Taylor and Austin's New Orleans Wedding Celebration

Discover how Taylor and Austin’s dream wedding came to life with a romantic and traditional celebration adorned with exquisite rentable wedding flowers.

Hi, Laken here, co-founder and CMO of Something Borrowed Blooms! I’m so excited to pop in on our blog to share my sister’s wedding from this past December. At the time Something Borrowed Blooms was founded in 2015, I had already been married for 5 years, so I never had the opportunity to truly experience our rent and return wedding flower service first-hand. But helping my sister with her wedding was close as it comes to re-living the wedding planning experience. It was such an honor to assist her along the way, and an even greater honor to provide her with beautiful, stress-free wedding flowers.

I’ll take you through all the planning and wedding flower details resulting in the most beautiful, traditional New Orleans wedding. My sister, Taylor, and her now husband, Austin, were high school sweethearts. So each of our families have been family for years now, which made for an incredibly fun and lively celebration. I think the pictures tell it all!

Keep reading to learn all about how Taylor and Austin’s wedding dreams came to life.

The Planning:

I wanted to ensure Taylor and Austin chose the wedding flowers of their dreams and not my dreams, so when it came to planning flowers, I was sure to stress that there would be no hard feelings if they decided to go the fresh flower route. But, as with most Something Borrowed Blooms followers, it is REALLY hard to pass up the savings associated with rent and return silk wedding flowers. The savings allowed them to invest more in the beautiful, downtown New Orleans ballroom and a historic cathedral that captured their hearts! I love the freedom that Something Borrowed Blooms offers to so many couples – this never gets old for me!

They chose their wedding date based on the availability of the two venues, which resulted in a December 29th wedding. Right after Christmas and just before the New Year, it was sure to be a magical time. And naturally, the date and the venue took on a vibe - traditional, romantic, glam! Taylor chose a neutral color palette of black and white, with simple and elegant wardrobe selections that made a bold statement.

The Blooms:

The Wren Collection was an obvious choice for their wedding aesthetic. Featuring a beautiful mix of roses and orchids in white, cream, linen, and soft blush, her wedding flowers were luxe and perfectly enhanced each part of their wedding celebration. 

Taylor chose the Wren Bridal Bouquet (Hand-tied), but she did request a slight modification; removing the linen roses for a more monotone bridal bouquet. Ok, I know…. We don’t offer customizations, but it’s hard to tell your little sister no. If I didn’t point out this change, it’s likely no one would have noticed. BUT if you did, The Wren Bridal Bouquet Garden-cut is another great option for a monotone bouquet within this collection!

The Bridesmaids wore the Wren Bridesmaid Bouquet and my daughter, Kinsley (does that sound familiar?!), wore the Wren Posy, which is a great option for a junior bridesmaid. Our dresses were from our good friends at Revelry. This black satin Nadia dress was my favorite bridesmaid dress I’ve EVER worn. The swoop back was so elegant, and I felt great wearing it! YAY for a bridesmaid dress I’ll actually wear again!

The Groomsmen sported the Wren Boutonniere (single orchid), with Austin in the Wren Boutonniere (double orchid). It’s a great idea to choose a slightly different boutonniere for the groom. Most of the collections offer a variety of boutonnieres for this reason. And don’t be afraid to venture outside the collection to find a coordinating boutonniere from other collections.

Taylor hired Girls in Black, day-of-wedding coordinators, to assist with all the logistics, including the florals, on the wedding day. In my opinion, that was money well spent to ensure she was able to enjoy the day stress-free. Girls in Black did a wonderful job setting up and taking down all of the flower arrangements! 

The Ceremony: 

The Cathedral Taylor and Austin selected for the wedding ceremony truly didn’t need any wedding flowers. Its natural beauty and intricate architectural details command all the attention, but we did add a few floral elements to note the special occasion. Two grand centerpieces on tall gold stands were placed at the foot of the aisle, and Wren Aisle markers were used in the first few rows to designate the reserved pews. After the ceremony, the wedding coordinators moved the grand centerpieces to the buffet tables at the reception. It’s a great idea to plan for double duty on the grand centerpieces to really maximize your savings!

Since their wedding fell during the Christmas season, the church was adorned with red poinsettias. This detail played into Taylor’s decision on the Wren Collection. She knew it would complement the existing arrangements and not compete against them. It is important to think through any bold venue elements when selecting your wedding flowers, to ensure the most cohesive overall design on the wedding day.

The Reception:

To kick off the wedding reception, and in true New Orleans fashion, we second-lined from the cathedral and landed on the steps of the reception venue. This was probably my favorite part of the wedding day. Taylor and Austin were full of joy and love as they were surrounded by family and friends (and some strangers), dancing down the streets of the city. It was magical!

The reception venue was decked out in flowers. For the guest tables, a combination of Wren centerpieces in various sizes were used. Wren Grand Centerpiece on short gold stands were used for the family/reserved tables. Crystal votives were placed on smaller, high-boy tables. The crystal votives are absolutely beautiful - I’ve been sleeping on these! For the cake table, we repurposed our bridesmaid bouquets here and the bakery used the Wren Cake Clusters as the primary cake design.

Taylor designated a few other key areas that she wanted to be floral focused. The champagne tower, the avenue leading into the ballroom, and the beautiful ballroom windows overlooking the city. After walking the venue space with her, I put on my design hat and got straight to work on planning the details of these areas. Our blog is a great place for real wedding inspiration to design your own wedding, but be sure to check out our SBBlooms Insiders Facebook Group and our YouTube channel for additional inspiration and how-to’s. 

Let’s start with the champagne tower because creating this focal point was super easy. We used two pieces of Audrey Garland, a great compliment to the Wren Collection, to create a meadow at the base of the champagne tower. Simple, but elegant, and a beautiful focal point in the lobby.

Now, moving on to the avenue leading into the ballroom. The reception venue, The NOPSI, was originally the New Orleans Public Service building that was later converted into a hotel. Key elements from the original building were kept in place during the renovations, resulting in marble teller banks in the avenue. We dressed up the teller banks with Wren Garland and Gold Classic Candlesticks. Taylor also used this space to honor special deceased family members. The line of flowers down the avenue made for a beautiful entrance. 

At the foot of the Avenue, we created THIS floral install from our YouTube ‘How-to Series'. The floral install used several items from the Wren collection, along with Audrey Garland. Short centerpiece stands served as the base of this floral install.

And best for last, the ballroom! Taylor wanted to enhance the beautiful arched windows overlooking the city. Right when I saw the windows, I knew exactly what needed to be there! We used the Wren Garland to trail up the windows, as if they were natural growing flowers climbing up the windows. Suction cups with hooks (thank you, Amazon) were used to attach the pre-arranged garland to the windows. We also lined the window ledge with additional greenery garland and candles. The result was stunning!

The Review:

"We couldn't have been happier with the stunning flowers from Something Borrowed Blooms for our wedding day. From the moment we walked into the venue, we were in awe. The abundance of flowers throughout truly transformed the space, and we received countless compliments from our guests about how gorgeous everything looked. If you’re wanting to really maximize your wedding flower budget, Something Borrowed Blooms is the only way to go! Thank you, Laken, Lauren, and the whole team, for making our special day even more beautiful!"