Annie Weiss and Jack Delaporte attended boarding school together when they were teenagers, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter years later at a bar in New York’s West Village when their relationship turned romantic. “We ran into each other at the Village Tavern on a Saturday night,” Annie remembers. “And went on our first day five days later.”
Annie, who works in digital marketing, and Jack, an investment banker at JP Morgan, dated for two years before he surprised her with an engagement ring at their shared apartment. After running some errands one weekend, Annie came back to a huge bouquet of blue hydrangeas and a small gift bag from one of her favorite stores, F. Gerald New. “Inside the gift bag was a small ring dish; something I had been giving to all of my girlfriends as they got engaged,” she says. “I was confused and not quite sure what to say. Was the dish meant for the future?” After realizing Annie wasn’t catching on, Jack presented her with a diamond and sapphire ring he had custom made at F. Gerald New to match his grandmother’s engagement ring. The couple celebrated that night with drinks on the roof of the Met, followed by dinner at The Lion, the same place where they had had their very first date.
The bride, who grew up in New Orleans, knew she wanted to get married there and quickly started scouting locations after the proposal. “When I walked into Brennan’s, it just felt right,” she says of the restaurant. “The bright colors, the different rooms, and most importantly, the central courtyard immediately capture my imagination.” For help, she enlisted local wedding planner, Leslie Campbell, who had planned her best friend’s wedding four years earlier.
Once the location was set, the wedding dress was up next. “I already had a clear vision of what I wanted my dress to look like—classic, all lace, with lots of buttons down the back,” she explains. She tried one just like that by Carolina Herrera, but decided to keep searching a while longer just to make sure. “Finally after trying it on for my sister-in-law and niece in San Francisco, I decided it was the one.” As for her shoes, Annie decided to keep things practical. “I wore an old pair of Jimmy Choos because I knew they were comfortable and wouldn’t kill my feet all night.” She finished off her look with a pair of antique sapphire and diamond earrings her father had gifted her for her 30th birthday, and with natural hair by Charlotte Williamson and makeup by Tisa Camet. “I never wear my hair up, so figuring out how to wear it was a bit of a challenge,” the bride adds. “After several hair trials, we decided on a loose half up/half down look, which still felt like me.”
The ceremony took place at Trinity Episcopal Church, the same church the bride’s parents tied the knot in 47 years before. “Undoubtedly, the most meaningful part of our ceremony and wedding was getting to stop and kiss my 95 year old grandmother, Weezie, as I walked down the aisle with my dad,” she says. “Leading up to the wedding, we weren’t sure whether she would be able to attend, so when I saw her sitting in the front of the church, I knew our day was complete. She passed away not even three weeks after we got married.”
A traditional New Orleans style wedding reception ensued at Brennan’s in the city’s famed French Quarter. Guests were treated to Sazeracs and champagne, and enjoyed Southern comfort food including shrimp and girts, seafood gumbo, and a raw oyster bar. The bride later surprised Jack with a special groom’s cake made to look like a New York pizza. “Jack is obsessed with pizza, so the grooms’ cake was the one piece of New York that we had at the wedding.”
As for the music, the party featured local jazz musician Tim Laughlin, who was later followed by the Musical Fantasy band, who mostly played Motown and a few contemporary favorites. The newlyweds danced their first song to ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ by Stevie Wonder, and as the night started to wind down, the Kinfolk Brass Band made an appearance, too. “Instead of a traditional New Orleans 2nd Line in the streets, we kept the party contained and paraded around the tent,” Annie shares. “They played some of our favorite songs like, ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and ‘Hey Baby’ before parading everyone out onto Royal Street with sparklers for our final goodbye.”
Instead of continuing on with the festivities, Jack and Annie headed back to the Windsor Court hotel, where they had pieces of extra wedding cake waiting for them in their room. “We had grand plans of going back out to meet our friends, but we were so exhausted when we got back to the hotel,” she remembers. “We stayed up reliving every moment we could remember from the day and night.”
