A Photographer's Guide to New Orleans Wedding Venues

I'm a wedding photographer in New Orleans. These are the venues I've worked in.

Not a list of the prettiest buildings in the city, and not a ranking. Every place here is somewhere I've actually shot a wedding, so what follows is what each one is like to work in, rather than what it looks like in a brochure.

How a New Orleans wedding usually runs

Most weddings here happen in two places.

You get ready at your hotel or AirBnb, then you move to the venue for the ceremony and the reception. That's the pattern, and it surprises a lot of couples, particularly if you're planning from out of state.

It matters more than it sounds, because venues split into two kinds.

Some venues have room for you to get ready on site and some don’t. Race & Religious gives both bride and groom areas to get get ready, The Columns is an actual hotel, and the BK house has a bridal room and a space around the courtyard for the groomsmen. When a venue offers this, your prep becomes part of your wedding instead of a logistics problem, and you get an hour or so of pictures you'd otherwise never have. Less traveling means more picture time.

At Il Mercato and Marché for example you arrive dressed. That isn't a drawback, it just changes the shape of the day. They do offer a bridal room to store things and get a breather if you need. The morning happens at your hotel, a first look needs to be considered more, and everything moves faster once you're through the gate.

Neither is better, but knowing which one you've booked changes your timeline, and it's easier to hear from someone who's photographed both. I’ve got 20 years of wedding photography experience and there really isn’t much I haven’t seen. When you book me, you get access to this wisdom and knowledge of the city and how a chill/relaxed wedding day can happen. When I have a chill and present bride that isn’t worrying about something, it’s crazy how much better the images can turn out.

What's in each of these

For every venue: what the building actually is, where the light goes, where the day tends to happen, and what I'd want you to know before you arrive.

Anyone can tell you a venue is beautiful, but there isn’t much information out there about how a photographer will handle it. If your venue isn’t on this list, no problem, 20 years in this industry has taught me adaptability. I think this list will continue to grow. Enjoy the guide.