Real Wedding | Melinda + Zach

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Zach and I met at a Halloween party six years ago in Brooklyn where we currently live. Zach is a writer and film critic and I’m a fashion and textiles historian and archivist.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

I grew up in Houston, Texas and Zach grew up in Mississippi, so New Orleans served as a romantic midpoint for our families to come together. We also have an affinity for the city for its rich history and thought it to be a great way to share our Southern culture with friends. No matter where we planned to have the wedding, most of our guests would have had to travel, so we thought it would also serve as a fun destination for those who attended.

How many guests did you have?

50. We wanted an intimate wedding so that we were able to spend time with everyone there, as if it were a dinner party we were throwing at home.

Tell us about your outfits.

(Melinda) My wedding dress and veil are bespoke, crafted by the Broadway costumer and designer Wendall Goings. I was struggling to find a vintage or vintage-inspired dress within my sizing and one that matched my very specific vision of a 1930s bias cut, satin silk dress with sleeves. A friend and colleague of mine who works on Broadway suggested their coworker, Wendall, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I knew I wanted a headpiece, since it was a very popular bridal style from the 1930s. But, concerned with looking like a costume, I wanted something modern. Wolf + Moon ’s custom headpiece was the perfect solution to echo the vintage-inspired look.

(Zach) My suit is bespoke as well, designed by Sarie Gessner of Jukebox Mama from Nashville, Tennessee. The first request I had about my suit was that it had to be light blue — at first a joke about it looking like an Elvis outfit, but eventually loving it as a contrast to the more serious dark navy suits of my groomsmen. Melinda had been doing a lot of research on western wear at the time so I thought it would also serve as a nice country western representation, specifically for her as a Texan. The embroidery on it is symbolic of our backgrounds coming together. Bluebonnets for Texas, magnolias for Mississippi, alligators for the swamps of the Gulf of Mexico, the outline of the Mississippi River on the leg, and our initials and wedding date on the cuffs. Melinda’s family had a tie pin they offered for me to borrow, so I chose a cross tie to keep with the theme of western wear.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We very much wanted to make sure that our friends and family from all different stages of our lives were able to meet and share the day with us. We loved that our friends from New York could also experience and enjoy the region of the country we come from.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

While we knew that this day was most importantly about our coming together as a couple, we wanted to emphasize that this ceremony is also our joining into something greater than ourselves. Our handfasting ceremony was a nod to communal cultural traditions, the pictures of our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings pointed to our joining of families, and we simply love New Orleans’s respect for its own traditions and mystical qualities.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Make sure to set aside time for just you two to have a few moments alone throughout the day. We did this with a private cake cutting as well as a private dinner. It really made a difference and gave us a chance to reset and focus on each other without getting overwhelmed. Because once the day gets going it goes so quickly!

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Our second line band, Kinfolk Brass Band, brought the party! They were full of energy from the parade to the cocktail hour.

Our coordinator, Cj from Lonney Jane Productions. She did a beautiful job at making sure we didn’t have to worry about anything except for having a good time.

Our baker, Gillian Deegan from 10 Cent Baking. We had so much fun planning the cake with her and the results were absolutely stunning and delicious.

Our photographer, Margaret Wroblewski, has a very intimate approach to creating artful memories. We appreciated her taking her time getting to know us from our engagement photos to the wedding weekend. We especially enjoyed her quiet, soft style of capturing intimate candids on film, it was exactly what we were looking for.