July 11 2022 | Planning Tips

Is your heart set on getting married in a church or temple? New Orleans is full of breathtaking options. Here are some interesting facts about these magnificent edifices, built to inspire. 

St. Louis Cathedral
615 Pere Antoine Alley

  • Oldest cathedral in the United States
  • Three churches have stood on the site since 1718
  • The present structure dates to 1850
  • The bell from the 1819 tower was reused in the new building
  • The cathedral was designated as a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1964
  • Pope John Paul II visited here in 1987
  • Today the parish has over 6,000 members

Christ Church Cathedral
2919 St. Charles Avenue

  • The first non-Roman Catholic congregation in the Louisiana Purchase territory
  • The fourth and current Christ Church was built in 1886
  • Gothic in style
  • Designed by New York architect Lawrence B. Valk 

Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit Church)
130 Baronne Street

  • Near duplicate of an earlier 1850s church on the same site that was damaged during the building of the Pere Marquette Building
  • Completed in 1930
  • Built and designed in the Neo-Venetian Gothic style of Gothic Revival architecture, with Moorish Revival and Byzantine Revival elements 

St. Stephen Church
1025 Napoleon Avenue

  • Designated a minor basilica in 2022, one of only 90 churches in the U.S. to have received this designation since 1926
  • German Gothic architecture
  • First Mass celebrated here on December 26, 1887
  • Its six-sided spire rises over 200 feet high
  • The stained glass windows were designed by the Fanz Mayer Company of Munich, Germany

Marigny Opera House
725 St. Ferdinand Street

  • Formerly Holy Trinity Church, the area's German speaking Catholic church 
  • Dedicated in May 1853
  • Deconsecrated March 31, 1997 
  • Now the Marigny Opera House 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel
411 N. Rampart Street

  • Oldest surviving church building in New Orleans
  • Built in 1826 as a burial church for victims of yellow fever 
  • Erected close to St. Louis Cemeteries #1 and #2

St. Augustine Catholic Church 
1210 Governor Nicholls Street

  • The oldest African-American Catholic parish in America 
  • Established in 1841by free people of color who also bought pews for slaves   
  • Home of the Tomb of the Unknown Slave

St. Joseph’s Church
1802 Tulane Avenue

  • Dedicated in 1892 
  • Seats 1800 to 2000 people
  • The main aisle is 12′ x 150′ long, the longest in New Orleans
  • Medallions over the front exterior entrance represent Pope Pius IX and Archbishop Napoleon Perche 

First Emanuel Baptist Church
1829 Carondelet Street

  • Founded in 1886
  • Renovated after devastation by Hurricane Katrina
  • Visited by President-elect Barack Obama on August 26, 2007

St. Patrick’s Church
724 Camp Street

  • Born from an Irish determination to create a church equal to the French who built St. Louis Cathedral
  • Dates to 1840
  • Gothic in style
  • Leon Pomarede created the huge murals behind the main altar in 1841 for $1,000 each

Touro Synagogue
4238 St. Charles Avenue

  • The first Jewish temple outside of the 13 original colonies 
  • The sixth oldest synagogue in the country
  • The current synagogue was founded in 1881
  • The current sanctuary, designed by a local architect, was constructed in 1908

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
1139 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard

  • Dedicated in 1872
  • Designed by architect Albert Diettel
  • Built by Irish contractor Thomas Mulligan
  • Known for its distinctive gold steeple

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