Katelyn + Brandon

Ceremony + Reception: Houmas House | Hair + Makeup: All Brushed Up | Florist: George Newell | Invitation Suite: Gem Printing Co | Cake: Les Amis Bake Shoppe | Band: Bucktown Allstars | Videographer: Melanie Lane | Second shooter: Ryan Swanson

Katelyn: I always wanted to wear my grandmother’s dress from the moment I knew she still had it! I tried it on for the first time way back in high school and fell in love! It was snug on me even then, she was sooo tiny! Her mother, my great grandmother, was the one who made the dress originally 62 years ago. I didn’t know until 2 weeks before the wedding if I would even be able to wear it. I’ll skip all the details but here’s a basic rundown of what happened…

It needed a little touching up since the lace had gotten so yellow and it was VERY tight. We found a seamstress and everything was great. We bought new lace, got the petite coat and everything was going perfectly. Well, she ended up having to tell us after a couple months she couldn’t alter the dress due to some personal problems that had come up and we would have to find a new seamstress. So in August I brought the dress to a new seamstress who said she would be able to finish it. Months went by and every time I called she hadn’t started anything yet, but kept promising me it would be done in time. By February 15th (less than a month before my wedding) she still hadn’t even started anything! My mom finally convinced me to go to a bridal store and buy something off the rack. I think I might be the first person to say yes to a dress and then cry because I didn’t want to wear it! While there the consultant gave us the name of another seamstress that works with vintage dresses all the time. So I gathered my dress that had now been taken apart and the new lace and headed to her house the next day. She felt so bad for me and agreed to finish my dress in 2 weeks! It was perfect and I’m so thankful we found her! In then end, it was worth it, but it was NOT an easy journey!

Brandon: The diamonds and gold in Kate’s ring came from two rings that my grandfather had given my grandmother. One was their engagement ring and one was from a price of decorative jewelry. They have been married for over 60 years, so I know it’s good luck. I had a local jeweler melt the white gold down and made into a new setting we designed. The old diamonds were cleaned and placed into the new setting. There’s a lot of history and stories behind the wedding dress, cake toppers, and rings that make it all so special.

How did you two meet?

Katelyn: We met while we were both in school in New Orleans. He was in medical school at LSU, and I was studying dental hygiene at LSU School of Dentistry. Brandon lived in the same apartment complex as one of the girls in my hygiene class. I had gone to her place one night to study. We decided to take a break and were hanging out outside by the pool. Brandon and his roommates were coming back from the LSU Alumni Gala and decided to stop and talk to us, and I haven’t been able to get him to stop talking to me ever since. 🙂

Brandon: I saw her and thought to myself, “Now that’s a beautiful girl.” She didn’t want to talk to me at first, but I definitely think the cold shoulder made me want to try even more. After a few hours and much more effort, she finally agreed to give me her phone number.

How did Brandon propose?

Brandon proposed to me on December 12th in Jackson Square. It was the day after my office Christmas party, and I wasn’t exactly feeling my best that morning! Even starting the night before I unknowingly made it nearly impossible for him to do everything the way he had planned. I knew we were supposed to have a date day, but I didn’t think anything of it since we usually try to do that kind of thing every now and then. He planned a carriage ride (which I 100% thought was my idea the entire time) the exact spot he wanted to propose and made lunch reservations at a nearby restaurant. Apparently he planned on wearing the same outfit he had worn at the christmas party the night before because he knew if he was a little more dressed up then I would too. I, however, insisted we go to one of my coworkers houses after the party for a bonfire and could not for the life of me figure out why he was so against his clothes smelling all smoky after. The next morning I struggled to get out of bed, threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and told my mom “I’m just not in the mood to get all ready today.” (Thanks mom– you could have said something!!) We were 30 minutes late for the carriage ride because I didn’t feel like getting up on time when my alarm went off!

Once we finally got on the carriage Brandon kept trying to switch seats with me. I was sitting to his left and little did I know he had the ring box in left pocket. I refused to switch seats so the entire ride Brandon was completely distracted and worried I would feel the box in his pocket every time I rested my hand on his knee.

The ride finally ended and dropped us off in front of the square. Brandon asked what I felt like doing for lunch and I made a bee line for the lucky dog stand thinking we were just going to walk around the quarter for a little while. I still clearly had absolutely no idea what was going on. He finally convinced me to head over to the statue in the middle of the square (not the spot he originally picked but close enough.) His brother and roommate, who were hiding and waiting to photograph the moment, had to run across behind us without me seeing! And right there in front of everyone, he got down on one knee and I finally figured out why he didn’t think lucky dogs were a sufficient lunch that day.

First dance song: Tennessee Whiskey

I LOVE CAKE! My mom and I made ourselves sick at the tasting! We had 9 different flavor combinations all together. Our wedding cake was traditional almond cake with almond buttercream on the outside. Two layers had amaretto buttercream filling and the other two had strawberry buttercream (it had little chunks of fresh strawberries…yum!) The groom’s cake was a chocolate turtle cake with caramel filling.

Oh all the cake toppers…

My mom has always told me she saved her cake topper from when she married my dad, and I always planned on using it. Well, shortly after our engagement, my dad’s mom was so excited to show me her cake topper she had saved that her daughter and my other cousin had used. I couldn’t tell her no, and I didn’t want to be the only one to not use hers! So now I had two toppers for our one cake! Then I got to thinking and decided to see how many of our other grandparents still had their toppers. We ended up with six total, and since you can’t put six toppers on one cake, I decided to have the bakery make six cake tops so we could display them all!

What are your most memorable moments from the wedding day?

Katelyn: There are so many! Waiting at the end of the aisle with my dad and seeing everyone standing at the other end looking at us. My dad kept joking that we should just not start walking and stand there and watch everyone get really confused. Also, an hour before the wedding when the coordinator at Houmas House brought me the weather forecast to show me that it had all changed to 0% chance of the rain. And of course, marrying Brandon was pretty cool 🙂

Brandon: Hanging out at the Turtle Bar before the wedding with close friends/family was definitely a highlight. Also, running through the sparklers at the end of the night was fun. The whole day feels like it flew by so fast!