Roosevelt Hotel New Orleans Wedding Photography
This fabulous bride and groom took some time before their wedding ceremony for some portraits of just the two of them around the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. We captured some wonderfully natural and candid shots, as well as some more posed portraits, around the vicinity of the hotel and in the Pere Marquette, but this photograph, under the beautiful Baronne Street entrance of the Roosevelt, was my favorite (and actually ended up being picked as the cover for the couple's Coffee Table Book album). I love all the intricately detailed carvings and other flourishes that adorn this entry, though being fairly high, it can be a bit tricky to compose a shot that incorporates it (this usually involves me laying down in the street along the curb). But it's worth the effort!
Wedding Receptions at the Roosevelt Hotel
The hotel's Blue Room is a famed and historic music venue that is frequently used for wedding receptions, and there are several other ballrooms that can host events of just about any size. Also, the Roosevelt is conveniently located right across the street from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (the Jesuit Church), so this combination of church and hotel is a natural choice for a classic New Orleans wedding, though the hotel itself can also host your ceremony.
A New Orleans Landmark
The hotel originally dates back to the late 1800s, though a larger addition was built about 15 years later, which still stands. The original half of the hotel was torn down by a subsequent owner in the early 1900s and rebuilt to the same size as the addition. The hotel has gone through a few name changes as ownership changed hands over the decades. Originally the Hotel Grunewald, it later became The Roosevelt, then The Fairmont, which it remained until damage from Hurricane Katrina forced the hotel to close. But a few years later, new ownership made a massive investment to completely renovate the historic hotel, both modernizing it, and restoring it with a beautiful art deco look that harkens back to it heyday, along with changing the name back to The Roosevelt and designating the Waldolf Astoria to run the hotel.
You'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful hotel lobby in all of the Crescent City, and it is famous for the stunning
Christmas decorations the hotel puts up each holiday season.
The Blue Room
A plaque near the doors of the Blue Room reads as follows;
Behind these ornate gold doors, the Blue Room came into being on New Year's Eve 1935 and soon became America's premier night club featuring the big bands of Glenn Miller and Guy Lombardo, as well as top entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Tina Turner and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few.
Generations of New Orleanians have celebrated their most important occasions in the Blue Room. Ice skating performances, afternoon kiddie matinee shows, and the twice-nightly performances, all a part of Blue Room lore. The room has gone through many re-designs and at one point was called the Hawaiian Blue Room complete with a tropical South Seas decor.
In 1932, WWL radio moved into the hotel (then known as the Roosevelt Hotel) as one of the very few "clear watt channel" stations. They began broadcasting, "Live from the Blue Room" for twenty years, reaching homes across the nation, as well as soldiers stationed across the world during World War II through Armed Forces Radio. Many a GI has returned over the years to look for the Blue Room and relive memories of years past.
Below the Blue Room is the location which housed what is believed to be the first nightclub in America, The Cave. A subterranean supper club with waterfalls, streams, stalactites, and gnome-like faces, the club opened in 1908 and presented lavish musical revues, stage acts, and Dixieland bands.
Today, the Blue Room is one of the city's most sought-after sites for elegant weddings, private dinners and social gatherings. During the holiday season, the Blue Room hosts children of all ages for a delightful "Teddy Bear Tea," as part of the hotel's annual "Angel Hair Lobby" festivities where the block-long lobby is transformed into a winter wonderland of twinkling lights and holiday ornaments and ribbons.
Location: 130 Roosevelt Way, New Orleans, LA 70112.
