We are starting off this week with a New Orleans DIY wedding from Heirloom Collective filled with vintage charm. I love the bride’s unique gown that gives such a chic 40’s vibe. And of course it wouldn’t be a New Orleans wedding without a second line band. The bride hand stamped all of the hankies for guests to wave and keep as favors.
We live in LA but got married in New Orleans because we love the city and it’s rich culture. The food, the music, the historical buildings and the cultural traditions like second line bands make it a great wedding location (in our humble opinion :)). Once we found the venue, everything else fell into place. The 1800’s era house took our breath away and so we decided to go for an antique vibe throughout the planning.
I wore a fascinator that I made with a hat base, some gooseneck feathers, felt and glitter.
We got married in the front yard in front of an old gazebo, then the 2nd line band took us and our guests through the neighborhood and we ended up in the backyard where we partied all night. All the food was placed at stations throughout the house so our guests could enjoy the interior of this historical gem and we built a Photo Booth in the gazebo in the back yard.
The most important thing to us was making sure everyone had a great time and got to enjoy New Orleans. We had the wedding on a Friday so our guests (all coming from out of town) could stay and enjoy the city on Saturday and fly home on Sunday. We also served traditional New Orleans cuisine but with an upscale twist and had a second line band march us around the nearby neighborhood. And if that wasn’t enough, we had school buses take everyone to the French Quarter where we had an after party booked and kept the party going into the wee hours!
I also made a backdrop that hung behind us during the ceremony and I made a second one just like it to be the backdrop of our photo booth. Speaking of photo booth, we made that too with a camera and a guitar pedal. (Guests stepped on the pedal to take a photo). For the second line band guests are supposed to wave handkerchiefs in the air, so I hand stamped all of them with our wedding date and some leaves so they doubled as keepsakes for our guests and I sewed feather boas to our parasols that we carried during the second line. We also did all our own flower arranging, even the boutonnieres and my bouquet and I made a giant diamond for our card box. We had lots handmade or DIY details, and they were all my favorite by far!
Our favorite parts of the day starts with seeing each other for the first time, then reading our vows to each other and trying not to completely lose it, our parents’ toasts (they were all very unique and personal)…dancing through the streets with the second line band and all our loved ones and then partying the night away with all our favorite people in the same place. And honestly, the days following the wedding were great because we were able to enjoy New Orleans with all our favorite people, it was like going on vacation with all your friends and family at once. Every part was our favorite part :)
Photography | Heirloom Collective | Venue | The Benachi House | Catering | Palate Catering | Dress | BHLDN | Shoes | Badgley Mischka | Hair & Makeup | Maison de Cheveux | Groomswear | Zara | Entertainment | Pinstripe Brass Band | Transportation | Durham Charters
