il Mercato

I'm a wedding planner from out of state, so I was definitely nervous about working in a new venue. Annie and her team had great communication up to the event. The wait staff and bar staff were THE nicest and most genuine venue/catering staff I have ever worked with, and by far most delicious and high quality wedding food I have had to date. Highly recommend!

il Mercato is a beautiful venue and a wonderful event space. We planned our daughter's wedding from afar and chose this space for her destination wedding. New Orleans has something for everyone and provides a great backdrop for entertainment for all pre and post wedding festivities.The venue is quite beautiful and has a great deal of Spanish rustic charm. From the stucco fireplace as the focal point of the court year to the dark wooden beams adorning the high ceilings of the main hall, this places oozes with plenty of charm.The food and beverage service were both amazing. Joel, il Mercado's caterer, provides a fine spread with some of the most delicious wedding food we've ever eaten. All wait staff on the wedding day were accommodating and efficiently helpful. It was perhaps one of the most perfect days and certainly one of the nicest weddings we've ever attended, much less paid for. So why three stars? I've gone back and forth on this rating because the food was wonderful and the wedding was beautiful. But we are out of towners and relied heavily on the information and communication from il Mercado folks to make this event a success. To that end, we found il Mercado to be slow in communication and at times, less than accommodating to our needs. We wrote a big check to make this wedding happen and felt that the contact people for the venue should have been more communicative and helpful with some of our needs. Here are a few things to consider when choosing il Mercado:1. The bridal party is not allowed to arrive at the venue more than 30 minutes prior to the ceremony. This means that the bridal party could not get dressed or ready on site. For this, we had to book a place nearby for hair and make up. An added expense to an already hefty price tag.2. Outdoor lighting is not included and neither is a tent in the event of inclement weather. A venue offering both an indoor/outdoor space should really have such things on sight and available.3. Communication is key and this was perhaps the greatest source of frustration. Response to e-mails was slow and in some cases, not at all. Being from out of town, there were some things we didn't know and therefore, questions would pop up. Timely responses were hit and miss.4. All vendors used during the event must be licensed and insured. This is reasonable however, since we were doing some things ourselves, like flowers, we were not informed until the weekend before the wedding that certain decorations could not be used unless we hired a licensed/insured person to install them. We opted to forego the decorations that required a licensed/insured installer but on the day of the event, we were informed of further restrictions that we were not aware of until the last minute. Although we understand the policy, the communication of it was ill timed at best and added to the stress of an already hectic day.In conclusion, the key to a successful wedding at il Mercado is having a good wedding planner, which we had in spades. It was the planner that made it happen, much more so than the il Mercado business personnel themselves.