It doesn’t get more Southern or fun than New Orleans for a destination wedding! Today’s bride fell in love with her venue even before she met her Mr. Her timeless romantic wedding dreams came true in this sweet wedding captured by Danielle Harris Photography.
I fell in love with Southern Oaks on Pinterest before I even met Brody and had always dreamed of a romantic southern wedding. We had gone on a tour there and found out that venues in Louisiana were a lot cheaper than Southern California, so the crazy dream turned into a possibility. My parents were on board and we had settled on New Orleans the day after he proposed. I always knew I wanted a wedding that seemed timeless and elegant. New Orleans is absolutely gorgeous and full of character, so it wasn’t hard for it all to come together.
I actually found Jinza Bridal on accident when booking appointments to try on dresses. I was in a time crunch and they had an opening, so I booked it. Grace at the Los Angeles location, is incredible at what she does. I showed her like 3 pictures of my venue and inspiration and one dress photo, then dress number 3 was the one! She said she normally gets it in one or two tries, but it was perfect. Lightweight silk organza, which was important because it was going to be very hot and humid. I was able to customize it with the off the shoulder sleeve and lower the neckline slightly.
Anyone who knows Brody would say that he doesn’t always take things seriously, but his favorite part of the wedding was our vows. Originally, he wanted to write our own, which was way too much pressure in my mind. We spent a lot of time customizing our vows and one of our favorite parts was a reading of “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. My favorite part of the day was our second line parade. It was absolutely incredible and so unique to the city of New Orleans. Our guests loved it and it was a first experience for all of us.
Brody absolutely wanted beignets, so we had the Café du Monde truck at our reception. We really tried to splurge on our guests, especially because it was a destination wedding. We had transportation to and from the venue for everyone and we did a private ghost tour for all of our guests the night before the wedding. We really wanted to celebrate with everyone and give them a great New Orleans experience.
For our favors, we gave out handkerchiefs for the second line parade. The embroidered handkerchiefs were folded in an envelope that explained the tradition of the second line parade.
Photography | Danielle Harris Photography | Venue | Southern Oaks | Florals | Leaf and petal Nola | Cake | La Louisiane Bakery | Invitations | Ivory & Craft | Band | Kinfolk Brass Band | Hair | Houston Kennedy and Rachel Barbin | Makeup | CELIA WARNER-MOYER and Rachel Barbin | Dress and Veil | JINZA Bridal | Bridesmaid Dresses | Vici | Groom’s Attire | The Black Tux | Bride’s Shoes | Jimmy Choo | Second Shooting | The Harris House | Submitted via Matchology
