Editor's note: Karen and Danny rented The Florentine at CastleDay for their New Orleans wedding weekend in April 2026. We asked Karen to walk us through how they used the property: the events, the vendors, and the small decisions that ended up mattering. What follows is her account, in her words.

We had our wedding weekend from Thursday, April 9 through Sunday, April 12, 2026. Our ceremony and reception were held at Promise of Justice Initiative's Promise Garden, a five-minute drive from CastleDay. But CastleDay is where my dad's side of the family slept, where we had a family dinner the night before the wedding, where the family got ready on the day of, and where we hosted a poolside farewell brunch for 150 people the morning after. We rented The Florentine, one of three villas on the property. Ideally we would have rented all three, to host both sides of our family and our friends, but the other houses were already booked. The weekend ended up being a milestone for my family, and definitely a once in a lifetime affair!

The weekend at a glance

Step 1: One villa as the family-reunion base

We booked The Florentine specifically for my dad's side of the family. As a big Puerto Rican family, we hadn't all been together like this in years, and the wedding became the excuse to fix that. Fourteen of us stayed there: my dad and his wife, my abuela, my tíos and titis, and a handful of cousins.

Putting all 14 in one villa instead of scattering them across hotel rooms turned the weekend into a reunion that happened to include a wedding. Everyone walked into the same kitchen in the morning. Everyone hung out in the same living rooms at night. My abuela was never far from the cousins she only sees on big occasions.


Steal this idea: if your extended family hasn't all been together in years, your wedding is the excuse. Housing one side under one roof for a few days turns the wedding from a single day into a milestone weekend.

Step 2: Let the family cook

The first big event of the weekend was a family dinner on Thursday night, hosted at The Florentine. About 20 people came: the 14 of us staying there, plus a few more from my dad's side who drove over for the night.

We cooked everything ourselves. As a Puerto Rican family, this is just how we operate. The kitchen at The Florentine has two of every major appliance, which mattered a lot when a whole family wanted to pitch in at the same time. Everyone had a spot to help cook, and everyone had a spot to eat.

We ate everywhere. My aunts and uncles set up in the covered outdoor space. The younger cousins migrated to the hightop tables by the pool. My abuela soaked up the sun on the patio loungers. It wasn't formal at all, but the space could have easily been arranged for a formal setting if we had wanted that.

The only outside vendor we used for food all weekend was Gerald's Donuts, for the family's biggest weakness.. DONUTS! They showed up again on the brunch buffet two days later. Worth it both times.

Steal this idea: if your family loves to cook, the villa kitchen is set up for it. Two of every appliance means nobody is fighting for the oven. If your family doesn't cook, pre-order groceries or hire a private chef so everyone can enjoy each other instead of getting stuck on tasks.

Step 3: The villa as a getting-ready compound

On the wedding day, The Florentine turned into a getting-ready space for the whole family. We had music blasting from the large TVs in the common areas, and the whole family got ready together. The villa has plenty of beautiful spots for getting-ready photos, and Promise Garden was only a five-minute drive away.

There was plenty of room for a full glam team to work on multiple people at once. My family opted to skip pro hair and makeup, but the space is built for it if you want a team.

Steal this idea: skip the hotel suite for getting ready. The villa has the music setup, the photo backdrops, and the room to host a full glam team without the travel between locations.

Step 4: A 150-person poolside farewell brunch

The day after the wedding, we hosted the entire wedding party at The Florentine for a poolside farewell brunch. We had 150 people on the property: everyone who came to the wedding, plus a few family friends who wanted to hang one more day.

Here's how we ran it:

For the food, my aunts and cousins put together the entire buffet themselves, on the outdoor grill. Fruit, cheeses, donuts (Gerald's again), bagels, bread, orange juice, coffee, and more. We did not hire a caterer.

For music, we ran our own playlist through one speaker. It was plenty loud for 150 people across the property.

For the bar, we used the kitchen as a self-service setup. Guests helped themselves.

We did not rent any furniture. The villa's existing tables, chairs, loungers, and patio seating handled 150 people, and everyone had a comfortable spot to sit, drink coffee, and catch up.

We didn't need portapotties or any extra anything. Even with 150 people on the property, the villa's bathrooms were more than enough. The biggest surprise of the day was how much space we still had with that many people around.

Steal this idea: the morning-after brunch is when the actual reunion happens. After the wedding-day adrenaline, this is when guests linger and catch up. And if your venue can handle the headcount without rentals or portapotties, the whole thing becomes simple to throw.

Our favorite moments

Some of the best moments of the weekend weren't on the schedule. Impromptu salsa sessions. Coffee was always going somewhere in the house. Afternoons between events meant naps, swims, and wandering between the villa's indoor and outdoor spaces.

We didn't organize a formal out-of-town guest activity. The cousins took the lead on their own. They hit the Bywater bars for live music (BJ's was the favorite), and of course strolled Bourbon Street like everyone does. It was unstructured, which fit the family-reunion vibe of the weekend.

The other underrated moment: late nights after the wedding, my cousins came home from the reception and recapped the whole night in the living room for hours, without bothering my grandma or my tías and tíos already asleep. The villa has enough separation between spaces that the night-owl crowd and the early-to-bed crowd shared the same house without conflict.

One personal note. Danny and I chose to book a hotel near the wedding venue for our wedding night, for extra privacy. That was a fine call, no regrets. But as soon as we woke up the next morning, we drove back to CastleDay to be with everyone. Being under one roof is what made the weekend a milestone instead of just a series of events.