Weddings

 My father always said he didn’t really care for wedding ceremonies, but he loved a good reception!  Like so many other things he said, he was  absolutely right! It’s usually a really good party!  

I’ve been to a lot of weddings in my life.  Friends, family, my own, my son’s, big, small, and everything in between.  I’ve been to weddings in large city churches, and small country churches, on the beach, in a beautiful historic cathedral and in a cow pasture. They’re all special and beautiful in their own way, but I want to tell you about two of my favorites.  

Both of these took place in New Orleans, which happens to be just about my favorite place on earth.  More on that in another post.

The first was my all time favorite and the standard to which I measure all others. My cousin Tony’s beautiful daughter Andrea married her handsome Air Force fighter jock fiancé Brent.  Andrea grew up here and Tony still lives here.  Andrea’s mother lives in Mandeville, just across Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans.  They decided to have the wedding there and make it somewhat of a “destination” wedding.  Family and friends came from all over the country, from as far away as Arizona and Vermont! 

Now for the cool part.  The wedding was held at the Musee’ Conti wax museum in the French Quarter.  They have an event venue on the upper floor and the wedding and reception were held there. After the lovely ceremony and the pomp of the military tradition of the crossed swords, we went downstairs to tour the museum while they readied the room for the reception.  There was an open bar and delicious hors d’ouvres.  AND, there was the de-frocked priest who had performed the ceremony who kept trying to hustle all the women into the dark corners of the museum!  That was pretty entertaining! We then went back upstairs for a delicious dinner and dancing with a great band.  At 11pm, the dance band stopped and we were handed white handkerchiefs. This country boy didn’t know what that was for, but I soon found out! That’s when the brass band came in!  They led us in a “Second Line” parade, through the French Quarter to the couple’s hotel!  It was one of the best nights of my life!  

My second favorite, and it’s a close second, was the wedding of my “Katrina kid”, Charlie.  I’ve written about him before.  I had gotten the invitation in the mail and after he called to personally ask me to please come, I RSVP’d that I’d come.  Susan and I had been dating for about 6 months at that time so she went with me. We had a great time and stayed in a really cool AirBnB. 

What made this wedding so memorable was the ceremony.  It was held in the beautiful and historic St. Louis Cathedral.  If you’ve seen a postcard or picture of New Orleans, likely you’ve seen it.  The pictures don’t do it justice.  The ornate chandeliers, the gorgeous frescoes on the ceiling, just the history of the building, along with the ritual of a full Catholic wedding mass, made it unforgettable.  Charlie was a handsome groom and Jessica was a beautiful bride.  After the ceremony, we did another second line across the street from the cathedral to the reception.

This reception was fun too, not on the scale of Andrea’s, but really fun with lots of good friends, good food, good drink, and good music! It was held in the old Jax brewery in the French Quarter which is now a shopping mall with an event venue on the top floor that has amazing views of the city and the Mississippi River.

I’m about ready for another wedding!  It’s been a while!  The last one I went to was the cow pasture wedding where they had kegs of beer and the father of the bride got his barbecue team to cook a whole hog for the reception!  And you know what?  It was just as nice and just as much fun as those two fancy weddings!  


 



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