Who:

Sheri + John

What:

Wedding

When:

November 3, 2007

Where:

New Orleans, LA

To wrap up our wedding day with Sheri + John, we’ve got a handful of images from the reception. Sheri + John hosted their event at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans…what a fabulous venue! Check it out!

~ Charles

SHERI: I was in awe of our reception décor! I basically told our florist what colors we wanted and that we wanted curly willow (or in his words, “those are just sticks!”). Haha! This entryway table had our New Orleans coffee table book that we used for our guestbook and a variety of photos from family members’ weddings. We LOVED the way this came out!

JOHN: The Audubon Tea Room was such a great location for our reception.

SHERI: a UT Groom’s cake… I wouldn’t expect anything else!!

JOHN: The wedding cake was nice, but look at this Beautiful Cake!!! A work of art in White-Chocolate and Grand Marnier!!!

JOHN: The food looked great… I still don’t know what it tasted like, but everyone else loved it!!!

SHERI: John loves to surprise me, and one of his surprises was to pick out our key reception songs, such as our entry song, garter song, etc. I had NO idea what to expect. I am a HUGE Black Crowes fan (seen them live about a dozen times) and right as we were being announced, “Remedy” started (with that signature guitar riff) and I through my arms up, I was so excited!! It was so awesome! Another moment I will never forget!

JOHN: Sheri is a HUGE Black Crowes fan and I surprised her with our entry music being the start of Remedy. I think she liked it!!!

SHERI: Another priceless photo. My dad used to sing Elvis’s “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” to me when I was a baby. It was “our song.” Well, I knew I wanted to have a special moment with my mom (she’s my hero and the reason I am what I am today), so we decided to dance to Elvis to honor my dad and have our special moment together. It was so emotional!!

SHERI: That martini left a souvenir on my dress!!! Oops!

SHERI: New Orleans weddings have many little traditions and one of them is the cake pull. The bride has a variety of charms tied to ribbons baked into the bottom layer of the wedding cake and she has her single bridesmaids and other close friends each pull one out. There’s usually a ring (signifying the next to get engaged), wedding bells (the next to marry), a clover (for luck), and so on… These are my two good friends from Vanderbilt, Erin and Nilam, and Nilam got the ring!! I love how Meg captured their expressions!

SHERI: He bit my finger!! HA!

JOHN: I was trying to make sure not to get cake in Sheri’s face, but instead I bit her finger and we both almost lost our cake!

JOHN: Success.

SHERI: Another of my favorites!!!

JOHN: “Life in slow motion, somehow it don’t feel real…” - David Gray

SHERI: This photo captures yet another New Orleans tradition—the Second Line! It dates to way back in the day… when they used to have “Jazz funerals” for the dead. The family of the deceased would parade behind the casket from the church to the burial grounds along with a brass band playing somber, sad hymns. That was called the “First Line”. But on the way back, after the burial, the brass band would play more joyful music as a celebration of their life. On-lookers would join in on the parade, behind the family or First Line, waving handkerchiefs, decorated umbrellas, and wearing colorful clothes… and they were called the “Second Line”. Now-a-days, it’s just more of a fun parade, done on many occasions, like weddings, Mardi Gras, and even at Saints football games (Tom Benson, the owner of the team, used to “second-line” around the Superdome if they won…and still does!). This photo shows our guests waving around their white handkerchiefs and grooving to the music! I love it!!

SHERI: In a second line at a wedding, the bride and groom lead all their guests and parade them around, all while dancing and laughing and having a good ol’ time! Here I am with my decorated umbrella!! I love the look on my face!! HA!

JOHN: This photo is in Webster’s Dictionary under the word “Attitude”!

SHERI: John’s got the hang of this New Orleans stuff!

JOHN: Not bad for my first Second Line!

SHERI: We did the second line as our exit and all of our guests followed us right out the doors of the Tea Room! It was so spontaneous and not planned this way at all! It was so awesome!

JOHN: We surprised Meg and Charles by exiting via the Second Line train, so they had to chase us outside - but it allowed a neat shot of the group gathering.

SHERI: I just love this shot! Everybody still has their handkerchiefs in their hands as they are waving goodbye to us. Priceless.

JOHN: Looking back at everyone before we pulled away in the car. Talk about leaving on a high note!!!