I’m thinking about having a Mardi Gras themed wedding reception. My husband is in the military?
so we got married out in WA. We are both from IN and would like to have a reception since we didn’t actually get a wedding. We are now stationed in New Orleans, so we were thinking about the Mardi Gras theme. We would have masks, beads, boas. No flashing if you are going to mention that it’s trashy. No it’s not…it’s a fun experience. Does anybody have any ideas on what else we could do in detail for the reception if we do decide to go with the theme?? Thanks in advance.
By “No flashing”…I meant that there wasn’t going to be any flashing at my reception. I said it wrong in the question. It sounded like I said that flashing wasn’t trashy…it is at a reception
March 9th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
All white cotton clothing and white flowers
Parchment paper invitations;
Masks and bead favors;
Serve good soul food
Mud bugs(crawfish, cher) as hors d’oeurves
Hope this’ll help. My man’s Navy, and he LOVES New Orleans. We may go back down there for a little mini-honeymoon!
March 10th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Sorry, flashing at a wedding IS trashy, no matter how you spin it.
You might want to consider Cajun food. A live Dixieland band playing during cocktail hour. Sparklers to imitate fireworks. On second thought, that might not be so great with people in their fancy clothes.
That’s the best I can come up with. I hope it triggers ideas in you or in other responders.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Be sure to serve plenty of local food like gumbo, jambalaya, dirty rice, etc. Be sure you serve king cake, I’m sure you can find a bakery in the NO area that will make one (Gambinos usually will). Perhaps have a contest and give out prizes to whomever finds the baby in the king cake.
Mardi Gras primary colors are purple, green and gold. You could also use black as an accent color, like maybe black table cloths that are decorated with the tricolor accents.
Usually in the NO area, you’ll find stores that sell the Mardi Gras flag, this would be great for a focal point.
I know Party City and other type stores sell a French Quarter background you can use for the reception, also.
A great idea that would make nice details would be to make mini-Mardi Gras floats out of shoe boxes. Just wrap them in purple, green, gold, add some streamers at the bottom and hang from the ceiling to have your own mini-Mardi Gras parade!
Oh, and don’t forget, plenty of jazz music. If you have the budget, there are plenty of bands in the city for hire or even just pop in a favorite CD….
Best of luck!
March 10th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
For one, you could have King Cake instead of the traditional wedding cake. Decorate in purple, gold and green. Serve traditional French fare, Coq au Vin (chicken in wine sauce), Brie and other cheeses, French bread and the like. Give the beads as favors (I still have my beads for Mardi Gras after almost 10 years!) and have jazz music. Personally, I think a Mardi Gras theme is terrific and very original! Mardi Gras is all about celebrating happiness and having fun. Good theme! Hope you have a blast.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
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Masks
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Hats & Apparel
• Gloves
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Gift & Jewelry
• Bracelets
• Earrings
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• more… Dolls
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Throws
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Music & Video
• Compact Disc (CDs)
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The food at the party could have an authentic New Orleans flavor. There are many Cajun and Creole restaurants available, and caterers now can easily add some Cajun touches to their menu with proper notice. Foods that translate well to a crowd are a traditional gumbo, shrimp etouffee, or jambalaya; but you can also offer tiny po’ boy sandwiches or muffalettas as appetizers or boiled crawfish in season.
You can find flowers in the Mardi Gras colors, or go with a single color flower, using ribbon to reflect your color choice. Hang beads from your bouquet or incorporate a small mask on a pick into the wedding flowers. All white or ivory flowers wrapped in gold ribbon would look stunning with gold Mardi Gras beads dripping down. Or you could incorporate feathers into your floral arrangements to add a fun Mardi Gras touch. Instead of having your flower girl drop petals as she walks down the aisle, give her a basket of doubloons to toss to either side as she walks ahead of you.
Mardi Gras is parade season in New Orleans, and one of the best ways to incorporate this into your theme is to parade from the ceremony to the reception. If the distance is too long, consider stopping your cars a block or two away from your reception location so you can parade into the reception hall. Have someone pass out parasols, balloons, confetti, and masks to your guests and instruct them to line the street as you parade up. You can have your attendants toss beads and doubloons as you go by. An authentic jazz band is a great accompaniment, but if that’s not possible, ask someone to carry a portable CD player to play “When the Saints Go Marching In” or another popular piece.
Your guests will marvel at your reception location if you transform it into Mardi Gras central. Carry the color theme through to the linens on the tables, and in place of flowers, you can place treasure chests filled with chocolate doubloons on each table. You can have these made so the coins are embossed with your names, initials, wedding date, or another short message. Use balloons as centerpieces, or Mardi Gras masks. And have plenty of beads on the tables, both in the decorations and for the guests to grab and put on.
March 14th, 2009 at 4:42 am
the thing i see missing from these posts above is the colors!!!
purple, yellow(gold), green and some white/black/silver……
March 15th, 2009 at 2:29 am
A nice Mardi Gras idea for the cake is to have ‘king cake’. Go to a local bakery and see what they can do about making you a king cake, because it’s normally made only during Mardi Gras. The king cake can have whatever filling you like and the colored sprinkles on top can incorporate whatever Mardi Gras colors you choose for your wedding (mostly gold, green, purple, yellow). Great theme. I’m from New Orleans and it’s always a great party whenever it’s related to Mardi Gras.
March 16th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Party works- Party City and stores like like that, that sell theme supplies (Halloween, birthdays, weddings etc) is the best place.
The other day, we browsed around and a full Isle was full of Mardi Gras items. Maybe check out or other local places in New Orleans.
Also check out:
I don’t know what you have in mind as far as formal or informal, but can have a costum contest. Can set rules/limits and reward goodie bags. Fun thing for guest and children (if attending) to have fun with.
Can have a bead competition. Can set rules to follow and if someone breaks that rule, the person who said “you broke the rule” can take their beads. At the end, can have people count and have a winner for male/female of adult and youth ages.
A friend of mine had this theme and had a lot of glow sticks and black lights on the dance floor (birthday party).