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THE NEW EDITION IS HERE!
Sept/Oct 2010 Cover
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Deanna Lambert and Dan Thomas: April 4, 2009
Dan and Deanna Thomas met each other while both were working for WDSU in New Orleans in 2003.
The couple began dating shortly after meeting and soon the two fell in love. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Deanna and Dan took jobs in Panama City, FL and Nashville, TN respectively and moved away from New Orleans. After maintaining a 3-year, long-distance relationship, Dan surprised Deanna in December of 2007 with a romantic proposal at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. The couple set the wedding date for April 4, 2009 and chose the city they met in as their wedding location.
Deanna and Dan both wanted to have a New Orleans-style wedding, and chose the Maison Dupuy Hotel located in the French Quarter of New Orleans to host their wedding. The ceremony and reception would take place in the Maison Dupuy’s beautiful courtyard.
Deanna chose an ivory Italian metallic fabric own by Essence of Australia. The gown had a sweetheart neckline, with a fitted waistline and a full skirt. Deanna carried a bouquet of dark purple calla lilies encircled by red roses. The bridesmaids wore strapless chocolate brown dresses by Mori Lee that were floor length to add a romantic look for an afternoon ceremony.
Deanna and Dan decided to break with the southern tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other until the wedding ceremony and set up a “First Look” meeting in the Maison Dupuy’s Le Cour de L’Amour, The Courtyard of Love. Deanna describes the “First Look” as “an intimate moment for Dan and I to meet, hug, hold each other, and kiss away from the crowd, but in front of the camera. We did get some really candid, fun photos, but most of all, we had a very special ‘moment’ before our wedding even started that we will never forget.”
Doug Keese of Artisan Style Photojournalism, the couple’s photographer, captured these “First Look” memories as well as the day’s entire festivities and created works of art for them to cherish forever.
As the couple stood in front of family and riends for their ceremony, they made their vows of love and dedication to one another. Deanna and Dan wrote their own vows, each ending their declaration with the promise to love the other “unconditionally for the rest of our lives.” The couple also included a fairly new tradition, a hand blessing ceremony, to their wedding. Friend of the bride, Hope Jones, read the blessing meant to draw the couple closer to one another. Deanna comments, “it was a very special touch to our wedding.”
For the New Orleans-style reception, the Maison Dupuy created a menu of New Orleans favorites, including Jambalaya and Louisiana Gumbo. Because Deanna’s favorite treat is ice cream, the Maison Dupuy designed an ice cream buffet complete with vanilla ice cream and all the side fixings.
The wedding cake, designed by Haydel’s Bakery in Metairie, was a three-tier vanilla cake with ivory icing and and a simple brown ribbon and silver swiss dots as decoration.
After the cake cutting, Deanna and Dan enjoyed dancing with their guests in the moonlit courtyard. At the end of the reception, the couple had a traditional New Orleans Second Line and paraded down the streets of the French Quarter. Embroidered handkerchiefs for the Second Line doubled as favors for the wedding guests. Deanna comments, “besides the first kiss, the parade was definitely our most favorite part of the night...We felt like such celebrities parading through the French Quarter!” According to Dan, “If you’re getting married in New Orleans, the Second Line Parade is a must! You, your family, and friends will never forget it...and if it’s after the reception, you get to look forward to it all evening long!”
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