Officiant: Minister Jack McCrary - A
He is a cousin of the groom. It was great to have someone who knows us and was able to deliver a personal marriage ceremony.
DJ: Byron Jasper – A-
Fraternity brother of the groom, did a great job.
Photography: Bob Bradford – A-
Bob was very professional during all of our interactions. He made it very easy to work from OOT. I am not a person who is usually enjoys having her picture taken but he made me very comfortable in front of the camera. I liked that as part of the packages, we got a hard copy of every single picture that he took. He also placed all of the pictures on his website so that our guests who view them. The one negative I would say is that the price to order prints off of his website is VERY expensive (like $10 for a 4x6 picture).
Rehearsal Dinner: Zea’s on St. Charles – A
We rented a banquet space in the restaurant. The food was delicious as it always is and was served buffet style. I was impressed that we were given the food that was leftover to take with us. That was a plus for some OOT guests.
Flowers: NOLA Flora – A
I am truly not a flower person. I am not a girl who can tell the difference between flowers, they generally all look the same to me. But Ashley with NOLA Flora was very helpful when I explained that I only had a generally color scheme in mind. She took my ideas and ran with it. The flowers were beautiful. She was very easy to work with long distance. She made several changes to the floral design and was very understanding of our relatively small floral budget.
Programs:The Wedding Boutique - A+
I found this company through complete luck online. They have a bunch of different wedding programs available. All you do is type up the wording program (in a Word document) and they format your entire program for you. The turn around time is very quick (mine were ready in 3 days) and the prices are amazingly cheap. This is a good option if you don’t need anything fancy.
Dress: Mockingbird Bridal – A
I bought my dress at a shop in Dallas so this review probably isn’t too helpful. But I did have great customer service.
Bridesmaids Dresses: Alfred Angelo – A
Luckily, all of my bridesmaids quickly agreed on a dress and Alfred Angelo was great because they were located in 3 states. The dresses were beautiful and I loved that there were lots of ways that you could personalize each dress.
Tuxedos: Men’s Warehouse: C
Initially it was very convenient that the men could get fitted at locations all across the country because we had guys from 4 different states. But apparently on the wedding day, very few of the tuxedo orders were correct and they had to make an emergency tuxedo run to get things corrected.
Manis/Pedis: La Riviera Salon: A+
We got treated like royalty at the salon. They picked up the bridal party from our hotel in a limo (no extra charge). All of us got manis/pedis. And a gentleman waited on us as if he was our personal attendant. We had several mimosas and cocktails (again, free of charge). It has heavenly.
Hair: JCPenney Salon at Lakeside Mall – A++
Myself and 2 out of 3 bridesmaids got our hair done here. We ended up at JCPenney since I do not have a local stylist. I was a bit nervous since it was the first time any of us were getting our hair done by the ladies. But I have to say that all of our styles turned out beautifully, they were done quickly, and the price was great. I really, really loved my hairstyle. I took a ton of pictures of my hair because it made me feel beautiful, even before I put on my dress.
Makeup: Lamik Beautique – B-
I went with this company based on a recommendation from a friend. I did do a trial run previously since I don’t normally wear makeup and was happy with the results. However, the lady who did the trial run was not the one who showed up on the wedding day. The lady who came on the wedding day was very slow (likely since she was very talkative). And we had to remind her several times that she had four girls to do and we had a deadline to make so we could be ready for the pictures. I thought the makeup was just okay, but did think it was a bit heavy.
Wedding and Groom’s Cake: Haydel’s – A
I am not a fan of fondant and I have to say that Haydel’s made a beautiful cake with butter crème icing. I didn’t get to taste the cake the wedding day but I have heard that guests went back for seconds and thirds. I also appreciate that Haydel’s let me completely change my order for the 3-tier cake about three weeks before the wedding with no hassle.
Day After Brunch: Chateau Bourbon – A
Ivy Sanderson is the director of catering over there and see is amazing. She is very thorough and she will respond to any e-mails or calls you leave very quickly (caution: borderline stalker). But she is willing to please and she negotiated a lot to get our brunch there. The food was delicious.
Most of our vendors were wonderful, we had a fabulous wedding!!