Only in New Orleans

We want our wedding to showcase the incredible art, music and culture that comes from New Orleans. Here is some information on what you will see and hear while you're at Maggell Fest, and how to find more of it, if it makes you feel good. 

Music: Maggell Fest is going to have a lot of music -- brass, jazz, bagpipes, and more. Here are a few of our favorite venues that will undoubtedly keep you out on the dance floor: The Spotted Cat, Bamboula's, and Snug Harbor on Frenchman Street; Chickie Wah Wah in Mid-City; Howlin' Wolf in the Central Business District; and Tipitina's and Maple Leaf, Uptown. 

Frank Relle Gallery: Frank is an amazing artist and a dear friend. He even helped with our engagement by lighting up the chimes tree where Mitch proposed. Frank's night-time photos of New Orleans and the Southeast Louisiana swamps will give you the chills. They make us think about the beauty and fragility of life, our communities and our planet. We hope you'll get a chance to admire his work -- we're starting the second line at his gallery -- and maybe even take a piece home.

The Chimes Tree and City Park: The chimes tree, or "singing oak," is our happy place, and where Mitch proposed (happiest place). It is decorated with seven chimes of varying sizes (the biggest is 11 feet long), and they are all tuned to the pentatonic scale -- the jazz scale. Our wedding is in City Park, and we hope you'll head up a little early to get some chime time, explore the nearby sculpture garden, and admire our favorite place in the city.

Mardi Gras Indians: We hope to have the Mardi Gras Indians make an appearance at Maggell Fest. Donned in handmade costumes of beads and feathers, the Indians work on their costumes all year, and they come out only a few times to show them off. This is an African American tradition in New Orleans that pays tribute to and honors the city's Native Americans. Some historians think the tradition comes from when Native Americans would help hide runaway slaves in the Louisiana swamps. If you want to see more Mardi Gras Indian costumes, and learn about the city's Second Line tradition, check out Treme's Backstreet Cultural Museum. This little shotgun house is full of costumes and has guides who have suited up as Indians, and led second lines across the city.

Congo Square and Louis Armstrong Park: In the 1700s and early 1800s, Louisiana law was unique in that it let slaves have off on Sundays. In New Orleans, hundreds of slaves would gather in Congo Square, where they had a marketplace, and danced, drummed and sang -- keeping their African traditions alive. Many say that jazz started in New Orleans, because the slaves were able to preserve these African rhythms, which had a huge influence on this early American art form. This sacred ground is just behind the French Quarter. We hope you'll take some time to see it.

Cemeteries and Ghosts: New Orleans is a haunted city, to be sure, and we love it. There is a ghost story at our wedding hotel, Le Pavillon, and at where we're having our rehearsal dinner, Muriel's. The bodies of some of these ghosts rest in ornate, above-ground tombs in the city's cemeteries. If you want to learn more about these things, we recommend buying our friend Sally Asher's book, Stories from the St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans,  and sign up for a tour. We recommend Magic Tours New Orleans.