Thanks for all the pre-wedding help. My wedding was fabulous and everything I hoped it would be. If you have any further questions, email me at apugeau at yahoo dot com. Good luck to all who are planning.
Church- Our Lady of the Rosary, New Orleans- B+
This church is gorgeous and I went to high school next door. The coordinators were a bit difficult at times, but overall I was happy with the end result.
Reception- Pavilion of the Two Sisters, City Park- A
The food was great at the Pavilion and the coordinator, April, was easy to work with and accomodating. The gardens were in full bloom and looked beautiful. I am glad I opted for the four hour reception. It goes by so fast.
Entertainment- 1st half of reception-Coolbone brass band A+
Coolbone knocked it out the park! It was amazing and guests are still talking about how awesome they were. They played everything from standards to second line and had everyone getting crunk! I booked them through Sami at white Oak productions...who was also a pleasure.
2nd half of reception- David Storm with Omega Sound and Entertainment= A+
David was definitely one of the evening's highlights. He was professional, fun and very kind. He called me multiple times before the wedding to check in and did his best to make me happy. We will definitely use his services again in the future.
Church music: Aria Mason (singer), Jonathon Szymanski (organ) and Gary Benoit (trumpet). A+
-My ceremony music was so well coordinated, we could not have been happier. These are really three talented people
Limos and Rolls Royce- Big Easy Limos -A
Big easy was on time, professional, and friendly. Would highly recommend.
Flowers- Christina O'Malley -A
My bouquet and my bridesmaids bouquets were some of the prettiest bouquets I have ever seen. Christina is responsive, professional, and creative. She was always easy to get in touch with and amenable to any changes I made. The church and reception site looked beautiful. I had a lot of flowers and thought her prices were reasonable.
Cigar Bar and Roller- Cigar Factory New Orleans- A+
This, along with a Scotch tasting bar, were definitely the night's highlights. Shauna at cigar factory was great to work with and they even custom made cigar bands with a fleur de lis and our names and date. Guests smoked them out in the botanical gardens and took extras home. A real hit!
Sushi Boat- Ninja Sushi -Uptown New Orleans. A
We hired our favorite Sushi restaurant to do a 6 foot boat of sushi and sashimi. This was gobbled up in about 40 minutes. People went crazy over it.
Photographer- Studio Tran- A+
This was the first vendor I booked after my reception site. I have admired Beebe's work for years and he was a "must have" for my wedding. This man is brilliant with a camera and can make anyone feel super comfortable. He's so laid back. The perfect photographer for a high strung person like myself. HAHA
Video- Chad Dyle Cinematic Weddings- A+
Chad is so down to earth and his videography skills are top notch. I love looking at the video trailers on his blog. He and Studio Tran make the perfect team.
Cakes- Sweet Ideas by Wendy, Hammond, La- A+
Even though my reception site provided a cake, I chose Wendy of Sweet Ideas for my wedding and grooms cake. It was out of this world. I chose a white cake with an intricate navy blue damask design. The result was something that could be featured on the Food Network Cake Challenge. Incredible. There are pics on her website. The grooms cake was a "magic" theme, as my husband enjoys performing magic/illusions. everything eas edible...Deck of cards, coins, handcuffs, and even bent metal. We also decorated the grooms table with favors of personalized playing cards and wine bottle stopper favors. The wine bottle stoppers were in the shape of hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Very cute.
Other favors- Personalized matchboxes for cigars, Hubig's pies.
I ordered so much stuff from etsy, American Express will probably freeze my account. Great sellers. My ring pillow, jewelry, bridesmaid jewelry, monogrammed baskets for favors, damask table runners, lumiaries, tote bags, mantilla veil. just to name a few..all came form etsy. I will post pics of all my items when I get them back
Rehearsal dinner- Impastato's, Metairie, LA- A+
We had a cocktail hour followed by a five course feast in a private room that was beautiful. It was outstanding.
Out of town gift bags, personalized go-cups, tissue paper, and ribbon - Alegra bridal, Austin , Texas --A+
I had custom embossed fleur de lis giftbags that said "Welcome to New Orleans and our names printed on them. We filled them with Zapps, personalized bottles of hot sauce, community coffee, water, tic tacs, cookies, and go-cups.
Invitations- letter pressed design by Andre of The Small Printer- ETSY.
Hands down the most beautiful invitation I have ever seen. A work of art. I loved working with Andre!
Wedding Programs and Rememberance cards- Stephanie McFadden of scrappinginnovations.com
Stephanie was delightful to work with and so reasonable. My programs were beautiful and exactly what I wanted. She also did remeberance cards for me that were handed out with the programs. My father passed away recently and I wanted to remember him at the ceremony, so she custom designed a card that I attached a guardian angel pin to. Stephanie was so sweet about helping me with this.
I know I am probably forgetting a lot of people who helped make this day so perfect. If I think of more, I will add to this post. Sorry for any grammatical errors. Today was my first day back to work and I am exhausted.