Creole Queen Riverboat Wedding
My book has led me to lots of new places where I’ve met lots of great and interesting people. Some of them have become friends. The year the book came out, I received an email from a woman wanting to order a case of books to be shipped to her sister in Poland for distribution in Europe. Emails were exchanged, and the order was filled.
A year later, I was sitting at a table at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival with a couple of my books on display, and a pair of very animated and attractive women stepped up and proceeded to get all excited about the book. And who do you think they were? Yep, they were the very same sisters who had ordered the case of books to go to Europe!
The younger of the two and I have become very good friends. BB is a sociology professor interested in environmental issues in children’s literature and has done more to promote my book than any distributor I could have paid!
And she got married Friday night on a Mississippi river boat called the Creole Queen. This was the first time I’d ever been to such a wedding, and it was fantastic!
Dotter and I checked into our river view room at the Hilton that afternoon, thankful that bride and groom had gotten a discount for their guests!
The view from our window of the river and all the passing boat traffic was wonderful! As I stood there, I imagined my boys passing that very spot on their respective tugboats, pushing long barges to places north and south of New Orleans.
And could this be our riverboat docking? We wouldn’t have far to go in that case!
This is the view as we descended the hotel steps to the dock where the Creole Queen waited, beautifully lit in the early evening light.
(For you photographers, the lack of flash added noise since I was not using a tripod. Even so, I love the softness that makes this photo look almost like a painting.)
The ceremony, performed on the upper deck in a brisk Eastern wind, was thankfully short, sweet, and to the point!
Below deck, the decor was warm and festive, the food divine and the drinks any way you liked. The music was a hand-picked mixture of oldies that really set the mood for their celebratory reception,
starting with the couple’s first dance. Don’t they look dreamy?
After a delicious dinner buffet was served, we cast cast off for a two-hour cruise up the mighty Mississippi and back to the port of New Orleans. Taken from inside the boat, this photo shows the New Orleans skyline and the reflection of the room as we traveled.
The paddle wheels were mesmerizing–as seen from inside the boat. Also amazing was the fact that we could not tell we were moving. Not even the waves from other boats affected the stable ride of the Creole Queen.
No New Orleans wedding is complete without a Second Line dance. Wasn’t the bride gorgeous!
It was quite a classy wedding, and I was honored that BB and The Italian invited me. Dotter and I had a really nice time at our first ever riverboat wedding!
Rest today, for tomorrow is back to work on the Raising of Camp Dularge!
BW
Had I been on that invitation list, I would have missed the ceremony and the reception. I would have been out on deck taking in the scenery. City lights and the “smells”can be fascinating as well as hypnotizing for me. Hey, I get relaxed on the 19′ Kenner!
Glad you got to visit with “the sisters”. Did they place orders on your not yet written next book?
Steffi – I did spend some time outside, just not enough to be considered “rude”! I was so enjoying the people watching inside that I failed to take city-scape photos from outside. Shame on me!
(any time you have an edit, just let me know and I can make it for you, but I can’t slow down the response time!)
BB has been after me for two years to publish the sequel, but the timing is not right. Actually, she’s been after me to publish any of the other stories I’ve written!!!
Groom looks like Mark Twain without the beard. I did a riverboat tour thing in St. Louis, night time on the big muddy. Most amazing magician I ever saw anywhere too.
I should continue an old family tradition and get me one of those Eastern European brides. maybe not…..
How cool was that. I have never been on a river boat and have always wanted to. Hubby and I keep sayin’ we’re gonna do it. Take one of those cruises. Your pictures look great.
I would loved to have been there!!! SO PRETTY!!
what an awesome wedding, why didn’t i think of that? cool pics too!!
What a fantastic celebration! The Farmer and I spent our honeymoon in New Orleans and I cannot say enough good things about the city and the people. We’d walk in the dark to Cafe DuMonde for chicory coffee and beignets! We sat for hours in Preservation Hall listening to ancient musicians and ducked into tiny gumbo houses for hot, savory bowls of gumbo and red beans and rice. We’ve ridden the riverboats on the mightly Mississippi out of New Orleans and Hannibal, Missouri. Both were wonderful trips that allowed our imaginations to work overtime.
Thanks for taking us along to the wedding! I can hear the music of the
– Suzanne, the Farmer’s Wife
What an adventure! And what a setting for a wedding!
Okay, I hear the waves lapping…you NEED to begin working on that next book – why not expand the story with Termite? It was already told with such gusto and creativity, you only to tweak a bit here and there, and what a great way to continue introducing people to the Bayou world…
I’m cheering you on — okay, and nagging a bit, too!
Love you!
And dear Vance, I have been “feeling” that nagging sensation for quite a while! I’m not sure what next “book” that might be! A short story about a boy coming of age maybe? Thanks for the cheering!
BW
Love, love, LOVE the Creole Queen. I’ve done the Creole, Natchez and Delta Queens and every trip is a favorite memory of mine. It’s a wonderful voyage on the Miss. River and seeing the city lights at night is awesome. Did the boat play the calliope? That’s a true New Orleans sound for sure. So happy for BB and The Italian. You look cute and happy too, fuzzy.
You know I feel the same as Vance.
I’m not sure if they played the Calliope for us because we were below decks jamming out to the oldies!!!
Speaking of calliope, the Creole Queen drove by on New Years Eve while we were on the deck of Jax Brewery AND the calliope was playing!
Also, in the last picture, you and BB look like sisters!
Yea, Dotter, except for the double chin!