Louisiana-New Orleans

03.06.10 Vendor Reviews--Houma/Thibodaux Area LONG!

Venue--Grand Bayou Noir Bed and Breakfast, Houma, LA--C--
I gave the venue a C-- on purpose, I wanted to give it a D, but it did turn out beautiful. Only because my mother and I did all the decorating ourselves the day of my wedding!
 When I first called Debbie Ellender, she sounded so sincere and so helpful, I thought I lucked out. The price was steep for the rental, but it did include chairs for the ceremony, reception, all the tables and linens and a tent. When my mother and I went to check out the place before putting the deposit down, the place was an absolute mess! The gardens were overgrown, the tent was filthy, the brick patio needed to be washed, and there was trash everywhere with things just scattered. I decided to go ahead and book the place, because I exhausted all my other options and wanted an outdoor ceremony.

The day of my wedding, the linens were stained and wrinkled, she didn't have the tables set up when we arrived, an hour after she said they would be. The unity candle table wasn't set up until 15 minutes before the ceremony started, at which time she dropped my unity candle and cracked a piece off of it .

For the ceremony, my mother was the one running the show. She was the one having to tell the bridal party where to line up and when to walk down, which should not have been her job. We were told Mrs. Ellender would be the one to direct the bridal party. I do not know where she was.

For the reception, Judge Ellender decided he wanted to bartend. I was under the impression that we were to have a professional bartender there so he wouldn't have too. I had many people come up to me and tell me the vodka tasted like water...so after the 5th or 6th complaint, I grabbed our bottle, which we bought ourselves and brought there, and tasted it, and it did indeed taste like it was cut with water. Needless to say, I would not recommend this venue to anyone else. Save your money and go elsewhere!

*Edit: I edited a few parts of my initial review because I recieved a letter from Judge Ellender stating that he was considering legal action for my lebelous and/of slanderous review. My review was neither of the sort. If given the opportunity, I would have voiced my concerns and complaints with them personally, "instead of spreading it all over the internet." Although, I am within my legal right to post a review stating my complaints.

Photographer--Stephanie Conner of Foto Finesse, Thibodaux, LA--A++
She was wonderful to work with, showed up 45 minutes earlier than what we agreed upon without having to pay extra and entertained every idea I had for photos. Her work is absolutely gorgeous. I wold definitely recommend her.

Cake--Ninette's Cake Shop, Linda Hebert, Thibodaux, LA--B-
Our cake was pretty, but I was a little disappointed in the overall decorating. I had a 4 teir square cake. The corners on the cake looked like they were crumbling. Each tier had a different piping, diamond, scroll, swiss dot and cornelli, respectively. The decorating was sloppy. Although the taste was phenomenal.

Dress--Chez Lilli, Houma, LA--B-
My dress is a Maggie Soterro-Elaine. It's absolutely stunning. I gave the dress shop a B- because they messed up the date of my wedding and I had to tell them 4 different times that it wasn't in May, but in March. The last time I told them, they had to rush to get my BM's in by the end of the week or they wouldn't have been able to alter their dresses in time. Overall, the ladies are decent to work with, but you do have to stay on top of them.

Our DJ was H's grandfather and he did a phenomenal job, ceremony music was a string duo with piano accompaniment, all close friends of mine from church and school and flowers were DIY from Hobby Lobby.

I hope everyone else enjoys their planning, PM if you have any more questions!
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