Weddingbee Blog

Hive, I owe you an apology—and it’s not just for my awful photography skills, though I should grovel about that as well. After whining on about the endless venue indecision, I’m a little ashamed that my venue reveal was such a letdown…just one sorry little picture.

I was doing my best though, since we booked without actually visiting and touring. Though it was really stressful, I just tried to trust my instincts. And at the next possible opportunity, I scheduled another New Orleans trip, with visiting the venue as #1 on the weekend’s priority list. I’m so excited to get to really show y’all our venue!

But first, I need to explain that we’re having a traditional New Orleans-style cocktail reception. Though we are serving a full meal as well as hor d’oeuvres, we will not be having assigned seating, or everything in one room, or really, several things that are typically expected at a fancy evening wedding reception—for two reasons. First, this is how lots of receptions are done at home—of the six or so NOLA weddings we’ve attended, not one has had place cards. But more importantly—that’s just the style and vibe of reception that Mr. Archer and I are wanting for ourselves. We want delicious food and elegant decor, but really just an awesome, dancy, cocktail party with everyone we love…at the beautiful Columns Hotel.

Mr Archer and I will be getting married right on this gorgeous veranda—I cannot wait to walk down this aisle to him!

After the ceremony, our guests will have a short cocktail hour on the veranda and the attached patio.

The stairs leading down to the front patio

We’ll then invite them into the ballroom for our first dance and toasts, kicking off the reception.

In these pictures, the ballroom was partially set for a luncheon, so it’s not totally accurate. All the dancing will be taking place in here, and there will only be a few high top tables scattered around the edges. Oh, and one of the bars—those are important!

We’ll have two dining rooms set up as well. The main buffet line will be set up in what the Columns calls Albertine’s Tea Room—it is their hotel restaurant facility (and was set up as such in this picture.)

One of the things we love is that the tea room opens off to a private little courtyard for our guests.

The area was in a bit of disarray, not having been used in a few months, but I was assured that it would be trimmed, power washed, and is having some masonry updating done currently, so I’m sure it will look great! It’s long but narrow and I think we’ll have another bar set up right where the tea room opens up into the courtyard. Unfortunately, the photos of our other dining room, the Avenue room, turned out dark and blurry (sorry about that)!

The timing of this venue visit was really quite serendipitous. The lawn was set up for a wedding ceremony, so it was nice to see how it would actually look. I actually visited on our wedding date last year, and the weather was gorgeous, so I’m hoping for more of the same this year!

I felt so much better after seeing our venue with my own eyes and being able to imagine the wedding there. What was your first venue visit like?