Bridal jackets are one of this year’s hottest trends and we just can’t get over how cool the brides are who rock them! Whether you’ve got a fall or winter wedding ahead or you want to add a little flair to your wedding day look, these bridal jackets have a little something for everyone. Get inspired by real brides and shop our favorite romantic, edgy, sleek, and customizable jackets below!
Amy and Edward headed to The Big Easy for their Hotel Mazarin wedding. They embraced the charm and romance of New Orleans and carried the city’s vibe into their wedding with jewel tone florals by Antigua Floral, one-of-a-kind , and choosing two New Orleans-centric venues for their big day. All of this came together seamlessly with Brooke Casey Weddings assisting in the planning for Amy and Edward while they dreamed up their wedding day all the way from Dubai. Erin and Geoffrey Photography’s moody style paired exceptionally well with all of the romantic details.
The main DIY activity was me creating all the illustrations for our wedding invitations. I painted a custom wedding crest and a number of other watercolour illustrations which take inspiration from New Orleans culture, incorporating elements like a fleur de lis and lots of local plants including ferns, hanging Amaranthus, Spanish moss, and magnolias (the Louisiana state flower).
Since we had a destination wedding, we were planning from Dubai with a 9-hour time difference to consider, so this was not without its challenges. For us it was pretty essential to work with a New Orleans-based planner like Brooke Casey. When you can’t do any site visits or meet people in person, it was really helpful to have Brooke’s recommended venues and vendors, as well as her planning timeline to follow. If you don’t have a planner, there are loads of planning timelines available online and I think these are great for keeping track of what needs to be done each month.
Choosing the right photographer for our day was key, as photos are the thing that last long beyond the wedding. We wanted a photographer who reflected the slightly moody, romantic tone we were going for, and we made the perfect choice with Erin & Geoffrey, a husband-and-wife duo based in Lafayette. Their photos have some real drama.
Ed went for a very dapper look in a tailored vibrant blue suit and knitted tie, complemented by some quite loud, colourful socks. He also gave all his groomsmen ties and socks to wear on the day so they didn’t get sock envy. I gave Ed some custom-made cufflinks as his wedding gift, which were engraved with the monogram I designed for our invites.
Flowers were also very important, since we weren’t planning to have a lot of elaborate decoration at our wedding. The floral and candle displays that Antigua Floral designed for our wedding helped to make each of our venues look stunning. I was literally obsessed with my bouquet and was so sad to leave it behind when we left for our honeymoon. Unfortunately it just wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.
It was the first time that Ed and I, as well as the majority of our guests, were visiting New Orleans, so we wanted our venues to reflect the culture and vibe of the city and its iconic French Quarter. We loved the idea of a courtyard setting for the ceremony, and Hotel Mazarin has an intimate space filled with lush foliage, with a beautiful fountain in the centre which provided a perfect backdrop for our altar.
For our reception dinner at Antoine’s, we were drawn to the history of this famous restaurant. It has been open since 1840’s and it’s filled to the brim with all sorts of quirky bric-a-brac collected over the years. When we arrived in New Orleans ahead of the wedding and saw it for the first time, we were given a fascinating tour of the place (which is huge) by our waiter Charles, who told us so many stories about Antoine’s through the ages. He himself is a third generation Antoine’s waiter!
Erica and Bobby’s love for modern and minimalistic design was perfect for their One Eleven East wedding. The venue’s clean-lined architecture added to the wedding’s minimalist vibe, and it was the perfect clean slate for their decor. Erica and Bobby were very intentional when choosing the details and elements they wanted to bring to their wedding day, and many things were DIY including the bouquets and centerpieces. Sam Hugh Photography‘s unique use composition completed the overall vibe and vision of the couple.
I chose my dress not only because it’s gorgeous and has a timeless vibe, but because I burst into tears when I found out it was made by a Hungarian designer. My late Grandma Rose, who played a huge role in raising me, was Hungarian and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would find a gown made in her home country. My grandma was in the army, tough as nails, and as kind as they come, but she left very little behind. Normally, a dress by this designer would not have been within my budget, but I happened to find it during a sample sale and it fit like a glove.
I’m a sucker for good design, natural light, and architecture. And we immediately loved the clean, minimalist industrial vibe. Our venue is a gorgeous historic building in a small Texas town, and a great example of adaptive reuse done right. You can’t help but feel at ease and fall in love with the space.
From the backdrop to the ceremony itself, we worked on every aspect collaboratively. We both have a bit of an anti-authoritarian streak, so we asked my maid-of-honor to perform double duty as our officiant because we knew we needed someone that we loved and trusted to lead us into marriage. We stayed up until 4:30 a.m. the night before our wedding with seven of our closest friends making the bridesmaids bouquets, a floral backdrop and fine-tuning our ceremony so it felt really great to see it all come together. People told us it was one of the most unique and personal ceremonies they had ever seen — so for better or worse, it was very much “us.”
I designed custom matchboxes in a retro motel style with lyrics that are special to us…but we stuck them in a glass box and forgot to spread them around at the end of the night. Our favorite was easily David Bowie: “The stars look very different today.”
We wanted to let our venue shine so we kept our decor minimalist. I tried to recreate the feeling of warmth and wonder I felt when I spent time poking around my Grandma’s greenhouse as a child, with a dash of romantic longing for adventure and the ephemeral inspired by the botanical illustrations of Maria Sibylla Merian and Elizabeth Blackwell. Many of our choices for decor and florals were modern, but we tried to add elements that would bring it all together for a timeless vibe.
I outfitted my gals in hues of copper and rose-gold and they ended up looking like goddesses plucked out of a Renaissance painting.
I visited our local floral wholesaler fairly often to pick their brains and pick up some florals so I could test various ideas for my bouquet, the cakes, and the reception. The bridesmaid bouquets were a simple mix of hydrangeas and magnolia leaves, reminiscent of my grandmother’s garden and the magnolia tree in my aunt’s front yard. My own bouquet was filled with a variety of ferns (a small nod to our Pacific Northwest engagement), and garden roses (an on the nose tribute to my late Grandma Rose), and pops of orange. For the rest of the florals, I picked out greenery that was textural and exotic and placed them in simple glass bottles & Erlenmeyer flasks that my sweet Dad spray painted copper.
Take away all of the guests, and all of the distractions, and ask yourself what would feel right if it were just you and your partner. Go from there. Build your day around what you love and what you want to share with your guests and you can’t go wrong.
photo by Abby Roses
photo by Abby Roses
photo by Kelly Giarrocco Photography
photo by Lauren Scotti
photo by a sea of love
photo by Kristian Lynae Photography
photo by AGPcollective
photo by Lauren Scotti
photo by Kym Ventola, custom jacket painting by Bananna Bones
photo by The Shalom Imaginative
photo by You Are My True
photo by Plum & Oak Photo
photo by Jason Lucas Photography
photo by Hugo Coelho Fotografia
photo by Carrie J. Photography
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