Engagement Party | Elyse + Jack - elysejenningsweddings.com

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To say that Jack and I’s engagement party was the best night of our lives to date is an extreme understatement! But seeing our photos on Style Me Pretty took a very (very) close second! A dream come true! If you haven’t gotten a chance to view their take on our soiree, it’s worth taking a look here!

When you’re in the industry and planning your own wedding, it’s safe to say that everyone sets the bar pretty high! I just want to design a beautiful space for beautiful people to make beautiful memories! When planning our engagement party, my first goal was to find a beautiful venue that no one had ever used before! When antique shopping on Royal Street in the French Quarter, my friends and I walked past the Bevolo Gas Lantern Museum! I just had to pop in and beg them to let me have my engagement party there! There’s nothing more New Orleans than 72 gas lanterns lining the wall! They agreed and I began dreaming of ways to make the space tell the story of our 10 year relationship!

As our guests arrived, they were greeted by our “guest book” table of 3 champagne bottles for the guests to write notes for us to read on wedding day (when we will finally get to enjoy the bottles)! I had to sneak a peek as I was packing them up and cried imagining myself in the wedding dress that they were describing!

I really wanted to accentuate the wall of lanterns, so I started pulling old photos that could chronicle our relationship: from the night that he asked me to be his girlfriend, through embarrassing dresses at proms, high school and college graduations, and ending with an instax photo of us that very night! Our guests were able to enjoy walking along the wall to watch our hair colors change and our love for each other grow!

We also brought in wine barrel tables and pews (with pillows) as creative ways for our guests to take a break from their heels! I loved the unique seating space!

My fiancé and I both love doberge cake, so it was only fitting that we had a couple of our favorite flavors for everyone to enjoy with us! We chose a cake with Salted Caramel Doberge, one with Blueberry Pancake Doberge, and the biggest hit, Lemon King Cake! We had enough for each guest to have a piece of each!

But most importantly, I knew that I needed an incredible photographer to capture all of these special moments on our journey down the aisle! So immediately after my engagement (and calling my parents and two best friends), I called my dear friend Greer of Greer G Photography! From the engagement photos, the engagement party, the bridal showers, couples showers, bridesmaids spa day, to wedding day, we are honored to have Greer behind the camera at all of our wedding events! Her talent is beyond describable!

I hope you all love our engagement party as much as we enjoyed living it! It was a truly magical and captured our personalities so perfectly! Cheers!

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