Vintage Chic New Orleans Wedding at Race & Religious
I am aching to visit New Orleans and this wedding right here (and this stylish bride) captures why I'm so obsessed. Moody and romantic, rich in history and always ready to party, this wedding, like its host city, is full of personality. Anne-Claire Brun's photos are spilling over with this eclectic energy and until I'm able to escape to the Big Easy for a weekend, her pics are where I shall remain.
From Anne-Claire Brun... First, did you know that when you get married in New Orleans, they have this thing called “Second Line” at the end of it? It consists in having your entire wedding party and a band (a brass band) going out of the venue and around the block (so it’s basically a parade.) The bride and groom twirl an umbrella and a handkerchief in the air… And all the guests dancing and laughing while people walking by wave and congratulate the bride and groom…
The venue Race and Religious was incredible, so much character! And the girls (Brooke especially) from Southern Charm Weddings in Louisiana did a wonderful job.
I'm in love with the soft palette of colors for this wedding!
From the Bride... Nick and I met through mutual friends in the summer of 2002. I was 15 and had just finished my freshman year of high school and Nick had had just turned 18 and just graduated high school. We became friends and then started dating, although neither of our parents were thrilled at the time given the age difference. Little did we know then, that we would one day be engaged and getting married. We went our separate ways for a while in our early 20s, but always stayed in contact with one another and eventually moved in together in 2011.
One day, we were in California visiting my little brother who was doing an internship in LA. We decided to take a road trip up the coast along Route 1 to San Francisco and Napa Valley with a stop in Big Sur. We got to Big Sur just before sunset and Nick pulled to one of the viewpoints on the side of the road so that we could watch the sunset among the cliff. We could hear seals barking down below and the surroundings were just breathtakingly beautiful. I started to complain about it getting cold and wanting to head to our hotel for the night...that’s when Nick asked me to marry him (a few minutes earlier than planned, due to my whining...which I do regret now)!
For the planning process, we were lucky we had a great wedding coordinator, Brooke Casey of Southern Charm Weddings Louisiana, to help us. She made the planning process seem as seamless as possible. She also kept us on track with a timeline and reminded us of things we didn’t even think of that are in fact integral parts of the wedding planning process.
We had a destination wedding which we thought would make things easier, but wedding planning is never really easy as we now know. The fact that we did have a smaller list of attending guests did make some of the wedding planning tasks easier than if we had done a bigger ceremony and reception.
We went with a romantic, vintage New Orleans traditional theme. We really took the vibes of our venue, Race and Religious, as our inspiration. There is so much character to the venue that we decided it was best to let our wedding take cues from the venue’s eclectic charm rather than the other way around. I couldn’t have imagined a better backdrop for our day.
There were so many of my favorite moments that day it’s hard to say which one was best….
Having all my best girlfriends by my side keeping me from being a nervous wreck while getting ready was one... When Nick first saw me when I met him down the aisle... When we snuck away to a corner for private moment to just enjoy each other and eat some food... The father-daughter dance with my dad when he told me the emotional meaning for him behind the song we had picked , "In My Life" by The Beatles... Seeing all my closest friends and family having as amazing a night as we were, and last but not least, the Second Line band!
My advice for couples would be don’t stress the small stuff. Things will go wrong, they always do, but those are the things you won’t even remember the day of or they will be the things that make for a great story later on.
Also, don’t let anyone’s opinions or input influence what you want for your day. Always stick to your guns and initial ideas. At the end of the day, it should be you and your bride and groom’s personalities that shine through, no one else’s. And most importantly, at the reception, don’t forget to eat!
The venue Race and Religious was incredible, so much character! And the girls (Brooke especially) from Southern Charm Weddings in Louisiana did a wonderful job.
I'm in love with the soft palette of colors for this wedding!
From the Bride... Nick and I met through mutual friends in the summer of 2002. I was 15 and had just finished my freshman year of high school and Nick had had just turned 18 and just graduated high school. We became friends and then started dating, although neither of our parents were thrilled at the time given the age difference. Little did we know then, that we would one day be engaged and getting married. We went our separate ways for a while in our early 20s, but always stayed in contact with one another and eventually moved in together in 2011.
One day, we were in California visiting my little brother who was doing an internship in LA. We decided to take a road trip up the coast along Route 1 to San Francisco and Napa Valley with a stop in Big Sur. We got to Big Sur just before sunset and Nick pulled to one of the viewpoints on the side of the road so that we could watch the sunset among the cliff. We could hear seals barking down below and the surroundings were just breathtakingly beautiful. I started to complain about it getting cold and wanting to head to our hotel for the night...that’s when Nick asked me to marry him (a few minutes earlier than planned, due to my whining...which I do regret now)!
For the planning process, we were lucky we had a great wedding coordinator, Brooke Casey of Southern Charm Weddings Louisiana, to help us. She made the planning process seem as seamless as possible. She also kept us on track with a timeline and reminded us of things we didn’t even think of that are in fact integral parts of the wedding planning process.
We had a destination wedding which we thought would make things easier, but wedding planning is never really easy as we now know. The fact that we did have a smaller list of attending guests did make some of the wedding planning tasks easier than if we had done a bigger ceremony and reception.
We went with a romantic, vintage New Orleans traditional theme. We really took the vibes of our venue, Race and Religious, as our inspiration. There is so much character to the venue that we decided it was best to let our wedding take cues from the venue’s eclectic charm rather than the other way around. I couldn’t have imagined a better backdrop for our day.
There were so many of my favorite moments that day it’s hard to say which one was best….
Having all my best girlfriends by my side keeping me from being a nervous wreck while getting ready was one... When Nick first saw me when I met him down the aisle... When we snuck away to a corner for private moment to just enjoy each other and eat some food... The father-daughter dance with my dad when he told me the emotional meaning for him behind the song we had picked , "In My Life" by The Beatles... Seeing all my closest friends and family having as amazing a night as we were, and last but not least, the Second Line band!
My advice for couples would be don’t stress the small stuff. Things will go wrong, they always do, but those are the things you won’t even remember the day of or they will be the things that make for a great story later on.
Also, don’t let anyone’s opinions or input influence what you want for your day. Always stick to your guns and initial ideas. At the end of the day, it should be you and your bride and groom’s personalities that shine through, no one else’s. And most importantly, at the reception, don’t forget to eat!