Big Easy Weddings Made Easy

If your customers are looking for a unique wedding destination in a European-style city without leaving the U.S., you should consider New Orleans.

The French Quarter and numerous other locales throughout the city provide a one-of-a-kind backdrop to any type of ceremony. Brides and grooms can opt for such extras as horse-drawn carriages, trolley cars, riverboats and second-line parades—all of which complement the Big Easy’s renowned cuisine, music and nightlife.

“There is a unique culture in New Orleans,” said Rachel Funel, a tourism sales manager for the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), noting that it is a “really romantic city.” She added that the city works with all types of couples from millennials to baby boomers, and that NOLA is a popular wedding venue for the LGBT market as well.

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Brides and grooms who choose to tie the knot in the city “tend to have some kind of connection to New Orleans,” said Thu Tran, a CVB sales manager serving the travel agent market.

The CVB is eager to help travel agents who have clients interested in booking their weddings, honeymoons or bachelor/bachelorette parties in the city, she noted.

Couples can choose from hundreds of different options available and “not one is the same,” Funel said.

They will find something to fit every style, theme and budget. Celebration styles include elopements in front of St. Louis Cathedral, destination weddings that feature a courtyard ceremony or Southern mansion along with a restaurant reception. There are even elaborate ceremonies with brides and grooms saying their “I do’s” in a church with a second-line parade escorting the wedding party to the reception hall.  

“We can provide a location that is unique to New Orleans,” Funel said.

Couples can also exchange vows on a Mississippi Riverboat, host their wedding at Mardi Gras World, or get married in the city and then board a cruise ship for the honeymoon.

The CVB will help agents narrow down hotel, restaurant and venue selections, while also providing agents with full wedding packages that they can sell to their clients. Tran noted that hotels generally pay 10 percent commission and additional pay can be earned through certain venues and activities companies—all of which can translate into lucrative earnings for agents.

“We are the direct connection to the hospitality community and the point of contact for travel agents,” said Tran, adding that she works closely with agents to select the location, atmosphere and theme of their clients’ weddings, while also helping to source venues, facilitate site inspections, research city events and make follow-up calls.

“Our services are complimentary,” she said.

Those services help agents save time and energy, enabling them to focus on working with their clients.

For its part, the city itself is well known for its lagniappe, a French word meaning “a little something extra.” And brides and grooms will find no shortage of lagniappe when it comes to seeking out something special to make their wedding day unique.

One of New Orleans’ most popular wedding traditions is the second-line parade, which typically travels from the wedding venue to the reception and signifies the beginning of life as a couple. It often consists of a brass band and the bride and groom, who carry customized umbrellas or parasols and form the first line.

The guests make up the second line and follow behind, dancing to the music and waving handkerchiefs or cocktail napkins in the air. The second-line parade requires a permit from the city and a small fee, and should be requested at least two to three weeks before the date of the wedding, said Funel.

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Another local tradition is the cake pull, which celebrates relationships with family and friends at the reception. Small charms, such as a heart—meaning “love will come,” or an anchor, meaning “hope”—are attached to ribbons and placed between the layers of the cake with the ends reachable on the outside.

Before the cake is cut, selected women choose a ribbon and pull to see what fortunes or well wishes await. More elaborate cake pulls, including gold or silver charms attached to a pearl bracelet, also are becoming popular, the CVB said. 

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CVB’S ROMANCE & WEDDING DESTINATION COURSE

Agents can find out about the myriad options the Crescent City offers wedding clients by checking out the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (CVB) Romance & Destination Weddings course, which is of one of seven specialized courses available for travel advisors, said Thu Tran, a CVB sales manager serving the travel agent market.

She noted that New Orleans features two major independent fam trips annually, which offer reduced hotel rates and VIP passes enabling travel agents to visit wedding-centric hotels and venues.

“The CVB can provide packages that put it all together—from rehearsal dinners, to sightseeing, to hotel accommodations, to the wedding ceremony and reception themselves. Agents receive commission on all of it, or can get a net package rate that they can mark up,” according to CVB officials.

“The profit potential for multiday romantic New Orleans destination weddings is big, as is the amount of repeat business an agent can receive from the happy couples and their wedding guests.”

For more information about booking a wedding in the city, enrolling in the New Orleans Travel Agent Specialist courses, or learning more about fam trip opportunities, visit www.neworleans4agents.com.