The Best Day of my Life!

I was "working" out of the house on September 11, 2001. Doreen was working for Shell, in their downtown offices, as an interim CEO for some of their struggling start-ups. We had been together for about 4 years by that time.

We had planned a February 2 wedding for the following year (2/2/2002 - never forget that date.). But with the attacks, it makes you think about what is precious in your life.

So I called her at work that Wednesday, and said that if anything happened to us, I would rather be married than not married. And suggested that we marry as soon as possible. I said, let's go down to the courthouse and get a marriage license. There is a 72 hour waiting period (harder to get married than to buy a gun!) and if we decided to do this, we needed to be ready.

She thought about it for a day, and then said yes. We picked that Monday, September 17th as the soonest we could put it all together.

Now, by saying "we" put it all together, I mean Doreen. I had a tuxedo, so I was all set.

Doreen had to find a wedding dress. It's her story to tell, but it was fate that she ended up with this Vera Wang gown:

And we were able to call on good friends to get a place for her to get ready Jim and Gary's place:

and I was able to get my friend Gary (another Gary) to be my best man:

Here are Jim and Gary - the nominal Mothers of the Bride:

But they also helped me get ready. Here's a tuxedo tip: Always use a bow tie that ties.

Doreen, just leaving Jim and Gary's for the wedding venue

Fabulous.

Here is Doreen with her Momma, Trouta

and with my sister, Jeannette

And me with Jeannette

I causally mentioned the wedding venue above. It was at our our dear friends Eddie and Charles's place in River Oaks.  They have been in this house for many years, and it has a spectacular garden. But we were the first wedding to take place there.

It was truly a joyful day:

Doreen's best friend from High School, Father Paul, performed the ceremony:

Doreen's friend Gaye was there, as was my friend David, who escaped all the photos except the one on the bottom of this post.

Jim walked Doreen down the "aisle"

Spectacular.

Why yes, yes I do.

We are so happy.

We all needed something happy after such a horrible week, 

We are all there

It was a Monday night, so finding a restaurant was sort of a problem. But Brennan's came to the rescue. They didn't have a separate room, but they did have a table big enough for all of us.

It was a great day.