Mardi Gras!

Wave your napkins and catch those beads.  It’s Mardi Gras!

You’ve just witnessed the Second Line, a parade that finds its roots in African American jazz funerals and is now a tradition in French Quarter weddings. The line signifies the beginning of life between the bride and groom, and it’s definitely one of the coolest parts of a New Orleans wedding. The band leads the wedding party from the church to their reception down crowded Quarter streets like Bourbon or Canal. The bride and groom are given parasols and the guests drink, dance, drink, wear masks, drink, and flail cocktail napkins. And drink. One New Orleans bride noted that walking down those streets is a perfect way to trash the dress. The bottom of her gown turned black and smelled like hurricanes (the drink, much better than the real thing, but no less effective in ruining formal attire).

Mini Muffulettas

Weddings in the French Quarter are lively any time of year, but especially outrageous around Mardi Gras. Purple, green, gold, glitter: these are the “colors” of Mardi Gras (no plum-and-sage combinations need apply). You can expect the reception to be a party of epic proportions, with no end in sight. It’s my assumption that the failure to provide an open bar is a felony within the city limits. The food will be New Orleans’ finest: catfish bites, deep fried gator, and mini muffulettas from Central Grocery.

A traditional New Orleans wedding cake always involves ribbon pulling. Charms are attached to ribbons embedded in the icing, and bridesmaids and female guests grab a ribbon, simultaneously pull, and find their fate depicted by the charms:

• A Ring: You’re next to marry
• A Heart: You’ll find true love
• A Button: You’re the old maid
• The Horseshoe: Good luck
• Fleur-de-lis: Love will bloom
• The Anchor: Hope
• A Dime: Wealth
• A Penny: Poverty

New Orleans is just one big party most of the time anyway, so wedding receptions merely add to the volume. The city’s architecture looks gorgeous in all the pictures and the balconies are a photographer’s dream.  This is one place where wedding crashers are part of the atmosphere, and by the time you get through a couple of “hurricanes” you won’t remember which people you invited anyway.  Let those good times roll!

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