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NOMA Wedding Tropical Extravaganza


A colorful and gorgeous luxury wedding at New Orleans Museum of Art.


NOMA wedding tropical flowers New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal

I love a good install.


Michelle Norwood of Michelle Norwood Events reached out to us to help design and create a luxury wedding at NOMA with a bright and colorful tropical theme.


So let's start at the beginning of a four day set up.


First the clear top tent from Tents by Design went up. But since it was September and this is New Orleans, it was hotter than hell. Three days in advance they had to start pumping in AC from about 12 units to start the process of cooling the tent down.



behind the scenes NOMA wedding tent set up, New Orleans florist, Leaf + Petal

tent top cover kept on to keep everyone cool, removed hours before receptioon to reveal a clear top


Three days in advance we started the base mechanics on our tent install. We designed a 20' x 20' overhead hanging ceiling installation with a lush tropical design, complete with hanging disco balls. It took three days from start to finish.


NOMA weddings are rarely less of a production.


We started with a metal grid hanging from the ceiling of the tent and attached faux greenery which was the base of the entire install. Then your layer of real greenery (25 bags of smilax - approx 2,500 feet) then layer in hanging florals and tropical greens (8' palm, large fern and monsteras) draping down.





Here's a tent overview from my 14' ladder.


Day two went spent layering in the greens and then day three started hanging the draping florals.



Work in Progress



overhead ceiling tent flower installation NOMA wedding New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal tropical flowers disco balls


Last step were the disco balls added in by SeeHearPro. We were finially finished.


Now we just had almost 300 bud vases and candles to sort.



NOMA wedding tropical wedding New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal ceiling installation bud vases

When all the vendors had finished set-up, the end result was spectacular. A seated dinner for 200 people is no easy task but Michelle made sure no detail was left out. I was incredibly impressed on howeveryone's teams worked together to create such a large scale design.


And these tassel menu cards, just amazing.



NOMA wedding flowers tropical flowers ceiling installation and bud vases New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal

The ceiling installation was the perfect backdrop to bud vase and taper candle decor. The colors really popped. We mixed more traidiotnal style florals (roses, tulips and ranunculus) with more tropical flowers (orchids, anthurium, protea and palm) to get a great balance of vibrant, fun colors.


And Luminous mixed glass and gold candle holders for an sophisticated but eccletic look.



NOMA wedding tropical potted plants New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal

truck unloading our potted tropical greens


Because we were tenting the entire sculputure garden, we had a lot of space to fill in the tent. We didn't want it to seem bare in spaces so we brought in 20-30 potted tropicals in mixed sizes to accent the room.



NOMA wedding flowers tropical New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal bud vases

They were great to fill in corners and to add a little greenery behind the band. We layered trios by the entrance to make it feel like a tropical rainforest you were entering into.


Now onto the ceremony.


aisle markers NOMA wedding tropical new Orleans florist Leaf + Petal

Originally, the cereony was planned ot take place in another part of the scultpure garden but there was rain on and off through out the day. It's not a ceremony in New Orleans if you dont make a rain call at least three times before the wedding starts.


Last minute we swapped plans and had the ceremony in NOMA's Great Hall.



NOMA wedding tropical flowers New Orleans florist Leaf + Petal aisle markers

For the ceremony, we wanted to have a different color palette but similar aethetic. We used neutral florals to contrast against the vibrant colors of the reception but stayed in the tropical design.


I think the Beaux-Arts design of the Great Hall at NOMA is a gorgeous place to have a ceremony. And I think (I know) the guests appreciated the air conditioning.



family visiting NOMA Leaf + Petal

At the end of day three, my little fam came to check out Leaf + Petal's work and we played in the sculpture garden before guests arrived.


The perfect ending to a fabulous NOMA wedding.


venue: New Orleans Museum of Art

lighting and production: SeeHearPro

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