Vendor Reviews - May 14, 2011

kerica3 · August 2011

All in all, my wedding weekend was perfect and exceeded all of my expectations. Vendor reviews were one of the most helpful things to me during my wedding planning so I hope someone else can find this helpful. : )

Church: Our Lady of Guadalupe - A
Father Tony is such a wonderful person and he is so accommodating. My family is very Catholic and my husband’s father is a Methodist minister. We wanted my husband’s father to have an active part in the ceremony and Father Tony was the only priest that allowed us to do this.

Second Line Band: Jerry Embree - A
The second line was the highlight of many out of town guests’ weekend. Jerry’s wife is the grand marshal and she really puts on a great show! They played a couple of songs in the courtyard of the reception venue while my husband and I took some pictures outside and before the reception band started.

Reception Venue: St Louis Hotel Courtyard - A
For the value, location, and ambiance, it can’t be beat! We had rented out the Courtyard, Robespierre, & the Dining room for about 150 guests and it was the perfect place. Our guests raved about the food. My husband and I had personal “attendants” assigned to us and they truly attended to us and made sure our drinks didn’t stay empty. Rachel and the St Louis were accommodating and we were able to switch some menu items for different ones with no extra charge. The only “complaint” I have with the St Louis was in between when I signed my contract and my wedding, they got rid of their chiavari chairs and replaced them with very ugly banquet chairs. Because nothing was written in the contract about the chairs, I had to pay for chair covers to be brought in. I had heard of some problems with the St Louis before, but I didn’t have any issues, with the exception of the chairs. I do think this was mostly because of my month of planner (Michele Adams – Unique Weddings), as she has coordinated so many weddings at the St Louis, has relationships there, and their process down.

Band (Reception): MoJEAUX - A+++
MoJEAUX was one of the best things about the wedding, and I don’t think I will ever be able to say enough good things about them. Kellie, their manager, is also super nice and very easy to work with. Our guests are still raving about MoJEAUX.

Transportation/ Carriage: Royal Carriage - A
We had the Saints carriage to leave the reception. Royal was easy to coordinate with – no problems or complaints.

Month of Planner: Unique Weddings - A & B
I felt two ratings were necessary because Michele Caswell Adams is wonderful and had everything under control. She gets an “A” hands down. She was helpful throughout the planning process and especially the weekend of. It was so nice the day of the wedding to know she was taking care of everything and I had nothing to worry about. We had a couple of small bumps in the road and Michele had her staff handled everything. I can’t recommend having a weekend of wedding planner enough. It was something that was beyond my budget that I had to pay for and it was worth every penny. The “B” was for the lady that was assigned to me for the rehearsal and day of. Michele had two FQ weddings on my day (she was upfront about this and this was of no surprise to me) so Michele was back and forth with my wedding and another wedding. The lady that was assigned to me full time didn’t have the ability to gain control like Michele was able to throughout the weekend.

Flowers: Christina O’Malley - A
Christina was great to work with. I absolutely loved all of the bouquets and arrangements. While flowers is not where I spent a lot of my budget, she always made me feel important and did fantastic work. Because Christina works out of her house, her prices are more affordable than most florists. About 3 weeks before the wedding, I started to get a little overwhelmed with last minute planning details/ decisions (some of which were making the final table arrangement decisions) and Christina was so sweet and understanding.

Photographer: Sabree Hill - A+
Sabree is AMAZING! She is so kind and so talented. I did my engagement pictures and bridal portraits with her at City Park before the wedding so it was nice to get to know her prior to my wedding day and I felt very comfortable with her. She is creative and will do anything to get the right shot. After our second line from the church to the reception venue, my husband and I were outside of the St Louis with her taking pictures. She had traffic stopped and she was lying in the middle of Bienville Street for a few of the pictures of us as the sun was setting. I am very happy with my pictures.

Videographer: Prodigy Media
I haven’t seen my video yet but I know it will be amazing based on Josh’s previous work. As most people know, he has moved to California this summer and not having him as a vendor is a loss for NOLA!

Cake: Swiss Bakery - A
The cake was absolutely delicious and gorgeous.

Hair & Make-Up: Flawless Bride - B
I had a good bit of coordination and schedule issues with Flawless; however, I absolutely loved my hair and make-up the day of my wedding. So all in all, the headaches beforehand were worth it.

Bridal Luncheon: Bourbon House - A
Food was absolutely delicious and they even printed out custom menus for my bridal luncheon. We were in the Avery Island area on the second floor and it was absolutely perfect.

Hotel Block: Crowne Plaza - A-
The upfront was a big hassle with the Crowne to get a block set up with them. However, everything went great the wedding weekend and guests enjoyed staying there. Words of wisdom – book your blocks in as far advance as possible. I started negotiating about 8-10 months prior to my wedding and wished I had tried about a year prior.

Wedding Dress: Pearls Place - B
I had some fit/ alteration issues with my dress that weren’t able to be completely fixed before the wedding. I am sure no one else noticed the wrinkles but I was not 100% satisfied with their alterations. Aside from the fit issues, I did absolutely love my dress and Pearls Place was relatively accommodating with me no longer living in NOLA for my fittings and time frames.

Bridesmaid Dresses: Lynn Lugo - B
While I loved the end result of the bridesmaid dresses, the dresses came in big and all of my bridesmaids had to get their dresses taken in.

Invitations, Plastic Cups (for second line), & Second Line Hankies: GEM Printing - A
I wanted traditional invitations and GEM provided exactly what I wanted for half of the cost of other quotes I had obtained.

Save the Dates: Theresa Truxillo & Faux Pas - A
Theresa designed a custom Save the Date for me and then I sent the design to Faux Pas in Metairie to have it printed on 2”x3” magnets. I loved the way this came out!!!

Custom Maps (For Welcome Bags): Bridgette Taylor - A+
Bridgette did a custom map design of the FQ showing locations all of our wedding events (Church, reception venue, hotel blocks, rehearsal dinner, bridal luncheon). It was so well done and significantly cheaper than anyone else I had heard of.

Other items from the wedding weekend:
Welcome bags – bottled water, maps from the NOLA CVB, Midol packets, Zapp’s chips, welcome brochure with recommended things to do, custom map of wedding events.
About an hour before the end of the reception and after everyone had many cocktails, we had Mardi Gras feather masks and beads brought out. A definite hit!

RYLZ · August 2011

Congrats! Glad everything worked out. This was so helpful-- I will be using Christina and Sabree as well, for our Feb 2012 wedding and both have already been so easy to work with.

aniadenver · August 2011

Sabree is my photorgapher in October. I'm glad to hear good reviews!!

Laura2988 · August 2011

Congrats! This was very helpful because I am getting married at Our Lady of Guadalupe and am also deciding if I am going to use Christina O'Malley for flowers.

NO2012 · August 2011

Sounds wonderful! Thanks for taking the time to post your reviews. Where is Bridgette Taylor located (or how can I get in touch with her)? TIA and congrats!

kerica3 · August 2011

Bridgette's e-mail is bridgettetaylor@mac.com. Good luck!

Vendor Reviews - May 14, 2011

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