Katrina Evacuees Get Married
Katrina Evacuees Get Married
September 19, 2005Posted By weddings
More articles on the Weddings topic: Weddings
The couple fled New Orleans with family and friends the day before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. They evacuated with fellow church members on the church bus to a shelter in Baton Rouge - some 75 miles away. That wasn't the last stop - they had to relocate to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center a few days later - another 22 mile trip with nothing but question marks abound regarding their future.
What about the wedding? When was it going to happen? Where was it going to happen? These questions might seem trivial to other evacuees, but to a bride, they are the most important questions in the world.
Along the way, Troy Williams and Dorothy Merrick met another soon to be married couple - Keishona Frazier and Robbie Roby. Frazier and Roby also had their wedding plans shattered by the hurricane.
Along comes Jennifer Cross - an American Red Cross volunteer with a heart, and a knack for planning weddings. On Wednesday she started making phone calls. By Sunday, the chapels, dresses, flowers, and food were all lined up. "That's the thing about Louisianians," Cross said. "You can kick us down, but we get right back up."
The community of evacuees and local residents came together to make the weddings more than just a minister and a pair of witnesses. In a little Baptist church tucked among trees near a pasture, hundreds of guests witnessed the two couples' wedding ceremony. Many cried as they declared their love for each other. A joint celebration followed the ceremony with jambalaya, music, and dancing.
One of the grooms has already found a job. He left behind construction work in New Orleans and has been taken on by another company in the Gonzales area.
Plans for a honeymoon have been postponed for now, but the couples are thankful for what they have and hopeful about the future.
Katrina Evacuees Get Married Commentary
September 19, 2005 07:54 AMashley
was it heard
