Royal Rendezvous

 

With a blog named after a famous (mis)quote by one of the most popular royals in history (Marie Antoinette, obviously), it should be no surprise that we have reported on all the recent (as well as historic) royal weddings. If you’ve lived under a rock for the past 48 hours, you may not know that British Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle sat down with one of our American queens – Oprah – in a tell-all interview following their decision to step back from royal titles, duties and more that come along with being part of Queen Elizabeth II’s family.

The interview was packed with juicy details and revealed opinions and conversations had by the royal family involving mental health and racism. As important as those subjects are and as much as we hope the conversation continues, we are not authorities in either of those areas, so we are sticking with what we know – weddings.

During the interview, Meghan Markle dropped a wedding bomb and shared that she and Harry were officially married three days before their world-wide spectacular of a public ceremony.

We wrote three different blogs about this wedding – two before the Big Day about what to expect and when and where people could view the festivities and a final blog with all of the details of each part of the fairytale day. So, it was shocking to us when the former Duchess shared that she, Harry and the Archbishop of Canterbury had a little informal ceremony three days before the big wedding. A spokesperson for the couple clarified the following morning that it was an exchange of vows and special moment just for them, they were in fact legally married on May 19, but it seemed they hold that day closer as Meghan shared those are the photos they have framed throughout their home.

(Kelly here: I’m very upset at the picking apart of each aspect of the interview to the point that the Twitter-verse tore apart the claim that it was just the three of them, as that is not a way to legally bind a marriage in Great Britain. A marriage yes is a legal entity for different purposes, but that doesn’t make a vow renewal, commitment ceremony or say a divorced couple that gets back together and casually exchanges vows again any less important or special. I was disappointed by the immediate negativity.)

This little piece of information about the former Duke and Duchess got us thinking. Though the number of vaccinations continues to rise, we are still unsure how COVID-19 will impact weddings for the foreseeable future. We wrote yesterday about the restrictions of the current phasing for Louisiana and New Orleans specifically. Though outdoor gatherings are permitted, and private events are at 75 and 150 attendees for indoor and outdoor locations respectively, there are timed restrictions, as well as a mask mandate and six-foot distance rule still in place. This can make an event a little tricky to work around.

We suggest taking a page from the former Duke and Duchess’ book and have an intimate ceremony that is later celebrated with a large-scale event, when the pandemic restrictions abate, safely allowing for larger gatherings. There are myriad local wedding officiants willing to help couples plan and an intimate ceremony or vowel exchange during the pandemic, as well as many beautiful locations around the city to act as the perfect backdrop.

 

A few of our favorite picturesque locations around the city include various areas across New Orleans City Park, Jackson Square, along Lake Pontchartrain, Woldenberg Park, Longue Vue House and Gardens, the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, the “Tree of Life” in Audubon Park and the courtyard at Brennan’s Restaurant, just to name a few.

 

To find your perfect officiant for your Big Day, we suggest doing your research and heading to online wedding resources The Knot and WeddingWire.

 

Did you have an intimate ceremony or exchange of vows before your Big Day? Let us know in the comments or email us at kelly@myneworleans.com

 

 

 

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