone back.  She also called every nail and tan place trying to find one that would be open for us the day before the wedding.

Limo- Big Easy Limos
They were easy to deal with on the phone and via email and were willing to do just a transfer and not a 3 hour minimum.  Apparently, the rate they gave me was outrageous, but I waited until the last minute and there was nothing I could really do.  My planner even tried to get them to give me some kind of refund, but to no avail.  I will say they were on time and the driver was very nice.

Guest Accomodations- The Astor Crowne Plaza
We had blocked and filled 10 rooms at the Astor Crowne.  Some of the out of town guests couldn't make it because of the storm and were able to get their money back.  The guests that did stay there said it was nice and not too loud (being on Bourbon).  In the end, I can't recommend them for the following reasons:  I had been trying to get in touch with my contact there to no avail, so I finally called a different number and they said "Yeah, she retired months ago."  The appropriate thing to do is to call your accounts and let them know you will be retiring and who the new contact person is so they aren't wasting their time trying to contact you. We also had guest bags for the rooms and they were kind of pissy about that.  In the end, they had us come drop them off with the bellman and charged us a fee per bag plus a tip for the bellman.   I could have dealt with the fees (even though we brought all of that business to their hotel), but the bags were never even put in the rooms!  They were expensive canvas tote bags filled with snacks, Abita, little gifts, and important wedding information and they didn't get to the guest rooms until after my mom called and fought them on it ( on the afternoon of the wedding).

Guest accomodations- Audubon Park Bed and Breakfast
We rented out this whole B&B near Audubon Park for my family and close family friends.  There were 8 rooms altogether.  The woman that runs it didn't think anyone was coming because of the storm, so the place wasn't ready when everyone arrived.  There was no power or generator.  The guests made do and some just toughed it out in the heat for the weekend, while others left to go to a hotel.  I don't know if she charged the same rate for the rooms even with no power or formal breakfast.

"Getting ready" hotel- Hampton Inn St. Charles
HORRIBLE.  The morning of my wedding, when we were getting ready to head over to the hotel to do the whole hair and makeup/ getting dressed thing- the hotel sends my groom an 
EMAIL (on his wedding day??) saying his reservation was canceled.  Just like that.  He called and they said someone named Juanita called and canceled it for us.  We don't even know anyone named Juanita and how can a random person call and cancel a reservation?  I was of course freaking out beause we had no where to go and none of us had electricity.  The Hampton Inn wouldnt budge, saying there's nothing they could do to reverse the situation.  It was absurd.  My aunt, who's an attorney, drove over and ripped them a new one so they eventully gave us rooms at the Hampton Inn downtown near the convention center.  This added mileage to our limo ride, so messed up the timing of everything, but at least we had a place to go.  I will NEVER do business with Hampton Inn again.

Hair/ Makeup- Roxy and Mackenzie at Twisted Salon
The salon didn't have power that day, so Roxy and Mackenzie were able to come to where we were to do our hair and makeup.  They are so nice and funny and did an amazing job for all 8 of us!  I didn't know I could look so pretty!  They are also very affordable, so all of my girls were able to have their hair and makeup done.

Alterations- Alterations by Elvia
Elvia works out of her home in Kenner and is extremely talented and fast.  I got fitted on a Wednesday and my dress was ready on Monday.  I had beaded straps taken up and the bust part of my bodice let out.  You couldn't even tell where she had done the work and the dress fit perfectly.  The price was also phenomenal- It cost me 1/5 of what I was prepared to pay.

Tuxes- John's Tuxedos
I went in with my groom to pick them out and they were very busy (mardi gras time) but gave us great service and showed my groom lots of options.  The tux he picked was very stylish and modern.  The price to rent everything at John's was about $40 less than other places we looked and the service is great.  One of the guys also called my groom during the storm to let him know the tuxes were on high ground and would be ready as soon as they could get the shop doors open.

Rehearsal Dinner- Rock n' Bowl
We wanted a combined welcome party for out of town guests and rehearsal dinner, but also something casual.  Rock N Bowl was a fun and afforbale option for 60 guests. They have a per person package that includes bowling, shoe rental, food, and drinks.  They also always have live music.  The food is typical bar food- mozzarella sticks, fried shrimp, etc. but they also had salad, shrimp remoulade, and frog legs.  They didn't have power, just a generator to run the lights and AC, so the bowling lanes weren't working.  This was pretty disappointing since it's the whole reason we would have a rehearsal dinner in a bowling alley.  I felt like they should have refunded my groom some of his money, since the whole bowling and shoe rental was taken out of the equation, but they didn't.  They upgraded the drinks from just beer/wine to beer, wine, and cocktails- but most everyone was drinking beer anyway.  There was a band, but they didn't start playing until the party was about over.

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Again, feel free to PM me for more details!  Happy planning!

Re: Vendor Reviews- Hurricane Isaac wedding 9-1-12

  • mcahil1mcahil1 member
    10 Comments Second Anniversary
    edited September 2012
    I am looking fr a great reasonably priced videographer! Thank you for posting! If you have any other information about him you can email me mcahil1yahoo.com!! Thanks!
  • That is tough for some of them to pull it off! I am glad that most of it was good!
  • Wow! I am so happy to hear that most of your vendors came through in spite of the hurricane. I was reallly impressed with the lady who did your alterations and your husband's tux shop! That's customer service. Congrats on your marriage and I wish you both the best of love and luck. Smile
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • How did the photos turn out?  I like his style, he's one of my top choices.


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