Our story begins in the summer of 2002 when Jennifer and I met through a mutual friend. I had already begun my love affair with New Orleans having attended Mardi Gras in 2001 and 2002. Our first conversation was spent with me telling her what a fabulous city New Orleans is and how Mardi Gras is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. She was intrigued and mentioned how she wanted to visit the city. I began to think this could be the woman for me.
On Mardi Gras of 2003 found us closing on our house, after dating though out the autumn season. Due to the fact that we actually had to sign the paperwork on “Fat Tuesday”, we were unable to go to New Orleans that year. Instead, we had a “Mardi Gras” themed house warming party that weekend to celebrate both the holiday and our new house. The following year was the first year I was to bring Jenn to visit New Orleans. It was late February and we had left our home state of Minnesota to take part in the Mardi Gras festivities. We were excited to go to the “Big Easy”, not only to escape the frigid Minnesota winter, but for Jenn to see what I had been talking about since she had met me and for I, it was to show her my favorite city. Instantly, Jenn had fallen for the city as I had 3 years early. We both reveled in New Orleans’ architecture, the cuisine, the hospitality of the locals, and of course, the wonder that is Mardi Gras. We had then made it an annual trip (forgoing all other vacation destinations) to visit the city during Mardi Gras.
We jump ahead to Mardi Gras, 2007. On the Saturday before “Fat Tuesday”, the day’s events had taken its toll on Jenn and as she rested that evening in the hotel room, I wandered the streets of the French Quarter without her. As I walked the streets, weaving in and out of the other revelers I suddenly realized that my relationship with New Orleans had changed. It was no longer the “love affair” that it had once been to me but now a place that Jenn and I shared. Without her next to me, the city no longer felt as magical as before. Exactly one month from Mardi Gras 2007, I proposed to Jenn. Fortunately for me, she said yes.
When we began to plan our wedding, we discussed local churches to have our ceremony at and venues for the reception. As we talked through the details of what we wanted for our wedding, jokingly I said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we got married in New Orleans?” We both chuckled and continued making our plans for a Minnesota wedding. After we had toured many of the reception venues in our city and not being satisfied with any of them…that ridiculous notion of a destination wedding suddenly began to make a lot of sense. We immediately began to ask ourselves all the questions that came to mind if we were to have our wedding in New Orleans. “Who would be able to come and who wouldn’t? How much would it cost? Where would we have the wedding at? When should we get married down there? How would we find photographers, caterers, etc?” We decided to take our first trip to New Orleans when it wasn’t Mardi Gras to investigate the possibility of actually getting married in the city.
We flew out of Minneapolis at the end of May, 2007, for a Memorial weekend in NOLA and trying to decide if it was feasibly possible to have our wedding there. Jenn had gone online and had a list of different wedding sites all with in the French Quarter. We had decided that we would look over all of them and we would decide if our wedding would take place in New Orleans on our flight back home. As we toured the various venues, met the different wedding coordinators, and discussed the price options, we began to realize that a New Orleans wedding was very much a possibility for us. One of the first places that we toured was the Bourbon Vieux. Jenn was excited to see this venue because it looked the best to her from the websites she had seen and the wedding coordinator, Taylor Cabral, had been so helpful and friendly on the phone and through emails. When we walked up the stairs to the Bourbon Vieux, Taylor was there to great us. Immediately, we liked the décor of the room. It was big but there was a very cozy feel to it. The layout of the room offered a lot of possibilities for our wedding. Taylor sat us at a table and began to tell us about the venue. She was extremely helpful in answering all of our questions as well as giving us advice on how we should plan a wedding in New Orleans. She was quick to answer all of our concerns and put our minds at ease by letting us know that she has worked with a lot of out-of-town guests and their weddings at the Bourbon Vieux. Taylor gave us plenty of information, including the various wedding packages the Bourbon Vieux offers, and told us to call her with any other questions we may have. We left New Orleans impressed, delighted and excited about our wedding possibilities.
After returning to Minnesota, Jenn and I discussed all the factors of a wedding in New Orleans. We weighed all the factors between a Minnesota wedding and one in Louisiana. We talked about how New Orleans is our favorite city. We talked about how the economy in New Orleans could certainly use the money more then the economy in Minnesota. Jenn and I also discussed how we always try to convince our friends who’ve never been to NOLA how great the city is. We quickly told our parents about the possibility of our wedding taking place in New Orleans. The only concern they had was the fact that some of our family, specifically our grandparents who range in age from their late 80’s to their early 90’s, wouldn’t be able to make the trip. Both Jenn and I knew that that was the biggest reservation we had about doing a destination wedding and realized the only way to get past that was to talk to our grandparents about the possibility of a New Orleans wedding. Immediately after telling them that we were merely considering having our wedding in New Orleans both our grandparents said, “That totally makes sense. It’s perfect for you to!” They had also said not worry about them. They knew they wouldn’t be able to make the trip but would celebrate with us when we returned and couldn’t wait to hear the stories. The following day we called Taylor and told her we would like to have our wedding with her at the Bourbon Vieux. She told us not to worry and that she would make sure everything was perfect on the day of our wedding.
Throughout the summer we had been in contact with Taylor. Anytime we had a question, she was quick to respond either through emails or by phone. We had mentioned that we wanted to work with local independent businesses and she had given us a list of great vendors to work with. Over the following year, we planned three more trips to New Orleans to meet with the vendors that were recommended to us. The first trip was in October, year earlier to the date of our wedding. During that trip we met with Taylor at the Bourbon Vieux again to find out more details. Jessica of Fine Art Exposure
had met us at the Bourbon Vieux as well. We saw some great samples of her work and she was great at answering our questions. She asked about some of the vendors we had chosen and let us know which ones she had worked with as well. During that same visit, Taylor asked us if we had found a hotel yet to block rooms. At this point we were yet to decide on a place when Taylor had recommended the Inn on Bourbon. She told us how it was just a few doors down and recommended that we walk down and talk to Amy Vaughn, the sales manager. We strolled in to the hotel, immediately impressed by it’s lobby, and asked if we may speak to Amy. We told the front desk that we didn’t have an appointment but we were sent by Taylor at the Bourbon Vieux. Amy was quick to meet with us and tell us about how they’ve helped many people who had their events at the Bourbon Vieux. She was very gracious with her time and patience and even gave us a tour of the hotel. She assured us that if we used her hotel for our wedding, she would make sure all of our guest would be well taken care of. We blocked rooms with her for our wedding and we got a great rate from her. Many times through out the year we had called and spoke with Amy about details of our wedding and she was always wonderful in helping us.
The next trip to New Orleans was our usual pilgrimage for Mardi Gras. During this visit we made arrangements at John’s Tuxedos
. It was very busy there, being the Friday before Mardi Gras, but all the people there went out of there way to make sure we got taken care of. I was amazed not only the volume of business they were doing, but how smoothly they handled it. They had a great selection of tuxes and were very easy to work with. Also during that trip, we met with Diane at Fat Cat Flowers
. She was closed for Mardi Gras but knowing that we came from a great distance, she made an appointment especially for us. She showed us various examples of her work and took her time discussing what would be right for our wedding. Both her advice and hospitality were fantastic. We immediately booked with her.
Our third and final trip before the wedding was Memorial weekend. We had met with our minister, Johnny Adams during this trip to discuss our ceremony. I had spoken with him over the phone but he wanted to meet us to make sure we all felt comfortable with each other, knowing that this was the most important day of our lives. He gave us ideas for the ceremony and helped us customize one that would meet our needs. We had also met with the bakery that would handle our wedding cake. We took a ride out to Haydel’s Bakery
and loved all their cake designs. They made the whole procedure of picking out a wedding cake and cake tasting to be very fun. They told us about their delivery and creativity when doing a groom’s cake. Their cakes were delicious and their designs were spectacular. We decided on the spot to go with them and picked out our cake that afternoon. Before we headed back to our home state, we did meet with Taylor in the Bourbon Vieux room that we would be married in. She wanted to make sure that of our plans were coming together and to reassure us that our wedding would be fantastic. Her patience and availability to us were much appreciated.
We had returned to New Orleans in October 3 days before our wedding to tie up all loose ends before the big day. Through out the summer, we had been in constant contact with both Taylor at the Bourbon Vieux and Amy at the Inn on Bourbon. They both made themselves available to us both over the phone and through email to reassure us that everything was going smoothly. First upon check in to the hotel, the service was very friendly and helpful. They even let us ship some of our wedding favors to them and held them until we arrived. We had a great wedding suite, newly decorated with plenty of room and a balcony looking over Bourbon Street. As our wedding guests arrived over the next few days (coming from all parts of the country), they all remarked how beautiful the hotel is and how much they loved the staff. Jenn and I had heard them all say how they couldn’t believe how low the room rate was for our wedding considering how extravagant the hotel was. On Friday afternoon before the wedding, the groom’s side of the wedding party left to get their tuxes. All 7 of us filed in to our van and made our way to John’s Tuxedos. The shop was busy with other wedding parties getting their tuxes for their weddings and I was sure that dropping 7 more people in to their store would certainly throw a wrinkle in to their operation. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The staff at John’s Tuxedos was fast, courteous and efficient. With in no time they had us all set with 7 tuxedos, fixed any problems, and made the whole experience fun. Friday evening we had our rehearsal dinner at the Orleans Café, one of our favorite restaurants in the French Quarter. It is always the first restaurant we eat at whenever come to visit New Orleans. Marcos, the owner, was very gracious when preparing for our dinner party of 26 people. He gave us our own room set with two long tables to accompany us. He and his staff waited on us with great attention so as we never had to worry or want for anything. All of our guests remarked how the food and service was fantastic and how they’d all love to eat there again.
On the day of our wedding found me being kicked out of our suite and all the bridesmaids piling in to have their hair and make up done. Make-up artist and a hair stylists from Get Polished came to our room to make the girls up for the wedding. They were friendly and took their time to make sure all of the women were happy with their outcome. While the bride and bridesmaids were getting the hair and make-up done, the groomsmen and I went to the Bourbon Vieux to drop off the supplies we had for the wedding. We met with the Richard Norman, the operations manager. He and his staff were setting up for our wedding that was to take place in a few hours but took time to go over any details that we wanted for the wedding. He assured us that everything would run smoothly as well. At 4:00 Jessica showed up to begin taking pictures. She began getting shots of the bridal party as they finished getting ready and then got a photo of my reaction when first seeing my bride. (We decided to take pictures before our wedding as opposed to after the ceremony) Jessica was very friendly and creative as she got many photos of us that I would never have thought about. She got pictures of us coming out of the elevator in the lobby where our wedding guests first got a glimpse of the both Jenn and I together. Jessica and her staff moved through out the wedding party, stealthily taking pictures, as we pinned boutonnières and handed out bouquets. We then took several great photos at the Inn on Bourbon’s beautiful courtyard. From there we followed Jessica’s expert direction, taking pictures throughout the French Quarter. What impressed us the most about Jessica was her creativity. Not only did she have great ideas for poses for us and are whole wedding party but she took great photos of some of the landmarks as well. Not living in New Orleans, it was a great idea to take those photos so that we could reflect upon them when we’re back in our home state.
Once back at the Bourbon Vieux, the entire wedding party was impressed by the amazing job the staff had done at setting up the venue. Before we went in the building, Jenn and I pretty much had said we were at the mercy of the Taylor and the vendors she had recommended to us to make our wedding day good. Not being from New Orleans, there was only so much we could do and had no other choice but to rely on them. It was the best decision we could’ve ever made. The center pieces done by Fat Cat Flowers were breathtaking. After we picked the flowers for our wedding, the only direction Jenn gave to Diane (at Fat Cat Flowers) was to make them tall and dramatic. Not only did she not disappoint us, but she exceeded our expectations. We had mentioned to Taylor how we wanted a jazz trio to play while our wedding guest were being seated and she told us that would be no problem. Our guests were treated to music by The Gumbo Trio while they waited for the ceremony to begin. The band was very impressive and their song selection was great. Our guest mentioned how they loved the band and thought it was a great touch. The ceremony started with the music we picked playing as the wedding party entered. Johnny Adams delivered the ceremony with great charm and some of our guests even remarked how he was a better minister then what they had at their wedding. Immediately after the ceremony, Jenn and I exited to the balcony followed by our wedding party and our guests. As our guest met with us on the balcony, all of them remarked, “that was the most romantic wedding I’ve ever seen”. Waiting for them on the balcony were custom beads we had ordered from Beads by the Dozen that had Jenn and my name on them and the wedding date. The staff of the Bourbon Vieux had arranged the beads beautifully on tables and our guest had a blast throwing them off the balcony. We had ordered over 1,000 beads and our guests had thrown them all within an hour. (We brought more beads out later in the evening) The gumbo trio continued to play while our guests all mingled for the cocktail hour. Since most of our guests had never been to New Orleans, they all shared their great adventures they had over the past few days. They all gawked over the beautiful flowers and delighted over our wedding cakes. Haydel’s had delivered the cakes earlier in the day and they were both flawlessly beautiful and delicious. The Bourbon Vieux did a great job of staging them for the wedding. Waiters walked around the room with hors d'oeuvres and made an effort to make sure that not only did all of our guest get to taste them but to explain what they were. All of our guests raved about the appetizers. Next dinner was served. We had various traditional southern cuisines in our buffet, giving our guests quite a selection to choose from. The food was fantastic. Jenn and I laughed as we ate listening to the conversations around the room all talking about how it was the best wedding fare they’ve ever had. Our DJ starting playing music an hour after the dinner had started and it gave everyone a chance to work off their dinner. Throughout the evening, both Taylor and Richard were in constant contact with us to make sure everything was as we wanted. The real beauty of the Bourbon Vieux was that it offered our guests a chance to do many things at our wedding. They could dance, there were places to talk quietly and catch up with family and friends, and they could also go to the balcony and throw beads. All of our friends and family who attended our wedding had said it was the best wedding they had ever attended, including our friends who live in New Orleans.
After coming home to Minnesota from the wedding, and letting the dust settle a bit, we had time to reflect on the event. The photographs we received from Jessica at Fine Art Exposure were better then we could’ve imagined. The food, cake, and flowers, were all wonderful. The service we received from Taylor at the Bourbon Vieux, Amy at the Inn on Bourbon, and all the vendors was more then we could’ve dreamed of. While Taylor had told us to trust her that our wedding would be great, she had exceeded our dreams by making the day perfect. Our friends and family still talk about how it was the best time they had ever had and are all planning on taking trips to New Orleans again.
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