New York couple Danielle, a consumer insights associate manager at WeightWatchers, and Drew, a corporate attorney, met and fell in love as students at New Orleans’s Tulane University – so the city was a natural choice when it came time to choose a destination for their Jewish wedding.
And did they ever do a fantastic job of crafting a wedding that let their guests experience the magic of NOLA firsthand. Their venue was Latrobe’s on Royal, an old historical bank in the heart of the French Quarter, and they made the most of its romantic, moody vibes with lots of candles, moody lighting, and a very cool floating chuppah. Their menu showcased New Orleans cuisine at its finest, and they followed the ceremony with a traditional second line, a parade through the French Quarter. Don’t miss it all in the exquisite photos by Love is Rad and video by Shotgun.
We’re obsessed with Danielle and Drew’s fabulous ketubah from Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Tchotchke. In Danielle’s words,
The minute I saw it, I knew my search was over. It says ‘Love’ in Hebrew in large print at the top and the lions, to me, symbolize strength in this next chapter of life. It is the most meaningful piece of art we will ever own. And not to mention, working with Adam and the Tchotchke team was incredibly seamless. They were so responsive and you could tell they truly value their customers. They also shipped it in a way that made it seamless on wedding day to display. COULD NOT RECOMMEND ENOUGH (for ketubahs and the COOLEST Judaica).
It doesn’t get any better than that! Read on for the rest of the story in Danielle’s own words…
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How We Met
Danielle, the bride: Drew and I met our second semester junior year at Tulane University. More specifically, we met at an Aephi sorority party and by the end of that semester, we were dating.
A Wedding in New Orleans
When we got engaged and began thinking about what we wanted our wedding to look like, we knew we wanted something different. We landed on a destination wedding in New Orleans, our favorite city and the place we met. We were so excited for our guests to experience the magic of Nola firsthand.
Our venue was Latrobe’s on Royal, an old historical bank in the heart of the French Quarter. A virtual tour was all we needed to solidify this as our venue. It is so unique, romantic, and moody.
The Dream Team
We had the honor of working with the incredible Elyse Jennings Weddings – which includes Elyse herself and her sidekick Ashley Parker. Dream team is an understatement when it comes to describing their work, vision, and execution. I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want a wedding covered in flowers. I was so in love with the venue absolutely empty and certainly did not want to cover it up. My vision included light flowers, and lots of candles and moody lighting.
Also important to note that New Orleans weddings are done reception style. So the flow of the night goes: ceremony, second line, short (30 min) cocktail hour in the main party room, and then essentially party the rest of the night. There are food stations that open and are out all night long. Guests have the opportunity to go and eat as they please and however many times they want! There are no assigned tables.
One of the absolute highlights of the night – THE SECOND LINE!!! This is the parade that we did through the French Quarter directly following the ceremony. To have 175 of your friends and family parading and dancing through the streets of New Orleans AND everyone cheering from the sidewalks is truly a feeling I will never forget.
Invitation
We did paperless post as our invitation since this wasn’t an area I particularly cared for. But with that being said, I still wanted it to feel designed. Since I knew we were going the Evites, route, I did paper save the dates and found the CUTEST design/print on Etsy from Olivia Motley Art.
Hair + Makeup
It was so much fun to play around with different styles as we had three nights of events for our wedding weekend! For makeup for wedding day, I knew I wanted more natural than full glam but still special. I like lighter face makeup and then more fun on the eyes, but still stuck to more neutral, cool tones. For the hair, I am a hair down girl and I wanted bigger waves rather than curls. For the front, we did a behind the ears slick back situation because I knew that I would be putting my hair behind my ears all night so that style took care of that!
Dress
I found my dress in Englewood, NJ at Jaehee Bridal. My goal was to find something that is simple with a twist and chic. All you need to know is that when my dad came into the bridal suite for his reveal, he said (somewhat jokingly) “that doesn’t look like a wedding dress!” … and that was exactly what I was going for!
Accessories
I went simple on accessories – I rented a tennis necklace and tennis bracelet from Verstolo, and I wore my diamond studs that my husband bought me for my last birthday.
I was actually really torn on wearing a veil. My initial thought was that I didn’t want to. Then when I went wedding dress shopping and tried one on at the end of the appointments I really liked how it looked – of course it’s beautiful and traditional. So then I kept going back and forth. Ultimately, I decided to skip it but I wore it for some of the pictures and I’m really happy about that decision. And I borrowed it from my now sister in laws so that was a special ‘something borrowed’ touch!
Shoes
My shoes were Loeffler Randall – a shorter heel version of a pair I currently own and love.
The handsome groom
Drew got his tux from Martin Greenfield and it was stunning. One thing about Drew is that he is the biggest dog lover and they lined the whole tux jacket with dogs in black and white.
Bridesmaids
As mentioned, I had 3 maids of honor. And their words, not mine: “Danielle is the chillest bride.” I gave them no color scheme, preference, or vision board. They ended up in a pink, a purple-ish, and a brown dress and looked absolutely stunning together. I was never worried about them 🙂
Ceremony & Chuppah
For the chuppah, we didn’t have the biggest space to work with so we had to get creative. I brought the idea of a floating chuppah to the florist from Bella Blooms Floral and she executed it to perfection. As our rabbi mentioned during the ceremony, it looked like it was floating from heaven.
In terms of the ceremony, wow, every single second was perfect. Walking down the aisle with my eyes only on my husband but knowing that 175 people took the time, energy, and money to be in that room is something that is hard to comprehend. Our Rabbi David Gerber (who we found in Nola instead of using someone from home) did an incredible job at making the ceremony personal to us. Our guests commented that it felt like he’s known us for years, instead of just a 10 months and a few zoom meetings.
Drew wore the kippah that his dad wore at his wedding, we were wrapped in my grandpa’s tallit who unfortunately is no longer with us, we each did 3 circles and then the final one together holding hands, and we had our siblings divvy up the Seven Blessings. The room was incredibly intimate and cozy, which was also such a beautiful feeling. Once Drew smashed the glass, our second line jazz band immediately started playing, which got everyone so excited and already dancing!
The Perfect Ketubah
Our Ketubah was from the incredibly wonderful Tchotchke and the minute I saw it, I knew my search was over. I hadn’t had prior ketubah-searching experience in the past, but I certainly did not think I’d see one and just think “this is so me.”
It says ‘Love’ in Hebrew in large print at the top and the lions, to me, symbolize strength in this next chapter of life. It is the most meaningful piece of art we will ever own. And not to mention, working with Adam and the Tchotchke team was incredibly seamless. They were so responsive and you could tell they truly value their customers. They also shipped it in a way that made it seamless on wedding day to display. COULD NOT RECOMMEND ENOUGH (for ketubahs and the COOLEST Judaica).
Our music choice
New Orleans is known for their incredible music, so we knew going the band route was the way to go. One thing that totally sold me on our band, Got Groove, was the fact that they do a lot of mash-ups, which is a personal favorite of ours and another unique element. We requested that there be a good mix of the classics and pop, fun, singalong dance music. They were absolutely fantastic and kept our guests engaged all night long. They also sang the Horah music which was a plus!
For the Horah – we didn’t do this in the beginning of the night, which is often the case at weddings. We used one of the band’s breaks later in the night to play a set of 3 amazing, upbeat, party Hebrew songs, followed by an amazing Horah. This was a great way to get our guests all on the dance floor and partying for the rest of the night.
Flowers
Our fabulous florist who brought our ideas to life was Bella Blooms. Working with Dee was so fun, straightforward, and she was just able to read my mind. She took all the not fully formed thoughts, ideas, and vision that I couldn’t properly articulate and brought them to life. Again, I wasn’t interested in TONS of flowers. I wanted them sprinkled throughout the room and tables with the bigger emphasis on candles. There were also surfaces in the venue that I “wanted to look like my living room console table under my TV – organized and aesthetic chaos”. We used lanterns, candelabras, tapered candles, votives, and more and it was absolute magic. One of the biggest highlights was also the whole backdrop of candles she installed behind the lounge area we set up.
For personal flowers, this was another area that I wasn’t interested in. To the point where Dee, our florist, said “this is the smallest personal floral order I’ve ever seen”. And that is because it consisted of literally one bouquet for myself.
In terms of flower color and type, I didn’t have an exact preference here, other than I knew for colors I wanted it to be blush whites and pinks with some green tucked in.
Food and cake
We used the in-house caterers at Latrobe’s and they knocked it out of the park. Our guests raved about the food and the great thing about reception style is that they were replenishing it all night. Guests were able to have a taste of everything in whatever quantity they wanted!
We wanted to incorporate Nola style food, while also giving our guests some less heavy options (like a fish and carved turkey, for example). But we did also had to have shrimp & grits and oysters (I know, not kosher *hiding monkey emoji*) but they were a hit!! The biggest hit of the night, however, were the homemade piping hot beignets.
Wedding List/Registry
I am going to give all credit to my husband here who is obsessed with all things product research and he landed on Zola for our wedding website & registry. I honestly took a step back here but it was fun doing all the registry stuff together and going to stores in NYC.
Photographer and videographer
This question I’m so excited about. We used Ollie from Love is Rad. Not to be dramatic, but he was 100% a huge highlight of our wedding. Not only did we fall in love with him, but the guests did as well. From the moment we met, he had a way of making us feel so comfortable. My style for the photos was to be less posed, and more natural and just silly – which are the types of people Drew and I are. Ollie got that immediately and I am so grateful to have these pictures that will tell our story forever.
We also decided on a videographer, which I’m so grateful we did. I cannot wait to be able to relive this night forever. As the bride and groom, there are so many parts of the day and night you don’t get to see or be part of so I am grateful to have all the raw footage to feel like I was a part of it all. The team at Shotgun captured the love and excitement beautifully.
Extra Details
Again, the second line was by far the coolest and most unique experience of the wedding.
For the wedding weekend, we really wanted to make a whole weekend of it. We did a Thursday night rehearsal dinner with just family at one of our favorite restaurants, and that was really special to have a more intimate night with family (despite it still being 55 people). Then Friday during the day, we met all our friends at the infamous bar on Tulane’s campus – The Boot. It was such a blast and so fun feeling like we were back in college for the afternoon. Friday night we had our welcome party at Bourbon Street Drinkery (on Bourbon st) to really give our guests the Nola experience. Granted, we were on the second floor of the bar and had a balcony looking over Bourbon Street, so we were quite removed from all the debauchery that goes on.
For the welcome party, we made custom mardi gras bead medallions and napkins with some of our favorite Nola spots printed on (I really perfected my DIY skills with these projects).
Then wedding day!!
Then the after party, which was an absolute HIT. We did it at Cafe Beignet – we wanted more of a late night food, chill after party vs. a DJ dancing one. However, what we ended up with was everyone drinking cocktails, coffee, eating beignets the size of your face and my friends and I still managed to be dancing and singing in the corner. It had a taste of everything and an incredible turnout for having been a little walk from the venue.
Honeymoon
So we got married April 5th and are going on our Honeymoon June 18th. We are going to Indonesia for 15 nights – island hopping! We spread it out for weather purposes, PTO purposes, and because we had some weddings and other celebrations in between. Very grateful for the break between and to have something else to look forward to!!
In regards to travel agents, my husband actually doubles as one! He has been planning every single minute of our honeymoon for over a year… and I just show up! I know it will be the most magical trip ever. And if anyone is looking for a travel advisor, hit him up!
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My biggest takeaway is that at times, some decisions or differing opinions seemed like the BIGGEST DEAL in the world and literally a couple days or weeks later, it seemed like the smallest deal in the world. I think it’s important to voice your biggest priorities and then know that there will be SO many other decisions to make and putting the same emphasis on them all is going to make your head explode.
Another piece of advice, which I’d argue is more important the the first, is to stay in your own lane. And I mean, you’re going to see 10000 weddings and dresses and florals on Instagram before your wedding. Don’t do or add something just because someone else did. Take inspiration if something feels true to you, but don’t compare and contrast what you have in the works to something you see on social.
I also had a tiny bridal party made up of 3 maids of honor – my 3 best friends all from a different parts of life. It was the best decision for me. I was still able to invite my larger friend group to the bridal suite for an hour for coffee before we started hair & makeup, which was the best way to kick off the day. Then it was just myself, the maids of honors, and the moms and it made for the most chill, relaxing, low key, and FUN getting ready day.
DANIELLE & DREW’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Love is Rad
Videography – Shotgun
Ketubah – Tchotchke {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue & Catering – Latrobe’s on Royal
Planner – Elyse Jennings Weddings
Bride’s dress – Jaehee Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Loeffler Randall
Bride’s accessories – Verstolo
Groom’s attire – Martin Greenfield
Flowers – Bella Blooms Floral
DJ – Got Groove
Stationery/Invitation – Olivia Motley Art
Wedding List/Registry – Zola
Rabbi – David Gerber
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
