Real Wedding: Maria + Michael’s New Orleans Wedding

I’ve been dying to visit New Orleans + this wedding has me wanting to visit even more! I just love all the green bridesmaids dresses and the attention the couple put into their day. I’ll let Maria share more about their day…

When we are together, life is good, really good, so when we started planning our wedding we wanted it to reflect this goodness. We are a pretty down-to-earth, good ole’ southern couple and we’re always up for ANYTHING (when you are best friends for almost 4 years and then realize you’ve been in love the whole time, you sort of have to be up for anything). So we started there.

new orleans wedding

sweet couple

short wedding dress

Every aspect of our wedding was planned from the heart. We wanted our friends & family to experience the best of New Orleans; everything from the food to the music to the pralines & sweet—tea mojitos had a N’awlin’s flair. We threw in some New Mexico (the brides home state) and Notre Dame (where we met) flavor as well. I (the bride) have a design business in New Orleans, Tupelo Honey Design, so all of the paper products and details were very important to me. I designed everything to be very meaningful, so that our guests felt special and we were able to show our appreciation to them.

new orleans wedding

short lace wedding dress

new orleans wedding

wedding party green dresses

new orleans wedding parade

bridesmaids green dresses

I wanted to make life as easy as possible for my bridemaids, so I put together dress/shoe sample cards, inspired by Martha Stewart, and let them each choose a dress they felt comfortable & beautiful in! I also included a paint swatch card and reply envelope so they could send me a swatch of their dress color, which we used to find matching ties for the groomsmen.

bridesmaid color swatches

wedding cupcakes

Since 1840, Antoine’s Restaurant has been home to excellent French-Creole cuisine, service & atmosphere to create an unparalleled dining experience; we chose Antoine’s because we wanted our guests to get a fabulous New Orleans meal…the New Orleans way. We couldn’t have picked a more suitable establishment! Home to the famous Mardi Gras Krewe parties, memorabilia from its many notable guests line the walls to exhibit its living history; a perfect way to introduce our guests to some N’awlins fame.

menu on a brown bag

green flowers centerpiece

Another fun detail were the question journals on each table, inspired by Martha Stewart Weddings. Inside the brown paper bag dinner menus, along with New Orleans Pralines, we included pencils for people to write in the journals. We really didn’t expect for people to go so crazy over them; by the end of dinner, guests were passing them from table to table, trying to write in as many journals as possible. We got fabulous answers & advice, to say the least!

wedding handkerchief favor

We wanted to incorporate the New Orleans tradition of a Second Line into our wedding. The 2nd line tradition is based on New Orleans Jazz Funerals. A jazz band plays & parades during a funeral procession to honor the life of a deceased person, which is considered the 1st line. The 2nd line is a group of people following the band, dancing or walking, holding an umbrella or handkerchief to add |to the spirit of the procession. 2nd lines are also used in all types of celebrations, including weddings. For ‘our flair’ we searched high and low for vintage hankies and hand picked one for each of our guests.

new orleans wedding reception

wedding invitation

It was the perfect day down to the last detail (though I do believe there is perfection in imperfection); things were just as they were meant to be.

Our vendors were amazing and made our wedding day exceptional.

Ceremony: St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church Uptown
Reception: Antoine’s Restaurant
Photography: Austin Gros
Paper Products: Tupelo Honey Design
Styling: Maria Rolfsen & Mary Jourdan & MacKenzie Baldwin
Flowers: Rhonda Cooper with Whole Foods
Dress: Romona Keveza at Wedding Belles
Shoes: J. Crew & brooches from Fabulous Brooch
Suits: Tommy Hilfiger at Men’s Warehouse
Cupcakes: Janell Gaudin at Treats & Prizes (treatsandprizes[at]gmail[dot]com)

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