A French Chateau Dinner Party, Reimagined in New Orleans: Cassidy & Levi’s Wedding at Race & Religious
- Author: Natali Grace Levine
- Wedding date: 04/10/2026
- City: New Orleans
About Your Wedding
On April 10, 2026, Cassidy and Levi married in front of 115 guests at Race & Religious in New Orleans, closing out fourteen months of planning built around a single, unmistakable vision. Levi and Cassidy both love the history and culture of NOLA, making the city itself a perfect fit and the true anchor of the entire day. Cassidy, a private chef, and Levi, an accountant, leaned into a concept she describes as pulling straight from a French chateau dinner party, something light and airy in its early hours that grew moodier and more sensual as the night wore on.
That concept shaped even the smallest choices, right down to a detail that ended up mattering more than either of them expected. Cassidy and Levi spent time writing handwritten notes to each guest, placed at their individual seat for the evening, one of the more personal touches woven into an otherwise glamorous evening. It was the kind of gesture easy to overlook amid a wedding this size, and precisely the kind guests tend to remember longest.
Morning Details
Cassidy and Levi both got ready inside Race & Religious, the same historic property that would go on to host every other part of their day. Keeping the whole morning on-site meant no early drive across the city before the ceremony even began, just one property carrying them from the first hours of the day straight through to the last.
The morning carried the same quiet intention Cassidy had built into every other part of the day. Somewhere in those early hours, Cassidy's Paco Rabanne gown and its custom mantilla veil were waiting, alongside the handwritten notes she and Levi had spent hours writing for each of their 115 guests, a detail already tucked away and ready long before anyone arrived to read it. Whatever nerves either of them carried that morning, they carried them inside a building that already knew exactly what kind of day it was about to host.
Bride Getting Ready
Cassidy's dress search led her somewhere most brides never think to look. She chose a Paco Rabanne gown, the Rabanne Ivory long dress in lace and jersey, drawn specifically to how unconventional it felt as a wedding dress. The lace itself became something of an obsession afterward, so much so that she found a full lace dress on Poshmark and had it made into a custom mantilla veil to match, a style still popular across Europe and one she loved for how dramatic it looked against the gown. What started as one lace detail on a gown became an entirely separate hunt for more of it, resulting in a veil built specifically to match a dress that had already broken from tradition on its own.
Groom Getting Ready
Levi prepared for the day within the same walls of Race & Religious, keeping his own morning close to the same historic property that would carry the rest of the celebration. The venue’s layout meant neither side of the wedding party had to travel far to be ready in time for the day’s first real moment together. With the same courtyards and balconies serving both sides of the wedding party, the morning carried an easy, unhurried rhythm, each corner of the property quietly holding its own part of the preparations before the two of them found each other again on the balcony above.
First Look
The first look happened on the balcony of Race & Religious, a few private minutes suspended above the courtyard before the rest of the day pulled them both into it. Wrought-iron railings and the property’s own historic character framed a moment that belonged, briefly, only to the two of them, tucked above the very space where 115 guests would soon gather. Something felt right about the height of it: standing above the courtyard rather than within it, a few quiet minutes to take in the day before it properly began below them.
Photoshoot Before The Ceremony
Portraits before the ceremony stayed within the walls of Race & Religious itself, the venue’s own courtyards and balconies giving Cassidy and Levi everything they needed without a single trip elsewhere. Every backdrop the day required was already built into the property, from ironwork balconies to sun-dappled courtyards, long before the ceremony itself began. Staying on-site meant no time lost to travel between locations, leaving more of the afternoon free for the two of them to actually be present with each other rather than moving between photo stops.
Ceremony
Cassidy and Levi exchanged vows with guests seated around the venue's own pool, a choice Cassidy speaks about with real affection. Having guests sat around the pool within the venue was the perfect touch, adding color to the day and making it feel unmistakably like New Orleans on a hot day. Rather than working against the city's heat, the ceremony leaned directly into it, letting the water itself become part of the atmosphere rather than something to plan carefully around. The pool did more than sit in the background, too, catching the afternoon light and reflecting it across the courtyard, turning a practical seating arrangement into one of the day's more memorable visual details.
Photoshoot After The Ceremony
The photos continued right where the ceremony left off, with the same poolside courtyard doing double duty as both ceremony backdrop and portrait setting - no need to relocate or chase a second location once the vows were finished. The same water and iron railings that framed the ceremony carried straight through into the portraits that followed it, giving the gallery a rare sense of continuity, one continuous setting rather than a string of separate, disconnected backdrops stitched together after the fact.
Wedding Venue & Decor
Cassidy and Levi exchanged vows with guests seated around the venue's own pool, a choice Cassidy speaks about with real affection. Having guests sat around the pool within the venue was the perfect touch, adding color to the day and making it feel unmistakably like New Orleans on a hot day. Rather than working against the city's heat, the ceremony leaned directly into it, letting the water itself become part of the atmosphere rather than something to plan carefully around. The pool did more than sit in the background, too, catching the afternoon light and reflecting it across the courtyard, turning a practical seating arrangement into one of the day's more memorable visual details.
Reception
The night opened with Cassidy and Levi’s first dance to “Summertime’s Close” by Zach Bryan, before the Kinfolk Brass Band’s second line pulled the whole party out of their seats and into the kind of celebration only New Orleans really knows how to throw. Black Pearl Catering Co. kept the evening fed, and Music Source Media carried the music forward once the brass band’s parade wound its way through the crowd. By the end of the night, the elegance Cassidy had planned for the early hours had given way entirely to the moodier, livelier energy she’d wanted all along.
Wedding Team
- Photographer Count In Threes Photo
- Planner @amandapriceevents
- Venue @raceandreligious
- Videographer @hhcreate_
- Content @weddingtales_co
- 2nd Line @kinfolkbrassbandnola
- Catering @blackpearlcateringco
- HMUA @glamonlocationllc
- DJ @music_source_media
- Rentals @yureventrental @trulyhaute @distressedrentals
- Florist @shopvioletas
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