My mom recently visited a friend in New Orleans, and went to lunch at the famous Galatoire's. There, she saw a table nearby full of women for a bridal luncheon, and she had the idea that she would like to do just that for my sister's Bridal Party! We live in California, so it isn't hard to see the gaping issue with this idea... However, my mom decided that she would use her free plane tickets to do this for my sister's bridal party.
Then, my sister and her husband-to-be, decided on having 8 groomsmen and 8 bridesmaids! Suddenly, the promise didn't look so appetizing anymore, but sticking to her guns, my mom invited all 8 of the bridesmaids, plus the bride, the mother of the groom, herself, and her friend in New Orleans, making a total of 12!! I have to be honest that a trip to Bourbon Street with my sister's friends wasn't really my cup of tea, but I decided to try it... To quote Miss Holly Golightly, "Besides, I've never been to [New Orleans]."
We rented the entire Guest House at English Turn...
My sister and I shared a room (the top right room with the balcony)
On Friday morning, just as my mom had planned, we took a limo to Galatoire's... Here is the entire group (Top Row: Me, Alana, Ginny, Dawn, Jenny(behind), Crystal, Meg, Natalie, Helena; Bottom Row: Deb, Debbie, Teresa)
Here are the Moms and Daughters: Me (bride's sister), Dawn (groom's sister), Debbie (groom's mother), Teresa (bride's mom), Crystal (groom's sister), Ginny (bride)
Ready to be confused? Here is my extended family of sisters: Jenny (my half sister through my dad), Ginny (my half sister through my mom), Me, and Helena (Ginny's half sister through her dad). Basically, I am related to the two on the left, my sister is related to the two on the right.
After lunch, my sister was given a Blue Dog pin (based on the George Rodrigue painting). The guys come for Friday lunch, every week and as a tradition, they always wear their seersucker suits.
After lunch, we walked across Bourbon Street, to the oldest bar in New Orleans: Old Absinthe House...
Then our party split. Half stayed at the bars on Bourbon, and the other half took a break to ride the Trolley through the Garden District. Here is what all of the houses in the Garden District look like:
After, we met back up with the group and bar-hopped until dinner. Most stayed out, but I went with the older crowd to dinner at Emeril's. Funny thing was: Emeril was THERE! He was overseeing the kitchen. Pretty neat.
The next morning, we had Beignet's which are like square donuts with powdered sugar... This was the view from the cafe...
The whole party couldn't decide to go to the Plantation, so the party split again, and half went to the above ground cemeteries, and half walked around New Orleans. I stayed walking around and we went to famous VooDoo shops and browsed windows before going back to the airport. Here is a beautiful church we saw in downtown, where 3 weddings took place in less than 3 hours, none of which were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, despite the rumors that it happened the same weekend we were there.
