Happy Happy Joy Joy

The last few months have been unusually hectic with the the hurricane and the wedding and all. Blog updates have been few and far between, a situation which should change as life returns to some semblance of normality (or so I hope).

After much rigmarole and hoopla, Michelle and I finally got married on January 21st. Our wedding took place amid much pomp & circumstance at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Mandeville, LA. The ceremony was followed by a reception of magnificent proportions at Annadele's Plantation in nearby Covington.

A pair of charms to ensure eternal love, from Dr. Zombie's House of Voodoo in New Orleans. It's good to have a little voodoo on your side.

Some people had to travel vast distances to attend. My family flew in from distant California, my friend Pat made the trek from remotest Pennsylvania, and there was a contingent of Michelle's dearest friends who came all the way from sunny Arizona. Then there were all the Texans who had to drive across the perilous Louisiana swamps to get there. Thanks to everyone who journeyed from afar to share this happy occasion with us!

Despite much confusion and chaos the ceremony went off with scarcely a hitch. Everyone more or less remembered their lines, nobody raised any objection to our marriage, and no fights broke out. So far so good. Then it was back to Annadele's, where the festivities commenced & mild debauchery ensued. There was a lot of eating and drinking and music and dancing and general merriment. We even enjoyed a little taste of Mardi Gras - Michelle had us don masks and do a second line through Annadele's throwing beads to our guests.

I'm not sure if my parents knew what was going on, but I think they had a good time anyway.

If you were there you know what a great party it was, and if you weren't, you missed a great party.


Everyone had a good time. Once again no fights broke out - rather unusual, considering that both our families were there. The only violence that occurred was that which I perpetrated upon the art of dance. Of course there were a few little mishaps. One of our guests took a fall, and I inadvertently spilled wine down the front of Michelle's wedding dress. Speaking of wine, as the festivities finally drew to a close it looked like Michelle may have had a wee bit too much. And when I say a wee bit, I mean she really got sloshed. She didn't eat much at the reception, so the wine hit her hard. We quickly exited after dancing a ridiculously uncoordinated and somewhat hazardous carioca together.

It was a wonderful evening, and Michelle deserves a round of applause for a job well done. She planned and orchestrated the whole thing down to the fine details, and it was nice to see all her hard work finally come to fruition. Well done, Michelle. Well done indeed!

The groom's party, in a quiet moment of somber contemplation. That's Michelle's brother David sporting the green tiara.

The next day Michelle and I drove back to Lumberton to pack for our honeymoon trip to Trinidad & Tobago, but I'll save the details of that little adventure for later.