Reception Reveal

When I shared our reception options, I tried my best to be very objective so that you wouldn't be able to guess which one we picked.  I probably did a very bad job at that, because our reception venue just has so many positive points!  If you weren't able to guess, our wedding reception will be at...

Photo from the next door St. James Hotel

New Orleans Board of Trade!

Photo by Kristin Guin Photography

You can see in the above photo that guests enter through the covered "arcade," with the courtyard to the left and the ballroom in the building to the back.  Self-contained, and a gorgeous indoor area with an outdoor option. This place hit all of my requirements!

Photo by Arte de Vie

The courtyard all glammed up/Photo by Penton Studio

Photo by Babs Evangelista Photography

Photo by Kristy May Weddings

Photo by Oscar Rajo

Nice bar, from Style Me Pretty by Ooti Billeud Weddings

Wide view of the ballroom, the draping isn't there anymore./Photo by Studio Tran

So aside from being absolutely gorgeous and historic, the Board of Trade had plenty of other selling points. All of the tables, chairs, and linens were included - that means the indoor tables, the indoor chivari chairs, and the outdoor folding white tables and chairs.  That's right - gold chivari chairs came included!  I mean, I could have just signed the paperwork right there!  To make this even better, uplighting is included - I love how the pinks and purples look in there!

When we went to visit the BoT in January, they were actually in the middle of construction. Pigeon Catering (pronounced Pee-jeanne, not like the bird) had received the contract as the exclusive caterers/event managers for the BoT, and they were doing upgrades on the interior and exterior.  It said a lot that they were so committed to making this a premier wedding venue by fixing up the carpet, walls, and columns - I knew they wanted their weddings to be quality.  

Since Pigeon is the exclusive caterer for the venue, I had to look into them too before deciding on BoT.  The reviews that I found were nothing short of awesome, and their menu sounded great!  The prices were reasonable and we would be able to choose exactly what we wanted, so that we were not paying for anything that we didn't.  I'll discuss food at another time, but let's just say the world is our oyster when it comes to menu items (get it, oyster? har-har).  Things we're thinking of including are praline brie bites, crabmeat cheesecake, mashed potato bar, crepe station, and passed mini beignets as a late night snack.

Hors d' oeuvres, photo from Pigeon Caterers

The venue coordinator there also was great to talk to, she answered plenty of my questions and seemed very flexible based on what we wanted.  Since we're still undecided about our seating plan and layout, I was glad that that decision could be deferred to another time.  

We also took into consideration, that we didn't know anyone who had been married here before - it has kind of been under the radar, even though they've been doing weddings here for several years.  With these upgrades, and management by Pigeon, it seems like this is becoming a much more popular wedding venue.  I liked the idea of getting married somewhere that people probably haven't been to before, just so our guests can experience somewhere new that they might not know about.

I was happy to find a venue that hit on so many of our "must haves," and for that reason I was leaning towards it before we even visited all the other locations.  I think the venue also fits with our idea of classic and elegant, but with a little twist.