French Quarter Wedding - Jackie & Cody

This wedding, the one you're about to relive, has to be one of the most crazy, love filled, and emotional weddings that we've ever had the privilege of photographing.

It started on the Thursday before the wedding. We got the announcement that a hurricane, the first week of October, was rolling in the gulf and headed straight for New Orleans. In my head, I was like, "oh that's just fucking perfect." We had been looking forward to Jackie and Cody's wedding for months, these two amazing people were coming in with all their family and friends from Chicago, and it was the first to kick off our season.

The girls at Unique Weddings & Events, kept it together like the professionals they are and made sure everything went off without a hitch, despite having to move the entire wedding up. The city of New Orleans issued a mandatory curfew in the city that forced everyone to be closed up at 5 pm. That totally threw things, considering their ceremony was set to start for 6pm. 

Nothing stops New Orleans from having a party, not even a hurricane, and so we made do and it turned out even better than I had ever expected.

Jackie and Cody shared their love for one another inside of a beautifully candle lit Broussard's. There were so many tears and emotions, the love, the passion it filled the room with the best vibes ever. This is the kinda' stuff we live for, the kind of people we love to be around. Thank you Jackie and Cody, y'all are amazing!

New Orleans Proposal - Logan & Hannah

We had a plan. Logan and I had come up with this plan on where he could propose to Hannah, including a stiff drink to take the nerves off, and meeting on this pier along the river.

All of that went to shit when New Orleans decided to have one of those "screw everything you had to do" days with it's traffic, even despite leaving almost 45 minutes ahead of time. I parked unpaid in a lot and prayed my car wouldn't get towed for it.

So in a mad panic, I scrambled to get to the location and passed Logan and Hannah walking hand in hand, heading the opposite direction of where we were going to meet. I gave him a nod and a probably ridiculous looking wink to let him know I was ready as I passed them. He instantly dropped to one knee and popped the question, I'm pretty sure at that point I was like, "NOOOO!" But despite being a little thrown off, it was beautiful and it was worth every last drop of stress.

The momentous amount of joy and love they share between the two of them made up for it in stride. It's couples like this that make us truly appreciate what we do, and why we do it. We're not in it to make the next "epic" image, we're in it to get our heart filled documenting love and the gorgeous souls that share it.

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Vow Renewal at Race & Religious - Jamie & Heather

Our friends Jamie and Heather's story is unique. Here are two insanely talented, well respected wedding photographers who ran away and got married in a basement, with no one else other than the officiant. The have zero photographs of that day, nothing for their children and their families to relive. It gave them inspiration and spawned the creation of the amazing photographers known as Dark Roux.

So like, when Jamie asked us to photograph his surprise vow renewal to Heather on their 10 year anniversary, we were freaking stoked beyond belief. Not only did they photograph our wedding, but they are amazing friends who have helped us become who we are as well.

From the bottom of our hearts, we love y'all.

New Orleans Elopement - Dee & Rome

If there is any one thing that New Orleans does well, is that it shows it's visitors a really great time. It's our nature, it's our soul and it's in our blood.

New Orleans also knows how to put on for a wedding, and that's exactly what it did for Dee and Rome. The two of them roamed the city after running away and getting married in the lushcourtyard garden of The Royal Sonesta, and at every turn were greeted like family. The cheer and love was certainly felt with their huge smiles and passion for each other.

Even though we're natives and totally biased, we think that Dee and Rome made an excellent choice in celebrating their love for one another down south in one of the most romantic, laid back and fun filled cities in America.

Whether your wedding has 300 people or just 2, New Orleans is certainly going to show you a good time.

Bourbon Street Wedding - Lauren & Otis

If there is anything New Orleans does better than anywhere else, it's throwing a party, and food, and culture, and music, and well just about everything else.

In typical New Orleans fashion, Lauren and Otis threw one of the most amazing weddings we've ever had the pleasure of documenting. They embraced NOLA in it's entirety with a laid back informal ceremony that really let their love for each other and their amazing personalities shine, and then followed that up with our favorite NOLA tradition, the second line. If you don't let yourself experience a second line when you're visiting New Orleans, than let me just say, you are doing it wrong. And if you're gonna' have experience a second line, you're going to want to make sure that Kinfolk Brass Band is there to lead the way.

The second line is an incredible experience, but it's only an appetizer for a true New Orleans wedding. You roll into the venue, in this case it was amazing Petite Bourbon,  still high from the brass band parading you through the streets and you just let loose. You grab your friends, loved ones, and you let the good times roll.

That's how you get married in NOLA.

New Orleans Engagement - Madeline & Jared

From our first meeting with Madeline, I knew that her and Jared were going to be one hell of an awesome couple to be around, and let me just tell you, our instincts were so right.

We started off the session the way we always do, with a relaxing drink or two at one of New Orleans' amazing bars, just laughing and chatting about life and it's adventures.  Madeline & Jared are the kind of people we love to be around. Happy, laid-back and full of love and laughter.

It was an experience that we just didn't want to end, and we can't wait for their wedding in the fall. They'll be closing out our year in December and it really can't come quick enough, we're just too freaking excited to be able to photograph them again.

New Orleans Botanical Garden Wedding - Corey & Sophie

These two were by far one of my favorite couples that I've had the pleasure to photograph. After photographing their engagement session on a whim, they decided to ditch the family friend who they had planned to have photograph their wedding and gave us the honor of doing so.

We were floored. These two are some of the nicest, down to earth people I've ever met, and their love for one another fills the air around them in the best of ways. 

Their wedding at the gorgeous New Orleans Botanical Gardens was full of love and smiles throughout the day. The weather was terrible earlier that day, but it's like the heaven's knew that these two were getting married and cleared out with a gorgeous sunset for these two love birds.

Cheers to our new friends and the awesomest of people, Corey and Sophie!

New Orleans Connection - Lauren & Otis

These two came down to meet Rachael and I before their wedding this May, and we knew from the instant they walked into the coffee shop that we were waiting for them in, that they were going to be an amazing couple to work with.

Both Lauren and Otis were so full of life and presence that the room just lit up when they walked in. We chatted for almost an hour before we began exploring New Orleans and all of it's little hidden gems.

We ended up back at their hotel that Otis and his family always stay at when they visit New Orleans; It had this amazing little courtyard that I've never seen before. They originally wanted to have their ceremony there, but the size of their wedding quickly outgrew it, with all their friends and family who can't wait to see these two join together in that forever love.

French Quarter Engagement - Jenni Jane & Joe

Jenni Jane and Joe wanted to do some engagement portraits while they were here in New Orleans visiting for a friend's wedding. When she told me about how her and Joe, who is from London, met and how they loved the old styling of New Orleans and moody jazz bars, I knew we were gonna' click.

I met them at Napoleon House in the French Quarter and we grabbed a drink to loosen up. Joe had never been to New Orleans, so we walked around the Quarter while I let them hang out and just really be together in this awesome city.

You can tell from their smiles and the emotion in their expressions, how deeply in love they were with each other and how awesome of a time they were having in New Orleans.

Cheers y'all!

Lower Garden District Engagement - Jimmy & Adrienne

I met these two early last year at their friend's wedding I was photographing, when they reached out to me afterward for their wedding in November, I was stoked.

They were fun, easy going, and caring for one another, freaking perfect! 

We decided to meet at the Irish House on St. Charles in New Orleans to grab a drink before strolling around the Lower Garden District, just to get loose and have a little fun. Turns out it was closed for some maintenance on the streets, which totally ended up throwing me off.

So we decided to head out anyways, and come back later. Jimmy & Adrienne walked out to the park in the neighborhood and we hung out for a bit. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold and not a damn cloud in the sky. You couldn't ask for better weather in the here in the South.

They capped the day off by making it back to the Irish House here in New Olreans, with a couple of irish coffees, which if you've never had one from the Irish House I highly recommend it. They are the best in the city, hands down!