help! wedding dillema (New Orleans, Shreveport: salons, hotel, houses)

[pixiemuses]

Hi..
My fiance and I met while doing Katrina relief and because our familes are from different states and different parts of the world...we thought we'd get married in new orleans! We've gone back every year to celebrate our mini-anniversary except this time, we're going to get married.

Are there any florists that anyone would recommend?

At this point, we are basically picking and choosing from a phone book and would really like a personal recommendation.

What about event planners or beauty salons to get hair and make up done?

Local photographers that don't cost an arm and a leg?

We have booked our hotel rooms at the Intercontinental. Does anyone know about it?

Thank you so much for whatever input you have...we really appreciate it.

hugs

[Drouzin]

I'm not sure what he's doing or even if he is back, but Brian Fitzgerald at the Columns Hotel was the go to guy for family weddings for the past 10 years. He's such a doll! He's always been straight forward and doesn't waste your time or money. Of course that is if you use the Columns Hotel for your wedding venue.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by pixiemuses

Local photographers that don't cost an arm and a leg?

I'm a photographer up in Shreveport and I can tell you, you do often get what you pay for. You don't have to hire the most expensive photographer, but the average wedding photog's price is something you should be willing to pay if you want good results. You want to remember your wedding day with great photos, not bad ones. Trust me on that. I have nothing to gain from this as I don't work in the New Orleans market, but I can assure you that you will feel regret if you sell your memories short just to save a few bucks.

That said, I wouldn't advise you to find your photog on craigslist. Some people would tell you to do that, but I certainly wouldn't ever try that. You can find some really good prices on there... but there's no true value there. You're paying some guy peanuts and in return he's going to give you point-and-shoot quality images. You can find forums out there where you can post your location in "services needed" forums and find a good, competitive photog who will go out of his/her way to make your wedding day memorable.

[BlueSwimmer]

I had my wedding in New Orleans ten years ago this April. It was romantic, memorable, fabulous, and such a great memory that we are now thinking of moving there (which is why I am lurking on this board.)

What I learned is that having a wedding far from your home means you can't become bridezilla. You can't control every detail, so if you can just relax and realize that you will actually have a better time. Find a location with a wedding coordinator type person for recommendations for florists, photographers, etc. Be a sspecific as possible about what you want and DON'T want. then let it happen and enjoy the surprise.

For example, I told the wedding coordinator that I wanted loose, country-type flowers not "ball-like" tight formal arrangements. She sent me to someone, I took it on faith, and ended up with more beautiful flowers than I ever could have picked out if I had controlled it all myself.

One GREAT thing is that there are so many musicians around town that if you are willing to go with NOLA style music you can get something really special without spending tons of money. We had an entire dixie-land band for less than the price of a cheesey wedding band at home in DC.

Trust in the magic and romance of New Orleans instead of spending tons of money and heartache to have everything perfect, and you will have an adventure and a romantic memory (AND...an excuse to spend every anniversary visiting New Orleans, which is what we do!)

[SBCmetroguy]

New Orleans is great, but I got married in Jamaica so I'd have an excuse to spend every anniversary there! :P

Unfortunately, though, Jamaica is a lot more expensive to travel to than New Orleans... so I've not made it back in 5 years. But I have spent an anniversary in New Orleans in that time, and it was a lot of fun.

[chasseresse]

Trust in the magic and romance of New Orleans instead of spending tons of money and heartache to have everything perfect, and you will have an adventure and a romantic memory (AND...an excuse to spend every anniversary visiting New Orleans, which is what we do!)[/quote]


How true this is!! You and your future spouse make the magic & memories -- it's not dependant on location or music. 20 years from now, nothing will matter except the happy years you've had together, not the incidentals.

Best of luck to you both!

[pixiemuses]

lol...thank you so much for the suggestions...i really appreciate it.
our wedding is pretty much as simply planned as it can be. i agree with y'all when you say just let the magic happen and enjoy our time and this moment in our life.

we're bringing a bunch of family and close friends for five days to just celebrate having all of us together and the wedding of course! it's very loosely planned with a swamp tour, visiting the houses we worked on, some golf, the required french quarter carriage ride (heh :P) and of course the trip down to the local courthouse to get our marriage license and fun stuff like that. but that's about all we have pencilled in....

we're working with our wedding coordinator from the location the booked at and taking suggestions.

thank you again for all your help!

[BlueSwimmer]

Sounds like a wonderful time! Best wishes for a great marriage!

I know that whenever I smell Sweet Olive trees I remember our wedding day.

[SBCmetroguy]

Moderator cut: orphaned post
To the original poster... as a photographer myself, and having never met this person (Farley's Photography) I would still highly recommend you contact them. Based on the examples shown on the website, I would trust him/her to shoot my own wedding if I weren't already married.

Great work, and there aren't many places in the United States more beautiful and romantic than New Orleans.