P.S. I forgot some REALLY important credits:

All of the musicians including Esquizito and the Panorama Jazz Band played this event for love not money. Also Brother Charlie Dale of Grace Baptist Church performed the ceremony as a gift to us. It was a beautiful and well thought ceremony that was just right as a result of their collective talents.

Also Joanne Hilton pulled some last minute strings to distribute balloons at the site, so that everyone knew where to be. This turned out to be a beautiful touch. It added amazing movement and excitement to the event... and it looks great in the pictures.

It was sooooo FUN!! (Click Here for Photos)

Click on the title, and it should bring you to the web album. All photos are compliments of Diane Tripplett. I love them!

I have been dying to find the time to update this blog. It has been 3 weeks since the wedding and Sean and I have landed safely back into our normal life, but have not forgotten a moment of this spectacular event. I can say with 100% confidence that it was the best wedding ever. If being a wife is as fun as being a bride, I am in for a good time!

When Sean and I decided to get married, it took 6 months to come up with a plan. It took another 6 months to figure out that our plan was lame, and yet another 2 to decide what to do instead. That left us roughly 4 months to execute the plan, which involved renovating a house. It didn't seem possible, but we did it. This has made us very proud and still humbled by the amount of support and labor given to us by our friends and family. This was truly a group effort. I hope everyone is as pleased as we are.

For the last several months, my mind had been crafting a very clever, sweet and articulate speech that I planned to deliver at the wedding. The speech explained our gratitude and illustrated the process and reasoning that lead to our decision to host an event like this.

When the time came to deliver my thoughts, they no longer seemed relevant or useful. What I mean is, our purpose was so obvious and universally felt, that my words could not have enhanced anything.

Having said that, I am now at my computer holding the virtual mike, and I would like to tell spill my heart to you all.

The decision to marry Sean was an easy one. He is an amazing man and my life has been unbelievably improved since he entered it, and I believe the same is true for him.

The decision regarding how to get married was not so easy. It was a struggle to find something that represented us well. We entertained the idea of running off to get married alone and throwing a party afterwards. A few people had opinions about it and shared them with us. I believe that Esquizito's sentiments rang to the tune of "it's tacky and I will have no part of it" (he was slightly more eloquent, but we got the message). Ben Schenck reminded us that committing ourselves in front of others is kind of the point, and to sneak off may cheat us of the meaning behind the event. Merica thought the idea was a snoozer, but agreed to support our decision. My mother probably would have had nightmares if I had told her. My father continued to remind Sean and I, that whatever we decided to do would be just right.

Thanks guys.

As we planned the event, it became so obvious to us, that we couldn't get married without our people any more that we could live without our people. The fact is that we needed all of you to participate in our marriage in order to make it work. The decision to involve our friends, family and community felt like a decision to not build our castle out of sand.

Thanks again.

I also would have mentioned that my husband has laid his hands on every grain of wood in our house to make it beautiful. I am very proud of his work.

And then, I would have given an Oscar length speech about all the cool ways that everyone helped. If that had worked out, I never would have cut the cake!

Credits:
Speaking of Cake, Chef Kaysey Hasslock of Liaison Catering supplied the bulk of dinner, hours d overs, and the delicious and beautiful carrot cake. She also supplied the delicious and beautiful staff, Brittney, Chef Matt and Sam. Katie Malloy-Peck baked the chocolate bourbon grooms cake and her husband Bryan Peck (of Elizabeth's fame) concocted the cochon du lait. Chef Jerry Mixon from Cafe Amelie supplied us with the roasted duck app, and Melanie Kuffel sent the champagne. Beth at Swirl (mid city wine boutique) picked out just the right wine, and Dena was a godsend and keg mistress. James CrawfishMan Fulton was the boil king and site boss for the last month. His totally killer wife, Isa, lent him to us for many hours and we are grateful.

Several people contributed their free time and sweat to the rapid beautification project (AKA, Mission: get this shit DONE! ) which included gutting walls, rebuilding them, hanging and floating drywall, painting, sanding, finishing floors, gardening, digging up dirt, uncovering bricks, hanging lights, artwork and curtains, cleaning the darkest corners of our house and cleaning up a most unsavory trash pile in front of our house. Thank you Mom, Dad, Jenny, Bruce, Brian, Shelly, Katie, Red, Sidney, Debbie, Rebeca, Marley, Salvadore, Dena, Janice, Kathleen, Ken, Wayne, Shyanne, India, Daniel, and Greg.

Katie Triplett made it all simple. She helped me keep it all together. Diane and Tim Triplett, thanks for the food, and thanks for the fabulous photos. Olivia, thanks for the hair darling!

Wedding Information

Hi Friends! Perhaps it is needless to say, but we have been a little too busy to update this blog in the last few months, but I have some info for you. This post should cover everything you could ever want to know about this event …and then some.

Just about everyone who reads this knows that we are about to get married in ooohhh, 8 weeks! Holy cow. The invitations will be out shortly, but I have some extra info that may be useful for all of you, particularly the out-of-towners. I didn’t want to stuff envelopes with a dissertation on New Orleans and wedding details.

First things first!

Date: Friday, March 16, 2007

Ceremony: 6:00 PM Coliseum Square Park- between Camp and Coliseum streets

Reception: 1729 Clio street, New Orleans LA, 70113

There will be a second line following the ceremony that will bring us to the reception. Anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to participate in a second line is in for a treat. I have created a map that outlines the route in yellow. The second line will be about 10 or so blocks and will be lead by the Panorama Jazz Band. It will bring us to our house for the reception.

For those who wish to miss out on all the fun and drive to the reception, you will be able to park in the parking lot at Fleet tires on Carondolet Street between Clio and Caliope. To do so, head up Camp Street take a left on Erato, cross St. Charles, take a right on Carondolet get into the left lane, dogleg over into the parking lot on Clio Street. We will have a hired policeman on detail between the house and the tire shop. There is also plenty of parking under the interstate, behind the house. Central City is by no means scenic, and unfortunately it is not particularly safe either. It is however, our home and because of that, it is just right for this occasion. Please be advised that your safety is important to us, so heads up.

The Wedding will be casual. Second liners be advised, sensible shoes are appropriate. Also, Coliseum square park will likely have plenty of dogs on such a beautiful day, so if dogs make you antsy, hold a hand, there will be plenty available. The menu will be yummy, and without giving away all of the surprises, carnivores, herbivores and omnivores will leave with full bellies. On that note, we will have crawfish, so don’t be so fancy you can’t feast.

St. Patty’s Day / St. Joseph’s Day weekend

I chose to have the wedding on this particular weekend, because it is so fun! Here is a link with the event listings from last year, which are always the same, so you can get an idea of what goes on: http://nola.live.advance.net/stpatricks/?content/events.html

Basically these are the events:

• Friday: the best wedding ever
• Sat: Cabbage tossing crazy Irish Channel Parade on Magazine

Green beers and Madness at Parasols (First and Constance)

• Sunday: St. Josephs Day and the Irish Italian parade in Metairie on Vets Hwy. (that one is a little more family friendly)

Most everyone knows about St. Patrick, the missionary that saved all of Ireland, and is probably single-handedly responsible for the expression “Irish-Catholic”. St. Joseph, however, gets a bit trickier. He is either the less glamorous virgin father of Jesus who is noted for his chastity, or the Saint that saved Sicily from famine by bringing rain to the Island’s dying crops. Both have the same feast day and different reputations. Come to think of it, I think they are the same Joe… look it up. The feast of St. Joseph looks to me like a combination of Thanksgiving, and a symbol of solidarity and humility among the working class (that is not a scholarly fact, it is the opinion of a non-historian). Anyhoo, his feast day is on the 19^th of March, and this is a really big deal in the New Orleans-Italian communities. People spend hundreds of hours baking and preparing for St. Joseph’ s Day alters. You can find them in churches, homes, community centers…check the local paper that weekend and find one. My friend Elsa will be at the wedding and she knows where the good ones are, so ask her.

Lodging is as abundant as crepe myrtle trees in this city, so it should be easy to find a place to stay. We are in central city, which abuts the lower garden district. Both are about 1.5 miles outside of the French Quarter. The streetcar is currently trafficking people from lee circle to the FQ. Sean’s aunt and uncle Joanne and Dennis own a very cute, reasonably priced inn near the ceremonial park. It is called The Saint Charles Guest House (504) 523-6556. If you want to stay there, give them a call and tell em we sent ya. Don’t reserve online, make the call.

Staying in the quarter might be fun too, so I have some thoughts this, and remember nothing is really far away. For this reason I recommend using cabs to get around. You are not likely to get ripped off, arrested or lost… and it’s cheap (United Cab 504.522.9771).

Downtown Recommendations:

French Quarter

W hotel (CBD or FQ) – both nice stylish, swanky, corporate, clean, about $80ish a night http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/index.html

Dauphine Orleans ­– big rooms / suites available, a friend stayed here once and it was very comfy and easy lounge in. It is pricey, but it can also accommodate a few people if that is how you roll. About $100ish a night. http://www.dauphineorleans.com/index.html

Marigny

Royal Inn (above the R~Bar – “The city’s only bed and beverage” is in the Faubourg Marigny by all the cool jazz clubs, hippies, cafes, soul food, and wierdos. I love it!

http://www.royalstreetinn.com/

Also, for those of you who are like us, and are not financially endowed enough to get a swanky hotel, don’t let that stop you from coming. I have had people offer up sofas and floors and guestrooms for this event, so If you need assistance call me.

Whew! That was long. We can’t wait to see everyone.

P.S.
My mom says that she got a really good rate at the Ponchartrain Hotel in the lower garden district.

And

We are registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

And

The map I made didn't show up really well, so I will email the file as a pdf to adyone who asks