Attending a wedding, New Orleans style

Dottie and I spent most of last week and part of this week in New Orleans.

While excellent angling for red fish and speckle trout in the bayous, lakes and canals of the delta is within a 40-minute ride of the city, the only fishy things we “caught” were in the gumbo and po’boy sandwiches served up in classic New Orleans style by the many fantastic restaurants packed into the French Quarter, often several in each block on both sides of the street.

And the music, well, it just doesn’t get any better, especially in the little clubs along Frenchmen Street. We enjoyed a feast for all of our senses.

But the main reason we flew down was to attend the wedding of Thomasina Gross and Zachariah Wiedeman in Louis Armstrong Park, which is located adjacent to the French Quarter.

Thomasina and Zachariah were our houseguests last summer while Thomasina was part of the Transcendence Theatre summer show at Jack London Park. All during their stay with us, and unbeknownst to Thomasina, Zachariah was planning to propose to her at (and during) the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21.

He disclosed his plan to us weeks in advance of the event and we had to keep it secret as he worked on all the details.

Thomasina’s last performance was the evening of Aug.t 20. She just thought they were going to see the eclipse. For Zachariah though, the timing was critical. They had to jump in the car right after the show and drive all night to central Oregon to get there in time.

They made it.

Zachariah had hidden the ring in a small box of her favorite candy, which he handed to Thomasina as they kicked back to watch the eclipse.

With the stars of the darkened Oregon sky in her eyes she accepted.

Naturally, we accepted their invitation to the wedding and added several days onto the trip so we can enjoy all of the good jazz and food that this incredible place has to offer.

The city turns 300 this year, marking the anniversary of when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville funded the Quarter. We’re staying in a small apartment on Bienville Street, named after him.

There are always lots of things going on down here, but nothing was more exciting than the wedding.

After the lovely ceremony in Louis Armstrong Park, the newly married couple, the entire wedding party and all of their family and friends in attendance, Dottie and I included, joined a “second line” parade, led by a New Orleans brass band, through the French Quarter to the cable car on Canal Street, which took us to the reception over in the Garden District.

It just doesn’t get more New Orleans than that.