Hey ladies – I thought since I’m not really doing anything (ie: want to get out of housework) that I would go ahead and do my vendor reviews. I’m going to try to be as detailed as possible without it being too long. Thanks again to all the ladies on this board for their advice and reviews when I started planning.
First off – a big, huge shout out to my mom. She was so helpful in all of this including: helping to pay, making all of our centerpieces, my veil, my jr bm’s dress, bustled my dress, and with my aunt, set up the reception area with all of our stuff and favors.
Venue - Basin St. Station - A+: You may not know that this tourist center does weddings and receptions, but I found that it was perfect for our intimate 50 person wedding. This place was the site of the old office buildings for the train station that was across the street and was renovated a few years back to be a tourist center, offices, and a nice party area on the 4th floor. We were able to set up benches and chairs in and around the small theater to seat our guests instead of standing like we originally thought we would have to do. Ivy Restituto was my contact there and she was great at answering all my questions and keeping everyone on time the day of. She stayed the entire night to make sure everything went smoothly and we were happy. After the wedding, all our guests took the elevator to the 4th floor where the reception was. They have an awesome balcony with even more seating that overlooks the French Quarter on one side and the St. Louis Cemetery #1 on the other. Great views for pictures. The room holds up to 50 people. We had to pay some for the venue and then a set fee per person for the open bar and I thought it was reasonable.
Caterer – Pigeon Caterers – A+: We had a choice between 2 caterers that worked with Basin St, and we chose Pigeon based on all the good reviews we have heard and the fact that they are the official caterers for The Saints. They did not disappoint. Our contact was Leah Berhanu. We were able to fit in a tasting one weekend we visited NOLA and she let us choose whatever we wanted and helped us stay in our budget. I did not hear a bad word about the food from any of our guests either, only good things.
Photographer – Dark Roux (Heather & Jamie Schneider) – A++: I can’t say enough about these guys. They are a fun, fun duo and take great pictures. Engagement pictures were part of our package so that was our first chance to work with them and we had so much fun. They met us at our hotel and took us around the French Quarter one weekend we made it down and we really enjoyed it. They even made it fun for my husband who really didn’t want to do it. On the wedding day, they showed up on time and started snapping tons of photos. They do a lot of real life photos and just a few posed ones like we wanted. They would even go take pictures when I saw something I really wanted. I liked that you got two photogs for the price of one so nothing would be missed. I’ve posted some pics from their blog and can’t wait to see the rest.
Hair/Makeup – Get Polished Events – A: Emily Sullivan is the owner/make-up artist and Kelly did my hair. They both did a fantastic job. The only complaint I had was that I tried a few times to get the arrival time from her and she didn’t email me back. She knew the time I needed to be ready by, but I had to call her on the morning of our wedding to get the exact time. She was a little later that she gave me, but they was really bad traffic getting in the Quarter that day (my sister was late from her hotel outside too) and they were able to get me all done and beautiful with time to spare. They also fit me in for a trial on a weekend trip and didn’t miss a beat when I changed ideas on both hair & makeup on the wedding day from what we did in the trial. I told Emily I wanted dramatic eyes and she definitely met my expectations.
Officiant – Rev. Charles Cross – A: I give Rev. Cross an A, because I only met him the day of and he did a great job on our short ceremony. He had all the docs we needed and even a few other things provided. He did the ceremony as we asked. One little thing is that he’s in his mid-80’s and draws out his words a bit so I spent part of the ceremony trying not to laugh. It wasn’t his fault and it really helped calm my nerves.
DJ – Omega Sound & Entertainment – David & Kevin – A+: At the beginning of the process I spoke with the co-owner, David, but he let me know early on that he was booked on my date and that the other owner, Kevin would be my DJ. I pretty much dealt with David for any contract questions or payment questions that I had and then Kevin and I started talking about a week before to really hash out our music choices, timeline, and other questions. Kevin did a great job of keeping everyone on the dance floor and keeping everything flowing like we wanted. He did both my ceremony and reception and was able to play every song I wanted.
Cakes – Haydel’s – A: For the bridal cake, we ordered a top tier cake and 4 dozen cupcakes. They were all tasty, but the cupcakes got a little smushed on the side because of the way they were boxed. We had a 3 tiered king cake for the grooms cake and people really only ate the bottom layer. Everything was so good. The two top tiers stayed at the hotel with us and then the drive home to Dallas. They were still good almost all week long. I ordered everything over the phone so I was a bit worried, but everything was exactly as I imagined.
Flowers – Christina O’Malley – A+: I gave Christina free rein on the flowers and just gave her the colors I wanted and the flowers I liked. She sent me back options and let me choose which ones I wanted. The price was fantastic and I though the flowers were beautiful. She was even able to come deliver them a little earlier than we originally decided on so that I could have them for pictures. She works through email & phone and will let you know if she will be behind with emails when she has a lot of brides. She usually got back with me within a day in those cases and sometimes even sooner.
Hotel Block – St. James Hotel on Magazine – A: I found this hotel by entering a bid on hotelplanner.com. Basically you enter the date, # of rooms, location, and price range and they send your info out to all the hotels in the area and they come back with bid prices. The St. James had the lowest price in the best area so we went with them. I worked with Jason Dalon (love!) who is the director of reservations for New Orleans Fine Hotels who owns the St. James. He answered any and all questions within a few hours tops and helped keep all my reservations in order. He was also able to change reservations on the day of when one of our guests confused the date he was arriving. He even gave us a huge suite for the same price our guests paid for regular rooms and upgraded the best man to a bigger room so the guys could get ready there. I was worried when I read reviews on different sites, but I thought the place was clean and the staff was very sweet and helpful to everyone in our group. One person’s reservations got mixed up so they put her in a suite too to correct the mistake. Some of the rooms were kinda small, but it’s an older hotel. It was in walking distance from everything in the quarter, right by Harrah’s, the WWII museum and a short cab ride anywhere else.
Transportation – Celebrity Limos – B: We ordered a limo for the wedding party and limo bus for the guests to get to the reception, then a Rolls Royce and another limo bus to leave. The limo bus made two trips each way to accommodate my guests. I thought everything was good except that the bus driver showed up early at the beginning and I tried to get people on to go to the site so he could make another trip. He was rushing me and stressing me out a bit. Our limo driver on the other hand was great. THEN, I see the limo bus driver standing near the elevator with 30 mins left, which is great cause the first shuttle was to leave 20 mins before the end of the night. Apparently the word didn’t get out quick enough because he left with only 4 PEOPLE ON THE BUS! What?!? Grr. Before he left, he came up to me and said he was leaving on the 2nd trip at exactly 10pm and would leave anyone not on the bus. GRR!! Thanks for ruining my night and stressing me out more! You couldn’t find someone else to tell? Like the groom or best man? Then I have to end the party early and have the DJ announce that everyone had to be downstairs in 10 mins and my photographers weren’t able to get all the pictures they wanted. I also found out that a few people wouldn’t fit on the 2nd trip and had to cab it after all the money I spent. You couldn’t wait 5 more minutes? Really? Not cool. I would like to add that our Rolls driver (Wild Bill) was the utmost of professional. He waited for us to get a few pics in and around the Rolls and then drove slowly back to the hotel. Thankfully my guests weren’t upset and it all worked out, but that was my only big issue of the night.
Sorry for the length, I just wanted to get everything out there. Let me know if you have any questions. J