So let me take you back for a story sure to ensue laughter........
It was December of 2002. Stephen, being in the military, was due for a change of duty station and we knew that we wanted to be married before that. We had been engaged since mid August, and figured why not do it now? We went online looking for wedding chapels in the area and thought the French Quarter Wedding Chapel would make for a good memory. And we were right.
I remember it well...we called about rates and dates Saturday December 7th and decided that exactly a week later that we'd be married. So if you're following along closely, that meant we had exactly ONE WEEK to get everything into place! Talk about being resourceful!!
Oh...and talk about short notice...We had a week to get his mother there from New Jersey. And unfortunately my dad couldn't get off of work in such short notice, but my step-mom came in his place from Indiana. Looking back, I wish we would have had more time to plan things out, but that is common-place for military weddings.
Moving onto attire. My sister had a white dress and matching shoes that she had worn to her high school prom. The dress was a little snug in the chest, but I got it to work...lol. Bride attire-- check. Stephen decided that since we were on a budget both monetary and time wise, that he would wear his cracker jack uniform. Ahh a man in uniform. :) For my veil, I bought a pretty beaded white hair comb to put into my hair...that we later attached some tulle from my mom's old veil.
Attire was now taken care for my future husband and I, now what would our witnesses wear. My sister was going to stand up for me. We asked a few friends if they had any dresses that we could borrow for the event. My best friend from high school came thru for us in a big way! She had been in someone's wedding I believe, and still had the bridesmaid dress. Awesome! What about the best man? Stephen's twin brother was living in New Orleans at that time, so it was natural for him to be his best man. And who would've known that he actually OWNED a tuxedo?? Ok...this was working out better than I had expected.
A friend of his brother's helped us to make all of our flowers. They were his wedding gift to us. We used artificial flowers, and I still get to look at them today and forever. And he also did my hair and makeup, and my sister's as well. (To add to the feel of the day, this friend bragged that he was a title holding drag queen in New Orleans. He assured me that I was in good hands....complete with a "z snap". And yes!! I'm serious!)
Ok...so now it's THE day. We get ready at my brother in law's house in New Orleans. Everyone that was attending was there watching as I got my hair practically pulled out by the roots. The teasing, the hairspray, the brushing, more hairspray, and more teasing. I tried to tell him I was tender headed, but he didn't care all that much. Thanks David!! *rolling eyes*
* Are you still with me? lol
To get to the chapel, we tried to pile as many people into each car as possible since there is limited parking in the French Quarter. Oh and there's also what seems to be a maze of one way streets. Oh that was fun! As we were driving down the street that the chapel was on, we come about a "DO NOT ENTER" sign. The one way street that we were on had stopped, and the chapel was within sight on the other side of the intersection. You see, Rue Burgundy St was made of 2- one way streets that met in the middle. Fun!!
Once we all had made our way to the other end of the street we had just been on, we then had the problem of parking. Stephen had found the perfect spot, but needed a little assistance from his best man. His brother got out of the car to stop the few cars that we waiting to pass as Stephen backed into his spot. Oh did I fail to mention that the car that he stopped was a COP?? A man in a tuxedo stops traffic and it happens to be a cop! But this is New Orleans and nothing happened.....LOL .
We all get parked, get out of the cars to walk up to the chapel when a fire truck comes driving down the road. Normally that would probably mean a fire..but remember we're in the Big Easy. No, it was leisurely driving up and down the streets of town manned by people wearing Santa hats and throwing Mardi Gras beads!!! It's December and we had Mardi Gras beads being thrown to us. ONLY in Nawlins!!
So the rest was pretty calm comparatively speaking. We said our vows, said I do, and was received by a violinist playing Anchors Aweigh. ( It was THEIR idea, since Stephen's in the Navy. ) The in-house photographer then posed us for pictures before we left for our small gathering back at my brother in law's house. At which my brother in law had prepared TONS of native cuisine for everyone. He's a chef that was working at a 4 star restaurant at the time. Food--check!
Now that I've shared all the details, I'll share pictures. The b&w pictures are from the in-house photographer..aka the officiants wife. She used b&w film as per our request, but seems to need some more training on picture taking. Most of the roll was BLURRY! Blurry wedding pictures...nice! But it is what it is, right?
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| my brother in law and my sister |
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my oldest younger brother walked me down the aisle |
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| of all the pictures to be blurry..the kiss. With my daughter in tow |
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| 2nd try?? Yep, still blurry |
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| I was then instructed to take off my glasses. I love this picture in spite of it's lack of focus |
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| Stephen's side of the family. His mom and brother |
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| Even though it was close to Christmas, I didn't actually want it in our pics. Guess they had other plans. |
The rest of these pictures were taken by someone else's camera throughout the day. I should have saved the money and had THEM take our pictures...lol
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| makeup done, hair in process and trying to get a 2 yr old to sit still long enough for a picture. |
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Stephen's mom and brother back at his house after the ceremony  |
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| Someone's date stamp was a day early. oops! |
And now for 2 pictures from the ceremony that were either missed by the in-house photographer or were too blurry to be recognizable.
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| This pose wasthe blurriest of all that the photographer took. Come on!! It's our mother's for goodness sakes! Thankfully someone else snapped this one!! |
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So you've got to be wondering what we are doing in that last picture. I know I would be had I not lived it.
After the ceremony was over, the officiant came over to Stephen and asked that he take a 1 dollar bill out of his wallet. We were then instructed to write both of our names on it. It being the first time that I was to write my new married name. Yes it gets a little stranger. We were then handed the stick that you see pictured. It had a thumb tack attached to the end. We then tacked on the dollar bill to the very end point of the tack. And then together we stuck the money to the ceiling beams. Unfortunately you can't see it, but there were many many dollar bills already there from all the previous ceremonies that had taken place there. And from recent pictures on their website, it looks like they carried on the tradition. Even after the chapel was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.
We would love to go back to visit some time soon. We just may have to go back to have a look at their newly renovated chapel and to make sure our dollar bill is still there.
Thank you for stopping by to learn about our wedding story. It may not have been what we would have planned had we had the time to plan it out, but it's our story. And I'm pretty confident that no one could ever duplicate it.
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