HOW WE MET

WE FIRST WHILE KELLY WAS A FRESHMAN AND DARRELL WAS A SOPHOMORE at LSU. We crossed paths through several organizations, particularly the LSU Ambassadors, the campus orientation leader group, as well as history class. I asked Kelly to help me prepare for an upcoming history test, knowing that her grade was much better than mine and that she aspired to become a history teacher. We ended up having a great time, and ended up spending some more time together through the LSU Ambassadors and on a couple of dates, as the semester progressed and eventually ended. We often joke that the rest is “history.” We have been together ever since, graduated from LSU on the same day, were both honored in the first ever class of LSU’s Tiger Twelve, 12 seniors honored for their commitment to the LSU Community, and got married in October of 2005.

The week prior to the engagement, I had told Kelly that I had plans to meet some friends on Friday night to drive to New Orleans to watch my high school alma matter compete in the 3A state championship game, and that I would need to take off early from work to miss the traffic. She did not expect to see me until I returned later that evening. I did take off work early, but only to pick up the engagement ring and made sure to get permission from both her mother and father to ask her to marry me. I sent Kelly a beautiful bouquet of purple and gold flowers at the school where she teaches. Turns out, she walked past them twice thinking they were for someone else. I met Kelly at her apartment after she had gotten home from school and placed a note on the door letting her know that I was there, as to not frighten her since the dog was already barking up a storm after seeing me. She walked in to find me with ring in hand, and a setup that included rose petals, candles, champagne and two stuffed tigers, dressed as a bride and groom. Nervously, I was able to manage dropping to one knee and asking Kelly to marry me and with a hug, she said yes.

After the excitement of the engagement, we decided that we needed to begin planning our wedding. We were excited about the possibility of a fall wedding, but realized that it would not give us long to plan, but we decided to commit to the idea. When looking at dates, the first thing we looked at was the LSU football schedule. With excitement, we settled on October 29th, LSU’s off weekend, but more importantly our wedding date. Shortly after that, we learned that we would be able to have our ceremony in the Sacred Heart Chapel at Cabrini High School, where Kelly was baptized and where Kelly’s mom teaches science. We also committed to having our wedding reception at Andrea’s restaurant, and decided the guest list would be between two hundred and two hundred fifty people. With the summer upon us, and short months away from the wedding date, it almost seemed like we were ahead of the game. We even had time to decide and start to plan our honeymoon to New York City. Then Hurricane Katrina happened. Our focus was directed away from the wedding during and immediately after the storm, and we continued to focus our attention towards Kelly’s family, many of whom are from the Lakeview area, one of the areas hardest hit, and getting back to work. As we began to start thinking about what this means for the wedding plans, Hurricane Rita put that on hold, as we continued to house relatives and care for my family, from Gueydan, south of Lafayette, who had to evacuate for two weeks. Shortly afterwards we learned that while both the chapel and the restaurant were fortunately spared of major damages, it did not seem like we would be able to have the wedding in New Orleans due to the lack of available hotels and restaurants. The decision that we would have to make would either be to keep the date and move the wedding to the Baton Rouge area, or postpone to a later date in New Orleans. We decided to keep the date and move the wedding to the Baton Rouge area, we decided that of all the things Hurricane Katrina took from us our wedding date would not be another. Then came the challenge of planning a wedding for the second time. We found ourselves riding a wave of good luck when we found a church that was available for our date and that the Carriage House was available for an afternoon reception. Also, all of our vendors were more than willing to work with us as we informed them of our plans to move, some even offering suggestions for fellow vendors in the area. We also decided to plan our post-rehearsal celebration at Kelly’s aunt’s home, and thanks to some talented cooks had a restaurant quality meal that helped everyone enjoy the special moment.

The wedding day was a truly beautiful event. The weather was great, our friends and family were able to make it into town safely and the ceremony was amazing, including the part where Deacon Uriel Durr of New Orleans, our celebrant, played the LSU pre-game to signify how the marriage was a team effort that can lead to the ultimate championship of happiness. The reception following was an event that still brings a smile to our face when we speak about it.