The Balcony

I've lived in Metairie all of my life and have experienced The Balcony on many different levels. I have been a guest there on many occasions, my brother was married at The Balcony, I've stood in weddings there, and as a wedding photographer of 28 years I've photographed a minimum of 200 weddings at The Balcony. The Balcony is always flexible with the vendors and the couple as to the flow of the reception schedule. It must be a great place to work as much of the staff has stayed the same over many years. They have always been friendly, accomodating, and attentive to the Bride & Groom and their families. The owner is always available. I've seen him out there assisting the families, helping with the cake cutting, heck, I've seen him bus tables. You could say that he manages from the floor. The Balcony has been and remains a top notch wedding/party venue. more

In a normal 3-hour wedding reception, the bride and groom have a number of things to do, and many of those things involve the photographer and posed or formal photo ops. The speed at which the photographer works will ultimately determine how much free time the bride and groom will have to eat, drink, dance, and mingle with all of their invited guests. The Balcony strives to give the bride and groom the maximum amount of free time possible, and as a result, may appear a little pushy or blunt to the other workers, i.e. the photographer. We are sorry that you had a bad experience here, however, everything we do has the bride and groom at the heart of our actions, and I can assure you that is why we try and expedite. We would love a chance to include some of your favorite shots from this wedding on our Facebook page. Please contact us to make that a possibility. more

At first glance the place seemed nice but after meeting the employees I was quite surprised. It seemed it was all about business and the bride/groom and guest was just in the way. My wife and I do professional photography. We have been doing it for many years and my wife has several degrees in photography, use to teach it, and has won several international competitions. Yet when we were trying to take photos, the event coordinator was extremely rude, told my wife she doesn't know what she was doing and was so rude to the bride and groom, I was actually embarrassed for them. This guy at one point actually snatched their celebration glasses from their hands without warning just to get to the next tick mark on his list. I never seen someone working a wedding so unprofessional and rude. I was just imagining the owner sitting behind his desk with the door closed counting his money and then shouting, ""next!"". It is so bad that if I have a potential client that says they will have their reception there I would have to decline them. I can handle people like this after being in the Army for 8 years but why would you want to? more

The ballroom is absolutely beautiful with the high ceilings, chandeliers, marble floor and all the other amenities! The food was exquisite, especially the pasta and crepe stations. I loved the corn and crab bisque. The chocolate fountain was spectacular and delicious. The variety was endless, more things available that I could ever need. The staff was great and well informed about the dishes they were serving. The whole event was perfect! Pros: Unlimited food and drinks. Great Value and Service more