Travel Diaries: New Orleans part 3 - the wedding!

As I mentioned before, Mark and I were in New Orleans for his coworkers wedding. Houston is from Alabama and Loren is from Louisiana and they both went to LSU. They loved New Orleans and I can see why they chose to get married there!

Here are my photos from the welcome dinner and the wedding the next night. Enjoy!

Mark was in heaven with all of the Cajun and creole seafood. This had craw fish or crab in it, I can't remember!

The venue was at Jax Brewery off Decatur St. and overlooked the Ferry station and the Mississippi River. We got to look at that cool lit up bridge all night long!

I love how all of the stores are reminiscent of Europe!

You can check out the photos I took as we wandered the streets after the party here. 

Saturday night was the BIG party. Loren and Houston had the ceremony and reception at Latrobe's on Royal. It was a block from Bourbon street and was such a cute location!

As we walked in, our photo was taken with a Polaroid and we used that as our 'sign in' and clipped it next to our names. 

It was such a romantic backdrop, lit with candles and gas lights!

When we walked in, it was standing room only. About 20-30 people had to stand for the ceremony. Houston and Loren are loved!

Loren looked BEAUTIFUL and the ceremony went off without a hitch.

They're married!

Immediately after, we headed to the atrium and were greeted by servers with champagne.

Me and the hubs!

The newlywed's first dance!

Around 11pm, they started passing out masks!

I'm not sure what they did, but there was some game they played with the masks. I couldn't hear but I enjoyed wearing mine!

Then, the party really took off around 11:30 when the jazz band came in!

A 'second line' in New Orleans means the bride and groom lead the jazz band, followed by the guests, down bourbon street. Apparently you wave white handkerchiefs as well. 

It was pouring rain, so they marched around the building instead. It was still an awesome experience and everyone had a blast!

I've never posted video so I don't know if this will work, but here is my instavid of the second line!

We had such a good time celebrating Loren and Houston and exploring a new city. We loved the culture, Mark loved the food, and I loved the architecture. We'd love to go back to see the museums and plantations, as well as enjoy another B&B. Despite the rain, we had a wonderful time! Thanks for the fun, New Orleans!

Travel Diaries: New Orleans part 2

We continued our tour of New Orleans by wandering down to the open-air French Market. Half of it is a true "market" and half of it is more of a place that sells cheap knock-offs and junk. Either way, it was fun to wander through!

There were quite a few Praline stores in the area.

Again, another statue that I don't know, but it was cool and very European!

The market was open-air and we had plenty of room to roam.

Gator heads. Too bad I didn't buy one!

After our jaunt through the French Market, we went back out into the French Quarter to stroll the streets looking for cool architecture. I think we found some...

I just love the quintessential New Orleans balcony. I'm inspired to get a hanging fern after seeing so many here!

I liked the fun brick sidewalk on Bourbon Street.

We decided it was best to 'see' Bourbon Street in daylight. It's a long street packed with bars, and that's about it!

We took the trolley back to the end of the line through the Garden District and stopped for lunch in Uptown.

After lunch, we grabbed our car for a quick drive around Tulane, Loyola, Audobon Park, the Garden District, and Magazine Street. We were happy to see it all, even if it was just a drive-by!

Audobon Park backs up to the Mississippi.

After all of our touring, we headed back to the B&B for a quick nap and started getting ready for the night. Here was our room!

It was HUGE!

Here's a shot after the wedding, heading out into the rainy, yet romantic, streets of New Orleans.

I have one more post to share showcasing the wedding events. Check back on Friday for that and let me know if you've been to these same places, or if you've been to New Orleans and never saw something that you wished you had!

Travel Diaries: New Orleans part 1

Brace yourselves.

We had a great time in New Orleans (despite the constant rain) and as a new blogger, I made it my mission to capture as many moments on camera as possible! 

Lucky for you, I'm splitting up the photos into three posts, so here's our arrival and adventures in photos:

This was my first time seeing the Mississippi River in person. Just as impressive as I thought!

Walking around the French Quarter after the welcome dinner (a whole post will be dedicated to wedding festivities)

At one point, we heard an (American) tourist ask what this symbol was...

Cafe du Monde at night. Don't worry, we tried it!

Parts of the French Quarter are so romantic! This was outside the hotel that the wedding party had blocked off.

This was the hotel that many of the wedding guests were staying.

We were told we HAD to see Bourbon Street. So, we saw it. And then we went home to bed. 

Riding the cable car or street car was one of my favorite things to do!

We woke up to LOTS of rain on Saturday morning.

I came prepared! We hit the ground early to do some sight-seeing.

Our B&B was perfect, couldn't have asked for more!

We stayed near the Garden District. It had beautiful old homes that reminded me of Charleston and Swiss Ave in Dallas.

We took the trolley back to the French Quarter.

Here's my photo in a light rain...

And here is similar shot during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The trolley was so charming! Easy to use and only $1.25 a ride!

We heard 'Go Saints' and 'Geaux Tigers' all weekend!

Here we are in Jackson Square facing the Mississippi River.

And this is looking into town toward St. Louis Cathedral. 

Someone teach Mark how to work an umbrella in a photo! Eek!

These signs were everywhere and I really liked the feeling they gave! It felt very European.

This was such a pretty area.

Annnd this is why I don't have many photos of Mark.

We didn't really get up close to this statue, but my best guess is that it's Jackson?

Inside St. Louis Cathedral - gorgeous, right?!

We went back out into the rain and walked more around Jackson square. 

We then crossed the street and promptly headed to the long line in front of Cafe du Monde. :)

The wait wasn't long at all and we were inside in about 10 minutes!

I love how candid this photo is. We sat smack in the middle of the open-air restaurant!

We were serenaded with jazz hymns the whole time. 

The wait was SO worth it and the beignets were warm and DELICIOUS! I couldn't resist taking a bite before the picture. 

As you can see, the constant downpour didn't bother us much and we got to see quite a bit of the Big Easy. Check back this week for more photos and a recap of the weekend and our thoughts on our first visit to New Orleans! 

Happy Monday and Happy Fall! :)