I’ve never posted to the boards, but I have read so many reviews on here that helped me during the planning process that I wanted to pass along any information that would help others planning their wedding. Almost all of our guests were from out of town, and we no longer live there so we planned this from a distance. We loved every minute of our wedding weekend and would recommend all of our vendors. Here are some details on them. Hope this helps!
Venue: Latrobe’s on Royal : Latrobe’s is a gorgeous venue. We knew as soon as we walked in that this was the place. The space is just incredible – right in the heart of the Quarter, inside so that you do not worry about weather (but has the look of being outside), and just beautiful. They take care of so many of the details, from food and drinks, to linens, to chairs and tables, staff, and more, that it made it really easy to plan from out of town. You also do not have to do a lot of decorating since it is so gorgeous as is, which can save some money. I also liked the two rooms – during the reception, people that wanted to catch up but not dance could sit in either room depending on how close to the music they wanted to be. Many people complimented us on having that set up. The food is delicious, too! They are very accommodating to make sure it fits dietary restrictions. The venue itself is good for so many group sizes. They also quote the price with tax and tip included so it is more comparable to other venues than people think. The only issue we ran into was the coordinator we were working with took a leave of absence starting two weeks before our wedding and the person filling in had never run a wedding herself, only shadowed. That caused some stress in the days leading up to the wedding, but the staff and owner have done this so many times that the day of was fantastic. They also hired a wedding coordinator that is one of the best in the city (but I sadly do not remember her name) to help the new coordinator during the ceremony (did not charge us for that). At one point, they even sent someone to run out and get me some Tums and ginger ale because my stomach started to hurt after the second line (too much excitement and nerves J ). We got so many compliments on this venue – they really know what they are doing and the space is so unique. I would definitely recommend this place. I think it is the best in the Quarter.
Photographer: Doug Keese, Arte de Vie: My mom and I knew we wanted to hire Doug about 5 minutes into our first meeting. He was so easy to be around and had such amazing photographs in his studio. Given that he was with us for 11 hours, it was important that we liked our photographer's personality. Further, my family is full of artists so we are picky about our photographs. He was exactly what we were looking for. Doug was incredible to have the day of our wedding. He did such a great job getting all our family pictures done with little stress (we have many complicated variations in our families). He was always there capturing the moment without being invasive - I never felt like he was in our way but if I wanted to take a picture with some people, all I had to do was turn around and he was there. He also helped me figure out some last minute wedding details, made sure I had what I needed throughout the whole event, and was just a pleasure to have there. We absolutely love our photographs (they were posted for us to see only two weeks later!!!) and our families and friends are raving about them. Doug is professional, he is an artist, he is the best!
Dress: Wedding Belles: Amy, the owner, is the best. My mom and I made an appointment and she worked with us for about an hour. She was really respectful of giving us space to talk things over without making us feel abandoned (as was our experience elsewhere). She brought us drinks and treats to celebrate when we decided on “the one.” I got to NOLA on Wednesday before the big day and dropped it off to have it steamed. My dress had also gotten dirt on it on the airplane (thanks, Delta, for not cleaning your overhead bins) and Amy and her team worked to get it out by Friday. The store is beautiful and they have a great variety of dresses in a range of prices. I had my alterations done close to where I live so I cannot speak to that.
DJ Jack Magic: John, the owner of DJ Jack Magic, is amazing. He is so nice and so knowledgeable about weddings. He was easy to get in touch with during the planning process and really helped things run smoothly throughout the entire evening. He was there early to set up and make sure he had all the information he needed. He has worked a lot at Latrobes so he new just what to do and where to set up. He also did a nice job coordinating with Dr. Jazz. He did such a great job working with our song requests and he had everyone out on the dance floor the entire night!
Dr. Jazz: Dr. Jazz played our ceremony, second line, and the first hour of our reception. They were awesome! We wanted to give our family and friends some good New Orleans jazz to enjoy and this group really delivered. They also did a great job with the second line – at a couple of points they got our entire line of people to start singing “You are My Sunshine” down Bourbon Street, which was hilarious. We also had a fire truck interrupt our second line to get to a medical emergency on Bourbon Street (only in New Orleans), and the band did a really great job of working around the truck so we were not in the way and keeping us on track. They can play so many songs and will work with you to make sure they can play all the songs you want. We really loved having them be part of our day!
Cake: Flour Power: All I have to say is yum! We had the lemon cake and it was so good, and gorgeous too! – we keep wanting to take our top layer out of the freezer to eat because it was so good! Rhonda was a breeze to work with and super professional. By the time we got our final guest count, we had fewer people than expected from the time we ordered the cake. Rhonda just changed our order to include a fake layer instead of one of the real layers and refunded us part of our money to compensate the difference. You do not see that level of client-centered professionalism too often in the wedding industry.
Hair and Makeup: Just Face It: They did a fantastic job on all of our hair and makeup. We had one girl do hair and one do makeup to keep things moving, and everyone looked amazing. They were professional and fun, and new exactly what to do to make everyone look stunning.
Rehearsal Dinner: New Orleans School of Cooking: This was a really fun, affordable place to have our rehearsal dinner. The chef gave a history of New Orleans food and culture and then walked us through the cooking process. They had DH and me come up and help with the demonstration of how to make banana’s foster, which was a blast. There was a good balance between the lesson and time to chat and mingle throughout the evening. We would recommend this for any group with a lot of out of town guests as it is really unique and gives people a good intro to New Orleans. They can fit about 42 people in there.
Flowers: NOLA Flora: My mom handled all the flower stuff because she is an artist with a great eye and I am not. She said that Ashley was easy to work with. They really did a beautiful job with everything and worked within our budget.
Other things I can think of right now:
I wore canvas Toms that my sister-in-law decorated with lace and gems. I was comfortable the whole evening and was able to dance the night away without tripping or getting a headache! I highly recommend this!
We got our invitations from DigbyRose on Etsy and loved them. She has different price levels that she can work with and did an amazing job with our invitations.
Favors: Beads by the Dozen made us customized beads that were cute (they have so many colors and help you with your design). The process of ordering the beads was really easy. However, there was an error on about half of them. I am in the process of working with them to see about a refund, so I cannot really comment on how that will go, but they are willing to entertain the idea of a refund so we shall see. We did not find out about the error until the day of (the ones on the top of the box looked fine).
Tuxedos: Men’s Wearhouse in Harrahan. This was easy since all the guys lived across the country. They were able to make minor alterations the day the guys picked things up. My brother was able to pick his up in NY since he was coming in a day later than the others.
We had the Whole Foods deli deliver sandwiches and sides during hair and makeup prep on Saturday afternoon, so we could have a healthy lunch. They came on time and the food was of course delicious.
We did room blocks at Holiday Inn and Hotel Monteleone since they were on the same street as Latrobe’s. They were easy to get in touch with and the location made it easy for people to have easy access to the city.
We got our Save the Dates at Scriptura because they have some cute New Orleans designs to get people excited.