THROWBACK THURSDAY: OUR ELOPEMENT PARTY

Back in July I wrote a post about our elopement and how Jon and I held a celebratory party a few months after our wedding.  Jon and I didn't really have a true elopement because we actually sent out little notices to our family and friends letting them know we were getting married and inviting them to our party in October.  We held our party at LeMieux Art Gallery in downtown New Orleans.  As expected, it was a gorgeous day.

I mentioned before, and you probably already know, weddings are ridiculously expensive.  Elopement parties, however, are much more affordable.  We shopped around reception halls (whoa---$$$) and art galleries (prices really jumped around) and LeMieux was the best deal, so we booked it! It was a great open space with a back room for the caterers and speakers for our iPod hook-up.  (Not having a band saved us thhhoouuusssaaannnndddsss.)

We rented a handful of tables with linens and a dozen or so chairs expecting most guests to mingle around.  For decorations I bought some mason jars, rocks, and white gerbera daisies.

We had delicious food catered from a restaurant and bakery right outside of New Orleans.  New Orleans has delicious (delicious, delicious, delicious!) food.  Buuuttt when you're feeding over a 100 people, it can get pricey quick!  We also purchased our own drinks and hired a bartender for way less (like 20 times cheaper) than an open bar at a reception hall.

It was really great having so many of our friends and family at our party.  If we had a "real" wedding, there would have been no way (zip, nada, zilch), that we could have afforded to invite as many people.

Jon and I were so happy with how it all turned out.  We had such a great time and we know our friends did too!  Hopefully our less than conventional wedding and reception helps inspire other couples who want to celebrate their marriage with friends and family, but want to keep it simple, affordable, and stress-free.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: OUR ELOPEMENT

Yesterday, Jon and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.  If you're married, engaged, or even have a Pinterest wedding board, you know how expensive a wedding can be.  That's why we decided to skip it.  We had a private ceremony with awesome photographers, went on an amazing Hawaiian honeymoon, and a few months later held a pretty great party that we could invite everyone we wanted to.

On the day of our wedding, we got dressed and drove together in the rain to Newman Band Stand in Audubon Park in New Orleans.

Jamie and Heather Schneider, the owners of Dark Roux Photography, not only took fantastic photos, but they were also our witnesses on our marriage license, and even brought their iPod so we could have our first dance!

After our ceremony, we headed over to Sucre on Magazine Street.  Chef Tariq was so gracious and insisted on treating us to wedding cake and champagne on the house.  Our picture is still on their website!

Now flash forward to today...

This year we celebrated our anniversary with Thai take-out and a movie and couldn't be happier.