Wedding at St. Louis Cathedral and Riverview Room
– Emily and Ryan –

Emily & Ryan’s wedding day, which was expertly coordinated by wedding planner Leslie Campbell, started at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel where everyone was getting ready. We then headed to historical landmark St. Louis Cathedral for the ceremony.

 

Ceremony

All ceremonies in the Cathedral are awe-inspiring, but this wedding was made even more impressive with the addition of a tympanist accompanying the traditional organ and trumpet music during the processional, with the thundering yet beautifully melodic sounds of this percussion instrument resonating and reverberating throughout the space. It made a much more dramatic and breathtaking entrance for the bride and her father and departure for the couple at the conclusion of the ceremony.

 

Reception

The reception took place at the nearby Riverview Room, which is located right across Decatur Street in the Jax Brewery building. Groovy 7 was on hand for the entertainment and were absolutely amazing as usual.  This band excels at reading the crowd, starting off with unobtrusive light jazz background music while guests eat, then ramping it up to livelier selections as people get in the mood to dance.

At the end of the night, the amazing Kinfolk Brass Band wrapped things up by leading everyone on a lively second line parade through the French Quarter back to the Omni.

 

After the wedding, the bride was kind enough to post a nice review:

We used Michael for our New Orleans wedding in August 2014 and we couldn’t have been more pleased! I did a lot of research on photographers in the beginning of the process and I was so drawn to Michael’s ability to capture classic pictures with so much emotion. You can’t find many “classic” photographers out there anymore. I was also amazed after looking through some of his albums he was able to take all of the pictures himself. But he is absolutely amazing and captures everything!!

I’ve been in several weddings and seen many photographers and another huge pro is that Michael is so accommodating and easy to work with. He will go above and beyond to make the couple happy and feel at ease. His turnaround time for pictures is also extremely quick!! For our engagement/bridal pictures it was less than 2 weeks and our wedding pictures were finished in less than 3 weeks. I could go on and go about how wonderful Michael is! I recommend him to anyone who wants fabulous classic pictures on their wedding day!

 

About St. Louis Cathedral

Wide-angle photographs of wedding ceremonies at the iconic Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans capture the beauty and splendor of this historic landmark. Though there has been a Catholic presence at this location since 1718, most of the present structure was built in 1850. This is without question the most in-demand venue for Catholic wedding ceremonies in the New Orleans area, so if you dream of getting married here, especially on a Saturday in the busier months during Spring or Autumn, you must secure your date very far in advance.

 

Reception Options for St. Louis Cathedral Weddings

This historic church, with its central location in the French Quarter, has numerous outstanding reception venues within easy walking (and second lining!) distance. Located nearby are Pat O’s on the River, The Jaxson, Riverview Room, Latrobe’s on Royal, Marché, The Court of Two Sisters, and a variety of elegant hotels with spacious and elegant ballrooms such as the Omni Royal Orleans, Hotel Monteleone, and Royal Sonesta. The Bourbon Orleans Hotel is right around the corner. And mere steps away are Muriel’s on Jackson Square and Tableau.

And, of course, you can always opt to arrange transportation by bus for your guests if your chosen reception facility is not nearby.

 

Formal Group Portraits at the Cathedral

One thing to be aware of is that in almost all cases, this church does not allow time after the ceremony for formal group photographs. So, you either need to plan to have a first look and do all these photographs before the ceremony, or do them at the reception venue afterward. Note: several weddings I’ve shot at the Cathedral more recently were indeed allowed a little time after the ceremony for formals, so this policy appears to have changed.

Another option is to do the group shots in Jackson Square before or after the ceremony (assuming the ceremony ends before the park closes). But you do need to obtain a Jackson Square photography permit from the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways for this. This requirement is actively enforced by park maintenance personnel. It’s also important to note that the permit does not grant you exclusive use of the park, so it’s usually unavoidable that there will be some bystanders in the background of these photographs.

In some cases, we can use Pirate’s Alley, which is right next to the Cathedral. But again, it’s almost impossible to avoid capturing a few unintentional photobombers in the background. Many couples don’t have a problem with this, and consider it to just be part of the ambiance of their New Orleans wedding day! But if you want perfectly clean backgrounds in the formal group shots, plan on making arrangements for a different location.