New Orleans Recap Part III

Let’s move away from the food portion of Nola and talk about the wedding! MM and I were headed to New Orleans to celebrate the wedding of Megan and Steve. Megan and I met about 9 years ago as interns at Shop ETC Magazine (RIP). The magazine only lasted a short while, our friendship lasted way longer! 

The top photos are the St. Louis Church where the ceremony was held. We had wandered past this early on in our trip and I thought, wait, there is no way this is where they are getting married, this church is insane! I was wrong and their wedding was in fact in this magnificent building in Jackson Square.

I honestly don’t have any photos that can do this wedding justice. It was unlike anything I’ve attended. The ceremony was at the church and the reception was a couple of blocks away at Latrobe on Royal, an event space with tons of character. The reception was held in a variety of rooms. There was no sit down dinner, just endless amounts of passed food and a few stations. The food was SO GOOD. Oh sorry, I’m back to talking about food. There was an oyster station with two dudes just shucking oysters all night long, my kinda party. When at weddings with awesome cocktail hours we all always say, why have a sit down dinner, this is way better. Finally someone did just that! By not sitting for an official dinner it kept the party mood way up, there was a dance floor, an awesome band, lots of bars, and again…lots of food. I ate so much and it was all amazing.

The next pictures are of the gorgeous wedding cake and the grooms cake, so cool. As a cake expert, I can tell you these were both super tasty. There were four varieties- vanilla, carrot, strawberry and red velvet. What kind of cake connoisseur would I be if I didn’t try each flavor? My apologies go out to anyone who maybe didn’t get a piece of cake, as I literally had four (but really I saw endless amounts of cake being served so I’m sure everyone got what they wanted).

Towards the end of the reception a table was filled with Mardi Gras type gear (beads, masks, funny sunglasses, bow ties, etc). We grabbed our gear, a drink for the road, and that’s when the brass band came out.

If you’re not familiar with a Second Line, it’s basically a big parade through the city streets. The band was so good and got the party hyped up as we left the reception hall. Led by the band, the bride and groom and some police escorts, we paraded around the city. It was 300+ people so we made quite a scene, we felt like celebrities. People along the streets and at nearby bars came out and cheered us on.

The parade ended at Cafe Du Monde where trays of beignets were waiting for us. Not sure how many I ate…this was getting late in the night. Yum. Cafe Du Monde is one of those must-visit spots in New Orleans so just to make sure we soaked in all the powdered sugar, we went twice during this trip.

After stuffing our faces we went to an after party. This is where I faded fast and shortly after went home. That whole not drinking for 30 days thing really caught up with me on this trip! Around midnight we stopped for some tacos (ok, completely unnecessary but I was on vacation) and returned to our hotel, Bienville House. It’s a nice boutique hotel in the French Quarter. Our room was really nice, big and had a balcony. I’d stay here again/recommend it to travelers.

If you can, I suggest becoming friends with someone who plans to get married in New Orleans so you can experience the awesomeness.

On Sunday we had time to wander through New Orleans. The buildings are so pretty and unique.  Bourbon street is pretty nasty but in general it’s a very cool looking city. I recommend driving along Saint Charles Street to check out the southern style mansions.

And the last two photos are of City Park. Thank you to divinesecrets, pacific-trim and blondieruns48 for the recommendation! I went on a run through the park and saw the Chime Tree. So many of the trees have fun things hanging from them and the park in general is awesome, it’s huge and I can’t really say with authority what buildings are in the park but along my route I saw pretty trees, cute bridges, waterways and lots of running paths.

That about covers my first trip to New Orleans! A big thank you goes out to my friend Emily for hosting us and showing us the city. So fun to stay with a friend, get to catch up, reminisce about our high school days and also it’s a treat to see the city from a locals perspective. And a thank you goes to Megan and Steve for throwing one wild party. I’ll probably think of a few more gems to share with you so be on the lookout. Thanks for reading!