NOLA.KP's reviews

What a disappointment :-( I absolutely LOVE this restaurant, it's my favorite in the city, but for the luncheon the service was as slow as molasses! There was at least an hour that went by from when we ordered until we got our food. It seemed as though they weren't ready for a party of 7, even though I made a reservation weeks before and there weren't many people in the restaurant when we were there. Maybe it was the hectic schedule that day, but I don't think there's any excuse for poor service. I will go back there because their food is amazing, I just wouldn't bring a large party there unless you have hours upon hours to kill!

After all the horror stories I've heard of other bakeries I knew I had to go to the proven bakery time and time again. Haydel's was great, DH & I went in, tasted about five different flavors, picked three and gave them the photo of the cake I wanted and we were done! The cake didn't come out exactly how I wanted it, I thought some of the decorations looked a little weird but the taste of the cake definitely made up for it. The cake is wonderful! I didn't realize just how round they make their cakes, they look weird when it's only a 3 tier so make sure you know how it's going to look (roundness wise) when you go in for your tasting.

Rick from Decades music was great, he played most of the songs I wanted him to play. There were two songs that I really wanted him to play that he didn't but oh well. He took DH's thoughts about music and absolutely ran with them by bringing them to the reception. DH's favorite type of music is classic rock and Rick played it all night long. It didn't sound weird or anything, like what I thought it would before the reception. One thing that really impressed me throughout the reception is that Rick actually came out on the dance floor and danced with everyone, I've never seen a DJ do that before. The only reason Rick does not get all stars is that he started to play the father-daughter dance song at the beginning of the parents dance, kinda awkward, and there were weird gaps of silence in between the songs he played during dinner. Otherwise he was great!

When I first booked the ATR the people were so nice and accommodating, I knew I chose the right place for my wedding reception. One thing if you book your reception anywhere at Audubon (clubhouse, aquarium, tea room, zoo etc) is that their coordinators are stretched SO thin that they have no time to devote to 1 event, therefore when it comes down to the home stretch your coordinator will take weeks to do things, not days, as you would imagine for what they charge. I don't blame the coordinators here, I think it's something Audubon has to fix. Yes, my coordinator did frustrate the heck out of me prior to the wedding but let me tell you, the day of EVERYONE at the Audubon Tea Room are FABULOUS! They knew exactly what I wanted and wherever I went there was someone right behind me if I had a problem! Right before my husband & I were about to make our grand entrance into the ballroom DH's button came off of his tux, the maitre'd said no problem, yanked one off of his tux, grabbed a safety pin out of his pocket and pined it on DH. I was absolutely blown away! The ATR get a A++++ for the day of service, but gets the (-) for all the stuff previously. Rest assured, if you book with them and you get a coordinator you don't feel thinks your day is as important as you do, they do, they're just stretched in so many ways, but I am totally confident they will make your day AMAZING!

I absolutely LOVE one louder productions! I have not seen the video yet but I know it's going to be fantastic. Kirk Leonard is wonderful! When I was booking vendors I looked for vendors who would make my day their best work ever! I called Kirk up to ask some questions, he invited me over to his house, sat on his couch watching his work and he made me feel like part of his family. Fast forward 1 month later, mind you I haven't book him yet, to a bridal show and I went up to the book and he addressed me by name. I was blown away that he remembered me from over a month ago and I haven't given him a check yet! You're hired! The day of my wedding he was fantastic! He worked with my schedule (with my 1.5 hr gap in between the ceremony & reception) and even came out to the zoo when my bridal party and I were taking photos, totally not in the contract. I can't say enough fabulous things about one louder, they will absolutely go above and beyond!

Sandra O'Claire is fantastic! I did two photo shoots with Sandra before the wedding day so I felt pretty comfortable with her. My bridal shoot was my favorite, it was SO much fun, Sandra was super accommodating when I was changing locations even as late as the day of. Not to mention, the photos are brilliant! I love them! For the wedding, Sandra showed up on time and was in the background so I didn't really notice she was there until we went to take some formal portraits. Since I had a gap time, after the post-church photos we went to Audubon park and the Zoo to take additional photos, we all had a great time! She had sent a questionnaire about the week before the wedding to make sure that she got the photos I wanted, so we did the jumping photos in the park :-) At the reception I barely realized she was there, but I did see her going around to all the tables taking table shots, which was really important to my Mother. If you can book Sandra, do it!

As soon as we were half way through with our interview I knew Christina would be an awesome florist for our wedding! She just had an incredible passion or floral design, I got the feeling that this isn't something Christina had to do to survive. The whole reason why she does wedding flowers is because it's what she loves to do. Textbook wedding vendor for me anyway! She knew where I was going with my vision and took off! After all the other florist I talked to told me I couldn't get tulips (my fav flower) she said she could! Her prices are incredible too! The flowers the day of were beautiful! The only thing is I thought some of the arrangements would be fuller and there would be more flowers to them.

I was kinda nervous when I booked Heather because of all the bad press I've read, but Heather was surprisingly awesome! Heather showed up on time at the Columns the day of and was very accommodating for my trials, my mother's trial, and even my husband's grandmother who wanted to get her hair done the week before the wedding. Every time I called I reached her, if not that minute, that day. Heather is very sweet and does a great job! I loved my make-up & hair for both days, the bridal portraits & my wedding day.

This store has been amazing! I knew I wanted my ring from there since I saw their webpage and gallery of wedding rings! They had the unique "antique" settings I was looking for. They didn't have just one design like most jewelers have, they had TONS! DH & I went there one Saturday afternoon and met with Betty and she was adorable, never tried to push us into buying anything and educated us on what everything meant. The wedding band trips were flawless! We went in, saw the rings, said yes and walked out. I called them up about a week before I went to pick them up and asked them to engrave DH's ring, no problem. Absolutely wonderful!

What a relief to actually have something be EASY!!! That's exactly what the John's Tuxedo's trip was. Neither DH nor I had any idea of how to go about picking a Tuxedo but they just made it so much fun. We have 4 groomsmen from out of town and they said no problem, just go onto their website and have them fill out the measurement card. They also said to have the groomsmen pick up their tuxes so that way if one doesn't fit or needs an alteration it can be done on-site. What a great bonus!