In the summer of 2004, Darcy Lowen Pulitzer had no idea that going to a friend’s birthday party in New York City would eventually lead her down the aisle. There, she met Jeremy Zev Goldstein and after a 20-minute conversation the two realized they had more in common than they thought. Darcy grew up in New Orleans, where Jeremy’s family is also from and where he graduated from Tulane University. They also discovered that both their fathers attended Isidore Newman School. By the end of the evening, Darcy left the party telling herself, “I’m going to make that man my boyfriend.” And that she did. Over two years later, Jeremy proposed to Darcy in their New York City apartment – amidst 20 vases of roses. He presented her with an antique-style round diamond ring inspired by one they once saw in a jewelry store window on Royal Street in the French Quarter.
When it came to deciding where they wanted the wedding, no choice was more apparent than in their hometown of New Orleans. So, the couple began planning their Big Easy wedding in the City That Never Sleeps.
The rehearsal dinner kicked off with the bride and groom arriving on a special parade float that Jeremy’s parents had created for them. They wore Mardi Gras masks and threw doubloons collected from Mardi Gras in the 1970s and ’80s. “We wanted to show our [out-of-town] friends what New Orleans was all about,” the bride says.
The traditional Jewish ceremony took place Uptown at the Pulitzer family’s temple, Temple Sinai, followed by the reception at the Ritz Carlton New Orleans on Canal Street. The bride wore a Kenneth Pool platinum mermaid style gown embroidered with beads with a sweetheart top and a champagne sash cascading down the back. Her bridesmaids wore navy off-the-shoulder floor-length satin gowns and carried a bouquet of mixed white, green and blue flowers. The bride carried a bouquet of all white flowers – a combination of lilies, roses and orchids. Local designers Mead Whimsley and Keith Buckley collaborated on all the floral designs, including the hoopa, which was draped with orchids.
The groom wore a black Ermenegildo Zegna classic Italian tuxedo with a bow tie, suspenders and sapphire cufflinks that were a gift from the bride’s parents.
The traditional New Orleans cocktail hour at the Ritz Carlton served guests a raw seafood bar, soup station served in shot glasses, traditional hors d’oeuvres and other New Orleans “haute cuisine,” says Darcy. For dinner, the couple picked out a divine three-course French tasting menu, which included fresh artichoke hearts, jumbo lump crab and heirloom tomatoes. The bride said she wanted a menu of New Orleans cuisine with a fine food and wine twist.
Local Magazine Street bakery Sucré created the Wedgewood-inspired Italian wedding cake with cream cheese frosting and a hint of amaretto. The groom’s cake was a New Orleans Saints cake designed by Zoe’s Bakery. Jeremy’s grandfather was a minority partner in the Saints football team, so it had special meaning to Jeremy and his family.
The newlyweds danced their first dance to Nina Simone’s “To Love Somebody.” Guests then hopped on the dance floor themselves and danced to the music of E.L.S. Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Goldstein second-lined through the crowd of their guests with the Treme Brass Band and a Mardi Gras Indian. The party continued into the early morning hours in the couple’s 4,500-square-foot suite at the Ritz.
Jeremy and Darcy honeymooned in Thailand for nearly three weeks. Darcy is an account executive at MGX Lab, a branding and marketing firm, and Jeremy is a vice president in the securities division at Goldman Sachs in New York City, where the couple resides on the Upper East Side.
Looking back on the wedding, the couple definitely knew how to put on the Ritz. The bride says, “We wanted to bring New Orleans’ spirit, all while keeping it a formal affair.”
