1. Real Weddings

Erin & Collin: A Traditional Wedding in New Orleans, LA

Even though Erin and Collin were both born and raised in the Big Easy, it took the Big Apple to bring them together. They met at a mutual friend’s Chr

Even though Erin and Collin were both born and raised in the Big Easy, it took the Big Apple to bring them together. They met at a mutual friend’s Christmas party on the Upper West Side of New York City, where they’d both moved to the previous summer. After four years of dating, Collin proposed with a romantic scavenger hunt that took the couple to all their favorite places around New York. But when it came time to choose a location for the wedding, Erin and Collin knew there was no place like home. The Bride Erin Foley, 30, VP of a financial firm The Groom Collin Schuhmacher, 30, trader The DateJune 3 “New Orleans has a special place in our hearts,” Erin explains. “After all New Orleans has been through since Katrina, we were even more determined to show our guests -- both local and out-of-towners -- a good time.” The couple chose a cool, summery palette of green, ivory, and mango, and mixed New York details -- including a specially decorated groom’s cake --- with New Orleans culture and traditions, such as a second line, pralines, cake ribbons, and jazz.

The groomsmen wore mango mini calla lilies as boutonnieres.
Erin’s mother, who also made the bridal veil, hand-scripted the wedding invitation, the monogram on the wedding program, and the dinner menu, which were all then professionally engraved. “They had a traditional and formal look,” Erin says.
“I wanted a clean, elegant look, so we used a lot of white, ivory, and green, and a lot of orchids,” Erin explains. Her bouquet of cattleya orchids matched the fresh blooms decorating the cake. Bridesmaids carried green cymbidium orchids with mango calla lilies, green mini hydrangeas, and peach hypericum berries.
Erin and Collin hosted a cocktail hour and reception at the Audubon Tea Room, on the property of the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. A local jazz trio played as guests sipped martinis in the French Quarter-style courtyard, glowing with old-fashioned gas lanterns and hurricane lamps.
The “From the Big Easy to the Big Apple”-themed groom’s cake brought together landmarks from the couple’s hometown of New Orleans and their newly adopted home of New York City.
When you live in a foodie’s paradise like New Orleans, planning an original wedding menu is easy. Erin and Collin celebrated the savory local flavors of their city with appetizers of fried catfish and sauteed oysters with brie sauce. Dinner featured a salad with fire-dried pecans and Louisiana strawberries, plus filet of beef and a seafood puff pastry with crawfish, oysters, and Gulf shrimp.
Reception arrangements included white dendrobium orchids, bear grass, curly willow, and white and green hydrangeas.
In keeping with Southern tradition, Erin and Collin served a wedding cake as well as a groom’s cake. Their ivory three-tiered round cake featured raspberry filling and was served with berries and strawberry coulis.
Erin and Collin were married by Erin’s uncle, who is also a priest, in a traditional Catholic service at a Garden District church dating back to 1894. The couple wrote their own petitions for the service, including a particularly special verse for the recovery of New Orleans. Tall candelabras with arrangements of white wildflowers and greenery lined the aisles. Erin’s aunts, both professional musicians, performed the ceremony music, including “Ave Maria.”