Erin & Clayton | Melrose Mansion, New Orleans, Louisiana

Erin & Clayton chose the intimate and beautiful Melrose Mansion for their Spring destination wedding. If you haven’t been there, it’s a beautiful hotel on  oak-lined Esplanade Avenue, one of my favorite streets in New Orleans. Erin and Clayton invited about seventy people to the wedding, and we turned the parking lot into a beautiful tented event space for the ceremony which was later flipped for the sit-down dinner.

The white tent was lined on two sides by a natural hedge wall that was already in the parking lot, and really looked beautiful. A ceremony arch by Urban Earth was the focal point of the ceremony. Erin had her two grandmothers, escorted by her grandfather, as the flower girls. They were so excited for their part in the ceremony, and these pictures make me smile!

After the ceremony, everyone made their way to the pool area for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. While the guests were enjoying cocktail hour, we flipped the ceremony space. The flowers were really stunning—Erin was going for neutral with a touch of blush, and we also included anemones with the dark purple/black centers. The black and white color scheme mirrored the black and white décor of the Mansion and really fit the space. During the cocktail hour, Erin & Clayton had their first dance on the balcony overlooking the pool and also cut the wedding cake.

Although we worried about the weather, the rain held off, and everything was able to proceed as planned. After cocktail hour, guests were escorted back to the tent space and enjoyed dinner followed by dancing. At the end of the night, everyone was secondlined out to Esplanade by Kinfolk Brass Band, and headed to Lafitte’s to keep the party going!

Vendor Credits

Styling and Event Production & Management | Satchel Planning & Design

Photography | Jacqueline Dallimore Photography

Hair | Amber Buxton Salon

Makeup | Makeup by Meggan

Prep, Ceremony, & Reception Venue | Melrose Mansion

Cake | Bittersweet Confections

Flowers | Urban Earth

Videography | Blue Couture

Catering | Food Art Inc.

Tent, Chandelier, & Dance Floor | Element

Other Rentals | Perrier Party Rentals

DJ | DJ Glenn Robicheaux

Second line | Kinfolk Brass Band

Rachel & Noam | The Ritz-Carlton & The Nopsi Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana

Rachel & Noam were married during the holiday season in a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton, followed by a secondline to the Nopsi Hotel for the reception. There’s something about Christmas time in New Orleans, and I love the photos of them secondlining down Canal with the palm trees and Christmas lights!

I met Rachel & Noam for the first time at a neighborhood coffee shop where I like to meet clients. We got along so well right away, and realized we lived really close to each other, and I walked by their house all the time. I loved getting to know them better while we planned the wedding, and I also got to know and like Rachel’s family. By the time the wedding got here I felt like I was watching my friends get married, and I was so happy for them on the wedding day!

Our original plans called for a ceremony in the courtyard at the Ritz-Carlton. All week we watched the weather and things weren’t looking great. Ultimately we had to make the decision to move the wedding inside to one of the ballrooms, and we planned for Leaf + Petal to do a floral arch instead of decorating the courtyard gazebo as originally planned. I was watching the weather throughout the ceremony and in touch with the second line band as well as the police to see if the weather would cooperate for the second line. It was a little drizzly, but we decided to move forward with it and I’m so glad we did! The second line made a pit stop at Cajun Mike’s bar where everyone got a Miller High Life in a koozie that said “Rachel & Noam, the champagne of couples.”

For the reception, we designed the inside of the ballroom at the Nopsi along with the long hallway that leads to the ballroom so guests could use the entire space.  Johnson’s Tropicals did an amazing job bringing in and constructing crepe myrtle look-alike trees since crepe myrtles weren’t in season. The wedding cake was a focal point in the middle of the hallway leading into the ballroom, and the cake was decorated all around so it was beautiful from every direction.

This group was so much fun and the dance floor was full the entire night, the sign of a great party!

And the vendor team!

Planning & Design | Satchel Planning & Design

Photography | The Masters in Love

Bridal Prep & Reception Venue | The Nopsi Hotel

Ceremony Venue | The Ritz-Carlton

Florist | Leaf + Petal

Bridal Gown | Wedding Belles Nola

Trees | Johnson’s Tropicals

Secondline Band | Kinfolk Brass Band

Cake | Bittersweet Confections

Transportation | Limousine Livery

Photobooth | Boogie Booth

Rentals | Element

Lighting | Luminous Events

Hair | Glam Nola

Makeup | Tisa Camet

Reception Band | Musical Fantasy

Invitations | Scriptura

Secondline Drinks | Cajun Mike’s Bar

Surviving Summer Wedding Season in New Orleans

June is barely here and it officially feels like August. High wedding season in New Orleans skips over these hot, summer, hurricane-risk months, but weddings do still happen (I got married here in July!). And even if your wedding is in May or October, the heat can already be stifling, making outdoor weddings, or even partially outdoor weddings, an uncomfortable experience for your guests. While a wedding is definitely about what the couple wants, it is ultimately a party you are hosting for the friends and family, so guest experience should be one of your top priorities.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

Here are a few suggestions:

Do not do have your entire wedding outside. You don’t want to force your guests, especially elderly guests, to not have the option to be indoors when the temperatures climb. Pick a venue that is either all indoors or has indoor/outdoor space. If your ceremony is outside, keep it short and sweet. Any time I’m doing an outdoor ceremony in the warmer months we always have some elderly guests that need to either wait inside until right before the ceremony starts, or skip the ceremony entirely.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

Have a water station set out so guests can drink water freely. This is easier to access than having to wait in the bar line for water, and your caterer can use cucumber, lemons, or other fruit to make it a little extra.  

Jacqueline Dallimore

If your ceremony is outside in the daytime (i.e. any time before the sun sets), consider providing sun cover through tents or large umbrellas. Also, a pre-ceremony cocktail never hurt anybody (it may not do much to cool guests down, but it makes them happy!)

Jacqueline Dallimore

Make sure your guest transportation is timed correctly. Timing guest transportation and making sure it’s executed correctly by the drivers is one of the more difficult parts of my job. You want the guests to arrive on time, but not too early, especially if they are waiting outdoors on the ceremony to start. This is where a professional planner can be extremely helpful, and all of my planning packages will include either planning of or review of your transportation timing to make sure it will run smoothly.

Jacqueline Dallimore

Have your catering selections match the season--light and refreshing appetizers and cool treats. I’ve had couples offer ice cream instead of and in addition to cake, as well as couples offering snowballs, and those were both big hits—you can even do spiked snowballs for the adults!

Abbey & Louis | The Chicory, New Orleans, Louisiana

Abbey and Louis were married in an early Fall wedding at Christ Cathedral Church, followed by a reception at the Chicory. Check out their story, in their own words, below!  

How did you meet? 

We actually met at a wedding. Louis was the best man, and I was a friend of the bride - passing out brochures & manning the guest book. We met at the rehearsal dinner, but didn't hit it off until the after-reception party the next night. We kept in touch and dated long distance before I made the move to Georgia, where we now live. 

Proposal story?

We were in Birmingham, AL, for a friend's 30th birthday around New Year's. Little did I know he had been planning a surprise proposal at the Botanical Gardens there. The Gardens were across the street from our hotel, so we decided to go walk around to "kill time" prior to the birthday party. Louis had a friend go out there and set up the location for us and take photos of our special moment. We had been talking about getting married for a while, but it was a total surprise. We got to spend the rest of the weekend celebrating the new year and our new life together with friends.

What was your favorite part of wedding planning? 

Our time spent in New Orleans! Louis's family is from Houma, so we took our opportunities there to spend time in the city and bring our families together to meet and be part of the planning process. We love traveling to New Orleans, so it was important to us to incorporate that energy into our wedding for those that have never been. We made a point to work with vendors that not only knew the city, but captured some of that same vitality. 

Least favorite? 

Probably just the time and money spent. All throughout the process, we tried to be evaluative of what we needed and what we could live without, and while we loved everything that we chose and would ultimately have changed very little, the energy put into making those decisions is exhausting. 

Favorite memory of the wedding day? 

I think just having our friends and family show up for us in a way bigger than we ever could have imagined. Most everyone had to travel to get to New Orleans, and we had very few that weren't able to make the trip. Those that came were genuinely supportive, loving, and literally cheering us on throughout the day. There was a moment as our reception was winding down, and our second line ended in a dance party in the middle of Fulton Alley, and Louis and I got to get a bird's eye view all of these people that mean so much to us. 

Advice to other couples? 

Try to have fun with it, and make it your own. Pick 2-3 things that are the MOST important to you for the day, and focus on those as you plan. The rest will fall into place, and you can adjust your budget and energy and accordingly. Also, rely on your vendors. Prior to the day of, just make sure you know who is going to be where, but for the most part, your vendors will be the ones that usher you through the day so you don't have to think so much about the timelines. 

Vendor Credits

Photography | Brocato Photography Collective

Coordination & Styling | Satchel Planning & Design

Ceremony Venue | Christ Cathedral Church

Reception Venue | The Chicory

Prep Location | International House

Bridal Gown | The White Room, Mountain Brook, AL

Florist | Leaf + Petal

Baker | Beth Biundo Sweets

Reception & Secondline Band | Nola Dukes

Hair & Makeup | Verde Beauty

Katie & Dylan | The Audubon Tea Room

Katie and Dylan were married in a dusk ceremony at Audubon Park, with a reception following at the Audubon Tea Room. Katie is probably the most relaxed and calm bride I have worked with. She was so sweet, and I knew the first time I met her that she would be able to truly enjoy her wedding day. I didn’t end up meeting Dylan until their wedding rehearsal. He showed up wearing a white tux with hearts all over it, calling himself the King of Hearts. I was wondering how Katie would react. When she showed up and saw him dressed like that, she just smiled and laughed! These two really are the perfect complement to each other, and seem to have so much fun together. 

The ceremony was officiated by Katie’s childhood pastor, and I love when a couple is able to use an officiant that knows them and makes the ceremony personal. The couple was announced into the reception by two of Dylan’s cousins, which was another personal touch.

Everyone had a great time dancing all night in the courtyard behind the Tea Room. Towards the end of the night, Pizza Delicious delivered some pizzas, and that was a big hit. For their exit, Dylan had reserved an Uber Black. When the car didn’t show, despite me calling numerous times that night, I ordered them another Uber. Their second Uber arrived, and although I can’t remember the exact model, it was ridiculously tiny and not at all a wedding exit car. Katie and Dylan thought it was hilarious, and piled into the back of the car with a leftover box of Pizza Delicious. Katie’s mom told me it was perfectly unperfect, just the way they liked things! And their original Uber did show up, just as they were driving away! 

Congratulations to Dylan and Katie! 

Vendor Credits

Coordination & Styling | Satchel Planning & Design

Photography | Love is Rad

Prep Location | Air BnB

Officiant | Burt Palmer

Ceremony Venue | Audubon Park

Ceremony Music | Nola Wedding Belles

Reception Venue | Audubon Tea Room

Videography | Nathan Willis Wedding Film

Florist & Candles | Leaf + Petal/House of Modern Vintage Nola

Cake | Pure Cake

Band | Crescent City Soul Band

Rentals | Event Rental

Transportation Companies | Alert Transportation

Hair | St. Pierre Salon

Makeup | Katie Malone